Bristol Bay Summer

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Bristol Bay Summer, by Annie Boochever, is about a girl named Zoey who is forced to live in Bristol Bay, Alaska for the summer. The day after they got there Eliot her brother woke up sick. Thomas, the son of the lady they were working for, drove them in a skiff to the nearest hospital. Zoey worked for Thomas's family the whole summer, picking fish from a net. Zoey's mom and Patrick flew to Dillingham one day, and while they were gone a Japanese Typhoon hit. With winds of 70 miles per hour it blew their tents up. Zoey and Eliot were stumbling along trying to reach Thomas's camp. Instead they reached the old boat they had found when they had first gotten here. They took shelter inside the boat and eventually fell asleep. When their mom got back, they decided that since everything that was in their tents were strewn everywhere, they should just go back to Anchorage. Patrick and Zoey were just going to stay for the rest of the season. When Patrick got back from dropping Zoey's mom and Eliot off in Anchorage, he and Zoey took a load of salmon to Dillingham. On the way Patrick's plane started to break down. The engine stopped working and the plane went down. Zoey saved them both and they were picked up and brought to the hospital. When they were well enough to leave they finally went back to Anchorage.

I think that one of the main themes of this book is to never judge a person before you get to know them. An example I have of this theme, is when Zoey first meets Thomas, "The only other kid out here and he's either suck up or weird" (50). He actually turns out to be a very nice person at the end of the book. My second example of this theme is when Patrick and Zoey are at the hospital after the crash.  Ever since her mom had met Patrick, Zoey hadn't liked him, but now her thoughts have changed. "There it was again: your dad. But for the first time, Zoey didn't feel like correcting her" (232). My last example is when Zoey realizes that her life is a lot better than she thought it was. "Zoey realized then and there that her mom was right. Patrick, Eliot, Lhasa, and her mom were as close to a real family as she had. And the truth was, things could be a lot worse" (243). These are three examples of why I think that a main theme in this book is to never judge a person before you know them well.

  As shown in the title, this book's setting is Bristol Bay, Alaska.  "You won't believe where I am. Bristol Bay, Alaska" (85). She had to haul fish all summer in the remote Bristol Bay. She learned lots more about the "Wild Alaska" and actually enjoyed it there more than she thought she would. "I'm finally back home again. It has been an amazing summer" (244). At the beginning of her summer, Zoey was unsure about Bristol Bay, but by the end, she didn't want to leave.

    I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I thought that it was a very inspiring book over all, and that lots of different aged readers would enjoy it. This book is very well written, Annie Boochever did a great job making it feel like you were in Bristol Bay with Zoey. These are some reasons why I would recommend this book to other readers.

    Some awards that Annie Boochever got on her book Bristol Bay Summer are The Mom's Choice Award, and the Literary Classics Seal of Approval. Her book also got selected for the Children's Book Council Seasonal Showcase. I think that she definitely deserved these awards.

Learning to Ride a Bike

By Audrey Saiz

The sky was a light blue with patches of white clouds, my favorite. With my bike below me, I was looking ahead at the long concrete road. The rain from this morning was still new on the ground, putting off a fresh smell. Feeling the small rubbery handle bars of my bike underneath my hands, got me even more excited to ride the bike.

“Ready?” Dad said.

“Um… Sure,” I said.

“Okay let’s go!”

He grabbed onto the back of my seat, and started walking.

“Don’t let go Daddy!”

“I won’t!”

“You can do it Audrey!” my mom yelled.

She was sitting on our porch, watching me and taking some pictures.

“Careful on that turn. Remember, you need to keep pedaling, lean with the turn, and don’t let go of the handlebars,” my dad said.

“Okay.”

My dad had told me that so many times, and I still hadn’t figured out how to do it. Other people made it look so easy, but I fell every time.

 “Okay, here we go!” he said when we got to the treacherous turn.

“Dad! Why’d you let go?!”

“You’re fine,” he said.

“No I’m not.”

“Just keep those legs moving.”

“K,” I said, concentrating with all my might on the ground ahead of me. Woah, I thought. The bike was wobbling underneath me and I started to panic. “Ahhhh!” I screamed.

The bike hit a big rock and fell to the side.

“Ouch!” Looking down at my knee, I saw a cut that felt like it was 10 times as bad as it really was.

“Daddy look at my knee!” I said almost in tears.

“It’s alright, come on up you go. Let’s grab a Band-Aid for that,” he said, starting towards the back porch, with me limping along at his side.

My mom was coming down the stairs already with a Band-Aid in her hand. She sat me down on the couch and put it on my knee.

“There, all better,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, you ready to go again?” my dad asked.

“Um… ok,” I replied uneasily. I wasn’t ready to get cut again.

We walked back to where my bike was. I picked it up and took a deep breath.

“And… go!” my dad said.

This time he gave me a push on the back of the seat.

“Dad look at me I’m doing it!”

“Nice Job!”

Coming up on the turn I took a deep breath, here I go, I thought.

“Remember to lean with it!” called my dad.

Yes! I thought. I finally did it!

When I got back to where my dad was standing, he told me good job. We walked back to my porch where my mom was sitting. She jumped up and hugged me. That day I learned how to ride a bike, and that even if things are hard I need to keep going. To this day I always have this lesson in my mind.