Phantom’s Blog

Tomorrow, When the War Began is a book written by John Marsden. It revolves around seven teenagers who decide to go on a camping trip in a place they call Hell. It’s a great place to camp. The also go over Commemeration Day Weekend, and at that time the whole town of Wirrawee is having a show. Invaders from an unknown country come and take the place over overnight, on the night of the show. When the group go back to the outside world, they are surprised to find the place empty. They later discover that Australia is getting taken over by other people, to bring the people from their crowded country into Australia for settling.

The names of the seven teens are: Ellie, who narrates the story, Fi, Homer, Lee, Kevin, Corrie and Robyn. Later after going into town they pick up another friend who is hiding named Chris. The eight of them live in Hell for a few weeks. Over time they plot against the enemy by igniting the petrol in a motor mower, killing two and injuring one soldier. Later, they blow up a bridge, which is a major inconvenience to the enemy, as they need this bridge to transport things from the bay. Eventually we see Corrie get shot in the back, and Kevin is willing to drive her to the hospital in a Merc, to get her stitched up. In a bit of a side story we see relationships go between Ellie and Lee, as well as between Homer and Fi.

Overall this book is awesome. If you haven’t read it yet, go out and buy it, read it, then buy and read the rest of the series.

“Seven teenagers take a trip to Hell.”
“And seven teenagers come back. To Hell.”

I read a book a few weeks ago that was at least an inch thick… well anyways it was called The Seventh Tower: Volumes 1-3 by Garth Nix. It’s about a boy named Tal, who lives in a world full of magic, darkness and snow. Heaps of snow. He lives in a castle, lit up by magic stones called sunstones. The sunstones emit light, and can be used for almost anything to do with light or magic.

Tal is a young boy who lives in the Castle, with his mother and two brothers. His father is missing and his mother is sick. Tal’s dad took the Primary Sunstone with him when he left. He is suspected to be dead. A primary sunstone is a giant sunstone, capable of lighting almost anything. Tal needs a primary sunstone to be able to go up in the ranks of the castle, and time is running out for him to get another. So he first asks his cousins, who are evil, and don’t give him one. He then goes to ask the Empress, and has a battle with the guards in an ancient game called Beastmaker. The game is destroyed before it ends, so Tal tried to steal a Sunstone. He then falls off the tower, with only his Shadowguard to save him.

 A shadowguard is part of Tal’s shadow, and can change shape, but it isn’t very strong. When Tal goes up in the ranks of the castle, he will lose his shadowguard, but it will be replaced with a stronger Spiritshadow. Spiritshadows can’t change shape, but they can twist, bend and stretch in almost any direction. When Tal gets one he will also travel to the spirit world called Aenir.

After Tal’s fall, he survives but the Castle is nowhere in sight. He wanders on to find people who live outside te Castle, which he didn’t think possible until now. There he meets Milla, and together they go to find two primary sunstones, one for the Icecarls, the people Milla lives with, and one for Tal.

This book is an amazing book, and I would reccomend it to teens.

Since I can’t find a picture of the three in one, I’ll post pictures of all three volumes.

The issues in Juggling with Mandarins deals with a lot of issues, issues like girlfriends, ambition, parents and growing up in life. A bit I enjoyed was the last part where Pip is climbing the wall during the last round. I understood everything that was going on. I thought the end between Pip and Katie wouldn’t be different, but would be if the book was a bit longer, i.e. they would get back together, but the book sort of cuts off. The book is called Juggling with Mandarins because Pip is throwing around all the aspects of teenage life, in a way juggling them, while at the same time trying to literally juggle mandarins for a contest at school.

Blog Usefulness adj. the usefulness of one’s weblog.

I think this blog will be useful for assignments in English, and to promote some books I’ve read. I couls also use it to communicate to the teacher and other students.