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.