Reading Response

                                                       The Catcher in the Rye

 I read the "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. I really enjoyed it, and thought it was beautifully written. It is about a teenager named Holden Caulfield, who has been in many schools, and kicked out of them all. He tells his story as if, he is recalling it to the reader. I had never red a book with that viewpoint of writing, I thought it was interesting and new, and I enjoyed it. Holden is very mature for his age, and is also very smart. That brings us to one of the main issues in the book, Holden is very smart, but has been kicked out of so many school because he doesn't apply himself in school. In the book he had one teacher who knew this, and Holden really liked him, when Holden was kicked out of his most previous school, he went and talked to this teacher from a different school. When Holden is kicked out of Pencey (his most previous school) he travels to New York City and walks around until the letter saying he was expelled gets mailed to his house and it kind of blows over. He busies himself around town, and eventually sneaks into his own house to talk to his little sister, Phoebe. This is the only other person who he can actually talk to, who knows him for who he really is.

                   This is something I see a lot, I know a lot of kids who are actually really smart, but don't apply themselves in school. Because of that they then get bad grades and in turn that can affect their whole life. It's sad because they are messing up their future just because they don't apply themselves, but if they did could get really good grades. I think it is an issue that needs to be addressed to kids and maybe even whole schools.

I’m on the bus and I see

§  Children disregarding adults

§  Most of them seem tired, and unhappy

§  Some kids are sitting by themselves, trying to be alone

§  Others sitting talking with their friends and disregarding people around them

§   Children doing homework they didn’t do the night before

§  Backpacks strewn across the floor

Number 3: some kids are sitting by themselves, trying to be alone.

          The kid is trying to not be noticed, and no one is talking to him. He is afraid and nervous; kids aren’t going up to him and talking to him. They are ignoring him, and if he tries to say something, they disregard it. In a way that is bullying, making that kid feel like he is nothing. That his opinion doesn’t matter, that no one likes him.

       No kid should ever feel like that, and I know kids always will, but you should always feel that someone is there for you, and that you have friends that care about you. If he feels that his opinion doesn’t matter, he will never voice his opinion because to him, it doesn’t matter. He is not going to try to be friends with people, because the people he tried to be friends with already, disregarded him and ignored the fact that he was there.

      Some solutions could be that, if kids knew that by ignoring the fact that, he was there they were drastically changing things for him. If they knew just to let him talk and acknowledge that he was there, he would feel a lot better. Kids could go up to him and talk to him, it would make him feel like he existed, or even if kids see him, they could ask his opinion of something, and he would feel like his opinion mattered.  

                                                             Poem

People walking by me in their suits

They pretend that I am not there

Dirt being kicked up by their boots

They see me but they do not care

I sit there and shake my cup

I plead as if I am crying

Hoping that something is given that boosts my spirits up

They say they have none, but are clearly lying

All I want is some change

They try to not have to talk to or be near me

They treat me as if I have mange

They pretend but I know they can hear me

Everything used to be different

I was seen as normal, and was accepted

Then the economy took a hit

Now I’m on the streets viewed as the scum of the city

My poem is about poverty and how it is a growing issue. Poverty is everywhere around us, yet we try to ignore it. When the people who honestly need help and are in much worse circumstances than us, ask for just some change, we ignore them. They don’t want to be in poverty, they don’t want to have to ask for money, but they have to. We ignore that and try to not see them, think if it was you. Would you want people to keep walking, not helping you, would you want to be viewed as the scum of the city? They are people just, like you and me, and deserve to be treated like one, and deserve to be helped. It is not their fault, that they had bad luck and that the economy is taking a hit.

 Interview with Jill Singletary

“Do you think your job is important, and why?”

“I do think my job is important on different levels:

1)      I give people new opportunities who are seeking employment or a next step in their career

2)      I impact the business of our company by bringing good talent to the organization

3)      I protect the company by screening who comes into the organization that may present a risk

“Why do you consider this as something that makes change in the world?”

“This changes the world in little individual ways that impact the big picture … for example if I hire great people and they are productive our business thrives.  If business thrives we employ more people.  The people we employ earn money and have the opportunity to increase their spending power which improves the economy.  If I place people into positions that they are happy in, they are happier and more fulfilled.  Happy and more fulfilled people make the world a more positive place.”

She changes the world by, employing people. The employment rate increases, then the economy is in a better state. The economy is in a better state, the country is in a better position. It all plays out together where she in turn helps the economy, which helps the country, which helps the world. It may be small and very individual, but it does help the world, even if it is in an miniscule way.

Non-Fiction Response

              Children all around the world are being kidnapped and forced to be soldiers. Being forced to fight other people's wars. Children have been used as soldiers in every continent in the world except Antarctica. When a war is going on and a village is attacked, usually children will be kidnapped, especially if their parents are missing or have been killed. Both sides of the war in some countries are using child soldiers, the rebel poorer side of the war, but also the government of the country as well, the rich side of the war, with funding from the government for weapons and soldiers. Leaders using these children as soldiers have said that they are ideal soldiers, because they listen to instructions and will not disobey orders. A 15 year old kid said "I will cut them" referring to the enemy he was fighting. This was showing that they really want to fight, they are being trained until it is normal for them. One soldier said " the first time I killed someone I became sick, I kept doing it, until it became as easy as drinking water". These children are being trained to kill until it means nothing to do them.
                  Child soldiers have been in very war the U.S has been in since WWII. Recently in Afghanistan SAS British soldiers fought a group of rebels teenagers armed with guns called the West Side Boys. 1 British       soldier was killed and 12 were wounded, while the casualties of the West Side Boys ranged from 25-100.
Also in Afghanistan a U.S green beret was shot by 14 year old boy. Children captured in Afghanistan were sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and were forced to watch videos teaching them math and English. Children are being taken advantage of, they are so young that they do not know it is wrong, to be forced to be a child soldier. Al Qaeda videos were captured that were teaching children how to manufacture bombs, and teaching children how to smuggle weapons and explosives. Children around the world have been used to other people's advantage. Company's in Colombia have manufactured vests specially designed for young children to carry bombs on them. A semi-retarded 16 year old boy was tricked into becoming a suicide bomber in the Israel-Palestine conflicts
                 I believe this is a global issue, as you have seen only several examples from around the world, but this issue is everywhere. It is unfair that adults are forcing children to fight their wars and the children who are in a time f need and being taken advantage of. One kid watched his parents killed in front of him while he was 10 years old, he was then kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier. Many of these children when the war they fought in is over, travel sometimes thousands of miles to find another war to fight in, because it is the only thing they know how to do. This is a global issue that is very sad, and I feel that more action needs to be taken to stop it.

Revision Response

Over the summer, I read a book called "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. It is a true story about a man named Louis Zamperini. It starts out when Louis is a young boy. He was really mischievous and stole stuff from people and was just in general, a bad kid. Later in his life in high school, he discovers that he loves to run. He joins the track team at college and keeps progressively getting better and better at running. He runs a qualifying race for the Olympics and makes the Olympic team. The Olympics are held in Berlin, Germany which at that time was ruled by Adolf Hitler, leader of the German Nazi Party. I think that this book is called unbroken because Louis never gave up. He stood strong throughout the story and I think that is a huge part throughout this great book.

 Louis was drafted into the Air Corps as a bombardier during World War 2. He met his crew and became good friends with the pilot Phillip. There was one type of aircraft that no one wanted to be the crew of, it was the B-24 bomber. Of course, Louis's crew was assigned to that type of aircraft. The crew kept flying missions, because the war was still raging, until one mission where Louis's plane, "The Superman" was shot by an enemy plane through the fuel tank and only just made it to a friendly base. “The Superman" was not going to fly again, as it was filled with holes bigger than a man's head.

Louis's crew was assigned a mission to go on a search mission to find a plane that had gone down in the Pacific ocean. Louis’s crew was then assigned a new plane named "The Green Hornet", they knew this plane to be unsafe and requested a different plane, but were declined because the plane passed inspection. The crew took off in the new plane and flew for a while looking for the plane that went down. Two of the engines in their plane broke and they started going down over the ocean. I think that this part of the story really proves Louis’s ability to stay strong. For example, he is one of the only survivors when the plane crashes. I thought that Louis was prepared for the crash and that is why he made it out alive.

After the plane goes down, Phillip, the engineer, Mac, and Louis realize their provisions bag is gone.  At this point Louis struggled away from the plane to find Mac and Phillip. This is another example of how strong Louis is. He immediately took control of the band of survivors. He caught food for them, he fixed their raft after an enemy plane came and shot at them and was attacked by sharks in doing so. Obviously, as you can see, he took the role as leader because he was the strongest both physically and mentally.

Mac dies on the raft and eventually Phillip and Louis drift to an island, but it turns out to be a Japanese island and they are taken into captivity. The POW camp they are taken to is called Ofuna. There were other POWS there with them and they endured beatings daily from guards and were served little food. Eventually Louis was transferred to a different camp called Omori, where Louis met the “meanest man he ever knew”. The POWS referred to him as "The Bird". The bird was the leader of Omori and he especially liked to beat Louis whenever possible, because Louis was a famous Olympic runner. International POW laws were regularly broken, by the guards at Omori. The bird was transferred to a different camp to terrorize POWs. Un luckily Louis was transferred to the same camp as the Bird and was eventually rescued after the war ended. This shows Louis is strong because even though he got transferred again to the same camp as “The Bird” he was able to stick it out till the war ended.

I thought the book was really good because of a couple reasons. Firstly, the author, Laura Hillenbrand makes really diverse characters. Louis is a great example of one of these characters. He is strong and inspiring and enjoyable to read about. I hope she continues to write stories about heroes like Louis.

Reading Response

                I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I liked the book and saw the whole inner meaning.

                           In the story the main character Nick moves to Long Island to a small little house. His neighbor had a giant house, and was very wealthy. The man is always having extravagant parties where many people come over. Nick has never seen or met the man but, has heard of him and knows his name is Gatsby. He sees a silhouette of him on his balcony one night. Nick is eventually invited to one of Gatsby's parties and meets Gatsby there. Nick keeps hanging out with Gatsby and meets Gatsby's friends which in turn become his friends. Nick eventually finds out that Gatsby is in love with Daisy who is married and Daisy is in love with him too. Nick just tags along with Gatsby and goes where he goes. Daisy eventually hits someone in her car who happens to be the woman her husband is having an affair with, naturally she would get accused of doing it on purpose, so Gatsby took the blame.




   This book showed how all the upper, middle, and lower classes all stay within one another. Nick was never rich but got to witness all the upperclass men staying together and not venturing into other classes

Reading Response

         
         Over the summer I read Animal Farm by:George Orwell. I enjoyed the book and would read it again.

     In the book animals can talk and walk on their hind legs and can do most human functions. In the beginning all the animals were living in the barn on the farm. They were fed up with the conditions they were living in, so they planned a revolution.
      They kept planning, and planning until they saw their opportunity and went for it. They attacked the farmer and drove him out of the farm. They took down the state flag and put up their own. They made their own wall of rules. They would grow crops and eat them, and were able to survive on their own.
      Then the farmer came back and brought his friends, who all had guns. The animals saw their chance and attacked the humans, some animals were killed, some injured but they drove the humans out again. This made them feel superior. The two leaders of the animals (Snowball and Napoleon) were having a debate, Snowball wanted to build a windmill to grind grain better, but Napoleon was opposed to the idea. Napoleon to win the debate, decided to slander Snowball and turn everyone against him. Napoleon even got dog bodyguards to attack anyone who disagreed with him.
    The pigs(highest of the animals) started to break the rules of the Animal Farm. Another animal would notice and go check the rule board where there was an add on to that rule giving some exception in the pig's favor. Napoleon decided to build the windmill, which brought this madness on, and said it was a great idea. He also claimed it was his idea and it was stolen from him by snowball. Napoleon even started making deals and trading with humans.


I thought this book was about how power can take people over. Napoleon had someone he had lived with chased by dogs out of town. He had rules bent in his favor, the power in my opinion got to his head and that took over. The Animal Farm went from a democracy to a dictatorship with no warning. The book seemed innocent but really had underlying issues about politics.

Theme in My Book

The theme in my book would be war. I mean that in southern Sudan there was a revolution and both sides are fighting and destroying people's homes and trying to get people to join their side and acting as if they were in charge by wrecking people's stores. People who didn't join the Sudanese army were attempted to be killed by the SSLA(Southern Sudan Liberation Army), and people who didn't join were attempted to be killed by the Sudanese army. Also people who decided to stay neutral in the war were killed by both factions. If I was there I would feel that my whole country had turned on me, there was no way to not be attempted to be killed. People had to run away from their burning homes, then be shot at, just for choosing not to join either faction. There was no more regard for any people of Southern Sudan which a revolution, would be fighting for the people. So the notion that either side would be killing un-involved people goes against any reason for why either side is fighting. I think the characters in the story feel betrayed by their country because the war started fighting for people and now both factions are killing innocent civilians, even children. They're country is killing them "for them". War is horrible, and that I believe is the theme in my book        What is the What