The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is a 79 page amusing book by Roald Dahl. It tells about an adventure Billy takes when he meets some unexpected friends. A giraffe, pelican, and monkey with special powers start a window washing business on Billy's street, and become friends. Their first job is to wash the 677 windows of the Hampshire House when they are the heroes of a robbery. The owner of the house, the Duke of Hampshire, cannot thank them enough and lets them spend the rest of their lives in his mansion and they lived happily ever after. :)

Matilda

Matilda is a 240 page enthralling book that tells about a little girl with extraordinary powers. Matilda was adopted into the Wormwood family, and was anything but the center of attention. All her parents cared about was money and TV, so Matilda was ignored especially when she was digging in to a high level book. Her talents were never regognized until she started school in Ms. Honey's class when Ms. Trunchbull as the insane Headmistress. Ms. Trunchbull is a true torcherer, so Matilda uses her powers to try to take her down. Does Matilda conquer "The Trunchbull" without being sent to the Chokie? Read this masterpiece by Roald Dahl to find out.

90 Minutes in Heaven

90 Minutes in Heaven is a 207 page novel that will keep you wanting to keep reading. Don Piper died in a car accident in January of 1989, but miraculously came back to life by prayer. This story tells about the crash, his hour-and-a-half trip to heaven, recovery, and finding the purpose God had for him when Don went to heaven. If one does not believe in Christ, this book will get them to believe not only in God, but how through Christ, anything is possible.

The Phantom Tollbooth

The 256 page thriller, The Phantom Tollbooth, tells about a boy who experiences the ultimate adventure. Milo has never been interested in anything, but one day, he came home from school expecting just another boring afternoon filled with nothing. That all changed when a box holding a majical tollbooth showed up in his room. This tollbooth took him on an adventure to a weird world, where he was set on a quest to restore peace to the world. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a weird novel filled with suspense and exitement.

Track and Swimming

So I know all I talk about on this blog is books, but now I will talk a little bit about me. Today I ran at the Junior Fresno Relays track meet. I was only running the last event, so I got there later. Sasha, Cierra, Cecelia, and I were on the 4 by 400 relay together, but Sasha, Cierra, and I had not seen Cecelia all week. When I got to the meet, I thought I would see Cecelia ready to run the race. It turns out that no one could find her anywhere, so we needed a substitute. Thankfully, Alexis was still there doing triple jump, so we asked her to run first. The order was Alexis, me, Sasha, and then Cierra as anchor. We were all ready and lined up about to take the track, and then Sasha vomited. I was so worried that we would have to find yet another sub. Sasha was really tough and said," I am just nervous. I'm fine." She ran the race, and did very well. Our team got 3rd, and we qualified for the Valley Championships!! Although a few obstacles popped up, we performed fantastically!! I am so proud of my teammates!!
As you might have guessed from my user name, I am a competitive swimmer. Last weekend, like I usually do once or twice a month, I competed in a swim meet out of town. This weekend, the meet was held in Bakersfield by the swim team there. On Saturday morning I hit the road with my Mom at seven o'clock to be there at nine for warm-ups. When were we half way there, I realized that I had absentmindedly forgotten my swim bag that had everything I needed for the day. My five towels, cap, and goggles were all sitting at home after I forgot to pack them into the car. Smart me.
We arrived in Bakersfield, and I just asked my friends for stuff to borrow. I had a cap, pair of goggles, and a towel, so I was set for the meet. Normally there is a warm-up warm-down pool separate from the competition pool to swim in before and after races to warm-up and warm-down, but the pump was broken in this one, so it was really cold and contaminated. We couldn't swim in it, so the races were stopped after each set of events for about two minutes when everyone quickly warmed-up or warmed-down.
The main goal in swimming is to improve on your time, or, in my case, qualify for the Junior Olympics. I am in the 11-12 age group, and the competition is tough. I swam four events, and had not qualified for JOs yet. My fifth event was 100 back, my best event. I was one second away from qualifying. After I hit the wall, adrenaline rushed through me as I looked at the score board to see my time. I had made it by one whole second!! This day, again, had a few obstacles, but I turned out good and I am going to JOs!!