Son: Week of 10-14-14

Title: Son

Author: Lois Lowry

Prompt: How does the experiences and community effect the character's actions

Pages read: 50-84

Claire's community has no violence, criminal activity, or much change. Everyone basically plays a role in this society and help carry out the community. Claire may be different though. She was originally assigned birthmother but something went wrong and she works at the Hatchery. Everything runs kind of as one big machine in her community, so there really aren't any problems because people can't vote on anything. Everyone has their jobs chosen for them so Claire gets a bit bored. In fact in one part she even says "I am, I am lonely." She feels that there is basically a higher purpose in life than working at the hatchery for years.

When the birth of her child went wrong she was curious and remembered his number which was "thirty-six" and one day it becomes important. She decides to kind of lie to her director. In her community, lying is not tolerated but she feels it wasn't a total lie. So she goes over to the nurturing center and talks to a girl who was in the same year she was in. She finds the room her baby was in because they are numbered off. She finds "thirty-six" and held him in her hands. From that moment on everything changed. She could no longer thing of anyone else besides her and the child. She felt a new feeling, a feeling she had never felt before and she couldn't quite explain it. 

I feel that Claire becomes capable of lying because she becomes interested because of the incident that occurred. I feel that if she would have stayed with the birthmothers she would just be another piece of the puzzle. Claire also begins to risk getting into trouble to see her child. This is probably because of the strong connection she feels toward it which is this simpler feeling of love. In "The Giver" they say that the people in the village did not know the feeling of love. This is because they have all been deceived and given the idea that what they are told is right and that they only have the right to do what they are told to. Claire is getting over this idea of listening and staying in line. She changes the second she leaves to the Hatchery. She becomes a new Claire.

1st Quarter Blog Reflection

     Throughout the first quarter I have become more aware of what is happening in the world today. Specifically I've learned a lot through the AoW's that we have done. The two that I have learned the most about and have developed the most were the articles on ISIS and Ebola. ISIS progressed throughout the year through threats upon the US and other nations. I first heard of them after the beheading of an american reporter and gained further knowledge after reading the article on it. I first learned about Ebola I think through the article. I learned about the quarantine and how many people were dying. We even reflected on whether or not we should be concerned. And now Ebola is in the US.
     My methods of research and finding arguments has improved throughout the first quarter. I am able to find evidence and arguments to support a claim or idea the the author or speaker is saying to the reader or audience. In a speech by Malala's father, we had to find arguments and write a sentence about what the main point in the paragraph was. It comes much more easier now to me because we have practiced it so many times.
     I am currently on my 5th book for the 40 book challenge. My reading ability has much improved before and throughout the quarter. I am now reading more and able to better understand and comprehend what I have read. In this past month I took the MAP test for selective enrollment high schools and there were challenging things on the test. I had a better time though than I would have before and since then I have learned some of the things I was more confused about. Since that test I was very interested in finding out the things that I had not learned yet.
     

Son: Week of 9-29-14

Title: Son
Author: Lois Lowry
Pages Read: 0-48
Prompt :Describe the author's writing style

     In Lois Lowry's book, Son, the style of the book is very obvious. The point of view is from 3rd person. You can tell because the narrator says phrases like "Claire nodded" and Claire thought" showing how he knows what the characters feelings are and what their actions are. The style of the book is a narrative because the author is telling a story using characters, setting and plot.  The main character is Claire, and she is a birthmother. This book is in the same series as "The Giver" which we have all read. Like in "The Giver" much of the book is dialogue. Also much of the book so far is expressing Claire's feelings towards a subject or event. The style that Lois Lowry uses for all the characters is very precise and proper language. As I learned in "The Giver", precision of speech is very important to their community. So every character does not use any slang or sort of accent.

     A large part of the book I feel is based off of mood. Your emotions somewhat change but not too drastically so far. Basically the entire book so far you just feel sympathy towards Claire. At the beginning of the book she is giving birth so you feel much sympathy then for her pain. Then as it progresses you feel bad for her because she does not fit in and is confused. Right now I feel better for her but I feel like she doesn't feel quite comfortable yet. The tone of the book has been kind of neutral because they describe some stuff as bad and others as good. It is a very basic society so it is hard to develop too much description and depth on certain things. For Claire the tone has been more negative because she feels unsure and is nervous. But when they describe other things like the community or the people they use much kinder words that re more positive.

     So Claire has given birth. Since it is a birthmothers job to produce children they are not allowed to see their babies. Something goes wrong because they have a sudden almost panic and Claire passes out. The one thing remaining from that is her scar. When she talks to the other birthmothers they are rather confused and say that they have no scar. Well one day Claire is called to the committee and they tell her she will be placed somewhere else for her job in the community. She is confused and once again feels like she had lost something like she had when she gave birth. She is moved to fish hatchery. She feels very nervous because it was extremely rare and odd for someone to be moved to another place of work. She begins to settle in and make new friends. Now she is looking for a way to sneak out and ask some questions.

Banned Book Vlog

The Giver: Week of 9-15-14

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Pages Read: 0-179 (Finish)
Prompt: Foreshadow and Understanding

I finished reading the book a second time and I felt it would be a good book to reflect upon because the first time I read it I was very confused. There is lots of foreshadow in this book that I now understand much better. Of course the biggest foreshadow was the first memory Jonas receives when he goes down the slide is exactly like the last scene of the book when he goes down the slide. I also felt that Gabriel having to live with his family and be an exception was some sort of foreshadow that he would play a large role in the book because otherwise there was no meaning in introducing him. He ends up playing a very large role because he is the reason Jonas survives throughout the harsh winter and miles and miles of bike riding. Another piece that Lois Lowry adds that I really liked was that the failure 10 years ago was the Giver's daughter. I felt that it had importance because it was mentioned a lot in the story. Then you find out it was his daughter and it is that gasp moment. You feel sympathy towards the Giver.

The word "release" I felt was kind of like foreshadow. I kind of knew the whole time it was a bad secret because the word had a negative connotation because unless it was a new child or elder it was shameful to be released. One big line that I felt was a very large foreshadow was when in Jonas's instructions it says that he is allowed to lie. This opens up so many doors because all of a sudden you are wondering if this was in the entire communities instructions. Reading this book a second time helped me so much with the understanding aspect of it.  I began to understand more and more how the community was built and how no one really knew anything. Also I saw more thoroughly how Jonas became so frustrating. After feelings memories of such different emotions and feelings he almost felt his life to be meaningless because no one else felt that or saw it that way except him and the Giver.

I liked how he transmitted different memories to Gabriel throughout the book. In the book I felt like I knew the setting and time of this book. I liked how Lois Lowry described things that happen today the far and distant past from them. Or how Jonas called it "back and back and back." What I still don't understand is that the Giver said that once Jonas left the memories would begin to go back to the community. I never really got how that worked because he never died. He just left and unless there is like a barrier for the community I thought the memories would just stay with him until he died and then they would leave to the community or wherever. I really enjoyed reading this book a second time, because it was different than the type of society and community we live in today. I am going to read the next book in the series called Son. So I am ready to see what happened to Jonas and/or the community.

Brian's Winter: Week of 9/8/14

Title: Brian's Winter
Author: Gary Paulsen
Pages Read:0-67
Prompt: analyzing the impact imagery and figurative language have on the meaning and tone of your text.

     Imagery plays a large role in this book. The main reason being that this is a survival book that is in the middle of the woods. There has to be lots of imagery in order to set up the situation. For example there is a bear in one seen. The whole seen is understood by the reader through imagery. They have to describe the bear, the scene, and the bear's actions. The entire book has to basically be imagery, if not it will be hard for the reader to understand. The imagery that Gary Paulsen uses is not too hard to understand. The reason for this is because almost all the readers of his book don't have the best idea of how it is when you are surviving out in the wilderness. The imagery Gary Paulsen uses adds a sense of suspense and eagerness because he sets up the scenes so that you want to continue reading.
     In this book there isn't too much figurative language. He does use comparisons in his story though. He compares things from nature to real life things. Like when Brian is doing one of his necessities they will compare it to what he would use it in his normal life. For example he will compare certain animals that Brian catches to the meals he would eat in real life. Right now in the book Brian is preparing himself and realizing that the winter is coming. This is an add on to the first book, called Hatchet. In hatchet he is rescued, but this book is telling about what he would have went through had he not been rescued. At this point he has created habits in the wild and what he does on an every day basis. But then things begin to turn for worse.
     The winter is coming and Brian must gain more surviving skills. He realizes that all the animals are going to go away because they are going into hibernation. He realizes he will have to take out a large animal like a bear in order to have enough food for the winter. Unfortunately the bow and arrows he has right now are barely enough to kill a rabbit or bird. He is struggling with his bow because he nature is not cooperating with him. The temperature is dropping and you can sense the tension rising. I am eager to see how he survives through the cold winter. All he knows is surviving in the summer. Lets see what him and his instincts can do versus the coldness and bitterness of winter. This book is a little more basic than the books I should be reading at this point. I just wanted to begin to read survival books to see if I will get into it. So I decided to start with this book.

Book List Challenge: Week of 9/2/14

Book List Challenge


Slam: Walter Dean Myers
This book is on my top ten list because it gives you a different type of story then what you would expect out of a basketball book. The community and surroundings are very different than any other sports book I have read. I think that made it much better and more intriguing. It gives a very realistic idea of what a lot of young talents go through. The main character in the book lives in a more poor community and bad situations. It goes through the games but shows the game and fight outside of basketball. Everything he did off the court could affect him on the court or whether or not he would even end up on the court. Overall I liked this book because it gave me a new feel and perspective on different communities and situations.



 Unstoppable: Tim Green
This was a great book because even though it was fictional, it made you feel inspired and go through different emotions. I remember going through this book and anticipating and trying to predict what would happen next. The book really plays with your emotions, which makes you even more enthusiastic about reading more. You end up feeling sorrow and hope for the main character even though they are not a real person. The author, Tim Green does a very good job in describing and allowing the reader to understand. The main character ends up getting cancer which was a huge plot twist. It was a very new experience to hear about a star player getting cancer. I knew how it would affect the character because my younger cousin had cancer. So I think being able to relate to the book also helped.


Percy Jackson Series: Rick Riordan
This series I  went through very quickly. A lot of people have read the series and I got very caught up in it. I think one big reason is that every book left on sort of a cliff hanger. Then when you would read the next book it would answer your questions but would also elaborate and have lots of twists. You never knew when they would add a new character, or bring something up, because there were so many options in mythology. I also liked how you get to learn the relationships of different people in mythology and how they relate to one another. It was also fun to incorporate connections. Like the author would give a hint early on of something and then later in the book it came up and you would be able to connect the events.

Notes from the Midnight Driver: Jordan Sonnenblick
I read this book for Battle of the Books last year. I had never really read a book like this before. Its about a boy who gets drunk and crashes his moms car. So he has to do community service and go to a
facility and talk to this old man. The old man is mean to the boy at first. Even though they had a kind of love/hate relationship. It is interesting to see how their connection and bond gets stronger. I like how the author writes the book, and how the boy goes back to see him even when his community service is over. They end up growing a really strong relationship because of their love for music.




For The Love of the Game: Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is one of my all time favorite people. Of course thats the biggest reason I enjoyed
reading a book about his career and what he went trough. One thing he talks about in the book is how he changed in maturing and learning over time. You can see all the different stages in his career and how his mindset and attitude changed. It was interesting to see how much the team was getting worn down after winning more and more. He changes throughout his career. His mind was at different places. I liked reading about what he did and went through throughout his career. One of my favorite parts is where the NBA was fining him because he wore red and black shoes when their team colors were red and white. I found this interesting because now NBA players are so much more free to wear different shoes.

Hatchet: Gary Paulsen
Hatchet was the first survival book I read. I was very apprehensive in seeing a boy go from his regular world to all of a sudden having to survive in the wilderness. I was intrigued in how he used
the wilderness to make it easier to survive and how he developed habits and became smarter over time. Also since this is a survival book there is plenty of times where you are asking yourself what you would do if you were in the same or similar situation. The whole time you are kind of nervous because you know something bad was going to happen or if anyone would find him. Right now I'm reading Brian's Winter, which is an extension on Hatchet.




The Giver: Lois Lowry
Right now I am reading this a second time because we have to read it for homeroom. I have to say that reading it a second time makes everything much more clear. The reason I liked this book is because it feels like you are reading about a whole different world that is in some ways similar to ours. The whole society is very basic and plain. Thats why I felt when Jonas received the memories of the past, it was things that today, we all know about and have experienced. All the information Jonas was given kind of forced him to rebel which was cool to see in a society where everyone was the same and followed the rules. The ending was kind of confusing. So maybe when I read through it again it will become a little more clear.



Diary Of a Wimpy Kid Series: Jeff Kinney
Of course everyone has read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Im included and I really enjoyed them.
It was a very easy series to read. They were very funny and included a picture with everything that was written down. For me it was better than TV because my parents were happy that I was reading a book but I was also getting a good laugh out of it. Also the book was based on a kid in middle school and at that time I was a year or two away. Since it is a kid there are lots of parts you can connect to and enjoy them even more.




Ready, Freddy Series: Abby Klein
I read this series in first grade. My teacher introduced them to me when she began reading them to
the class. There are a good number of books in the series so after she had stopped reading them to us, I began to read them on my own. They were good books for me to read since I was in first grade. They were chapter books. In the book there were also pictures. And I believe that in each picture there was a hidden letter or something. So that also would be fun to do.





¡Despieta, Orogris!: Wolfgang Bittner
This is a book from when I was very little. It has a lot of meaning to me. The book is in spanish which is cool. My brother and I would lay in bead and my Dad would read it to us. This was very special since the book is about a dad and his son. They go under the covers in their bed and pretend to be bears. The dad being the big bear and the son being the little bear. We read this book so many times. I hope I never forget about this book because it has such great sentimental value.