Samuel H. - Author study on William C. Dietz

I chose to read this authors work because of its relation to my childhood and because of how descriptive and in depth his work is. The whole Halo book series of his reminds me of the summer days and nights of when I was a child, staying up for nights on end playing with friends and my brothers. The Resistance series I am currently reading reminds me of all the times when I we would play dumb games outside like manhunt or air soft, making sure not to be seen whilst hiding from everyone. This author creates books out of some of the best video games I’ve ever played, recreating the worlds in your mind with more description of your surroundings than you’ve ever experienced within the video game. It gives resolve to all the unanswered questions of the video games. The description within the video game resistance is supremely enhanced when it comes to the amazingly crafted books giving you images of blood, death, gore, survival, struggle, and so many more things including love and romance. This is an all-around amazing book.

Within his many works he switches perspectives a lot, giving you a look at everyone’s view of the story and creating a more in depth storyline giving each person a different mission which is ultimately going to achieve the same goal of saving the world. But I’d love to know why he doesn’t switch between as many peoples perspectives in his book Resistance: The Gathering Storm like he does within his Halo series and the other Resistance book. It just seems like its only switched between three people in this book instead of a lot more which would create a whole labyrinth of story lines making the book a lot longer and even more interesting (if that’s possible, its already amazing) than it is now.  

Kennedy Lutz's Author Study on Nicholas Sparks

I picked Nicholas Sparks because I've read a few of his books before and really enjoy his type of writing. I have not read one book written by him that I have not liked. The love stories he writes are very heart-touching and really pull you into the book. It is very hard to put any of his books down once you start reading them.


I'm very interested in knowing if there is a reason why Nicholas Sparks writes love stories. I've always wondered what inspired him to choose that type of writing. I also wonder if any of his stories are inspired by someone in his life.

Cutter H's Author Study on Veronica Roth

I chose to do my author study on Veronica Roth because I recently saw the movie Divergent, which is based on a book that she wrote.  This is actually the book I'm reading by her because I wanted to get a better understanding of some of the things I was confused about while watching the movie.  Along with that reason, I wanted to see how much of the story was left out of the movie.  Since our class has to read more than one book by our selected authors, I thought choosing Veronica was a good idea because Divergent is part of a series that I could read.


From seeing the movie, and now reading the book, I've come up with a few questions I'd ask her.  The first question would be where she came up with the idea for the book.  To go along with that, I'm wondering where she came up with the idea of the factions.  I'd want to know where the names of each faction came from and the ideals of each came from.  Finally, I'd like to know which faction she would have picked and why.  Since it's her own book, I'd be curious to see if she ever thought about it.

Jocelyn Reese author study on Nicholas Sparks

I chose Nicholas Sparks because I have read a couple of his books already and I wanted to read more. I like his style of writing and the way that he writes. For example, my favorite book of his is The Wedding. I read that book twice and I learned more about it each time. I also chose Nicholas Sparks because I love watching his movies.
I hope to learn more about his life and why he chose to write romance novels. In the books that I've already read, I've learned a little more about his life growing up just by reading the back inside covers of the books.

Chasey O's Author Study on Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myer’s book Fallen Angel initially intrigued me because of the cover and the picture of the soldier on it.  I am very interested in different wars that have happened in history and how they have helped shape us as to how we are today.  As I started reading the text I noticed how his characters portrays extremely close to personal accounts of actually soldiers and also to what historians have said happened.  The truth of all the accounts were the things that really stuck out to me.

                 

            The first question I would have to Walter would be if he was really in the war because of his age it fit perfectly in the Vietnam era.  Another question is if any of his family were active military members because that can really affect a kid’s mentality as he was growing up.  The last question I would have is if the characters were based on real people.  I would not be surprised because of how real the story feels when you are reading it.

Ashley R Author Study on Jodi Picoult

I selected Jodi Picoult because I feel that I can relate to some of the things that she writes about. She makes me feel like I am living in what that I am reading, that I am a witness to what is going on in the story. It takes a lot for me to be really into a book, to want to keep reading. Even just reading the first page of a Jodi Picoult book instantly gets me hooked. I would love to meet Jodi Picoult one day, it would be an honor because she is the first author that I really made a connection with.



I would like to know how Jodi Picoult comes up with the topic of her storys. I wonder if she has been through the experiences that she writes about or if people have told her experiences and she writes about them or even if she just thinks different things up. Either way she does and amazing job of creating a really solid story. The storys that Jodi Picoult writes about seem like they are things that have happened in her life or someone else so I would really like to find out if my assumption is right or wrong.

Tim M's Author Study - Tim O'Brien

     I first heard of Tim O'Brien when some of my friends were required to read his novel The Things They Carried for an honors English class their Junior year.  I remember the two of them came in homeroom fake-crying, but in a sympathetic way, about a guy shooting a water buffalo multiple times.  The buffalo didn't give up.  This sounded interesting to me.  The book takes place in the Vietnam War.  I have always been interested in wars.  Both of my grandfathers had fought in wars; The Vietnam War is the only war that no relatives of mine have participated in (that I know of).  Mrs. Byma specifically told me that Tim O'Brien is one of the most well known authors that writes about the Vietnam War, so I decided to pick him for my author study.

     I'm interested in knowing about a lot of things that go on in Tim's lifestyle, especially after all the horror he and many other men (and women) went through.  The Things They Carried talks about his life too.  He constantly talks about how it is easy to make a fake war story seem true.  Tim often lies in his books, changes the names of characters, and often switches events that happened to a specific person so that they happen to another.  It really gave me a new view on war as a whole.  There are common stories where people have P.T.S.D. from the horrors of watching people die.  The Things They Carried goes more in depth.  It talked about how the jungle almost consumed their souls, and that in a way they remained in the bush.  He really put a superstitious taste in that novel, which really intrigued me.  I just started another one of his novels Going After Cacciato, and I can't wait to crack down on the story that awaits.