Memoirs of a Huguenot Family by James Fontaine

My Culture Project at school is going great!

I am doing my project on my great x 11 grandfather, James Fontaine. He had an amazing life and cool family history. His great great grandfather was a member of the royal court in France in the early 1500s but was assassinated after he became a protestant and resigned his position on the court. James had trouble with the French because of this and fought French Pirates to defend his home in Ireland. If you want to read what really happened with him, his book is on the web. Click Here to go to it. Some of the parts are boring, but some are really unbelievable.

I am writing a 5+ page fictional story about him, focusing on the two pirate attacks he faced. Right now, I am outlining it. The outline is due this Friday, May 2nd. I'm actually pretty confident about this project. (Okay... I'm still worried about the speech part.) This isn't one of those boring school papers. This is an exciting story about something that really happened to my own ancestor. (Okay, that sounds a lot more fun when you say it that way.) I am about halfway through the outline already and I started it today! I have a feeling that I'll do fairly well. Wish me luck!

New Warriors Books

Hooray!!!

Warriors: Outcast is finally here! I had pre-ordered it and it came yesterday, along with Warriors: Warrior's Return, Eragon, Fablehaven, and The Sword of Shannara (I know I spelled that wrong!) I read all of Warrior's Return on the drive to a Mariners game last night (they were out of Free Ichiro Bobble Heads when we got there.) I started Outcast on the drive to the ski slopes today. I am really excited. I've been waiting for a while.
I am still reading The Hobbit and I have just finished the chapter "Queer Lodgings." It was a really good chapter! I can't wait to see why the next chapter is called "Flies and Spiders." I have a pretty good idea though. I should have a post saying that I've finished Outcast (or The Hobbit) in a day or 2.

Passover and a Hobbit

Happy Passover!!!

Passover is a week long Jewish Holiday that started last night. It is one of my favorite holidays. For the first two nights, we have a Seder, which means "order." We eat all sorts traditional foods, like gefilte fish, charoset, and hard-boiled eggs. (Ok, the hard-boiled eggs aren't a traditional food.) Last night, my brother had some bitter herbs, or maror, and his face turned beat red. I was laughing my pants off. Tonight we have cousins coming and we have another cousin coming on Thursday. This is such a great holiday!

Also, the other night I started The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I had no idea the group faced the trolls that early in the book... in chapter 2! I heard that The Hobbit is a lot easier to read then LOTR. Can you guys post a comment confirming or un-confirming what I've been told? Thanks.

Future Fantasy

First of all, I have just finished Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia. The actual battle took up a lot of chapters. It was a great book.

Today, I'm going to talk about upcoming fantasy books that I am jumping out of my pants to read:

Fantasy author T.A. Barron has just released the cover and description of his upcoming trilogy, Merlin's Dragon. Merlin's Dragon is set right in-between The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon. To visit his website, Click Here. If you haven't read any of his books and you have no idea what I'm talking about, your missing out. Both The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon are amazing stories. If you have read them, post a review (if you want) here. I want to here what you think of the book. Also, if you have read The Adventures of Kate by T.A. Barron, tell me how it is. I'm thinking about reading it.It is being released in Fall of 2008.

Another fantasy book I can't wait to read is Warriors: The Power of Three: Outcast. This one is a little closer than Merlin's Dragon. It is coming out on April 22, 2008, a few days from now. This is the 3rd book in The Power of Three series. I've been waiting for it to come out ever since the 2nd book came out. On the same day, I'm pretty sure two other Erin Hunter books are being released. They are Warriors: Manga edition: Warrior's Return and Seekers: Book 1: The Journey Begins. I am a little less excited for these two. To visit the Warriors website, click here. If you've read any Warriors books, pick your favorite and post a small review here. (If you want to.)

Next, Charlie Bone and the Shadow by Jenny Nimmo is being released this Fall 2008. Jenny Nimmo has also posted the new cover recently. A lot of people haven't heard of Charlie Bone, but it is a very good series. If you have read it, once again, post a review here on your favorite. (From now on, their all if you wants.) To visit Jenny Nimmo's website, click here.

Wow!!! I just found out that Ranger's Apprentice: Book 5: Sorcerer in the North will be released in the US in November of 2008. Just a few more months! If you have read any Ranger's Apprentice books blah blah blah, blah blah. You know what I was going to say. To visit John Flanagan's site, click here. To see the cover of book 5, US edition, click here.

And then of course, there are the upcoming books we all probably know about. There's Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, and mot importantly, Farworld--Water Keep by our friend J Scott Savage. Sheesh. I just listed out almost all of the books that I'm dieing for. Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

By the way, WASL testing days: 3 down, 3 to go.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia

I have just started reading Ranger's A.... whatever, I'm just going to say the second part from now on... The Battle for Skandia. So far, I'm on page 109, and the main characters have escaped from some enemies, been captured by new enemies, almost escaped, saved by old friends, discovered a plot to take over at least 4 other countries, and have found that the enemy has already secretly moved their entire army into Skandia, one of the countries they plan to conquer. I can't wait to see what happens in the next 294 pages. By the way, in Australia, this book is actually titled "Oakleaf Bearers" instead of The Battle for Skandia. Cool huh. This is such a great series... even though it is such a mouthful. Well, I have to get ready. Writing 1 WASL today. Wish me luck!

Karate + WASLs

First of all, WASLs ARE HERE!!!! I just took the reading 1WASL today. I think I did pretty well. Here is the WASL schedule (as far as I know.): Reading 1 (done,) Writing 1, Reading 2, Writing 2, Math 1, and Math 2. Tomorrow, I have to take Writing 1! Duh duh duhhhhh. Here comes my doom, so wish me luck.

Second of all, Great job Ezra! Today, he passes his belt test (I didn't even know it was testing day) to advance to blue belt. Since Jordan and I took an extra week of karate camp, we were blue belts already, but since we weren't ready to test yet (the blue belt form is hard,) Ezra will finally be the same belt as us. Congratulations Ezra!!!

The Icebound Land + My Annoying Little Brothers

First of all, I am almost done with Ranger's Apprentice: The Icebound Land. I have about 30 pages left. Then I can begin book four, The Battle for Skandia. There are actually 7 books, but only books 1-4 are released here in the U.S. yet. The rest are all released in Australia though, so if you ever take a trip there, take your chance and get books 5, 6, and 7.

Next, MY BROTHERS ARE SO ANNOYING. They woke me up at 6:57 AM... ON A SATURDAY!!! SO THAT THEY COULD WATCH SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS LOUD ENOUGH! Tomorrow, we're going skiing, so I won't get to in then! Now I have to wait another whole week! They are in for a rough day... and I'm in for a rougher week. WASLs!!! Oh well, at least Ezra has them too.

Poll Closed

Thank you for voting on my poll. The question was

Have you ever visited any of the links on my blog?

80% (8 people) voted for Yes, I have.
20% (2 people) voted for No, I haven't. (It was actually supposed to say, No, but I will.)

WASL Testing

Here in WA, at school, our standardized testing is called the WASL. It stands for Washington Assessment of Student Learning. I am getting kinda stressed out. I am confident in almost all of my subjects except for Writing. Ironic, huh. The kid who reads almost 24/7 and is thinking about being a writer when he grows up is not very sure of himself in writing. Usually, when it comes to school writing, I stink. However, when it comes to writing for fun, I'm actually OK. Why can't they just make school writing seem fun? Wish me luck on the testing. It starts next week.

The Icebound Land

I have just begun Ranger's Apprentice: Book 3: The Icebound Land. I am only a few pages into it and there is already a huge adventure underway. Will and his new friend, Evanlyn, are trapped on a wolf ship by some Skandians. They are now in the middle of "the mother of all storms." I can't wait to see what happens next. This is a great series.

Happy Birthday, Grandaddy!

First of all, I'd just like to say that I have just finished Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge, and I'm in the process of convincing my mom to take me to a bookstore to buy The Icebound Land. The Burning Bridge left me hanging big time.

Second and most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY (even if a few days late) TO GRANDADDY! Tonight is his party. He turned 70 on Wednesday. This party is practically a family reunion. We've already seen most of the family though. This will also be a good opportunity to get more info for the family tree. Luckily, the party is only a 3 minute walk away. I still need to shower...

Family Tree

My family tree research is going well. Last night, my grandma and I were adding more stuff into the tree and finding more stories about certain parts of the Brewton/Fontaine family. We found that there was also a book called the Memoirs of Jean de la Fontaine. It might have been Jacues de la Fontaine. Right now, a 40 something page long paper is being printed with lots of names to put into the family tree. Uh oh! It just ran out of paper.

2 minutes later...
I found the paper.

2 more minutes later...
Ok. That was a pain. I think I loaded enough paper to finish. (I hope.) Either way, the tree is really good. We have info on ancestors all the way from about the 1400s! For the project, we have to do a paper, a speech, and a visual display. I think I have the visual display covered. I'll do the time line and some pictures. I have no clue what I'll do on the other two though. Once I get the full rubric, I'll post some more info here. I have a feeling that I might need your help with thinking of ideas.

Random Stuff: April

To start off the month, I am going to get a lot of random stuff out of my head.

1.) APRIL FOOLS!!! I really am going to say a bunch of random stuff though... I guess that was one of them.

2.) I have just begun Ranger's Apprentice: Book 2: The Burning Bridge. I like it so far.

3.) I love being back here in Savvannah! It's warm. There's lots of family here. My best friend, Jeremy, lives here.

4.) Boy do I love Snow Crab! My mom and I went to a seafood restaraunt in downtown Savannah last night, and the snow crab was beyond good!

5.) I am working on a family tree/ family culture project for school. My grandma showed me a family tree she'd been working on, and it said that we had a very distant, but possible, ancestor who was in the crusades! Jon de la Fontain (I know I spelled that wrong.) How is that for cool!

6.) My other grandma said that she was working on another family tree, from a different part of my family. She says it's hard because my great great grandpa or something moved from Austria around the late 1800s so it's hard to track. However, she said that she found a relative who was on the side of the Confederates during the Civil War who was buried in a graveyard in this very city. My grandpa never even knew he existed!!!

7.) My brothers are so dang annoying!!! They always "have" to have the computer. I am beginning to wish that I had brought my laptop.

8.) The other day, my brother found a Nintendo DS game, The Sims 2: Pets, on the street! He is beyond lucky. (If only I still had my DS. 'sniff' sniff' I lost mine on a plane last summer. Oh well!

9.) I'm running out of random stuff to talk about.

10.) I can't wait to go to Camp Judea this summer in June. It's a sleepaway camp in NC where we stay for a month. Amazingly though, this will be the first time in years that I've gone to camp without having to leave school early. They've always overlapped. Sadly, there are no computers at camp for me to blog on.

11.) I really need to make a new poll.

I am completely out of random stuff to talk about. Hope everyone has a "foolish" April Fools day!