Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz is an English author and screenwriter. He was born in Stanmore, England, April 5th, 1956, in a Jewish family. His family faced bankruptcy and his father died. Horowitz liked to read books when he was a child. At the age of eight, he knew that he wanted to be a writer and realized that his only happy time was when he was writing. He wrote a lot of books for children and young adults, for example the Alex Rider series and the Diamond Brothers series. He also wrote many stories for television and film such as Robin of Sherwood, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and Crime Traveller. He wrote 41 novels and books in his life so far, including the Pentagram series, the Power of Five series, Granny, The Devil and His Boy, Horowitz Horror, Three of Diamond and much more. Now he lives in North London with his wife, Jill Green, whom he married in Hong Kong on April 15th, 1988. He has two sons, Nicholas Mark and Cassian James.

Stormbreaker Summary

One day Alex receives a message that his uncle died in a car accident. Alex doesn’t know what to do because his uncle was his only relative, who took care of him, and he is only 14 years old. Then he receives a phone call from a bank which his uncle worked for, to come to the bank to talk about his uncle’s money and his future. Alex finds a lot of secrets in the bank, that his uncle was not a banker and this bank is not a bank. Alex realizes that his uncle was a spy who worked for MI6, and this bank is their building. Then Alex gets kidnapped.
Alex opens his eyes and finds out that he is in a house in middle of nowhere. He meets the head of MI6, Mr. Blunt. He asks Alex to become a spy, and to spy on Herod Sayle, a rich guy who invented a new computer, Stormbreaker. Mr. Blunt feels that Herod is hiding something and he is curious about Stormbreakers. Alex goes to Port Tallon where Herod Sayle lives and starts to find out the secrets of Stormbreakers and Herod’s evil plan.

I recommend this book to all the people who like the James Bond series. This book is very similar to James Bond except the main character is younger than James. The story is packed with action and exciting events like James Bond. There are no slow parts and I couldn’t put down the book once I started reading it. Also the author’s writing style is very smooth and has no complicated sentences. It is very easy to read so younger kids might enjoy this too. One weakness of this book is that the writing style of the author is too simple, too easy, and there are no hard words. There are not many details. But still, this book was one of the best books I ever read in my life, and it makes me want to read the other books in the Alex Rider series.
The point of view of this book is Alex, the main character. The story is told through his experiences and thoughts, what he felt and what he did about something. This is an example: ‘He was short. He was so short that Alex’s first impression was that he was looking at a reflection that had somehow been distorted…..’
The genre of this book is action, and mystery. There are action scenes in almost every page. I think the best action scene in this book is when Alex tries to get on a plane that is moving, while he is chased by armed guards driving jeeps. Also there are many mysteries that are surrounding Alex. He didn’t know who Yassen Gregorovich was, why his uncle was murdered, the secrets of Stormbreakes and Herod Sayle’s real plan.

Burundi

Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world: its per capita GDP, the value of all goods and services produced within a nation in a given year divided by the average population for the same year, is only $400. Also it is the smallest country in Africa, it’s smaller than Maryland. Burundi has a lot of problems right now. There are many natural disasters, a failing economy, and very dangerous living conditions. Burundi is a very difficult country to live in because of poverty, hunger, violence between tribes, and a weak government.
Burundi has three main natural disasters, flooding, landslides, and drought. Flooding usually occurs during the rainy seasons which are from September to April. It occurs around Lake Tanganyika, which is the largest lake in Burundi: its area is about 32,900 square km. It is the third largest and second deepest fresh water lake in the world. In 2007, hundreds of thousands of people around capital city Bujumbura became homeless, because of a heavy rainfall that caused the lake to flood. It killed more than a thousand people. When the flooding happens it causes landslides to occur. Burundi’s terrain is usually made out of mountains and plateaus, so it is the perfect land for landslides. The main reason why there are many landslides is there is too little forested land. There are only 6% of forests and wood land, so the trees can’t hold the land from sliding. Drought is the biggest problem because Burundi’s economy is based on farming. Its arable land is 44%. In January, 2006, 120 Burundians died because of hunger and thousands of others fled to the neighboring countries because of food shortages caused by the drought. Burundians have a hard time because of these natural disasters: they lose their houses and families.
Burundi is a very poor country with a per capita GDP of $400 and GDP, the total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year, of $2.896 billion. They are both very low compared to other countries in the world. Most Burundians are subsistence farmers: however 70% of the population doesn’t have enough food to eat. Most people survive on sweet potatoes and corn, and rarely have protein because they don’t have enough money to buy meat or don’t have money to raise cows and pigs. Burundi is a Stage 1 country which means it has a high birth rate, high death rate, and a low life expectancy. Burundi has a problem with AIDS, a disease which destroys the natural system of protection that the body has against other diseases, which kills many people. Also it had a civil war between two ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, for twelve years, in which thousands died, contributing to the high death rate and low life expectancy. The average life expectancy is only 51 years, and the average median age is only 16 years! The average woman has about 6 children and most of them are not educated. Only 10% of the boys attend high school, so Burundi has a low literacy rate, which is 60% in average. It means that they can’t get good jobs to make money. Also when there’s a natural disaster the government doesn’t have enough money to help the people. Because of civil wars, natural disasters, limited education, not enough health care, and a weak government, Burundi has a failing economy.
Burundi has very dangerous living conditions, and even tourists can get killed there. There was a war between two ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, that lasted for 12 years. This war started in 1993 and killed about 250,000 Burundians. The war started after the Tutsi military officers killed a Hutu president. The war ended but there is still hatred between the two tribes. There are gun fights in the streets between them. Some innocent Burundians get killed during the gun fights. Also there are many landmines buried underground that they used during the war. The mines are everywhere and people don’t know where they are. Most of the victims of the explosions are children because they spend a lot of time outside, running around with their friends and going around place to place trying to find food for their family. If a man steps on a mine, he loses his leg if he is lucky, but if a kid steps on a mine, he dies. There are a lot of robberies in Burundi too because of their poor economy. Most of the people don’t have enough money to buy food so they have to steal something from the stores. Some people kill random people in the street for money. Burundi’s economy makes people criminals because they are hungry. Burundi has gunfights in the streets between the two tribes, lots of landmines, and many robberies, so that’s why it is a dangerous place.
You have to be strong to survive in Burundi because of many natural disasters that will crush your house, hunger that is caused by its poor economy, and landmines and gun fights between the two tribes, the Hutu and the Tutsi, that can kill you. Burundi has floods, drought, and landslides that kill people and destroy their shelters, a weak government that can’t help people to recover, bloody wars between the Hutu and the Tutsi that killed a lot of people, lack of health care and limited education. These things made Burundi one of the poorest and most difficult countries to live in, in the world. So world has to help this country by sending food, doctors, teachers, school supplies, UN peace keeping soldiers, and bomb disabling teams. We have to develop their valuable natural resources like gold mines so it will help the economy and build factories to give Burundians jobs. Burundi will have a better future if the richer countries help it.

Intoducing My Dog, La Lee.

I have a pet dog whose name is La Lee, who is a seven-year-old YorkshireTerrier. She only weighs 3 kg (6.6 pounds), she’s small, and has gold, silver, and black fur, which looks beautiful. Her ancestors were mice catchers in England. They were used to catch mice in a place called Yorkshire. I think that’s why she is so fast and likes to hunt cockroaches. While I was living with her for 7 years, I noticed that she acts like a person. For example, when she goes to the bathroom on the floor, not on the newspapers, she knows that she did something wrong and hides under my bed when someone notices it. When my mom says, “It is okay to come out, I’m not going to punish you”, then she comes out very carefully and runs to her house. She reminds me of small kids who hide in their secret places if they got a bad grade, broke glasses, and did many other things that will upset their parents. Also I can know that she feels guilty just like us when she does bad things. For another example, she barks at other bigger dogs while I’m walking her. The bigger dogs get scared and run away to their owners. She is very brave and has courage to bark at bigger dogs than her. It is similar to humans’ personality, being brave and able to stand up to bigger guys. Another way that she behaves like a person is, she is very intelligent. She is able to understand what’s going on in the house. When my mother was mad about my grades, she knew my mom would yell, so she ran to her doghouse and stayed very quietly. Also she can express her feelings with actions. If she is hungry and her dish is empty, she scratches the dish to tell me to fill it up with her food. She scratches the sofa if she wants to sleep on it. She is telling me to lift her up because she is too short. For all these reasons, she looks like a person to me. Also I don’t feel like she is a pet, I feel like she is my sister, a member of my family.