Connie

toc = = =Quarter 1=

Interview with Ms. Cooper


August 23, 2010 //This is Ms. Cooper. Her real name is Kristi Cooper. She has been working as a counselor in SAS for 2 years already. She is a jolly person and she loves her job very much. Ms. Cooper has fluffy blonde hair, and the colors of her eyes are baby blue. She really enjoys speaking with teachers, students and parents. She loves SAS and she thinks SAS is one of the top schools in the world. She has a lot of favorite foods, and one of her favorite foods is Brussels sprouts. Her favorite color is red;// and //her office is surrounded with red--- red wallpaper, red accessories, red flowerpots and so on. She told me that even the theme color of her apartment is red. She loves movies, too. Her favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz. It became her favorite movie when she was young. What an interesting person Ms. Cooper is!//

//Rainbow and I were best friends since first grade. Actually her real name wasn’t Rainbow, it was because her Chinese name means born on a rainy day, plus rainbows usually appear when the rain stops, so I called her Rainbow instead. We shared a lot during the first four years in elementary school. But there was one thing that I adore the most, it was Rainbow’s little white dog.// //The dog’s name was Babe. Her fur was white, as white as the snow in December. She had white round floppy ears, round bulgy eyes and a round belly that always growl. Roly-poly. Babe was very naughty, she loved to jump into murky puddles when it’s raining, she had an unusual appetite--- she just couldn’t stop eating! Because of her humongous appetite, she almost slipped through the edge of becoming overweight. Babe was used to have everyone’s attention, if the people around her didn’t rub her belly or stroke her fur, she would do something really annoying in order to get people’s attention, such as eating trash from the trash bin, chewing socks that are ironed fresh and crispy, walk in the mud then leave a trail of muddy footprints all over the brand new carpet. When Rainbow raised her hand pretending she’s going to spank her, she would sit down and blink her soft dark eyes and wag her tail at her good O’ mistress, mostly Rainbow would squeeze out a tiny smile and stroke her mane gently.// //Once Rainbow and a bunch of other girls were hanging out at my house, Babe was at my house, too. We got bored playing with Babe so we started to play hide and seek. After a few rounds, the clock stroked five and it was time to go, we suddenly realized that Babe was not with us; we searched everywhere, and guess what, we found Babe sitting in the kitchen, above her was a table with a big plate of fresh-cooked chicken meat, we also saw a small puddle below her –she was drooling. We had to carry her out of the kitchen by force. On school days, Rainbow and I would do our homework with the other girls near the apartment I used to live, Babe would lie down beside our feet, she wouldn’t ever dare to make a sound, afraid that it would distract us.// //When I entered fourth grade, Rainbow got transferred to another school in another part of the city, Babe went with her, too. That was five years ago, and I still miss them. Every time when I close my eyes, I could still feel the gentle breeze of that cool autumn morning the first time we met and the gentle footsteps of Babe, the little white dog.// = =

Speaking of Suspense
// Suspense is used very often in short stories and novels. Suspense is used to attract readers and add more interesting details to the story. For example, in Jane Eyre, at the part when Jane found herself tortured by terrifying memories of the mysterious woman who appeared in her bedroom on the night before her wedding-day, at first the author didn’t tell us exactly who it was, she only gave us the looks and the moves of the women, in order to have the readers hooked on the novel. Suspense is also an air-blower to enlarge the conflict. Like in the Past of the City South //// ( ////城南旧事 ////) //// by Lin Haiyin, Haiyin was confused when mother suddenly became mad when her father talked about the lady living in their house, as time flies, Haiyin became even more puzzled about the conflict between her parents. The writer just gave us details of the conflict but without the reason, it’s a way to give the readers a feeling that the conflict was enlarged. Why are we often attracted by the stories easily? It is because of suspense. A successful short story or novel always has a nice way on suspense. People are hooked into the story is not always because of the neat and unique details it has, mostly because of the suspense of the story. Without suspense, stories may seem lame and plain. If a story is a car, then suspense is the gas stopit makes the story run faster. Long live suspense! //

//Reason: I choose this assignment is because it has a lot of words and I spent a lot of time working on it,// //and I did it wrong.//

=Simple, Complex and Compound=

Rainbow and I were best friends since first grade. //Actually her real name wasn’t Rainbow, it was because her Chinese name means born on a rainy day, plus rainbows usually appear when the rain stops, so I called her Rainbow instead. We shared a lot during the first four years in elementary school. But there was one thing that I adore the most, it was Rainbow’s little white dog.// The dog’s name was Babe. Her fur was white, as white as the snow in December. She had white round floppy ears, round bulgy eyes and a round belly that always growl. //Roly-poly. Babe was very naughty, she loved to jump into murky puddles when it’s raining, she had an unusual appetite--- she just couldn’t stop eating! Because of her humongous appetite, she almost slipped through the edge of becoming overweight. Babe was used to have everyone’s attention, if the people around her didn’t rub her belly or stroke her fur, she would do something really annoying in order to get people’s attention, such as eating trash from the trash bin, chewing socks that are ironed fresh and crispy, walk in the mud then leave a trail of muddy footprints all over the brand new carpet. When Rainbow raised her hand pretending she’s going to spank her, she would sit down and blink her soft dark eyes and wag her tail at her good O’ mistress, mostly Rainbow would squeeze out a tiny smile and stroke her mane gently.// //Once Rainbow and a bunch of other girls were hanging out at my house, Babe was at my house, too. We got bored playing with Babe so we started to play hide and seek. After a few rounds, the clock stroked five and it was time to go, we suddenly realized that Babe was not with us; we searched everywhere, and guess what, we found Babe sitting in the kitchen, above her was a table with a big plate of fresh-cooked chicken meat, we also saw a small puddle below her –she was drooling. We had to carry her out of the kitchen by force. On school days, Rainbow and I would do our homework with the other girls near the apartment I used to live, Babe would lie down beside our feet, she wouldn’t ever dare to make a sound, afraid that it would distract us.// //When I entered fourth grade, Rainbow got transferred to another school in another part of the city, Babe went with her, too. That was five years ago, and I still miss them.// Every time when I close my eyes, I could still feel the gentle breeze of that cool autumn morning the first time we met and the gentle footsteps of Babe, the little white dog.

__﻿Purple is for compound sentences.__



__Blue is for complex sentences.__

__Red is for simple sentences.__

= = = **Quarter 2** =

The plot of the Bass, the River and Sheila Mant
//The story starts with three paragraphs of exposition on the Mants, their parties and the narrator’s secret crush on their middle daughter--- Sheila. After a month of peeping at Sheila secretly, the narrator finally earns the courage to ask Sheila out to see the show of the band, which becomes the inciting incident of the story. The narrator’s excitement on going out with Sheila can be easily spotted by the use of metaphors in the story; “I turned it (the canoe) upside down…until it gleamed as bright as aluminum ever gleamed”, the narrator spends so much time polishing his beloved canoe, he even compared the shininess of the polished-canoe to aluminum, the use of analogy expresses his emotions fluently; “When her eyes…diving in the river again from agony and joy,” both analogy and indirect characterization complemented perfectly in order to express his anxiousness, which leads us to the rising action of the story. There is still a moment before they actually go out, the narrator lets out some fishing line into the water and immediately forgets all about it, this foreshadows that something is going to happen. When the narrator and Sheila canoed peacefully down the banks of Vermont shore, the story reached the climax, which happens to be the narrator feels the Bass pulling the fishing rod. While they canoed, the narrator tries his best to hide his true self because Sheila hates fishing, which is the internal conflict between the narrator and himself. Suddenly he feels the Bass pulling the fishing rod, he yanked the line hard but the Bass struggles with all its might. Now he is in the external conflict between himself and the Bass. This conflict guides the readers directly towards the falling action of the story--- the narrator arrives at the show with Sheila. In the end, Sheila ditches him and goes home with Eric Caswell.//

The reason I choose this paragraph is because I think it is the best English paragraph I have ever wrote and I spent quite a lot of time on it, also, it has a lot of words. :P

Of Mice and Men
// In the story Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck uses both direct and indirect characterization to describe George Milton and Lennie Small. In the beginning of Of Mice And Men, Steinbeck described Lennie as “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms didn’t swing at his sides, but hang loosely, “direct characterization is used to describe the physical features of Lennie. When the boss of Tyler Ranch interviews George, George describes Lennie as “A hell of a good worker” “Strong as a bull” “I ain’t saying he is bright. He ain’t.” Indirect characterization is now used to describe the strength and the IQ of Lennie. When it turns to George, the author describes George as “small and quick” “dark of face” “restless eyes” “sharp strong features” “small strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose”. At here, direct characterization is also used to describe the physical features of George. At the part when Curley’s wife corners Lennie, she says, “George gives you orders on everything?” In this part of indirect characterization, George seems like a person who loves to give orders to Lennie and tries to control him in anyway. //

= **Quarter 3** = = **Farewell, 2010!** =

//2010 was fantastic, although I felt like I was living in two different worlds – the first 6 months I studied in a Chinese local school, then I came to Shanghai and started studying SAS for the rest of the year. It is not easy to transfer from an all-Chinese system into an all-English system, but I made it; now I am slowly adapting to the system of SAS. Last year was a year full of challenges and hardships, but it was still the most memorable year. The best thing was I started to enjoy my life in Shanghai. The worst thing was I wrote my very first script:// Double Happiness//. My friends said the script was really good, and we spent a lot of time preparing for our performance, but the audience didn’t pay any attention to our play.// Double Happiness //became double sadness. 2010 was a year filled with dramatic changes. I learned a lot from the passing year--- No matter what kind of circumstance I am in, “I should work hard on achieving my goal.” “Be grateful for the things I have in present.” When church bells chime for the arrival of 2011, I shall gather my souvenirs from 2010 and await the footsteps of 2011. Farewell, 2010!//

This is a brief summary of 2010. Too many things happened during that year. It was also the most memorable year.



= =

=**Say Hi to 2011!**=

//I////t is 2011; I can hardly wait to implement my resolutions and predictions for this year. In 2011, I am going to become a more disciplined person, because when I reach 10////th grade, I am going to be very busy, being disciplined seems like the only way I can finish all my schoolwork and study more; I am going to earn more “A”s on my report cards. Last semester, my GPA was really low, if I don’t get higher GPAs at the following school years, there is no way for me to go to a good university, so I need to get more “A”s on my report card; I am also going to do sports more often at home; last semester I didn’t pass the beep tests at the end of every quarter, which lowered my final grade on PE, so I am going to play more sports at home. It is easy to make resolutions; the hardest part is to put them into action. Enough with the resolutions, now, it is time for predictions. In 2011, I will gain some muscle, thanks for the PE programs of SAS, I am doing better at sports and for the very first time I enjoyed doing fitness; I will be involved in social service; and, I will do better on most of my subjects. Well, these are just some “I am going to”s and “I will”s statements, in 2011, my goal is to turn them into statements like “I already” and “I did it”. Which means I should work hard.//



=**Sentences Using New Vocabulary**=

//Ashley Wilkes was a notable **__patrician__** before the American Civil War began.// //After the show, I feel so hungry that I can eat up the **__microphone.__**//

= = =Analytical Paragraph of Search of My Tongue=

// S //// ujata Bhatt’s poem, //// __Search for My Tongue,__ is a sentimentally intense free verse about the author herself living in a foreign country, speaking a different language and worrying about forgetting her mother tongue. “Everytime I think I’ve forgotten/ I think I’ve lost the mother tongue/ it blossoms out of my mouth.” Bhatt describes her mother language as a flower, waiting impatiently to bloom in time. This literary technique is called the metaphor. The more distant between the object the writer is describing and the thing it is compared to, the more expressive and persuasive the metaphor can be. “Your mother tongue would rot/ rot and die in your mouth/ until you had to spit it out.” The diction of “rot” and “die” has very strong negative connotations. This shows that the mother tongue is like a plant, when you forget to water the plant, it dies; also, killing your mother tongue by neglecting it is a really bad thing. “The bud opens/ the bud opens in my mouth/… it blossoms out of my mouth.” The diction of “bud” and “blossoms” has very strong positive connotations of a plant that grows very well because you water it really often. This contrast is very effective because it shows that your mother tongue “grows” differently if you treat it differently. //

The reason I have chosen this paragraph is because I spent a lot of time polishing the paragraph and it is one of the best analytical paragraphs I had ever written.

=High School Investigation Project= [|Technology as a Distraction] //__[|Laptop Distraction]__//

Hi Connie! Jenna here :) I did your survey already, which I really liked! I see that there is not much that I can give feedback on here, which is okay - we can discuss in class. I did my Extended Essay on technology and language, I think I have some interesting information for you! Your research question has a brilliant, contemporary and very relevant idea behind it. Further focus it, for example - is a distraction for students? teachers? people at SAS? Consider various cultural norms, difference between gender and grades! A slight rewording could also make the question more formal, I suggest something similar to: "To what extent is technology a distraction to (insert participant group) when studying?". You might also want to consider what type of technology you're dealing with, I assume you're referring to computers? /Jenna :)

Research Question: Is computer chatting really a distraction for high school students?

=High School Investigation Presentation=

=Informal Persuasive Speech=

//Improve the Food in the Cafeteria//


 * //Lunch time! Your stomach growled happily as you rushed to the cafeteria.//
 * //You decided to try some pasta, but the taste is so unpleasant, you can hardly take another bite.//
 *  //Have you ever experienced something like this? Well, this happened to me quite often.//


 *  //Ugh. The Chinese food doesn’t taste like Chinese food, the rice is hard to swallow and the bean sprouts are hard to chew;//
 *  //Italian food doesn’t taste good, the pasta is so greasy and the pizza tastes like cardboard... the price is expensive and the line is always so long.//
 * //Lots of students don’t finish their food at lunch because the taste of the food really upsets the stomach.//
 * //According to my observation, half the students still have food on their trays when they leave them at the dishwasher.//
 * //Not eating well at lunch doesn’t help the students to learn better, instead it may lead to a dramatic decline on grades, even worse, it affects the health.//
 *  //Which means the school needs to improve the food in the cafeteria. But how?//
 *  //The school can improve the food in the cafeteria by giving franchise to chain catering enterprises//
 * //McDonald// [[image:Worst_Case_Scenario.jpeg align="right"]]
 * //KFC//
 * //Pizza Hut//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Papa Johns//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Burger King//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Captain Chopsticks//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//King of Soy Beans//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Since lots of people love to eat at these restaurants, why don’t we give franchise to them? The price is good, the food is tasty and rich, good to support huge energy consumptions of students.//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Less food-wasting and satisfaction for everyone. What a great deal!//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Since lots of people love to eat at these restaurants, why don’t we give franchise to them? The price is good, the food is tasty and rich, good to support huge energy consumptions of students.//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Less food-wasting and satisfaction for everyone. What a great deal!//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Less food-wasting and satisfaction for everyone. What a great deal!//


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> //With this great food, students can have more energy to study and to be focused in class.//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//So your next lunch should be, a Big Mac, Papa Johns Pizza, yummy beef noodles or green salad.//
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Good, isn’t it?//

Feedback: People said this was an interesting persuasive speech. Humor, rhetorical questions, facts and emotive language. Also my topic is really interesting. Because other people in my class did speeches on homework, school, teachers and parent issues. But I did my informal speech on food in the cafeteria. Which is a pretty awesome surprise for the audience. There are flaws, too. I should make more eye-contact and speak louder the next time I am delivering a speech. =Formal Speech=

<span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">**The Sign of a Corrupted Society**


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">You are waiting for the school bus at the bus stop. Then three dark shadows appeared in a corner.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Oh no! They are the school’s biggest bullies.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">You want to escape, but a huge hand shot out--- too late!
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The leader smirked, “Hey little guy, would you mind giving a little do-nation?”
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">You want to say no, but if you don’t, you will be “dead meat”.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Hesitating, you hand in your lunch money your mom gave you.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">You want to tell your parents about the bullying, but you are scared of retaliation. Truly tangled...
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">You want to tell your parents about the bullying, but you are scared of retaliation. Truly tangled...


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">“Lies become vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” Said Joseph Goebbels on propaganda.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Because people are easily led by propaganda, a corrupt government will go beyond limits to prevent its people from learning the truth.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">In **//Animal Farm//** by George Orwell, Squealer tells the other animals that Boxer is “sent to a veteran”, “had received admirable care and used expensive medicines”.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The truth is the pigs sold Box[[image:Cats_rule.jpeg align="right"]]er to the glue factory for money so they can purchase another crate of whiskey for themselves.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Squealer didn’t tell the animals the truth because Boxer is well-respected among the animals. The animals would stand up against the pigs if they knew what really happened to Boxer. Hmph ,Cowards.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">To stabilize power, and to hide their insatiable greediness, the pigs choose to lie at their comrades.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">In fact, the more the government tries to cover their evil deeds, the more corrupt the government becomes.


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">More than seven decades ago, Japan invaded China.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The Germ warfare.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The Nanking Massacre.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Comfort Women.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The three extinctions
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Can you believe a country, whose area is less than 10% of China, could do such a thing?
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The Japanese government distorted history books.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Claiming the whole invasion was holy. Demanding there wasn’t even a Nanking Massacre...
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">The first emperor of the Tang Dynasty once said, “A man becomes wise when he learns history.”
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Telling lies in history books is a huge crime.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Lies can only last for a short time.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">If one day the Japanese people learned about the truth of the invasion of China, how can the Japanese government face their people?

Feedback: I think this is the best speech I had ever written. Because I spent a lot of time writing it, connecting ideas and revising it. The teacher said I should talk more about how Japan tried to conceal the truth of the whole invasion, and make more eye-contact. I used different examples from other people in my speech. While the others gave examples on Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Gadhafi, I gave an example on the Japanese government, and how the Japanese government denied the fact of their invasion on China. I learned that a speech is different from an essay. You don't write paragraphs in a speech, you just need to list out your ideas. I am still working on how to improve my English writing, and I wish I can do better next time. One more thing, I should practice my speech more often and prevent looking at my notes too much.
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">If a government is hiding the truth of something, then it is corrupt. Lies are maintained so the country can shield the people from the political, economic, and military consequences of it. Truth is the biggest enemy of the lie. Always remember, truths aren’t lies, and lies aren’t truths. There is still justice in this world, you just have to discover it yourself.

=** Changes in Meiji Japan (Asian History Analytical Paragraph) **=

// During the Meiji era, the Japanese government ended feudalism and established a central government. During the Tokugawa period, // // there were 260 feudal domains in Japan, the feudal domains were ruled by their daimyo; some of the feudal domains had became almost // // independent states. It is hard to rule a country when there are independent states everywhere. But in the Meiji era, the Meiji government // // f //// orced the daimyo to surrender their land and powers. In this way, the daimyo no longer ruled the states feudally, but the Emperor ruled // // the entire country. //// With Tokyo as the new imperial capital, a central government became a political reality in Meiji Japan. //

=End of Quarter 3= Comparing to last semester, my English improved a lot. I can write better essays, but I still need to work on how to analyze, and avoid description on stories. I am starting to get used to SAS. There is still a lot of work to do, I need to improve my pronunciation, learn to scan through information and find what is useful for me. Life is a process of learning and developing. My goal for Quarter 4 is to work on writing and pronunciation, hope I can improve a bit more on English.

= = = = = = =Quarter 4=

=The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson=

//The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo// is a novel by Stieg Larsson, also the author of //The Girl Who Played With Fire// and //The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.// Larsson was born in Västerbotten in northern Sweden in 1954. He spent most of his childhood with his grandparents. Larsson died in November, 2004. //The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo// is his story about a risk-taker journalist, Mikael Blomkvist and an intelligent researcher plus computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander. The novel focuses on their investigation on the Vanger family, the Vangers own an industrial firm run by the family. <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> The story takes place in Sweden. Mikael Blomkvist, journalist of the //Millenium,// is asked to investigate about the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, heiress of the Vanger family business. His assigned partner is Lisbeth Salander, an anti-social investigation researcher. They interview some members of the Vanger family and look at old photo albums, tracking down suspects and searching for clues. Murder attempts and numerous warnings threats their safety, but after going through several difficulties, they crack the case and eventually discover the deepest and darkest secrets of the Vanger clan. <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> //The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo// is a story full of political views and chronic statistics. Perhaps, because the writer was a rightwing-extremist and a leading expert on anti-democracy. //The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo// is one of the most exciting books I had ever read. Larsson writes the book from different points of view, making the readers think the stories are happening at the same time. //The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo// never becomes boring because the truth is always unexpected. It is very easy to be hooked on this novel, so it is perfect to read on a weekend or long vacation. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend readers to read it during the school week because it is likely to make the reader forget his or her homework. (Which happened to me!) This is a great book for those who love crime novels; it’s a live movie printed on paper.