Ella Enchanted is a story about a girl named Ella, who gets enchanted by a fairy named Lucinda. The enchantment however, is more like a curse for poor Ella, since the gift was obedience. The story goes through with Ella dealing with life, falling in love with Char, the prince of the kingdom, and trying to break the curse the entire time. She also runs into ogres along the way, plus new stepsisters. In the end though, Ella does indeed break the curse, and marries Char and lives happily ever after.

This book is a somewhat short book, but a good one. It's also based off a classic fairytale, Cinderella, but twisted in little ways. Ella Enchanted is a good read, the story makes you want to read it all to the end in my opinion. It's not the most unique story I've ever read, but this version of basically Cinderella, is probably my favorite. Ella Enchanted is a short book, with only 232 pages, yet a pretty good one.

I suppose this is a book recommended for all ages, as long as you can read. Maybe not so much for little kids who can't really read 200 pages worth of books. It's fantasy, it's a fairytale, so anyone who likes books like that, they should read this book. Gail Carson Levine, the author of the book, also wrote other twisted fairytale books, like The Princess Test, and The Fairy's Mistake, which both are really short books. So check out Ella Enchanted or other stories written by Gail Carson Levine.

Image from:http://fremontlibraries.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/13-versions-of-cinderella/

Outlawing homosexuality? I think not.

Would you want someone to interfere with your love life? I don't thinks so. So should someone interfere with somebody's love life, just because of the gender of their partner? No. I am writing this essay to show you that homosexuality isn't wrong, and trying to outlaw it is just plain stupid. Homosexuality should stay legal, and I have these three reasons to support my statement: All people have rights, gay or not; some people are just gay, they don't have a choice of who they are they are, that's just the way they are; and tolerance is important towards any kind of person.

Every person has rights to be associated with whichever gender. First of all, the Constitution states that every man(and woman) has the right to express themselves by written words and actions. Secondly, in the U.S., we live in a democracy, not a religious dictatorship, so a bunch of religious people can't just keep homosexual people apart, they have rights. Lastly, being in a homosexual relationship is part of someone's private life, and should not be meddled with by the government! So, everyone has rights to be with whomever they love, same gender or not, at least in the U.S. anyway.

Homosexual people don't choose to be gay, they just are, and you can't change that. Let's face it, about 10% of the world is gay, maybe a little less; so it's going to be hard if people are going to even try to outlaw homosexuality. More importantly, people love each other because of their personality, smarts, and even if it's just plain chemistry between them; it doesn't matter what the gender is of someone you love, it's the person. Some people deny that they are gay, even when they are homosexual; they shouldn't be afraid of being who they are. Being homosexual, bisexual, or even heterosexual is a part of your identity, and you can't change it, so be yourself, and love whomever you want.

Tolerance is an important value to all people, including homosexual ones. Just think if homosexuality is outlawed for a moment; if you outlaw homosexuality, people might just start to be not tolerant towards other things and start outlawing them. If there was no tolerance throughout human society, the world would fall apart(metaphorically), because maybe someone didn't tolerate someone just because they had blue eyes, or had different colored skin, so all people would go against each other. Also, just because some religious people are homophobic or not tolerant of homosexual people, doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't be tolerant against them. In any case, tolerance is very important for everyone, and a lot more people should be tolerant to a lot more things, like homosexuality.

Homosexuality should stay legal, because of three reasons: All people have rights, gay or not; some people are just gay, they don't have a choice of who they are, that's just the way they are; and tolerance is important towards any kind of person. You should realize by now, from reading this essay, that all people have rights. Also that people who are gay, are gay, not otherwise. The third thing you should know by now is that tolerance is an important value, and more people should have it. So obviously by now, you should realize that outlawing homosexuality would be a pointless and futile effort.

Picture by me on MS Paint

Inkheart is written by Cornelia Funke, and here is the rundown of this story. Meggie is an ordinary 12 year old girl who has a dad she calls,"Mo". A not so ordinary thing about Mo though, is when he reads aloud, the story comes to life (literally). He, without Meggie knowing, has been hiding from Capricorn, a horrible villain Mo accidentally read out of Inkheart nine years ago, along with Basta and Dustfinger. However, the side effect for reading things into this world is an equivalent exchange, hence when the Inkheart incident happened, two cats and Mo's wife disappeared into that book. Ever since then, Capricorn has supposedly chased after Mo, trying to get himself back into Inkheart, but that's not the case. Mo announces that he and Meggie are going to a relative's house for awhile, and Dustfinger appears to be going too. Meggie finds out in the car a little about Capricorn and his men, but she doesn't get to know the whole story; also, Mo brings a square shaped package with him on the trip. After Meggie, Mo, and Dustfinger go to Great Aunt Elinor's house(Elinor is Meggie's Mom's aunt), Capricorn's men come and take Mo, and the mysterious package he brought. With desperation to save Mo; Elinor, Meggie, and Dustfinger arrive in Capricorn's village with Dustfinger as their guide. It's found that Capricorn has burnt all the Inkheart books but one, and is making Mo read out gold for him(Meggie finds about Mo's talent and what really happened to her mom). Dustfinger later saves them, and they all go their separate ways. Dustfinger and Farid(Mo read him out of a book while in Capricorn's custody) join Mo and Meggie for awhile, then run away. Mo and Meggie are going to meet Fenoglio, the author of Inkheart itself, and Elinor is going back to her home, waiting to see what has become of her books. While Mo was out, Basta(Capricorn's right-hand man) came and took Meggie and Fenoglio. Dustfinger and Farid are just outside Capricorn's village. Dustfinger goes to meet Resa, one of Capricorn's maids who is mute, and asks if she can find the last copy of Inkheart that Capricorn possesses. Meanwhile, Meggie finds out she has Mo's talent as well by reading out Tinkerbell from the book Peter Pan that she found under her mattress which belonged to a previous read-out-louder. Capricorn finds out and decides he doesn't need Mo anymore. He also caught Dustfinger and Resa, and pursues Meggie to get her to read out the Shadow from Inkheart for the execution of them. Right outside the village, Elinor, Mo, and Farid meet up. While they're trying to figure out how to save Meggie, Meggie saw Dustfinger and that other woman they spoke about. She couldn't be certain, but Resa's face did sort of look like the woman in Mo's photographs, and her mother's name is Teresa. So Meggie gets tested and reads out the tin soldier to the Magpie, secretly Capricorn's mom, and demands for the tin soldier back. Fenoglio furiously and quickly rewrites the Tin Soldier's story, this time different than the original, and just for the sake of it, a happy ending for the Tin Soldier and the Paper Ballerina. Meggie reads Fenoglio's re-written version of the story, and the Tin Soldier miraculously goes back into it's story. With this new discovery, Fenoglio tries to figure out how he could write the shadow to not kill Dustfinger and Resa. Meggie says she will read aloud from the Inkheart only if she could go see Dustfinger before the execution. The Magpie agrees, and Basta escorts Meggie to Dustfinger and Resa, who are located in the crypt under the church. After a whole scene of Dustfinger outwitting Basta, Basta's now locked up in a crypt. Dustfinger made a run for it, and Meggie and her reunited mother just stay put where they were. Fenoglio figures out how to stop the execution by making the Shadow kill Capricorn and his evil men. Elinor tries going to the police to stop this whole mess, but ends up in the crypt with Resa and surprisingly, Basta(Meggie got sent back up to her and Fenoglio's room). Mo and Farid set fire to Capricorn's house when Capricorn, Meggie, the Magpie, and Fenoglio leave for the execution. After Meggie reads out aloud what Fenoglio wrote, the Shadow comes out, and Capricorn turns up dead, and all his men that were evil except Basta and the Magpie, vanished into thin air. When Meggie read the last passage, the Shadow turned into all the people and creatures that were used to make it, and with that, Fenoglio went into the book. At the end of this story, Dustfinger shows up again, takes the last copy of Inkheart from Mo while everyone's asleep, then Farid and Dustfinger go off into the night. The next morning, Elinor offers refuge to all the creatures and people, and some of them agree. So Elinor, Mo, Resa, and Meggie went to Elinor's house to live, along with some of Inkheart's inhabitants. That's the full summary of the book Inkheart.

Inkheart is an amazing good book, with a full novel length of 534 pages. Basically the main character could be either Meggie or even the book "Inkheart" in my opinion. This book is full of magical creatures, such as Gwin, a ferret that travels with Dustfinger, and it also happens to have horns on its head. The characters have unique personalities, the story has a very unique plot, overall I rate this book, "Inkheart", 5/5 stars.

I recommend this book from ages 10 and up. The genre's Fantasy, people who enjoy that genre should read Inkheart definitely. I wouldn't recommend Inkheart to the people who only like to read non-fiction or short books, since Inkheart is fiction, and a pretty long novel. For people who like this book very much, if you don't know already, there is a sequel since Inkheart is the first book in a trilogy, and it's called Inkspell. Inkheart, written by bestselling author, Cornelia Funke, is a fantastic book, and you should check it out and some other books written by her.

Picture found at:http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/cornelia-funke/inkheart.htm

Zailey, The Best Drawer There Ever Was!

When I grow up I think I'd make a great Drawer. I've always enjoyed drawing. One of my favorite things to do is to doodle drawings instead of doing schoolwork. I even have some experience at different kinds of drawing. I have drawn for a long time, I draw a lot, and I have patience, therefore, I will be the best Drawer there ever was!

Drawing has always come naturally to me. There were those times when I was in preschool, always drawing. I have been drawing constantly since I can even remember. Whenever I drew when I was little it always made me feel good inside, and it still does. Being able to draw from a young age is the first step along the path to becoming a good Drawer.

Drawing a lot is another thing I really enjoy. It's so fun to draw because you're getting better and better at drawing every time you practice. When I'm drawing it's like my soul's floating. I am to drawing, what my mom is to cross stitch. Being able to draw a lot for the rest of my life would be awesome!

Having patience takes a special talent. I gained a lot of experience at patience from dealing with my mom's temper. I learned a lot about the way you have to just wait it out when she's on a rampage. For example, when she gets all cross from something going wrong in the house, lay low until she calms down, then ask her what's for dinner. The time I spent being patient with my mom is sure to give me an advantage when it comes to becoming a Drawer.

The three most important ingredients required in order to become a successful Drawer are drawing for a long time, draw a lot and having patience, and I've got them all! I want to show the world my best drawings. I'm never so happy as when I'm in the midst of drawing a picture. It's like what Tayja said, "That's a pretty good drawing Zailey, you're going to make a great Drawer when you grow up." When I draw, I draw from my heart, and that's why I'll be the best drawer there ever was!

Picture from: http://home.uchicago.edu/~gmkrishn/