Blog post on Rebecca's blog

http://beccadoodles.blogspot.com/
This week, I reviewed Rebecca's  blog post on the book "Stay" by Deb Caletti. I think Rebecca started her post of in a good way by saying how she thought it was a complex book.  In Rebecca's post, I think she did a good job of adding in how she thought Clara felt.  Rebecca also added how she thinks she would've felt if in Clara's position which makes her post seem even more relatable and realistic.

Rebecca's post really makes me want to read this book and I think it is because of the intense details she used and the positive way she described the book. Rebecca used good structure for her post.   This post stands out compared to some of her other ones because I think Rebecca put a lot more ideas into it.

In some of her other blogs, she focused on one idea and found three or four details from the book to support it. In this post, she had a more broad idea and it was easy for her to add in her feelings and her thoughts about the authors choice on the dads perspective.

This Is Not A Drill by Beck McDowell *Spoiler*

In, This Is Not A Drill by Beck McDowell, there are two students, Emery and Jake.  They are tutoring in a first grade classroom.  The book is told from the point of view of Jake and Emery.  It is a very suspenseful book. 

Right when Emery and Jake are about to leave to head back to there high school classes, a man comes to the classroom and asks to take his son Patrick. Emery, Jake, and the teacher tell Mr.Stutts that he cant take his son without going through the mainoffice first.  Mr. Stutts takes a gun and threatens to shoot so Emery, Jake, the teacher, and all 18 students are held hostage.

Soon into the book, the teacher passes out from lack of insulin, as a diabetic. Even though Mr. Stutts does not want anyone to leave the room, the kids beg him to allow the teacher medical attention, so eventually he lets Jake carry the teacher down the hallway to the principle. 

During the book, Emery does a very brave thing and talked to Mr. Stutts, revealing to the reader some of his past.  We find out Mr. Stutts is a soldier who is suffering from PTSD.  It almost makes you feel bad for him because really, he only wants to be with his son, which his wife wont let him do. 

In the end, Jake and Mr. Stutts get into a fight with the hand gun, resulting in Jake getting shot, the class pet runs into the hallway, followed by Patrick who gets shot, causing Mr. Stutts to run into the hallway after his son, getting shot himself. 

All three characters lived, and the other 17 first graders were all okay.

Shut out byv Kody Keplinger

Recently, I finished Shut Out, which is about a group of girls, led by Lissa, that have boyfriends on both the soccer team and football team of Hamilton High. The two teams hate each other and are constantly pulling pranks on one another. So the girls decode to go on a "strike" where they vow not to show there boyfriends any attention.  The boys catch on to the plan and try to outsmart the girls.

I think an issue in this book is sexism. A lot of the characters underestimate girls. I noticed some of the teachers are sexist and favor boys in the book.

I also noticed that sometimes the girls are prejudice against themselves. They often underestimate themselves, especially when it involves the strike.

Girls Out Late by Jaqueline Wilson

Girls Out Late is basically about three girls who are boy crazy but have to cope with there crazy parents' rules.  For example, Ellie has a curfew of 9, Nadine has a mother obsessed with knowing every little detail of Nadines life.

Ellie meets a boy that, at first her dad doesn't approve of.  She is constantly hanging out with him after school though.  One time they meet at night but the older boy cajoles Ellie into staying out later, causing her parents to disapprove of the boy.  So they secretly met at McDonalds.  On there first date, Russell does not come.  Ellie thinks this is the end and becomes very sad. 

But then one day, Russell calls explaining that he got grounded and he is very sorry.  For some reason this makes Ellies parents approve of Russell and allow them to go out again.

I think a main problem in this book is curfews and what a good time is to call a curfew.  In the book Russell is 16 and Ellie is 14. They are older than most of the 8th grade students at Ms.51.  Ellie has a curfew of 9 and we do not know when Russell's curfew is but it is before 1AM.  When is your curfew?

Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

This book, was a really good book, even though it took me a while to read.  It is about a girl who's mom leaves their family, turning it upside down.  Ryan, Parker's brother, resorts to dugs, Parker, quits softball and starts hooking up with almost ever guy that she knows, and her dad thinks that prayer can fix everything.

I think a main issue in this book is finding out who you are.  I think this because Parker's mother left because she didn't want to be with a man anymore, she moved to Arizona with a woman.  Obviously, her mother had second thoughts after marrying her husband and raising Ryan and Parker. 

Drew, Parker's best friend, also had to figure out who he is because Drew is bisexual and just broke up with his girlfriend.  Drew likes his other best friend so there is also a lot of confusion about who he is exactly.

Brian needs to find out what means more to him, his "love" for Parker or his career.

And last but not least, Parker has to decipher whether or not she was meant to play softball.  She deffinetly has the skills and we know that she has a passion for it, but honestly the way Miranda Kenneally describes it, it makes it seem like Parker is deciding what she wants. 

As you can see, there are many people in Stealing Parker that are trying to identify themselves.  I think Miranda Kenneally made the age group perfectly because it is about high school students who are also stressing about college and adulthood.  In real life, at around this age, people have to find out what they want to do with there life and who they are as a person.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This book took place in the 24th century, in which no one reads books anymore. in fact, it is illegal to own books. Everyone in Fahrenheit 451 is tech savvy.  For example, people have seashell like radios that they can listen to throughout the day and they rely on virtual medical systems to save lives.  I wouldn't want my life saved by a robot, would you?  In this book, technology dominates society.  Literally. One day, when Clarisse finally made Montag, the main character who is a firefighter, understand how much of a negative impact technology has on the people.  He is ready to change his life when atomic bombs destroy his city and Montag is ready to start a better life, vowing to use less technology. 

Technology is a problem in this book that leads up to what I think is an even bigger problem, censorship.  I wonder why it became such an issue and a problem to obtain books.  In the book it states that books slowly lost there place and the futuristic people started to become offended by types of books.

The job of a fireman would be to go to houses where books have been spotted and burn them.  If the owner refuses to leave, they usually die as well.  Clarisse questions his job twice in the book and both times Montag gives a different answer.  The second time, I think he did realize that his job is just a little bit weird and that it's not at all right. 

The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs

 In The Winter Lodge, Jenny's house burns down and she has no family to stay with.  She moves in with a friend that she's known since they were younger.  They have a awkward history.  Then Jenny gets reunited with her father and she gets a job as a writer in New York.  But she feels she cannnot write well in NYC so she moves back to a place by an old camp.  Jenny has a job in a bakery, where she works with the mayors son, Zach. 

 I think Zach is a good person but Matthew pressures him into doing bad things.  For example, when Zach was stealing money from the bakery, Jenny walked in and saw him.  Jenny always catches Zach. I think this made there relationship stronger because Zach had to explain that Matthew wanted more money and that's why he was stealing the money.  It was almost like the two of them are now sharing a secret.

Also, Jenny's reaction when she caught Zach was a little sympathetic.  At first, she was mad because, well, isn't it obvious? A fellow employee, that you trust, is stealing from the cash register? Doesn't look good.  But after Zach explained and apologized sincerely, I think that Jenny could tell that Zach really was being honest and felt bad for stealing so she wasn't as mad.