Strayed's Wild read captures readers

Cheryl Strayed, the author of the nonfiction book Wild, writes about everything she had been through and becoming a new person by walking the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed went to Syracuse University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English with a focus on fiction writing. Yet in 1991 a devastating event happened when her mom died of cancer at only 45. After her mother's death, Strayed went into immense depression. To cope, she slept around with men and shot heroin. After divorcing her husband, she decided to change her life so she walked the Pacific Crest Trail from California to Washington.

Along with Wild, Strayed has also wrote a collection of essays and two other books. Torch, a fiction novel about a family who is crushed by the unexpected loss of the mother, was her first novel published. Strayed also wrote Tiny Beautiful things, which is a compilation of her advice column she had years before.

Wild is an adventurous book that starts out with a lost lady seeking to find hope. As she walks the one thousand plus miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, she leaves the death of her mother, her divorce and her whole past behind in California. Strayed walks out a new person when she reaches the end of the trail in Washington.

Strayed’s exciting thrill of a journey leaves the reader excited, yet intrigued by her life. As she crosses rivers and streams, encounters animals big and small on this wild trip on foot, she builds new relationships and comes to peace with herself. Strayed is introduced to the struggles of backpacking and what not to pack. She escapes herself while finding a new self.

This book would be great for someone who likes self counselling. For someone who wants to change the way they live by themselves. Someone who doesn’t need the help of others to feel better. Honestly, anyone would like to read this book because it’s a really interesting and grabbing novel. It teaches you that you can overcome, that you don’t need anyone to help you besides yourself.

Molly enjoys FFA, reading, and her family.

Sachar has no plot Holes

Louis Sachar was born in New York on March 20, 1954. His dad worked in the Empire State building. After high school, he attended the University of California, where he graduated with a degree in Economics. Before he graduated, he took a class at the University that made him a teacher’s aid. This class alone inspired him to write books that were intended for children. After graduating college, he went on to go to law school. He then became a part time lawyer and wrote at the end of his nights on the side. He is now retired, living in Texas working on his writing full time.

Other than Holes, which is intended for 5th- 8th graders, Sachar has written mostly children’s books. These books are mostly for grades 3-5 and are comedic and humorous but also realistic fiction. These children books include: The Wayside Stories, Funny Mud, A Flying Birthday Cake, and also a Magic Crystal. Other than his children’s books, he has written a sequel to Holes and the Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake. All these books came throughout his long illustrious book writing career.

Holes is a fictional account of Stanley Yeltnats’ life. Sachar uses informal writing to draw attention from young adults. He does this by shortening his paragraph size and also using slang that us teenagers can relate with. “If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.” He uses these literary devices to explain Stanley’s situation and how he got to, and made it through, Camp Green Lake. It shows his friendships created, the harsh living conditions, and how he finally makes it out of that hell hole.

This book goes through a brief period in a young boy’s life. He is found guilty of a crime of wrong place, wrong time. He is then sent to Camp Green Lake as a punishment to where he faces cruel and harsh conditions and also very rough camp instructors. He befriends one of the other campmates, who is generally teased and disliked by the others. This relationship turns out to be very beneficial for the both of them as Stanley teaches Zero to read and write. Zero has an itch to get out of Camp Green Lake and Stanley is having a hard time in these harsh circumstances.

This book would appeal to anyone who has an interest in fictional stories. I would recommend it to any teachers because it is easier for us to relate to it as Stanley is also a teenager. This book takes you on an adventure with lots of mishaps and wrong turns. I’m sure that anyone that reads this will be very interested and wouldn’t want to put it down because they would have to know what comes next. A surprise around every corner!

Tristan, a senior, enjoys basketball and time with friends.

Riordan's Lightning Thief steals your hours

Rick Riordan is the author who wrote the adventurous, action-packed series of “Percy Jackson & the Olympians.” His books have been New York Times #1 best-selling series, and he was a middle school history/English teacher for 15 years. Riordan taught at both private and public schools in Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area. He lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Becky Riordan, and their two sons, Patrick and Haley Riordan.

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians” isn’t the only mythologic, modern-day fantasy series Riordan has written, and it will certainly not be the last, but he hasn’t always written fiction. Before, he wrote the adult mystery series “Tres Navarre,” containing seven books about a fast-paced crime story with a talented and flawed hero, Jackson "Tres" Navarre, a 3rd generation Texan. He’s also written “The Kane Chronicles,” a Egyptian-mythology-based series about sibling magicians, Carter and Sadie Kane saving the world. Riordan also just began a series connected to the Percy Jackson series, focusing on Annabeth Chase’s, (a Greek demigoddess and close friend to Percy,) cousin and Norse demigod Magnus Chase. He named this series “Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard,” which has many similarities to Percy Jackson’s story.

Riordan mixes the present with the past in the very first installment of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, The Lightning Thief. Our protagonist, Percy Jackson, is a “troubled” kid who has been to six schools in the past six years. He lives in upstate New York, where his story begins. After troubling events and the lost mother, he finds that a certain god has had something stolen from him and the prime suspect is none other than Percy. So, Percy’s mentor sends him on a quest with dangers around every corner, and Percy, along with his friends Annabeth and Grover, set out to find the real thief and clear Percy’s name. They’ll meet new people, anger some gods, make some new enemies, and save the day. But, a greater evil is rising and the thief isn’t their biggest problem.

Riordan’s writing style is simple and easy to understand, since his books are intended for a younger audience. He adds humor with sarcasm, which is expected since he is writing from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy. But, his books do have a darker tone to them, especially as he continues writing Percy’s story down. An example of Riordan’s writing style would be when they were at the entrance to the Underworld, “‘How did you die?’ ‘We er….drowned in a bathtub.’ ‘All three of you?’ ‘It was a big bathtub.’”.

The intended audience, as stated previously, would certainly be a younger age group. But, it is a series you can grow up reading as you get older. Though, it does have some violence, like when a hellhound clawed up Percy, if you enjoy fiction, adventure, action, and/or mythology, then you will most likely enjoy Percy’s journey in Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief.

Catrina enjoys reading, writing  about television, and being awesome.

Take advantage of college visits to FHS

Are you interested in college? Do you have questions about college? Look no further because Fortuna High has several great colleges visiting to speak and answer all your questions throughout the year. Colleges include OIT, UC Davis, Humboldt State, and Sonoma State.

Karla Austin, counselor at FUHS, explained the difficulties of being a small school and the importance of these schools coming to talk with the students.

“I wish more reps would come to our school, we’re a small school in the middle of nowhere...We don’t get the luxury of the large So-Cal schools,” Austin explained.

The difficulty is multiplied when the large and popular colleges, don’t even need representatives. Austin explained to me that schools like Cal Poly and University of Washington don’t send reps because the turnout isn’t worth it. In all reality, Austin explained as well, kids need to be exposed. Interacting with a rep and being exposed can drastically make a difference in a kids choices as to where they want to get their formal education.

Austin wishes more unique schools would come up to the coast and talk to kids about a future with their school. She emphasized Cal Maritime, a school where you live and learn on the sea. A lot of you living in the north coast region probably know someone who would be interested.

I encourage anyone at FUHS who wants to talk to one of these reps. Talk to your counselor about it. It could change your life!

Caleb loves fiction and fun. Modes of Writing is a very enjoyable class.

New Theater Class at Fortuna High is full of drama

One of the newest courses being offered at Fortuna High this year is the theater class. Jared Ourique, the teacher of the new course, reported that there are thirty-four students enrolled in the class this year, which is a fairly large number of students. When asked how he managed to get the class to happen, Ourique said that he just asked students if they would be interested in taking the course and enough of them were interested.

Ourique explained that his love for theater came from his old classes in theater when he was in high school. He said that “Theater made me what I am,” and that it gave him the confidence to speak in front of others along with the friends he found there.

The class started off with improv in the beginning of the year, and they are currently researching different styles of theater. Ourique hopes to eventually have the class writing their own scripts, doing improv skits, and having performances open to the public. The place where class takes location is very fluid as well, as the class moves from C 4-5, the theater, and Ourique's normal classroom depending on what the class needs for that day.

Codi Oswald is a senior at Fortuna High in the Modes of Writing class. He is part of the Fortuna High Marching Band.

Modes of Writing students write Internet content

In Amy Conley’s room in CA-8, 2nd period is the Modes of Writing class that teaches kids how to write correct internet content. When she first wrote up the class, she was excited, but as she got to teach the class, she came to love allowing her students to choose what they read and write about. “Any topic can be academic,” Conley had said in an interview,”if you go deeper into it.”

Conley believes that the Modes class students do well and that they also end up reading and writing every day. Layla D., a student in the Modes class, talks about how it’s not like other English classes because it focuses more on reading and writing which are her passions.  She likes the teacher because she says she is a bit awkward, is really nerdy, and nurturing towards her students.

Some difficulties some students face in the Modes of Writing class are the assignments. They write articles, they have blog assignments, and learn about the different writing styles and genres of literature. Melina C. had said “a lot is always going on so it feels like a bunch of classes mixed together.”

After taking a poll in class, 16 students out of 21 said that they would not switch out of the Modes class. Some because they need the English credit, some because they enjoy Conley’s Modes of Writing class.

Catrina R. enjoys Modes of Writing.

Wanna Slytherin to Dumbledore’s Army?

The geeks of Fortuna High can rejoice, Dumbledore’s Army is back! They had the first meeting, where people were sorted, on September 22. You have two options for being sorted into your house or the online quiz or the sorting hat, which is random. New Slytherin members like Catrina R. and Anna S. are looking forward to many things this year, like the Halloween feast, the house meetings, and Quidditch. They joined because of their love of Harry Potter, like most of the members.  

Reva H. joined last year for the same reason and is now the Head of Slytherin house. Like Anna and Catrina, Reva is excited for Quidditch and the Halloween feast. As well as the movie night on November 12, which is one of the ways the club is funded. Reva sums up the club in four simple words, “Harry Potter is life.”

Melina C. enjoys Modes of Writing and also joined Dumbledore’s Army.