Shooting the Moon- Frances O'Roark Dowell

     The book I recently finished was called Shooting Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell. This book is about a 12 year old girl named Jamie Dexter and her brother TJ, who joins the Army and was sent off to war in Vietnam. Before leaving off to Vietnam, TJ was very into photography. In Vietnam he would take pictures of everything he saw and send them back to Jamie. Back then you had to develop the film, Jamie had to learn how to do that. As time went by, TJ would send more gruesome pictures. The one thing he would always send her at least one picture was of the moon. Jamie learned how to develop film in her local rec center, where she volunteered over the summer because her two best friends had to move away. At the red center she meets this guy, who soon becomes her best friend. In the end, this book is just about her journey coping without her brother and best friends, and the new experiences she makes with new friends.
     I really liked this book because it was easy, fast, and straight the point. It didn't have so much detail that made the book long and boring. It was detailed just enough so you could visualize what was happening in the book. I also liked how the character develops throughout the book. I would suggest this book to someone who wants a quick read and is interested in learning how the lives of army children were back when the Vietnam war was happening.

Weapons: Designing the Tools of War by Jason Richie

     This quarter a non-fiction book I read was Weapons: Designing the Tools of War by Jason Richie. This book is talks about seven weapons that have a made a huge impact in the way weapons are made today. Those seven are the Submarine, the Revolver, the Battleship, the Torpedo, the Automatic Machine Gun, the Tank, and the Ballistic Missile. It explains the background stories of how these weapons came to be and the inventors of them. Not only does it talk about those seven weapons but they also briefly discuss some popular weapons from 3000 B.C. to the 1400s. Some of those are javelins, crossbows, catapults, swords, lances, and the first handgun. The book also concisely discusses some of the newer weapons used in war. Some stated are smart bombs, new missiles, torpedoes, depth charges, machine guns, Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-117A Nighthawk (Stealth) fighter jet, laser-guided bombs, satellite-guided bombs, and many more weapons. This book was very informative on the different weapons of time.
     I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn't think that I was going to enjoy it but I did. This book was very informing and fast. There was a lot of information about different things and people but it was a quick read. I really like how you learned about major weapons used today and how they came to be. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in learning about the history of popular weapons and who wants a quick read. My favorite part of this book was when you learned about the Battleship. It was very interesting to see how before in was made out of wood and now it's this big metal ship armed with large caliber guns. Overall this book was really good, in my opinion.

Forgotten

Forgotten  by Anonymous

You wanton, quiet memory that haunts me all the while
In order to remind me of her whom love I send.
Perhaps when you caress me sweetly, I will smile,
You are my confidante today, my very dearest friend.

You sweet remembrance, tell a fairy tale
About my girl who's lost and gone, you see.
Tell, tell the one about the golden grail
And call the swallow, bring her back to me.

Fly somewhere back to her and ask her, soft and low,
If she thinks of me sometimes with love,
If she is well and ask her, too, before you go
If I am still her dearest, precious dove.

And hurry back, don't lose your way,
So if I can think of other things,
But you were too lovely, perhaps, to stay.
I loved you once. Good-bye, my love!

Regret

     In this life, we do many actions. Sometimes we love the consequences and sometimes we hate them. When we hate them, we usually hate the action itself. We wish we can go back in time and do things differently, but unfortunately that's not what happens. The one thing I regret is not obtaining more time to bond with my brotherNot getting to know him on a brotherly level.
     My brother is in the Navy, so he isn't around all the time. It is very different for all of us because it has always been the two of us. My brother is five years older than me but I see other siblings who are more years apart and talk as if they are the same age. My brother and I know each other but not really, I know a little bit more than the rest of my family. If I could go back in time and change something it would be the relationship I have with my brother.