Drum, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

    Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblich is about a boy name Steven who is a teenager. In the biginning of the story he hates his brother because he's so annoying, and he could never do anything without him. Towards the end of the book he realizes having a brother is better than not having a brother and he starts being more mature.
    At the beginning of the book Steven hates Jeffrey. At school he has to write on his journal about different topics. He is always wriing why his brother is so annoying  and all that stuff. When Jeffrey is asking Steven about things that are not important Steven just doesn't listen. Steven likes a girl name Renne Albert, and Jeffrey is always making kissing noises when Steven is near her.
   Later on, one morning Jeffrey wants oatmeal. When making the oatmeal an accident happens that Jeffrey has a really bad nose bleed. When taking him to the doctor, Steven finds out Jeffrey has Leukima. Which is a type of cancer. This makes Steven think he could loose his brother any second. Steven has to deel with Jeffrey's cancer. He doesn't want to tell his school.
  At the end of the Steven and his friends make a concert to raise money for Jeffrey's cancer. The girls cut their hair really short and Steven shaves his head. When the day of the concert comes Jeffrey get's really sick, they have to take him to the hospital. Steven comes along.
    In conclusion, having a brother is really important. Even if their annoying. This book teaches us how people could change from not being matured to being matured. Many people in the world dodn't have a brother or sister and it's really sad. That's why people who have brother's should care about them even if their annoying.

Memoir

    The first day of school at Middle School was an emotional day. That day I woke up at 6:30 AM. Waiting until it was time to go to school. That day my dad was going to take me to school. I remember that morning not wanting to finish my milk, because if I did, then I’ll throw up. Since I live 40 blocks away I had to take the bus. When we got in the bus, the bus was crowned with sweaty people. I couldn’t be at that bus my stomach hurt even more. I had a pair of sneakers, shorts, and a purple shirt.

   Getting out the bus was terrible, everyone wanted to get out the bus. People were pushing me, and I didn’t like that they even smelled all sweaty. My dad and I were in front of the school, all we knew what to do was go to the turf. However I didn’t know which class was I. I saw this skinny lady, I said “my name Keren Rodriguez and I don’t know which class I’m in.” She said “you’re in class 612.

      As trying to find 612 I didn’t see it. All I saw was 611 and then 613. I noticed that there was a class in between 611 and 613. I knew that had to be my class. There were a lot of kids in that class I didn’t even know them. As I saw them my stomach hurt even more. My dad said goodbye. I didn’t want him to leave. But he had to go to work.

My teacher was Ms.Isaccs. She had a ponytail, blue jeans, and a blue t-shirt on. She asked me what my name was. At that moment I couldn’t say my name, I calmed down, took a deep breath and slowly each word came out of my mouth. I was the only one that was alone, everybody else was talking to a friend. I really felt bad. I felt like disappearing out of the Earth. I asked Ms.Isaccs at what time does school end and she said, at 3. Finally at the very last minute before leaving inside the building a girl name Natalie, which I’ve seen her in my Elementary school, showed up. At that time I was kind of comfortable but ¾ of me was still nervous. However, I felt confident about myself. I’ll never forget that day of my life, it was a very important day.

Glass

   This book is sad book. It’s about a girl name Kristina, in the book Crank she had a baby at the end named Hunter. In this book she finds out she is pregnant at the end. In this book she meets a boy name Trey, after visiting her friend Roby she meets Trey. Later on the book Trey comes and visits her. They have their first date. In this book she uses crystal and drugs. Later on Trey and Kristina “make out” and at the end she gets pregnant. On a Thanksgiving Day she has a date with Trey, however her mother doesn’t want her to hang out with Trey. Her mom kicks her out of the house and she has nowhere to go. Trey has a cousin and she goes live with him. Trey’s cousin has 2 daughters.

   Trey’s cousin has a close feeling with Kristina. Since Trey doesn’t see Trey often she needs someone to love her and always be with her. She also has a close feeling with Trey’s cousin but not the same as Trey. At the end of the book she is in jail for sleeping in the car, there she finds out she is pregnant. This book is a really sad story because is story is real. And to know that people in world live like that. Ellen Hopkins is one of the children that Kristina has, and Ellen’s mother is Kristina.

Glass By Ellen Hopkins

Glass

    Glass is the second book of Crank. Well I’m not done with the book, but I’m half way there. So far the book is about Kristina She still has the monster with her. As much as she can, she can’t take it out. So far her baby is born and she has a work at 7 Eleven. Kristina still smokes, but not the same way as before. She has Hunter and she has to try, not to smoke a lot.

    Kristina’s birthday is coming and her mom wants to baptism Hunter. They plan to make Hunters baptism the day after her birthday. However Kristina’s dad comes over( no one on her family wants to see her dad not even her sister). The day before Hunter’s baptism her father and her go out to have fun smoke and get high. She comes back at 9:00 AM. Hunters baptism is in any second. This shows how little she cares about Hunter. In my opinion I think she really likes to be a mother even if it’s too much work for her. Before she had Hunter she went out to parties. Now with Hunter she can’t even go out at night and have fun. Well I didn’t really say much, but when I’m finish reading the book I will write a better post.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

   

    Crank is an awesome book it makes you realizes, how important it is to have someone understand you. Crank is about a girl name Kristina. Kristina has a monster inside her name Bree. Bree is a girl that smokes, does bad things, and doesn’t care about anything Kristina is a girl who wishes she could take the monster out her she is kind. Well Kristina lives with her mother. This summer she goes visit her dad in Albuquerque. There she meets a boy name Adam. Adam likes the Bree side, Adam uses drugs and smokes however at home she is Kristina.

    When flying back home she meets another boy name Chase with Chase she is Kristina. Chase likes Kristina better than Bree. She meets another guy name Brendan, Brendan likes the Bree side. However on night when going to a party and getting drunk Kristina does the wrong, “make out or do it”. She likes Chase because she feels safer with him and he demonstrates  he likes her. Later on  she realizes she is pregnant. Kristina wants to have the baby but Bree doesn’t want it. Kristina has to suffer not to be on drugs or smoke because of the baby. Her mom finds out she is pregnant. Mom says the best thing to do is have the baby it’s not the babies fault. Kristina at the end has her cute little baby name Hunter. Now she has to deal and learn how to be a mother. She has school, homework, and the bay. Chase want to be the father of the baby but he’s going to College far away.

   I really like this book, when you read it you can’t stop reading. It makes you realize how bad smoking and using drugs affects you. By the way this story is true. Ellen Hopkins is the baby and Ellen’s mother is Kristina and half Bree. This book

This I Believe

  

Everybody should have an education. Education helps people get jobs. Jobs get money and money gets us water, food, shelter, and other things. It’s very important to have an education. What would we do without education? Education also means to be formal. For example, THANK YOU, and the magic word PLEASE. Many people in other countries don’t have that same education as us, because their parents didn’t have a well education to teach them. People should be thankful that they have a good job and they have all the things they need. Those people who have a good education should also help the people who need it.    

    Even if I’m only 12 years old, in my second year of middle school, I still think that other people should have an education. My mother always says, “I want you to have a good education so you can have a good job.” My mother says that, she didn’t have High School or College because in her country you had to pay for school.

  If you don’t have an education they won’t give you a good job, because you don’t know how to read or write or count. For example, my grandpa just went to 2^nd grade because his mother died and he was just a little kid. Only his sister care for him but she was 14 years old.

 This makes me think that I and all of the people in the world should have an education. So they can have a good job and not work on jobs that they just pay you a little. Also those works are for poor people they have to work like animals which is not fair that their parents couldn’t give them a good education. I believe that everybody should have an education. Education is very important to me. And I want to have a job that I’ll be happy about. I believe that everybody should an education.  

Revolt of The Evil Fairies

   In the face of discrimination, the protagonist has to fight for his dream. In Revolt of the Evil Fairies  by Ted Poston. The protagonist wants to be Prince Charming, he has to fight for the role of Prince Charming. He would do anything to be Prince Charming. Ted Postons story shows us to be determined and stand up for ourselves.

   The protagonist reveals that, “most of the good fairies usually turned out to be extremely light in complexion, with straight hair and white folks feature. On rare occasions a dark skin girl may be lucky enough to be a good fairy.” What Ted Poston(the author) is really trying to say is that teachers gave the speaking role and the better parts to the light skin girls/boys. This means it will be rare if he gets the part of Prince Charming. This teaches the readers that not even how hard you desire to get what you want, you may not get it. Even if you work really hard on what you want. In this story is because you’re a dark skin.

    Another quote that I found was, “there wasn’t any doubt that Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty were always light skin.” This means that the protagonist would never be get a chance to be Prince Charming. There’s a girl name Sarah Williams that the protagonist likes. However, Sarah got to be Sleeping Beauty. The protagonist wants to be even more Prince Charming, because he wants to kiss her. Ms. Laprade the teacher would never give a good part to a colored skin kid, even if he gets good grades and well behave. I know this because he is a colored skin, at that time period there was segregation and discrimination. So Ms. Laprade would not give the good parts to a colored skin kid.

  In the piece it says that Leaonardius got the part for Prince Charming. Leonardius  is a yaller. A yaller has the best of everything because they are light skin. The teachers try to sense his resentment, they said that I was good at being an evil fairy. Leonardius is also in love with Sarah, he gets more jealous that Leonardius gets to kiss Sarah but him because he is colored skin.

   “They wouldn’t let me appear in the grand dramatic offering next year. But I didn’t care I wouldn’t have been Prince charming anyway.” This means that he doesn’t care, he stands up for himself, saying that he just doesn’t want to be Prince Charming. And it’s okay for him. At the beginning he wanted to be Prince Charming really bad. But later on he notice that he would never get pick to be Prince Charming because he’s a colored skin. So he said to himself I can’t be forcing myself to be prince charming because I would never get the part. In my opinion this shows you to stand up for ourselves even if we don’t get what we want

The Dog Day of Charlotte Hayes

"The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes", by Marlane Kennedy is about a girl name Charlotte. Her dad adopts a dog, they name him Beauregar. Charlotte doesn't like dog. However, poor Beauregard is left in the backyard. Nobody plays with him, or checks his food and water bowls. She can tell she is sad. So she make sure he has, and gives him his belly rubs and feeds him every single day.
    Charlotte thinks Beauregard needs a better home and it's alot of work for her. There's a new girl at her school. The girl has a huge house and alot of room for a big dog. She makes a plan but it doesn't work. Later on the girl finds out Charlotte was lying. Charlotte said that she found Beauregard on a street. However, the girl finds out and she even has a dog, she doesn't want another one.
   There's this place where you can leave your dog and another family comes and adopts him. So she left Beauregard. Later on they called her saying a family adopted him. She felt good of what she had done.
  Charlotte changes from being a NOT DOG PERSON to being a CARE DOG PERSON. As I said at first she din't like dogs, now she cares about dogs. I really enjoyed reading this book.

Go Ask Alice

 

Go Ask Alice, is mainly about a girl she changes when she meets Chris. Chris smokes, and uses drugs. Later on Alice meets a boy name Roger, he uses drugs and smokes too. She changes with Roger. Later on she realizes that he has been cheating on her. She leaves him and acusses him to the police for selling drugs.
   Chris and Alice moved to San Francisco. And Alice leaves her family away. When they get to San Francisco she has to find a job she finds one in a jewelry store. Later on both of them go back home because they can't deel by their own. Alice finds her way once more. I really like this story because it has character change. You can alos see what the character wants.

Go ask Alice

   
                                                              Go aks Alice is basically about a diary on a girl. In that diary she feels safe and tells everything she wants. I haven't read much from the story yet. She starts to change when her family moves to a different State. At first she din't care much about things. However now she cares even more. When she moved to a different state she din't have friends. Later on she found this girl name Beth
   Beth is not the kind of girls that hangs around. She is jewish and she has no more friends too. However, I ask myself  how is the story going to end? Is she going to use drugs or something. I predict that she is going to use drugs. Is just that I don't know from who. Somebody has to bug her into using drugs. In my opinion I think that Beth is going to leave her. Maybe her mom doesn't want her hangging out with a girl that uses drugs it will be a bad influence to their family. I'll talk to you later and tell you what happen in the story.

Matilda

  
 Matilda is a girl that is lonely. Her family is always busy. The never give her any attention. In my opinion I think they never even wanted a baby. She goes to the library by herself, at age 4. She cooks pancakes to herself at age 4. She even knows how to count and read. Nobody even show her how to read. When I read this book I was so amazed at how smart she is.
    Even though she is 6 and doesn't go to school because her parents don't remember about her. She stills begs her parents to let her go to school. Many kids that don't go to school they just stay home and don't care. However she does care about her. I thought she will never want to go to school.
   The main theme of this book. Is to see what the character really wants us to see. to me the character wants us to see that kids are sometimes more intelligent than adults. According to the book Matilda is more intelligent than her parents. Her parents just live like if they had no education. Matilda has no education but she is still really smart. She doesn't care if her parents treat her bad. She just care about school, reading, and being more grown up than just a little kid.
   Another idea is that she has a really bad principal She doesn't care about that neither. Her principal even gets mad at her because she's smarter than the other kids. She knows math and reading really well. Even her teacher gets amazed at her. Everybody asks themselves how is she so smart? In my opinion I just think she was born like that. That's how she is supposed to be. Many people should learn about Matilda. Learn that there good and bad situations.

 

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

Character Change

 In the beginning Caitlin was a girl that never talked much. She was quiet girl. However when her sister left the house she change alot. That's when she knew Rogerson. Rogerson is a bad boy he smokes and uses drugs. Caitlin never thougth she was going to use drugs or smoke. Caitlin starts using drugs and smoking because she thinks that will change everything, her crieness for her sister. She actually starts forgetting about her sister. Starts hangging out with Rogerson. But she is using drugs now and smoking too. 
   When Rogerson starts hitting her and abusing her. He starts changing too. However Citlin doesn't tell anything to her mother or father. Until one day Rogerson pushes her hard to the car window and thats when her mother and father notice he abuses her. Caitlin starts changing again. she starts noticing she can't get abuse. She goes back to her normal life.

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

 
    Ever since Cass left her house everything is changing. Caitlin feels lonely. Her mother is upset and kind of neve rsmiles. Her father is different too he does not give a goodnight kiss not even a huge. Caitlin is a girl that has many problems in her life she lost her sister on the day of her 16 BIRTHDAY. She thinks that Cass doesn't care about her, because she left on the day of her birthday why couldn't she leave the next day or week? Why that day? At least she left a present wich was a book of Dreamland. The book said I'll wait for you in Dreamland. Caitlin has to change her life, she's not the same as before.
  When Caitlin finds Rogerson, Caitlin feels different when she's with Rogerson. She forgets about school, Cass, and her mother. At when Caitlin and Rogerson go out she notices something different. He smokes, sells drugs, and use drugs. However, Caitlin doesn't care. She starts smoking too. Something else happens Rogerson gets jealous wht the end en Caitlin talks to a Mike. he gets mad when she's not on time. That's when he starts hitting her. She has alot of bruises on her arms and legs.
  At the end her mother and father notice Rogerson hits her. Rogerson gets arested. This book has a lesson wich is never go out with a boy like Rogerson because you'll start changing have to suufer all the bruises.

How to Steal a Dog

                                                                                                                 Keren Rodriguez 705


 About the Theme of How to steal a Dog

How to steal a dog is about a girl name Georgina Hayes. Her mother, brother and her have to live in a car because of her father that left them in the street jar of nothing but a car and a jar of mayonnaise full of dollar bills. Georgina has to suffer her friend laughing at her because she lives in a car not a real house or apartment. When she sees a sign say "Reward for a lost dog $500" she gets the idea to steal a dog.

The main theme about this story is stealing a dog. Why does she want to steal a dog? She wants to steal a dog because she doesn't want to live in a car, she wants a better life, and she doesn't want people laughing at her. Living in a car is not fun she's not safe in there. There's not enough space and its stinky. Georgina hates living in a car she wants to sleep in a real bed with a closet of her clothes not clothes in her garbage bag. She wants a better life for her mom and her little brother Toby. What she hates is people laughing at her because she lives in a car not a real house or apartment. The theme is about stealing a dog. She steels the dog for a better life, no one make fun of her, and she's not going to live in a car.

 

Esperanza Rising

       
This book Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan is about a girl named Esperanza. Esperanza was a rich girl, she had everything she wanted. Esperanza thought her life would be perfect, she will always wear silk dresses and a beautiful house with servents. When her papa dies, she and her mama flee to California were a mexican camp works. Esperanza is not ready to live like someone poor she needs to learn alot.
       I really like this book because it really talks how Esperanza feels. When I first read this book I really enjoy it. I got stick to this book when I read it I couldn't stop reading. I was in Esperanza's shoes, I could feel what she was feeling. She felt sad, mad at everything that happen to her. Esperanza is like me she cries if something bad happens to her I'm the same way too.