Nonfiction Blog for Week 12/1/15

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 3 by: Jack Canfield

Pages Read: 1 - 230

Genre: Nonfiction

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 3, is a book written by people and their experiences in life that have taught them very good life lessons. This book is truly my favorite nonfiction book because it has multiple lessons that the author focuses on and what's especially amazing about this book is that it written by people our age. This book is filled with real life stories about love, friendship, family, and ect. that is written by people that are in middle school to high school. In the book, so far I have read many stories about love (relationships), friendship, and tough stuff (troubles that people have). 

There are many interesting sections in this book. One of them was, "To my daughter, I will always love you and be with you. The waves come rolling into shore high and fast. And wash the lines away, but not the memories we shared that day, where we have trod this sandy shore. Our traces we left there will be no more. But, wherever we are, the memories will never be far. Although I may not be with you, know that my love for you will always be true. Those memories will last forever, and in them shall always be together, Hold them close to your heart, and know that from your side I will never part." (Paragraph 10, Page 229 -230)  This section was about a girl named Elizabeth Stumbo, and the section is actually something that she found as she was in her mother's hospital room. The section was part of her mother's letter that she wrote to Elizabeth before she passed away of cancer. I found this interesting because of the way she found the letter, which she found inside a sea shell that her mother picked up as they were leaving a beach that they went to each summer for vacation. Another reason why I found this so interesting is because of how her mother wrote the letter, she wrote it so beautifully, and the way she talked about how even if she were to write her name into the sand, it will soon wash away by the water, and no one will know it was there. After her mother died, she did write her name in the sand and watched it wash away.

Another interesting section was, "Her mother was driving her home from soccer tryouts, and the made it hard to see. They were crossing the tracks by your house, and a train crashed into them...Throwing myself upon my bed, sobbing into my pillow, I thought back to the carefree days of our childhood when Manda had tripped on the tracks. 'It's just a little blood. Here, you hop on my back and I'll carry you home.' Only this time, I couldn't carry her home." This was written by a girl named Alison Hamby, Manda was her best friend since they were little. I found it interesting because when they were little, Manda had fallen over a pair of train tracks and started to bleed, so that is when Alison told her that she will carry her home, which she did. I found that interesting because Alison described everything that happened on the day her best friend died, and it was interesting that this really did happen, but instead of never talking about it, Alison decided to share it to be written in this book. 

Most people in life, talk and say things about topics or stuff that they have no idea about. Some people feel as if no one knows what they have been through, whether they feel that no understands their pain or the way think, but reading this book that is filled with these real life stories by people who know one knows, talking about what half of those people are feeling, is truly fascinating. I learned so many things about so many people and even though I don't actually know them personally, I have found myself having a connection of some sort with half of them. Some of the stuff they have talked about I have happened to me.  I learned many things about tough stuff, growing up, and love, which I have all learned by reading this book. 

People all over the world have had something similar happen to them, that also happened to someone in this book. We all have some sort of connection with each other and we can learn from each other as well. We can teach other so many different life lessons and be there for one another. We no longer have to feel lonely or anything else because this book proves, by what these real life people have faced, that out there other people are probably having the same problem as you. That proves that you are not alone. This has to be one of biggest things that I have learned out of this, which is you are NOT alone.

I commented on: Evelyn's Blog, Darya's Blog, and Jude's Blog

11-11-15 Theme Blog

Where She Went by: Gayle Forman

Pages read: 1 - 167

       This is a sequel to the book If I stay. Where She Went by Gayle Forman is a book about a girl named Mia Hall and her ex-boyfriend Adam Wilde. This book focuses on mostly Adam's life and how he has been for the 3 years later since Mia and him broke up. Mia before Adam and her broke up was in a tragic accident that caused her parents and brother to die, leaving her with her grandparents to live with. Adam has been there for Mia during the whole accident and most of after, until Mia kept ignoring him and finally just decided to break up with him. After the break up Adam was depressed, he was madly in love with Mia and he doesn't understand why she broke up with him. Now, three years later he finds himself in New York, where Mia turns out to be as well. They find each other and get to talking about both the past and how they are today. They spend time together, but the question is will they fall in love again? Will Mia want Adam back?

        Where She Went, I think is mainly about love. Love seems to be the main universal theme that this book focuses on. Love is usually the most popular theme for writing, but I think the kind of love that this book is trying to show is amazing. Love in this book shows what it actually is and how it doesn't always turn out good. In the book, Adam finds himself three years later, dating a beautiful girl thats extremely famous, but still he sees that he is still in love with Mia. Adam can't really stop himself from loving her or thinking about her and its been three years since he last saw her. How can one person love someone for that long without being together? The love that this book is showing is truly fascinating and its descriptive what Mia and Adam are feeling.

        Where She Went, I also think has a second theme, which is effects of the past. Effects of the past is sort of like cause and effect. What happened in the past can effect what happens in the future, which I think is a theme in this book. I think this is a theme that is in the book because Mia being in the accident and losing her parents and brother effected a lot of how she is three years later. When Mia broke up with Adam, it caused him to change in many ways because he didn't have her anymore. That big accident caused Mia to break up with Adam, it caused her to graduate early from Julliard, and it made Adam become a big rockstar, those are all effects of what happened in their past. As you can see, effects of the past is a very possible theme for this book because it caused a lot of things to change the way Mia and Adam are to each other, now it has made them think that they don't really know anything about each other anymore, but there can also still be a little bit of hope that they can actually grow to love each other again. Will the past cause them to fall in love again as an effect?

 

I commented on Sam's blog, Evelyn's blog, and Jude's blog. 

1st Quarter Reflection Blog

        During 1st quarter, I learned about the world that we live in. I would have never believed that the world has so many problems, until I actually read about them. I would have never known about the Syrian Refugees, the war with ISIS, and I would have never known about gun laws. I learned about all these topics and more during the 1st quarter and I actually liked learning about all of them.

        I'm on my 4th book for the 40 book challenge. I enjoy the 40 book challenge because it a goal, that I hope to succeed in. The 40 book challenge, really helps with the amount of books that people can read to improve their skills, which is really good because it has helped me read more books in different genres that are out of my comfort zone more. I have actually read some sci-fi books, which is really interesting because I rarely read sci-fi and I have read some realistic fiction books as well. The 40 book challenge has really helped me improve my reading and its fun too.

        First quarter taught me a lot of strategies that benefitted me in many ways. I learned how to organize my research properly, so it could make sense and be easy to understand. I learned how to make citations to organize my websites in alphabetical order, and I learned new strategies on how to write an objective summary. In the beginning of quarter 1, I didn't know how to do some stuff, but by the end of first quarter, I learned a lot that improved my reading skills, writing, grammar, and researching skills.

"A Killing of Love" by Amelia

This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As usual in such cases, she was the apple of his eye, and was loved by him above all humanity. The king believed that his daughter could never do him wrong, that she was pure, even though she was semi-barbaric, and would never dare to disobey him. He will soon find out that she wasn’t as pure as he thought and would disobey him, for it was only love that could possibly caused her to do such a thing. The castle, in which they lived in, had courtiers and among them was a young man of that fineness of blood and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal maidens. That young man was the one that started it all.

One day, as the king was coming back from the amphitheater, he heard something coming from a room in the castle. He immediately started walking towards the room that he heard the noise coming from. As the king opened the door, he realized that the voice he was hearing was his daughters and a young mans. The king got furious and busted open the door, looking between his daughter and the young man, whom worked for him. They were startled and the king was frantic and enraged.

“What is going on here!” Said the king.

“Father, please calm down. I love him!” exclaimed the princess.

“You what? You can’t possibly love this man, he is one of my workers and I don’t give permission for this to go on!”

“Please, sir. I love your daughter and nothing bad will come from this, I promise,” said the young man. He was scared for what the king said next and he should be because what came from the king was something they never saw coming.

“I hereby send you to prison and put on trial in the amphitheater, for you have went behind my back and loved my daughter without my blessing. GUARDS, COME TAKE THIS MAN AWAY NOW!!!” The king and his guard’s immediately sent the young man to prison without a word from the princess, whom showed almost no emotion, she didn’t smile or cry, as they took her lover away.

The king appointed a day, in which the trial for the princess's lover would be held. The king and his guards searched far and wide for the most ferocious, savage and relentless tiger for the young man, if he chose that fate. They also searched for the most elegant, beautiful, and smart maiden for him, if fate didn’t make him choose the tiger.

As the trial came closer, the princess and everyone else was sure that even though the king loved his daughter, he would not change his mind about the trial, but if he did, then it must be a trick. No one had any doubt that the young man put on trial didn’t love the princess, for if he didn’t, then the princess would have truly known before the king. She sat days and nights thinking about what door her lover would choose, and searched for information about what door the tiger and maiden would be in, so she can help the love of her life stay alive.

It was the day of the trial, and the evening air was cold, everyone was excited to see what would happen to the young man, who loved the princess. The king and his court were already seated above the door, where the young man would come out of for the trial, patiently waiting. After about 10 minutes of having the guests in the arena, waiting in suspense, the king finally gave his signal to open the door, where the lover came. The young man seemed pure of heart and handsome, as he came out of the door. It was time for the trial to begin now.

Before anything happened, the young man looked up at the princess, seated on the right side of her father. Everyone in the theater, even the king, could feel the connection between them both. The princess, pointed her arm to the right door, to hopefully tell her lover what door to choose, but before the young man was able to walk towards the door, the king spoke.

“Everyone, may I have your attention?” The king stepped down from his seat and started walking towards the young man and everyone was quite. “I have decided to show mercy to this young man, for he and my daughter are deeply in love and I am not the kind of man to separate that.” Everyone in the audience was startled by this decision that the king was making, but everyone believed that it was trick, so did the princess and her lover.

“Why?” Said the young man in confusion. He did not understand why the king would change his mind and he thought to himself that it must be a trick.

“I changed my mind because I believe that you truly love my daughter and I want her to be happy.”

The young man stood in silence, he thought that maybe the king was actually telling the truth, but then he saw the king put his hand behind his back. The young man thought that the king had a weapon and wanted to kill him, so as fast as he could, he pulled a knife out in front of him. He stabbed the king 3 times, to make sure he was dead and wouldn’t swing. Everyone in the audience, even the princess looked at him with anger in their faces and sorrow. He didn’t understand why they were looking at him like that, but then he realized that the king was putting his hand behind his back to grab a ring that he was going to give the young man to propose to the princess.

The princess ran down to where her father stood dead, and started to curse and cry. She stood up in front of her lover and slapped him.

“You are a murderer! I hope you die!” exclaimed the princess.

“I thought he was going to kill me! I couldn’t help it, but now we can live happily forever and not worry about your father changing his mind about us.”

“How could you say that my father being dead is a good thing, he was the only one I had.”

“I’m sorry my love, please forgive me.” The lover pulled out the ring and went down on one knee to start to propose, but then the princess started to speak again.

“Guards, release the tiger! This man needs to die, for he has murdered my father and the king!!” The guards did as the princess told them and the tiger was released. The tiger started to run towards the young man. Everyone stood in eagerness, as the tiger jumped at the young man and started to rip him to pieces. Across the arena was the princess, sitting in the king’s chair in delight and laughter, as her lover was being killed.

The young man and the king died that day in the arena, while the princess became the queen. Her plan all along worked and she was very successful. No one knows what will happen next.

Blog for Week 10/26/15 - Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Prompt: How do Elements of a Story interact with one another?

Prep by: Curtis Sittenfeld

Pages read: 1 - finished

     The book that I have currently finished reading is Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. The book is about  a girl named Lee Fiora. Lee is the type of girl that is very negative most of the time and always seems to be depressed. She doesn't have many friends, but she doesn't try very much to be outgoing or to be noticed. She attends a very high class boarding school called Ault, where all the rich and most prestigious kids go. Lee has always had a crush on Cross Sugarman, a guy that is super popular, that attends Ault as well, the only difference there is between them is that Lee doesn't have much confidence and she is not popular.

     The difference between my character now at the ending of the book compared to the beginning of the book is that Lee has gained a lot of confidence, is getting better grades, and has become very determined. The conflict that Lee was experiencing was seeing how Ault has changed her so much and the relationship that Cross and her had. Lee's parents, when they were visiting Ault were the first ones to notice how she had changed. Lee had became such an awful person at Ault that one of the affects that it had on her was her father yelling at her, which caused him to actually slap Lee in the face. The conflict between Cross and Lee's relationship, gave her confidence as an affect of it and it made Lee realize that she didn't need a guy like Cross to make her happy.
   
     As you can see, those two conflicts that Lee experienced throughout the story changed her very much, they changed her for the best and for the worst. She became stronger and more confident by Cross because he made her feel terrible, but also a little pretty. Her father made her feel more aware about what kind of person she is and how she be careful of what she says/does. Conflict in many stories either makes the character better, worst, or it could make change everything.

     

Blog for Week 10/14/15 - Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Prompt: 1. List three questions you have about what you read. 2. What are two emotions the main character felt? What made the main character feel that way? 

Prep by: Curtis Sittenfeld

Pages read: 1 - 167

     I really enjoy reading my book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. In the book, the main character is a girl named Lee Fiora. Lee is from South Bend, Indiana, she is going to a boarding school in Massachusetts, called Ault. Ault is known to be a school for the rich and upper class, Lee is amazed that she even got in because of where she is from. Now at Ault, Lee is faced with many different challenges, starting with trying to make friends. My book is mainly about Lee going to Ault for the next 4 years and seeing how she will deal with it and face challenges.

     My book makes me question what I've read a lot. It makes me wonder whether or not Lee will ever have friends that she can actually trust and do things with. Prep is a very complex book, the way the book is written sometimes gets me confused because it jumps from freshman year of fall to junior year of fall, so it gets confusing. I wonder if Lee can make anything out of the school Ault other than it being a school for the high class and rich. Another question I ask myself is if there is going to be a good ending for Lee and if she will change as a person.

     Anxiety and eagerness seems to be the two main emotions that the main character Lee feels most of the time. Lee always feels anxiety when around the kids in her school because of how they are rich and she doesn't have a lot of money, so instead of talking to them, she hides in her room alone. She also feels anxiety while in Ms.Moray's class because in the book she is forced to face her fears and most of the time she feels anxiety when she is chosen to speak in front of her class, thinking she will fail. Lee, has no friends, she does talk to people, but there's no one she is really close to at Ault, so lately in the book she has been very eager to make friends in her school, so she wouldn't have to be so alone. Later in the book, she has made at least one friend but for some reason she wants to have more, she is eager to be more than average and I can't possibly understand why. Lee is a very complex person, with many different emotions to feel.

     

I commented on: Evelyn's Blog, Sam's Blog, and Daya's Blog

Banned Books Vlog

When It Happens

By Susane Colasanti

Commented on: Evelyn's Vlog, Sam's Vlog, Darya's Vlog, Brimady's Vlog, and Jack's Vlog

 Sources:

"About Banned & Challenged Books." American Library Association. American Library Association, 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015. http://www.ala.org/bbooks/about.

"Banned & Challenged Books." American Library Association. American Library Association, 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned

"Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read." ALA. American Library Association, 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015. http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek

Crum, Maddie. "Banned Books By The Numbers (INFOGRAPHICS)." Huffington Post. American Library Association, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 8 Oct. 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/banned-books-week-infographic_n_5852234.html