In March, I read the book Finally Heard by Kelly Yang. Finally, Heard is a realistic fiction book about a 10-year-old girl named Lina Gao and how her family struggles financially. To earn some extra income, they own an online Bath bomb business that is sadly not turning out how they expected. Everyone in her family tries to collect as much money as possible to keep a roof over their heads. This changes when they discover they can use social media for marketing their business. None of them knew how to use it, so they doubted if they could ever become famous. One day, when Lina was at school, her Mom decided to make a YouTube video. When Lina discovered her mom’s video she was shocked by her mom’s ability to do this. Before they knew it, this video went viral and greatly impacted their business. Even though social media has helped them so much in many ways, some horrible factors has crushed Lina’s family’s confidence. 

I recommend this book because all the characters Lina encountered had many interesting and realistic emotions that made me want to know what was next. Also, I enjoyed this book because many plot twists made the book entertaining and engaging. In addition, the author, Kelly Yang, did a phenomenal job of explaining the settings in this book so well that I can keep a good image in my head. In conclusion, if you love drama, I highly recommend reading this book.

My favorite character is Lina. Lina is my favorite character because she is a determined, and she is a kind-hearted person who is willing to sacrifice anything for happiness for herself and everyone around her. . Also, Lina has grown as a character in many ways. She started as being very doubtful about becoming a full-time young influencer. Lina’s neighbor Rosa was also having difficulty paying her bills, so Lina decided to help her out and make a YouTube video about Rosa’s Tacos. A quote that describes her being both kind hearted and determined is, “Action, today we’re at Rosa’s Tacos. Rosa has been making tacos and proudly serving the community for the past 15 years. Her tocos are to die for, so come now!” Pg 123. This quote perfectly describes how she is equally kind-hearted and determined at the same time. Lina could be making videos for her business; she has great compassion for helping other people in her community who are also struggling. For these reasons, Lina is my absolute favorite character. 

My favorite quote from the book Finally Heard is when Lina finds out that there are at least 80 memes of people making fun of her on a social media platform called Discord. As she figures this out, she is supposed to be shooting a video to help out another business. Lina states, “I’m determined not to let what happened ruin my work.”Pg 206. I like this quote because it shows that even with so much mockery and bullying , Lina puts that aside and focuses on helping people and following her passion. In addition, this shows how unstoppable she can be, and nothing will tear her down.

At this moment, I have many dream jobs I want, but if I had to choose one for the rest of my life, it would be a famous YouTuber. I have many reasons why I want to pursue this dream, but here are my top three. I want to make people happy when they watch my videos. In addition, for me, it would feel really good to make people smile and help their day out. Another reason why I want to do this job is It’s fun. I already have experience with YouTube, as I have been doing it since I was six. In addition, I would have a base to start on because, for the past years, I have gained around 2,600 subscribers. Also, I love the experience of making, editing, and posting content. Lastly, being a YouTuber teaches you many responsibilities throughout life, including determination, patience, discipline, and responsibility. When I become a famous YouTuber, I can buy my first car or, even better a house. Many people think that YouTube can become a reality, but look, I’m only 13 and am proving them wrong. Also, I looked up the average salary of a famous YouTuber with over one million subscribers, and they make up to fourteen to thirty thousand a week; that’s almost a million dollars a year! These are only a few reasons I want to become a famous YouTuber.

In February, I read the book New Kid by Jerry Craft. The book New Kid is a graphic novel about a new seventh grader named Jordan loves nothing more than drawing. Instead of sending him to his dream art school, his parents send him to this prestigious school known for its academics, where Jordan turns out to be one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. Every day, he makes daily trips from his hometown to this upscale Riverdale Academy day school. During his first week of school, he meets Drew and Liam, who instantly become besties! I think they are unbreakable. Jordan fights between two worlds and has a much troubled time fitting into both! Middle school is really hard for him because of all the racism, new rules, and expectations. 

I enjoyed this book as the characters felt real. Jordan’s struggles at school were very realistic and could be very relatable to all people, but mainly to the people of his kind. Not only that, but Jerry Craft is an amazing author in many ways, especially explaining Jordan’s feelings! He does this so well that at each part of the story, I feel like I’m in the book. Also, I love how each page is different, and some so many twists and turns make it so fun and engaging to read.

Jordan is my favorite character, and I say this because he is determined and very kindhearted. Jordan grew as a character in many ways. He began as a very quiet, shy student who even got bullied a lot but never stood up for himself because he was scared; he saw himself as a loser. Throughout the school year, he became loud in a good way, confident, and the best of all, stood up for himself and his peers. I can prove his action by a quote: Andy is making fun of this girl who wants to sit next to Jordan at lunch. Andy thinks he is the king of the school and no one can stop him, but to his surprise, Jordan replies and says, “You such a jerk Andy. Just back off” pg 66 even though this is still really early in the book it shows his transition in becoming who he is today! In addition, I have a quote of him being determined; as I said earlier, he dreams of attending art school. His art teacher said, “ Cool, the yearbook. Wait, is that my painting asked Jordan.” his teacher replied, “ It sure is. I hope you don’t mind. I just wanted to surprise you. I hope you like it pg 232. This quote is the perfect example of Jordan’s success. He shows that anything can be possible!

My favorite quote from the story is on page 248, and they are said by his friends: “ Bro, are you wearing PINK shorts? No, they’re not pink there (Sigh) … yeah, they are pink.” I like this quote because, throughout the story, Jordan always wears baggy clothes and keeps to himself. There has been a change. He doesn’t follow the expected rules but is free and confident about it. Also, this quote is a very good way to end the story because it shows with a little bit of work, you can become more social and confident with the way you are, no matter what color you are.

I am invisible! This is so scary. I can see people, but they cannot see or hear me. This is going to be a long day. I can’t last without getting some attention. Can I sleep for the whole day? I can’t; that would have been impossible. This day will be miserable, and I can already tell. Since, I’m like this, I might as well do some chores to surprise my parents. I started with my room; it wasn’t too bad, I thought until I started organizing my clothes and art supplies, in addition, sweeping the floors and making my bed nice and tidy. What I thought was thirty minutes was more like an hour, but my room was sure clean. I was tired but went to school anyway to spy on my friend. Even though we were not in the same classes I still went in. After all, they can’t see me. Once I went into the leadership class, which was his first period, I spotted Thomas sitting there patiently. I told myself I wouldn’t cause chaos now but maybe later during core. So I left and looked for my other friends, who were nowhere to be found. After the fifth teen minutes the bell rang, I pushed the door open to his next period class and everyone looked at the door, just swaying there in confusion, but all I thought was the wind.

As I waited for ten to fifteen minutes, they started to do a lab for cooking muffins. This was my time to shine with chaos. I went to Thomas’s station and saw he had all the stuff ready and was about to bake. He started to make the muffins. He put the flower eggs and any extra ingredients in the mixing bowl. Then he ran to ask the cooking teacher a question, and I thought, this is my time, so I switched out the sugar for salt. Let’s see how this goes! He returned and put a lot in the mixture, and once it was done, put it in the oven at 340 Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. He was done and started to walk to another station and chat with his friends. Once he left I changed the temperature from 340 Fahrenheit to 400 Fahrenheit. I waited so long, wanting disaster to get stuck, but he noticed his muffins were burning and took them out just in time. He took a bite and his face showed how bad it was.

Then the bell rang. I was excited for the next class, which was core. I am excited because the kids in our class are chatty, so it will be fun, causing twist.We first get out our iPad and read a book for 15 min, so I started to take books off the shelves randomly, and nobody noticed until I accidentally tipped over the bookshelf, and tons of books fell! Miss. Moffat our core teacher, asked who did that, and everyone said nothing, so and were very confused. She had some volunteers clean the books and put them back. A few minutes later when Miss. Moffat was telling us something important about this project. I went to the supply station and made a mess I dropped everything on the floor throughout markers, pencils, and rulers. By the faces, of everyone they were absolutely terrified and started to scream! So I just left the class. I think that was enough for today! I was so tired, so once I got home, I fell into my bed and slept. The next day, I was perfectly normal, and everyone told me I should’ve been there yesterday because of the incident. The story had been told to the whole school, and they still didn’t know it was me.

I awoke to the sounds of palm trees swaying in the wind, the hot beating sun on my face, and the crashing waves. Am I on an island? Was I dreaming? Sure not, as I tried to get up, I fell into the sand face first! Ouch. Once I got up, I saw a giant stack of materials such as tools, fruit, water, a sleeping bag, light, and a bunch of wood and stones to build a house. Looking through all the materials in disbelief, I looked around the island and noticed it was beautiful. The island had variations of Hawaiian flowers and palm trees; the island had white sand, and the water had a beautiful teal color. As I looked at my surroundings, I thought about how I would build a shelter. First, I built the base with leaves to create a smooth starting point, and then I looked in my stash of materials and found lots of rope. I used this rope to tie wood planks together. After many hours of tying and blisters, the house was ready! It was not perfect, but it still worked; it was stable and functional. I even had time to build a bed frame for my sleeping bag! I was so tired from working that I slumped into my bed and fell asleep. I can’t lie It was very uncomfortable, and I could barely sleep. In addition, I was struggling with the transition. The next morning was rough. I was tired, and my back was hurting so badly. But I still had so much work left. First, I needed some breakfast, so I ate an assortment of fruits and bread with a side drink of fresh coconut juice. Thankfully, this delicious meal energized me. I knew I couldn’t last on fruit forever, so I looked in my stash to see if there were any tools, and I found a fishing rod. Long hours of struggles later, I ended up catching five fish, and this was enough for two days of dinner. It was almost 8:00 when I finished dinner and headed to my hut. And was oddly excited for the next days. This was mainly my routine from the days going on. I expanded my house by adding a living room kitchen and found new food sources. Eventually, kind people in a helicopter found me and took me home. This was my life living on an island.

December 2, 2023 I woke up at 5:45 AM more excited than ever. I’ve been waiting for this day for forever. It was my second VEX vrc robotics tournament, and I had to be there at 7:00 am sharp, no excuses. I don’t remember the last time I have woken up at 5:00 in the morning, so I was very tired. Once I got dressed, I headed downstairs to eat my breakfast. Every minute felt like an eternity, and I just wanted to get there so bad. Feeling like I would be late, I frantically checked the time repeatedly. Time flew by fast, and when I checked the time, it was 6:30. I put my breakfast down and ran to pack all my essentials, such as sunscreen, a hat if needed, and my iPad so I could keep my parents posted. When we got in the car, we noticed that the GPS said we would arrive at 7:05! Oh no, are we going to be late? Still being on the speed limit, we zipped down the streets of Tustin, hoping that we would get there on time. To take down my nerves, I grabbed my headphones and listened to music. Thankfully, this was a great idea because it helped me feel calm. We got there at our destination at 7:00 am sharp! When we entered the event, deja vu hit me. This was the same area where in 5th grade, I got third place! This happiness ended when my teammates called my name and told me it was our first scrimmage.

I felt the adrenaline going through me. Was I going to do this? I put my game face on, and when the judges said go, I placed the tribals in the catapult as fast as I could, my hair was getting all over my face, and I was sweating; then the ending bell rang, and I had perished. Did we win? Then they announced the scores, and it was dreadful. The loss was so bad that I don’t think we can recover. I let my team down and felt defeated. “Milo, this is not the end; you can do it,” I told myself. But it just got worse; our team kept losing, and everything kept breaking. We almost lost all hope until the last game we won! Our whole team cheered. All the games were done, we did not get any awards, and we placed 31st out of 33! Even though our team was deeply sad, we each told ourselves we had one more tournament to prove what we were! For the next month, we worked as hard as possible to prepare, and our next tournament is Saturday, February 3. Wish us luck.

In January, I read the book New From Here By Kelly Yang. This novel is about a ten-year-old boy named Knox who never expected to move countries in two days! Suddenly, out of the blue moon, a virus named COVID-19 hits Hong Kong; With a struggle, his mom makes a last-minute decision to move most of their family to California San Francisco, where they think they will be safe. Knox’s dad has to be left behind in Hong Kong because of his work. He has two siblings: one older brother in middle school named Bowen and a Younger sister named Lea. Knox and Bowen do not have a really good relationship, and in the story, it states Bowen, his older brother would “rather share a room with mosquitos over him.”Since he is new to California, he begs his mom to do homeschooling because he is scared to start over. Even after lots of begging, his mom rejects his request. At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being a new kid. During COVID-19, racism skyrockets to a whole new level. This makes Knox a huge target for two bullies since he is Chinese. Throughout the story, Knox encounters many hardships in his life in California. Can Knox stand up for himself or will the virus defeat him? After all, It turns out that escaping a virus is a lot harder than you think. 

I recommend reading this book because the story has lots of realistic elements, like how the characters in the book feel real as they all struggle in their very own ways. It is also intriguing to see how they resolve their problems. This story is written from a one-point perspective of a person from China who moved to California and their struggles dealing with racism. Also, it is really interesting to see the struggles they had dealing with COVID-19 racism and compare them to the struggles we had when we were dealing with COVID-19. In conclusion, this is why I deeply recommend this book.

Knox’s Mom was my favorite character and I say this because she is determined, understanding and was willing to sacrifice everything for her children’s sake and safety. Knox’s Mom grew as a character in many ways. At the start of the story she began to give up on her self because of worrying too much if she would get a job or not. Once, her first application gets declined, she saw her self as a disappointment to her family which is not true. But through her experience she grew to try harder, be determined and to never ever in a million years give up, even during challenging and difficult situations. Knox’s Mom is a caring character, and I can prove this by a quote that she shows on page 155-156 it states “Did you miss ur interview?” I asked in a tiny voice sneaking a peak at her Mom doesn’t even have an answer. I can just tell by her eyes. “Never mind about my interview- you put urself in danger!” She gives me a once over, checking for any bruises. This shows she deeply cares and sacrifices for her children even though she missed her interview she made sure her son was not hurt or in danger.

My favorite quote from the book is on page 346, it states Of course you can! We’re already reinvesting you, Dad! We’re doing it!!! “You won’t know until you try” Mom says gently. She reminds Dad that before we came, none of us knew how to do this. And now look at us learning on Zoom and closing deals in our fuzzy bedroom slippers. “The only thing that is stopping you is your fear, Dad,” I absolutely love this quote because it shows after all the struggles Knox’s family had encountered, they have accomplished managing living in a new country. Also, I love this quote because from their experience of success it tells us with a bit of patience and determination you can learn anything. Lastly this is an amazing way to end the story with a bang!

“We must all choose between what is right and what is easy.” This is one of my favorite quotes from Dumbledore. I enjoy this quote because it is significant. It advised me that even though one path of a choice may be simpler and quick, the proper option is always the best answer, no matter how long it takes to accomplish. In addition, the quote reminds us to never be lazy, aka “cut corners,” and always make ends meet in the best way possible. One example of a situation showing the decision of paths is when you are doing a homework assignment. You can either cut corners and ask your friends to give you the answers because you are lazy or do the right thing by asking your friend to help you understand the problem so you can now do it by yourself. Also, wouldn’t it feel much better to get a good grade on your homework and know you did it yourself? Another example is when I am at volleyball practice, our coach tells us to practice overhand serving, but many people struggle doing this, so they take the easy way and do underhand serve. This may help in the short term to get over the net and score points, but in the long term, if you want to pursue volleyball, high school coaches expect you to be able to serve overhand. Lastly, this quote by Albus Dumbledore relates to me since, sometimes in the morning, when I’m making my bed, I feel lazy and take the easy way by not laying down all my sheets and instead doing 2/3 of them. I think to myself that this is just temporary and it won’t happen again, but to my surprise, I’ve constantly seen that I have created a bad habit for myself. 

Somebody I greatly admire and look up to is my mom. Some character traits that symbolize my mom are that she is supportive, determined, and affectionate. My mom is always supportive of me as she makes sure to have my back when I need her. For example, whenever I need help anything with school or outside activities, she’s always there to to assist me. Secondly, she is one determined cookie. When mom sets her mind on something, she must achieve it. This has taught me no matter how difficult a situation could be, one should never give up and keep trying until you get there. Additionally, she has taught me it’s good to be determined in order to achieve my goals and not to avoid uncomfortable circumstances. This is important because it has helped me throughout many things in life. Lastly, she is affectionate and nurturing. However, sometimes she can go overboard with this. For example because during the night time, while I’m asleep, she checks on me and my brother Noah. She also also never lets anyone else drive us to places and makes sure we are safe. Furthermore, these actions as a few examples reminds me of her sacrifice to make sure we are always safe and ok shows that she deeply loves and cares about me.

Instead of making a New Year resolution, I’m going to focus on one word, and that word is balance. I picked the word balance because it can be used in all aspects of life. For example, I love to engage in all school activities, such as robotics, volleyball, and CJSF however, I don’t have enough time to do them all. So, I need to practice balancing my time between these activities. My goal this year is also to balance my eating habits. Even though I eat mainly healthy foods such as veggies, meat, and fruits, I have a tendency to eat different kinds of junk food. This causes my diet to become very unbalanced because my body is not on a consistent schedule. In addition, I want to work on my time management skills, which can go to many things, such as getting ready for school. Most of the time, I get to school around 8:10 or sometimes earlier. Although I’m not late to class, I still want to be at school by 8:05 because what if something makes me late? Being there at 8:05 allows me to be more relaxed and not stressed out. The last thing I want to improve on is managing how much money I earn and how much of it I spend. This is important to me because I’m finding out that I’m spending my money on expensive things and items that are a waste. As a result, I need to organize and balance how much I spend per month and ask myself, “If I need this, or is it a waste.”