Summer Reading Entry 4

The reason I chose this book out of all the other books on the list was because I heard really good reviews on it. I got recommended to read this book by many people. Also it was in previews for the movie the fault in our stars so I thought I would like it. people that I recommend to read this book are mainly girl teenagers or young adults that like love, loss, and suffering also people who like to read books that are true stories and that they can easily relate themselves to.

Summer Reading Entry 3

The author of "Looking for Alaska" grabs the readers attention by a lot of different ways. One way is that he puts the number of days before and after for every chapter in the book. another way he grabs the readers attention is that he pulls readers in by saying that this story is true. the author creates different personalities which is also interesting to readers. And lastly the author grabs your attention by relating it to real life situations do you can connect with what your reading.

Summer Assignment Entry Two

I think every character is complex in their own way. They each have to deal with a bunch of difficulties. For example Miles has a strange interest in learning famous people's last words right before they die. The whole reason he wanted to go to a boarding school was to experience more life. His first night at his new school he was beat up by a group of wealthy people that are called the warriors. That's when he and Chip decide to get revenge. Alaska is also complex. She has to deal with cigarettes and alcohol while helping out her friends; she also has to deal with her mother's death that has scarred her for life.

Summer Assignment Entry One

I choose to do my assignment on the book "Looking for Alaska". One of the main characters is Miles Halter. He's a teenager who's described as tall and skinny. That why he got the nickname "Pudge" from his roommate Chip. When he went away to a boarding school he became attracted to a girl named Alaska. Alaska Young is described as gorgeous, moody, and unpredictable. She is usually confident when with her friends and she helps them a lot even though she is dealing with drugs and alcohol herself. Another main character would be Chip Martin. Chip is Miles' best friend and roommate. He's only 5 feet tall, but his friends say he's built like Adonis. He got his nickname "Colonel" from being the mastermind behind Alaska's schemes. One of the setting's of this book is Florida. Florida is where Miles' and his family make their home. Another setting would be Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham, Alabama is where Miles' new school is located. Another setting would be Culver Creek Preparatory School. this is a private boarding school that miles chose to go to. A main conflict in this book would be man vs. self. this is when Miles has to deal with the peer pressure of trying drugs and alcohol. Also it would be man vs. self when Alaska has to deal with that too. Lastly there is another man vs. self conflict and that is miles trying to figure out his true identity. I predict that Miles will make a bunch of new friends and that he will overcome this stage where e is being rebellious and that later in the book he will discover who he truly is, his real identity.

"The fault in our stars" Extra Credit

My Trailer

A dynamic character in the book "The fault tin our stars" would be Hazel Grace. In the beginning of the boom Hazel was all shy and all prepared for death but the only reason she didn't want to die right then was because she felt like her parents were the only people that loved her so she thought that since they loved her that if she died that would figuratively kill them too. throughout the book Hazel met Augustus and they fell in love. this basically change Hazel's life. Their relationship wasn't like any normal teenage relationship. Hazel and Augustus were both dealing with some type of cancer. Agustus has helped Hazel overcome her fear of what would happen to everybody around her that loves her. Since she feels that Agustus would be crushed if she died

One of the themes in "The fault in our stars" is that even though  everyone is going to die someday you never know what will happen beyond death. It's like Augustus's and Hazel's fear of oblivion.The Main characters in this book are all faced with a serious disease that faces them to look at the possibility of their death, Unlike how the healthy people. In the beginning of the book Hazel points out in support group that everyone will die eventually so they might as well question what might happen after death and that all that is to come up soon is oblivion. Also at this support group Patrick asks Augustus what is his biggest fear and he says "Oblivion." That's when Hazel and Augustus found something they both had in common for the first time. Hazel believes that since there was a time before humanity that there will also be a time after. This theme goes on throughout the whole novel.

The type of reader that would enjoy reading "The Fault in our Stars" would mostly be young adult women. Also people who like to read cute love stories that don't always have a happy ending. These people would like this book because "The fault in our stars" is a sad love story. Its not like most love stories. This book does not have necessarily a nice happy ending. Some people may think other wise.

In the book "The fault in our stars" there are many symbols such as, a grenade and cigarettes. Hazel refers to herself as a grenade that will one day explode, hurting everyone that she loves. She also says Augustus becomes the grenade once his cancer returns. For Hazel, not hurting others is a major concern. She imagines the pain that she will put her loved ones through when she dies. This is allowing hazel to deal with the subject at hand like how she always thinks that shes about to die by calling it a name, grenade. Another Symbol would be Augustus's cigarettes. He often keeps a cigarette in his mouth that's not even lit to show his control over a thing that can kill him, his cancer.Augustus relies on the cigarette as symbol to give him the strength in times of fear and uncertainty that he needs.Toward the end of the book, his accident at the gas station where he had to call Hazel for help happens because he's trying to buy cigarettes. He is once again trying to regain control.

The column I read was "Coach stands by kid charged in deSales market crime". In this column three teenagers walked into the courtroom faced with charges of donning halloween masks, and robbing the DeSales market and a customer with a fake gun. Not only did they're mothers stay the whole time they were in court they're coach did too. This coach is someone who will always be there for his players no matter what they do.
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/03/29/krista-ramsey-desales-market-robbery/7071067/
The line i thought was best written was "Some people's voices would have lowered at the end of that sentence, in disgust or disappointment. Some people would have added up the time and energy they had invested in you, decided you were a bad bet and walked away." this impacts the reader because it shows that not everyone is the same way. Everyone wouldnt give up on a person that they think cant be helped, there are some people out there who are willing and wanting to help. the diction in this quote is some what elevated because of they're word choice. "disgust or disappointment" these sentences could be called repitition because its repeating 'some people'

        One of the setting's in "The Fault in our stars" is in Indiana. This is where Hazel and Agustus were born and raised. This state is also where Agustus plays basketball to impress his dad.
        Another setting of this book would be the church. This church is where all the cancer support groups are held. This is where Hazel and Agustus meet eachother. "So Support Group blew, and after a few weeks, I grew to be rather kicking-and-screaming about the whole affair. In fact, on the Wednesday i made the acquaintance of Agustus Waters, i tried my level best to get out of Support Group."

 

  "It's kind of a funny story" was my favorite book from last year. This book is about how a guy has depression and starts to lead to drugs for his answer, but that just makes everything worse. That's when Craig has his suicidal episode, which lands him right in the mental hospital. In the hospital Craig meets all these people with different problems of thier own. He is forced to face his depression and anxiety. After that he was recovering to an unexpected happy life.

   I really enjoyed reading this book because every chapter leaves you on edge. You just wantto keep reading once you start because something new happens almost once a chapter. Craig has to overcomealot, even though he's just a normal teenager that's actually really smart. I also thought this book was very intriging because what happened to Craig in the book could happen to anyone.

REFLECTION

     I think http://makennatemplesreadingblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/setting-there-are-various-settings-in.html is my best blog post because I described why each setting was important and I put a lot of detail into where the setting was located. I think this post stands out among my other post because I put in a lot of detail and description into it and I gave evidence of why I thought it was the setting.
     The goals I have for next trimester in reading are:
1- to be close to finishing one book each month.
2- to keep track of the setting, conflict, characterization, etc. so I don't have to go back in the book to find that.
3- to improve on reading faster.
4- for writing I feel like I should back up my writing with more evidence.
5- record meaningful quotes in the books I will read.
An area of improvement I would like to work on for reading is to be able to read me efficiently and faster, to stay with the book and not give up on it if it gets boring. An area of improvement I would like to work on for writing would be to use more evidence or quotes to back up my writing, and to make the all my claims more detailed and descriptive.

 

THEME

    the theme in the book "It's kind of a funny story" is there is more than what meets the eye. I choose that as my theme because a normal person walking by Noelle would just see her scars and think she self harms and that she's strange or crazy. Craig gets to know Noelle and he says beneath all those scars there is a beautiful personality. In the end of this book It shows how people suffer from mental illnesses and how they are just like the rest of us. It's easy to just make a quick snap judgement if someone does something you think is weird. Once you strip away what you see is odd you start to see the true beauty of the person underneath the mental illness.

CHARACTERIZATION

    In the book "Its kind of a funny story", all the main characters have some kind of mental illness. For example Noelle self harms and Muqtada is terrified of the world. Knowing their condition, Vizzini provides a real look for these people. The reader can see all of they're flaws but also how beautiful the character is and they're personality. The first thing the readers learn abut the characters is their mental illness. The first words that come from Craig in the beginning of the book are "It's hard to speak when you want to kill yourself." Those first words already show that he is suicidle and depressed. Another example is when you first meet Bobby he is screaming about how there is a fire in his bed, showing his schizophrenia. Noelle shows that she's depressed by all the scars she has made on her face. Craig gets to meet the real Noelle and the beauty underneath those scars. Craig was looking past  her condition and looking for her personality. In the mental hospital you learn their flaws and who they really are. 
 

CONFLICT

   The main conflict is Craig's internal conflict. With his depression he feels overwhelmed with what's all happening. He has a hard time dealing with all this stress. He uses phrases such as "Evil things that invade my life." All he's doing is waiting for a change to happen, when he doesn't feel depressed any more and that he is able to cope with life. All these thoughts in his head keep him at constant war with himself. The only thing that keeps him going is the little soldier he made up in his head. He keeps telling Craig that he needs to get back when he falls down, that this hurting doesn't last forever.  Or Craig has bad thoughts like wanting to commit suicide, that all he ever does is fail, he's not good enough, etc. Craig is always at war with himself because one voice in his head is telling her not to go on and the other one is telling him that everything is okay and to stay strong.

SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLISM

   An important symbol in "Its kind of a funny story" is 'tentacles'. Craig uses this word a lot, it symbolizes the things in his life that hold him back and stress him out. The biggest example would be his difficult school. Mainly in homework, reading, etc. that he is constantly behind on.
   Another important symbol in this book is 'anchors'. When Craig uses this word he is describing the things in his life that he feels like grounds him. when he was little he drew maps and those played as anchors for several years. As his depression worsened he lost all the anchors in his life. When he started to improve he went back to the maps. Once again they began to play as anchors. Craig also considers his parents as anchors.

SETTING:

   There are various setting's in this book, the first one takes place in New York. This setting is important because all the cites represent a number of things for the main character Craig. When he was younger he lived in Manhattan. Back then was a sucess for him.  Currently he lives in Brooklyn, by a bridge. Craig keeps dreaming of when he gets older he will cross that bridge, bothe literally and figuratively. He wants to make his mark on the world. Another setting would be where he attends school, Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School. This setting doesnt last long because all the emotional distress of getting accepted quickly escalates to a suicidal episode, which lands him right in a mental hospital. In the mental hospital he has new neighbors, a girl who has scarred her face with scissors, and President Armelio that was self elected. At the hospital Craig has to face confronting the sources of his anxiety.

Summer Reading

In the book "The Blind Side" a sixteen year old named Michael Oher was an "oversized" African American that grew up in a bad part of town in Memphis. when he was little he got taken away from his house because he mother was a drug addict and he never knew his father. He was put in foster care but he would always run away and find different places to sleep. Michael is accepted into Wingate Christian School, an exclusive private school, despite his low 0.6 GPA. After Michael started attending classes at Wingate, most of his teachers believe he is unteachable, except his science teacher, Mrs. Boswell. He began to understand that he learns in a different way. One day he was walking along the streets alone when Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy passed him in the car. When they had realized that he was homeless they drove back and Leigh invited Michael to stay with them at they're house for one night. That one night turned into several. Michael was treated like family. Leigh is completely understanding Michael as a person, giving him opportunities such as what Coach Cotton initially saw in Michael as a potential left tackle. Leigh showed the coach different ways he could teach Michael because he learns different from other kids. Although his academic level is keeping him from moving on with football. Living in his new home, Michael faces different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Michael works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, he becomes an All-American offensive left tackle. I think the author is trying to tell us that you cant give up on yourself. Even if no one believes in you, you have to believe in yourself. It doesn't matter who you are or what your past is, you can always reach your goal. All you have to do is work hard and you will achieve greatness.