I was randomly going through my online library this morning to place an order for some school books that I needed and I came across the greatest book that I have ever read. I feel that I should tell you guys about this book, because it really defines who I am, and what I like.

The title of the greatest book I have ever read is Everest; Book One The Contest. This is the first book of a three book series. The series of books has been written by Gordon Korman He is also my favorite author ever. Last September, I had the honor of meeting him and getting him to sign my notebook when I was at the Brooklyn Book festival.

Korman has written over 26 other non series books and six other series books including Dive, Island , and Kidnapped and he published a few books in the 39 clues. The entire series is very interesting and entertaining because some parts are scary and there are a lot of parts that involve action and mystery. The series is about a climbing team called Summit Quest and they recruit a group of four members who are all teenagers and they work together and sometimes compete to reach the summit of Mt Everest. The Contest is about a large group of about two dozen teenagers competing at various climbing drills to be picked on the team and once the team is made up they travel to do a practice climb on a mountain which turns out to be really dangerous. The setting of the books story is in a sport training facility in High Falls , Colorado and on Lucifer’s claw, a very tall glacier like mountain in Alaska near Juneau and it takes place during the present time. The genre of this book is fiction and it has been published in June 2002.

Throughout the book many characters are involved that are really important to the story. The story’s main character is named Dominic Alexis who is thirteen years old, he loves climbing and he is a member of the final team. The book proves that Dominic does not give up easily because he faced a lot of tough problems during the story that nobody could solve but he always tried his best to solve it. Near the end of the book Dominic helped one of his teammates who was hurt and nobody thinks that he is going to do good climbing because he is so young and small. Next is Tilt Crowly, he is fourteen and he wants to be the youngest person ever to climb Everest as a member of the final team. He is disliked because he is so mean and he secretly sells information on the other members to the newspaper. Another member of the final team is Samantha Moon, she likes extreme things and action and she was fifteen. She helped another climber when she was sleepwalking and was in trouble. The last member of the final team is named Perry Noonan who is also fifteen and the only reason that he is on the team is because his uncle owns the expedition. He is scared and does not want to go but he thinks that if he does not go his uncle will not spend as much time with him. Bryn was on the first team but she was sleepwalking and she injured herself which forced her to leave the team and she was replaced by Tilt.

Ethan Zaph is the best member on the team but at the last minute he quit Summit Quest and he joined another climbing team. He is also the youngest person ever to climb Everest at the age of a few weeks before his sixteenth birthday and now he is sixteen. Christian Alexis is Dominic’s sixteen year old brother and is the number two rated climber under the age of seventeen in the country behind Ethan. Dominic replaced him because the team thought that Christian is too old to be in the group of thirteen to fifteen year olds now that Ethan is gone. Lenny Tkakzuk is the teams cameraman and guide and he gives interviews. The kids nicknamed him sneezy because of his last name which is pronounced Ka-Chook which Lenny would say as a sneeze between two k’s. Cap Cicero is the leader of the expedition and he is a legendary climber. There are also some other important characters that are in the book like a couple of kids named Cameron and Joey who were both good but were hurt and had to eave. The last character is Andrea Oberman who is the camp doctor.

By being able to spell the word Everest using special tickets that person qualifies as one of five wild card entries onto the Summit Quest tryout team and Dominic won the last spot. All of the kids came to camp to train and to see who will be picked for the team. After the first week everybody trained by camping outside during a strong blizzard and since then Cap did not like Tilt. A few days later they found out that there was somebody selling personal team information to the newspapers but it turned out to be Tilt but nobody learns who it is until the third book. The next day someone started destroying the camps property and it turned out to be Bryn sleepwalking and they did not find out until the end that it was her. After the end of the second week seven people were cut off of the team and had to leave. There was a huge mushroom shaped rock which was called a problem and when people tried to climb it they could not and some of them were hurt. Cap also tried to climb it and he made it further than everybody else but he could not reach the base. The next day more cuts were made and Dominic was one of them but he changed his mind and the only people that were the Alexis brothers, Bryn, Tilt, Samantha, Perry, and Ethan.

At the end of the month Dominic, Tilt, and Samantha were cut of the team. When they were driving to the airport they heard a radio announcement that Ethan has quit the team for another team and they had to quickly return to the camp. One night Cap saw Dominic at the mushroom rock trying to climb it. He was able to jump off of the base to the top and because of this Cap kept him on the team in his brother’s place. After another month of training the first team was made up of Perry, Bryn, Samantha, and Dominic. For the last bit of training they flew to a mountain in Alaska named Lucifer’s claw. One night Bryn was sleepwalking and she fell of the edge of the cliff and she fell thirty feet to an ice ledge. Cap was too big to fit into the ice gap but Dominic was able to fit and for the next six hours they tried to break the ice around Bryn. Just a few minutes before a blizzard hit they were able to get her out but when Dominic tried to climb on the helicopter the strong winds knocked the helicopter away. Dominic jumped back down to the ledge to avoid the blades of the helicopter and when he climbed back out the helicopter was gone. He heard cap call him and then the helicopter came back into view with a rope hanging out of it but it was too far away to reach. The wind stopped for a second and Dominic jumped off of the mile high cliff. The wind picked up again and it pushed him forward and he was able to grab the rope and Cap pulled him in. Because Bryn was hurt Tilt took her place on the team.

There are many forms of conflicts that appear during the story. The most common conflict is man vs. man and it mostly involves Tilt. The first form of this conflict is between Cap and Tilt because Tilt always talks back to him and he never listens to him. Another form of this conflict is between Tilt and Perry because Tilt would always make fun of Perry because he is not good at climbing. The last form of this conflict that involves Tilt is between him and Dominic because if Dominic reaches the summit of Everest he would be the youngest person to climb it but Tilt wants to be the youngest. Another form of man vs. man conflict would be between Samantha and Bryn when Bryn was sleepwalking and destroying some of her things. The last form of this conflict is between the kids and Cap when he made them camp out during the blizzard and when he gave them a lot of hard workouts. Another conflict that is common during this book is man vs. nature. One of these conflicts is when a blizzard struck when they were camping and it happened again on Lucifer’s claw. Another form of this conflict was when Dominic and Cap could not get Bryn out of the ice. The last form of this conflict could be when the climbers injured themselves while trying to climb the mushroom rock. A form of man vs. self conflict could be when Perry wanted to go climbing but he was too scared and when he kept thinking that he does not do good. The last kind of conflict that appears often in the story is man vs. society. A form of this conflict is when some people did not like Samantha because of the things that she likes to do. Another form of this conflict is when people do not believe that Perry should be on the team. The last form of this conflict is when everybody thought that Dominic was too young and too small to climb.

There are also many forms of Literary Elements that take place during the book. There is some onomatopoeia in this book at certain points of the story such as these.” The sound came soon after the light, low but audible, even from under the ice. Almost like a slow motion drum roll,” this was the sound of the helicopter. Another form of this element comes when” The quiet of the slumbering sports complex was shattered by a deafening clatter,” that was the sound that Bryn made when she was sleepwalking and she knocked down some brooms. A form of theme could be when Dominic tried to do his best when everybody else thought he would be able to make it. Another element could be imagery because Lucifer’s claw and the other place were detailed. The last element could be Irony because when Dominic was cut he never thought that he would have to do what he did on Lucifer’s claw.


I loved this book so much, that I made multiple references during High School, and my favorite quote ever is here. "If it didn't hit you, it never happened, but if it did, then you've got nothing to worry about."-Cap Cicero

My second favorite book is the first book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. This is the first book of a thirteen book series titled The Bad Beginning and the series has been written by Daniel Handler who goes under the pen name of Lemony Snicket. This book is about a family of three children who become orphans and are having trouble with their new guardians. The story of the book takes place in an old house in the middle of a small town during the present time.

I am pretty sure that some of you have read this book because it was popular when I first read it, but I shall explain the book for those of you who don't know it.

The main character of the story is named Violet and she is fourteen years old. Violet is very smart and she likes to invent things and she likes to help build and fix things. The next character is Violets younger brother named Klaus who is twelve years old. Klaus is also very smart and he loves to read books and to travel. The next character is Violets and Klaus’s youngest sister named Sunny who is two years old. Sunny can talk but not very well so only Violet and Klaus can understand her and she loves to bite things. The next character is named Mr. Poe, he is friends of the children and he is the one in charge of placing the children with other family members. Next is Count Olaf, he is supposed to be the children’s cousin and they were sent to live with him.

Count Olaf wants the children’s fortune so he made a plan to marry Violet so he can get the fortune. There are some more characters in the story all of which work for Count Olaf and are part of his theater troupe. The members of his theater troupe are a man that has a hook for one of his hands, a man with a crooked nose, a fat bald man, and a few other people. These people appear in the book and are a part of Count Olafs plan but they do not appear as much as in latter books. The last character is named Justice Strauss. she lives next door to Count Olaf and she is a judge which gets her involved with the children.

The children were at the beach early on morning when Mr. Poe told them that their house burned down in a fire and that their parents died. Mr. Poe then took the children to live with their cousin count olaf in a place out of town. Count olaf’s house was small and dirty and the children shared one small room. Sometimes Klaus would borrow law books from Justice to learn more about it. One night Count olaf went out with his troupe and the children had to cook dinner by themselves and olaf was arguing that they were not supposed to cook what they did. He decided to let the children join in one of the plays that he was making. Klaus read the script of the play and he read some of the law books. Klaus was able to tell that everything that happens in the play happens for real and that Violet and olaf were going to become married for real and olaf would be able to get their fortune. When olaf found out that they knew he kidnapped Sunny. Klaus was able to rescue sunny and when he explained everything olaf was arrested but he escaped.

The book contains a few conflicts that make the story more interesting. The first conflict that appears in the story is man vs. nature conflict. The form of this conflict would be when the fire burned their house down. There is also some man vs. society conflict because when the children explained everything to other people no one believed them. A form of man vs. man conflict would be when Mr. Poe did not believe what the children were saying about count olaf. Another form of this conflict would be between the children and count olaf and the rest of his troupe because of the way he was treating them.

This book consists of a few literary elements that are used in parts of the story. The first of the elements that take place is simile and metaphor. The form of this element would be when the situation and feelings are compared to other situations and feelings. Another element is imagery because the settings and the characters feelings are described.

In case you have not noticed it, I have been talking about elements, and conflicts, and such. No, it's not that I like talking about them, it's just that I was kind of raised that way when it comes to book. I had gone to a really smart middle school once I was put in Foster care, and I did not like all the things that we had to do.

Another great book is Day of Doom my David Baldacci. It is the most recent (Book 17) in the 39 Clues series and it is amazing. Somebody compared one of the series villains to Voldemort and James Moriarty.

Look, here is a piece from the back of the book.

"It started with a kidnapping. A shadowy organization known onlyas the Vespers snatched seven members of the Cahill family and demanded a series of bizarre ransoms from around the world.Thirteen-year-old Dan Cahill and his older sister Amy began a
global treasure hunt, determined to bring back whatever Vesper One needed, so long as it kept the hostages safe. But when they deliver the last ransom, Amy and Dan discover Vesper One''s terrifying endgame. The objects he demanded are vital pieces in a Vesper plot that will harm millions of innocent people.Now the two siblings and their friends are in an all-out sprint to stop Vesper One . . . before the whole world goes BOOM."

The book had just been released earlier in the year, I think in March and I had already read it three times. The book is so dark, yet so energizing. I mean, imagine watching a James Bond movie and a Stephen King movie at the same time, that is exactly how the book plays out. This book is a thriller to remember.

Okay, aside from these three books, I don't really read that much. I might read a Percy Jackson book, or maybe one of the MISSING books by Margaret Peterson Haddix, which is also another great book series, but other than those books, I just can't seem to find a book that I can sit down and read. I liked the Lord of the Rings movies, but I could not get past ten pages. I like the DEAD ZONE show, but I could not read the Stephen King Books.

If any of you have read any of the books I mentioned, please tell me what you thought of them.

I read The Series of Unfortunate Events book and loved them!  Their unique style was interesting.  Nowadays, I feel it's a bit too depressing, and probably won't pick them up again, but there's a lot of good in those books.

supernerd117 : I agree with the depressing part, but aside from that, there was only one thing I did not like about the series. The predictability. After the first five or so books, each book is basically an exact replica with a new location and new disguises.

zanderlex : Yeah, but that's part of what I liked about it.  As a Pokemon fan, I got a laugh out of Team Rocket's disguises and their classic lines.  I still laugh whenever Ash and co. are fooled by a new disguise.

To be honest with you, I really don't like reading. That's why I haven't red your whole post. It's really long. But I do love some books, and they are: Harry Potter (The Whole Collection) and I also read books from an App called EBooks, I downloaded it a month ago and I am really satisfied with I. I already finished reading 6 books, but my favorite is Zombie High. In fact, most of my downloads was zombie themed books like Zombie Apocalypse and many more. Anyways, I will eventually read your post when I feel the urge to read long stories and when I feel boring, I hope this is good.