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.