Response on "The Star Fisher"

I just finished the book The Star Fisher which I probably read for like the 5^th time. I really liked this book. It’s about a Chinese family moving from Ohio to West Virginia. They move to the town Clarksburg and try to fit in. The problem is that Clarksburg has never had any Chinese immigrants settle there before.

The main character of the story is Joan Lee. She’s American and speaks English fluently but everyone judges her from the outside. When they see her, they recognize her as a Chinese foreigner. Her family also gets treated badly. Many people destroy their home and yell at the family to go back to their country. Joan Lee’s money tries to fit in by learning English from their neighbor who treats them with a lot of respect.

Joan Lee becomes to be friends with Bernice and starts to fit in with the other girls too. The mother baked for a pie auction and people in the neighborhood started to know her much better. The family was known as friends to some and neighbors to others but no longer foreigners.

Response on "Abhorsen"

I recently finished the book Abhorsen by Garth Nix. It is about a girl named Lirael who is the daughter of the Clayr, Remembrancer, and the Abhorsen in waiting. She has to destroy Orannis the destroyer before he destroys all life. She uses the help of her companions that were on the journey with her from the previous book Lirael. She has to go through many dangerous scenes before reaching her destination to even destroy Orannis. She has to go into death as a Remembrancer to find out what she needs in order to destroy Orannis. Through all of this they face some very scary things.

Sam, one of Lirael’s companions, was told that his parents were dead by a bomb.  Sam had try face that thought and try to continue his journey to try to destroy the Destroyer. He almost tried to give up because his parents were dead. His Aunt Lirael got him to continue and not give up because she knew there was a chance in defeating the destroyer. He then continued and when he was about to defeat the destroyer he found out that his parents were actually alive.

They fought many other scary things but if I tell you it would spoil the whole book for anyone who might want to read this book. This book is actually not my type but I actually enjoyed it because of all the suspense. I think if anyone is interested in like fantasy or possibly sci-fi they would enjoy this book.

Response on "Forever"

            I just finished the book Forever by Maggie Stiefvater which I figured out is actually a good book. From the cover and the blurb on the back I really didn’t think it was going to be a good book but it actually was. The main characters; Sam, Grace, Cole, Isabel, and Rachel; taught some very important lessons. Some people might think that this book is useless but it actually teaches a lesson.

Grace had everyone thinking that she had disappeared but she wasn’t. She just didn’t want everyone to know that she was a wolf and so was her boyfriend Sam. She didn’t even want to tell her parents. When Sam got taken in to be questioned about Grace’s disappearance, Grace said she wanted to tell the public that she was still alive and show them that she hadn’t left. Sam didn’t want her to tell everyone because then it might lead to everyone finding out that she was a wolf. Grace said that it’s better than Sam possibly going to jail for being accused of doing something to Grace. Grace was ready to give up her happiness to get someone to stay out of trouble and that should happen in this world too between people.

When Grace revealed to her friend, Rachel, that she is a wolf Rachel was first shocked and thought she was joking. She even said that if Grace is a wolf, she’s a zebra. That was her first reaction but later on she actually accepted. She didn’t stop talking to Grace or even avoid her; she accepted her and continued to be best friends with her. It just shows that is you’re friends with someone and know that they’re trustworthy, you should accept them however they are.

Sam was fighting with Shelby while they were both in wolf form, Cole sensed that Sam wouldn’t win and would go down. He shifted into a wolf, told Sam to leave with the rest of the pack, and fought Shelby. He knew Sam so well because he was friends with him and lived with him that he didn’t want him to die. He was ready to sacrifice his life for him. That’s how close their friendship was. It shows how if you really love someone, you should be ready to sacrifice something for them if not your life.

Isabel saw that Cole went down, while fighting Shelby in wolf form, because of people in helicopters shooting at him. She thought that he was dead and didn’t want it to happen to the rest of the wolves. She thought that since she couldn’t save Cole’s life she should save all the other wolf lives that were in danger because of the people, including her father, who were trying to wipe them out. She drove to the middle of the clearing where the people were shooting at from the helicopters and she looked up at the helicopter through her sunroof and looked up at the helicopter until they saw her. The shooting stopped and her father texted her to get out of there but she told him not until he did and stared at the helicopter until the wolves got out of the way. She risked her getting punished for other peoples’ (who turn into wolves) lives. This doesn’t happen that often in this world because people aren’t that close or they are too selfish.

These are very important lessons that are for people everywhere. They are shown through a book that people might think is useless it actually isn’t. It’s actually very interesting. I think that these lessons were what the author might have been trying to get through to the reader. I just really want to read the other books written by Maggie Stiefvater.

Response to Lirael

          I recently finished the book Lirael by Garth Nix. The book is about a daughter of the Clayr named Lirael. Lirael turns fourteen and is eager to get her Sight. Unfortunately, the Sight does not come to her. The Sight is very important to her because it is the Clayr’s birthright. To take her mind off of the concept of the Sight, the Clayr let Lirael work in the library. In the library Lirael finds out something that leads her to a risky journey. Throughout the whole journey she keeps up her act of braveness even though inside she’s only an innocent girl who wants the Sight.

          She acts very brave in many parts of the book. One example is at the end of the beginning where Lirael was exploring the older levels of the library. She was about to enter a room when she sensed free magic. Free magic is a very dangerous type of magic and is forbidden. She was very scared but she still entered and she found something that would lead to a sudden turn in events to her life. Another part where she acted brave was when she was on her journey with Prince Sameth. There was something dangerous that they were approaching and many people were dying. They figured out that free magic was involved. They were all scared but Lirael took the first step. She grabbed her sword and she went to approach and fight off the danger. There were several other moments where she acted really brave.

          Lirael kept up her act of braveness throughout the entire book. She acted brave to keep the people she knew safe and to fulfill the goals the Clayr gave her. Let’s see if she keeps up her braveness in the next book Abhorsen.  

Child Soldiers Are Victims

There is a huge issue of child soldiers worldwide. Child soldiers are being used everywhere. The only place they haven’t been used is Antarctica. The majority of child soldiers are used in Asia. There are many different ways that children become child soldiers. Based on how they become child soldiers people have a question if child soldiers are either victims or perpetrators. Child soldiers are perpetrators because they were forced to join the army and manipulated to stay; they had a hard time integrating back into society, and the view of the people who think that child soldiers are perpetrators are wrong when they say that child soldiers did everything voluntarily when they actually didn’t.

The children were forced to join the army and manipulated to stay. In the article, “Armed & Underage” the writer talks about former child soldier Ishmael Beah which said, “When Beah was 13, Sierra Leone was embroiled in a civil war. Rebels attacked his village, and Beah was separated from his parents. After spending months wandering through his war-torn country, he was forcibly recruited in Sierra Leone’s Army. Beah was armed with an AK-47, drugged, and taught to kill.” Beah was one of the children forced to join the army. They drugged the children so that they would stay. Another example of how they were forced to join the army was in “Military History” where the writer talks about another boy who said, “‘I was attending primary school.’ The young boy speaks in a monotone, masking his emotions as he recounts events that irrevocably changed his life. ‘The rebels came and attacked us. They killed my mother and father in front of my eyes. I was 10 years old. They took me with them.’” That’s how children were forced to join the army and manipulated to stay.

            After being a child soldier, victims have a hard time integrating back into society. In the article “Military History” the author elaborates on the aftermath by saying, “For the child soldiers, the impact of being plunged into war creates problems long after the end of the actual combat. Many suffer long-term trauma that can disrupt their development.” Former child soldiers have memories of their experiences of killing people in the war and had to learn to face these memories and move on with their life. Many girls had to face memories of being abused. In the article “Military History” the author describes the hardships of being a girl child soldier, in which he said, “Girl soldiers are often singled out for sexual abuse, even by their own commanders, and have a hard time integrating back into society at war’s end.” They had to get used to being around men in society while facing the memories of being abused by other men in the war. They would be scared to interact with men prior to previous experiences and had the thought of potentially being abused again. After being forcibly recruited to war, child soldiers had to face the unwanted memories of combat and try to integrate back into society.

            Some believe that child soldiers are perpetrators but if they think critically, they’ll see that they’re actually victims. In the article “Armed & Underage” the author describes an army of child soldiers who aren’t willingly prone to violence in which he says, “It is less an army than a drugged-out street gang with military-grade weapons and 13-year-old brides. Its ranks are filled with boys brainwashed to burn down huts and pound newborn babies to death.” People who say child soldiers are perpetrators would say that the quote shows that the child soldiers committed horrifying crimes. It actually shows that when the child soldiers were brainwashed they did whatever the commander told them to do. Later in the article the author includes a quote from a commander explaining the reason behind targeting children to be soldiers. The quote said, “‘Child soldiers are ideal,’ a military commander from Chad told Human Rights Watch. ‘They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid – and if you tell them to kill, they kill.’” This shows how the commanders took advantage of the children’s’ obedience. People who think that child soldiers are perpetrators think that child soldiers willingly stayed in the war without escaping to get away from killing. In the Interview if Ishmael Beah video, Ishmael Beah said, “You’ve lost yourself. It completely becomes your life. You have to do it to survive.” The people who think that child soldiers are perpetrators should know that they are wrong because the child soldiers couldn’t escape. If they did escape the army would hunt them down and kill them. So, child soldiers are victims because everything they did was involuntary.

            Overall, child soldiers are victims. Child soldiers were forced to join the army when they were captured or in other ways. They had a hard time integrating back into society with all the trauma prior to the war. Lastly, the people who think that child soldiers are perpetrators are completely wrong when they say that the child soldiers did everything voluntarily, when they had to do it to survive. What side do you take, perpetrators or victims?

Response on "Summer of my German Soldier"

          I just finished the book “Summer of My German Soldier” by Bette Greene Patty Bergen has a lot of hardships. The whole story takes place in Jenkinsville, Arkansas during World War II. Patty is a Jewish girl. Her parents do not like the way she dresses, acts, and looks. They want her to be more like Sharon who is Patty’s sister. Sharon is more of the girly type. Her dad is extremely strict with Patty and almost never strict with Sharon. Patty tries to make them appreciate her everyday by acting nice in front of them and telling them what they want to hear. It gets harder for her when she meets Anton.

            Anton is a German prisoner. They meet when all the prisoners are brought to buy things at her father’s shop. They meet again when Anton escapes from the prison and is escaping. Patty lets him stay in her secret hiding spot above the garage. She brings him food and has to lie to her parents of where all the food went. When police turn up at her house to search for Anton and question her, she fakes being nervous. This makes the father scream at the police and made the police leave. When Patty sat with a poor boy her father got angry and started to beat her. Anton saw this and rushed out to stop Patty’s father before he could whip her with his belt but was too late. Ruth, their maid, saw Anton run out and questions Patty about it. Since Patty is very close to Ruth she told her everything. That day Anton told her he was going to leave. Patty and Ruth gathered up some money and Patty gave it to Anton when he was leaving. In return he gave her his gold ring and a kiss.

            Later on when police found out Patty was behind Anton’s hiding they came to question her. Patty tried to deny it but they told her news that made her admit. (I’m not going to tell you what she was told because I don’t want to spoil it). She always kept her ring with her and wore it around. I thought this story was very sad and sweet. The only person who messed it up was the dad. I wish he was never in the story because he was so harsh.  

Response on " The Clockwork Three"

In the book The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby, Giuseppe, Frederick, and Hannah are brought together. Each of them has something they want to achieve and hardships that go along with it. Giuseppe wants to get a ticket back to Italy to be with his siblings. Frederick is trying to be a journeyman. Hannah is trying to support her sick dad and family by leaving her education and working in a hotel as a maid. These three have goals that come with hardships too.

          Giuseppe wants to get a ticket back to Italy to his siblings but he has to do it very carefully. His employer, Stephano, will punish him if he gets to know that Giuseppe is saving up money secretly to buy a ticket to Italy. Giuseppe has to hide the money and make sure that Stephano doesn’t get to it. Frederick is trying to create a clockwork man to present and try to become a journeyman. Master Branch is Frederick’s apprentice and Frederick has to hide the clockwork man from him or else Master branch will tell him to stop because he won’t be able to be a journeyman that early. Hannah works in the Gilbert Hotel as a maid so that she can support her sick dad and her family. She left her education just to work to support her family.

          Each of them helps each other in getting through their hardships. At the end each of them succeed but also help others in getting through their hardships. I wonder what would happen if they didn’t meet each other. Would each of them still succeed or fail in accomplishing their goals?

Reading Response on "Peeps"

            In the fantastic novel Peeps by Scott Westerfeld Cal is the main character. Cal is a peep or otherwise known as a vampire. He searches for other peeps and tries to cure them. Now he’s trying to find his creator who he knows is named Morgan. While he’s searching for his Morgan he meets this girl named Lace who lives in the same building that Morgan used to live in. Cal starts to have a closer relationship with Lace and gets more information about Morgan. The author writes the book in an unusual way that I haven’t seen before.

            The author writes one chapter continuing on with the story then after that chapter includes a chapter with just facts that sort of relate to the previous chapter. One part is when in one chapter Cal is looking for bodily fluids in the apartment that Morgan used to live in. Then the next chapter is about how we transformed from hair keeping us warm to clothes keeping us warm. I didn’t really get that part because I thought that bodily fluids came from inside you and hair is on the outside. That’s how I mean it’s an unusual way.

            That’s how it’s an unusual way of writing a novel. It sort of makes sense to include facts because this book does have to do a little bit with science but I don’t really think the author had to include facts every other chapter. I felt like it was a bit too much.

I wonder if any other author has used this technique in their writing. If they have what facts did they put in their book? Were the facts even related to the topic?

Reading Response on "The Pact"

          The suspenseful book The Pact by Jodi Picoult the main characters are Emily Gold and Christopher Harte. Both of them grew up together because they were neighbors and both of their parents were really good friends. Christopher was only a few months older that Emily. When Emily was thirteen, Christopher and her relationship evolved into something more that just friends. Right before both of them were going to apply to college Emily got pregnant but she didn't tell Christopher. She thought that this baby would get in the way of her dreams and Emily was the kind of person who wanted to have everything perfect. When she figured out that the baby would not let her be perfect and make her not go to college, she started to have suicidal thoughts. She knew that if she told Christopher he would want to marry her but she still wanted to go to college. Then she told Christopher that she didn’t want to live and he didn’t take it seriously at first but then he kept on trying to convince her to change her mind. At the end he left her to kill herself but he never heard the gunshot and then to keep her happy she told him to help her do it. Christopher gets charged of murdering Emily and most people think that that’s the truth but it’s not. Prior to this blame Emily’s and Christopher’s parents’ friendship breaks.  The author tells this whole story by telling one part from the present and then one part from the past. The way she does this makes the story even more fascinating.

            Jodi Picoult starts from the time that Emily dies than starts from their. After one chapter she includes a chapter from when Emily and Christopher were born. She went on like that throughout the entire book. Some of the chapters from the past were relevant to what was happening in the present. Along with that she kept on changing the perspective. This let you guess what was going to happen at the end and made the story even more suspenseful. All of this suspense was only because of the way Jodi Picoult wrote the book.

            That’s why this book was so interesting. The way the author wrote the book made you not want to stop reading. I wonder what path the author would’ve taken if she made Emily not die? Would she write the book in a whole different way?

            

Response on "House Rules"

         The astonishing novel House Rules by Jodi Picoult is about how one autistic boy, Jacob, goes through his life and how the people around him do too.  At age 18 Jacob gets convicted of murdering his tutor Jess Ogilvy. He doesn’t tell the truth to anyone because he thinks it could lead someone close to him to get into trouble and he probably doesn’t want that. He copes with everything but he doesn’t tell the truth but he avoids the truth. The way the author crafts the novel the story has a greater meaning and plot.

           The author separates the chapters into people with different perspectives of the whole stories. Those characters tell the story from their perspective and their emotions. Some secrets about the case are revealed throughout the story throughout the perspectives of many people. At the end the truth comes out to be nothing to do with murder and Jacob isn’t convicted guilty and neither is anyone close to him.

            The story tells you about the experiences of the people around Jacob throughout the whole novel. The author crafts it in such a way that the truth won’t be revealed through the same person who is trying to hide the false truth. It comes out of the person who is trying to hide evidence of being involved in the case.

Reading Response on Am I Blue?

People rush to figure out who they are in life. Are they straight or are they gay? Most of them are pressured by society who thinks they are gay. Inside the person is perturbed and doesn’t even know what they are themselves. They rush to make decisions and most of the time they try to avow to  themselves they are straight so that they won’t get pressured but sometimes the truth is that they are gay. They preclude the thought that they might be gay. Later on in life they know they made the wrong decision and they struggle inside themselves when people who are gay are taking the right path of their lives. In Bruce Coville’s short story Am I Blue?, the reader learns that you can and should take your time to figure out who you are even under all the societal pressure.

            The main character in Am I Blue?, Vince is the main character who is perturbed whether he is gay or straight. One day he gets bullied by Butch Carrigan and then he meets his fairy godfather who is Melvin. Melvin shows Vince how there are other people in this world who are gay. Through all of this, Vince’s status comes up a couple of times. At one part in the beginning it says, “ ‘Me being your first case. Does that mean I’m gay?’ I didn’t mention that I had been trying to figure out the same thing myself for about a year now.” This quote means that Vince is confused if he is gay or not. Later on in the story towards the middle it says, “ ‘Gaydar,’ said Melvin, stirring his coffee. ‘Automatic sensing system that lets you spot people of similar persuasion. A lot of gay guys have it to some degree or other. If it was more reliable, it would make life easier on us—’ I interrupted. ‘Speak for yourself.’ ” This means that Vince doesn’t want to accept that he’s gay because he doesn’t even know himself yet.

            So finally everyone should take time to figure out who they are before they make conclusions like Vince learned not to do. Vince went from rushing to figure out what he was to learning to accept whatever and whenever it comes to him. The reader learned to mainly take your time to figure out who you are and accept what comes to you. Like at the end of the story Vince’s thought was, “I’ve decided to save it when I really need it— m­­­aybe when I meet the girl of my dreams or Prince Charming. Whichever.”



Revision on "Drummer Boy of Shiloh" Essay

           In “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury, Joby is the drummer boy who we think ran away and joined the army. He thinks about hiding in the peach orchard and staying until the soldiers to the battle at dawn. He thinks about doing this because he is scared that he won’t return alive. The general finds him and speaks to him and changes his mind so that he chooses to go to battle and feel confident about it. Bradbury shows the reader to face life with faith and courage even when it’s most difficult.

          In the story Bradbury shows how Joby didn’t have courage in the beginning but after the General talked to him he had faith. In the beginning Joby thinks, “If he stayed very still, when the dawn came up and the soldiers put on their bravery with their caps, perhaps they might go away, the war with them, and not notice him living small here, no more than a toy himself.” Then the General says, “But if he beat a sure, steady, ever fast rhythm, then, then, their knees would come up in a long line down over that hill, one knee after the other, like a wave on the ocean shore.” That’s when Joby was completely convinced and knew that he a purpose to go to the battle. When the general asked, “You’ll run them through for me then, boy?” In response to what the General asked Joby gestured as Bradbury described, “The boy nodded mutely.”   He prepared himself, with faith and courage, for the morning when he would leave with the other soldiers to the battle.  

          So, Bradbury showed how Joby went through not having any courage and faith before the General gave him a talk. Then after the General gave him a talk he completely accepted the fact that he had to go to battle.  He showed how even though it was going to be a scary time they should all have faith in what they were going to do and enough courage to do it.

Response on "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

In “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini Laila one of the main characters goes through a harsh time in Kabul. Before she even turned sixteen she lost everything to a war. She lost her brothers who died fighting in the war. She lost her friends where one got married and left and the other got blown up by a rocket. She lost her love who left with his family to somewhere safer. When she and her parents were about to leave a rocket fell on her house her parents died but she survived. Rasheed, a neighbor, found her and took her in. After she got better he tricked her into thinking that her love died. Then he asked to marry her. Since she was so sad, she said yes. Rasheed's other wife, Mariam, didn't approve of Rasheed marrying again but she couldn't do anything because Rasheed was very arrogant. Laila suffered through her married life with beating after beating. Laila changed from the beginning of her married life to the end.

In the beginning of Laila's married life, Laila didn't really say anything against what Rasheed said. When Laila, Mariam, and Laila's daughter Aziza tried to run away from their horrible life they got caught and were taken back. Rasheed gave each of them a good beating except Aziza. Laila couldn’t say anything or do anything but, that changed by the end of the book.

In the end of Laila’s married life, Laila spoke up against Rasheed and went against what Rasheed did too. When Rasheed didn’t have any money anymore after buying his son so many things he gave Laila the idea to send Aziza on the street and make her beg. When Laila snapped at Rasheed and told him that she won’t let her daughter turn into a street beggar Rasheed go angry. He smacked Laila in her face. Something that was very new was what Laila did next, she punched Rasheed in the face. Even though that didn’t stop him from hitting more at least she acted back.

            So that’s how Laila changed from the beginning to the end of her married life. When her married life was coming to an end she found out that her first love, Tariq, was still alive and that Rasheed tricked her into thinking that he wasn’t. One day Rasheed was beating Laila and Mariam killed Rasheed. Mariam turned herself in and Laila got married to Tariq. Laila learned to speak against what’s wrong.

Reading Response On "A Long Walk To Water"

               In "A Long Walk To Water" by Linda Sue Park Nya, one of the main characters, has to go through a lot of tough work. She has to walk back and forth all day from the pond and back to her house to get water for her family. She does this every day of the year. This shows everyone how so many people have so many hardships to go through everyday. 

                Nya has to walk to the pond and back to times a day everyday. Here we can't even imagine that because we live in the city and get water out of the faucets. We have to consider though that there are people out there who do this everyday instead of going to school and hanging out with friends like we do here. Nya has that lifestyle in Sudan. She's been doing getting water every day for eight hours straight. Eight hours of walking may not sound that bad but it actually really is when you hear that she's walking barefoot over sharp things and that she's carrying a container filled with water on her head. She's beginning to teach her little sister what she does so that when Nya won't be able to fetch water anymore at least her sister will be there.                                                                                                                                                       Nya had to go through this every single day of her life starting when she was a little girl and she might have to do it for the rest of her life. There are some people who help these people who struggle to feed their own family every day. Nya was just one story about this topic that the author wrote based off of a true story.