Monday, December 31, 2012

Interesting Factoid the First

Today's installment of Interesting Factoid is--
FEMALE PIRATE LIFE!
Particularly the followings of Anne Bonny.

Anne Bonny wanted to be a pirate. However back then, it was considered
vulgar and horrible for a female to do anything but cook, knit in the
corner, and basically become part of the wall. Anne knew this, so she
disguised herself as a boy and boarded Calico Jack Rackham's ship. No one
of the crew knew she was a girl EXCEPT Jack Rackham. They had a baby
together, which they dropped off for a nanny to look after in Cuba. A new
pirate joined them and HE was a female too--Mary Reid. A short time after,
Calico Jack's ship was caught by the British Navy--the whole crew was put
on trial. All of them were found guilty and were sentenced to hang. But
Anne Bonny and Mary Reid wormed their way out of this by "pleading their
bellies"--they both said they were pregnant. Since it was illegal to
execute a pregnant woman(for religious purposes I think), both women just
got jail time for life. This prison was in Spanish Town (the old capital
of Jamaica). Mary Reid died in prison only a few months later, but no one
knows what happened to Anne. Some people think that since her father was a
big thing in South Carolina that he managed to spirit her out of prison
and she lived under a different name and worked an ordinary job for the
rest of her life.

I learned this from the 39 clues book 9 and also my Pirateology book.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Ficklemaster's Book List

I completely agree with every book on ViolinRockStar's book list below (that I've read, of course), and I would like to add (sorry if I double up on anything):

Legend by Marie Lu
Maximum Ride (series) by James Patterson
Inkheart (in a series) by Cornelia Funke
The Goose Girl (in a series) by Shannon Hale
The Shadow of the Bear (in a series) by Regina Doman
The Roar (in a series) by Emma Clayton
The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett
Witness by Karen Hesse
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
The Sight (in a series) by David Clement-Davies
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Dragonlance (series) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Things that See (in a series) by Andrew Clements
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Crash by Jerry Spinelli
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
39 Clues (series) by several authors...the first is by Rick Riordan
Chasing Yesterday (trilogy) by Robin Wasserman
Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis (if you haven't read these, put down the computer...or the iPad...or whatever else you have...and run to the library.  I mean it.)

Perhaps I'll add more later.  If you have any book suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

ViolinRockstar's Book List

Okay, so on our blog we are going to be posting a lot of things, especially about books. Here is a book list of books that I have read and highly recommend to other bookworms.        

The Secret Life of Bees   by Sue Monk Kidd
Graceling (in a series)      by Kristin Cashore
Divergent (in a series)      by Veronica Roth
Fablehaven (in a series)    by Brandon Mull
The Kane Chronicles (series)  by Rick Riordin
The Heroes of Olympus (series)  by Rick Riordin
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series)  by Rick Riordin (Rick Rioridin is                awesome)
Hunger Games (series)  by Suzanne Collins (duh!)
Just Listen                       by Sarah Dessen
The Truth About Forever  by Sarah Dessen
Lock and Key                 by Sarah Dessen
Uglies                              by Scott Westerfeld
Harry Potter                    by JK Rowling (again, duh!)
The Giver                        by Lois Lowry
Walk Two Moons           by Sharon Creech
Because of Winn-Dixie  by Kate DiCamillo
A Child Called It (in a series) by Dave Pelzer
Gone (in a series)            by Michael Grant
Matched (in a series)       by Allie Condie
Holes                               by Lousi Sachar


Classics That I've Read and Actually Liked:
Little Women  by Louisa May Alcott
Jane Eyre  by Charlotte Bronte
To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee
Where the Red Fern Grows  by Wilson Rawls
The Secret Garden  by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anne of Green Gables  by L.M. Montgomery
Old Yeller  by Fred Gipson