5 Paragraph Persuasive Essay

I got this picture from http://bearheadpublishing.com/Authors.html

Mackenzie - The Best Author There EVER Was!

When I grow up I think I'd make a great author. I've always enjoyed writing. ONe of my favorite things to do is write stories about magical places, real, or not real. I even have a little bit of experience at writing from my 7th grade journalism class. I'm really comfortable with writng, I love to write short stories, and I've have experience, therefore, I will be the best author that ever was!

Writing has always come naturallly to me. There was that time when I wrote a short story about a land with dragons and fairies, trolls and ogres, and magical beings. I'm always eager to write about anything and everything. Whenever I'm writing, I like to picture myself in the place and doing what the person/thing is and thinking what they're thinking. Being able to write is the first step along the path to becoming an author.

Easily making up stories is another thing I really enjoy. It's so exciting to make something that means so much with only words! When I'm making these stories, I feel like a magical wizard or something that can create whatever she/he wants to! I am to writing, what a bun is to a hotdog. Being able to make up stories and poems for the rest of my life would be so fantastic!

Being an author takes special talents. I gained a lot of experience at my journalist class in 7th grade. I learned a lot about how to write sentences in an interesting way that catches the reader. For example, I once made a poem in the class call Nothing changes, and my teacher said that it was very beautiful and sad at the same time. The time I spent wring in Journalism class is sure to give me an advantage when it comes to being an author.

The three most important ingredients required in order to become an successful author are being comfortable with writing, being able to write interesting and well-made stories, and having lots of experience, and guess what! I've got them all! I want to write a story with meaning and truth right now! I'm never so happy as when I'm in the midst of reading and writing. It's like one of my teachers said, "you're a great writer!" When I write, I feel like the Queen of the Writing World! That's why I'll be the best author there ever was!

Time for a Far North Book Review!

I got this picture at http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Far-North-Will-Hobbs/?isbn=9780060540968

      

Far North, by Will Hobbs, is about a boy named Gabe Rogers and his roommate Raymond Providence, who get lost with an elderly native Nahanni named Johnny Raven in Canada's Virginia Falls after the float plane they were riding in's engine failed. They had almost all of the survival gear to live out in the wilderness, but "The Hammer" was coming down fast and the food was running out. They had a rifle, so Johnny Raven used that to get a moose. But then the boys decided that it would be better to go down the river on a raft, before the whole river froze up, even though they knew that they couldn't take all of the moose meat (which could last the whole winter) with them. After floating down the river for a couple of days, the boys found a cabin that they decided would be their home for the rest of the winter. Johnny Raven went out every night with the rifle for food, but on night he didn't come back, so they went out to find him half frozen, lying dead on the ground. They didn't have time to do a proper burial, so instead they cremated him. On the very spot they did so, there were some northern lights, like his spirit, floating up into the stars. After that, when they decided to make a toboggan and sled down the river ice towards the village that Raymond knew lie at the end of the river, they didn't make it all the way. The second time, they at least made it to where Raymond thoughts some moose would be residing. They shot one moose (with the help of some wolves and a raven,) and brought it back to the cabin in halves, but the first half that they stored got eaten by a grizzly. So, instead of staying in the cabin the rest of winter, with barely any food left, they decided to sleigh down the river (a third time!), but actually, finally, they made it to the hot springs near the village that Raymond knew was there! FINALLY!

One of the main themes in the book is friendship. An example of how this theme is shown is when Gabe tells Raymond what he thought about leaving him out in the cold, all alone, with a hurt foot, and plus, an extra treat, wolves hanging out in the night-time forest. He pleaded, "Listen, you're the best friend I'm ever going to have. That's what I'm talking about. I've just been hearing about what you're mother said, how life is the greatest gift. She's right. That's why we've been trying so hard to stay alive. But friendship, that's as close to the top of the list as you can get." That's why I think that friendship is one of many main themes in this book.

I would not recommend this book to other 7th grade readers because I didn't really enjoy it myself. This book is about surviving, action, and adventures. I don't really like those types of things. I'm more of a fantasy, sci-fi, magical type of girl. (STAR WARS!!!) I think that if you like those outdoorsy type things, then this book would be perfect for you. If you read this book, and you like it, then here are some other books by this same author, Will Hobbs, which you might enjoy: Leaving Protection, Downriver, and the sequel to Downriver, River Thunder. That is why I wouldn't really recommend this book to other 7th grade readers that aren't into outdoorsy type things.



Perfect Paragraph Practice

I think that what Thoreau said about man and our tools is true. Of course, we don't really know how to live off the land, but I think we should learn for ourselves and for our planet. "Men are becoming the tools of our tools," is a very true statement. The hippies who followed the examples of this (not the ones who did drugs...) were actually kind of right in a way. We are destroying our planet. We all think we're so smart, but if you sit there, and really think about things, in a hundred years or so, all of our scientific reasoning would be thought of as primitive. That's why I think that Thoreau was right that "Men are becoming the tools of our tools," is a bad thing, except for candy factories, of course!

Picture of Henry David Thoreau

I got this picture at:

http://www.transcendentalists.com/1thorea.html