The Wesnaclama Blog

    Hey guys, its Clara back at it again with another book review. This month I read The Outsiders , by S. E. Hinton. The book is told from the view of Ponyboy Curtis, the youngest member of a gang in the 1960’s from the less wealthy East side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The gang is called the Greasers (from the grease put in their hair.) He lives with his two older brothers, Sodapop, an extroverted and charismatic high school dropout, and Darry, an invulnerable, steely, hard worker who acts a guardian for the two of them after the death of their parents. The Greasers have a rivalry with a higher-class gang on the West side of Tulsa called the Socs, short for Socials. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy and his Greaser friends fight for power in their town with the Socs.      Though much of the book revolves around the gang rivalry between the Greasers and the Socs, the real center of it is the character development of Ponyboy and how he comes to understan...

Emma M.      Silence gives us the power to control ourselves and our reactions to the environment around us. Moments of silence can be unprecedented in the wake of a constantly noiseful world. They can be very strange and unwanted or a breath of fresh air. We need to learn to use silence, not as a form of rebellion or oppression, but as a tool to find ourselves. Silence in the Age of Noise, written by Erling Kagge, gives a summary and guide to finding true silence with ourselves in the hustle-bustle lifestyle of society today.      First, let me mention a few things about the author, Erling Kagge. He is a Norwegian author, publisher, lawyer, and explorer (plus a few other things). His identification as an explorer intrigues me most because we are all explorers in life in one way or another. However, Kagge is a true explorer and takes exploration to another level. In the book, Kagge describes his trip to the Arctic, alone and far away from civilization witho...

*Spoilers for Legend * Hello all! I’m Wes and today I’ll be talking about Prodigy . In my last blog post, I talked about Legend , the first book in Marie Lu’s Legend Trilogy. Prodigy is the second book in the trilogy. Prodigy picks up where Legend left off, after June helps Day escape from his execution. I’ll skip the introductions as you already know them. After Day and June’s escape, they head to Las Vegas, which is now a military city after the rise of the Republic. However, during their time in Las Vegas, something unbelievable happens: the Elector Primo dies. This doesn’t stop Day and June however, as they went to Las Vegas for another reason. Soon, their plan works. Day and June are contacted by the Patriots, a group that is dedicated to reuniting the Colonies and the Republic into what it was (The United States of America). The Patriots have a plan for Day and June. Day and June must kill the late Elector’s son, Anden, who himself is now the elector. Along Day and June’...

Sup! It’s Nate here again, and today I will be telling you why the Inheritance cycle is an excellent series that you should read. The Inheritance cycle is made up of four books: Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance. It falls into the category of fantasy--there are dragons, elves, dwarves, and other creatures. Eragon was Christopher Paolini’s debut novel, written in his late teens, and it was fantastically received. Summary (spoilers!!!) Eragon, a poor farm boy, finds a strange stone while hunting that turns out to be a dragon egg! The egg hatches, and Eragon and the dragon (Saphira) quickly bond. However, strange creatures called the Ra’Zac kill Eragon’s uncle, whom he lives with because he was abandoned as a baby, and Eragon and Saphira go off to kill them with the help of Brom, a trader who also knows about dragons. The trio gets attacked in the night, and Brom is mortally wounded. As he dies, he reveals to Eragon that he was also a dragon rider. He meets a young man named ...

Hi! This is Clara, and in this blog post I will be reviewing Franchesca Ramsey’s autobiography, Well, That Escalated Quickly. Franchesca Ramsey is an actress, comedian and videoblogger, and is the host of an MTV show called Decoded. Well, That Escalated Quickly is her first book, and it was published in May of 2018. I stumbled across this book in the Uni library after watching a video of hers about reverse racism in Subbie English class. The short video was informative and well thought out, so I was interested to see her thoughts and memories in a full length, customized book. Well, That Escalated Quickly follows the story of Ramsey starting from right before she was thrown into the limelight after releasing a video called “Sh*t White Girls Say… to Black Girls” in 2012. Prior to the video release, Ramsey worked a regular job and was not at all famous. She had dealt with inappropriate comments, actions, and behavior towards her based on her race her entire life. R...

Hi! It’s Emma Murawski. I recently finished reading the amazing book Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change The World by Neil Gaiman.  In Art Matters , Neil Gaiman shares the wonders of appreciating and making art. The book is broken up into four main sections. “Credo,” the first section, describes how to come up with ideas and appreciate their impact on the world. The second section is “Why Our Future Depends On Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming.” That part of the book explains how to use existing resources to expand knowledge and creativity. “Making a Chair” provides warnings and instructions about making a chair and how that task relates to living our lives. The final section, “Make Good Art,” includes specific rules to live by. This last section is the longest and my favorite part of the book. Overall, I found Art Matters inspirational and engaging. I like that Neil Gaiman, author of Art Matters, Stardust, and Coraline , broke the book up into creative a...