Friday, September 25, 2009

Independent Reading blogwork #1 checkin

In class today, each of you had to read a book of your choosing.  I took the status of the class to see how everyone was doing.

Please share with the class what you read, are reading and something interesting about the section you had the chance to read... please avoid full plot summary.

You may:
talk about the character
discuss a passage that you think would engage other students -
post an excerpt with page number and a short analysis like you will do for the assignment
something that disappointed you
something about theme
something about a symbol
good use of language

Looking forward to seeing what everyone is reading and how we can start to foster conversations around literature in our learning community.  These posts are due by class on Tuesday, 9/29

47 comments:

Anastasia Ioannou said...

I'm reading "The Human Comedy" by William Saroyan.

"On his way home from school Homer Macauley passed a picket fence protecting an empty lot full of weeds on San Benito Avenue. The fence was old and rotten and had no use other than to orament a small area of waste, and to protect a group of weed tribes which surely needed no protection. "
Chaper 9
Page 41
I think this passage shows the setting really well. I was able to picture the overgrown lot and the surrounding area. I also think the authors use of words were good too. It made me really see what was going on and how Homer was seeing the lot.

Maria said...

Im reading "Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Kimberly Kirberger

Then one day we found it: the perfect ranch, nestled in a warm sunny valley. My dream had become reality.
Passage "I am home" by jennie garth pg.105

I think that these lines show the setting because when she described that she finally found the perfect house for her family to live in could imagine the house on the ranch with the animals in sunny california.

Jenna S. said...

I am reading "Big Mouth, Ugly Girl" by Joyce Carol Oates.

While reading the first 19 pages, I have noticed an extremely disappointing quality in the main character named Ursula Riggs. A repetitive statement spoken by Ursula when referring to herself, is the "ugly girl." Ursula is an athlete with an artists sensibility, however, she is always considering herself as an outsider. -- This truly makes me feeling disappointed in Ursula, considering she is a great teenager and often likes to participate in fun activities such as basketball; however, if she fails a test, for example, she says "So what? Ugly girl doesn't care." I am looking foward to seeing if Ursulas self-confidence increases as I continue reading.

robin o. said...

I'm reading "A million little pieces" by James Frey.

" I'm wanted in three states. I'm addicted to alcohol and crack. I'm unemployed, unemployable and completely broke. I've blacked out every night for as long as I can remember and my time in here is the longest stretch of sobriety I've known since I was ten years old. I am out of control. If you want to hear me say it, I'll say it. I am out of f*cking control. My life is unmanageable." -- page 205

I chose this passage because it stuck out to me. James admits out loud all that he is. This passage shows how frustrated he is and all that is going on in his life. It also summarizes all about him as a character and a person. I liked this passage because it was raw and real

Alexandria Barry said...

I'm reading Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson.

" Why bother trying? What was the point? So i could go to some suck-ass college,get a diploma,march out into a job that i hated,marry a pretty girl who would want to divorce me, but then she wouldn't because we'd have kids so instead she'd become the angry woman at the other end of the kitchen table,and the kids would grow up watching this,untill one day I'd look at my son and he'd look just like that face in the bathroom mirror?If that was life,than it was twisted.

I choose this passage because the author really decribed how the charchter was feeling at the moment really amazing.Also i finally realized why she decided to call the book twisted,i always wondered why.After i read that paragraph i finally realized it just read those words in the passage.

maggie todaro said...

I am reading 'Just Listen,' by Sarah Dessen. Today in class while I was reading, I reached the point in the book where the reason for the title came from. Annabel gets a bunch of CD's from Owen and one doesn't have a name on it all it says is 'just listen.' I also think this part of the book is foreshadowing, because she was asking Owen what the CD was and all he said was 'just listen to it.' So she hasn't listened to the CD yet and i'm curious to find out what music actually is on the CD.

Stephanie Lizzul said...

I am reading The Notebok by Nicholas Sparks. While I was reading the book I noticed that a man always has a notebook with him. He always reads the notebook to an old lady. The book is basically his life story. Thats when I realized that the book got its title from the notebook that the old man always reads.

Marc said...

I am currently reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. I have notice that the Main character (which is Randy Pausch as it is an biography) talk about the good things in live, and not how his family is dealing with his illness. He does talk about it a little, but most of the book is about his life experiences and how he lived the last part of his life.

Anonymous said...

I am currently reading the book "rapper's Handbook". What I am currently reading is mainly how the way rappers uses tactics to make thier ryhmes, I can't really talk about anything about the book because it doesn't really have a main character, setting, theme, or any other elements.

Alex Bao 203

Unknown said...

I am reading, Dead Until Dark, a Sookie Stackhouse Novel.

"okay" I said sharply "Listen up, Bill! When you came to my house, I had to invite you. When you came here with me, I had to invite you. You haven't asked me out. Lurking in my driveway doesn't count, and asking me to stop by your house and leave a list of contractors doesn't count. So it's always been me asking you. How can I tell you that you have to stay with me, if you want to go? If those girls will let you suck their blood-or that guy, for that matter-then I don't feel I have a right to stand in your way!"
>> I choose this paragraph because it really shows what the main character has been hiding inside if her self and it all comes out. She lets Bill in, something that he's been wanting to because he cant Glamour [a sort of hypnotism where he can completely control her, buh for some reason Sookie is immune to it] her into telling him. This paragraph in the book really stuck out to me.

Gabby.Yan said...

The book I am reading (again) is called 'Stone of Tears' by Terry Goodkind. I don't think anyone will understand what I am saying when I write about this book (becase you really have to read it to understand it) but oh well! :)

OK so, Richard has been getting TERRIBLE headaches because he actually has the gift of magic, so the Sisters of Light have come to help him, but he has to wear a collar (called a Rada Han). For the longest time he refused to wear a collar. And this passage describes why...

"It (the agiel, a weapon to cause people an extreme amount of pain) can strip the flesh right off you. it can break your bones. Denna liked to use it to crack my ribs; they still aren't healed......It can kill with a touch.... Denna shackled my wrists and later locked my arms behind me and held me up with a rope form the ceiling. She used the agiel on me for hours at a time. I would beg until i was hoarse for her to stop. She never did. not once.....Every day she led me by a collar to a place where she could hang me up by a rope, a room where she could use the agiel on me without distraction, where it didn't matter so much if my blood got everywhere.... That is what wearing a collar means to me."

Reading that was one of those "OH NOW I GET IT!!!" moments :)

Shannon Doran said...

I am currently reading Freak Show By: James St. James. I have noticed that the main character isn't afraid to be who he is, and even though this should be a good thing, it's a bad thing. My main character Billy Bloom is gay and his school is very homophobic. Since Billy just transferred there for the last year
of high school, on the first day he knew noone. Therefore, Billy wishes he could be himself without being judged. This is what I realized from this book.

Victoria Eng said...

I am reading "ceremony" by leslie marmon silko

In this book a character has his memories and dreams conflicting with eachother after he returns from World War II. After the war he is in a veterans home. The character mentions that he feels like "white smoke."

Edina Kay said...

I am reading, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

In this book, the character is dead and is telling the readers what she remembers and see from heaven. She knows everything that is going on in Earth, but nobody knows that she is still alive spiritually.

Avi Solkoff said...

I am currently reading Digital Fortress by Dan Brown and like the other books I have read by him I am enjoying it very much. I am currently on chapter 38 of my book and it is persistant that one of the main characters, Dave Becker, that he is very clever and uses his knowledge of the culture and language of Spain to his advantage. In chapter 22 he uses his knowledge of Canadian culture to communicate and "get on his good side" to recieve the information that he wanted. He also tries to do use this same technique to find the object he was told to retrieve by pretending to be a cop or a tourist. I am very impressed at that even though he has no idea why this object is important he has shown that he feels very passionately about the main character Susan Fletcher. I am ejoying my book so far and would highly recommend this book or any of Dan Browns other books.

donna said...

I just finished the book i was reading in class, and it was called 'a goombas guide to life'

its written by Steve Schirripa who is Bobby Bacala on the sopranos, and plays Ben's dad in the secret life of the american teenager.

it is a mix of a 'how to book' and a biography because he talks about his childhood in Brooklyn, and stories from his life now. than he mixes that together with things a 'goomba' would or would not do. a 'goomba' as he describes is a loud Italian man, who wears lots of gold jewelry and sweat suits, eats 24/7, and loves his family to death.

I like this book because its funny, and he gives examples from his life for everything. like say is hes talking about tipping he gave a specific example of when he tipped a priest at his daughters baptism to make it quicker but the priest went extra slow because the tip wasn't enough. for every aspect of 'goomba living'he explains he gives an example.

i also liked how at the end of the book there are like 20 family Italian recipes from his family.

what i didn't like though about this book is that it sometimes is a little contradictory. like in the beginning he was saying how only Italian men could be gommbas. and he was like theres no such thing as a Jewish, Chinese, Greek, etc goomba. than towards the end he describes a friend he had who was a Jewish goomba and more of a goomba than some of his friends were. i also didn't like how he referred to someones wife, as 'the wife'

but other than that it was an overall really good book.

Brianna Rosenberg said...

I am reading 'Just Listen' by Sarah Dessen

In this book, the main character is Annabel Greene. With problems at home with her sisters eating disoder and at school with her ex best friend, Annabel tends to keep to herself and stays out of everyone's way. But when she meets Owen Armstrong, he gives her the courage to speak honestly.

Amanda Brandell said...

Im reading Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

During my reading in school, I came across a part in the book when Auden the main character, says that she doesnt ride bikes. This is part of the title because one there is a bike on the cover and bike riding is a big thing in Colby, where she is staying for the summer. Auden says that she doesnt ride bikes and doesnt do any other teenage stuff because she never really got to be a kid. She was always studying and trying to please her parents with good grades. I think that the title Along for the Ride means that Auden will eventually learn to let loose and become a normal teenager.

Mary Bella Torosyan said...

Im currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

I read this book in 7th grade, but stopped because I didn't like it. I gave it another chance and now I'm starting to like it. There was this one paragraph that showed setting really well.

"The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, once faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was one white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard- "a swept" yard that was never swept- where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance."

I really like this passage because a lot of books I read don't have many passages that show setting very well. When I saw this I imagined the house.

Sara Touzard said...

I'm reading "Catalyst" by Laurie Hale Anderson.

Today in class I read how the main character, Kate didn't get accepted to MIT which was her dream college. Kate feels fustrated that she didn't get accepted since she had been planning for it her whole life.

"That crackle you hear? That's the sound of hell freezing over. Alert the media: Kate Malone is ditching class..... State college. My future, and only if they have rolling admissions. The nausea starts in my knees and surges upward. I cover my mouth and sink to the floor, my back against the wall. My hands are shaking. They do not feel attached."

I choose this paragraph because it shows a different side of Kate, not her usual good girl image. The author describes how Kate breaks down because of the rejection and as I was reading this part I was imagining how Kate would react as if the letter broke her into peices.

donna said...

I just finished the book i was reading in class, and it was called 'a goombas guide to life'

its written by Steve Schirripa who is Bobby Bacala on the sopranos, and plays Ben's dad in the secret life of the american teenager.

it is a mix of a 'how to book' and a biography because he talks about his childhood in Brooklyn, and stories from his life now. than he mixes that together with things a 'goomba' would or would not do. a 'goomba' as he describes is a loud Italian man, who wears lots of gold jewelry and sweat suits, eats 24/7, and loves his family to death.

I like this book because its funny, and he gives examples from his life for everything. like say is hes talking about tipping he gave a specific example of when he tipped a priest at his daughters baptism to make it quicker but the priest went extra slow because the tip wasn't enough. for every aspect of 'goomba living'he explains he gives an example.

Here is the passage (from page:126)

"A few years later, we're having another baptism, for my second daughter. I've got a scheduling problem. the reception starts at 2:30, and the baptism is at 2:00. i told my wife i wanted to make it fast, and she hit the roof. "The reception can wait. Don't you say a word about making this a short service." so i say to the priest, "Father, could you make it a short service? Don't say anything to anybody, but i gotta get to work." And i gave him a fifty. He starts the servuce and its the slowest service in the history of baptism. im looking at my watch, and im staring at him, and hes looking at me. And finaly at about 2:30 he suddenly stops and says, "So, Steve-how'm i doing on time?" My wife almost killed me!
I probably should have given him a hundred instead of a $50."


In about every chapter there are little boxes that say thing a goomba would not say, or things a goomba would not do. here is an example of one on page 84:

A few things a goomba will never say in relationships:
*i just want a woman i can open up to.
*honey,those pants are too tight, and the heels are too tall.
*Cant we just cuddle?
*My fiancée insists on a small wedding.
*Our favorite movie? 'On golden pond'"

Heres another one from page 174:

"things you'll never hear a goomba say about food"
*is this low in fat and cholesterol?
*i got a real craving for corned beef and cabbage.
*Could i get a doggy bag for this?
*I think these carrot sticks gave me agita."


i also liked how at the end of the book there are like 20 family Italian recipes from his family.

what i didn't like though about this book is that it sometimes is a little contradictory. like in the beginning he was saying how only Italian men could be gommbas. and he was like theres no such thing as a Jewish, Chinese, Greek, etc goomba. than towards the end he describes a friend he had who was a Jewish goomba and more of a goomba than some of his friends were. i also didn't like how he referred to someones wife, as 'the wife'

but other than that it was an overall really good book.

Jessye Pragen said...

The book I am currently reading and was reding in class on Friday is "angus,Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging Confessions of Georgia Nicolson" by Louie Rennison. One thing that i noticed about Georgia through out the book is that she continues to progress nd mature. IN the beginning of the book she wanted to grow up and change how she looked. 14 year old Georgia is forced to go to an all girls school with a uniform but wants to costantly be with boys, its as if she is the only one with out a boyfriend compared to all her friends.
Georgia is the typical girl taken to the extreme, her antics will make anything you've ever done when looking for that special guy seem staid, reasonable, or even worse, completely normal.


"11.35 am
There are six things very wrong with my life:

I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years.
It is on my nose.
I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.
In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers.
I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home.
I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive."

I chose this passage because it seems to be common that in a teenagers life, all of the situations seem to be similar. For example, their skin and acne seems to be a problem for Georgia and many other teenagers. Also, the way she looks she cares a lot about. She is so worried about appealing to others that she feels extremely stressed about it through out the book.


- Jessye Pragen

Anonymous said...

I am reading the book Speak by lauren Halse Anderson. The main character (melinda) of the book "speak" is an outcast. She is a very down to earth sarcastic kid. She is just trying to get through her freshmen year of high school and trying to forget about a horrific incident that happend, which caused her to be freind less. I am interested if the character will over come this and gain freind ships.

-joseph Ebiotu period 2

monicaaa S. (: said...

The book I am reading is ALPHAS by Lisi Harison.

One of the main character in the book is Allie Abbott, a beautiful girl and also a germ freak. Her life is so perfect, she has the perfect boyfriend, the perfect best friend and the perfect job- modelling in catalogues. But then her boyfriend Fletcher dumps her for her best friend. Now Allie's life doesn't seem all that perfect, so she sacrifices it all by committing identity theft and becomes Allie J. Abbott, a talented environmentalist poet/singer. She gets a whole new makeover, and gets accepted into the prestigious school called Alpha Academy. I think its insane for Allie to be stealing someone else's identity just because her boyfriend broke up with her. Most girls would just eat a whole carton of icecream and cry for weeks, but I never heard of someone committing identity theft after being dumped by their boyfriend ?! But I have to give props to Allie for pulling the whole thing off because its very difficult to pretend to be this amazing singer when you're not. Allie is a very confused character who doesn't know what to do with her life, so she takes someone else's less-complicated one than hers. Thats when she starts living life on a positive note instead of moping around. For once in her life, shes finally happy. But I'm not sure if Allie can pull of the whole identity theft for long.

AV said...

I am reading the book: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells.

As some of you should know, books written by H. G. Wells are very good, but sometimes hard to read. Although this book can be boring and hard to read from time to time, there are still many passzages that can engage the readers. For example, I was reading this book in class, and basicly, there were four characters who were trapped at sea because of a horrible ship wreak, and it had been four days since they ran out of their watter supply, and that morning, two of the four sailors got into a fight. Now, normally anyone else would just forget about it, but since they hadn't had water in days, they went insane, and while the main character watched, the two sailors were fighting to the death, and just when the main character tried to break it up, they both fell overboard and drowned. I thought that a lot of people might of liked this point of the book because it seemed so thrilling, and plus, you had to turn to the next page to find out what happened, so it was very climatic. So, the other sailor just died, and the main character was just about to pass out, when all of a sudden... you should really try and read the book to find out the rest of the chapter.

Pg. 12, chapter 1.

Andrew Villa Period 8

THEBOSS said...

I am reading the book "Small Steps" which is the following book to Holes. In the first few chapters you notice that "armpit" the main character, has changed. Ever since he got out of camp green lake, he now has a plan in life and i working. He knows that one of his best friends X-Ray is a bad influence for him, but it is hard for him to not listen to X-Ray. What this shows me is that Armpits has changed and is'nt the same anymore and that further on in the book i should expect different things from him. - Christian S

Isabela said...

I am now reading the book, It happened to nancy. this book is basically about a 16 year old who starts secretly seeing an older guy, and thinks she is in love, little did she know the guy was the type to rape her, (im not giving the story away, this is all in the beggining and i think if you read the back of the book they say this to) but after being raped she discovers she has HIV and basically writes in her diary explaining her journey threw this virus. So in the beggining of the book up until page 70 u learn all of this stuff about what happened to nancy, and it just really is an amazing book and hard to put down. It has many cliffhangers and anybody who reads it will be so excited to get back to it.
Isabela J
per 8

Anonymous said...

I'm reading "This Lullaby" by Sarah Dessen

Something interesting I just got up to in the book is the main character, Remy, is finally softing up and letting her guard down without even trying. She finds her self more vulnerable and less in contorl, which she hates. Remy is extremely tough, doesn't believe in love, and lives life shutting people out. Now she is with Dexter and she is starting to realize that she might have feelings for him, she never felt or allowed herlself to feel before. She is going through drastic changes and confusion beyond her reach.

Gabrielle Rosado
Period 1

Raisa B. said...

I'm reading Dracula by Bram Stoker which is about a man who gets trapped in Dracula's castle after he comes to visit as a houseguest. This book is written in the form of diary of the main character, and other characters of the book. I really like this book because it is suspenseful and descriptive, which gives me a clear image of every scene in the book. The vocabulary the author uses is simple, but I feel like it's slightly challenging because it contains words that I don't know.

Rosemarie W said...

I am reading the book, "Sticky Fingers" by Niki Burnham and it is basically about a girl who has been up tight her whole life, and focused on school. The back of the book says "She goes to a pary and has one drink. But one drink is all it takes for her perfect facade to shatter." I am rereading the book, so I already know how it ends but right now I am not far into the book. The main character, Jenna, is very focused on school and all throughout high school, she has always put school first and she made many sacrifices to do wel in school. One passage says: "All those evenings I skipped going to the movies- even the ones I was dying to see -or made excuses to not go out with Courtney, Scot, Mat, and all our other friends. All the times I cam straight home after volleyball practice or tennis without stopping to have pizza or hag out with my friends, just so I'd have an extra hour to study or check over a project one last time. All the nights I left Scott's house early, despite the fact that every fiber of my being ached to stay just so i could feel his arms around me for one more minute, or so I could kiss him one more time." That passage shows how much she sacrificed to do well in school even though she really didn't want to. It shows that she is really hardworking and like she says, she is "Bullet proof".

angelinaaaaa x3(:* said...

I'm currently reading, "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom.


This book is about this guy named Eddie who pratically grew up on Ruby Pier, a tiny amusement park that seems quite similar to our own Coney Island [before it was taken down, at least. D:]. Eddie's father worked here when he was a young boy, and he followed the trend. Now at 83 years old, Eddie still works there.

Throughout the book [well, from the very start], it times down the minutes until the main character, Eddie's death. The one part that really got to me was this one particular section:


"Ma . . . Mom. . .Ma. . .Mom . . ."

Eddie eyes shot from her to the carts. Did he have time? Her to the cars -

Whump. Too late. The carts were dropping- Jesus, he released the brake!- and for Eddie, everything slipped into watery motion. He dropped his cane and pushed off his bad leg and felt a shot of pain that almost knocked him down. A big step. Another step. Inside the shaft of Freddy's Free Fall, the cable snapped its final thread and ripped across the Hydralic line. Cart No.2 was in dead drop now, nothing to stop it, a boulder off a cliff.

In those final moments, Eddie seemed to hear the world: distant screaming, waves , music, a rush of wind, a low loud ugly sound that he reliazed was his own voice blasting through his chest. The little girl rasied her arms. Eddie lunged. His bad leg buckled. He half flew, half stumbled toward her, landing on thre metal platform, which ripped through his shirt and spilt open his skin , just beneath the patch that read EDDIE and MAINTENANCE. He felt two hands on his own, tiny small hands.

A stunning impact
A blinding flash of light
And then, nothing.


This passage/section or whatnot really shows what Eddie is like. He sacrificed himself, he risked his own life to save this young girl. I chose this excerpt because when I read this, I got a strong, powerful visual; and I felt as if I was there myself.

Josephine C. said...

I am currently readin the book Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson.

One thing that is getting interesting in my book is how the main character, Jane is changing. After she started talking to her childhood imaginary friend again, things have changed. Jane is letting her guard down and not taking any crap from no one. She just wantes to live her life and enjoy it for once instead of doing evrything shes told. Shes a grown woman and can do whatever she wants. Jane is changing for the better and shes happy about it.

Brianna Hungerford said...

I am currently reading the book "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins. I started the book at the end of the summer and got halfway through it, but when I heard about the book report we are to do every month, I became to re-read my book and mark certain pages with post-its.

One of the main characters (Whitney Lang), is living in the shadow of her older, more successful sister, Kyra. Whitney ends up meeting an older guy who doesn't like her Kyra either and Whitney feels like they click. This one excerpt interested me, though:

"...I have not been in a hurry to let just any guy pluck the rosebud. True love first, I've always said, and that has been enough to keep me a virgin. Up until now. I mean, technically, I'm still a virgin at fifteen. But I'm also in love, and I'm pretty sure Lucas loves me, too." -Page 40.

I think this really shows that Whitney has morals and is rather mature for a 15-year old. It shows me that she takes a lot into consideration and knows how to handle and control herself in certain situations.


Another one of the protagonists, named Ginger Cordell, is in a situation where she was forced to grow up at a young age in order to take care of her younger siblings because her mother wasn't always around to do so herself. What interested me about this character, though was her mother's behavior.

"Why can't she stop thinking about herself and act like a mom?
She could start by letting us call her Mom. But, no, she insists on Iris. Says it makes her feel pretty.
Not sure she was ever really pretty, but if she was, too many babies and too much hard living has sucked her dry.
Too much, too many. That describes Iris pretty damn well."

I think that by Ginger's mother having her children call her "Iris" and not "Mom" means that maybe their mother was not ready for children or regrets doing so. It could also mean that Iris does not like to percieve herself as a mother and is stuck in the past because she misses her youth.

danielle said...

"At the oddest moments he would think of me, miss my voice, wish I would come out from the house and pound on the roof of his fort and demand to be let in. Sometimes he wished Samuel and Lindsey hung out more or that my father would play with him as he once had. Play without that always-worried look underneath the smile, that the desperate worry that surrounded everything now like an invisible force field. But my brother would not let himself miss my mother." -The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold pages 245-246

I think that this passage represents part of the overall theme of the book. It shows how after the death of Susie Salmon, her entire family began to fall apart. This passage is about her little brother Buckley and takes place over a year after her death. It shows how he changed and went from a happy, playful little boy to one who is sad and alone. His mother left the family, his father is always worried and so caught up in trying to get the murderer captured, and his sister other sister, Lindsey, is always out with her boyfriend. He misses the days when his father would play with him just to get his mind off of his Susie's disappearance and wishes Susie was still alive so that he wouldn't have had to build his tree house by himself or have to play in it alone, but that they would have done it all together like they had planned before her death.

Danielle Cantatore

sophia said...

I am reading "The Vampire Diaries:The Awakening and the Struggle" by L.J. Smith.

I have just started reading this book, and from what I read in class, I find the character of Stephen to be very interesting. Nobody knows who Stephen is or where he came from, but they are all determined to find out. Stephen is a mystery. He has caught the attention of everyone at school,including Elena - one of the main characters in the book, who is also the most popular girl in the school. When Elena starts trying to find out information about Stephen, all she gets is more questions and less answers.

I think Stephen is interesting because you don't know anything about him. He is a main character in the book and is obviously hiding something. He is the character that I am most anxious to read about because I want to know what is going on with him.

Michelle Xia said...

I'm currently reading the book, "That was then, This is now"

In this book, I have realized that the main character, Bryon isn't uptight about life. He does everything on what he wants to do at the moment and never really thinks about his actions. He would beat up people for no reason, steal cars from others, and rob. However I've seen changes from him throughout the story. He starts to think about what he is doing and also caring about people.

-Michelle Xia

Anonymous said...

The book I am currently reading is called "Rapper's Handbook" by Flocabulary. This book is mainly about giving you tatics and other advices so you can become a rapper. In the book Flocabulary shows different literature elements to create a rap or a verse. There were metaphors used in a verse " I'm so fast, like a speeding bullet" and ryhmes like " his palms are sweating, knees weak, arms are heavy, there's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spagehtti. He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready. This verse was written by eminem, and Flocabulary says that eminem was able to play with words so it ryhmes and echos off of each other.
So other things they talk about in the book are things you should do to be a better rapper, for example tips on what you should do when your rapping against someone and things you should say if your stuck on a rhyme and you need to waste the time.

--Alex Bao 203

p.s On teacherease you said I should have written these things, so I did it again.

Lefkios Antoniou said...

The book I am currently reading is called " Playing for Keeps" by Joan Lowery Nixon. This book so far is about a girl named Rose Ann who has to go on a carribean cruise with her grandmother for a bridge tournament. Rose Anns grandma didn't really need her to come she wanted to meet her friends grandson named Neil. The thing is when Rose goes on the cruise shes meets another boy she likes who is very mysterious and his uncle supposely is a cuban baseball player.

biancaj1.com said...

I am reading Sundays at tiffany's by James Patterson . This book is basically about a woman named jane who has a wild imagination and when she was little she had a imaginary friend named micheal and when she grows up she meets a man named micheal and she realizes that her imaginary friend from childhood was her one true love.

dajamoal said...

I am reading of mice and men for a second time. In the stat of the novel the author spends some time describing a very important setting in the novel with great detail.

Moses Allred
202
ela period 2

Zoe said...

I'm reading Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. The main charecter is Annabel Greene. She is isolated by her school and is ignored at home. In her modeling shoots she portrays a life that is far from her own

Zoe
Period 8

adogirl said...

I am read Romiette and Julio and a passage in the book that interested me was
" "you shoulda picked somebody black . "
"I didnt pick him . It just happened ! You don't pick who you fall for . you just fall , and when you pick yourself up , he's part of your life . Can't you understand that?"
This passage shows the theme which is tht idea that two different people of two different backgrounds can not be together. I admired Romiette's courage in standing up for her feelings with Julio because it takes a strong person to do tht

Allison OHagan
Period 1

Alyssa Marie Longo :) said...

I was reading Time to Let Go, by Lurlene McDaniel. This book makes you really think about life, and that you should be grateful. It was about Erin, and she lost her sister in a car accident. Her whole life changed after the tragity and she started to get servier headachs. This caused her to lack her teenage years a little.

I would recomend this book.

chris903 said...

i was reading harry potter and the order of the phoenix by j.k rowling. This is the third time i am reading this book, and i never get tired of it. This is a really detailed and well done book and i think people should read it.

-chris cinturati pd.8

Mike D. said...

In class I was reading a book about ancient greek mythology. The characters in the book consist of Greek gods and godesses, Greek heros and heroins, and a few mythical creatures. The book was writen in order to inform the reader of ancient Greek beliefs. There arent many quotes that describe the entire book because the book is a bunch or different storys put together into one book.

brenttttt said...

I am reading the book "Small Steps" which is the sequel to Holes. as you begin the book, you start to notice that Armpit, the main character, has changed. After he left of camp green lake, he got a job and finally has a plan for his future. Armpit's good friend X-Ray is a bad influence on Armpit and he struggles with their friendship.What this shows me is that Armpits has changed since the first book and is under peer pressure from X-ray.

Janet said...

I read "Going Bovine" by Libba Bray. The main character, Cameron Smith, is a sixteen year old boy who has the human form of the mad cow disease.

Page 132-"The bus depot has been carved out of dirty tile, ancient plastic benches, half-empty candy machines, and overflowing trash cans. It's run by people who were offered a chance at a job in hell or the bus depot and lost the coin toss. Also, it smells like piss. Some grizzled man in a janitor's uniform is swishing dirty water around on the floor with an even filthier mop."

I think this is a good passage because it describes the setting- how the bus station is really dirty and smelly.

The author uses different types of language, such as personification and simile. The main theme of this book is to live life to the fullest.