Thank You Richardson Middle School!

My  middle school newspaper wrote a spotlight on my blog this issue, check out their newspaper and support the writings of young teens from Torrance! You never know, these voices one day could be the next book that gets reviewed on this blog.

http://thelatesthiss.org/2012/10/29/stacy-bernstein-former-rms-student-writes-a-blog/

#18- Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

#18- Lord Of The Flies

Rating: 8/10

I read this book back in middle school and of course as most middle school students feel about literature I read in school, it was a bit slow paced and I just couldnt get into the story. What I didnt know at the time was that this was more due to the fact that we took turns reading in circles and I would let my mind wander and didnt really get into the story as well as I should have. Let this be a lesson to really pay more attention in class.

I went back and re-read this book this month in order to write a more proper review on it and was pleasantly suprised with the story. I enjoyed it much more than I did as a 13 year old.

The story is about a group of school boys who are on an airplane escaping Britain in the middle of war. The plan in shot down over a deserted island, the only adult on the plane is killed and the children are in a state of shock over what to do next. The main characters are a boy named Ralph, a natural leader who finds a conch shell that they choose to use as a form of government, whoever holds the shell is the one who gets to speak at the moment. Piggy, a boy who others think of as a loser, teased for his geeky manner and glasses, but proven to be helpful to Ralph in getting things started. Then theres Jack, one of the older more privledged boys who thinks that his word is better than anyone elses. He wants to be the supreme leader. Ralph makes him in charge of hunting and Jack brings his friends with him to help.

At first they enjoy their time without adult supervision, they stick together at night with a fire to protect them and wander off during the day enjoying the island before them. But as time continues things start to get weird, boys are afraid of monsters in the night and start to revolt against any form of control. As time goes by and things get bad, people start to realize that there aren't any real monsters, but instead monsters are inside of all of them and its only a matter of time before things start to get scary.

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”