Berlin boxing Club

Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow is about a boy named Karl who gets the chance to have  boxing lessons from a famous fighter.  The book takes place in the 1930's-40's in Germany.  Karl gets bullied a lot so he has the chance to be able to fight back.  The lessons really fulfill him as a person.  

In Berlin Boxing Club, there are many complex ideas that are happening.  One example is that Karl and Greta are forced to have a secret relationship because they are different religions.  This could be considered complex because Karl has to find a way to stay the person he is even with all the changes in his life, Greta being a big one.  Karl has to learn to balance boxing, his family, school, hiding his religion, and his girlfriend.  I noticed that at certain points in the book, you could tell that he is struggling but uses people to overcome his sturggles.

First he uses his little sister who is nicknamed Winzig.  Even though Winzig is younger Karl and her really have a strong connection and they are always there to stand up for each other.

Second, he relies on the boxing club and Max.  He feels that if he learns to fight he will never get beat up again and he can prove to his dad that he is not a disgrace and it wasn't a mistake to take the boxing lessons over the money.

Finally Karl relies on his family.  He always thinks to himself "no matter how hard my day is, I can always come back to my house with my sister and my parents and sometimes my uncle."  But what Karl doesn't realize is that even though his parents try to cover it up as much as possible, they are still poor.  Karl knows this but he chooses not to think about it.  But he's always relying on the fact that  that when he comes home he is going to have a house and everything will be good.  But what would happen if the governemtns takes his house away because of there religion or they cannot afford to pay rent?

Another complex idea is how Karl always contradicts himself while he is fighting or before a fight.  He always compares his lanky body to the other guys' muscular bodies. But Karl underestimates himself even though he wins most of his fights.  When I was reading this book I was thinking, If Karl doesn't believe in himself, who does?  Then I realize that many people believe in Karl and rely on him.  His sister, Greta, Herr Koplek, and Neblig. 

Catcher in the Rye

I have not yet finished the book but I can already tell that Holden and Stradlater have a unique relationship.  It might be considered a love-hate relationship.  For example Holden would always talk great about Stradlater and how he could "always get the girls" and such.  But at the same time when he was saying that, Holden was envious.  Stradlater wouldn't really help holdens anger problems and would often pester him about Jane.  He wouldn't really answer Holdens questions directly.

 It also seems that their sides for each other changed, for example Holden used to be perfectly fine with Stradlater until he found out that he took Jane out on a date. That is when Holden began asking questions and his opinions of Stradlater changed. 

Kissed by an angel

this is a GREAT  book to read because Ivy lost hope but she found out that she should always believe because the people that loved her inspired her and kept her going. Ivy really believed in angels until she claims that an angel was the reason that Tristan (her boyfriend) died in a car crash.  Ivy tried countless times to commit suicide to be with her boyfriend again but her friends, tristans friends, and her own little brother kept her sane.

Ivy was struglling along with life until her and one of Tristan's friends found out that Tristan did not die because of his broken brakes, it was murder and now the murderer is also out to kill Ivy.  The two eliminated their suspects one by one, until they found out who the real culprit was.

One thing I really like about this book was that everyone seemed to have a role in the book.  Tristans role was to try and contact Ivy from the dead and tell her one last time he loved her.  Suzanne has the job to be a good supporting friend to Ivy.  Lacey (Tristans angel partner) had the job to teach Tristan the rules of being an Angel.  Phillip had the job to find Ivy's lost hope and regain trust in the angels and there presence. 

Another thing I really liked about Kissed by an Angel is that Tristan and Ivy are complete opposites, yet they are so perfect together. Tristan is captain of the swim team and the best swimmer in the state but Ivy hates swimming, she even hates water..  Ivy adores cats and owns an abandoned one but Tristan is allergic.  The one major difference though is that Ivy believes in angels but Tristan doesn't.  No one believes in angels until Ivy looses her faith.  Then Ivy's brother, Phillip, started believing.  He took all of his sisters glass figurines and kept them, even when Ivy demanded them to be destroyed.  Phillip wanted to make his sister believe again. 

Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde**spoiler alert**

This week I read "Becoming Chloe" by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  The story focuses on two characters:  Jordy and Chloe.  They meet many characters on the way that come and go alone there journey.  The story is told from Jordy's point of view and it makes the story more interesting because Jordy is really smart and you follow him along his journey with Chloe. They leave New York city together and hitch hike there way to the pacific.  Jordy's mission is to prove to Chloe that the world is really a beautiful place. Chloe also wants to experience things that she's never experienced before because thats what she says is 'her most favorite thing' and 'the thing she loves to do most.'  Chloe wants to experience things such as the grand canyon or the mule ride.

Chloe writes two columns in a notebook. beautiful and ugly.

Jordy helped Chloe because Chloe was going to put some things in the ugly column but Jordy made a point so Chloe put them in both columns.

For example when the two were camping out in the middle of a rain storm Chloe told Jordy that rain was ugly but Jordy proved that rain is beautiful because it helped water the plants and flowers that Chloe had already put in her beautiful column.

I thought that this book was really thought provoking in following through the mind of Jordy.  I think it is a good read for people that like sad stories that are also down to earth.

Tap Out by Eric Devine

In this book an occurring issue was being pressured.  seventeen year old Tony, was often pressured into fighting for his moms defense against her abusive boyfriend or selling drugs with a gang.

Tony often had a hard time controlling his emotions and he would outlash at people using verbal violence or physical fighting.  Tony would get in trouble a lot with the princiopal of his school but in his school the principal, who Tony called Big O, would threaten tony saying that he could not do his favorite activit, Vo-Tec,  once when Big O saw ton'ys reoccuring problem he said that tony should try fighting.  Tony joined a gym with his friend Rob and other friends, Amir, and they went far.  Rob was able to fight against other counties to bring his fighting status up, and even thhough Tony looked scrawny and didn't look strong, he was very powerful and strong when he was fighting the older more mature boys.

The book is told from Tony's perspective so even though other characters said   it looked like Tony wasn't worried when he was getting prepared to fight the bigger and more experienced guys, on the inside Tony was freaking out and was contradicting himself. 

Tony's best friend was Rob and they always followed each other. And I think that there friendship was really important in the story because it helped show Tony's feelings even more. 


One thing that I found interesting was the fact that the book started with a saying and ended with the saying.  In the beginning, it wasn't as significant because you really didn't know about all the characters and all there background life yet but at the end of the story it was really a significant saying because you knew about the characters and knew more about Tony was thinking.  Since it is told from his perspective.  

Send by Patty Blount

This week, I read the book SEND by Patty Blount.  It was about a 18 yr old boy named Ken who posted something ver harsh online about a classmate and caused a death and cost him time in juvie.  Now Ken wants to forget about his past and focus on his present.  He wants to start at a new high school, with a new name, with a new reputation.  On the first day of school "Dan" breaks up a fight and gains himself one enemy and one friend.  Then Dan meats Julie and despite his promises to himself and his inner conscience ( who makes an appearance through out the book and is known as Ken)  Julie acts like she doesn't like Dan but soon after, they find themselves in a scandalous relationship. Dan keeps telling himself it's wrong but Ken keep saying it's right.
At the end of the story Dan tells Julie who he is causing julie to hate him for a little and then when she finds out Dan is in danger, she goes to protect him.
I think that in the book Dan feels like a horrible person because since he bullied that boy, everyone is looking on him like he is an mean and horrible person but through out the story Dan does little things that make me realize he is not a bad person.
One thing he did was when a little girl fell and was about to get hit by a car, he ran ahead of the mom (who was pregnant and unable to run quickly to aid the child) and scooped up the little girl and then he bought her ice cream. In the story, while he was running, you hear what he was thinking. He was thinking about how Julie was watching him (she appeared just as he was getting ready to leave and they have yet begun to talk) and he was also thinking how the court did not want him to touch or be alone to anyone under the age of 18.
Another thing that Dan did was that he always was nice to Brandon even when Brandon was mad at Dan.  Dan even stood up for Brandon when he was being bullied.
All in all, even though Dan would reflect on his inner self and regret the things he did and how much of a bad person he was I would think that he really isn't that much of a bad person, because of these nice things he would do that he didn't think mattered. I think juvie changed Dan, whether it was for good or bad.

Am I Blue? blogpost by Alexa Maldonado

I read the short story “Am I Blue?” by Bruce Coville.  In it, 16 year old Vince, find himself getting constantly bullied by Butch. Butch is constantly pushing and hitting Vince, along with calling him gay.  One day, after being harassed, yet again, Vince finds himself face to face with Melvin, a guy who claims to be Vince’s fairy godfather.  Vince and Melvin talk about being bullied.  They also talk about being gay in which Vince says “’Does that mean I’m gay’  I didn’t mention that I had been trying to figure that out the same thing myself for about a year now.”  I think this quote really confirms that Vince isn’t completely sure of who he is. 

Melvin grants Vince “gaydar” which is an ability used to spot all gay people.  Vince is also allowed 2 wishes.  His first wish is to allow the rest of the country to see using gaydar.  This lasts for 24 hours.  Vince’s 2^nd wish is to turn Butch blue.  Lucky for Vince, he gets to redo his last wish because butch was already blue.

I think that the result to this short story is really important.  I know this because if butch was already blue than this shows a possibility of why Butch bullied people.  He might have bullied people because he wasn’t really sure of himself, similar to Vince.

Another reason Butch could’ve bullied people was because of his insecurities.  Maybe Butch thought that if he didn’t bully people, others might find out about the true Butch and start bullying him. 

Either way, butch’s bullying of other people was very wrong and mean.  Also, Butch could’ve done the bullying to protect himself.