Shadow Puppets

The third book in the "Ender's Shadow" series was my favorite so far. It is so cool to watch the characters get older and change personalities. Since Bean learned he had "Anton's Key" that's really all he thinks about. I mean, if I had it that's what I would think about.

Since the Formics were destroyed by Ender, the battle school kids go back to an Earth in turmoil. China and Russia are trying to take over surrounding countries, and Ender's "Jeesh" have to stop it from happening.

What I liked about it:

The books in the series are not always full of action, but they're never boring. They are full of battle strategy and I love the characters. I won't give away anything but the ending was the best part.

What I don't like:

Sometimes in the story I don't know what they are talking about. For Example "Caliph." I never knew what that meant but after reading about it for a while i figured it out. It's also good to have someone in your class reading them too.

Growing up in Coal Country

Like I wrote in my last review, I researched a man named Lewis Hine. This book isn't directly related to him, but it was still about child labor. "Growing up in Coal Country is a book about the coal mines across America that children worked in. There were two places the kids worked, "The Breaker" and the mines themselves. In the breaker, the kids would sit on stiff wooden benches with no back, picking out slate from coal on a moving conveyor belt. If a kid fell into the moving belt, they could easily get strangled and die. In the mine, the older boys had many jobs; Gatekeepers, Mule Drivers, Spraggers and "Butty's" A "Butty" is related to the word "Buddy." The "Butty's" would help the miners carry their equipment and most of all keep them company. Working in the mines caused many tragic stories and horrible conditions for children.

What I liked about it:

I liked the realness about it and how it told all the facts from the workers stand-point. Learning about life in the mines was sad, but full of important facts.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the tragic stories of cave-ins, and fires and horrible deaths. Just taking a break and realizing "This actually happened!" was startling.

Kids at Work

I recently did a school report on a man named Lewis Hine. He was a photographer from the late 1800's- to the early 1900's. His more memorable photo's were of the Empire State Building during construction, but the most meaningful one's, are of child labor. After college he became very interested and disgusted in child labor and he felt that someone needed to end it. So, he would travel all around the country to coal mines, glass blowing workshops, the streets of NYC, textile mills and cotton fields risking his own life so others would be better. As you can imagine the bosses of these factories, or mills, etc. didn't want citizens of America to know about the terrible working conditions, so he wasn't allowed to take the photos. But, he always found a way in. One time he even posed as a fire inspector, so he could be let in. The more common ways were going before the bosses would get (early AM) or he would enter during the bosses lunch break.

What did I like about it?

I can't say that i "liked" anything really about it, just because what he photographed was horrible. The kids worked 13 hour shifts 6 days a week! But I was very interested in everything. And it really showed (and scared) me what I and every other kid in America would have to go through if he didn't take the challenge of documenting this.

What I didn't like:

I didn't likehow horrible the bosses were. IN coal mines they wouldn't let the miners (or breaker boys) to wear gloves because they said it was "easier to tell the differnece between coal and slate." And how dumb, gullible and stupid the bosses were to let this happen to their next generation of kids.