Similar, but Different

   Hello, welcome to another book blog. Today's topic is comparing and contrasting. And today's books are Forget Me by K.A. Harrington and Sammy Keys and The Sisters of Mercy by Wendelin Van Draanen, both that are favorite books of mine. One students comes home from school and relieved it was a good day. No one bothered them and they only had to worry about their schoolwork. The students wishes they had more good days, but that doesn't happen often. Why? It's because the students are being bullied at school. Other students call them names or physically hurt them and it happens constantly. Also, not many people will even try to help them. They do not tell their parents and tried to deal everything by themselves, it can be difficult, some days are harder than others. How can these students try to deal with their problem, without any help? The answer is you can't. The main problem is they don't realize that there are different other ways to help get through bullying.

   On a few occasion student that were being bullied, or their friend, came and told me about the situation," Ms. Belkov a teacher that works at Heritage Middle School. This demonstrates that a students have spoken up and talk to a trusted adult. Telling an adult if you are being bullied can be a difficult thing to do because they're scared that the bullying will get worse, so most bullying victims will avoid it.But a HMS eighth grade student, Jessica Sanchez, states her mom helped her get through the bullying. She said "I talked to my mom each day and told me to stay positive and honestly it helped me so much!" This indicates that telling a trusted adult can help you get through bullying because the parent will most likely try to help and give you advice. Although Jessica did end up having depression, so she was being bullied, she tried helping herself get through this, by mostly talking to her mother. But that wasn't her only way to help herself from being bullied. Jessica says she would "try hiding from the people who were trying to hurt me," this strategy has also helped her with being bullies.

I tried to ignore the problem," said another eighth grade student, Jared Almaguer. Jared had also said that she told her parents, but ignoring the bullying and paying attention to more important things has helped her the most. This revels that there can be other ways to help get through bullying beside tell a trusted adult. Also, Jared did get depression. "I pay more attention to the present then to the bad memories of the past," Jared told the interviewer.

  In sixth grade a couple of my friends were saying mean things to my other friend," said another eighth grade student, Christy Arreci, who has not been bullied, but was a bystander. At first she said "stop" to the girls, but it didn't work, so she just pulled her friend away from the girls. She also thinks that she could have done something else. "I think I could have maybe talked to them more instead of just saying 'stop' because it didn't actually help." Christy was asked a question about how she would help a friend with depression, since she wasn't bullied. "I would talk to them, tell their parents, make them feel like their not alone and they have help, or distract them, try not to make them think about the bullying." After interviewing it became more clear that bullying can happen to anyone at anytime and sometimes lead to depression. How do you stop bullying? First of all you can't stop it, but, you can help yourself get through it. There are different types of ways to help you get through bullying and depression. The mostly likely thing to do is tell your parents, or a teacher, aunt, uncle, a trusted adult basically. It can even be a friend. The adult will most likely help you, by either giving you advice, talk to the person who is bullying you, or maybe both. Mostly telling someone can be helpful, because you don't have to feel like your alone, you have people to support you. Jessica Sanchez, one of the people that was interviewed, asked her mom for help and did end up getting it the help she needed. If you are being bullied try telling someone, let it at out, and get the right help you need. 

 

Mind Is Blown!!!

   Welcome back! Today's book blog is going to be about the book Sammy Keys and The Sisters of Mercy by Wendelin Van Draanen. I know I always says that "this is the best book I've ever read," or "I love the detail in the book, making me love the book even more." But this time I really mean it. This book is about a girl named Sammy and she tries to solve the mystery that happened at the church she volunteers at for school purposes. So far (because I have not finished the book yet) the main mystery is who stole a cross that is very dear to Father Mayhew, the priest. He automatically accuses Sammy because she was the only other person at the church besides him. But the truth is, she didn't actually take the cross. Since I have not finished the book yet, I have no idea what will happen next. BUT I do have a prediction on who actually took the cross, which is the whole point of this blog. Anyways let's go!
   Like I said before I have not finished the book, I am 47 pages in, so barley in the beginning, but this is the point of having predictions. At the moment the thief could be anyone, but not Sammy because the book is through her point of view. Her two friends, Dot and Marissa, because they don't really know that much about the church she volunteers at, St. Mary's, and only know what Sammy tells them. So, that leaves 6 suspects, the three sisters of mercy, Brother Phil, Father Mayhew, and this girl that I don't know her name, yet. Out of the six I believe the thief is the unknown girl (we'll call her that.) Why? Let me show you my evidence.
   The main reason why I choose her out of the rest is because she look a lot like Sammy. In the book she says "She's my size and her hair's back in a ponytail, just like mine, and she's not there with her mom or dad-she's all by herself." Also, "She was wearing high-tops. Like mine only older." After that second quote Father Mayhew called Sammy to his office to discuss about the missing cross. This shows that since the unknown girl look a lot like Sammy, Father Mayhew thought it was her, making it seem that Sammy was the thief. And there is another quote that Dot said, which was "Who was that girl with the blue backpack? For a s second I thought this was you." This also proves that the unknown girl took the cross,
   My second reason is also reasonable, but also sad. After the girl leaves the soup kitchen, which is also where Sammy volunteers at, Dot, Marissa, and Sammy decided to follow her to see where she lives because she was the same age as Sammy and she wants to know why the girl is in a soup kitchen. As they follow her, they get father and father away from where they live, like 2 miles away. As the sun goes down they end up following her through a field, into a riverbed, and see her crawl into a refrigerator box. The girls and I found out that the girl is homeless. What hurt the most was she was around the same age as Sammy, Dot, and Marissa. Anyways, the fact that she is homeless shows that maybe she stole the cross so she could sell it and get some money for it and buy things like food or clothes. It could have some worth of money. Either way I predict that the unknown girl took and used it more things she needs, since she is homeless. Also, since she looks like Sammy, Sammy might be accused of other stuff she stole, I guess we will never know.
   And that is the end of the blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it and maybe want to check this book out yourself to see what happens next. Is my prediction correct or not? We'll have to wait and see.

Mystery Time!

Welcome back! Today's book blog is going to be about the book Sammy Keys and The Sisters of Mercy by Wendelin Van Draanen. I know I always says that "this is the best book I've ever read," or "I love the detail in the book, making me love the book even more." But this time I really mean it. This book is about a girl named Sammy and she tries to solve the mystery that happened at the church she volunteers at for school purposes. So far (because I have not finished the book yet) the main mystery is who stole a cross that is very dear to Father Mayhew, the priest. He automatically accuses Sammy because she was the only other person at the church besides him. But the truth is, she didn't actually take the cross. Since I have not finished the book yet, I have no idea what will happen next. BUT I do have a prediction on who actually took the cross, which is the whole point of this blog. Anyways let's go!
   Like I said before I have not finished the book, I am 47 pages in, so barley in the beginning, but this is the point of having predictions. At the moment the thief could be anyone, but not Sammy because the book is through her point of view. Her two friends, Dot and Marissa, because they don't really know that much about the church she volunteers at, St. Mary's, and only know what Sammy tells them. So, that leaves 6 suspects, the three sisters of mercy, Brother Phil, Father Mayhew, and this girl that I don't know her name, yet. Out of the six I believe the thief is the unknown girl (we'll call her that.) Why? Let me show you my evidence.
   The main reason why I choose her out of the rest is because she look a lot like Sammy. In the book she says "She's my size and her hair's back in a ponytail, just like mine, and she's not there with her mom or dad-she's all by herself." Also, "She was wearing high-tops. Like mine only older." After that second quote Father Mayhew called Sammy to his office to discuss about the missing cross. This shows that since the unknown girl look a lot like Sammy, Father Mayhew thought it was her, making it seem that Sammy was the thief. And there is another quote that Dot said, which was "Who was that girl with the blue backpack? For a s second I thought this was you." This also proves that the unknown girl took the cross,
   My second reason is also reasonable, but also sad. After the girl leaves the soup kitchen, which is also where Sammy volunteers at, Dot, Marissa, and Sammy decided to follow her to see where she lives because she was the same age as Sammy and she wants to know why the girl is in a soup kitchen. As they follow her, they get father and father away from where they live, like 2 miles away. As the sun goes down they end up following her through a field, into a riverbed, and see her crawl into a refrigerator box. The girls and I found out that the girl is homeless. What hurt the most was she was around the same age as Sammy, Dot, and Marissa. Anyways, the fact that she is homeless shows that maybe she stole the cross so she could sell it and get some money for it and buy things like food or clothes. It could have some worth of money. Either way I predict that the unknown girl took and used it more things she needs, since she is homeless. Also, since she looks like Sammy, Sammy might be accused of other stuff she stole, I guess we will never know.
   And that is the end of the blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it and maybe want to check this book out yourself to see what happens next. Is my prediction correct or not? We'll have to wait and see.

Disney's Tale

   Recently I finished a book called The Man Behind the Magic; The Story of Walt Disney by Katherine and Richard Greene. Basically it is a biography about Walt Disney, the creator of all things Disney (obviously). This is the first biography book I've read and it's kind of cool. I got to learn more about Disney's life before Disney Studios was created. I'm not saying I enjoy biography books, to be honest, I'm not really a fan. I'm more on the fiction side. Anyways the book was still interesting. I manage to find a pretty good theme in the book, that can also be a good life lesson. Shall we start?

   It's obvious that one book can have more than one theme, but I think this one is a good one. I found it reading one quote in the book that I thought summarizes the book and Disney's life. The quote said "For nearly forty years, ever since he was a boy, he had worked at merciless pace. Now, it was time to play."  I found out that merciless means "showing no mercy or pity." Anyways I chose this quote as the theme to the story because it makes sense. This quote means that Walt has been working very pitifully for a long time and now it's time to have some fun and enjoy life. Also, I chose this quote because, to me, it meant not to think about the pass and think about the present, which is what I think it theme is. Mostly because of the tragedy that happened on November of 1938. 

   Disney's mother have been complaining about a gas smell that has been roaming inside the house for weeks. Disney got it fixed, but that wasn't enough. In November the gas fumes have flooded the house and his moth passed out in the floor because of it, same with his father. Someone found out what was going on, since she felt dizzy herself. She ran for hell and did the best they could to get Flora and Elias (Disney's mom and dad) out of the house. They managed to get both of them out, but sadly Disney's mother could not make it. Disney was forever devastated to what happened to his mother and lost focus on Disney's Studios, and gotten depression. This is a very tragic thing that happened to Disney or to anyone, but this is where the theme comes in. After all of this tragedy Disney had to bring himself back up and focus on what's in front of him, which was Disney's Studios. It was time for him to enjoy what he created and see where it end us, it was time to play.

   Ta-da that was my blog on what up I thought the theme was for the biography book about Walt Disney. It was kind of hard to think about what the theme is, mostly because it was a biography book and my mind when completely blank. Anyways I really enjoyed writing this blog and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Maybe you should give this book a read if you are interested in Walt Disney and is past life, I sure did learn a lot. Some good, some bad, some right in middle. But either way I learned something, which is good and you should learn something about Walt Disney, the man who creates childhood and imagination.

Can't. Stop. Reading.

   Hello everyone, hope everything is going well. Now today is going to another book blog. This blog is going to be about the book Forget Me by K.A. Harrington. By reading the title you probably think this book is sad, or dramatic. But actually the genre of this book is mystery, which is one of my new favorite genre. Basically this book is about a girl named Morgan who just lost her boyfriend Flynn in a hit-and-run accident. Her friend, Toni, tries to cheer her up by telling Morgan to post a goodbye message for Flynn on FriendShare (basically a Facebook). Morgan agrees to do it and when she put a picture of him on the post it says "Is this Evan Murphy?" Confused, Morgan looks at a picture of Evan and he looks exactly like Flynn. What does this mean? Is Flynn hiding something? Did he lie about his death? After that she starts getting suspicious about his death and tries to uncover what actually happened. You want to know what happenes next? Read the book to find out (hehehe)! Anyway this blog is going to be about the conflicts Morgan had internally and externally, so let's get started.

   Let's table about internal first. In case you don't know what internal conflict are, it is the problems that are going on inside your head or your emotions. And Morgon defiantly had internal problems. One of the, being her boyfriend dying from a hit-and-run accident. It's obvious that someone can have emotional problems about someone you love had just died. Morgan's main internal problem is moving on. This can also happen when someone break up with you. You feel as if you've lost a part of yourself, you feel empty when having a missing piece that someone took away. Even though Morgan and Flynn had just been dating each other for about two months she still feels sad about it. Throughout the book Morgan always has memories of Flynn. He was always in the back of her head, mostly because she was trying to discover the truth about Flynn and his death. When they first meet, when they would talk, when they hung out ect. For example, on page 130 it says "Thinking about Flynn, the day we met, when the lies began." Clearly this means that Morgan still thinks about him and how hurt she is that he's gone, but she's not physically hurt she's emotional hurt, which is internally. And now external.

   The external conflict Morgan had in the book was her town, River's End. River's End is a dying town in the book. Stores, companies, and entertainment places being closed. Even homes for sale are being abandoned because so many people have left. Also, a lot of jobs are being lost. All of this is happening because of one company, that shut down a few years ago. Most of the people in town including Morgan's parents work there and when the company shut down everything started to crumble. Not many people could find jobs, but luckily Morgan's parents had jobs. The problem was that Morgan's mom had two jobs and her dad, one, both work long hours, so they can pay the bills. Since there working for long hours they're not at home as often, Morgan usually eats dinner alone, which does feel lonely. Also, because they work for long hours, they're being seperated. What I mean is they don't have time to talk to Morgan or If Morgan wants to talk go them, they're losing each other's trust and reliability. For example, on page 197 Morgan says "My parents were out. I hated this rift forming between us." This proves that the relationship between Morgan and her parents isn't strong and it's getting weaker.

   There we go, that was my book blog about the internal and external conflicts that were in the book Forget Me by K.A. Harrington. This book is truly one of my favorites. To me, it was the best mystery book I've ever read. My favorite part was the ending, so epic, it felt like that part was from a movie. Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and might give this book a little read. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did.

Under the Looks

   Hooray! I recently just finished an amazing book called Echo by Pam Munoz Ryam. This book is hand off one of the best books I've ever read, besides The Grimm Conclusion. However, this book has its differences. For one, this book has 587 pages, which makes this longest book I've ever read. Also, there are no grim things in the boo k. And the point of view in the book is different also (blog on that coming soon!) Anyways this book is about three different people and their story, Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy. All of three of them have a taste in music, and a harmonica. And this harmonica isn't just any harmonica, it's a special harmonica. How is it special, you ask? Well, one is when played it sounds as if there are other instruments playing with it. Also, the letter M is on the harmonica. And each time the character play it, it takes them to another world,
 But, their story takes place in different times and places. For example Friedrich's story/life takes place in Trossingen, Baden-Wurttemberg German, in the year 1933. While Ivy's story/life takes place in Southern California, USA, in the year 1942. This book definitely has its ups and downs, which makes me made, but still want to continue reading. Try giving this book a read, and hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did! However, this is not what I wanted to blog about. I want to blog about the similarities and differences this book, specifically Friedrich's life, has compared with the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
   The book Wonder is about a boy who has a disability, which makes him look different than other people. He also talks about the difficulties he has with being different than everyone else and having to deal with his newest obstacle, school. This is kind of similar to Friedrich's story in the book Echo. He doesn't have a disability, but he does have a birthmark on his cheek, that make people look at him. A quote form the book says "But there was no hiding his blotchy birthmark. It was as if an imaginary line had been drawn down the middle of his face and neck. And on one side, his skin was like everyone else's, but on the other, a painter had dabbed shades of purple, red, and brown, turning his cheek into a mottled plum. He knew he looked horrid. How could he blame people for staring or being frightened?" This quote shows that the book Echo and Wonder are similar because it was their appearance that caught people's eye. Disability or not people started at what was different from them.
   Even though there are similarities between Echo and Wonder, there can be differences too and one being the theme. The theme is the message or moral of a story. One of the themes in the book Wonder is just because someone looks different than you, doesn't mean that you both have similarities. Mostly because throughout the middle to the end of the book, all goes well for August and people ended up seeing him beyond his face. And one possible theme for the book Echo is what goes around, comes around. There are other possible themes in the book, I just think that one fits the book. To prove you guys that what goes around, comes is a possible theme for the book Echo, I will have to look at the last part of the book. Before a new part in the story starts it shows tells the reader the month, year, and place the next story takes place, with a song on the next page. The song in part four of the book is called Some Enchanted Evening. The lyrics in the book perfectly explains why I think the theme of the book is what goes around, comes around. The lyrics say "Some enchanted evening. You may see a stranger. You may see a stranger, across a crowed room. And somehow you know. You know even then. That somewhere you'll see him again and again." This song from the book is important because it's saying that someone or some people are reuniting in the book. And the people ended up meeting after using an object, that was given away for the next musical person to use in the next few years. As you can see the theme for the book Wonder is different from the book Echo. Wonder focuses more on August's story, like is struggles and good days. While Echo focuses more on three different people who are musical and only one of the people worry about how they look, in front of other people.
   There you go. Those were some similarities and differences I found in the book Echo compared to the book Wonder. If you do end up reading Echo or even Wonder, I hope you enjoy it. Echo does have happy parts and sad parts and ruin the happy parts, but makes you keep reading, I still kept reading and I ended up finishing the longest book I've ever read. I wonder if I'll read any books longer than that. Did you read any books longer than 587 pages? Also, if you already read Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan, did you enjoy it or hated it? I know I said this ten times, but I did really enjoy it, and really hope you do to.

Spring Break Problems

   Hello everyone, I hope you guys are having a great day! So today I checked the weather, and this week is going to be around the 50's. To me, that's exciting because it tells me that Spring is coming closer, and I don't have to worry about freezing to death when I walk home from school. It'll just be relaxing smelling the nice fresh air. Since Spring is almost around the corner, that also means Spring break is coming closer too. I have two emotions when a Spring break comes to mind, happy/ excited and sad/nervous. "Why, Spring break is suppose to be relaxing and cheerful because you get a whole week off of school," is what you're saying or thinking and I have to agree. But also, disagree. Why? Multiple reasons. One, I usually don't do anything in Spring Break, just watch YouTube videos all day. Two, I possibly will not go outside because I am quite lazy. Three, after Spring Break there are going to be very few weeks until the quarter ends, so I have to get stuff done before that, which can be a little stressful.

   However, I would like to do something interesting during Spring break. Like go outside at least once, or going outside and draw/paint. Unless the weather is bad, then I can draw/paint or throw a ball around and try to catch it (without breaking anything.) Do you have any ideas about what I can do for Spring break, besides watch YouTube videos. Also, nothing too extreme, something nice,calming, and entertaining. Anyways, do you guys have any plans for Spring break that similar or different than mine, which you probably do, considering I'm doing absolutely nothing interesting. How about we just believe that you and I will have a decent Spring break, and enjoy the relaxing week off school.

The Truth

   Welcome back to my final blog on signpost I found in the book, The Grimm Conclusion by Adam Gidwitz! Today's signpost blog is going to be about A-HA Moments. In case you don't know A-HA moments happen when the character(s) in your book realizes, understands, or figures something out. It's like in Scooby Doody-Doo when the gang finds out who the "ghost," is. Or in Criminal Minds, when the gang find out who the killer is. Or in Toy Story, when Buzz and Woody find out they're not that different at all, and they're equal. So, it's kind of like the end of a Disney movie, everything is solved and they all live happily ever after. Anyways, let's get onto the point. In the book, I found that the A-HA is when Jorinda and Joringel realize that the "advice" their mother gave them wasn't good adivce at all. However when I hold it I saw that they're split in two different pages. On one page it is the beginning of the realization and on the other is the actual A-HA moment. If you don't understand, then just give me a minute or two, to explain. Now let us begin.

   The first A-HA moment I found is kind of a mini A-HA moment, like I said, the start of the realization. This happens on 218, when the children talk to the man. I've talk about this man in part one of the signpost blogs (Good and Bad Words). He is the one who said the good words of the wiser to Jorinda and Joringel. But I didn't mention that it was also an A-HA moment, or at least a tiny one. He says to the children "All I'm trying to say is that it's okay to feel things sometimes. In fact, I think feeling things, even painful things, can be good." This advice shows that the children are beginning to understand that their mother's adivce isn't good adivce, a   This quote from the book is the actual A-HA moment Jorinda and Joringel had. On page 270, Jorinda and Joringel are talking to a creature and his grandmother (trying not to spoil.) The grandmother wanted the children to tell their story because she wanted to know why they were there in the first place. They tell their story, which probably took a long time, and when they finished the grandmother felt bad for them. She said their mother neglected them and the children disagree. Jorinda and Joringel blame themselves for all that happened and they had made horrible desisions. The grandmother completely disagrees with both of them, she tells them that they shouldn't blame themselves for their actions and even though some of their desisions were dumb, but they were for the better. She also said, it's their mother's fault for giving them terrible adivce. The next paragraphs after that says, "Tears slowly made their way over the children's cheeks. They shrugged. But Jorinda smiled. Joringel half laughed. 'It was kind of silly,' Joringel rough a crooked grin, sniffling. 'We were just born.' 'Yeah,' agreed Jorinda. 'That's all we did. And I wanted to marry a prince. That's not so bad.' 'Not so bad at all,' Joringel said. 'Not so bad at all.' He signed a deep, rattling sign." This clearly shows that Jorinda and Joringel realize that their crazy life isn't their fault. Also, the line "Tears slowly made their way over the children's cheeks," shows that they accept the fact that it's okay to cry/their mother's advice was horrible adivce, by letting tears roll down their cheeks.

   And that is the end of my final blog about signpost, I really hope you enjoyed reading it, and are convinced to reading the book The Grimm Conclusion. Let me know what you think it, or if you find the same or different sighpost! "See" you next blog, bye!

Same Words, Same Memories

   Hello everyone, welcome to part 2 of my signpost blogs. This signpost blog is going to be special because I am going to be writing about 2 signposts, memory moments and again & again. Like I said last time these signposts are going off from the book The Grimm Conclusion by Adam Gidwitz. Memory moments is when the author interrupts the action to tell a memory. Again and again is when a word, phrase, object, or situation is mentioned over and over again. You can kind of see why I'm putting these two signpost together. Let's start with again and again.

   Now the phrase that keeps repeating over and over is the terrible advice Jorinda and Joringel's mother gave them, or words of the wiser (signpost blog part 1 'good and bad words'). In the first blog I said that those words haunted those two throughout the book, always in the back of their heads. Well here is my evidence. On page 25, it says "Jorinda, kneeling beneath the tree, tried to choke back the tears that pressed at her eyes, just as her mother had told her to do." This quote proves that the words her mother said to Jorinda affected her, she thinks it the right thing when really it not. 

   In the book I marked every time the phrase is repeated, or parts of it and there are a lot of sticky notes in this book. But on page 170 and 175 it shows how it affects Jorinda and Joringel, and to me it was sticking out, more than the other times the phrase pops up into the children's heads. Page 170 says, "Don't feel it, Jorinda told herself. Smother it down, choke it back stamp it out." Also, in the next paragraph it says she frowned at people who waved, fighting the pain she had. On page 175, it shows what Joringel did, with his mother's words in his head. It says, "Choke it back, he thought. Just as he managed to wrestle the sickness in his stomach into submission...." Those two quotes are important because it also shows that the phrase keeps popping up in Jorinda and Joringel's mind, as the story continues. Now it's time for memory moments.

   Memory moments and again & again to me are similar. They both involve with going into the past, which is why I up them together in one blog. There are fewer memory moments in the book than again & again, but it's a decent amount. An example of a memory moment is when the children think about their home, and the things their mother did. The text says, "At night, thought of her mother's closed study door, and of a great iron stew pot, and of her brother standing and watching her ride away rose before her whenever she closed her eyes." This shows that she remembers her mother's closed study door, and it must have affected her a lot, which also causes her to remember the words her mother gave her, over and over again. 

   This happens again when Jorinda and Joringel meet the man who gave them good words of the wiser/advice. Before the man tells them the words, Jorinda and Joringel tells the man parts of what their mother told them (bad words of the wiser) and he is saying is that what you really need to do, to help ease the pain. Then the text says, "Memories pressed down upon the two children. Closed doors. Chests of apples. Birds and stepsister and princes on horseback. Their faces flushed. Jorinda's nostrils trembled. Joringel was holding hid reddening eyes open unnaturally wide." Clearly, this shows that all the past events that happened to the two of them, which includes trying not to cry or choking back the tears, came crashing down. They're realizing that is not how you deal with pain. And I agree with both of them.

Good and Bad Words

   Hello everyone! I hope you guys are having a wonderful day. Now, for today's blog I am going to be writing about different signpost I saw in the book The Grimm Conclusion by Adam Gidwitz. If you don't know the book The Grimm Conclusion, it is the last book of three, that tells the real story's of fairytales. The first book is called A Tale Dark and Grimm, where it tells the true story of Hansel and Gretal. The second book, In a Glasss Grimmly, tells the true story of Jack and Jill. The third and final book, tells the story of Jorinda (YOUR-INDA) and Joringel (YOUR-INGLE). These guys were born in an odd way and they're story is also quite odd and Grimm. In fact all three books have Grimm details in them. Grimm means "ghastly, repellent, and sinister," (exact definition in the book.) It basically means it has blood, guts, and multiple deaths, which is explained in vivid detailed. Read these books at you're own risk, I promise you will like it (hopefully.)

   Anyways, let's get to the point. The reason this blog is being created is because I found 4 different signpost in the book and I am going to write about them. All the signpost that I found mix in together, which is pretty cool! The first signpost that I found in the book is Words of the Wiser. Words of the Wiser is when someone old or wise tells the main character(s) advice and it either helps the character(s) or not. Some books only have one words of the wiser but The Grimm Conclusion has two, one is good one is bad. The bad one was in the beginning of the book when Jorinda and Joringel's mother gives them "advice". She says, "And never cry. Choke back your tears. Tears are waves on the ocean of sadness. You will drown in them if you're not careful. Believe me. I know." This quote is important because throughout the book those words kept coming back in childrens' minds. Like they were stamped on their brains.

   The good one is near the ending of the book when they are talking to a man (trying not to spoil). He said "All I'm trying to say is that it's okay to feel things sometimes. In fact, I think feeling things, even painful things, can be good." This quote is also important because it kind of changed the way Jorinda and Joringel feel things. They have been told terrible advice, by their own mother, and this man tells them that's not how it goes. I guess you can say their minds have been blow, with realization.

   In the end, this book was enjoyable and I'm kind of sad that there are no more books after this one, which is probably the third and final book is called The Grimm Conclusion. It wasn't just thedetailed Grimm stuff that made this book great, it was also the different emotions I had. Most of them were shocking, but it did have a some sad and happy parts. The story in all three books were very unique, and made me realize that this is extremely different from the story's Disney tells us. I guess they don't want us to know the truth. It too late now, I know what really happened, you can too if you read A Tale Dark and Grimm, In a Glass Grimmly, or The Grimm conclusion by Adam Gidwitz.

Anne Frank and I Problems

   For the past few days my ELA class was reading Anne Frank's play. I think it was pretty similar to the diary (didn't read the diary) but I did get to know the story of Anne Frank and her family. If you don't know who Anne Frank is, then I'll tell you. Anne Frank was a girl who hid away with her family for a few years from the Nazi soilders, who were trying to kill her and her family because they were Jewish. While hiding Anne had a diary and wrote in it. Sadly the Nazi soilders found her and her family and killed them all. However, her diary was found and people told her story about hiding away from the Holocaust. While hiding away from the Nazis,

Stand Up!

   First of all I think people stood by and just watch others get hurt because they thought it wasn't a big deal and will wait until the situation gets bigger. However, this is a bad idea because the situation will get worse and now people can't do anything about, since it's already too big. Second of all, people stood by and watch because they were afraid that it was going to happen to them, they thought they were going to get attacked. However, even if you did not do anything, and you were Jewish, Gypsies, or homosexual, then you would be attacked as well. I think what inspired others to stand up/resist to the Nazis was they knew that this wasn't fair to the Jewish people. Also, they knew it was the right thing to help them even if they had to risked their lives. If I was in one of the people's shoes I think in would have help some of the Jewish people. Why? It's because people shouldn't be kill for that kind of reason. Being killed because of your religion, it not fair. I think I would kind the Jews in a chamber like how the family hide Ann Frank and her family. Or have them "work" in a factory when really there also hiding, like what Oskar Schindler did. Who knows maybe I could have saved a lot of Jewish people in that time, just how those people helped a lot of Jews. 

A Trip Just for Me

 

  Hello everyone! How's everyone's day going? Good? Good. A question I have for you is where would you like to go around the world in the future? Now, I have many different places I would like to go in the world, but if I had to pick one, out of the many places I would like to go, then it would be France. Why? 

   First of all, I would love to see the Eiffel Tower. One, so I can see how tall it really is. Two to see how the Eiffel Tower looks like (in person) when it's night and the tower is lit up. A second reason why I would like to go to France is to try all the different foods they have. And to see if it's better or worse  compared to American food. Also, one of the main things I want to do when asking for food is ask for FRENCH fries. It's only because I want to see if French people have a reaction, like maybe laugh or do nothing. 

   My third reason I would like to go to France is to see museums, specifically an art museum. Some people know that an artist is what I want my future career to be. I could see what different art styles people in France use and get inspired to put that in some of my drawing or paintings. Hopefully, I can go to France in the future and do all the things I want to do like visit the Eiffel Tower, taste the different kinds of food, visit art or different kinds of museums, and many more. Where would you like to go in the future?

Only Ivan

   Another new genre today and it an animal story, but it is still fiction. This book is called The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This story is about a silverback, Ivan, and his story about living in a box most of his life. He lives on a box and other people look at him.Ivan and his other friends live in a box at a shopping mall. All seems to be normal in his life, until there is a newcomer in the mall, Ruby, a baby elephant. A lot of things change when she arrives and Ivan has to accept these changes and try to make them better. 

Different Perspectives

   A new genre today, and it is...a romance. This book is called A Little Something Different by Sany Hall. This book is about two people, a boy and a girl and their love story. But it's not just any normal love story where the boy or the girl tells how they meet the other person, in their point of view (first person). This love story tell you their story from other people's point of view. Basically other people tell you how the love story goes. Like the girl's friends, the boy's friend, the boy and girl's teacher and classmates, a banister, and even a bench and a squirrel. Each character has its own personality, which makes the story better.

Hello 2016!

   Happy New Everyone! Can you believe it's been 365 days already, because I sure can't! Since it's the  new year I need to make a new year's resolution. The first thing that popped up in my head was to do my homework early. To you that might sound like a weird new year's resolution, or not, but to me it's something that I want to achieve. For while I've got to into the habit of taking a nap right when I come home from school. And it leads to me doing my homework really late, like around 8:00pm and sometimes 9:00pm. Since I've been doing this bad habit every single day for about 3 years, it may be a little difficult to break this habit. But I need to take everything one step at a time.

   First of all, one of the things I need to do to achieve this resolution is to sleep early. Every since starting this bad habit I've been sleeping really late, mostly because I'm wide awake when I go to bed. Then when I wake up early for school, come home and I'm tired, so I take nap and it repeats itself. Second of all, I need to stop procrastinating. I could be doing homework early and then have free time for the rest of the day, but I choose not to do that. I do so many other things when I come home from school, besides my homework. And third of all I need to stop putting things to the last minute. If I have an assignment due in two days, I do it the day before it's due. However, I don't rush doing it, I take my time so I can get a good grade. But, when I do complete an assignment early, which doesn't happen often, I feel relived and I have one less thing to worry about, yet I still do my homework late. So, that is my new year's resolution for 2016, that I hopefully will complete.

   Besides my new year's resolution, I am looking forward to a few things in 2016. One of them being my graduation. This school year, I think, has been the one where I really focused on school and getting good grade and trying to achieve goals. I'm not saying that I didn't focus a lot last year or the year before, I'm saying I'm focusing more on school than I usually do. I'm excited to say I graduated with good grades, achieved some goals, and I'm ready/prepared for next year.

Confusions Lie Everywhere

Side Note: This blog may contain some spoilers in the book, if you want to read the book I'm blogging about, then don't read this blog. If you don't want to read the book, then go ahead and read the blog. And if you want to to read the book, but what to read my blog, then go ahead, no ones stopping you.

   Since one of my goals for second quarter is to read books with different types of genres, I read a book called Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten. This book is about a girl, Ellie, who goes around America, to find her sister, Nina. However, Ellie is not going around America alone, she brings Sean, who she meet at a party and at her job. There are defiantly some shocking parts in this story, so feel free to check it out! Even though this book was good, there were some confusing parts, that I couldn't really understand.

   One part that was confusing in the book was when Nina says she went to the police to help her with someone. In the book it said that "they'd look into it," but never did. The thing that was confusing was why they didn't help her? The book says (on page 299) "It was obvious that they thought I was crazy and weren't taking me seriously and probably weren't going to do a damn thing." But why? Couldn't just one police officer go and investigate and maybe question the one person who is behind all this?

   A second thing that is confusing is when Nina first finds out that Jason died. When Jason's mom is talking to Nina on the phone she says (from Nina's perspective) "But she started saying all this stuff about the preliminary autopsy reports and how they suggested a heroin overdose." Now to me it's confusing because it wasn't confirmed that it was a heroin overdose, it was a suggestion. Did they ever do actual tests to see how he died? Was anyone questioned? Did police even investigate? They probably did, but the book never said it did, so I don't really know. What do you think? Do you find them confusing like I do, or not. If you do read the book I hope you find it as shocking as I do, because the book definitely had some shocking parts.

Middle School Reminders

    So, I just recently finished the book called Middle School The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson. Basically this book is about a boy named Rafe Khatchadorian and his experience with his first year in middle school, which is sixth grade. He made a goal for himself to complete before the year ends. However, this goal isn't like another other goal someone would make. Also, with every goal there are challenges, and Rafe's goal definitely has challenges. If you would like to find out what theses challenges are then fill free to read the book.
    Anyways when I finished the book, I began to make connections to another book called Awkward. Just like Rafe, Penelope was also having some trouble in the sixth grade. Both were mostly having trouble with making friends and fitting in, but they did have a talent with art. An example of this in when Rafe is in homeroom, on the first day of school, on page 10. It says "So much for blending in." This shows that Rafe knew that fitting in and making friends, wasn't going to be easy. Also, this is an important detail because it kind of sparked Rafe's goal.
    But unlike Rafe, Penelope does find a way to make friends and breaks out of her shell. While Rafe is still in his, but he'll break out if it, right? Anyways I really enjoyed this book, because it reminded me of when I was in sixth grade, and all the fun times I had, and made some connections while reading the book! In the end, this book is going to be one of my favorites, and I'm excited for the next book!