Us listening to the instructions to tree plant

Keep Durham Beautiful

A couple weeks ago in February our entire grade went for tree planting. We worked with Keep Durham Beautiful to plant. Keep Durham Beautiful is an organization that attempts to keep the city of Durham healthy and tries to increase the greenery of the place. They want ot plant 8500 trees and increase street tree coverage by 55% in 2040.

Next I’ll talk about the steps we did for planting the trees. First we dug a hole in the ground that was around 1 foot deep. Our group had a spot with a LOT of clay, so it was hard. The next step was to shake the soil the tree was already in so that it would loosen up after being in a pot for so long. Then we put the tree in the hole, and covered the rest with the dirt and clay we dug up.

Now I’ll tell you about the history of Keep Durham Beautiful. It is on a place called Hillside Park. Hillside Park High School was built there. Before the construction of this High School, the only schools open to black students that ended at the eight grade were the Whittled, East End, and West End Graded Schools. In the 1950s, Hillside started gaining more students and needing more space, the School Board switfched Whittled Elementary School and Hillside with the building in Whittled Park being part of  the school. Next to the school was the Algonquin Club, a social club for black residents for Durham and Hayti during the Black Wall Street era. The tree planting area is at the Third For Creek Watershed. It has the only river in North Carolina that empties directly into the Atlantic Ocean.

It was important to plant trees there because it was a place with not many trees, but the organization has been trying hard to increase the tree coverage, and they are succeding well. So remember guys, always be kind to nature and help it. Thank you!

Photo by me

ARU SHAH ANDTHE END OF TIME BY ROSHANI CHOKSHI

Hi guys, here is a book review of one of my favorite books. This will be a dual review of both the novel and the graphic novel versions. It is a Indian mythology book.

Book summary: Aru Shah is a 12 year old trying to get through the beast called “seventh grade.” She lives in a museum with her mom, but doesn’ t know anything about her dad. At the very end of a hall in the museum, there lies a diya(an Indian lamp), and its name is The Lamp of Bharata. According to her mother, the diya, if lighted, will release a being that will wake Shiva, the Lord of Destruction, and end time. When her friends come to the museum, they don’t believe the stories that Aru says, because she is a frequent liar with a big imagination. Aru lights the lamp just to prove it to them, and it releases The Sleeper, who wants to wake Shiva and end time. She discovers that she is a reincarnation of a Pandava brother, one of the elite warriors of ancient mythology. She meets with her soul sister, and go to the realm of the gods, with a pigeon nicknamed Boo, who Aru meets after she lights the diya. They are claimed by their soul fathers, gods (I am not going to say which father, because that would spoil a big moment in the book). Their soul fathers give them very unusual gifts. A glowing ping pong ball, and a compact mirror. Then, the celestial council says that they have to go on a quest to stop the Sleeper. They have to face many challenges on the way, but how wil they do that? READ TO FIND OUT!

Novel review: I loved this book, as it gave me many moments of suspense, suprise, and happiness. Reading this book helped me learn a lot about Indian mythology. Highly recommend.

10.01/10

Graphic novel review: While I did like this book, it was, in my opinion, nowhere near as good as the novel. It leaves out many key details in the book, and goes by too fast. I literally finished it in around 30 mins. It was an okay book, but if you have already read the novel, I don’t think you should read the graphic novel, unless you really like illustrative examples of reading.

6/10

Welp. Here we are again. I have no idea how its happened again, BUT WE HAVE A SNOW DAY!!!! This time the snow was actual snow, not ice. It was so fluffy, almost fragile. It had the texture of dust. It was perfect for a snowball. Me and my friend were plotting against my other friend. We were kind of annoyed that he wasn’t coming out to play, so me and her planned to make two huge snowballs to throw at him. My snowball was so big that it looked like the head of a snowman. I needed TWO hands to carry it. Then, once our snowballs were complete, we headed to my friend’s house. My accomplice’s brother was distracting my friend so that he would come out. He knew that we had snowballs, but as soon has he saw mine, he started screaming. And, of course, I threw it at him. Then, once he came out with all of his gear, we all had a snowball fight. Then, after that, my friend that threw the other snowball with me left. So then we went to the lake(the same one as last time). And once we were half way there, another one of our friends joined us and we had a small snowball fight, and then went to the lake. And what can I say but WOW. It was completely frozen over; almost like an ice skating rink, and twice as strong as last time. I didn’t take the risk of standing on it, but my friend did. He also picked up a huge piece of black ice on the way there, and I made another one of my huge snowballs. We did this to throw at the lake. We both did, with another small snowball, and neither shattered the lake. Then, on the way back, we found my friend’s sister and her friend.  We had a snowball fight, and near the end, another one of my friends came. We went back to the lake, and he almost fell in(same one that almost fell in last time). Finally, we went back home, but one of my friend’s dad came and we had a mega snowball fight. And then I went back home for lunch. I didn’t go out for the rest of the day, but I did some 3D modeling for my 3D printer, played some video games, and finally played some ping pong with my dad. I finally beat him for the first time in months. And then we played my mom’s friend’s baby. Overall, today was even BETTER than last time, and I hope your snow day(if you had one) was awesome too!

Here are some cool weather facts about where I live(North Carolina)

• Winters can range from spring-like to snowy

• Lowest temperature in NC ever is -34 degrees F

• Highest temperature in NC ever is 110 degrees F

Photo by me

When you look out your window, what do you see? You see a placid ordinary neighborhood, but not on the last weekend of January, 2026. When I looked outside my window, I saw my neighborhood completely white, as though someone painted white paint all over it. Houses: white. Roads: white. Cars: WHITE. There were three good and bad things that came of this. One, the snow wasn’t snow. It was ice. Imagine, trying to go outside, having a friendly snowball fight with your friends, and can’t even pick up the ice, and when you break it apart enough, form it into a snowball, and try to throw it at your friend, it travels 2 feet, and disentigrates into powder. One of the good things was that the ground was PERFECT for speed sledding. We have a hill in our neighborhood separating it so that there was a lower and higher section. Luckily, we were on the higher section so that we didn’t have to walk all the way up from the lower section. We each took turns with one person pulling and one person in the sled. It was SO FUN!!!! At first I was screaming like there’s no tomorrow, but soon, we all pretended like we were cowboys and used the reigns for horse whips(spoiler alert, we didn’t go faster 😭). The next fun thing that happened has to do with a lake. We have a lake in the outskirts of our neighborhood, and my friend group loves to go their to chill. Think of it like a base or happy place for us. And one of my friends said to go check out the lake if it was frozen. IT WAS. My friend had a metal rod, and started poking at the ice. It broke apart, and he used those pieces to make even MORE holes. It was so fun, and my friend decided to step on the ice, and almost fell in(don’t worry, he didn’t). And all that was on Sunday. Yesterday was a little more mellow with the ice melting and just staying inside. I played some video games, worked on some projects, did some homework, the usual. Then in the evening we called all of the friend group to play ping pong at my house. It was fun for two reasons. One: everybody in the group was here and that was kind of rare, and two: one of our friends recently moved away, but he came to visit today. I dominated everybody because I used to go to coaching. Today, I didn’t do much because the snow melted. I just had a pretty normal day and did some homework. Anyways, this weekend is probably one of the best snow/ice weekends yet. I had so much fun, and I hope you did too!

Photo by me

WINGS OF FIRE THE GRAPHIC NOVEL: TALONS OF POWER BY TUI T. SUTHERLAND AND MIKE HOLMES

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Hey guys hope you all had an amazing Christmas and New Year’s. Here is my latest blog.

Summary:

Turtle is a very boring dragon. But he is an animus, which is almost like a dragon magician. He can enchant objects to do whatever he wants, but these wonderful powers come with a cost. He loses a piece of his sould every time he casts a spell. He wants to do what is easy, but not necessarily right. He now has to cope with these conditions when the most powerful dragon in history, Darkstalker awakes from his underground prison. It is terrifying as he is the descendant of the person Darkstalker hates the most, even though he does not do it. He literally must go on a quest to find out what Darkstalker is doing and eavesdrop on him. How can Turtle manage all of this? READ TO FIND OUT!!!

My opinion:

This was a really great book, and had some amazing cliffhangers. Like Wings of Fire The Graphic Novel: Darkstalker, Tui T. Sutherland did a great job putting her novel into a graphic form, with all of her artists. It was really fun to read, and I absolutely loved it! Highly recommend reading

11/10

(By the way, some exceptional books that I read may have a rating larger than ten, as you can see above.)

Hi guys,

I haven’t posted in a while, but here is my latest post:

In LA class, we had a project about snakes. It was essentially choosing a snake, then doing research on the snake, then writing an essay on the snake. This is because in class, we are reading a book called Squirm by Carl Hiaasen. The main character is obsessed with snakes, hence our project being about snakes. My snake was the king cobra. Below is my drawing of a king cobra and my essay. (Note: Our LA teacher Ms. Williams outlined my drawing with Sharpie, and she also read over my essay.)

Photo by me

Hi guys, this post is going to be how to find books that you like

Here is a three pronged approach on how to find appealing books.

• Figure out what genre you like. (For example, I like fantasy or young adult books.)
• Do some research on highly rated books in that genre. (For example Wings of Fire or Percy Jackson is pretty highly rated for fantasy.)
• Go to a local library or bookstore (or Amazon, whatever you like) and get that book. (I get Wings of Fire very often and got every single Percy Jackson book).

I hope this blog helps get you books that appeal to you!

Photo by me

Photo by me

HOUSE ARREST BY K.A HOLT

Hey guys, sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Here is my latest review.

Summary:

Timothy is a troubled boy in middle school. He has been put under house arrest. You may be thinking, what could a literal middle schooler do to be put under house arrest? Well, he stole a wallet. This is because he has a little brother named Levi, who has severe breathing problems, and has a trache tube. Since medicine was getting expensive, without thinking, Timothy stole a man’s wallet. Hence, him being put under house arrest. His brother, James, is in juvie. Timothy has to get therapy from a woman named Ms. Bainbridge. His life is not exactly the brightest. But there are a few things that make his life worthwile. He is allowed to go to his friend’s house, José. Possibly the brightest thing in his life is José’s entire family, but in specific, his little sister, Isa. She is a torrent of brightness for him.

While researching for medicine and treatment he finds a doctor who can perform surgery for him. There is one setback though. However many times Timothy writes to the doctor, he never responds. Also, it is expensive, and the doctor is in Miami. How will Timothy overcome these challenges? READ TO FIND OUT!

My Review:

I absolutely loved this book! It made me feel happy, sad and everything in between! I totally recommend reading it.

9/10

THE CURSED BOON: A STORY FROM INDIA RETOLD BY AYUSHMAN

Just before Thanksgiving break, in school, my peers and I had an assignment called the Wisdom Tales. We were reading these stories that generally told a moral, and we were supposed to turn one of them into a short comic, or make the comic with other stories. I chose an ancient Indian story called The Cursed Boon. The moral is to be wise with your choices.

THE STORY

Once upon a time, there was an asura(a demon) named Bhasmasura that prayed hard to the major Indian god, Shiva. Shiva saw these prayers and wanted to grant him a boon (a wish). He promised to grant anything. Bhasmasura wanted the boon to be to turn people to ash as soon as he touched their head. Shiva reluctantly agrees, and realizes he has made a mistake. Bhasmasura chases him, in hopes to turn Shiva to ashes, and another major Indian god, Vishnu sees this conundrum. He changes into a beautiful maiden named Mohini and approaches Bhasmasura from behind a tree. This was so Shiva could get away. Bhasmasura instantly falls in love with Mohini and asks her to marry him. She says only if he does whatever she says, and Bhasmasura says yes. She says for Bhasmasura to touch his head with his hand, and blinded by love, he says yes. This ultimately lead to his demise: a pile of ashes.

The instructions were that we could include a little modernity, so my comic may not be exactly like the traditional story. The comic is included below. Enjoy!

Photos by me. Used Comic Life 3 for template and Sketchbook for drawings.

WINGS OF FIRE LEGENDS: DARKSTALKER THE GRAPHIC NOVEL by Tui T. Sutherland and Jake Parker.

Photo by me

This story follows the adventures and POV of three dragons: Darkstalker the Nightwing, Clearsight the Nightwing, and Fathom the Seawing.

Darkstalker is the rarest case of hybrids, Nightwings, and dragons in general. He was hatched under three full moons, granting him the powers of mind reading and prophecy. He is also an animus, making him one of the rarest dragons to live on Pyrrhia (the dragon planet). His mother was a Nightwing and his father was an Icewing animus granting him his powers. But the powers of an animus has a huge cost. Every time he uses his magic, he loses a part of his soul. How will Darkstalker manage to successfully use his magic and not turn evil?

Clearsight is the most powerful seer the Nightwing tribe has ever seen. She uses her powers  to see the future, and is destined to be Darkstalker’s soulmate. She is bent on making sure that their future together is happy and they don’t go on a bad timeline. How will Clearsight make sure that Darkstalker doesn’t go mad with power and live happily?

Fathom is another extremely rare dragon. He is an animus as well. He is trained by Albatross, the first known Seawing animus. During a party for Skywing guests, Albatross goes mad and nearly murders the entire Seawing royal family, including the queen. Fathom escapes and kills him with help of his best friend Indigo. After his sister becomes queen, she orders Fathom to never use his magic and not go near Indigo because Fathom cannot have dragonets to pass down his animus powers, since Fathom has a huge crush on Indigo. He is then sent to the Night kingdom to tell Darkstalker the cost of his power, since Darkstalker uses his power frivolously. He is sent with Indigo as a guard with two other guards. How will Fathom manage all of this?

Overall this was a really great book and I totally enjoyed reading it! The twist of a graphic novel on a great novel was really enjoyable and fun, and I loved every moment of it!

10/10