The Secret Garden 3/3-3/7

Pages: 230 out of 380
Prompt Test Readiness: analyze what motivates the main character's behavior

                         Introduction to the Secret Garden 

       The Secret Garden has to do with the life of a stubborn and miserable little girl called Mary Lennox. She lives in a large building with her parents, Ayah, and servants in the country of India. After a few days she realizes that her Ayah has died because of a rare disease. This diseases spreads and suddenly everyone in the building dies and poor little Mary Lennox is left alone. A group of officers discover her and they sent Mary to live with her uncle in London, England. She arrives in Misselthwaite Manor and she realizes that her servants aren't that obedient. Her head servant Martha tells Mary that once Mr. Craven's wife (Mary's uncle) had a garden that grew marvelous roses. Once Mrs. Craven sat on top of a tree branch she fell and died. Mr.Craven locked the garden, hid the key, and he makes sure that door will never be open. Later in the story Mary discovers the key and opens the garden which has rose roots growing out of the earth.

             What truly motivated Mary's behavior?

   In the beginning of the book Mary has such a rude behavior that some of the servants actually wanted to die. In my opinion I think that Mary acted this way because her parents ignored poor little Mistress Mary and her mother only thought about her beauty. At first Mary explains that she hated everything and everyone was because of the hot humid air of India. This terrible air caused her headaches which made her miserable and once she even slapped her Ayah. She hated life and she proved this by stepping on beauty blooming flowers during the beautiful daylight. I think that Mary hated life was because no one payed attention to her. The hot air might have not caused Mary's hatred, I think that the amount of food that Mary ate truly caused her pain. The book mentions that Mary barely ate and when she did she always complained about everything. The last thing that Mary hates is being with other people.


        How did the Garden truly change Mary?

   I mention in my last sentence that Mary hates being with people and the reason is because of a group of little children. At one point in the story Mary had to live with a miller and his family. The kids in this family used to annoy her by singing "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary" and truly made Mary contrary. When Mary arrived in the Manor the gardens in the house changed her because all she needed was cool clean air. After two months in the manor Mary cared more about people and she lived her life to the fullest. She enjoyed life and the person who inspired Mary was Martha's brother Dickson. Dickson is like an animal charmer and he made sure that Mary enjoyed life instead hating it. She mentions that she cares about Martha, Dickson, Martha's Mother, Ben Weatherstaff, and the beautiful robin. Martha told Mary that if she keeps hating life she'll end up like her uncle Mr. Craven. Those are the people that motivated Mary's behavior.

I put a picture of a red-chest robin because this little guy was the first friend that Mary ever made. This bird almost acts humans because he starts conversations with his chirping. He also lightens up people's day by landing on their shoulder or simply occupying them to their next destination. This bird even lighten up the day of poor cranky Ben Weatherstaff.

This week I will comment on Maria, Stanley, and Jesus's Blogs. 

The Muckthyical Land of Fairy Tales

Shark Girl Week of 12-24/12-28

Pages: 0-288 (end)
Prompt Miscellaneous: Does the title fit the story

                       Introduction to Shark Girl 
   
       The book I read this week was about a teenager that had to have her arm amputated in order to survive. One sunny day Jane Arrowood and her family go to the breezy beach of California where a terrible accident occurs. Jane goes swimming when suddenly a shark attacks her but luckily her brother Michael was able to save her life. Her arm is mortally injured and it needs to be amputated in order for Jane to survive. She spends more than a month in the hospital where people from around the country pound her with letters and flowers. On the news they show a horrible video of Jane which makes her go into a great depression. She has physical therapy with her therapist Mel and there she meets a boy named Justin. Jane is inspired by Justin because he doesn't really care if people ask him if he is okay or if they bother him about he legs. Throughout the book Jane seems to grow angry with her friends and family but she eventually finds the good side of the shark girl.


           Is Shark Girl a good title?

    In my opinion I think that the title does fit the title because it talks about a girl who has enough courage to survive her encounter with a shark. When I first read this book I though the title had to do with a nickname that people called Jane in order to make fun of her. When I walked around with this book many people that this book had to with a girl who becomes a shark. For example when we think of Spider-Man we immediately think about a superhero and the title Shark Girl could have confused people with a superhero. The title is a good title because it gives curiosity to the reader by providing information on why this book is called Shark Girl. Throughout the book Jane gives clues in her poems by calling herself a shark girl because she mentions that she is not perfect and nobody can do anything to change her. For example in the book Jane's friends Angie wants to change her but she doesn't let her guard down and she defends herself.
             
              What does Shark Girl really mean?

   In this book the term "Shark Girl" represents the personality and traits of Jane Arrowood. Jane grows anger and hatred in the book because of the name shark girl but she realizes that the name suits her fine. The only thing that Jane wants to do is show the world who she really is because in her opinion she is not inspiring. One day Good Morning America invites Jane to be in the show in order to share some of her inspiring words but she is furious because the show doesn't want to show Jane's true personality. For example even her family and friends want her to be someone that she's not, the only person that understands her is Justin. Jane realizes that Justin is the only one who saved her from her depression because he truly understood her situation. In the book they mention that Justin lost his two legs in an accident and he really does care what people say. Overall I think that the title does fit the story.

This might be obvious why I put a picture of a shark but later in the book the shark symbolizes more than just a dangerous beast. Jane feels that she grew stronger when she was attacked by the shark even though she can't do her favorite things anymore. The shark attack woke up Jane to reality because she finally realizes that she is not perfect.
                           

This week I will comment on Gianna, Carlos, and Jenna's Blogs. 

Reflection Blog

                                                          The Books of the Year
           
                   My first blog was about "My Favorite Book of All Time" and I feel liked I improved my writing in my other blog posts. In my first blog I wrote about my opinions on the book Wonder and ever since that blog I started to write more on my blogs. I've been providing more information in my paragraphs, and I learned more about the features on Blogger.  I use to write very little paragraphs and now I've been writing huge paragraphs. I used to write my comments in my blog and then in my fourth blog I learned that I needed to write my comments in another place. I think I've been less descriptive in my newest blogs because I used to provide a bunch of specific details in my second blog post. I also improved in my book choice because now I'm starting to read books that are more challenging and I get books that have good vocabulary. I even challenged myself in counting one book as a book even if it has more than 350 pages.

                           

           


        I noticed from my first five blogs that I've started to read faster and my vocabulary skills have improved. I used to write three blogs about a book that had more than 400 pages and now sometimes I only write one blog for one book. I remember that I wrote three blogs on the book Fire Star but recently I only did one blog on the book Life of Pi and that book was 401 pages. I have been picking better pictures that describe the book's characteristics because I intend to put a picture of the book's symbol instead of the book's cover. In 3rd and 4th Quarter I want to be persuasive because lately I've noticed that my blogs are too dull. In future blogs I intend to use more of Blogger's special features, for example videos or links to websites that relate to the book. My final goal is to use new/challenging vocabulary, not only to make the blog interesting but also to improve my use of the English language.


      My favorite blog was the second blog for the book Darth Plagueis. I felt like I used a bunch of figurative language and I used a lot of new vocabulary. This blog is my favorite because I feel like this is the only blog that actually stands out because of its specific details and literary elements. For example I perfectly describe the sequence of events and I put a picture that bring the book's potential to its fullest. I remembered that I put a picture of a master and a apprentice because it symbolized the relationship between Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious. When I went back to read this blog I noticed that I had two important question. The first question was; is this part of a series? My answer to you is no this book is just a prequel to the first Star Wars movie. The last question was; why did you choose to read this book? I choose to read this book because I am a Star Wars fan and this book reveals secrets that were never answered in the movies.

A Journey through the Land of My Past Books for the 40-Book Challenge
Movie Trailers and Interesting Websites
How To Make a Fortune Wookie  - The Secret of the Fortunate Wookie
Scroll down for the trailer of Wonder - Wonder
Information about the book Fire Star  - Fire Star
Learn about It's Kind of a Funny Story Movie
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
Trailer for the Grimm Conclusion

                               

The Watsons Go To Birmingham 2/17-2/21

Pages: 0-210 (end)
Prompt Test Readiness: Evaluate whether the main character would be worthy of your friendship

                     Introduction/Ending of The Watsons Go To Birmingham

     The book tells about an African-American middle class family and their struggles during the darkest times of America. In this book everybody knows them as the "Weird Watsons" and the book basically has to do with the adventures/misadventures of this weird and loving family. The parents of this family Daniel and Wilona Watson have been fed up with the repulsive behavior of their oldest son Byron Watson. The other two kids are like angels from the middle child Kenny Watson and the youngest child Joetta Watson.  Mr. and Mrs. Watson decide that Byron should be sent to Birmingham to live with Wilona's mom Grandma Sands. They want to teach Byron that life will never be easy to you especially during 1963 and they think living in the south might help him grow. The Weird Watsons take a road trip to Alabama and they luckily get there safety. In Birmingham it seems to be calm until Sunday school when a tragic event takes place.


     In the book  The Watsons Go To Birmingham most of the main characters are the children of Daniel and Wilona. My favorite character and a character that would be worthy of my friendship would be Kenny Watson the middle child of the Watson Family. Kenny is the only half teenager that actually has a childish behavior and activities. For example Kenny is able to make friends with new people very fast and he seems to enjoy learning about history. In my opinion I do make new friends fast but it's very rare that I have new student become friends with me in one day. Kenny is able to do this when a new student called Rufus suddenly like magic becomes a magnetic field to Kenny. Another reason I think Kenny would be worthy of my friendship is because Kenny is the only person in that book that is kind adventurous , and caring. I think that Byron and Joetta should be happy to have a kind brother like Kenny in their family.

   The last reason why I would like Kenny Watson as my friend is because he likes to explore and be adventurous. The book tells about Kenny discovering facts about World War I and World War II by playing with his dinosaurs. He has two sets of dinosaurs one is the Americans and the other pile is the Nazis, he does this in order to discover how life was like for soldiers in these wars. Instead of making a reenactment of a war, I look up interesting facts on the internet mostly historical people or historical events. Another thing that makes Kenny similar to me is that he actually believes what other people say. In the book Kenny's brother Byron tells him that the evil twin of Winnie the Pooh lives in the dark waters of a swimming pool in Birmingham. Kenny believes this and he merely drowns in the water but luckily he was saved. I once listened to my sister about an old legend and at the end I was the one who got scared.

I put a picture of the Birmingham Church Bombing because that was the big event that happened at the end of the book. Joetta Watson went to her Sunday school when suddenly a loud boom shook Birmingham which made Kenny run to the church. He couldn't find his sisters but he learned that four little girls were killed in the accident. In the end Kenny finds out that Joetta survived the bomb and luckily she was unharmed.

     This week I will comment on Julia, Steven, and Isabella's Blogs.          

"The Weird Mint" - Found Poem

       

This might be a bad picture of a mint but the poem seems to symbolize more than just a simple mint. 

He climbed and walked

skittish nearness a stranger.

Looking aware of 

the warm over the coolness beneath the scent of mint

Protected in semidarkness sucking a spearmint

nipping her lips.  

                                                                                              

The poem symbolizes the new friendship of a couple of strangers. A man is walking alone but witnesses a female stranger and he decides to give her the gift a mint. This means that they have created a brand new friendship. The theme of the poem is kindness because the man in this poem greatly gives a stranger the gift of a mint. It seems that the whole poem is about kindness because the man is willing to share food with a complete stranger. The message of this poem is that people shouldn't be afraid to make new friends they must know how to socialize. Another message is that people should be more social because with the tech increasing the anti-social people are also increasing. The main point of this poem is to teach about being more social and making sure that "sharing is caring". A person must reconcile with every single person and to never change the personality of another human. 

     

"The Books of Stephen King" : Spine Poem

 It might be blurry but the books are Salem's Lot, The Dead of Night, The Shining, IT, Haunting

The theme of this spine poem is horror because almost all of these books are best-selling horror books. These books in my opinion have to do with the new generation of horror books because nowadays most horror novels are bloodier/thrilling. The old generation of horror books had to do more with advancement of technology or real based events. For example novels like Frankenstein or Dracula have to do with modern technology. The message of this poem is to teach other people about best-selling books and the adventures that are revealed in these books. I personally picked IT because that it is the longest book I've ever read (1,090 pages). My challenge is to read a book that is even more longer (War and Peace). The main point of my poem was to open up the eyes of people and describe how the genre of horror has changed over the past 100 years.