Reading Response

          The Wednesday War

    by: Gary D. Schmidt


      In the entire book, Holling Hoodhood complains and states that Mrs. Baker, his seventh grade teacher is "out to get him. But really I think that she sees potential in him and makes him work harder just so he can see.
      In the beginning of the book, as Mrs. Baker gives everyone sentences, she gave Meryl Lee: The Brook flows down the pretty mountain, Danny Hupfer: He kicked the round ball into the goal, Mai Thi: The girl walked home (because she doesn't speak english that well), Doug Swieteck: I read a book, and Holling: For it so falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost, why, then we rack the value, then we find virtue that possession would not show us while it was ours. She challenges him and he sees a vicious teacher but later on she shows she cares.
      Another reason why she isn't "out to get him" is because she gave him a Julius Caesar book to read outside of class and to report the finished book back to her with a very long summary. Giving him and assignment exclusively for him is showing that she cares. She wants to see him exceed outside of school that's why she also told him he should join the shakespear play.
      At the end of the book, she shows that she's proud of him for showing that he is a great student and they got to cooperate. He also realizes too.

unfinished reading reponse

                         Blog Post #3 Reading Response

   book: Death's Shadow
Author: Darren Shan

       

Reading Response (I posted this super duper late sorry ms galang)

                                           Reading Response
Book: PUNKZILLA
Author: Adam Rapp

   Jamie a.k.a Punkzilla, is a fourteen year old boy who is traveling a days-long trip from Portland, Oregon to Memphis, Tennesse. He is Trying to visit his brother who is dying from cancer in Memphis and he writes letters to him frequently but some are so personal he doesn't send them. During his trip, he has gone through some hardships and has met some weird people.
   During the beginning of the story, while Jamie was urinating at a rest stop, he got jumped by a group of guys inside a bathroom. They cracked a bottle of beer against the side of his head and stole most of his traveling money sent to him from his sick brother. Because of that small moment he has had to travel by foot and by hitchhiking with strangers. This moment influenced allot of other moments so this is very important and sad at the same time.
   Also another moment that happened was at the end when Jamie finally reached Memphis, but six days later he discovered his brother died. While Peter was in the passing phase, he visited the hospital unnoticed and read all the letters out loud to him knowing Peter can still hear him. That was the saddest moment of the book, and I could tell that Jamie and Peter had a very deep relationship because, they kept writing back and forth sharing lots of personal stuff.
   This story was very raw when it came to the letters written by Jamie telling Peter about everything that happened during the road trip to Memphis. And, it's sad that a 14 year old boy has to go through difficult situations including during a time like this.

Article Response: Hurricane Sandy

   
          Reading Response 6
Article: Snooki, Jersey Shore cast, and MTV to raise funds for Seaside Heights.

    After Hurricane Sandy hit New York and the east coast, Seaside Heights in NJ, was destroyed with debris left to only leave sadness. But with hope still left, the Jersey Shore cast and MTV have planned to air a fundraising special to help rebuild NJ's destroyed shoreline. It will air on Nov. 15.
    This is very generous of them to do, especially during a time like this. And it sounds like a story out of a movie, a bunch of friends who lost part of their childhood so they work together to help rebuild their favorite place to be when they were kids. It's really cool and shocking because I never, ever expected to se them to do something this generous! I think raising funds is the best way right now to support the rebuilding. But at the same time I think it's a bit selfish because now all of a sudden, you hear about them helping or donating to someone. 
    What MTV and the Jersey Shore cast is doing is wonderful and emotional. Hurricane Sandy was a devastating storm and it triggered some emotional stress so it's great to see Jersey Shore to take part in this tragedy.

Reading Response

          Blog Post #5

Book: Killing Mr. Griffin 
Author: Lois Duncan 

    In the book, Killing Mr. Griffin, it centers around 5 high school kids, Mark, David, Jeff, Betsy & Susan. One day, Mark hatches a plan to kill their English teacher Mr. Griffin, because he is tired of his teaching ways. So, he gathers the 4 people who wouldn't ever be suspected and they kidnap Mr. Griffin and leave him at an abanded area near a highway to scare him. They forget to get him and they find him dead 7 hours later. While I was reading something was telling me that they (Mark) didn't leave him there and forget to pick him up by accident. And I have proof about this opinion.
    At the beginning of the book when Mark was planning the kidnapping, the way he was talking when he said "Well, why don't we then" after Jeff mumbled "Mr. Griffin is the sort of guy you'd like to kill" at first made me think he was joking but as the conversation goes on I learn that he wasn't playing. As the reader, I noticed how the author always slips information one by one, and the author earlier mentioned that Mr. Griffin failed Mark last semester due to cheating and humiliated him in front of class. And later, while everybody went their separate ways after leaving him at the same location without any food or water and had ropes tied around his hand.Also, I felt Mark left him on purpose because who forgets to revisit a person who you tortured and left sitting in the same spot with no outside contact for hours and hours. It's just revenge from all that rage and hatred for Mr. Griffin.
    Another reason why I think Mark left him on purpose is because of the revenge he wanted to get on Mr. Griffin. He knew he was going to purposely kill him so he hatched the "after plan" which was the plan to give alibis for everyone and get rid of all the evidence. Also I noticed, that everyone relies on him when it comes to plans but, I would have never thought of a brilliant plan right off the bat in a sticky situation, unless I knew what would happen then I would hatch a plan to avoid the determined aftermath before any of this happened *cough* *cough*.
    At the end of the book, it was plain and obvious that Mark knew this would happen to Mr. Griffin and if he had help from his accomplices to the dirty work he would get his sweet, revenge. It also depicts peer pressure, it shows how everyone went with Mark's plan even though they knew it was a horrible idea. And, to add, this also shows that Mark had developed the traits of a sociopath and didn't care if Mr. Griffin died or not but he just wanted revenge.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh: Reading Response

           Blog Post #4

                              The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

   In "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh", The General was very wise and gave an empowering speech(es) to Joby. And many messages were directed to the boy about being a drummer boy in a war. The idea would be the lesson/morals explained by the General. 
   "You are the heart of the army (probably something everybody chose)......"(pg. 53) is one of the most influential lines in the book. Even though Joby plays a small role, without him the army would be empty. The rhythm of the drum he beats pumps the heart of the soldiers and they would perform better. I guess you could say there is no I in teamwork. Joby will deny it because he is discouraged and if the general never came, Joby would have just ran away from his problems again.
    *Warning: It's a very long quote*
"Many nights from tonight, many years from now, when you're as old or far much older than, when they ask you what you did in this awful time, you will tell them - one part humble and one part proud - I was the drummer boy at the battle of Owl Creek or the Tennessee River, or maybe they'll just name it after the church there. I was the drummer boy at Shiloh. Good grief, that has a beat and sound to it fitting for Mr. Longfellow. 'I was the drummer boy at Shiloh.' Who will ever hear those words and not know you, boy, or what you thought this night, or what you'll think tomorrow or the next day when we must get up on our legs and move." The General is saying after this battle people will be saying "Are you the drummer boy from Shiloh?" and Joby will say "Why yes! It was me!" But he is saying at as a motivational speech so Joby will feel proud. He will be the brave boy who was at the battle of Shiloh while other boys were at home. 
    The General was sending a good message to Joby and I wrote two of the quotes that were really inspiring to me. 

Blog Post #3: Reading Response on Summer Book

                     Blog Post #3: Reading Response on Summer Book

    During the summer, I read the book "The Girl Who Could Fly" by Victoria Forester. In this book, A girl named Piper McCloud is born with the ability to fly and is sent to a facility/school/institution with other kids who have powers like her. I found this book interesting because as she is in the school she shows many emotions and I see what type of person she is. The Theme was Character Development.

    One emotion the kids showed were being brave. At the beginning  of the book, everyone was blind to the fact that the main goal of the                   school is to basically normalize everyone so they can forget their powers and become a regular kid. But with the help of Piper's Plan, all the kids worked together to escape the facility. Even Jasper, the kid who doesn't talk and doesn't remember much, remembers his power (the ability to heal) because Piper made him remember due to her brave and courageous personality. To me that's pretty touching (although it's cliche) and at the beginning Piper was never at one point was a role model she was shy like.

    Another thing I noticed was everyone started to rely on each other. The end of the book really showed that trait. All the kids started working together to escape the facility. Teamwork goes well with the plot especially since the theme is Character Development. In the beginning when piper first attended the school, everyone disregarded her and everyone else was already not that close when it came to friendship. I love how everyone's personality slowly changed throughout the story because the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good and that's interesting.

    In Conclusion, The the Theme to this story is Character Development and you can literally see that change in the characters. Being Brave and Teamwork plays a big role because every character faces their own problem (Piper Is home sick, Jasper  lacks courage, etc.) and it's fun to see them overcome them especially at then end.

Blog Post #2

     
      Blog Post #2

The 2 blog posts I read where Xiao Qing's book response on North of Beautiful and Adele's Hunger.


On X.Q's response, she breaks down each scene and writes a thought down. Real issues like that make me break somebody's spine and eat their liver!!! She asked questions like "everyone is staying because of the way she looks, but what if she isn't perfect? Will everything be the way it is?" And she just says "I have no answer to this, but I think everyone will abandon her because her friends accept her as she is perfect". This makes me wanna read the book cause Xiao Qing made it sound interesting and deep. The response had a lot of thoughts in it, and that's good cause it works the comprehension in your brain...... overall I liked it.
On Adele's response, she compared the issue of racism in her book to the real world. It was a very good example since in the book, Zil disliked freaks because they were different...... -_- like really? And she included the father figure factor, in which Sam was the person depended on because he is the leader of FAYZ. I will definitely read this book.  

Reading Responce

                                                           The Future of Us

           Josh and Emma used to be best friends until last November when Josh and Emma arrived at a cemetery with their friends and when it was time to go, Josh said " I really like you Emma" and tried to kiss her but got rejected because she didn't like him like that. Ever since that moment, they haven't been as close as they as were when they were younger.
          One day, Josh  comes over Emma's house to give her a CD-ROM for AOL on her new computer. Since they haven't talked to each other often and they live right across from each other it's awkward for both of them. As Josh leaves her house, Emma discovers a website that pops up called Facebook. On Facebook, Josh and her can see their future selves 15 years from the future.
          As they see each others future, they suddenly try their best to change their future if they don't like it. Emma sees that her future self is emotionally ill and her husband might be cheating on her so she tries to change it by doing different things to altar it. She keeps her focus by trying to get even closer to Cody, her long time crush. Meanwhile, Josh finds out he marries the hottest girl in school, Sydney Mills, who he sometimes about, and tries to embrace, it but it somehow changes him and aggravates Emma. It's driving them apart but in a way its driving them together them together.
        Later on Emma kisses Josh to try and change the future but it makes Josh mad because she rejected him ejected him earlier. It also triggers the first love connection. As the story goes on, both of them realize that the ones that they thought they loved, makes them realize that the ones that they thought they loved, makes them realize that they are the opposite of what they thought they were. Then Emma & Josh fall in love although they kinda had the feeling for each other for a while.