The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Trenton Lee Stewart
*****

The Mysterious Benedict society is a book of great action and spying. In this fabulous book four children are recruited to help save the world against an evil mastermind.

Reynie, a great puzzle solver and logic thinker, Sticky, a boy of great intelligence and can remember everything he sees, Kate, a natural spy in ways of sneaking and climbing with her own supply of gadgets, and Constance, an annoying three-year-old are all recruited by a mysterious Mr. Benedict. Mr. Benedict and his company, Rhonda, Milligan and Number Two, are intent on stopping an evil mastermind who is nun other than Mr. Benedict's twin, Mr. Curtain.

So Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance are sent as students to the Learning Institute of the Very Enlightened (LIVE) to uncover a plot of brain-washing and thought broadcasting, traps and codes, and winning and losing. These children agree that they must have a name and agree on the Mysterious Benedict Society...

Vocab Story 1

The theif tip-toed to the science department. It was the building with the corrugated roof. When he was sure no one was looking he smashed the window and crept inside.

The science lab had a fetid smell to it. Te theif looked around and spotted his target; a frothing vial. He took one step toward it when the sound of the door being slammed open made him stop. He felt like he was gagging.

'Stop right there you nefarious theif you. This is intolerable.' shouted the guard that strode inside. 'You'll be sent to a very desolate prison cell for this.'

The theif hated getting caught. But he hated getting caught by that perticular guard because he was a very conceited guard. The guard wore a guard's uniform and a frivolous hat.

So that was how the nefarious, fetid theif found himself gagging in a intolarable, desolate cell for trying to steal a frothing vial and how the conceited guard won a frivolous, corrugated badge.

10 Vocab Sentences

1. When I walked into my bathroom I smelled something fetid so I dicided to find out what it was.

2. This afternoon I nearly slipped on the corrugated tiling on my roof.

3. If I saw someone nefarious I would ring the police.

4. My teacher said that it was intolerable to break into the classroom.

5. My dad's coffee was frothing at breakfast this morning.

6. In my science class I learnt about how to use a vial or a test tube.

7. The ghost town was very desolate because it was in the middle of the desset.

8. My dad was gagging on his frothing coffee this morning.

9. It turned out that the fetid smell was a frivolous bar of soap.

10. The fetid, frivolas bar of soap was bought by my conceited, bossy cousin.

6 Sentinces That Me, I Mean I, Wrote Correctly

1. My mother, father, brother and I live in Jakarta.
2. On the way to school my friend said hello to me.
3. I tripped on my own feet.
4. I talked to some friends.
5. Some friends talked to me.
6. It took me a week to finish my project.

Galaxy of Fear Series

Galaxy of Fear
by John Whitman
*****

The Galaxy of Fear Series by John Whitman is a Star Wars series based on the adventures of siblings Zak and Tash Arranda, their uncle Hoole and their droid, D-V9.

There are 12 books to the galaxy of fear series named Eaten Alive, City of the Dead, Planet Plague, The Nightmare Machine, Ghost of the Jedi, Army of Terror, The Brain Spiders, The Swarm, Spore, The Doomsday Ship, Clones and The Hunger. All in all not the most attractive of names.

Zak and Tash are orphans who live with their uncle Hoole. Since Uncle Hoole is a scientist, studying different lifeforms, Zak and Tash visit many different planets. But after they start to trouble the imperial, an evil dictatorship, they try going into hiding but often stumble upon danger. They have been imprisoned, disected, menaced by zombies and attacked by shadows. A very exciting series.

I thought that galaxy of fear was a series that made you want to read the next book. My favourite book was Spore because it had a lot of good action.

Characterisation-Zak Arranda

In the Star Wars Galaxy of Fear series by John Whiteman, Zak Arranda is one of the three main protagonists. He has very life-like feelings that everyone can relate to. John Whiteman has done an excellent job at bringing him to life.

On page 7 of The Doomsday Ship, Zak thinks that his Uncle Hoole and his Sister are his last surviving relatives. He cares about them and would do anything to keep them alive. Zak also cares about his dead parents and thinks about them a lot and often dreams about them. In all, the thing that Zak cares about the most is family.

On page 5 Zak notes that he lives in The Shroud, a small spaceship that moves from planet to planet. Zak has had to live there ever since his home planet was destroyed. Zak's uncle is a scientist who studies life forms on different planets and is the reason The Shroud keeps moving around. Zak often wishes that he could settle down on a planet and live a normal life.

On page 6 Zak states that his main problem is to escape the imperial, a dictatorship whose evil scientific experiments Zak and his family have ruined. They are now on the run and Zak, who has been betrayed many times by harmless looking characters, is usually suspicious of anyone that he has not known for a few days.

In all Zak has some real world emotions, such as when he is annoyed by his sister, jealous of his sister's talents and frightened in a crisis. John Whiteman makes Zak Arranda a very believable character.

Earthquake

Earthquake

On the 2nd of September, 2009 an earthquake hit Java. This gives me another opportunity to mention nature's balance with humans (see Taiwan Environment).

Jakarta is in the ring of fire and so is likely to have an earthquake. The earthquake was weak in Jakarta but a bit outside of the city, there has been reports of at least 44 people dead. Some houses in Jakarta are weak and fell down during the earthquake.

This earthquake did not cause mudslides, such as typhoon morocat did because the ground in Jakarta is flat, not hill-covered like Taiwan. This shows how natural disasters work in different areas. I also mentioned that many people died. This shows how people work with the natural disasters. But not as many people died as in Taiwan due to the lack of mountains.

All this shows how the environment, natural disasters and people work together in different ways.