Leonardo Di Caprio

Khalid Al Shaer

Author: Brent Furnas.

Genre: Biography

Data Started: The 12th of August

Data Finished: The 15th of August

Where is it set? The U.S.A

Who are the main characters? The actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

What happens?

An author tells the story of an actor Leonardo and how he moved to Hollywood, and that he changed his name to William, but he did not like it. He quickly went back to Leonardo DiCaprio. And the story tells of his success in William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and Titanic.

What did you think of the book? I think it's bad .

What did you learn through reading this book? I learned some new words.

Has reading this book changed your attitude in any way? No.

Apollo 13

Shen (Patrick) Hu

I read APOLLO 13. This is an authentic record, and very famous. I started reading it on the 14^th of August and I finished reading it on the 17^th of August.

The book's main characters are astronauts.I think they're very brave and resourceful.

Apollo 13 narrates the story of 3 astronauts trip to the moon. Originally the astronaut’s task was so dangerous but due to an accident they were placed in a completely different strange world. They could have been abandoned in outer space, never to return to earth. Drifting in an infinite universe would be really terrible.

As a component of the damage, the return to earth opportunity was fading. When they overcame some technical problems new problems come up. The temperature was sharply down, but by now I saw their team solidarity and cooperation. They pumped up and encouraged each other. They made a successful landing on earth! Seeing the astronauts go safe out of the cabin, I gave a deep breath.

The book made me see people's calmness in the face of danger, wisdom and a spirit of cooperation. It also showed the family of a nation, or in other words national unity, When I read this book I could feel the astronauts worry and fear, but also delight in their success. Apollo 13 is a good book, and a good story so I want to introduce it to my fellow students. The book tells me to be brave.

Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves

Haitham Sabagh

I read ALI BABA. This title means father Ali in the Arabic language. It's the Arabic version story. The story is a famous children's story. I started reading it on 18th of August and I finished reading it on the same day.

The main characters are ALI BABA, his wife and his daughter Leia. His job is cutting wood And he's a poor man.

One day when he was cutting wood, Ali Baba heard the sound of some horses and men.They stopped near his tree. They looked fierce and dangerous and Ali Baba knew that they were thieves. The leader of the thieves went up and stood in front of a big round stone. He put up his hands and cried. The stone opened slowly and Ali Baba could see a cave. It was big and very dark. The thieves did something and they went out. Ali Baba wanted to know what was inside. He was still afraid but he climbed down and walked over to the stone. He put up his hands and whispered. The stone moved and Ali Baba walked into the cave. He could not believe his eyes. The cave was full of gold and silver. Everywhere he looked he saw gold,gold boxes. Quickly Ali Baba took a bag of gold coins and ran out of the cave. He rode home as fast as he could.

'Look what i have found' he cried to his wife. When she looked in the bag,her eyes grew round with surprise. Ali Baba told her about the thieves.She cried to her daughter, 'Leia,come here. Come and see what your father has found. And then he is going to go to take the all gold and he became very rich man.'

I think the best point in this book is If there is a chance for change it must be exploited, because the chance comes once in a life.

I rate this book as good because it's very nice. The English level I rate as easy so I want to introduce it to my fellow students. :-)

In Trouble With The Law

Kris Chenchop

I read In Trouble With The Law. I started reading it on the 14th of August and I finished reading it on the 16th of August.

This book’s time and place isn’t given. The main character is a boy. I think he is twenty-six years old.

One day Kevin was going to Pam’s birthday in a hotel. Today was Pam’s birthday, and she was buying a few drinks to celebrate. Pam was putting a glass of beer into Kevin’s hand saying "The drinks are on me!" Kevin smiled to himself as he drove away from the hotel. He liked going to the pub and meeting with his friend. Kevin saw a red light flashing. He thought had had an accident. But it wasn’t an accident. It was a police checkpoint. They were looking for drunk drivers. Suddenly Kevin felt worried. He didn’t feel drunk, but he knew he had drunk beer. He wished he could turn the van around, but it was too late. Kevin had got caught by police officers and he got confined to a prison for 2 years.

I think the best point in this book is he was not lucky because he didn’t study the driving laws. He got retribution for not respecting the driving laws.

I rate this book as good because it can teach you about the law. I want to introduce it to my fellow students and everybody who likes to read books.

Extreme Sports

Rungrueang Phamee (Toomtam)

Author: Michael Dean

Genre: Sports

Date Started: Friday August 13, 2010

Date Finished: Sunday August 15,2010

There are many places and times. There is more than one main character. The book explains about many extreme sports such as aerial ballet, aggressive in-line skating, BASE jumping, BMX bike riding (vert), canyoning, cave diving, hang gliding, snowboarding, street luge, wakeboarding, and zorbing.

BASE jumping: BASE jumping started at El Capitan, a 915-meter-high mountain in Yosemite, an American national park in 1978, and from 1981, you have had to do 100 skydives and then you get a BASE number. Phil Smith of Houston, Texas, is BASE 1. You jump off a building, a bridge or a peak with a parachute. You usually open your parachute as late as possible.

Hang gliding: Flying was Bill Moyes's life. He loved to fly, but didn't like airplanes. In 1966, he flew higher than any man in the world, at 350 meters above the ground. In 1970, he stopping jumping off mountains. This is the oldest extreme sport. Otto Lillienthal, a German, did it in 1893

Aerial ballet: Skying Orlando, in Umatilla, Florida, is famous for skydiving. World champions jump from airplanes here and skydive down through the sky. If it is your first visit to Florida and your first skydive you can play $200 for it. You jump out of an airplane with some friends. Before your parachute opens, you dance with them in the sky.

Snowboarding: In 1965, the Poppen family were at home in Michigan, US. Sherman Poppen had an idea. He went into his garage and made a board. Now we call it a snowboard. In 1998, a resort was the first extreme sports center in the US for snowboarding. The Winter X Games were there and snowboarding was one of the games. Snowboarders do tricks on their snowboards in the snow.

Cave diving: You dive under the water with air tanks on your back, for example in Florida in the US. Cave Diving is an expensive sport. The cave is dark and quiet and very beautiful.

Bungee jumping: When you bungee jump, you jump from a mountain or from a building. Bungee jumping started in New Zealand and the magazine National Geographic wrote about it in 1955. The highest bungee jump was 180 meters from a building in Auckland, New Zealand.

BMX bike riding (Vert): Every year in the US there's a Summer X Games and a Winter X Games. The first Summer X Games was in 1995 in Rhode Island. There are three kinds of BMX bike riding. In vert you do as many tricks as you can in one minute.

Aggressive in-line skating: You jump up high on your skates. You kick and you do tricks. You can join in every year in the US at the Summer X Games.

Street luge: The board has wheels on it. You get on the board, on your back, and go down the road at about 110 kph. It is so fun.

Wakeboarding: There is a swim from Alcatraz, a prison in the water near San Francisco. Now every fall, people swim from there to San Francisco. A boat pulls you and your board over the water fast. You do tricks on your board.

Zorbing: You climb into a three-meter ball. Then somebody pushes the ball down the street at about 50 kph.

I think the book tells us that extreme sports are dangerous and exciting. I think the best point in the book is the idea that extreme sports can help us to kill fear. I rate this book as nice because it is not too difficult. I like BMX because it is so fun and amazing. I would recommend other students do it because it is fun and so easy.

Welcome to the Elem DW Blog

Hi everybody. Welcome to the Elem DW blog for the Spring term 2010. I am really looking forward to reading your book reports. Let's encourage each other in our reading.