reading response The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Question
At what points do you notice yourself resisting the book, characters, or author? What does your resistance say about the book, and what does it say about you?
      The latest point in the book that I have noticed myself resisting the book was when the main character, Charlie, and his sister Sarah are at a party. At this point Sarah was talking to Charlie about her first kiss. She told Charlie that her first kiss was with one of her dad's friends when she was younger. Sarah told Charlie that she wanted his first kiss to be with somebody that loved him. So she kissed him. During the whole time this was happening, Charlie was in love with his older sister, who didn't love him back.
     After this happened I started to resist the fact that this was actually real. This says something about me and the characters and the author. This says that the author really can push the boundaries of reality in high school social life. This shows that I am the type of person that doesn't believe that one person would actually tell their brother that they want there first kiss to be together. This also shows that the characters don't care about what other people think. I think this because, there is no way anyone would kiss their younger brother in front of tons of people at their school if they did care about what other people think.

Social Issue Reading Responce

         

      How does this text deal with individuals and groups? Are the people acting alone and in competition with one another, or does the text help us imagine people working together?

       I am currently reading the book "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky. This book address's many social issues that teens face everyday, like drugs, sex, and parties. Charlie is the main character, and he sort of just observes his surroundings and writes them all down in a letter to the reader.
       This text deals with individuals and groups by writing the book from the point of view of somebody who has no friends and somebody who is never invited places. It shows everyone what it feels like to be left out.The main character is once invited to a party by his "friend" but during the party everybody is having a good time and he doesn't really know what to do because he has never been to a party and he has always been left out.
     

Millions

The book I am reading is called Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce. I just started it and so far I am really enjoying it.The main character Damion has just moved into a new home. On Damion first day of school his father tells him that the people at the school are looking for who stands out, the excellent ones. So Damion goes to school and in art class the teacher asks who the kids admire most of the kids say their favorite sports teams and movie stars. But Damion raises his hand, looking for a chance to be excellent and tells his teacher about St. Roch. The man who didn't speak for the last 10 years of his life. It says on the back of the book that Damion finds a million pounds in cash. But I am going to predict that he is going to try and be excellent with the money. Like try to be like one of the saints that he always talks about. I think this because Damion is always trying to be like a saint. For example he would walk without his shoes on a gravel pathway and he would sleep on the floor. He did it because it actually makes you stronger, its called mortification. I think that if Damion wants to be like a saint that much then with a million pounds he is obviously going to do something saint-like. My other prediction is that he will most likely donate it to charity or help somebody in need. This is because since he is so facinated by saints, why doesn't he do something to make himself just like one. 

"Killing Mr. Griffin," by Louis Duncan

      I recently finished reading the book "Killing Mr.Griffin," by Louis Duncan. This book is about some students who decide to kidnap their teacher as a joke. During the kidnapping Mr. Griffin, the teacher, dies. Now the kids are left with a large problem to cover up. I enjoyed this book for the most part. There were some parts that were slow and boring, but overall the book kept me on the edge of my seat. One thing I can really compliment about this book is the fact that Duncan didn't hold back in showing us how sick some of the characters in the book were. She showed us how far some people will go to keep a secret safe. For example one character is willing to kill multiple people to keep the secret safe. If I could, I would defiantly recommend this book to a friend. I think that once they got past the slower parts they would really enjoy this book.

revised

In the book The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury,the story centers around Joby, a young boy who has just joined the army. He is younger than everyone else and only has a drum but no gun.  All of the other soldiers have guns and Joby feels left out. He meets a general who convinces him that he isn’t useless, and that he is quite important. The general says that Joby sets the pace of the army, which is essential for the soldiers to have during battle. the theme is that even a small and what can seem insignificant part in a large thing can actually be important. 

At first Joby feels like he is unimportant and useless in the army.  In the beginning of the story Joby is on the ground and has his drum just lying there like he doesn’t care. Then Joby notices that everyone else has a gun and he doesn’t have one. “ I only got a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield.” This shows that Joby feels left out and unimportant to the army. 

Then the general of the entire army comes over and talks to him about that. The general calms him down and shows Joby how he is important to the army.  The general says to Joby that Joby sets the pace for the soldiers during battle. That’s important because if he sets a rhythm too slow then the soldiers will slow their own pace. “ ‘ You boy,’ said the general quietly. ‘ You are the heart of the army. Think about that.’”

             After the general has a talk with Joby, Joby thinks it over and then starts feeling better about the army. Later that night when Joby is going to sleep, he looks at his drum. Then Joby lies down and tucks his drum under is arm and goes to sleep with it there. That’s different from the beginning when he left it on the grass.  Now that the general has showed Joby it almost seems like Joby is treasuring it. That shows how now he has changed because now he treasures his drum and before he didn’t.

          This story shows me that Joby realizes that even a small part can actually really matter. Kind of like a puzzle, in the sense that if you don't  have one piece, no matter how small the puzzle would never be complete. Maybe these days other people should realize the same thing, and not get discouraged just because they aren't the biggest part in something. 

Bone

          I am reading the book called "The Dragon Slayer" it is part of the series Bone. I think that Fone Bone the main character is trying to do what is right. Whenever his cousin Phoney Bone gives him the chance to steal, cheat or lie for personal gain, he always declines. The reason for this is because of Thorn. Fone Bone loves Thorn, yet she doesn't love him. He always is trying to do the right thing to try and impress her and get her to love him. But deep down he knows that there is no way that she will love him back. So he does everything in his power to make her love him.

My prediction for the ending of the series is that Fone Bone and Thorn fall in love, because Fone Bone helped the townspeople win the battle they had with the rat creatures. Thorn thinks that was really great of him. Fone Bone may not have the looks, but I think that Thorn will eventually like him. This is because all of the things that they do together. They are going to have to win a war together. After all of that then I would be surprised if they haven't fallen for each other.

Reading Response on Drummer Boy of Shiloh

Reading Response on the Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury

In the book The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury, the theme is that even a small and what can seem unsignefigent part in a large thing can actually be important. The story centers around Joby, a young boy who has just joined the army. He is younger than everyone else and only has a drum but no gun.  All of the other soldiers have guns and Joby feels left out. He meets a general who convinces him that he isn’t useless, and that he is quite important. The general says that Joby sets the pace of the army, which is essential for the soldiers to have during battle.

At the beginning of the story we don’t know much about Joby, but we do know that he has been in the army for a measly 3 weeks. We have no idea about where he comes from and don’t know if he ran away from home to join the army. Its not even clear on whether or not it’s the Civil War. 

He feels like he is unimportant and useless in the army.  IN the beginning of the story Joby is on the ground and has his drum just lying there like he doesn’t care. Then Joby notices that everyone else has a gun and he doesn’t have one. “ I only got a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield.”

Then the general of the entire army comes over and talks to him about that. The general calms him down and shows Joby how he is important to the army.  The general says to Joby that Joby sets the pace for the soldiers during battle. That’s important because if he sets a rhythm too slow then the soldiers will slow their own pace. “ ‘ You boy,’ said the general quietly. ‘ You are the heart of the army. Think about that.’”

             After the general has a talk with Joby, Joby thinks it over and then starts feeling better about the army. Later that night when Joby is going to sleep, he looks at his drum. Then Joby lies down and tucks his drum under is arm and goes to sleep with it there. That’s different from the beginning when he left it on the grass.  Now that the general has showed Joby it almost seems like Joby is treasuring it. That shows how now he has changed because now he treasures his drum and before he didn’t.

            In conclusion, the story tells us that even a small part in something really big, can actually be important. Joby learns that even if he is a small part in the army he still is important. Joby is a small piece in a big puzzle, but without him, the puzzle would never be complete. 

Theme

         Imagine your mother is hauled away by the Nazis because she is a Communist, and you are sent to live with foster parents. Liesel Meminger, in The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusac, has lived this exact story.

         This book is about coping with extreme tragic events. Liesel, a girl orphaned by her mother, overcomes tragic events by exhibiting strength and courageousness throughout the book. Her story is one in which many terrible things happen. One way she copes with tragedy is by reading books. When she reads a book, she becomes a part of the book’s world, and reality of her own world is lost. In the beginning of the book her brother dies right next to her. Liesel deals with her brother’s death by stealing her first book. This book, The Gravediggers Handbook, is something she cannot read, but eventually her foster father, Hans Hubermann, teaches her to read. As she reads this book, she finds that the book is a great way to escape from reality. Second, when Liesel finds out that her original mother is dead, she reads the book that she stole from one of the bonfires that celebrated Hitler’s birthday. This shows her bravery because she doesn’t believe in what Hitler is doing in Germany. In The Book Thief, she says, “I hate the Fuher.” Then, her foster father tells her that she can’t say that in public, but it’s fine in private. She is rebelling against Hitler by stealing a book at his celebration. Lastly, she shows courage because at the end of the story when everyone on her block dies, including her foster parents and her best friend, in a bombing, she walks proudly out of the mayor’s office and down into the street, so that people would see she is a survivor. She also leaves a letter of apology to the librarian for stealing books. One way that Liesel continues on with her life is she starts writing a diary. To conclude, Liesel has had a hard life. Her original mother was a communist and was taken away by the Nazis when she was only 9 years old. She falls in love with reading when her foster father teaches her how to read.
        She uses reading to cope with tragedy. She develops a great friend, Rudy, and has many adventures with him. She loses her parents, her brother and her best friend. Liesel shows strength by defying Hitler’s government and tries to start her life over by writing down her anecdotes.

The Book Thief By Marcus Zusac

I just started reading the book " The Book Thief , " by Markus Zusac. this book is a little confusing so far, but i think that's because the narrator was unclear to me in the beginning. They start off the book saying " First the colors, then the humans ". Then Death, the narrator, goes on about how everybody will eventually die. Making it unclear to me about what he or she is. But then it gets a little more clear when he starts to follow the girl on the train when her brother dies unexpectedly on the train to go meet her new foster parents. One thing, this is not in present day, this book takes place in Nazi Germany in WWII. The main charter so far is the girl that death follows around is named Liesel. In this book death is like a person, he goes around places and looks at people and takes the souls out of dead people. But he follows liesel around her entire life. And now that she is dead he is telling the story of her, The Book Thief. That's what he always calls her. When her brother died and he was berried a book fell out of the grave digger's pocket. Liesel, who is illiterate finds this book. Death says that she starts to steal books from the Nazis' so i can infer that she must eventually learn to read and write.
When Liesel gets to her foster parents she refuses to get out of the car. When they finally get her out of the car, she grabs on to the fence creating more of a problem for her new parents. But the soon straiten her out and she accepts her new family, and eventually likes it. They are poor, but not as poor as her old family. Her old family had their house blew up and was dirt poor before that so they needed to get rid of their kids. I think that Liesel will start stealing her books from the Hitler Youth place that she goes to now that she is 10 years old. I also know that they start to hide Jews in their basement because death says that she gets a book from one of them. I still have yet to find what the conflict will be but i know that it will have something to do with Lesiel stealing books

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

         Hi I am reading a book named "The Absolutely true diary of a Part Time Indian," this book is about a Native American boy named Junior, well Junior isn't his real name, it's Arnold. The book is a autobiography. When Junior was a kid, like about 4 years old, he had too much spinal fluid in his head and he had to have a surgery. he wasn't supposed to live after the surgery but he made it through. He looks kind of weird and dorky (as he describes it). He loves to draw cartoons. People always pick on him too for having an abnormally large head. Kids spin him around and say " I want to go hear!" and point to a spot on his head, then they just laugh and leave. He lives on a reservation, or what he calls 'the rez'. His only friend is a kid named Rowdy and he is a big kid with a large temper that sets off quickly. Rowdy tries his best to protect Junior as well as he can. Kids always pick fights and beat up Junior. So Rowdy beats the other kids who pick on Junior. 
          So one day in class Junior's teacher is passing out the math textbooks. Junior is one of the only kids on the entire rez that really is exited for school. He really likes going and he is exited for his first year of high school. But when he opens his textbook he sees that his mother's name is in the textbook. When he sees that the school hasen't bought new textbooks in almost 30 years he gets super mad. So mad that he throws his textbook across the room and it hits his teacher right in the nose. The book actually breaks his nose. Junior gets suspended from his school on the reservation. Then his teacher comes to talk to him. I didn't make it past there. 
          I think Junior would be a little better off in life, and might not get teased so much if he just could defend himself. In his Native American reservation fighting happens a lot. So maybe that would help him more. I think soon he will end up standing up for himself, he will have to eventually. But thats all for now, see you next time-- Sam