Blog 10: Final Blog Post

The majority of people say they hate reading. When people say they don’t read or they don’t like reading I wonder how that’s even possible. Reading books has been in my life since before I could read myself. I’ve always read before going to bed and whenever I have the time to I grab a book and read. When I was younger my mom always took me to story time at the library. We would pick out books and sit there for hours reading them. When I could read for myself, I would always have books with me. No matter where I went, I was guaranteed to be carrying a book. Soon after, I wouldn’t carry just one book, I would have several books with me at all times. I look at my bookshelf and I see it bursting with books. I read one and as soon as I finish it, I pick up another.

Being an avid reader really shaped my view on the world because I had the opportunity to experience other lives through the characters eyes. Of all the books I’ve read, the one that stands out to me the most is Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner. It teaches the readers that a small simple mistake in life can have a catastrophic change in the timeline. Reading something like that opened my eyes to see what is between the lines and that’s what keeps fueling my love for reading.

My favorite genre, my favorite authors, all have to go under Science Fiction and Mystery/Thriller. J.K. Rowling, Lisa Gardner, James Dashner, Michael Grant and many more. Something about their writing style and the way to draw readers in intrigues me.

What bothers me with reading is the fact that people think electronic reading is the same as print book reading. It's not the same thing! E-Book reading doesn't give you the same feel with Print Books. When you read print books, you get to feel the pages in your hand, be satisfied with the physical evidence of how far you're in the book and the old book smell. E-Books can blind you especially when reading in the dark by the fire. It's not easy to snuggle, get comfortable and read by the fireplace.

You know those people that read like crazy, maybe carrying several books with them at a time? Yeah, that’s me. Maybe 2. Maybe 4. I don’t even know. The highest I’ve gone was 6 books at once. Was it hard to read and keep track of them all? Not really because each book was different from the other. The genre might be the same but content wise it’s drastically different which I like so it’s easier to read.

Reading makes my world easy. It allows me to live several lives and be in other people’s shoes. Things that most don’t understand.

x

Blog Post FINAL: Listicle

Have you ever wanted a superpower? How about if that superpower can kill people? Or even stop you from touching other people?

17 year old Juliette Ferrars has that superpower.

Her touch is lethal.

Her touch is power.

A group called the Reestablishment wants her to join their side to rebuild and shape the world.

Juliette doesn't want to.

The Reestablishment will come for her.

Juliette will come for the Reestablishment.

What will happen?

In comes Adam Kent. A boy Juliette had known prior to her kidnapping. A boy she loved. Adam Kent is the boy Juliette has a special connection with. A connection that allows him to touch her without killing him.

But the leader of the Reestablishment, Warner, also has that connection.

Juliette doesn't know why.

In UNRAVEL ME Juliette finally gets her questions answered.

Juliette, Kenji (another friend) and Adam fight for their lives. They train day in and day out. They become one with their powers and strength.

But is that enough to defeat the Reestablishment from their endgame?

Maybe. Maybe not.

In the book we see Juliette fighting for her life, for her friends, and for the man she loves. So the question is:

WHY IS ADAM JULIETTE'S WEAKNESS?

  

The answer:

1. He's a liability.
2. He's the man she loves.
3. He's her best friend.
4. “He looks away. And he smiles. It's the kind of smile that makes me forget how to do everything but blink and blink and I don't understand what's happening to me. I don't know why I can't convince my eyes to find something else to focus on. I don't know why my heart is losing its mind.”

Juliette can’t stop her feelings for Adam but she knows that she can’t focus if she’s focused on the wrong subject. As she pushes Adam away, she pulls towards Warner causing a love triangle between them.  

This quote summarizes Juliette’s feelings:

5. “He's looking so deeply into my eyes that I'm surprised I haven't buckled under the intensity and I realize then, right in this moment I realize that everything about him is intense. Nothing about him is manageable or easy to compartmentalize. He's too much. Everything about him is too much. His emotions, his actions, his anger, his aggression. His love.”

She doesn’t know how to deal with the love she gets from two men, one of who tried to kill her. Which is why she distances herself from Adam; she doesn’t want to hurt him or even kill him. In that she finds herself being sheltered by Warner which uses it to his advantage.

Would you want it even if you lose your friends because of the superpower? Would you want to run for your life? Juliette may have amazing powers that develops over time but she has challenges and choices to make to either better or worsen her life.

“The truth," he says, "is a painful reminder of why I prefer to live among the lies.”

Shatter Juliette.

Unravel Juliette.

Ignite Juliette.

Fracture Juliette.

Whatever you do, don’t hurt the people Juliette cares about.

Blog Post 9

The book I am reading is Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi. In my book there is a character named Juliette who is the main character. The story is told through her point of view. Juliette is this 17 year old girl who can kill a person with the touch of her skin.

In this book, you see Juliette struggle with her ability and her relationship with Adam. Adam was a soldier in the group that had held Juliette captive for several years.

So, what kind of character is Juliette and is she right in the decisions she made?

In my opinion, Juliette is this girl who whines her way through the day. She can never make a proper decision and everyone around her gets tired of dealing with her nonsense. But what I like about Juliette is that we, as readers, know exactly how and what she is feeling. Her emotions are shown on the outside. She also is in this love triangle between two guys who one she loves very deeply for and the other won't admit her feelings for. Adam being the one she deeply loves, tells her that they can still be  together even if there are complications but she tells him that it can't happen because she doesn't want to kill him. She, very much, wants to be with Adam but she believes that being away from him will protect him even though Adam has said multiple times he didn't care and that they would make it work.

I believe Juliette is incapable of making her own decisions because she either makes the wrong one or she has no idea what to do. Every time there is a decision to be made she starts going into a frenzy. She can't get her act together.

But when her life, or someone else's life depended on it, Juliette would become this strong, lead character that gets the job done. She's a character of two personalities. One is the quiet, shy girl and the other is the take charge, intense girl.

Honestly, Juliette is a lot like me. I see myself in her at times. She's the quiet, shy girl-- I'm the girl that doesn't like to draw attention to myself. But for the both of us, when someone's life is on the line, they will be saved one way or another. I have no love triangle. That's where our similarities stop.

We both want what is best for the people around us, even if it means making the wrong decision.

Blog Post #8

For book 4, I read Live To See Tomorrow by Iris Johansen. I read it not knowing it was in a series/trilogy (I'm not sure) of books. Luckily, it wasn't hard to follow. There were some parts in it that were confusing but for the most part it was easy to follow.

It was an interesting book for it being a true crime book. What I mean by interesting is that it added in elements that are often used in science fiction or fantasy novels like telepathy. I like how in the book has a strong female character lead. It shows people that women aren't all for the fame, money, sex, and glory. They're fierce and when they put their mind to something they achieve it. Johansen captured that essence very well. Catherine is good at extraction, fighting, is headstrong and very smart.

Live To See Tomorrow is about Catherine, the main character, who is sent to Tibet to rescue a woman has been kidnapped and tortured. She's assisted by Cameron and her long time friend HuChang. They are hindered by a man drunk on power, Kadmus. There is non stop action, gun fights and considerable romance.

The book is very good on description and it makes you feel like you're watching a movie but actually reading a book. The figurative language and diction make it more thrilling than it already is. One section of the book I really liked in particular is, "Good. No hesitation. They just might get out of this alive. Catherine tore after her, past the body of sentry she'd had to kill on her approach to the palace, down they rocky path to-- A bullet whistled past her. Then more gunfire, shouts as the gates of the compound were thrown open. Shit." Reading that for one sent chills up my spine. It was intense and suspenseful. It was unexpected. The beginning with the phrases drew you in, wanting to read more.

The only thing I wished was it would be in Catherine's POV so first person instead of third person. Because the book revolves around her, it would have been interesting to see how she felt and dealt with what was happening. We get an inside of it through the third person narrative but we don't get the nitty-gritty deep emotional feelings.

Overall, it was a great book and very suspenseful. It was action filled and very driven.

Blog Post #7

Women's Fiction. When I read that in the article, " Speak Out On Franzen Feud: 08/26/201" I had to stop and think for a moment. Since when was "Women's Fiction" a thing? It was interesting to see that it was a way to describe a genre of books.

When, in the article, it talks about popular fiction being over looked, critically, Weiner basically says that women writing is typically romance or "a beach book" meaning that stereotypically they can't write other genres. That's probably why JK Rowling went by that name because she believed that people wouldn't view her work.

Picot says that "...there are a lot of readers who would like to see reviews that belong in the range of commercial fiction rather than making it the blanket assumption that all commercial fiction is unworthy." And to be honest, I agree with her. Having a wide variety and dispersion catches the eyes of all kinds of readers and not just certain ones, making things unfair.

Not only does it effect the authors it affects the reader's going to these websites to get their information on what books to read. For me, I try to see all types of book genres before I make a decision on the book or the genre I want to read. "It's not universal. The Washington Post...used to do the widest reviews..." Why can't they continue to do wider reviews instead of narrowing it down to certain genres or authors.

As literary critic Sarah Seltzer says, "writing across gender may be harder, require more research and humility. We may fail or get 'called out' for letting our biases show, or being ignorant. But the attempt at understanding, empathy, and inhabiting the soul of someone whose life experience is not ours, helps us grow as writers, and people too." But we must respect and give support to those authors who can pull it off or try to. Female authors writing with a male perspective seem to do far better than them writing from a male perspective. Take JK Rowling for example. Being a female author of fantasy and those novels she accomplished more with the Harry Potter series and the Cormoran Strike trilogy than Stephanie Meyer with Twilight or Veronica Roth with Divergent.

Blog Post #6

Movie and Book adaptation I chose was The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. When I read the book I judged it based off the book before it: The Maze Runner. I shouldn't have done that well because I hate it when I compare it to another book in the set because of course they're not all the same and they won't have the same expectations.

The sequel follows Thomas and his Gladers as they escape a facility that they thought was safe and into "the scorch," a sandblasted, barren wasteland of danger and creatures called Cranks. As they attempt to find safety with a group called "The Right Arm," they meet some frenemies, run into deadly storms, try to avoid being infected by a disease called "the flare," and all the time, they are trying to slip from the grasp of the people who captured them in the first place: WCKED

When I read The Scorch Trials, I loved how Teresa wasn't in it till the end. I never liked her. I understood that she played a vital role in book 1 but there was no point to her character after she delivered the message to Thomas. In the book, Teresa is upset about something. She tells Thomas that he and the others need to stay away from her. She isn’t present very much after that. She spends her time communicating with Thomas telepathically, pretending to betray him. She’s actually working with WICKED and Aris. In the movie this doesn’t happen. 

When I saw the movie, I was really upset because they had her in the movie more than what was written.

In the book, Thomas ends up getting locked in a gas chamber but in the movie, it didn't happen. I was eager to see how that was played out but I never got to.

     Overall I loved both. If you put the movie aside from the book then it was pretty amazing. The changes in the movie from the book I thought made more sense as it was easier to play out. In writing, pretty much anything and everything can happen but in movies or TV series only so much can be put out and still seem realistic. I wasn't disappointed when I saw all these changes. I was excited as to see what would come next in the last of the trilogy.


"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." Winston Churchill

Blog Post # 5

So last week in class we watched the movie Arrival. It was based off of Ted Chiang's The Story of You.

Both the short story and the movie did a great job in the telling of the story. With the story, it was easier to see the detail and description more in depth than what was shown in the movie.  

When watching the movie I noticed they didn’t show the physics part from the story. It would have been cool to see that play out but also it would be a hard concept to produce.

The short story is more straightforward about the order of Louise's experiences. We know before the first section break/memory that the first alien contact happened before the child was born. The short story proceeds along a traditional structural route of a protagonist remembering two things from the past, the first alien contact and what we come to learn is the memory of the pre-knowledge gained by the protagonist.

Watching the movie it was easier to grasp what was written out in the story. It was easier to tell what was present and what was future. Arrival puts everything into perspective. The movie has a way of capturing the emotion of the actors as well as the audience in a way that leaves them stunned.

Arrival also layers in some important secondary notes that add nuance to that easy takeaway. Because it’s not just deciphering the words that someone else is saying that’s important: It’s the whole framework that determines how those words are being pinned to meaning. We can technically speak the same language, but functionally be miles apart.

There’s only so much you can put into a movie but with a book there is a lot more. The description and the feeling of the characters comes more to life in the short story than it does in a film. The film just quite literally brings the feelings to life associating it with a real person but it doesn’t give off the same effect. For a movie with so many complicated ideas, it doesn’t waste any more time on exposition than is absolutely necessary. Arrival is serious and smartly crafted, shifting around like a Rubik’s cube in the hand of a savant, nothing quite making sense until all the pieces suddenly come together.

The film’s premise hinges on the idea, shared by many linguists and philosophers of language, that we do not all experience the same reality. The pieces of it are the same — we live on the same planet, breathe the same air — but our perceptions of those pieces shift and change based on the words and grammar we use to describe them to ourselves and each other.

The story and film set a new perspective on our lives. The time travel aspect as well as the fact of knowing the future and decisions made by the characters sets an impact on the viewers.

Either way, I enjoyed both and it’s one of those “watch again” or “read again” pieces. I’d recommend it to others. It’s a movie worth seeing. It keeps you thinking throughout and makes you wonder about your own future.

Blog Post # 4: Film Adaptations

       So books are made into movies. Shocking, I know. For me, reading is my life so I tend to read the book first then watch the movie, well unless I grew up watching the movies before I could even read the books.

      Like for most, Harry Potter was the huge thing while growing up. I watched the movies first of course then I went and read the books once I got old enough to do so. Reading the books opened a whole new world. There was much more detail and insight the movies just couldn't capture. Once I read the books, I went and watched the movie again and I could point out what was cut from the book and what should have happened. I always annoyed the people I watched the movies with.

     Harry Potter was probably the only book that the movies were very close to. Only a few changes here and there but other than that, they were pretty much the exact same. J.K Rowling of course, made that  happen.

    But books I've read like The Maze Runner, Perks of being a Wallflower, The Hunger Games and several others have seemed to disappoint me when I watched the movies. We would be here all day if I had to explain why for each one.

    One series in particular I wished was never made into movies was Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. The books were just very benign and to be honest you could skip half the book and not miss anything important. There is just way too much detail and the storyline drags on forever.

     Percy Jackson! Those were some great books but man the movies weren't up to par. They were the worst in adapting Rick Riordan's novels. The books captured his vision beautifully but when it came to the movies the vision was lost. Going off on that The Giver was a benign book and the movie made no sense. Like why is there a spaceship at the end?

Sometimes, I will watch the movie before I read the book and I

         


 Unless the movie bored me to death.

Blog Post # 3: Book Review

My first book for this class was In the Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. Here is the summary: What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller. Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself. When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.

         It was an interesting book. The majority of the book is just about how the characters get together for the trip. Then towards the last 10 ish chapters things unravel and it gets intense. It's interesting to see the story from the past as the present and the present as the future. 
         Through flashbacks, Ware slowly unspools the mystery, setting a truly spooky scene as six relative strangers gather at the isolated Glass House, celebrating the upcoming marriage of Nora’s former friend Clare Cavendish, with whom she had lost touch 10 years before. In classic Agatha Christie fashion, the first half of the novel is masterful in the slow build of suspense. Clearly, something is very wrong, but it’s unclear whether it’s Nora, Clare, Flo, or some outside intruder who is responsible for the chills and the deepening unease. However, the success of the first half of the novel does speak to Ware’s ability to spin a good yarn. Recalling such classics as And Then There Were None, she creates a unique setting for the psychological scares, and her characters, while somewhat stock, have enough depth to fool even savvy mystery fans for a while. Like the Glass House itself, this novel is “a tiger’s enclosure, with nowhere to hide” and with a constant undercurrent of danger. Read it on a dark and stormy night—with all the lights on.

Overall I thought it was a good book that deserved its New York Times Best Sellars award. The author did a great job, keeping the readers engaged and wanting to read more. I stayed up one night and powered through, kept telling myself that this would be the last chapter for the night, but that eventually ended up me finishing the book. 

Author's Bio

Looking up my author I realized that the name the book was published under is not the name of that author. It's a pseudonym for an existing author. A well known, well established author. Robert Galbraith is what the author wants us to see as we read the book but under that name is J.K Rowling. Yes, J.K Rowling. The author of the entire Harry Potter Series. When writing the Harry Potter series she kept her name as J.K Rowling because her publishers were unsure of how her books would sell as she is a women writing with a male main character. For a long time people thought Rowling was a man but to people’s surprise, it was a women. J.K stands for Joanne Kathleen- her’s and her mother’s name.

J.K Rowling first conceived the Harry Potter story while she was traveling in a train. The idea hit her and on a napkin she drafted the entire first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Rowling received a net worth of $15 billion from the entire 7 book series. She became the top author. Each Harry Potter book selling about 50 billion to 65 billion copies worldwide.

J.K. Rowling writes under the name of Robert Galbraith to maintain the distinction from her other writings.

J.K Rowling chose Robert because it is one of her favourite men’s names, because Robert F Kennedy is her hero and because, mercifully, she hadn’t used it for any of the characters in the Potter series or The Casual Vacancy. Galbraith came about for a slightly odd reason. When she was a child, Rowling really wanted to be called ‘Ella Galbraith’. She didn’t even know how she knew that the surname existed, because she couldn’t remember ever meeting anyone with it. Be that as it may, the name had a fascination for Rowling. She considered calling herself L A Galbraith for the Strike series, but for fairly obvious reasons decided that initials were a bad idea. Odder still, there was a well-known economist called J K Galbraith, something she only remembered by the time it was far too late. Rowling was completely paranoid that people might take this as a clue and land at her real identity, but thankfully nobody was looking that deeply at the author’s name.

Blog #1: Reader Bio

        As a child, I loved going to the library with my mom and we'd just sit there during story time and listen to the stories every week. I remember always carrying home a stack almost as big as me of small short children books to read. Since then, I had always read whenever I possibly could. Reading became a part of me. There were times where I had to read for a few hours before I went to bed or I couldn't go to bed at all.
        As I got older, I never stopped reading. I was always that kid that carried a stack of books. Wherever I went, I always carried a book with me. Even to the movies or to a concert or out to dinner. I always had a book. I mean, I still do. And I mean a print, hard copy of the book not a kindle or E-book.
        Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-fi are my favorite types of books. I always like to read books that keep me engaged and are suspenseful. Those make me read even more and not want to put the book down. When I read, I feel like I'm watching or playing the story in my head. Sometimes when I take a break I think "Was I reading that or watching a movie?" What I love about reading is you read something new every time. It's not always the same story even in the same genre.
         As a wonderful author, C.S. Lewis once said, "We read to know we are not alone." And I agree. When I read I feel like the characters are right there with me, telling me the story as if any of my real life friends would.
         Somethings you'll never see me read are non fiction and Twilight. Sorry all you Stephanie Myer fans, I will not read them again ever. Harry Potter all the way. Speaking of, I remember, living on the UC campus before they kicked us out, my mom and her friends would take us, kids, to the theater on campus and go see movies. Majority of the time it was the Harry Potter movies. Growing up watching and reading them, I grew a liking to that type of genre. Harry Potter became my entire world and my first official fandom.
        J.K. Rowling created this adventure from her brain while riding in a train and writing the first chapter just on a napkin. I own all the books and have been re-reading them over the years several times. Not just Rowling, but many other authors have given us the opportunity to read very good books. We'd be here all day if I were to list them all.
       Can I marry fictional characters? Can I be a fictional character?

       
<---- James Dashner author of The Maze Runner trilogy has this quote in the movie. And I think it means a lot to readers because, books are never going to stay the same. There are always going to be new authors emerging and those new authors are going to need a chance from readers to accept their work.
        So, yes there is a change, and no you can't do anything about it so you can't deny the fact there will always be a new book lurking in the shadows for one to read and maybe, just maybe one picks up a book and loves it which makes them continue reading, adding one more person into the readers world!

            So to those new people, welcome!

Reflective Reading Blog Post

http://nikkisreadingblog102.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-scorch-trials-by-james-dashner.html

In this blog post I analyzed the situation at hand of where I was reading. Using quotes from the book I talked about what was happening and added my personal thoughts and feelings to show how I reacted to the situation in the book. The first quote shows how they described the feel of what was happening and to give a visual as well as a hearing of what that character did and what the result was because of it.

Goals I have for myself is to get a deeper understanding of what the author tries to convey and
instead of reading for fun and skimming the book actually focus on what word order or diction and syntax is included. What figurative language is used to present the information given in the book to get a better meaning and understanding of why the author chose to put that specific piece of text into that area. My goals as far as continuing to read is always. I love reading. I've read since i was in Kindergarten, very night every day. My goal of reading is to read every book that was written by certain authors by the end of high school. In writing I would like to improve on my overall skills. Adding figurative language, diction, syntax more and to better give a better understanding of what I am writing about. Learning more about what I can do to improve my writing will help me broaden my skills and abilities to write papers, essays and other assignments. With my reading I want to expand and reach into different hats and pick out new genres/ books to read and try something new instead of reading the same genre and books over and over and over again.

Adventures of Hucleberry Finn by: Mark Twain

Hey guess what? I'm Back! As from the title you can tell this this post isn't on TST. I took a break on that book. I'm now reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Its a classic I know. Its a good book though. I saw the cartoon movie version and thought it was a good concept and well played out. 

I haven't gotten into the book yet but so far the book is good, except for Twain's grammar. Don't get me started with it........ The book and the movie i saw so far is very similar. Basically its about a boy, Huck Finn who is a mischievous boy caught between a confining life with his legal guardian and an abusive life under his drunkard father. He fakes his own death, teams up with a runaway slave named Jim, and take off on a raft down the Mississippi River. Now don't get confused with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer and Huck are in way over their heads when they witness a murder in a graveyard... see two different yet similar books both by the same author. The movie i saw was both ideas combined. It was well done and hope to say about the book as well!

As for TST I am still at the same place as before. Nothing much has happened. I am trying to long out the book till a month or so before the movie comes out to still have it fresh in my mind when i go to see it.










    Count down for school: 5 more weeks

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

How was y'all spring break? This week i will be talking about The Scorch Trials.. again. Last week we talked about the book itself this week i am going to talk about what is going on...

"Before anyone could move he fired, an explosion that rocked the narrow alley with a thunderous boom."
"Pure pain ripped through Thomas' left shoulder." You may be wondering what this means well.... THOMAS GETS SHOT.... that is where i am right now in the book. He gets shot, WICKED comes to his rescue (yay! not really) and he meets back with Minho and Newt and his friends who got separated from him and Brenda. Thomas still can't get a hold of Teresa and doesn't know if she is okay. He saw her once- she was alive but was acting strange. Enough of Teresa.... After Thomas got shot WICKED came and took him to the berg which is really a hospital. They fixed him up. Wondering how a loaded gun ended up in the Scorch and how Thomas being shot and all was not part of the plan. I was reading that and i was like: "WELL PLANS CHANGE.. deal with it."

They still are talking about the safe haven and that beneficial thing for them. Brenda weirdly still crushing on Thomas and he told her that she could never be Teresa. OUCH! He feels so sorry, Brenda really doesn't care.... i think she does... The last thing i read and the weird thing is that Thomas was in the berg and the lady there said "It's what you would've wanted us to do" What does that mean... I have no idea.




                                                      HAPPY EASTER!

The Scorch Trials : James Dashner

Hey I'm back! This week I will be talking about "The Scorch Trials" by James Dashner. I am about halfway into the book and its interesting but not as intriguing as "The Maze Runner". It had a slow beginning and not much "cool" things happening. Thomas lies to the Cranks which are like people badly infected by 'The Flare' and hopes not to get killed on their way to the safe haven where something is that is beneficial to them all. Won't get into more or i will spoil it.

Apparently WICKED was testing 2 maze groups. one with all boys and one girl and the other all girls with one boy. Meeting with them, Thomas, Newt, Minho and others face challenges and try to get to the safe haven. Teresa is blitz, Thomas is separated from his friends, some girl who is a crank (hasn't fully gone bonkers) is crushing on Thomas, he feels like he is betraying Teresa. Nothing seems to be making sense. The most scariest part- Thomas kills someone. Not saying who or why but he does and feels guilty. A problem though. Thomas can't get through to Teresa telepathically. When he does she makes no sense. Talks like she is crazy. Maybe she is. I don't know... yet... Hopefully they reunite and things go to how they were before.

          That's all y'all get for this week. Stay tuned for more on the scoop for "The Scorch Trials"

Satire

My satire example is of Burlesque because it is talking about how everything now is advanced by technology and the fact that when we try to use something that isn't advanced or one of the things we used before we think about the new advanced versions. This example shows that the student thought there would be icons to press for things to appear like on a computer or smart board but actually it was only a chalk board where they have to write out everything instead of projecting it on the screen.

 







TBH: this is probably not accurate so don't kill me for it.....

Krista Ramsey column

The column I read about was on bullying and how a songwriter encouraged students to stop bullies. It talked about people who were bullied and how they dealt with it in their life and how they got over it. The songwriter, Keenan West, described the different kinds of bullying and how they should avoid it but stand up for someone who is going through it. Here is the hyperlink to the column: Songwriter helps kids summon courage to stop Bullying

"What I'm asking you today is, if someone is being excluded, if rumors are going around about someone, what would it look like if you put yourself in his shoes? What would it feel like if you made sure everyone around you is having a good high school experience?" 

This line impacts the whole column because it is telling you to be in someone else's shoes and see what they see. It may seem good on the outside but if you were in there position then you would get to see how they feel and their emotions to the situation. Diction was used, no one usually uses the word excluded people usually use words like rule out, deny, eliminate but this writer used exclude to give a more important feel and emphasis to the point they were trying to make.

Ramsey's writing style in all three columns is that she uses diction and syntax at certain parts in her columns to emphasize that specific point in that story. She uses diction to show that she took the effort to make the story and give it a meaning and the use for syntax was to prove a point and narrow down to one topic or subject. The point of her using diction and syntax is to demonstrate to her viewers that something is actually going on in people's lives and that it is important to be open minded and not just worry about your life but the lives of others.

If i had to ask the writer three questions they would be:

1. How long does it usually take to find a story, write a draft, edit the draft, type it all up, get it approved then get it published in a magazine or newspaper?

2. Is finding the story and writing something about it hard or easy? Does it come naturally or do you struggle?

3. Do people actually read to your work and act upon it or do they read it and leave it? How do you tell or know?

Hattie Big Sky and Pretty Little Liars

I started a new book called Hattie Big Sky and its not by J.K Rowling or a really famous author but i decided to take a break from The Maze Runner series. This is a Newberry Honor book and it seems interesting so I am giving it a try.

The book is about a teenage girl who lives with her Aunt and Uncle and ends up getting to own three hundred twenty acres of land in Montana. The land was her parents and now since they passed she gets to inherit their property. When I first started reading this book, I saw some similarities between this book and Harry Potter. Harry lost both parents, lives with Uncle and Aunt, learns he is a wizard... Hattie lives with her Aunt and Uncle, lost her parents, learns she gets to inherit 320 acres... But the real trouble is that she will have to learn how to farm and live on her own. She grew up farming on her Uncle's property with help here and there and she now has to take her skills to the test from Iowa to Montana. She meets new people and sees new things that she hasn't seen in Iowa...

I am also reading the first Pretty Little Liars. It is pretty interesting... The book so far is so different from the TV show because first off Spencer Hastings has blonde hair in the book but on the show she has brown and Melissa Hastings was not in the barn when the liars and Ali were gonna go in it for a sleepover the night something big happens... It is an interesting start and i'm not that far into the book but i am up to date with the show and let me tell you what I have heard... THE SHOW IS NOTHING LIKE THE BOOK SERIES! Not everything is different and not everything is the same but this show and books are like the South and North Poles, extreme opposites! Once I get farther into the book i'll let you know more about the book...

The Maze Runner (hopefully last post)

Hey, y'll I'm still on The Maze Runner and it is getting intense! Thomas just told everyone he and Teresa can talk telepathically and that they helped the "Creators" in putting them in The Glade. Everyone was surprised and well confused. But thanks to Minho and Newt, things calmed down. They also figured out that to get out of the Maze you have to solve a code and the only exit is in the Maze inside the Griever Hole. Enough of me spilling about the book, which I can do all day, and let me talk about something else.

As y'll know The Maze Runner came out September 18th. Mocking Jay comes out November 21st. Divergent came out March 21st. Hunger Games came out March 23rd. I'm telling you this because out of the three movies that have released, The Maze Runner is the best by far! Why? Well, it stayed true to the book except for some little things like solving the code with the pages of sketched art of the Maze. It had a lot of action and suspense. It was a movie that kept you at the edge and the book keeps you intrigued. I loved the movie when I saw it and read the book. Hunger Games and Divergent had interesting story lines but neither was as good as how James Dashner created The Maze Runner. It has a different taste to the story and has several twists to the story.

Hopefully I complete The Maze Runner soon so I can start The Scorch Trials or maybe take a small break from Dashner's books and read a book from one of my all time favorite authors: J.K. ROWLING ... but I can assure you I am not going to read the Harry Potter series even though those are the BEST BOOKS in the world! She is going by a different pen name now releasing new books. Hope they are as good as tHP series :D


Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and safe travels y'll!

Hana's Suitcase

   Taking a break form The Maze Runner to tell you about a really good and inspiring book. I read it in the 3rd grade and reading it again made me cry even more. As you can probably tell, its a sad story. Hana’s Suitcase is a true story that interweaves the tragedy of Hana Brady, a Czech Jewish girl who died at 13 in Auschwitz, the determination of Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the Tokyo Holocaust Center, and her young helpers, and the generous spirit of George Brady, Hana’s older brother, who survived the Holocaust and now lives in Toronto.

   The Tokyo Holocaust Center, endowed by an anonymous Japanese donor, had a number of objects obtained from the Auschwitz Museum in Poland, among them Hana’s suitcase. The simple suitcase, with Hana’s name, birthdate, and the German word for orphan written across it, captured the imagination of the children who helped Fumiko at the Center and other children visiting it. They wanted to know who Hana was, where she had lived, what her family was like, and what had happened to her. They formed a club called “Small Wings,” and they produced a newsletter so that children in other parts of Japan would know about the Holocaust and their search for Hana.

   Karen Levine skillfully alternates the narrative of Hana and her family in the 1930s and their deportation and life in the concentration camp with the story of Fumiko’s detective work in 2000 to uncover that story and share it with Japanese children. Some time after sending the suitcase to Tokyo, the Auschwitz Museum learned that Hana had been held in the camp in Theresienstadt (the name the Nazis gave to the Czech town Terezin) prior to being sent to Poland. Fumiko was able to obtain some drawings that Hana had made there, but the Terezin Ghetto Museum could not provide any more information about the young girl.

The children at the Tokyo Center kept asking Fumiko to find out more about Hana and especially to get a picture of her, but Fumiko had very little information to go on. Then, finally, Fumiko herself visited the Terezin Museum and with the help of Ludmila, a worker there, she found a list of the children who had been imprisoned in the camp and discovered that Hana had had an older brother. The records also showed that Hana had died but that George had survived. The knowledge that Hana’s life had been so unjustly ended made Fumiko even more determined that she would not be forgotten. Continuing their search through the records, the two women found the name of the boy who had shared a bunk with George in the camp. Miraculously, Ludmila recognized the name and knew that the man was living in Prague. Immediately Fumiko took a bus to Prague and found someone at the Jewish Museum who put her in touch with him, and he gave her George’s address in Toronto.

Back home in Tokyo, Fumiko wrote to George in Toronto telling him about her work in the Holocaust Center and the tremendous interest of the members of Little Wings, who identified with Hana so closely. George responded right away with photos of Hana and a long letter telling about his and Hana’s happy early days with their family before the war.

   In 2001 George and his daughter Lara Hana visited the Tokyo Center, met Fumiko and the Little Wings and saw Hana’s suitcase. At that intensely moving meeting, George realized:

“… in the end, one of Hana’s wishes had come true. Hana had become a teacher. Because of her—her suitcase and her story—thousands of Japanese children were learning about what George believed to be the most important values in the world: tolerance, respect, and compassion. What a gift Fumiko and the children have given me, he thought. And what honor they have given Hana.”

   Honestly just reading this makes me cry. Hana was only a little girl who went through the torture of the Nazis and putting up a fight she passed. They KILLED HER! But one of her family members still lives today, George Brady, her older brother. He now is 86 years old with 3 sons and a daughter, working as a plumber. As I turned the pages of this amazing true story I started crying. Little sobs at first, then a down pour by the end. Its still a really good book, a little confusing, but amazing. Imagine yourself, a Jew, in the time of Hana, George and the rest of the people who went through this horrible thing.