The Scorch Trials: 2-25-15

Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Pages Read: 0-360 (Finish)
Prompt: What challenges do the characters face in the book?

I just finished reading the first two books of the Maze Runner series. In the series they go through challenges and have to suffer through a lot. This is all for the survival of the human race from the flare(a virus or sickness) that is wiping out the population. In the first book they faced grievers (mechanical/bug type killing machines), the maze, and the sustainment of their civilization. In the second book the challenges are more severe, and they face more of them. The beginning of the book they start off in a building in which they were "supposedly" saved from. They are stuck there for a long time and Teresa(Thomas's best friend) is missing. To go along with that they are starving and are on the verge of giving up. Then this man shows up, tells them the rescue was fake and they have to take some tunnel to whats known as the Scorch. They travel through this tunnel, after being told they will face worse challenges. It is pitch black and all of a sudden someone is attacked and is killed. It turns out there is these creatures that some down over your head and decapitate you. Then your head is trapped in some medal ball that just rolls away. I found this part really gruesome but you knew something like this was coming.

The next challenge is the travel across this scorching hot desert, in order to get to their rescue point. At first travel seems impossible because of the brightness and heat of the Sun. I wouldn't have lasted a day especially considering they had to walk for miles and miles. They continue to progress and Thomas runs into Teresa. She tells him to run and Thomas does so because he thinks she is saving him or something of that sort. The village continues to approach and they are at the point of exhaustion when it gets even harder. A storm comes, and not just any storm, it was a storm that basically rained lightning. One kid gets his leg blown off by lightning. Minho, their leader gets caught on fire by the lightning but Thomas is able to help him. It basically becomes every man for themselves as they continue to move and the ones who survive end up in a building. At this point if I was one of these kids I would just give up. I would have given up a long time ago but things just get worse and worse. Especially now that it looks like there is little to no chance of survival.

In the village they encounter lives the cranks. The cranks are those who have been infected by the flare and are being quarantined by the government. Cranks go through different stages, at first being almost normal. Then after they go into the last stage they are crazy, eat other humans, and other gross things. Its not actually a real quarantine, just more of a drop off zone for those who are doomed. In order to survive the group allies with two cranks(still sane) who agree to take them to the safe haven as long as they get to ride along. Right after their alliance the group gets split up. Thomas is alone with one of the cranks, Brenda who has feelings for him and he does too, but feels sorry because he denies her because of his guilt about Teresa. They end up running into these cranks that are already mad. They get away and then get captured by another set of cranks. Their situations stink because no matter how hard they try they always end up in tough situations. They reunite with their group after Minho and them rescue them from the cranks. Thomas gets shot but now they are away from those dumb cranks. Finally something good happens right? Well no not exactly, even more goes wrong for Thomas because the girls group (group B, another maze trial group that were put in the Scorch) take Thomas and plan on killing him. He convinces the group not to kill him and they march towards what is supposed to be the safe haven.

 At this point I'm thinking okay maybe stuff happens to everyone else but not Thomas right.  Wrong Teresa tricks him to go with her where her and Aris put him in a room supposedly for his death. But he doesn't die, no surprise for me. What does surprise me is that its all an act, Teresa never meant to betray him, WICKED told her to otherwise Thomas would die. At first I was really mad and the fact that Thomas even spoke to her angered me. Then I realized she risked their friendship just to save him so I guess I should forgive her. Finally all the members trying to get to the safe haven ally and decide to get through together. When they get their nothing is there until theses pods come out. In them these machine/human looking things with blades. Oh great another thing to have to fight. I thought that one of the leaders or at least a larger population would get wiped out. Especially since another lightning storm was coming and the way the book goes theres a whole lot of death. Yet no only two die and the rest make it aboard. To start the next book Thomas wakes up in an empty room alone. Here we go again but they have been promised no more trials. So I'm excited in seeing whats to come.

Comments: Nadrian, Steven, and Gustavo

AoW Impressions for 2-20

What I took away was that ISIS is growing bigger and bigger even though they basically have the world against them. ISIS is not afraid and continues to attack whoever is not an ally in several different ways. They recently attacked Egypt as well as beheading 21 Egyptian Christians. They have also threatened military spouses by hacking Social Media pages and websites. ISIS is clearly not afraid because they continually are making enemies around the world. They themselves continue to grow by allying other terrorist groups. The fact that most of our class had articles on ISIS and that most focused on the same thing shows how much ISIS is affecting the current world we live in. If we look at just around the beginning of the school year, ISIS was this small terrorist group that was emerging as they had begun taking people as hostage. We had to do research about them and they weren't really a large threat, more of a side issue or small bother. I just hope that the world decides to take action on ISIS before there are further deaths and before there are larger attacks.

Another topic trending around the world is equality, with race and gender. A few people had articles on women being mistreated or discriminated. For example in Maria's article it had to do with women taking a stand and how in some countries they are killed because they fight for their rights. Marisa also had an article on how there needs to me more males advocating for women and speaking about how people are trying to promote more confidence in challenging gender equality. Based on other things and these articles gender equality is a problem not only in the US, but around the world. It needs to be addressed more often and there needs to be change. Another article talked about a Prime Minister wanting Jews to leave Europe because of discrimination and hatred towards them. A similar situation takes place in Russia in which gay people are not accepted and are mistreated. I think that these instances are cases in which the world has not learned from its past. We have faced similar situations having to do with Jews and people of different religions and races. The world is never accepting of those who are different from the general population which is a big problem that needs to change.

The Maze Runner: 2-19-15

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Pages Read: 90-376(finish)
Prompt: How did you feel after reading the book? What did you think of it?

I thought the whole concept of this book was really fascinating. After I finished reading the book I couldn't believe how terrible the lives of these teenage boys lives were, who are just a few years older than me. They had just gone through a terrible experience in this place they called the glade and their experience in getting out of it. When I found out this was all an experiment or trial I felt kind of angry at whoever put them in this place, most of them dying. Then as I found out more about the way the Earth was I started to further understand why something like this might happen. Basically from my understanding the world has fallen apart, there have been solar flares, and some sort of illness going around that was killing everyone. They are doing these trials to see if there is any hope for humanity by finding out the worlds best survivors.

So they have just passed the first trials or first stage and are now onto the second one. They have been deceived I think, into thinking they have been rescued. They faked this rescue as a way to see how they would emotionally respond. One big question in my head is if there is going to be more kids that will come to this next trial. My theory or question is that there were several of these maze trials and the survivors of them are getting thrown into the next trial. You really have no idea what the future holds because a lot of the events in the book, happen randomly and then once they do happen, have some sense to them. Thomas is an interesting character because he just comes onto the scene and is this sort of superstar. He comes in and isn't as scared as the others were when they first arrived. Not only was he not scared but he was a hero and one of the leaders of the place within a week or so.

I'm looking forward to getting the next book, which is the Scorch Trials. I know there is probably going to be more death, hopelessness, and twists. If this is suppose to be even more challenging I'm sure even less will survive and probably more main characters will die. What I am really looking forward to is what obstacles they are going to face. In the the Maze Runner the main obstacles were the grievers and the maze. The grievers are these disgusting mechanical bug creatures that are built to basically be killing machines. Also the maze was full of discouragement because they mapped it for two years without really finding anything. Not to mention building and sustaining a working civilization while have to worry about these two things. These two obstacles were very elaborate and creatively made, therefore I think what they will face in the next book could be even more of a challenge and more interesting than what they faced in the first book.

Comments: Elenia, Citlalli, and Sarai

TKAM Book Talk

Transcript:
The book I chose was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The genre of this novel is realistic fiction.

To Kill a Mockingbird is in Maycomb County, Alabama, during the early 1930's. This was taking place during the Great Depression when a lot of the country was in poverty and had lost money. The main character in this novel was Scout, she is a bit of a trouble maker and rude, but also pretty funny and smart. She has an older brother named Jem and her best friend Dill. She is very curious and sees the world more innocently and doesn't quite understand everything yet. Her problem throughout is the way others want her to grow up and that she doesn't understand her brother growing up. At first Jem is her friend but then he becomes more distant and wants to become more of a young man. With her everyone wants her to wear dresses and behave like a little woman but thats not what she has in mind, which I enjoy reading about. What I like about this book was that you never feel one emotion for most of the book, it changes your feelings constantly. When Harper Lee shows the racist aspect you feel disgust and sadness for those at the time. When the kids are attacked you are very curious in wanting to know who did it. When Scout, Jem and Dill are trying to find out more about the neighborhood legend Boo Radley it is amusing and exciting seeing what they plan to do. The theme of this book for me was coming of age and racism and how they influence you as a person.

I know we have made blogs about this book already but this was a book that I liked, that I could write this blog about. The reason I liked this book is because it provides a large story told all in the span of one book. It provides a glimpse of how it was to grow up during racism and the Great Depression. I really like that it provides this because usually you learn about this from biographies but this time you learn it from a more humorous side and you can make the connection because it is another kid. Also I usually don't learn about like stories of personal experiences and in this book you see how people could really be affected, like some kids who hardly went to school or couldn't pay for anything. The thing I remember the most is how Harper Lee creates this bond between the children and the local legend Boo Radley and how it kind of fades away from him but then in the end shows his large role in the book. I would recommend this book for early teenagers because it is a good story about a young child who is different from most but also allows you to learn a little about the lifestyles of kids during the 1930's which you usually don't get to learn too much about. I think you should want to go out and read this book because it is a classic piece of literature and really provides a big story. From childhood play, to a story of racism, local legends, and seeing several people grow up and change over the course of about two years.

Comments: Damia M, Natalie W, Sheyanne H

AoW Reflections

Prompt: Take a moment to reflect upon your impressions of what you have learned from the array of articles in at least two well written paragraphs, using evidence from your graphic organizer 

I felt that although there are very large specific things that the world focuses on like Ebola and ISIS, we had a wide range of topics. Two articles that I found had a similar topic but different outlook were Elenia's and Athziry's articles. In Elenia's it was talking about how the world isn't as bad as it seems because there has been less violence against women and that this growth provides a new, more positive perspective. On the other hand Athziry spoke about how there are not much women in the STEM field because they are being treated unfairly, providing an alternative look at the "growth" of women. I think it really shows that there has been progress but at the same time there is a lot that needs to be improved. Another topic that I very interesting was the topic of art. Marisa and Jesus talked about art, Marisa about the Smithsonian and Jesus about forbidden art. Marisa's article has fun to learn about because I never new much about the history of the Smithsonian. Jesus's article I found to be really cool, because they used art to see themselves as humans and not just numbers or slaves. It gives you more perspective on how bad their situations were because if caught they would be tortured but they took the risk.

All these articles gave me more of a look at what is going on around the entire world and also taught me what my classmates feel is important of being world news. There is a large focus right now on violence and it is shaping the world into a state of fear in many places. In Carlos's article I learned more about the aggression of Russia and how they are bombing Ukraine cities. I found this very scary and the fact that Russia is doing this makes no sense to me. Another large violence threat is ISIS, which I learned that Japan is trying to do a prisoner swap with. I hadn't heard of anyone doing this until that point but it angers me a lot that ISIS continues to get hostages and kill them one after another. Though I think that from all the articles I heard about that ISIS has given the entire world a mutual enemy. Therefore I think that if the world came together and acted against them, that they could severely wear down the terrorist group. I really liked the activity we did this week because it allowed us to learn about an entire classroom of ideas about trending world topics. I also enjoy seeing how large world topics change over time, even from the beginning of the year. Also seeing how other topics have grown and developed as well is something that gains my interest, therefore I thought this activity allowed me to further develop my knowledge of the world.