School

• School days should be from 9 to 3:30, not counting buses.
• Teaching should no longer have to go slow enough for the slowest kid, classes are now separated by understanding of content
• Homework no longer than 1-3 hours per night.

Any other ideas? It may seem like I'm just some kid wanting less work, but I've done research and if anything this would improve academic performance, in my opinion.

My Heroes

Some of you may be confused by my choice of URL, and even a tad bit angry that I'd put myself up there with Mandela. Truth be told, I would never dare do that, it was merely a combination of my age and one of my heroes. Speaking of...

My Heroes:

K'naan: This guy is probably one of the greatest artists of music, ever. He survived the Somalian Civil War. This is a true testament that you can always go forward and succeed. His songs now help illustrate his life story and outlook on life, and you can really tell how much effort he puts into this. K'naan('traveler') is a great message of peace, hope, and love for fellow man, and an inspiration to us all.

Nelson Mandela and Gandhi: These two are of determination and belief in a good cause, no matter what that cause is. They went to and suffered great lengths for what they believed in. They didn't do it for money, power, or fame. They did it because they believed in a better tomorrow.

Henry David Thoreau: There's no way I could summarize this great man. Just go read 'Walden'.

Book Review: You by Charles Benoit

I'm a pretty avid reader. Keep in mind I'm fairly young person, so most of the books I read are angled at those in the teens and early twenties. On to the review...


You by Charles Benoit


'You' is a novel intended for teenagers by Charles Benoit, the first he's written of this kind. The book begins with one of my favorite techniques, in which it begins with the ending of the story, or at least an event further on, and then works it's way back to the beginning before continuing forward. The book is written in the second person, and the main character is Kyle Chase, a sophomore in high school who's made some bad choices. The entire book basically revolves around choices, which helps make it very believable that you could be this poor kid who's screwed up at a few key places in life. Once you get into the book, it drives forward before dumping you into the ending(and a slight cliffhanger). There are a couple issues. The 2nd person, while unique and effective, does take a few chapters to get into, and most of the characters(besides Kyle himself) don't appear very fleshed out. Zach, the antagonist, is kind of annoying until the final pages, so you'll be hating him, but for the wrong reasons. I'd still definitely recommend this book. It's a shame the kids that could most identify with books like this will probably never read this.

Characters: 7/10
Plot: 8/10
Concept: 9/10
Delivery: 8/10

Overall(not an average): 8.5/10