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. 

The Power of Six
Character Relationships


In the involving book The Power of Six John's girlfriend turns against him. When he is visiting her she calls the cops on him. the cops come and they steal john and his friends Sam and six. John is from another planet called Loriens. They live about 200 years and are faster and stronger then your average human. There are only six magic using Loriens left and less then that of their protectors. They can only be killed in order. The main characters are a human named Sam, a Lorien who is number six, a Lorien who is number 7 and john who is number 4. John is the beloved main character of the book I am Number Four. The Power of Six is the sequel to that book. Why John's girlfriend Sarah turns him in is because she thinks that he loves six and not her. The thing is that john loves both of them. This is why Johns relationships are complicated.
One reason that Sarah turned John and his friends in is because John didn't want her to come with him. By doing this he is just trying to protect her. She thinks that he loves six and doesn't love her. There was a major miscommunication between John ad Sarah. Even after Sarah turned them in, John still loves her. He feels bad for her and she understands her pain. In a way he feels the same way. He loves six and Sarah. When he starts to think about six he tries to stop but it sneaks into his head. He feels guilty about feeling this way about six since he was madly in love with Sarah before six came.
In this book there are a lot of complicated relationships. Six who is running around trying to find the other Loriens with Sam and four, likes both Sam and four. The only problem is that both of them like her. Sam is only a human but some of earths greatest humans were off springs of humans and Loriens. In the book we ind out that Sam's dad was a helper of johns. he met john and gave him and his guardian a pair of clothes and where to begin. Sam always wondered what happened to his dad. When he finally found out about what his dad did he felt proud. This made John and Sam's relationship more complicated because John now feels that he owes Sam's dad a debt and since Sam's dad might not be alive, he feels that he owes Sam a debt. Now John owes Sam because of his dad, Sam owes John his life many times over and they both love the same girl. God, what complications!
In the book, The Power of Six, there are many complicated relationships. Sam owes and is owed by John. John likes both six, who Sam also likes, and Sarah. Six likes both of the boys she is travailing with and they both like her.

The Road Not Taken

            In the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, the protagonist represents a man stuck between decisions. At the end of the protagonists life, he wishes that had had a more exciting life, and taken a road that had made a deference.

           The protagonist comes upon in the first stanza "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" sowing the crossroad the protagonist has to face. Then in the second stanza it says "took the other one, just as fair," shows the protagonist made a decision, but a decision between to like roads. In the last stanza "I shall be telling this with a sigh" shows the protagonists regret. I infer that the man wishes he could have lived a more  adventurous life and "took the one less traveled by."   

           The man that makes a decision but in the end wishes he had taken the more adventurous one makes me think deeper about humanity because i think every person has regrets and stretches the truth, revising their own history to make themselves feel better about the choices they have made.   

The Lost Boy

            In the book The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer, David is older and out of his mothers' care and is put into foster care. David, moves from foster care to foster care, finding love and trouble throughout many homes. Throughout this book David searches for the meaning of love, and whether his mother ever did. 

            In the beginning of this book David feels like he is letting his mom down because David turned his mother in. But then his first foster family tells him something that he can't seem to forget. They tell him that his mother is sick, and that she never loved him. This broke Davids' heart. After that, he went around trying to get people to tell him, or show him that they love him.
            After being told all of this, David really tries to get people to like him, because he doesn't want a repeat of what happened with his mom. David tries not to talk unless he has to, and tries to please everyone. But of course he ends up failing everyone he loves, and getting in a lot of trouble.
         
            

A Child Called It

            In the book A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer, the main character David has to deal with his abusive mother. Davids' mother plays these horrible "games" with him that leaves him almost dead. Throughout the book David changes because of the different things he endures. 

            David changes throughout the book because of the the things he endures. One way that David changes is by believing that it is his fault that his mother abuses him. For example in the beginning of the book, Davids' mother is loving and caring, but starts getting abusive when David misbehaves and "has" to be punished. After that David starts believing that it is his fault, and that he is being a bad boy, so he deserves to be punished.

             David changes throughout the book because of the things he endures. Another way that David changes is by learning that it is NOT his fault and that his mother is sick. For example, it takes David a long time to start realizing that he is not the cause of his mothers' torment, because, no child wants to believe that their mother is doing something so horrible to them without a reason. It takes David till the end of the book, and a lot of teachers help to realize that is not a bad boy, and its his mother that is sick.

            David endures more in this book then most people do in their whole life. Though what Davids' mother did to him was sickening, it did make him a much stronger boy.  

We'll Always Have Summer

            In the book We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han, the main character Belly is torn between two guys. One is named Jeremiah and the other is named Conrad, they are brothers. Belly and Jeremiah get engaged after Belly's first year of collage. Both there families do not approve, especially Conrad, who after two years is still in love with Belly. Belly is not a strong character, and lets her whole lives be run by boys.

            One way that Belly lets her life be run by boys is how she doesn't care if this wedding ruins her entire life, she just wants to be married to a boy she's not sure she's in love with. For example Belly's mom who she is incredibly close to does not approve of this wedding. But Belly goes against everything her mom says, moves out and plows through like its a race, leaving her whole family behind in the dust.

            The last example that Belly lets her life be run by boys is how after everything that Belly put her family through she decides that she doesn't want to marry Jeremiah, she wants to merry Conrad, therefore having to put her family through double the stress.  

Beautiful Boy vs. Tweak

            In the book Beautiful Boy by David Sheff, it tells a story about a fathers fight through his sons drug addiction. It is a very touching book, and it is very hard to think about someone going through so much in their lives. It was really amazing to compare the book Beautiful Boy, to the book Tweak  by Nic Sheff. Tweak is a book that Nic wrote about his own drug addiction. It was breathtaking to read these books back to back, because when one thought that another had given up on the other, I would think to myself, if you only knew what the other person was thinking. 

            One way that you can see every one's different points of view in the different book is how the dad is always wondering about what Nic is doing all the time. But if you read Tweak, you would know what he was doing,whether he was dead or alive, and that was really interesting. It was really interesting to see how the different books connected, and how some important moments were important for both David and Nic
             Another way that the books fit together is when you see the same scene from a different perspective.  For example both in the book Tweak and in the book Beautiful Boy, both David and Nic experience the moment when Karen is driving after Nic. Nic feels fear and sorrow and David feels pain and disappointment.
             It is very interesting how, you can get two thing out of one moment. It made me think about how, people say "always look on both sides of the argument" this is an amazing example of that. 

Dreamland

            I just finished reading the book called Dreamland by Sarah Dessen. The book tells a riveting story about a 16 year old, Caitlin. She gets involved with this guy named Rogerson, who takes over her life almost. Caitlin at first is very happy, she loves Rogerson, but then he starts hitting her. Soon it gets so bad, that Caitlin can no longer go out with any of her friends, in fear that Rogerson might see her and get jealous, or Rogerson, comes to pick her up, and she is not there. These are the things that Rogerson gets angry at. Through out the book, Caitlin changes, for good and for worse. 

            Caitlin changes a lot through out the book. One way that Caitlin changes is she stops standing up for herself. For example in the beginning of the book, when Caitlin didn't want something, she would say she didn't want it and not do it. But then towards the end of the book, it feels like Caitlin just gives up, and decides she doesn't care what people do to her, or make her do. For example in Dreamland, Rogerson asks Caitlin to go to a party with him, even though she knows he was going to hurt her. 

            Caitlin changes a lot through out the book. The last way that Caitlin changes is she closes in. This change is due to her boyfriend. Her mom and all of her friends asked Caitlin, to tell them whats wrong and why she kept pulling away from them, but all that made Caitlin do was pull away further. 

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pies

            Our class just finished reading the book Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pies by Jordan Sonnenblick. The book tells a story about a geeky, self-conscious, thirteen year old boy named Steven. Stevens whole life gets turned upside down when he finds out that his little brother, Jeffery, has cancer. Steven has to find a way to deal with the fact that Jeffery is sick and deal with the finishing middle school. Throughout the story Steven matures a lot through the personal sacrifices he makes for the people he loves. 

            Steven matures a lot through the personal sacrifices he makes for the people he loves. One personal sacrifice that Steven makes for the people he loves is when he decides to stop taking drum lessons to try and save his family money. This was a big sacrifice for Steven because drumming is his passion. When ever Steven got upset he would just play, and play, and play his drums. But Steven knew how expensive it was to get the treatment for Jeffery's cancer and saw how much stress it put on his family. This shows how much Steven matured because in the beginning of the book Steven would never give up something he cared about, even for his family.

            Steven matures a lot through the personal sacrifices he makes for the people he loves. Another personal sacrifice that Steven makes for the people he loves is when he leaves his concert to go to the hospital with Jeffery. This is a very mature thing for Steven to do because Steven had been looking forward to this concert for a year. He had this huge part and he was supposed to be the star of the show. But when Jeffery asked Steven to go to the hospital, Steven went. This was a huge sign of maturity because Steven decided to put his brothers wants before his own.

            Steven matures a lot through the personal sacrifices he makes for the people he loves. The last personal sacrifice that Steven makes for the people he loves  is when he tells Renee that she can't come in the house because she has a cold. This a big sign of maturity for Steven because Steven has had a huge crush of Renee for a long time. But when Renee comes and tells Steven she has a little cold, Steven didn't even let her into the house because he knew that Jeffery couldn't get sick because of his cancer. This shows that Steven matured through the personal sacrifices he made because he thought about was was best for his brother and his family, before he thought about himself.
             In conclusion,  Steven not only helped his brother, he changed his-self. Steven thought about other's peoples opinions before his own. He helped people and wasn't worried about how it made him look. This was Steven at the end of the book, these are the examples of how he matured.

Where She Went

                     I just finished reading this breath taking book called Where She Went by Gayle Forman. In this book the main character Adam can't let go of the girl he loved in high school, even though it had been three years of constant travel for Adam and his band. Though when they finally see each other again in New York, Adam has to try to man up and either get over Mia or tell her how he feels. Through out the book Adam really grows as a person, and changes, for better or for worse.

                     Through out the book Adam really grows as a person. For example in the beginning of the book Adam is in the middle of like a two year panic attack. Adam can barley be around people anymore, he's not talking to his band anymore, and to keep from yelling at everyone he sees and to help him sleep, Adam was taking a lot of medicine. Adam tries to forget about Mia any way possible, but he can't seem to. Then when Adam finally seems at his worst, he reconnects with Mia.

                     Through out the book Adam really grows as a person. For example at the end of the story things start to look up. Adam, who at the beginning of the book could barley be around people, stood on a crowed train for an hour without freaking out. And yes I know for most people its not that hard, but for Adam it was almost impossible in the beginning of this story. Then Adam started to talk to his band again, which after their fight at at the beginning of the book seemed impossible. Finally Adam started to sleep without medicine. These seem very small, but they helped Adam a great deal.

                      In the end, Adam not only became a better person he also, got to be with the person he loved, while he did the thing he loved. And I think that's the most you can ask for, right?

                     

Boy Or Girl

                In my ELA class, we were talking a lot about what makes a book a boy book or a girl book. In my opinion there isn't really a clear line between a boy book or a girl book. For example, sure some boys won't want to read a book with so called "girl problems" in them but some boys like book like that, i think it really depends on the person. 

                For example  lets look at the book The outsiders by S.E Hinton. This book is about a boy and his life in a gang area living with only his two brothers. The main character, Ponyboy, faces what you would call "boy problems," like girls and growing up, but i didn't think that I couldn't relate to him. I felt when he was struggling and was happy for him when he was happy. 

                Sure there might be some topics that some girls like reading, but some boys don't, or the opposite. But that doesn't mean there are boy books, or girl books, because in my opinion, books are just books.  

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

                  In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the main character Junior faces bullying in the face of discrimination. For example in the book The True Diary it says "Because my "kind" were potential killers most people steered clear of me except for an few words thrown at me as I walked by" As you can see people at Juniors school are scared of him even though they know nothing about him. they just think that all Indians are violent  and  mean.

                  In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the main character Junior faces bullying in the face of discrimination. For example in the book The True Diary it says "

"How do you make a beautiful white girl to fall in love with me?"

"Well buddy," he would have said,"The first thing you have to do is change the way you look, the way you talk and the way you walk."" As you can see Junior is facing discrimination even through out his own community.For example Rowdy, Juniors old best friend actually said that. Rowdy was making fun of the way Junior looks even though he knows that Junior had had some medical issues that made him look that way. This is a big deal because before Junior left the rez, Rowdy would never talk that way to Junior.

                   In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian the main character Junior faces bullying in the face of discrimination. For example in the book The True Diary  when Junior corrects the teacher, the teacher insists that the answer is wrong because Junior learned it on the rez and not at a regular school, but then when the teacher asked this kid Gordy who was the smartest kid in the class, Junior turns out to be right. But then in stead of thanking Junior for the right answer he thanks Gordy. As you can see even the teachers were in a way bulling Junior because they thought that what he could have possibly learned on the rez was not even close to right.

Just Listen

                The main character in Just Listen, Annabel is not very patient when it comes to relationships. Annabel often feels that after one fight they never want to see her again so she doesn't try to resolve them. This becomes a pretty big problem for her through out the book. 

                One of the first relationships that Annabel didn't deal with well was with her old best friend, Clarke. The past summer Annabel and Clarke had a big fight but Annabel only tried to apologize once and that was the day after the fight, and so of course Clarke was still mad. After that Annabel never tried again and that scrude up their relationship. For example in the book Just Listen it says " 

"I'm surprised, I didn't think you cared if i was upset!"

 "Is that really what you think," Clarke asked "that I don't like you?" 

"You don't" I said "not since that summer with Sophie"

" Come on Annabel, you were the one that blew me off. You don't like me, Annabel, it's been that way since that summer."

" I tried to talk to you! That day at the pool!"

" And that was the only time. Yeah I mad but it had just happened. You never came around again, never called. You were just gone!" Clarke said

                 Another relationship Annabel didn't deal with well was with her boyfriend Owen. In the middle of the book Owen and Annabel have a fight, because Annabel blew Owen off without any explanation. Then the way that Annabel dealt with it was not the best. For example Annabel was not feeling Well and she felt awkward around Clarke so Annabel just bolted. She was at a concert and told Owen that she was getting water but then just left. This was not a good idea because then the next day Owen got mad, and so Annabel started ignoring him. See a pattern?

From Bad to Cursed

In the book From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender the main character Alexis, is a very interesting character. She had so many different traits it was hard to write about just one, in fact it was even hard to think about one. So using the techniques we learned in class I wrote a list of different traits I found while reading.

Dialogue 

Alexis really cares about her sister but she's also kind of scared of her. For example when Alexis and and her sister Kasey, are out in the woods and they see this shadow creeping up on them, Alexis automatically thing that it's something that Kasey is doing to try to hurt her even though Kasey was standing right next to her just as scared as she was. But as I had said before, Alexis does love Kasey. For example in the book From Bad to Cursed  it says " I do want you to be happy, I just want whats best for you." Alexis really does care but she might only be super nice to Kasey because she's scared.

Action

At first Alexis was really scared about what happened to her after she pledged an oath to Aralt, but her actions show that she's starting to like it. For example, after Alexis had a bad day she really didn't like what she looked like. She called Lydia and Lydia turned her into a completely different person. And the when Carter didn't like the change Alexis made Aralt make sure that he did by taking over his soul. As you can see, Alexis actually likes the privileges she gets when she puts her faith in Aralt.

The Face On The Milk Carton

                    I just finished reading this intriguing book called The Face On The Milk Carton by Caroline b. Cooney.  In this book the main character Janie sees a face on a milk carton she's drinking and she realizes that the face is her face. When she confronts her parents about it, they tell her the cold hard truth. Her parents are actually her grandparents and how it might be a possibility that her mother did kidnap her. Janie has a lot of strong relationships in this book that really help her.

                   One of Janie's strong relationships is with her boyfriend Reeve. Though Reeve was a part of Janie's life before the book started, their relationship really grew through out the book. In the beginning of the book Janie and Reeve were good friends but reeve was older and always thought of her like a little sister. For example in the book The Face On The Milk Carton it says "Come on tell Uncle Reeve, your like my little sister, come on little Janie." As you can see Janie and Reeve are close but not in the way that she wants.
                    But then in the middle of the book Janie and Reeve relationship really grows. For example in the book The Face On The Milk Carton it says "He grabbed her waist and swung her around, then stood very still and kissed her."As you can see Janie and Reeves relationship grows fast but he also stops thinking of her as a little sister.
                    In conclusion the fact that Janie's relationship grew so fast helped her a lot through out the book because Reeve was there for her when she needed him.