The Lovely Bones

            When someone you love dies, how do you even think about moving on; because moving on means
accepting and accepting means believing that it really happened. This is an idea the is strongly portrayed in the book The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. The book shows the aftermath of a 14 year old girl who is brutally raped and murdered. But, this book is unique, because it is told by the girl who was killed, Susie. The way the the book is written allows the reader to see how all the characters dealt with Susie's death, and how Susie had to watch everyone she loved, move on. Traumatic events change a family, but this book really shows that everyone heals, but not always in the same way they were broken. The characters in the book were able to change and grow after accepting what had happened, and trying to move forward

            The person who was actually the most affected by Susie's death, was the person who could move on the easiest. Susie's brother Buckley was barely old enough to remember what had happened with Susie, but it was always around him, lurking in the shadows. Buckley was 4 or 5 when his parents decided to tell him that Susie was never coming home again; "'Susie is dead,' unable to make it fit in the rules of any game, 'do you know what that means?'" This was said on page 69 of the Lovely Bones after Susie's death. Susie's death allowed Buckley to grow up in a way that would have never been possible, Buckley let go of Susie by helping his father let go, and becoming more mature. "At twelve my brother had become serious and considerate. Even if he didn't pay for the food or cook the meals, he managed the house." Moving on and helping everyone else move on was the way that Buckley mature beyond his years and become his own person.

            The mother also changed drastically from finding out about Susie, to being able to accept the reality. "He would not really look at her for the rest of the day, not really look into her and see the woman her had known her to be before the day they had taken the news of my death." The mother changed, she felt helpless like there was nothing that could happen that would lift the weight she had on her chest. So she cheated. She cheated on her husband and her family, and then she left. But as horrible as that sounds now, she needed to leave, and be a person outside of a mother. She was able to be her own persona and accept what happened. When she came home she remembered, but was not pained, she was glad she remembered and happy she still had a family to come home to. " She began to think of the rooms in our house and the hours that she had worked so hard to forget spent inside them. Like fruit put up in jars and forgotten about, the sweetness seemed even more distilled as she returned."

            It was a necessity that all the characters found some way to deal with the tragedy. It allowed them all to grow as people outside of the family with the murdered daughter. But what makes this book even more heartbreaking is that Susie watches the people she loves move on and that she hopes they never forget her. By the end Susie realizes that she will always be apart of the people she left, whether its in memory or in her sister Lindsey's case, the name of a child. Moving on is in the same part of life that death in, its not easy, but this book shows that life cannot continue to make you happy until one does move on.

In sickness and in health

The  baby,
held in the never waivering arms
the arms
attached to a heart that's full of love and pride

The baby feels like it's falling
it is no longer the missing link in the heart of its mother
Though it will never be out of place

The baby is to big to fit in the warm and comforting arms
though often needs to.
How could someone so grown, feel like ice
and shatter like glass

The girl tansforms
Her bones poke out from her skin
Her hair falls in piles,
on the always spinning floor

She's happy now
she is no longer overtaken by a nagging feeling
a feeling that has tormented her for years
Forbidding happiness for the people who actually have to suffer.
But that will end, she will grow a better feeling
and the family will no longer gasp for air
they will just have it

It's Kind of a Funny Story

In the book, It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini the main character Craig suffers from depression. After the depression worsens, he checks himself into psychiatric ward. Throughout the whole book, Craig's relationships with the people in his life, either grow or fall apart, as the people grow and change.

Craig's relationship with his father changes throughout the book. At the beginning of the book, Craig's father is really worried about Craig and walks on eggshells around him. They never talk about what's really going on, and instead trying to talk about good things that make Craig even more upset, because he feels scared that he can't handle the bad, in order to see the good. But by the end of the book Craig and his father grow very close. Craig's father understands by the end, that Craig is hurting, but also understands that he needs a father that understands him, and who Craig can talk to.

Craig's relationship with Nia also changes throughout the book. Nia is the girl that Craig had a crush on for so long, but she was dating his best friend. Craig always thought that Nia was perfect and that there was nothing that she couldn't do, but then Craig actually talked to her. It turned out that Nia also was suffering from clinical depression. Craig became close to her, believing that they understood each other and that they were special. But at the end of the book when Nia comes to visit Craig at the hospital, she gets all freaked out, and calls Craig crazy. Nia and Craig kiss but then Craig realizes, Nia is using him, and that she is not perfect, and is not even close to it.

Craig grew throughout the book. He realized he wasn't hopeless and that he needed to take a closer look at his life. Craig needed to try and find the good in his life, and not care as much about what people thought. Craig learned who was worth loving and who was worth being depressed about losing.

Justice Denied

            In the article "Justice Denied" which appears in the New York Times Upfront Magazine, it talks about how in many places in the south, murders, that had be racially motivated and taken place in the 60's, are still not solved today. The article "Justice Denied" is not only about how these black men were brutally murdered, it was about how these men, didn't get the justice that they deserved. During the late 50's and early 60's people could often kill a black man or torture one, and would not get caught because even the government would often agree that it was deserved. Justice should be allowed, even long after a persons murder, to make sure people know, they can't do something so horrible without getting punished.

            So that's exactly what the families of these men, murdered in the 60's wanted; they wanted justice. People in northeastern Louisiana wrote a letter to the FBI. This letter "expressed grave concern that the crime would go unpunished because the local police were probably complicit." This meant that the people were afraid that the police were actually involved in some of these brutal murders. The people turned to the FBI because they weren't getting the justice their family deserved from the local police. 

            But, the FBI didn't do anything either. Five decades later the cases remained unsolved. The reason why people never fought hard for their families justice is because they were afraid. "Relatives or victims were often afraid to come forward, lacking faith in judicial system, and fearing retaliation from groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The FBI didn't do much until till the pass of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, where they would investigate racial motivated crimes. Even after this act was passed, the FBI had limited information and limited ways to get information about the cases. Sometimes the federal jurisdiction on a case was limited, or the people who witnessed the crime had forgot important details. 

             In 2011, the FBI sent letters to about all of the families of those killed in the civil rights era for racial reasons about how they could not have enough evidence to convict anyone and get to the bottom of the murder. "Setting aside whether the FBI could have done more, I respect the dignity with which they are accepting responsibility for letting families know how the justice system had failed them." this was said by Margret Burnham, founder of Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project in response to the letters the FBI sent out. The FBI were not able to give the people the justice they deserved. It took a long time for the FBI to do anything, and that's just wrong. People deserve justice no matter how long after the incident, they will always deserve it. 

To Kill a Mockingbird: Revised

The world we live in now has not always been as kind to people who are different, as it is today. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, deals with many different issues surrounding life in a small southern town. This southern town is a town that cannot except people’s differences, and were raised to treat the people differently because them.  The book tells a story about a little girl, Scout, and her brother, Jem, as her dad tries to prove a black’s man’s innocents. The town that Scout and her family live in is called Maycomb, which is in southern Alabama. In Maycomb there are many different types of social classes, and each one of them are treated a different way depending on which one they are in. Money affects most of the character's actions and the progression of many of the issues in the book.

Money affects the way Scout acts towards people in the book. For example in the book, Scout tries to tell her teacher how this boy is different, and how to act around him. Scout tells her teacher that the Cunningham’s never taken anything they can't pay back, when her teacher offers a quarter to a Cunningham. Scout speaks to her teacher in such a way, that the teacher gets mad at her. The way that Scout talked to her teacher, was like, "Duh! Of course they never take anything they can't pay back." Scout says it like that because that is the way she has always known it to be, almost like it's tattooed to their faces.

            Money also affects the things that some people cherish, that others take for granted. For example in the book To Kill a Mockingbird it talks about how the blacks’ church is smaller and less fancy than the whites church, because they don't have as much money. When Scout and Jem offers the raise money to help build them a new church, they turn them down. These people didn’t turn Scout and Jem down because Scout and Jem were white, the turned them down because they had pride. They believed in order for them to be proud of their church, they had to work to build it themselves; so then they can say, you don’t have to be rich to accomplish something that means something.

            Money affects many of the issues in the book. Money affects the issue of discrimination, but not just between whites and blacks. For example in the book To Kill a Mockingbird Mayella says in the court while giving a statement, "An' if you fine, fancy gentlemen ain't gonna do nothin' about it, then you're just a bunch of lousy, yella, stinkin' cowards, the - the whole bunch of ya, and your fancy airs don't come to nothin'. Your Ma'am'in' and your Miss Mayellarin' - it don't come to nothin', Mr. Finch, not... no." This shows that Mayelle realizes that she is treated differently, but also realizes that these people don't know anything about what she is dealing with, and yet they believe that they are better than her. This kind of discrimination has to do with money. Mayella is a white girl, but she was raised in a poor family, so people feel like they can walk all over her.  

            Money changed a lot of people’s ideas and really put some issues in new a prospective during the book. But money doesn't only make things complicated in the book, but also in the real world. Money determines where you can live, how you can live, and how hard you need to work. Yes, money doesn't make you happy, but it puts a different perspective on everything, usually a more sheltered one, for those people who have more money. People who have more money don’t value what they have as much. For example like in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the blacks’ want to be proud of their church, because in this small country town, these people didn’t have much that they could say was their own; so they valued the church, it showed them they could do anything. Money shouldn’t be the things that weighs on people’s minds every day, and keeps them from sleeping, but it does. It affects the ways people see the world, and the way Scout, and Jem, and their father, and everyone in Maycomb sees the world. 

Flight

            In the book Flight, the main character has to deal with a lot of issues. The main character is a boy named Zits who was put into foster care after his mother died of cancer. Zits had been in a total of 12 different foster cares, and all he wants is his mother. So after escaping from a halfway house, he decides to have a sacrifice to bring his mother back, but instead travels through time. He goes far, far, back into the 1700's and sees what it's like to be an Indian and then as a white soldier. But finally Zits sees what it's like to be his father, and that changes everything for him. 

            One issue that comes up a lot in the book is abandonment. Zits has this fear that every person that he even begins to feel for will abandon him, and through out the book, or at least until the end, that's true. Zits father left as soon as he was born, and then his mother died. Foster home after foster home, kicked him out because they found him difficult, and Zits never found a home. This really didn't help Zits trust people. Like in the beginning of the book when Zits is arrested, the police officer wants to help him, but Zits won't let him because he doesn't trust him. 

            Another issue found in the book is poverty. Poverty is an issue that plagues every society, but it has had a strong impact on Zits life. If Zits family hadn't grown up in poverty, then Zits mother and father might not have had a baby when they weren't ready, and Zits dad might not have run out, then Zits wouldn't have been all alone when his mother died. Of course, this isn't what actually would have happened if they weren't growing up in poverty, but Zits might have learned how to trust people, and learn that some people really can be good.  

            Flight is an amazing book that deals with so many different issues, but doesn't just pile them on. The author uses comedy to balance the book out, and so he gives to a chance to really feel for the character. Zits was a character that went through so much, but just came out stronger. That's what the author wanted people to get out of the books, that things that people go through, but that end up fixed, make people that much stronger. 

Monday Muses

            What you experience as a child can really sort of mold you as you grow up. If you had an experience with a parent, you might not trust them or anyone else. The same thing goes for what you read. The few first books you learn how to read starts the infinite world and it can really open up your mind. My first book I still remember and I remember how it gave me confidence. 

            The first book I ever read was a book called The Loudest Roar. This book was about a tiger who people thought couldn't scare people with his roar. So through out the whole book the tiger never gave up and in the end he roared a roar that shook the whole forest. This book was the first book I had ever read. Well actually I didn't read it as much as memorize it, but still, I worked really hard on all the words, and than preformed it for my family. Even though I was only three, I realized that the tiger tried as hard as he could to have the loudest roar and finally he succeeded. This book has taught me a lot, even just looking at it here. I never try and settle for the second best thing. When things get hard I don't give up, sure I might kick and scream, but I never give up.
            Books you read as a child form the people you grow up to be. I read so many books as a child and now I love to read. My parents used to read me a book every night before I went, so now when I read a book I think of them, and how they taught me how to read. Books aren't the only thing that forms you, but it sure is a big part of it. 

Banned Books

            It’s a young adults right to choice. Parents and Teachers want to ban books because they are afraid that their children will be exposed to things they are not ready for. I just read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, which is on the banned book list, but I don’t think this book should be banned.  I believe that parents don’t always know what  their children are ready for, and young adults have enough judgment to pick what books are appropriate for them. So that’s why, overall books should not be banned.  

            Parents and teachers ban books because they believe that their children are not ready to be exposed to certain issues. One example is in the book Animal Farm. Parents believe that this book should be banned because it is against the USSR and deals with communism. Parents believe that it was a rough time in our country and young adults don’t need to learn about it yet. Another example is in an article called Darkness too Visible by Meghan Cox Gurdon it says “And there was, she felt’ nothing, not a thing that I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation…” this was said by Amy Freeman a mother of a young adult. These two ideas show the reasons why parents and teachers want to ban certain books.

            Other people believe that young adults have a right to choose what they read and need to be exposed to worldwide issues. For example another side on the book Animal Farm is that it does expose young adults to what happened in the world, and it teaches young adults not to make the same mistakes again. Another example is form the article The Banned Books We Have Loved by Jen Doll, it says “From Go Ask Alice we learned that life can go off the rails all too quickly and that drugs should be considered with caution.” And also from the same article, “along with books like Blume’s Are You There God it’s Me, Margaret; it taught us some very crucial information about what was happening to our bodies and how to deal with those changes.” Young adults need to be exposed to these things, and in a book, they can learn the tough lessons without being harmed.

            Though both these argument have valid points, but it’s not the parents job to know what every kid is ready for, and can’t decide that for young adults. From the article, the Banned Books We Have Loved, it says “Instead of shoving the books under the proverbial rug, parents should have a honest conversation with their children.” Parents should ban books, if they feel like the book their children are reading is inappropriate, they can talk to their kid about it, not ban books for everyone.

            Parents are allowed to tell their own children that they are and aren’t allowed to read certain books, but the problem with banning it from schools and libraries is that no one gets to read it. Parents only know what their children are comfortable with, and sometimes not even that. I’m glad that my school hasn’t banned any books, because I know what I am ready for, and things I’m not ready for I didn’t read. For example I knew I was ready for Animal Farm, and it was an amazing book and I’m glad I read it. Parents shouldn’t be allowed to ban books because, they teach people thing and give children enjoyment and a safe place to learn.  

                    

Monday Muses

 In class we looked at a poem called My Childhood by Matthew Zapruder. The poem made me think about all the things I have in my life now, it also made me think about what I need never to forget. The poem also made me think deeper into the authors words, and find my own meaning behind them. 

A line I really thought about and struck me deep in my heart was the 10th line of the poem. The line goes like this "one square of light on the wall waiting patiently". This line reminded me of when my parents would leave me with a babysitter while they went out, and I would never be able to fall asleep. But when they came home, they would always talk in the hall outside my bedroom door, and I would wait for them to come in and check on me. Before my parents came in, my door was ajar and I could see a small patch of light against my wall, but when my parents did come in, they would block the light, and to me, that always meant that they were really home. This line shows that I found my own meaning behind the poem because that light the author was talking about, brought me back to those nights, the nights when I was younger, and for me, that's what a good poem should do. 

"I will learn my multiplication tables." This is a line that every kid can relate to. The learning of multiplication tables is like an act of growing up. I had a very hard time learning my multiplication tables. In fourth grade, each week we would take a timed multiplication test to see how much and how fast we could do 100 multiplication problems. I would get 60's and 70's and then I would get so upset, I would take like ten practice tests each night and then take out all my anger after I got a question wrong, on my dad. Yep, that's right, I got really mad, like red face about to blow mad, whenever I would get a bad grade on my multiplication tables! To me this was the worst thing that could have happened, and that is the case for most any child. Now, even though I haven't gone through any serious trauma, I still know, that is not nearly the worst thing that will happen to you. The author used this line to show how things become more and less of a priority as you get older. 

This poem makes you think, it lets you relate. That's, in my opinion, what makes a great poem. A person who can write about his own life, but make it kind of vague so everyone can relate to it. People really only can understand something if they know what they think the poem is trying to say. For example, if the entire poem is about how the author got raped or something, through out the whole poem, you won't be feeling what the author is trying to get you tho feel, you'll be feeling bad for her. Poems are supposed to make you feel, make you think.

My Childhood

by Matthew Zapruder

the orange ball arcs perfectly into the orange hoop

making a sound like a drawer closing

you will never get to hold that

I am here and nothing terrible will ever happen

across the street the giant white house full of kids

turns the pages of an endless book

the mother comes home and finds the child animal sleeping

I left my notebook beside the bed

the father came home and sat and quietly talked

one square of light on the wall waiting patiently

I will learn my multiplication tables

while the woman in the old photograph looks in a different direction

            

Chains

            In the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson it talks about a girl named Isabel, who is a slave. She thought that after her owner died she and her sister would be free, but they weren't. They were tricked and sold to a very wealthy couple in New York. This book takes place in revolutionary times. The couple that Isabel and her sister are sold to are Loyalists and have documents in their possession that the patriot army wants. In the book, a fellow slave named Curzon asks Isabel to spy on her owners and tell all she knows to the general of the patriot army. Isabel learns many things but one thing she learns is how men treated women in this era.

            Women are treated very differently by men in this time period. One way that men treat women differently is by keeping them naive. When ever something would go wrong in the Lockton family, Isabel's owners, Mr. Lockton would always keep things from Mrs. Lockton because he didn't want her to know too much. For example in the book, Mr. Lockton is wanted by the police and he gets  arrested, but he wouldn't tell Mrs. Lockton why. She kept asking him and finally after an hour, and he still didn't tell her, he got annoyed and started hitting her telling her to mind her own business. Mrs. Lockton was just worried about Mr. Lockton but still he would tell her because he thought it was too much for a women to handle.
             Another way women are treated differently in the revolutionary era is the fact that women are not allowed to speak their own minds. For example, one night the Locktons were preparing to have a huge dinner and Mr. Locktons aunt was invited.  Lady Seymour, Mr. Locktons aunt, knows a lot about the world that she was living in, but she couldn't have an open opinion about it. For example at this dinner Lady Seymour said, "What if the rebels decide that the turnabout is fair play? We need to care for them so they don't harm their British captives." Lady Seymour was talking about her opinion on the prisoners of war and the men at the table totally shot down all of her ideas. They said she didn't know what she was talking about because she was a women.
             The world that Isabel lived in was completely different form the world that we live in today. Today women can get the same type of education as a man can get. Today women can get the same job as a man. But that's not the case everywhere. When in my class we watched the speech that Malala Yousafzai gave in front of the UN, it made me think about, how in a lot of ways the way men treat women are a lot like hoe they treated them 300 years ago. Our world has changed a lot, but we still have a lot more to accomplish and change.

  

Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchyio

“Bombs were dropped on Tokyo every night and day like falling rain.” This line from the heartbreaking picture book “Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiyo describes a horrible war that engulfed Japan. In the book the zoo keepers are worried about a bomb dropping on one of the cages at the zoo, and that the animals might run free through the streets. So the zoo keepers had to kill all the animals, and then starve the elephants to death. The zoo keepers wanted to do everything they could to keep their elephants alive. They hoped and prayed the elephants will live long enough and then the war will be over; the elephants symbolized their hope. In times of war people need to put their hope in something meaningful, and something they believe in, for the zoo keeper the elephants are their beacons of hope.

The Elephants symbolized the zoo keeper’s hope in many ways. One way is the fact that even though the country made the zoo keepers kill the elephants; they couldn’t because the elephants never gave up hope. For example in the picture book “Faithful Elephants” it says “Squeezing out what little strength they had left, Tonky and Wanly made their last appeal. They stood up on their hind legs and lifted their front legs up as high as they could. Then, raising their trunks high in the air, they did their banzai trick.” As you can see, the zoo keepers put their hope in the elephants because the elephants never gave up. They tried so hard to stay alive, and the zoo keepers saw that.

The zoo keepers saw how hard the elephants tried and decided that if everyone tried that hard, the world might have been better. They admired the elephants and hoped that they wouldn’t die. That’s why when the elephants showed their tricks, the zoo keeper couldn’t take it anymore. “’Oh Tonky! Oh Wanly!’  he wailed, and dashed to the food shed. He carried food and pails of water to them and threw it at their feet.” As you can see, the zoo keepers feel as if they couldn’t live without these elephants, and if they had to, they would never again feel that the war might be over.

Another way that the zoo keepers put their hope in the elephants is the fact that they thought that if the elephants lived for just one more day the war might be over. For example in the picture book “Faithful Elephants” it says “But everyone was hoping and praying that if the elephants could survive only one more day, the war might be over…” As you can see, the zoo keepers had to go through things that they never wanted to go through, and after the zoo keepers gave the elephant’s water and food, they hoped that the elephants wouldn’t die, and hoped that if they didn’t, the war would end.

Though a big thing the elephants represented in the book was a beacon of hope for the zoo keepers, they represented so much more. They represented the sacrifices people had to face in wars, because they had to be sacrificed in order to save millions of people in Japan. The elephants also symbolize the hardships of war and what kind of toll it can have on people.

      Can't Get There From Here   

             Kids always need someone to lean on. They always say they don't but, they all do. That's why when the person kids thought were their rock starts to crumble, it hits them hard. In the book Can't Get There From Here by Todd Strasser, the main character Maybe has a hard time trusting people because her mother had hurt her.
             Maybe wants to help every single person that she is on the street with. They all have gone through things that many people couldn't imagine. For example the first one up is Tears. Tears is the youngest in the group. She sticks to Maybe like a fly sticks to honey because she's scared of getting hurt. Tears step-dad had abused her and touched her. Tears had a hard time trusting OG, another kid on the street, because he wasn't welcoming and was violent towards people, it reminded her of her father. Ever since then she wouldn't go near OG without Maybe right behind her.
             Next up is  Rainbow. Rainbow has been pretty her entire life, but living on the street it didn't do her any good. She is constantly looked at, touched, and even sold into prostitution for a short period. Rainbow has a hard time trusting guys, and even girls. But of course the only person she does trust is Maybe.
            Finally there is Maybe herself. Maybe's mother had told her to get out after she pressed a hot iron to her back. Maybe always wanted to take care of everyone but she never quite trusted anyone. For example when a social worker finds maybe and her friends in a building their conversation goes like this.
"We want to give you a warm meal and a place to sleep."
"What do you want in return?"
"For what?"
"Giving us food and a place to sleep?"
"Nothing!"
As you can see, Maybe and her friends have a hard time trusting people because they're scared they might get hurt.
             Maybe and her friends have gone through a lot. They learned how to trust each other, but because they all had to work for that trust. When Maybe decided to leave, she knew that her mother was not trustworthy, and for a kid, your mother is who you look up to. Do you think you would have an easy time trusting people if one of your parents abused you? Think about it.

Summer Reading

Divergent

             A popular topic nowadays is a dystopia of the way our government controls our lives. All the stories make the types of worlds that the author made up look like our world, earth, is heavenly. The thing about Divergent that separates its self from the rest of the book world, is that the world in the book does not actually start out as corrupt.
              For Example the book Divergent is about a society that splits people up based on what characteristic people think make a person weakest. The are five groups called factions; the five factions are, Abnegation : the selfless, Amity: the peaceful, Condor: the honest, Erudite: the intelligent and Dauntless: the brave. Each of these factions have a job because of the characteristic they honor. No one is hungry and the cities are well protected, I think it's fair to say it seems like a pretty good world.
               Another way that the world in Divergent does not start out corrupt is the fact that people get to choice what faction they're placed into and get to decide what life they want to lead.  Unlike in the book Matched where you are paired with the person you have to be with for your entire life, in Divergent you get to choice a faction depending on what characteristic you value. I think this makes the world in Divergent not a dystopia.
               In conclusion, i think that Divergent really captures a new way of looking at things and an effective way of splitting up the government. I think that fact that so many authors are choosing to write about this topic, makes the better books stand out. 

Keeping the Moon

            The book keeping the moon is a book about a girl who is trying to make sense of her life and find herself. For example in the book, she can't tell if she wanted to be who she was before she was skinny or if she wants to lets loose a little.

            The main character, Colie, went through what she and her mother called the fat years. Colie remembered as herself being less self conscience and more sure of her self. But when her mother helped them both get thin, and she became the model for change, Colie couldn't help feeling that things were better the way they used to be. 

            I believe that the world revolves around how pretty you are or how well you dress, or that's what every teenage girl feels at least. But is it really all that matters. That is the question of society. Why is our society built on these ideas and these looks. I mean look around, it is. The popular girls are the pretty and skinny ones. Do you think that's the way it should be?

Matched

The book Match is filled with social commentary as far as science fiction goes. The social commentary is what if the government knew too much about our lives, Patriot act, and what if the tart to take over it, The government taking control of what we can and can't do now.

            The book Matched is about a society that picks what you do for a living, and who you marry and when you die. This society shows that the government knowing too much about your life is not always the best thing because, if the government is monitoring what you do 24/7 then even if you kiss a guy you are not supposed to, they will find out and get you in trouble. This is kind of like the Patriot act in the sense that, the government always knows what you are doing and you have no privacy.

            The book Match shows that the government having control over your life is not always the best thing because it shows that the government is not always right. For example in the book, the main character is supposed to matched with this guy, her best friend, but instead falls in love with a different guy. This is something a government can't always tell. This has to do with the way the government is trying to control everything nowadays, on the fact of abortion for example. The government can't always tell the circumstances for an abortion, but they want to make it illegal. How does that seem fair if they can't predict every possible outcome. 

The Outsiders

            The Outsiders is my all time favorite book. I have read it more that 20 times and every time I read it I get a different idea, or thought on the book and the different characters. The characters that changes every time I read the book is Ponyboy and Dally.
            The character Ponyboy is the main character at the first glance could be an innocent young boy born into a life that is not the best for him. But at second glance you see a strong boy that stands up for his friends and knows what everyone wants before they have to ask.
            The character Dally is the tough one in the gang. He appears to not care about anyone. He appears to have one and only goal, to look and act the strongest and to show everyone that no one can bring him down. But by the end of the book you realize that Dally cares about to gang pet Johnny more than he cares about his own life. Because when Johnny dies Dally decides that he doesn't want to live anymore.  

Luna

            In the book Luna, the main character is struggling with keeping her brother's secret, her brother, feels like he's a girl born into a girls body. The main character has to face the question, "just because he's different, does that mean I have to treat him different?" throughout the entire book.

            Regan the main character, has to put away her social life in order to protect her brother Liam, aka. Luna. Regan lives in this constant fear of what would happen if she would let the secret slip, and once she did, would her brother ever find a way to for give her.

           Regan tries not to treat her brother any different but it's hard when her dad is a total homophobic and her mom doesn't like to deal with trouble. Liam thinks that he could turn to his best friend, but when he tells her, she gets scared and starts to cry, this leads Regan to another question, "will anyone love my brother the way i love him?"

          Bitter Melon

            In the book bitter melon the main character and her mother have a struggling relationship. Her mother wants what is best for her but, she wants something else. This story is a great representation of a girl struggling the find herself in a world that won't let her get free.
            For example the main character is raised by a very strict Chinese mother that expects the most from her. For example the mother wants her to get straight A's and get into Berkley, but the main character wants to be a writer and go to a small collage that her teacher recommended. It starts out starts out with the girl ending up in speech instead of calculus. But she fell in love with speech, so she started lying to her mom, because she knew that he mom would have never allowed her to take speech. This shows their struggling relationship because the daughter is not able to talk to her mother about anything and she feels trapped
            In the end of the book, the main character does get into the collage she wanted called, Scripps. At first her mother lies to her and tells her she didn't get in, but when she finds out she did get in she gets really mad, but this lets her break her shell. She tells her mother that she wants to go to this collage and runs away. But then in the epilogue she realizes how good it is for someone to find their own path and not just the one her mother laid out for her.

Hurricane Song

            In the book Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi a 16 year old boy named Miles goes to live with his dad in New Orleans. Miles and his fathers relationship is not great and they don't really know each other. But then miles and his father get a hurricane warning and decide to leave town. Miles, Pops and his uncle get stuck in traffic and almost run out of gas, so they turn around and seek refuge at the Super dome, where it was turned into a shelter. Once miles and his family gets there, they realize what a scary and horrible place this Field had become. thousands of families without food, and shelter, gangs terrorizing the entire Super dome. But there is one thing that stands out in the book that really got my attention, and this was a symbol. The symbol was Miles drums. The drums represented Pops and Miles relationship before they had one, and represented their relationship when Miles and Pops started developing a good one.
            In the beginning of the book Miles feels like his father is choosing his instrument and his music over his own son. Miles also feels like pops wants Miles to like what he likes and that Pops doesn't support what miles wants. For example in the story hurricane song Pops gave Miles a drum, saying that they could play together, but what Miles really wanted was some sports equipment. This shows that the drum is an important symbol because it shows how complete strangers Pops and Miles are and how Miles wants Pops to get to know him.
            In the middle of the book Miles starts to accept the person that Pops wanted Miles to be, and stops being so stubborn about the drum. For example, when Pops and Miles are stuck in the Super dome, Pops asks Miles to play the drums for a funeral march and miles did. Miles wanted to be there for Pops and for Cyrusis's (the person who died) family. This shows that Miles stops being so stubborn and was there for the people he cared about. The drum symbolizes that.
            By the end of the book, Pops and Miles had built a strong relationship and worked together and respected each other. For example in the book hurricane song it says, "So I picked up a broken tabletop and pounded out a rhythm to match Pops." This shows that Miles finally learned to work together with his dad and respect Pops love for jazz.
            Have a drum represent a person's relationship, makes me think longer about relationships with parents and hoe delicate and complicated they are. It took a while for Pops and Miles to built a relationship. It made me think of how much hardship they went through, and how it helped their relationship grow.

Hush, Hush

            In the book Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, the main character Nora is having suspicions about her biology partner, Patch, and she has all the reason to. Patch has been a very dangerous person, or at least  seemed very sketchy. But in the end of the book Patch seems to end up the"good guy." This is an example of not judging a book by its cover.
            For example in the book, the main character is at first very what it seems like scared of Patch. For example in the book it says" That guy gives me the creeps,need to ice him out he could be dangerous,with his clothes,and don't even get me started about the hair." this shows that just by judging someone by their appearance you can come up with this whole big idea about something that is not even true.
            In the end of the book it turns out to be the boy that Nora thought was sweet and had a crush on that tried to kill her. As you can see you cant always judge a book by its cover because often you could be very wrong.