Banned Books Vlog 9.26.14

"If I Stay" Week of 9.15.14

Pages: 51- 101
Prompt: What is the point of view in the story? How do you know? Was it hard to find the point of view, why or why not?  What is the theme of the story?

                In the book If I Stay, the story is told in first person point of view.  I know that it is told in first person point of view because the author uses words like "I", "me", and "my".  The story is told by Mia and she goes back and forth from when she is in a coma and before she was in a coma. First and Third point of views are most common in books. This book clearly uses first person point of view because Mia talks all about her feelings and what she sees throughout the book. First person point of view is told by the main character and they use the pronouns that describe them and the life around them.

              When looking for the point of view in If I Stay it was not hard. I didn't think it was hard because the word choice made it obvious. Like I said in the previous paragraph, the author uses words like "I", "me", "we", and "my".  It was also easy for me because the story is about the main character and how she is explaining what happened that day and all the days leading up to it. I immediately could infer that the story was told in first person point of view because of the storyline and how it is supposed to be told.

              The theme of this story is "just keep fighting no matter what." I chose this week's theme based on how I saw it. I think that this book shows that even if you wake up in a coma and you don't know what is going on or if you will have anyone left when you get out of it, you just have to try. You never know if someone is there waiting for that minute you get up. It is just like when life get's tuff, you have to push through the dark days to get to the sunny days. Even though I am not finished with the book I do believe that this will be the theme for the book. I am inferring that the theme will be very similar to my prediction.

"If I Stay" Week of 9.08.14

Pages Read: 1- 51
Author: Gayle Forman

              "If I Stay" uses a lot of imagery and figurative language throughout the book. Even though I just started reading this book, I noticed multiple examples of the different types of imagery. In this book Mia gets into a car accident with her family causing her to go into a coma. The author switches up the events for every "chapter". One chapter is about the state that she is in while in a come and then the next chapter is flashbacks of before the accident. This is an example of sight. They are using sight by describing what she was seeing in that period of time. Another way that they use sight is by describing what she sees at the accident seen. (She is in a state that she is "out of her body" while in a come) They also use the imagery device of sound. They use sound when describing the music she is playing on her cello. One other imagery device I noticed so far it of feeling. They use feeling when describing the clothes she was wearing or how it felt when hugging a family member, etc.

              My prompt for this week is: How would you feel if you were in your characters position? If I was in Mia's position I would feel scared and depressed. I would be scared because I don't know if I am dead or not, or if I even have a chance at living. Being in the state that she is, I would be wondering why this happened and if it was my fault. Knowing that your family was in the crash with you and you can't find them is really scary and depressing. If I were Mia I would just try again and again to wake up and concur the battle. I wouldn't want to e stuck there and give up because I know that everyone would want me to fight.

            Gayle Forman wrote this book in a really interesting way. Instead of having actual chapters she uses time. Every time section switches from at the hospital to a flashback of previous days and months. I like this because you know how long she is in a coma and how long she is going though surgery and or other medical problems. It also helps me follow what the plot of the story better than if she were to put chapters that switch up every time. This is an amazing book already and I only am 51 pages in!

             

10 Book List Challenge: Week of 9.02.14

1. "The Giving Tree" By: Shel Silverstein

          "The giving tree" is one of my favorite children's books of all time. I love to read this book because it teaches you very good life lessons. I also love this book because it was one of the first few books that my parents read to me when I was a little girl. The giving tree is about this little boy who loved the tree and would play with her. As he gee older and older, he wanted more and more. Finally when he needed something, the giving tree had no more to give. I think that this is a good lesson to teach children, you can't always get what you want because when you need something, you might not get it.

2. "The Lovely Bones" By: Alice Seabold

       "The Lovely Bones" is a book about a girl who gets kidnapped, rapped, and then killed. She talks about her journey to heaven and how she can't see why no one suspects the killer. This book has an impact on me because it made me realize that you have to be cautious and you can't always trust people tat you aren't that close with. This book was almost like a wake-up call to me. I also liked how this book was written and how the story line was told.

3.  "Where the Wild Things Are" By: Maurice Sendak

     "Where the Wild Things" are is my favorite children's book of all time! This book is so special to me because my mom would read it to be almost every night before I went to bed. Not only is it my favorite book but it is also my mom's favorite book. One of the lessons that I learned from this book was to always be yourself but obey your parents. I also learned that it is okay to be different. Something that really made me like this book was that I learned that even if you don't think any is listening or no one cares, they do and you don't have to be worried that you are forgotten.

4. "Walk two Moons" By: Sharon Creech

       "Walk two Moons" is a about a girl names Sal who lives with her dad. Her mom recently left them. Sal is telling the story of how everything has happened to her and when she tells it, she is at home with her dad and her grandfather in the summertime up at their ranch. So in the story that Sal tells, she is traveling across America with her grandma and grandpa. They are traveling to all the places that her mother has sent post cards from. This book means something to me because I can feel all the different emotions that Sal feels in this book. I am able to connect to them by the way that Sharon Creech has written it.

5. "The Fault in our Stars" By: John Green

             "The Fault in our Stars" is a very good book and it was written so beautifully. I chose this book for my list because there was a meaning to it. My mom went to the doctor one day and said that they found a type of cancer in her body and that they could remove it because it was an early citing. She is all good now and has no problems. Another one of my close family friends has cancer right now. We don't see her as often anymore but I keep her in my thoughts hoping she will be ok. Reading this book made me realize that we need to cherish what we have and who we have because sometimes it doesn't last forever. The little things still count. I read this book over the summer.

6. "If I Stay" By: Gayle Forman

       "If I Stay" has impacted my life is a good way. I can only imagine how hard it is to be in a coma and not knowing why you can't wake up. It also must be hard to wake up and not have anyone from your family alive. (Your intermediate family) This shows you that love and support can keep someone you love hanging on. It also shows you the serious effects of a car accident. I have been in a few car accidents myself but I was never injured. I can somewhat relate to the book though because I know what it's like to not know why something like this would happen to you. I am currently reading this book but it has already impacted my life.

7. The "Chicken Soup" Series (Chicken Soup for the Preteen and Teen Soul) By: (A group of authors)

          The "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series has taught me so many different lessons and made me think a lot about everyday life situations. The Chicken Soup for the soul series has multiple little story's inside the book. Every book talks about different topics. For example, The Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul can talk about things o bullying, growing up, people, and more. It taught me how to treat certain situations the right way and it made me a better person. I read The Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul, and The Chicken Soup for the Kids Soul.

8. "The Kind of Friends we used to Be" By: Fances O'Roark Dowell

         "The Kind of Friends we used to Be" is about two girls who were the best of friends and then they got to 7th grade. They lost their connection when they found out that now they have different styles and a different group of friends. They lost interest with each other when they thought that they had nothing in common. Kate and Marilyn try to regain their friendship again but it just is not working out. I read this book in 6th grade and over this summer. I learned that even if you are polar opposites with someone, you can still be friends. My friends and I don't always have the same interests of tastes of music, clothes, etc. but, we always find something in common, each other ourselves. It's not always about being friends with someone who is exactly like you, it's about them as
a person.

9. "Rainbow Fish" By: Marcus Pfister

              "Rainbow Fish" is another one of my favorite kids books. I love this book so much because it is cute and it teaches so many good lessons. One of the lessons that I got from this book was that sharing is caring. (Cheesy, I know) The other lesson that I learned was that being different is ok but sharing your differentness is just as good. This book is very special to me because my mom read it to me when I was little and I was able to read it to my sister when she was little. Over the past few years I was also able to read this book multiple times to my moms 3 and 4 year old class. By reading this book to the children I knew that I wanted to become a teacher.

10. " The Wild Girls" By: Pat Murphy

          "The Wild Girls" is a great book to read. It's about how a girl named Joan moved to a new neighborhood and she went exploring in the woods behind her house. She met a girl in her "home", it was the circle of trees. They talked and became friends. Joan and "Fox", her friends nickname, were the best of friends. They would be themselves are each other and enjoyed the same hobbies. Fox and Joan, Newt, were very adventurous. It showed me that it is ok to be different when you are with other people. It also showed me to be myself when around new people and to take chances with new ideas and traditions. When you meet someone new and they are different you should take a chance on them. You may find that you have a lot in common and maybe you might become really close friends that hangout with each other every day.

Beautiful Creatures 5.14.14

Pages Read: 200-250

Prompt: • If the author were here, what would you say and ask him/her?

            The authors of "Beautiful Creatures" are Kami Garcia and Margret Stohl. If the authors were here I would ask them how they got the idea to start t write this book. I have always tried to write my own stories but I never can think of a really good topic. If they came and met me, I would make sure that I ask of tips. I would make sure to ask them a bunch of more questions like was this their original idea or if they had any other ones before "Beautiful Creatures". I where they wrote the book and when they first came up with the idea and writing the pages. How did they write it down? These are a few of the questions that I would ask them. I am always curious when it comes to writing because there are many different strategies and different topics. The world of writing is just amazing! 

           When I am reading a book, I always wonder how the author or author's come up with the ideas. It is really interesting to me because sometimes the ideas are crazy and exciting as well as sad and romantic, all wrapped into one! This just always makes me curious. One day I want to write a short book with a really cool idea. I want to have tips from authors themselves because they have experience. I love to write but I can never think of a good topic to write about and after a while I start to loose interest in the topic I first chose.

 More questions I would ask to the authors:

How did you come up with the tittle of your book?

Why did you choose the topic you did?

Did you ever plan on writing a book together or did you just suddenly think of the idea?

Did you both agree on the topic the first time?

Are the characters really important to the story?

Do you think that the mvie does a good job on portraying the story?

Reflection on 40 Book Bhallenge

                Well, I didn't know about the 40 book challenge until third quarter. I have read at least 10-12 books including some that were more than 350 pages. I have tried to read whenever I get the chance to and it works well. I am proud of myself and what I have accomplished while reading for the 40 book challenge. I know that a lot of people have either finished 40 books or are about to, since I started recently I am not that far. But I think I did a good job this year reading more books. All of the previous years I never read a lot. Now I am reading a lot more than I thought I would. This year I tried to read as much as I could every night. Last year I only read when I just felt like it or when I had to for class. I think that the strategy that I used for this year was much more useful than last years.

           Next year, in 8th grade, I want to try to do the 40 book challenge. I want to try to be able to read every single night and on the weekends as well. I want to be able to feel the success on completing 40 books in one school year! I think that the 40 book challenge is really cool and the idea is cool as well. I think it is a nice way to get kids motivated to read more so that way they could feel the success of completing a really cool challenge. I think that every middle schooler and high schooler should try to do the 40 book challenge.

Does the 40 book challenge count for the books you read over the sumer?

Beautiful Creatures Week of 5.07.14

Pages Read: 150-200
Prompt: • Is the setting described well enough that can put a picture of it in your mind?

Why or why not?

                 This week I read about how Lena is starting to become more and more "strange". When she broke the window in class, by accident, she ran from school to her house. When she got there she was sitting deep into the woods. While she was there, Ethan was at school and he get like he could hear her saying "leave me alone" and "don't come". But Ethan knew that he had to go, so he borrowed his friends car and then drove to go get Lena and talk to her. He found out that she was really talking to him through thinking. 

                 Ethan got to Lena and they were talking. She was trying to explain what she knew about what was going on. That was not a lot. She started to cry and he stopped her. Ethan was holding on to her wrist as he put his hand on a rock and there was something on the rock. It was a locket on a chain. He looked at it as the chain layer rapped in his hand. Suddenly the scene was different, there was smoke and a bunch of destruction, including fire. They saw the past and it was very realistic. When they let go of each other the scene stopped. The weird thing was that they could still feel the smoke in their eyes.

               Ethan showed the locket to his grandmother and she got scared. She made him put it into a bag and wrap up the bag. Then he was told to go bury it where he found it. But Ethan didn't listen and he kept it in a shoebox. The next day Ethan was sent to his Aunt's house. He had three aunts and they were old and creepy. The locket had his initials on it and Lena's birthday. So Ethan took the locket to his three aunts and tried to find out what the other initials were for and what it was or what it even meant.

           The setting was defiantly described well in this case because the author described everything so well and with so much detail. When I was reading, I could picture everything that was happening. It was actually cool because I was creating an image in my head and then I felt like I was there. I also felt like I could see and hear the things that Lena and Ethan did. The scenery in the whole book is just like this.