By George R. R. Martin

Andrew Roberts

Recently I had the pleasure of reading the first installment of George R. R. Martin’s series   A Song of Ice and Fire.  I enjoyed A Game of Thrones greatly, and will read it again, along with the other books in the series.  A Game of Thrones was written in 1996, and won the 2004 Locus Award as well as being nominated for the 2004 Nebula Award and the 2004 World Fantasy Award.  There are five books currently in the series, with twi more to be written, A Game of Thrones being the first, and then A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons.  The Winds of Winter, the sixth book, is currently being written.  A Game of Thrones is the base of the first season of HBO’s TV series Game of Thrones, the other books being the bases for the other series.

A Game of Thrones is not a simple book.  It consists of three separate plot lines that do not interact in the book itself, but it can be foreseen that they will affect each other greatly in future books.

The first plot line includes most of the main characters save two.  There are eight Great Houses in a kingdom called the Seven Kingdoms (which is kind of ironic, because there are actually eight) or Westeros.  The story focuses on House Stark, which rule one of the seven parts of this kingdom.  They rule the northern part of the kingdom, and are constantly warning that winter is coming (their slogan is, in fact, that).  After some character development, the King comes to Winterfell, where the Stark family resides.  The King wants Lord Eddard Stark, head of the family and also a friend of King Robert (who is from another of the houses: House Baratheon) to be his new Hand.  The Hand is the second-in-command to the king, and handles matters of money and organization and such (there is a saying: “The King drinks, the Hand buys the wine”).  The King’s previous Hand was mysteriously murdered, and Eddard decides to go to King’s Landing, the capital, to become the Hand and also to find out what exactly happened.  He leaves his son Robb in charge at Winterfell along with his wife.  Just before he leaves, his son Bran falls off the castle roof while climbing.  His wife, Catelyn, learns that he did not in fact fall; he was pushed.  While visiting her son in bed, she is attacked by an assassin with a knife she finds belongs to Tyrion Lannister, a member of House Lannister, which is always vying for power and is feared by many.  Lysa arrests Tyrion Lannister, and in retaliations his brother Jamie attacks Eddard in King’s Landing and kills his guards.  A Civil War erupts.

The second plot line follows Jon Snow, bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark.  Jon, being a bastard, has never fit in, and decides to ‘take the black’, or go to serve on the Wall, a monstrous wall built over centuries to protect the Seven Kingdoms from threats in the north.  He goes to the Wall, and shortly after he arrives his uncle Benjen Stark goest on a scouting trip beyond the wall and never comes back.  The Others (the name for the creatures beyond the wall) are stronger in winter, and winter is coming.
The third and final plot is one that tells the tale of Daenerys Targaryen, the daughter of a king King Robert unseated.  Her and her brother Viserys go out of the Seven Kingdoms to a land to the west where the Dothraki live.  Viserys weds Daenerys to Khal Drogo, in return for an army that he will use to take back the Seven Kingdoms.  That army is never given, and Viserys dies  soon after.  Daenerys becomes pregnant, and Khal Drogo promises his future son the Seven Kingdoms for his rule.

The book does not follow one specific person, so there is not an obvious favorite for the reader.  I personally liked Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Catelyn Stark, and Tyrion Lannister.  Arya is a rebel; she refuses to be made into the stereotypical “lady”, unlike her sister, Sansa, who is very ladylike, but also sides with the enemy because she loves a prince.  Arya does not care what people think she should be, but does what she wants.  She gets trained to fight with a sword her half-brother Jon gives her.  Jon is the bastard of Lord Eddard Stark and another, unknown woman.  He ‘takes the black’, or joins the Night’s Watch, a group of people who defend the kingdom from almost mythical monsters in the far north.  He has, being a bastard, always struggled to fit in, but he does so at the Night Watch.  He earns his peers’ and his superiors’ respect, and, though he struggles, finally finds a home.  Catelyn works behind the scenes to carry messages and to generally assist in ways that others cannot.  She is also a comfort to others and, though discouraged by things such as lying friends and ignorant sisters, is a strong person assisting her son in doing what he needs to do (which is something I will not spoil).

One thing that reoccurs (but is perhaps not the best of messages) is Eddard’s want to do the noble thing, but then that noble decision turns out bad for him.  The message I got from that is this: while the noble thing is seems right, it will not necessarily benefit you or the people around you.  You must not let nobility get in the way of the right choice.

In this story, there are many examples of kids taking the responsibility of adults; Robb becomes Lord when Eddard becomes Hand, among other examples.  I cannot relate to this, and hope not to have that much responsibility ever on me at that age.  I can imagine the feeling of this, and do not think I want it.

I love this book.  I will most definitely read the next books.  A Game of Thrones was a thrilling tale of politics, treachery, and war.  I loved the plot twists and the cliff-hangers and the action.  There is one significant problem I had with the book: there are several vivid descriptions of sexual activity.  While George R. R. Martin could have gone into much more detail, he still passed the line.  I ended up skipping parts where this happened simply because I did not want this in my mind.  When I finished the book, I went back to one occasion and read it for the specific purpose of getting a taste for what the author was trying to convey.  While these incidences do provide a sense of realism, there is no real need for any of them.  The TV show stays true to the book, and visual images are much worse than mental ones.  That is what I would change in this book - I would take these incidences out.

I would most certainly recommend this book to others, but not anyone below high school, because of the things I described in the last paragraph.  This also has a high reading level and is a little slow in the beginning, and weaker readers may find it less enjoyable because of that.  But overall, this is a series I will follow until it ends.

Divergent by Veronica Roth was published April 25, 2011 and  has been a big hit among it’s fans. This is one of the first novels Veronica has written and she did a great portion of it while she was still in college. In 2014, Divergent will become a movie directed by Neil Burger, starring Shailene Woodley, who is best known for her work as, Amy from The Secret Life of the American Teenager, as Beatrice Prior. This is the first book of the Divergent Trilogy including Insurgent and Allegiant that is set to come out this October. The fans can not wait for the 3rd and final book or for the first movie.

In this book, you meet Beatrice Prior, who is a member of the faction, Abnegation. The day she took the test that is designed to help her choose her faction, She gets divergent results, or multiple factions choices that would work for her. At the ceremony, she is faced with staying with her own faction or to go to Dauntless. At the last second, she chooses Dauntless and changes her name to Tris. She then faces initiation which is like a series of tests that determine whether she is ‘dauntless material.’ Tris quickly meets Four and they fall in love with each other and she also discovers that Four is Divergent like herself. She has to be careful though because being Divergent is dangerous. For the final initiation test, Tris is forced to face all of her fears in a simulation and the average number of fears is 14 and but the least number of fears is held by Four, with only four fears. She successfully becomes a Dauntless member but soon after her acceptance, the whole of Dauntless faction is put under a simulation by the Erudite to attack Abnegation, Tris’s old faction. What happens next is up to you to discover because I don’t want to give too much away.

The main character in this book is Beatrice, or Tris Prior previously from Abnegation but after coming up as Divergent, chooses Dauntless where she has to go through the multiple stages of initiation. Before she starts initiation though, she says, “A new place, a new name. I can be remade here.” And she did by changing her name to Tris, getting tattoos and wearing make-up, something she would never do as a member of abnegation. It shows that Tris is finally realizing that she has to be Dauntless now and leave Abnegation behind. Tris is 16 and has a very child-like structure and she is very self-conscious of her herself. She and Four fall in love, but keep it secret until after initiation. Then, Four who is also Divergent and a previous member of Abnegation, is the instructor of Tris’s initiation. He was the first person to ever transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless and only has four fears, hence the name Four. As an initiate, he comes in first but chooses to take a guard position instead a position of power, allowing Eric to take a leading role. Eric is the Dauntless leader who believes in ‘fight until the death’ and whose view constantly clash with Fours beliefs that they should value all of the factions beliefs. Christina is a former Candor and on the first day of initiation, she helps Tris into the moving train. She really encourages Tris to try new things and get more into what Dauntless really is. Al is also a former Candor who only joined Dauntless to please his father. He immediately has a crush on Tris but is shot down by her. When she comes in first in the second phase of initiation, Al Joins Peter and his friends to kill Tris, but they fail when Four comes and puts Drew in the hospital. Peter is also from Candor, but is always insolent and odious towards other people. When someone gets in his way, he tries will all of his mite to tae them out. Peter terrorizes Tris with her past life and what is becoming of it. These are the more prominent characters but there are many others who are just as important. 

The main conflict in this book is between Tris and the Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews. Erudite and Abnegation had been in conflict for a long time becasue Abnegation had all of the political power and the Erudite want the power they have, and when they attack Abnegation with her new faction, Dauntless, that is the last straw. Therefore, this is both and society vs. society and person vs. person conflict. My favorite character is Tris, not only because she is the main character, but because she is also very unique and I feel that I can connect with her on some level. For starters, she is Divergent which makes her different but I thought it took a lot of guts for her to leave her old faction and go into one that she was not very familiar with. I also admire how she amassed enough determination to prove her worth and how strong she is on the inside. I think what readers should take away from this book is to not be afraid to be yourself and make decisions for yourself no matter what others say about it. You never know, you may think you are good at what you do but you might be better at something you have never tried before. It is also important that you value your decisions and stick with them because if you regret a decision, you will never be able to move on.

The character I could relate to was Tris. We have both been in situations where we had to make a big choice that could change our lives and we have also both been uncertain about soem major and minor things. Tris and I are both self-conscious of ourselves al well. One thing the both of us have faced is a love hate relationship with our brothers. Tris’s brother is less than a year older than her so they are about the same age and I have a twin. Both of our brothers think they are right all of the time and try to be helpful but fail in doing so sometimes. We both have also done a lot of volunteer work because of our parents and on our own. A big similarity between us is that we have both felt like we didn’t belong somewhere and we both did something about it. It is not a lot of similarity but it was enough for me to have a connection.

I think the book is spectacular! This is the only book that I have been able to read more than once other than short children's books. The strengths of this book include the fact that it is a great story and the characters are so creative and relatable. This makes the book easier to get into. This book also really flows easily from one scene to the next which I find comforting in a book. I do not think I can pinpoint a weakness in this book, as a result, I feel Veronica Roth is a very adept writer. If I was given the opportunity to change any scene in this book, I wouldn’t do it. Again, I thought it was very well written book and also that it is perfect just the way it is.

I would definitely recommend this book to other people. It is a lot like the Hunger Games series in the post-apocalyptic aspect and the different sections of society. However, this book has a totally different twist that is similar to the Matched series. The ideas of these books makes Divergent what it is. It is not all sappy and love filled but not fraught with action and gore either, but a perfect combination of the two. I think kids and adults alike, would appreciate this book and the story it tells.

Hello Again. My name is Soledad Alfaro-Allah. If you have been following my blog posts you will know that my focus had been on gun violence and the acts of gun violence in the community, especially in places of education. I looked at many places in which to talk about the issue and interpret it. With such recent accidents such as the sandy hook incident and multiple other school shootings that have happened over the years has left us looking at the responsibility of out culture and obtaining from guns and assault weapons completely. If you are not familiar with the sandy hook incident Click here for more information on that. The main thing that I had noticed throughout this project however is that the people who should have a voice simply to not have one when it comes to issues such as this. The people I am referring to is the students of not just Philadelphia but all across America who are victims of severe gun violence and the after effects that it puts on people. For my Agent of change project I decided to help students in philadelphia who are my age and older find their voices through something that I love doing. Poetry. I am a Philly youth poet involved with an organization called Slam League  which is where high school’s from all over Philadelphia join together to share original poetry. I decided to impact the topic of poetry in Philly by giving my fellow high schooler’s something to write about. Gun violence. I had the privilege of running a PYPM workshop and the topic that I decided to focus on was gun violence in our schools. How it impacts us, and how we respond to it. Many of the kids said well it is something that we cannot help and it is just the way things are. For others they wanted to recognize their voice and help be apart of the solution of gun violence. We talked about what are some of the causes of gun violence in schools. What are some of the things that cause people to act this way? Columbine was a raised topic of conversation. It had been said that the boys who had shot the school and committed an awful act of terrorism were bullied. Bullying was one of the factors that we came up with during this discussion, along with mental problems, because of the man who was responsible for the incident at sandy hook and to my surprise religious beliefs and the topic of the world trade center bombing came up. An event that made many people look at war and violence in a different way. Click here for a poem about one man’s struggle through it.  These different acts of violence affect us in so many different ways as students and citizens of this city. The following question was how did and or do these events affect us now. The way that we go to school to work to places in general what affect do they have on us? We talked about security in schools and how they have become similar to prisons. Where children are now expected to do wrong so they are given metal detectors and sometimes pat downs to go through. Philadelphia schools in many ways go to security extremes to insure some of the “safety” in their schools. The workshop was concluded with a prompt. The prompt that I had given for the kids to write about was how does gun violence affect you? The community that we live in? and our education? Out of this workshop I had been surprised to enter slam league hearing poems about homosexuality and the factor of bullying and how that causes violence in schools. Another poem I heard was called “WAR” by a boy name Jawan. The poem talked about gun violence in schools and how the death of boys and girls is creating a war zone in schools. A poem that I had written called similes of music spoke of the uprising culture and children staying strong passing down memories and love from music. With the outlet of creation and anti incarceration behind it. Click here for the video of that poem.  The workshop I had given created an overwhelming amount of love and appreciation for the voices of young people that we had given ourselves.I hope one day we will be able to break free and take our poetry to those who are not convinced and impact their lives in such a way that they realize how they themselves can make an impact to make the world more beautiful. The love that was given to SLA after we had performed a persona piece about two gay women who were subjected to violence to for being homosexual which we performed at our semifinal. Click here for a link to the poem. In doing this project through an outlet that I am passionate about it showed me that not only violence in schools impacts the way we are taught or adapt to education. In many cases it can make us one side minded and be victims and or offenders of discrimination. Another poem that was written by a girl named Fufu who had addressed the struggle of being muslim and how many people did not trust her or her family because of her religious beliefs and because of the violence committed by others. This project makes me want to continue giving young people a voice through all ways of art to make the world a more beautiful place because without us there would be no future, so America prepare to hear the louder voice of a younger nation!

Click here to subscribe to the sla poetry team youtube channel. 

Click here for my blog 2

Click here for my blog 1 

Click here for my bibliography. 

Sattera Mark                                        Blog Post 3                                            You and the World

     In my English class were doing a project called “You and The World”. For this project we had to chose a topic that we were passionate about. I chose to learn more about the foster care system. (For more about that you can go to my first and second blog post).  It’s many children that don’t have a place to call home or have real parents. I feel for these children because I know how it feels to have a parent missing. When I first explored this topic I was confused on what to do. Then, I decided that I should get involved with a camp called Teen Haven. Teen Haven is a Christian camp that is located in Brogue Pa. I have been volunteering there as a Junior counselor since January and I will continue to do so in the summer. So far I have been there four times.  It was an amazing experience to be a mentor to girls from different cities. At camp they’re girls from Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York. It’s nice to get out of the city and meet new people.

      Starting the project was difficult. It seemed like it would be impossible to do. This was just not some ordinary school project. This project forced us to get out of our comfort zones and get into the world. This sounded scary at first but my teacher Ms. Dunn assured me that I was capable of successfully doing this project.  After my pep talk with Ms. Dunn I decided that I should try to get some things started. I talked to one of My Camps leaders, Chanea Whittington. She informed me about the Leadership group called “Restore”. I became active in that group and attended a leadership retreat. There we became comfortable with other leaders and prepared ourselves for the upcoming camp dates.

       Doing this project is probably one of the most productive things I’ve done in my life. The stories of some of the girls I’ve met will forever have an impact on my life. I’ve heard stories about rape, death, foster care, placement, and more. These stories are heartbreaking and left many tears in the eyes of the people who heard them. This camp is truly a haven. It feels like home and it’s a place for the girls to get away from all their problems at home. I love the atmosphere there. It’s warm and friendly and I know that girls love it too. I gives me joy to see them return to the camp with smiles on their faces. By the way they act you could never tell that they are going through so much. Sometimes I feel as if they made a bigger impact on me that I’ve made on them. They taught me to be grateful and be content. I feel blessed to have my mom because many of the girls at camp don’t. Some don’t even have a place to call home.

        When I first started volunteering I was nervous. I’m still very young and some girls that come to camp are older than me. That was a little intimidating. I also had to become stern. I’m a laid back person so it was hard for me to lead. I had to come out my comfort zone.That was something I struggled with at first but, soon overcame it by constantly coming to camp. I’ve learned so much by being there. I learned how to be a leader and develop speaking skills. Being there I’m still learning and planing to do more. During the summer I would love to lead discussion or run activities. I’m expecting to have an even better summer there.

Hi folks, I'm Morgan and this is my You and The World final blog. My issue was LGBT rights, and for my agent of change I made a blog with my friend for SLA's Gay/Straight Alliance. This is a club that meets during X and Y band in Mr. Block's room to see what we can do to make SLA and other schools a safe space for LGBT students. Our blog url is gsaatsla.wordpress.com. Due to technical difficulties, its not totally done yet but it will be shortly. 

I worked with another member of the GSA to create this blog. Together, we worked to write different pieces on news and opinions we had. He is working on an advice column for LGBT youth and their families. I personally work with following the news, and things like Jason Collins' coming out. We plan to continue this blog throughout our years here and to add more people to work with us. Right now, the GSA is rather small and inactive, but of you would like to help and learn more, please come to one of our meetings or email me at mcaswell@scienceleadership.org. 

One of the things I learned while doing this project is that there is never really any limit to trying to help, sometimes raising awareness is just as helpful. This blog was not my original plan, but I'm only 14 and I wasn't old enough to work anywhere. My plan then became a blog. So, check it out and I hope you enjoy it. 

Hello lovely being! My name is Anna Sugrue, and I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. Welcome to my third and final blog on gay rights and marriage equality! If you’re feeling a little lost, click these links to read my first blog and my second blog. 

This blog is the last portion of a year long English You and the World project. Along with our third blog, our class had to go into the world and become an Agent of Change for our issues.  Some people volunteered at dog shelters or soup kitchens, some did presentations to raise awareness, others raised money to help their cause. I decided to hold a rainbow themed bake sale to raise money for the Attic Youth Center. The Attic is an organization in Philadelphia that provides shelter, counseling, and a safe, open space for teenagers in the LGBTQ community. I held the bake sale on April 15th. The main attraction was my lovely homemade rainbow layer cake. It was a great success.

Originally, as I said in blog 2, I was going to craft and present a video about the definition of love. I realized though, after some careful considerations, that a presentation like the one I was planning would not make much of a difference in the minds of fellow SLA students. As I found in my polling, on a small percentage of the SLA students apposed gay rights, all on the basis of religion. Most of the people I presented to would agree with what I said, and I would not be able to convert the one’s that did not. My bake sale process went pretty darn well. I had tremendous support from my friends Dillon and Michaela with baking and selling. I encountered a few problems involving icing and cookies, but I was able to sell the cookies despite their icing-less-ness.

Experiencing the You and the World Project individually and as a class has been a wonderful whirlwind of a learning escapade. Over the course of all three blogs, I learned much more about a issue I’m passionate about. I watched youtube videos that inspired me and frustrated me, I felt hopeful and I knew there was so much more that needs to change. This class and this project encouraged me to act - to do something about it. To use my passion, my anger, and my hope to make a difference in the world.  A whole new realm of idea and opportunity was opened up to me, one I had never been encouraged to explore before. I have learned that I can make a difference, and I will.

I found the Attic Youth Center, a non-profit organization in Philadelphia that could always use support. Although I only raised $60, I feel like I impacted the life of someone discriminated against unfairly and unjustly. Just $25 provides a hot meal for 5 homeless LGBTQ teens who were disowned or kicked out of their homes because of their sexual or gender identity. $50 provides an LGBTQ youth at the Attic with a life coaching session to help apply for college, develop a resume, and get on track in school. If I combined the money I raised with the money raised by fellow activist Lindsey Jones, we could provide 10 Attic youth with a weekly support group to connect with other LGBTQ youth in a safe and caring environment.