Response About "The Help"

       I just started the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. Looking at the cover I really didn't think this book would turn out to be interesting but the beginning sucked me in which is sort of shocking now that I think about it. It proves the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover." Anyway, in this book I was sort of confused about the way Miss Celia acts in the book. Minny is confused and so am I. I mean why does she act like that. I feel like she's had a very bad but unique past.
      She doesn't know how to treat Minny. It's almost like Minny is her friend not a maid. I feel like that Miss Celia had a different past then all the other woman. I know she grew up in a different town but that town may have had very different customs. They probably didn't have maids. I also don't think Miss Celia had a very nice childhood. She doesn't now how to do anything which means whoever she lived with did all the work. Was her childhood really bad? Is she going through depression of something?

"Hate List" The Other Side of Bullying

            I just finished the fantastic novel Hate List by Jennifer Brown. When I first opened this book it reminded me of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. This story was a bit different but similar. I think this is one of my favorite books. At the end it gets really sad. The main character is Valerie and as the author said in her author’s note, it’s about Valerie’s story. This is one powerful novel. It teaches the importance of being nice to people and not bullying anyone.

            Nick is Valerie’s boyfriend in the story. Valerie and Nick are the quiet kids in Garvin High School. They both get bullied all the time. They started a hate list. On this hate list they put all the names of the people that were mean to them or expressed they didn’t like them. Nick kept on giving hints to Valerie about how they could get rid of the people they hated. Valerie didn’t think that Nick was serious.

            One day Christy Bruter (who was on the hate list) broke Valerie’s CD player on the bus. She told Nick the whole thing and he said that he would handle it. She didn’t really get what he meant but when they went inside the school, Nick started shooting. Valerie stopped the shooting and saved Jessica.

            Even though she was the one who stopped the shooting everyone saw her as a threat. People turned away from her and didn’t want to talk to her. No one wanted tot be around her when she went back to school. Even though she also got shot everyone thought she was involved on the plan to shoot people on the hate list. Jessica was the one who started to talk to her. She started to be friends with Valerie. As the book went on, people started to get more and more comfortable around Valerie. Her mom was the one who saw her as a threat. Her mom thought Valerie was a threat to all of the students. At the end Valerie let’s her mom go so that she wouldn’t have to worry about Valerie all the time.

            Bullying was an important part in this book. It teaches that you should always be nice to everyone. You never know, the person you bully might hurt you. You can’t read anyone’s mind. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t trust anyone. I’m trying to say that avoid this by being nice. Bullying someone just might turn around and harm you.

Response on Fallout

            In the interesting novel Fallout by Ellen Hopkins there are three main characters. The three main characters are Hunter, Autumn, and Summer. They have no idea about each other but they have one very important thing that is common between them. That is their mother. Each of them has the same mother, whose name is Kristina. Their lives are broken up one way or another. Kristina, their mother, started taking crystal meth and it broke up all of their lives.

            Hunter, Autumn, and Summer have different problems. None of them want to follow their mother footsteps but they follow in one way or another. At the end they all plan on meeting each other. They know nothing about each other except that they all have the same mother. They found out that they were siblings right before they were about to meet each other. They all want happiness but when they see their mother all they see is themselves.  

Response on "Burned"

I just finished the really interesting book Burned by Ellen Hopkins. This was a really good book. Some times it did get a little boring but that was in very few parts through out the book. I would recommend this book to anyone. The way the author writes this book is amazing. The main character Pattyn has many problems but you could summarize this into one big problem. I don’t want to give it away to those who want to read this book but there are many stages in this book with different problems.

At first Pattyn trusts the wrong person. She trusts Derek and thinks that he actually loved her but he was just using her. This led to another problem. She started to misbehave with her parents. After Derek left her when her dad found out she started yelling at her parents and behaving very badly in school. Being with Derek affected her a lot. She didn’t care about being good anymore she reacted like she wanted to.

When she moved to her aunt’s house she found Ethan who actually loved her and showed her how the world was like. She discovered the world outside of her father’s harsh rules. She lived the way she wanted and actually controlled herself. In the end her father and community ruined her life but I won’t give that away. It was a really good book and I think girls should read because I think that it teaches a really good lesson. It shows you that you shouldn’t really trust everyone.

Response on "The Bean Trees"

I just finished the marvelous novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This was a really interesting book even though it doesn't look like it from the cover. (Never judge a book by its cover). In the beginning, it's about two different people in two different places. Between the beginning and the middle, they become a family and the story just becomes one. This book is about Taylor Greer (whose actual name was Marietta) and Lou Ann Ruiz and Taylor's daughter Turtle (whose actual name is April Turtle Greer) and Lou Ann's son Dwayne Ray. Taylor and Lou Ann have many hardships that they help each other to solve.

Taylor has the most problems in my opinion. Some lady came up to Taylor's car and gave her Turtle saying that it was her dead sister's daughter. Taylor didn't want to take her but the woman forced her too. When she took Turtle to the doctor later on in the book, the doctor said that Turtle was closer to three, had fractures, and that she may have been molested. Over the time Taylor was taking Turtle to the therapist, it had come to the attention of the Child Protection Services Division of the Department of Economic Security that Taylor had no legal claim on Turtle. Taylor didn't even have any legal papers or know anyone from Turtle's real family. She went out in the search of the family.

Lou Ann Ruiz doesn't have that many problems. She just has problems with her husband. Her husband left her and she can't seem to go on. He comes back once in a while and gives checks but she still loves him. He even says he wants a divorce but Lou Ann can't go on. She can't even get herself to tell her mother that she and him aren't living together anymore. She just sulks around and takes care of Dwayne Ray. When she gets a job she finally takes her mind off of him and moves on in a way. I really liked this book and I would recommend it to anyone. Just don't judge it by its cover.

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 "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 "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.