Blogpost #8

     The book I am reading is The Song of Kahunsha by Anosh Irani. In this book, the main character Chamdi describes his ordinary world a lot. His ordinary world is in the orphanage in Bombay. There with the Bougainvillea flowers, Jyoti, Pushpa and Mrs.Sadiq. The daily routine that he has there adds to the comfort of his ordinary world.

"He puts one foot on the parapet of the well. Bougainvilleas surround him. They are his favourite flower. So pink and red, full of love, he thinks. If these flowers were human they would be the most beautiful people on earth." (Irani 5)

"Twenty metal beds occupy this room. The beds are places opposite each other, in rows of ten each. They have thin mattresses covered with white sheets but no pillow.Since Jyoti is mopping the floor, the children are on their beds. Most of them are still on a bed near a window and are playing a game of antakshari." (Irani 7)

     The quotes I picked show Chamdi's physical ordinary world, and his mental ordinary world. Both these places are very different, but they are where he feels like he belongs.

Marc, Ren. Bougainvillea Flower. 2010. Photograph. Italy. 123rf. Web. 



     I choose this photo to show Chamdi's ordinary world because the flowers outside his home connect him to his parents, even though he doesn't remember them. Being "with" his parents is a comfort to him and add to his ordinary world.

#7 Free choice; My favorite book

     I have been asked before what my favourite book is. Teachers, surveys, friends, questionnaire's; I have never had a straight answer for them. I think subconsciously I have never wanted to pick a favourite, because the "holy grail" of my book list is out there, one I will probably never even hear about, let alone read.

     On the other side of this topic, Kira Kira is a book I have read over and over and still absolutely love. I first read it when I was 9, and over the next five years, have read again 9 and a half times.I'm not sure what about this book that sets it apart from others I have read. Oddly, its not the author. I have read some of her other books, and didn't like them. It's not like the story has a story line apart from any others. It is set in the 50's and a little girl named Katie lives with her mom, dad, sister Lynn and brother Sam. The family moves for the dad to find work and it fallows Katie's life as she grows up.

     It sounds silly, but I'm not sure that I can say that Kira Kira is my favourite book. I don't think I can ever say I have a favourite book. Its like...picking your favourite friend or family member, when they each have something amazing about them. But I can say it is a book that I love. I can say its the only book I asked for at Christmas ever. I can say that its the only book the I was banned from taking out of the library any more. And I defiantly can say that you should read it.

Blog post #6

     I am currently reading "Grist" by Heather Waldorf. This book is about a 16 year old girl, named Charlie. For the summer she goes to a remote lake, where her Gram lives. Through reading this book, I have found many qualities of an archetypal mentor in Grams.

    "Grams clapped her hands at Gerta, who disappeared back out the hole in the screen, chattering with disapointment. Grams pulled closed the glass pane over the broken screen and locked it. 'I'l take out a stale muffin after lunch and leave it up in the tree. I don't want Gerta getting the idea she can claw her way in here anytime. My poor heart can't take you screeching like that first thing every morning.'"  ( Heather Waldorf, 46)

    I think that this quote shows many Mentor qualites that she has. The first is the point that the mentor aids the hero. In this book, Grams starts to play the role of a mother figure to Charlie. She provides for her, mentally and physicaly, by teaching, cooking, helping, and supporting Charlie. The second is the physical aspects of Gram. The essance of the mentor is a wise old man or women. Grams is litterly a wise old women, proving that charachteristic of a mentor. The third I have found is the point that the mentors role may be to teach the hero. Through her trip, Grams has taught Charlie many things about the lake, fishing, cooking, and many life lessons.
   I think Grams was a perfect example of a mentor, and helped Charlie emensly on her journey.

Dempsey, Stephanie. "Astrology Lends a Helping Hand." Daily Horoscope. Daily Horoscope. Web. 23 Nov. 2011

I think the picture captures the mentor essance of Grams. Even though she may no be physicaly helping and mentoring Charlie, she is mentally and spiritually mentoring her.

Blog post #5

"We were supposed to write about patriarchy and Beowulf. I had no idea we even read Beowulf, but I'm resigned to the fact I can't bullshit my way through this essay as effortlessly as Becky probably has, and since I'm pretty confident she can do it as effortlessly again, I rip it from her binder. Its my essay now." ( Courtney Summers, 6)

     A am over halfway through "Cracked up to be" by Courtney Summers. The main character is Parker Fadley. She used to be the perfect, popular girl at her school until she started drinking at school, failing classes and getting suspended. Parker doesn't seem like the hero we normally read about, but she does have some characteristics of one. 

     The first heroic quality I saw was the loner quality. Parker says in the book that the reason she began acting the way she is, is because she dose no like people. She has said that she wants to be left alone, and to be ignored.

     The second one I have found is sacrifices they make to achieve their goal. Parkers goal is not typically seen as one, but hers was at be left alone. She used to be the captain of the cheer leading team, dating the most popular guy and a future valedictorian, but she sacrificed all that to be alone.

    The last heroic quality I found in Parker was that they must change and grow. I think it is obvious that Parker has changed a lot from her former "perfect" self, but near the end of the book she starts to change again. Parker is realizing that if she wants to get out of school, she has to work hard and graduate. In addition to that she meets Jake, who starts to bring out the better qualities in her. I think that her changing and growing is that more obvious and important heroic quality that Parker has showed.

Blog post #4

"People called them broken homes, didn't they? But there was nothing broken about his home, except that his dad just happened to be in jail for a bit. Broken homes happened to other people. In broken homes parents fought about visiting rights and money.  Kids from broken homes had two frantic Christmases spent elbowing for space and attention with half brothers and step-sisters. Some people called them single families as if they were special, but Danny knew he had two parents and he wanted them both. Together. At the same time. When Dad got out everything would be okay again." (Rosemarie Boll,11)

I think that this quote shows how clueless Danny in the book "The Second Trial" is. Even though everyone is basically spelling out what is happening to his family, he still isn't believing it. I think that a big part of this is that he doesn’t want to believe it to be true. By Danny not accepting this fact, I think he is thinking that he won't have to face the fact.

I think that later in the book when Danny finally does come to realize what is happening, he is going to be in a state of shock and panic and possibly do something that threatens his family.

The video I related Danny to was the song "Roll away your stone" by Mumford and Sons. I think this relates well to this because of the sentence from the song "Don’t leave me alone at this time, for I am afraid of what I will discover inside." I think that this sums up what Danny is feeling well because he isn't accepting the fact of his parents divorce because he doesn’t want it to happen.

This reminds me of.....

One very touching book is Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. “On, there are so many lives. How we wish we could live them concurrently instead of one by one by one. We could select the best pieces of each, stringing them together like a strand of pearls. But that's not how it works. A human life is a beautiful mess.”  (Gabrielle Zevin)

The connection I have made it between this quote and the children’s book The Memory String by Eve Bunting. This book is about a little girl who keeps a string of buttons. Some of the buttons are ones from her moms wedding dress, a prom dress and a baby shirt. I think this connects to Zevin’s quote nicely. To me, the buttons represent all the happy times that went on during the girls life and her family life. When she looks at the buttons she sees all the best pieces of many peoples lives. Even though these books are very different, they have a very similar connection.

"The Worst thing She Ever Did" by Alice Kuipers; Summary and Review

I am currently reading The Worst Thing She Ever Did by Alice Kuipers. I am very close to being finished this book. The story is about a 17 year old girl named Sophie. She lives with her Mom, after her Father dies when she is young. She also had an older sister named Emily, who died in a tragic accident recently. Deeply affected by the accident Sophie struggles to continue on with her life. The book is based a lot on Sophie coping with her sisters death, but also touches on the subject of Sophie’s family, friends, school, and relationships.
I think that this is a five out of ten for me. I think that Kuipers could have added more aspects to this book then the stereotypical friends, boys, family and parties that most books geared towards teenage girls are about. Until the last 50 pages, you don’t know how Sophie’s sister died. Although this kept you wanting to read, it was rather annoying to go through 150 pages without knowing a major detail. All in all it was an okay book, and I think that other teenagers that like story plots like this would enjoy it a lot more then I did.



Book cover: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BBMCOU4cL._SL500_.jpg

“To read is to fly..."

“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” -A C Grayling

To me, this quote means that when you read you get to see a wide array of views. When I read, it is to learn more about people’s experiences, either fiction or non fiction. I get to see peoples opinions, ideas, views and thoughts. I think that reading allows you to see a snapshot of someone's mind. What the author is writing is their thoughts and feelings. Reading shows you the wide diversity of people, and how they react to situations. Every time you read you learn more about people, places and things.