Currently I am reading a social action book called " Girls on the Edge " . It is about three girls with their stories about how their issues such as cyber-bullying, how people see them, and their experience with anorexia.

It is really sad to know that things like this actually happen. Girls starve themselves to be " Skinny ". they don't know by doing this they are putting themselves on risk of death. They want to be someone that is liked and known by people around them  "boys". They don't see that it isn't important to be themselves, they see it as i have to be like her. I think that it is more important to be yourself then pretending to be someone else just to be liked. It is not bad being yourself, like me i am not exact-ally skinny, but i don't really care because i know that there is people in this world that care for me for who i am not my weight. I am fine, living this way. I have friends.

Also people who are getting cyber bullied need to ask for help. they should know that they aren't alone. there are people in this world that can help them get through this. and always remember the people who are bulling you, do it for fun, or maybe because they are jealous, they want to hurt you purposely so it can make them feel better. don't let them take over your life. ask for help and you will get it. 

The Abandoned Book

This blog post is going to be based on a social action question: When did you find yourself resting the text? What does your resistance about you in the text ? I am going to be answering this question on this book that i abandoned The Lovely Bones by Alice Selod. In this book there is family of 5, 3 girls, a mom and a dad. One of the girls were Susie Salmon " salmon like the fish " Susie would say. Susie was murdered because she was beautiful. No one knew who murdered her and why.Except Susie of course; most people believe that after they die there soul goes up there, well instead Susie going there she went to a place that was right in between of earth and heaven. from there she would communicate with her dad.  
     I abandoned this book about halfway when the search for Susie's murderer just began. While i reading this book a fear grew inside of me, what if this happens to my family, what would i do? i started to put myself in to that book. this book showed me that you don't know whats going to happen and when it is going to happen. You should be grateful, you don't know how much you love something until it is taken away from you. Like me i constally have little fights with my sister about why she did this, or why she did that, but when she goes away to somewhere for hours and hours, i go crazy about why she isn't coming home, i show people some reason to cover the fact that i miss her. 
while i was reading this book i began thinking about what if this happened to my sister , i placed her in Susie's place and i got afraid that i won't be able to do anything about it.
this book helped me appreciate that spend your time well you never know when you are going to lose it.   

The Girl In Translation

I have just started to read a novel called GIRL In Translation by Jean Kwok. This book is about a girl who had just moved to the united states with her mother, they previously lived in Hong Kong China. They have nothing much with them, they spend all there money just to come to the united states, so the daughter can get the future that she couldn't have in China. After they come to the united states they have to live in an apartment that is similar to living in the junkyard. The mother has no qualifications for a good job, but the mother soon receives a job at a clothing factory on Canal street China Town, where she has to works twenty -four hours seven days a week to get get paid so little that their lives just goes by thinking Am i going to eat tomorrow or starve . After 1-2 weeks they move in to their disgusting apartment kim starts school knowing very few English. Once she gets to school she gets judged in a bad way by not the students but by the teacher! The teacher scolds her for not knowing what is suppose to be done. And that made her stop going to school for a week. 
  This is one really difficult thing i found in this book, how people are being judged on a daily basis which are making them feel that they don't belong. It happens to everyone, and it happens everywhere. This is something where only we can stop. People are being judged on many things on how they dress, speak, attitude, personality, and more. i was judged too, and it is not a good feeling. It makes you feel like there is nobody in this world who likes me for who i am, but hates me for how i appear to people. Some people can't stand that and does things that affects them majorly in their life. This is one difficult thing i found in my reading book  

Dear Julia

      I just started reading a book called Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser. It is about a teenager who has an incredible talent to cook. Her name is Elaine Hamilton. Elaine has a dream to become like Julia Child a famous cook. Ever since Elaine knew what she wanted to be, a cook. Her mom always told her to look for a higher target, but Elaine never  budged. Elaine never had many friends because of what she showed herself as to the world, she wears really loose blouses with tight pants and always does her hair in a ponytail. Elaine never really cared about not having friends, because she has her cooking to keep her busy. Elaine does something since she was really little is that she writes letters to Julia Cook, buts doesn't send them, just stores them in her room. The reason she does not send them because she is too shy. She writes about her cooking experiences
 and what she thinks is wrong or right.
     I find it really weird that she writes letter to Julia Child but doesn't send it. then why would she write it in the first place? Wouldn't she want to get feedback to make her cooking even better?
     Over the summer Elaine turned sixteen she met a girl named Isadora Wilhelminetta Fischburger. Isadora never liked her name, so she changed it to Lucida Sans. Lucida always wanted to become famous. She doesn't car why she would become famous, she just wanted to become famous. Which i think makes no sense because people becomes famous for specific reasons, for acting, singing, dancing, awards, etc. She has no reason. One thing i like about Lucida is that she tries her best at everything.  
     In the blurb of the book it is kind of like a problem, a math problem, Elaine Hamilton like to cook, she never wants to attract attention, she is a shy girl then why is there cameras surrounding her? How did this happen. then when i started to read the book within the first chapter  the author introduces a character { Lucida } who loves to be in the center of attention. Then i started to think did Lucida do this? Did Lucida do this to get attention? If she did do this to get attention then she is a very self-centered person. 
  
     

This World

I just read matched by Ally Condie and it was a very good book. around the beginning of the book i was think such a perfect world, it kept your life in good way, no poverty, keeps you in good shape, good education, and mainly it chooses who you are going to marry+love! there is a ceremony where they show you and introduce you to your future life partner. As i was thinking that this world is soo perfect, i started to think that maybe it is too perfect, it goes overboard, to get to know you personally they look at your dreams while you are sleeping, they give many tests. i don't think to know someone personally you have to do all this  and  then i started to notice that this world is letting you live your life instead it is living the life for you. you can't eat what you want . then i started to think that can i live her life, cassia's life?

          At first i thought it would be pretty good, you won't have to worry about a lot of stuff like illness, in this world it is very rare to get sick, you can live up to 80 90 years old. you don't have to think about cancer, or other deadly diseases. the main part is that the government just wants you to be healthy, they just want to keep the people controlled so, nothing ever goes wrong. Nothing is perfect, there has to be a flaw or it is just not real.  Then i thought about what about my life, would i want a government controlling my life and i still don't know.

         Another issue in this book is that the government gives out pills green, blue and yellow. Only the government can tell you who is eating what pills. many people eat blue pills and the green and red pills re only eaten at specific times. The people themselves don't know why are they eating the pills. in the book when they introduced the pills, i thought the pills were used to control the people, so they the people have no opinion so they can't fight against the government. also i thought that people should know what they are eating, it is not right eating stuff without not knowing what it is, to me it is like eating poison without no knowing.  Later on in the book we found out that the red pill is the pill you take when you die!- people has no choice of that either,, the government controlles that.

       In conclusion this world is meant for people who likes to be controlled and not meant for the people who likes living their own life!

Reading Response 10/25/12

I am still currently reading Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer, In this book death and food is a main issue.

 In this world we see death not a ever-day thing where as in the world of Life As We Knew It
 death is an everyday thing, dozens of people are dying per town and hundreds of thousands
 of people are dying every second in the world of life as we knew it. People dying is not as
 shocking as we know it is. We feel dying is scary, sad, mad, and in a way makes you feel
 weak , like why didn't i try to stop this, why did this happen to me etc.... In the book the
 characters  feel the same things as we do but they are used to it. like someone died, oh ok,
 they cry and its over with  ,currently in the book 3-4 character already died, [many more
 died but they weren't as important.]  

 Why are people dying ? Because of starvation, because they can not find food to eat, they
 ran out, and the people on the edge of dying pray to god to live. Where do they go to pray? 
they go to pray at a church where the Reverend asks for food for himself while the other
 people around him cannot eat 1 meal a day, where as he eats 3 meals a day. Is that what you
 call a Reverend ? Well to to me a Reverend puts people ahead him him and instead this
 Reverend puts him first then others in need. This is not what you call a Reverend  So many
 people believed in him. So why did he do that?  Did he just advantage of the people that
 believed in so much like Megan ? Megan believed in the Reverend so much, that she gave up
 eating and that same Reverend is eating, when instead he should have been helping out the
 people in need. What do YOU think? 

What If?

        What if there isn't electricity? What if school stops? What if there isn't anymore clean water? What if  more earthquakes and tsunami occurs? What if volcanoes erupt everyday? What if the moon comes closer and closer everyday? What if the world ENDS right now? Well in the book Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer, is about a normal american family trying yo survive through a time of  struggle and a time where people put them first instead of others. It is about a time where food is equal to golds and diamonds. And i think at the end of the book the most important thing will be each other and living instead of  food because they would realize that living together is more better then living by yourself because when you are together you are stronger. In the beginning of the book people ran over each other for food, but never thought of the people who are in really in need for it, even thought everyone needs it, some people need it more then others.

          In this book it there is a character Megan, who i think thought of other then her self because in the beginning of the book she gave away her lunch to people who couldn't eat a three meals a day like her. In the book Megan is a friend of Miranda { she is the narrator of the book }. Megan would always share her lunch with people in need, which is a good thing but other people only things about themselves and how they are going to provide themselves. i believe that people helps other people when people help people out in their time of struggles. So i think that at the end of the book Megan going to be in a good position. Megan believes that in god strongly. She believes that god is going to keep her alive. She is just way to dependent on god. God isn't going to save you when your in the risk of dying the people around you is and i think she needs to realize that because she is going to end up dying that way.

         What i believe is that you need people, you can't be alone,by  yourselves  at a time like this. you need to be with people. you need to help people, then then they are going to be the ones who is going to help you in the future. I think instead of Miranda thinking of herself and how she is going to survive she should think of people who are in worse condition then she is in and help them.   

Am i Dead?

   I am currently reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. In this book the main character Susie was murdered by someone in her block. in this story there is a idea about death. What is death? IS it when your physical body is dead or when you re physically dead and emotionally dead? To me dead is when you are emotionally and physically dead because when people are   physically dead, people still thinks about them, and by that you are still alive between the people who love you and care about you. But when people don't think about the people that are dead. you are dead. Other questions that i thought of while reading this book are: what happens to you after you die? where do you go? These question made me think about where do we go after we die in the real world? Are you just gone, by turning into dead organisms or is their an actually heaven or hell?  In this story Susie goes to a place that is between the earth and the clouds, but we know that is not scientifically true, so where do we go?

    Another idea i found in this book is that with love is strong . Love is what kept Susie alive. In this book Susie's father loved Susie a lot, so much he would do anything that possible for Susie to have peace. Like when her father  looking for evidence of Susie murderer, he basically turned crazy, he stayed up day and night waiting for an answer to Susie's murder. Also when he broke all the ships he made with his father and Susie, he basically threw away his passion. His love for Susie was so strong that he still had a connection with Susie even her being dead. Another thing that made me think that is the love that Ray had for Susie. Even though in the beginning of book he falsely got blamed for Susie's death, he didn't speak up not even once. what i think is that he didn't even care, all he knew was that he loved her, and thats that. Susie was always thought of, and so she never died. 

      In this book the main character Susie was never dead because she was thought of, she was alive between her mother, father, and her sister. I think in the real world loved people never die, because they're loved one also keep them alive but people who were bad in there life they are the ones who die and are forgotten.  

           

       

Am I Blue?

In the story Am I Blue? by Bruce Coville, the main character Vincent is always getting teased and bullied because people thinks he is gay. In this story there is another character, Butch the bully, Butch mainly bullies Vincent. I think Butch bullies Vince because Butch has some fear or something making him feel scared and small in a way, because bullies bully people because there is something making them feel insecure, so they bully people to feel big and superior.
      In this story there is another character Melvin, is the the fairy-godfather of Vince. In this story Melvin is the mentor and i think the author Bruce Coville included Melvin, so he can use the character Melvin to get to tell his thoughts about the issue being GAY, like a speaker.
     in this story the author is giving us a message which i think is Don't be Scared to Stand out. One example that leads me to this message is the idea of being gay. i think Bruce used this example because of most of us don't see or interact with gay people on a daily basis. To show that how many people in the world are gay, he used Melvin the fairy god-father to turn all the gay people in the world blue, and in the story it quotes " People were turning blue from coast to coast." to me this quote tells me that the author trying to say that people in the world are different, like being gay as an example, but that doesn't mean that we should exclude them or push them away, so what they are different, we were with them this whole time without knowing that there are different in a way from the rest of us, so why not now? It doesn't change them as who they are, so why should we treat them different? This is what i found in the excerpt " if gay people hadn't been forced to hide for so long, if we can just openly identify ourselves" And "Everybody knows gay people they just think they don't.
     Everybody in this world is different, it what makes us, us. it what makes us interesting, stand out from the rest and that is totally fine. Even if it is being red-headed or gay, it different and it is good. If being different makes you happy, go ahead and stand out. This is what i believe. 
        

Drummer Boy of Shiloh

         In the short story the Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury the setting takes place the night before the battle of Shiloh. In this story the main character, Joby is the youngest out of everyone in war, and that is his main issue. In the story Joby is given the position of the drummer boy and with that position he thinks he can't do much because all he has is a drum and two sticks, but all these thoughts turn the other way after Joby meets the general. The general advises Joby a lot of things, and the generals advice makes me feel that he is trying to tell Joby that your position or your age doesn't matter in war what actually matters is  how hard you work to succeed in war. I think this because in the story the general advises Joby a lot of things, but Joby's age doesn't come up even once, the general advised Joby how to succeed in war, even though not knowing his age. This is why i think of your position or your age doesn't matter in war what actually matters is  how hard you work to succeed in war.
    One big change i realize in Joby is that Joby turned to boy to man through out the whole story. For instance in the beginning of the story Joby was thinking about how all the other soldiers will die and he is the only one that is going to come back, this shows that Joby doesn't yet realize how serious war actually is, and things going good can turn bad in one minute.He also thought that with a drum and two sticks he can't make a difference in war, but by the end of the story Joby realizes the seriousness about war and he can make a difference with a drum and two sticks. Joby also got that confidence, which he didn't have in the beginning of the story. for example in the beginning of the story his words was" I think so sir" and at the end his words was "Yes sir". Theses two quotes show that in the beginning Joby was unsure and at the end it shows he gained more confidence.
   i think Joby gained this confidence from the relationship between the general and himself, because after the pep talk with the general Joby realized all this that your position or your age doesn't matter in war, what actually matters is  how hard you work to succeed in war. Also that all positions are all equally important either if you are the drummer boy or the general. i think the author explains that in the quote " you're the heart of the army". To me it explains that without a drummer boy there is no army and that the drums are the heart of the army.
      All i think Joby needed was a boast of confidence and that is what he got, and that  realized that he IS needed and he IS important.
       
    

Blog Post # 1- Hollow By Jessica Verday

   During Summer Vacation i was reading a book called Hollow By Jessica Verday. In this book the main
character Abbey had a best friend Kristen who had been missing for 3 days in a row. Many people
believed that it was a drugs that killed her because years before Kristen's brother went missing  and the
 parents later found out it was the drugs that killed him. Abbey, Kristen's best friend didn't believe that, and this is what this book is mainly about, why and how did Kristen died? 
 While trying to find out how and why Kristen died, Abbey met Caspian, a gorgeous looking boy, but something about him was mysterious, one thing was that was unusual about him was  there was no way to find him or contact him, but to abbey that didn't matter, but to me that seemed as a sign, that he didn't want to be found and that also lead me to the idea That he might have not have an true identity.  
      Later on in the story Abbey falls in love with Caspian. Which i didn't agree with, because it wasn't right to fall with someone easily not knowing who he/she actually are, because later when you know the real truth you are going to break your own heart. Which happened to Abbey and Kristen, but in the end Kristen ending up drowning herself in the river. to Abbey i think this part of her life was really important because that made her more alert in the future. 
     To me this book is a really good example of getting to know the person before you start growing up a relationship with the person, as a friend or someone special, because it show how hurtful and heart-breaking it can be.