Books For Bao

I hate to see Bao struggle to read like this. I see him push himself to read books that others like instead of books that he may like. I'd like to suggest some books I've read in the past the he may like.

During a summer, I read a book called "Small Steps". It's a sequal to the book "Holes" which Bao has read before. It's about a boy who had some trouble when he lost his temper at a movie theater and got locked up. Now he's out and free and it's about his life afterwards. He's doesn't know what to do with his life and a friend of his drags him into one of his get rich quick schemes and then all of these events happen to him. It's a great story with a great moral. To see what happens go read.

Another one to recommend is sort of a going series called the "Five Ancestors". It's about a Cangzen Shaolin Temple attacked by a former student and five of the students escape. The five children who are masters at five different styles of kung-fu, depending on their nature in comparison to animals. For example, the first book is about Fu, an impatient child who is always loosing his temper and always wants to fight. He resembles the Tiger, which Fu means in Cangzen chinese. The five children set off on different journeys in search of their past. The series is full of plot twists. And it doesn't even stop at the five children but it goes beyond them to others in the story.

I remember reading a bunch of books by the author Linda Sue Park. She writes many books based on the Korean history. One of my favorite books that she wrote was The Kite Fighters. It's about two brothers who have great interests in kites. The younger brother is great in flying the kites with great technique and the older brother can't fly well, but gifted in making them. Soon a kite festival is held and their father asks the older brother to represent the king's kite in a competition even though the younger brother was much more skilled in flying one and was even asked to by the king. Despite this, it is a tradition to have the eldest son carry a family name. The story tells a fantastic story of loyalty between brothers. It reminds me of Bao and myself.

I hope one of these books can help Bao find the right kind for him.

New Year's Day!!!

Today is New Years! I have only 2 resolutions this year. Not much but hard to do. The first one is to get all "A"s on my report card with an exception of 2 "B"s. No more than that. It may be hard to do in English. English is hard for many people in my class. The second one would be much harder to do and I don't know if I can do it but it's to help Bo and Bao to stop fighting. When they fight, not only those two but everyone inside the house is scared and upset. I'll try my best to stop them from getting into an argument without getting myself dragged into it.

Perfect Wind, A Broken Wing

As I was playing, I watched the trees outside flailing vigorously in the wind. I noticed that meant today was probably a great day to fly my kite. As I took it outside, I felt the wind keep tugging on it as if the kite wanted to fly. I had to hold it tightly until I reached the Jamestown field. Once I got there, I felt the wind die down. It was like the wind was getting ready for me to launch my kite into the air. But as I launched, the wind blew too hard and caused the kite to dip down onto the ground. I felt forsaken. I found that the wing has been broken. I went back home to fix it with a paper clip as the metal clip to keep the wing in place as it flies. I went back outside to fly again and as I launched, the paper clip became loose and couldn't keep the wing in place. I went back home, now feeling defeated. When can I finally fly again...like the summer from before?

Holiday Times

Lately, there have been many signs of holiday. People have been giving and getting gifts all over. But it does make some people not as cheerful. All of the people going shopping causes traffic like what happened this afternoon when Me. was taking me to go to the orthodontist. People were everywhere trying to leave the intersection and going home. But it's not only the holiday's fault but also the big intersection. The place is so complex that traffic jams happen everyday. Every Monday it takes 5 minutes to make it through and go the way we need to go. When I'm an architect and may have to design roads, I'll watch for this kind of problem. But will I have the chance?

Lazy Weekend

After all of these weekends, I finally have a whole weekend to play. I finished my homework at school and am in that relaxing mood. The bad part is that I don't have much longer of it and I don't know when I will have another. I hope this one will be worthwhile.

Fireman's Openhouse

Today, I went with Bo^/ to the open house at the fire stations. I helped him by holding the flash at a certain place in order for him to take a picture with the right flash. It is necessary for him to have that flash to have a professional picture fit for a newspaper. It was such a good feeling to be useful to the trip than just carrying something that wouldn't be used during the whole time. Having such a feeling seems to build a stronger bond with Bo^/ and me. Now if only Ba?o can come, too.

Home with Huan

Today I spent half of the day with Huan at Ong Ba's house. I had a good time and I believe Huan did, too. Today, I played soccer with Huan for a bit but soon he got tired and we went inside. Huan seemed pretty calm and quiet today, but also he seemed bored. I only wish he could have something to do instead of reading the books he's read for the last few weeks.