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The free read in class was really enjoyable throughout the whole year. Because of all the school work i have i barely have time to do things such as read. Throughout  the year I read a lot of different kinds of genres. My favorite genres are sci-fi and realistic fiction. A very important thing to me as a reader is a very good plot with problems that have themes i can relate to. This might be why i find realistic fiction as my favorite genre. This year i did not challenge myself to read harder books as much as I should have. This was because i did not read as often as i wanted too and reading harder books means you have to read more frequently to truly understand what is happening. My favorite book this year was the lies they tell by Gillian French. I liked this the book the most because I like how the author took a very simple girl named Pearl who was just a commoner in a rich area and completely changed the direction of her life. It was very enjoyable to watch how Pearl explored an entirely different lifestyle from what she was used to. But there was more to the story than that. With the addition of her new rich friends she gets closer to discovering the dark secret of the murder of the Garrison family which makes the book even better. I think the free read routine is perfect as it is. One thing you can try is to make every reading check a week its own daily grade to encourage students to read more frequently.

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I began to read a new book called “Stoner and Spaz” by Ron Koertge. It is about a boy named Ben Bancroft. From the start of the book, the conflict is about how Ben has Cerebral Palsy and no parents. He lives with a very overprotective grandma also. But this is where a bigger conflict I believe will begin to emerge. Due to his disability he is very limited in the activities he can do. Having an overprotective grandmother will also add to that problem. I think as the book develops, he will began to explore new things and ultimately add some new life to his childhood. He meets a girl named Collen who I think will be the reason his life changes. Collen is a drughead who does not care about school. As they meet at the movie theatres, I think the author foreshadows a future friendship. If I was in Ben’s position I would be doing the same thing and explore that friendship with Collen instead of neglecting her. When you are so limited in the things you can do in life, you have to take the opportunities that are presented to you and I believe that is what Ben is going to do. He will explore drugs with Collen, stop focusing on school as much and expand his friend group. This temptation to change his life comes from the desire to be “normal”. I predict have Cerebral Palsy will turn into a minor problem compared to the trouble he is going to get himself into.

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One common theme i see is to be yourself. In Julius Caesar, Caesar tries to portray a godlike image and show that he's powerful to the people of Rome. In reality he was weak People like Cassius and the rest of the conspiracy saw his weakness and knew he was not worth of being the king of Rome. This is similar to Tristan in my book "The Lies They Tell" by Gillian French. His family was previously murdered by someone that shot the two kids and then burned the house down. Now that event has had a permanent affect on Tristan. When he is with a group of people he acts like he nothing fazes him or that he was not affected emotionally by the tragic of his family. But when he's alone he reveals his pain. This is similar to Julius Caesar because both Julius Caesar and Tristan are portraying a fake persona around other people. This both negatively affects them and shows a common theme of always being yourself. It affected Caesar by getting him killed. It affected Tristan by hurting him emotionally, the longer he acted like he nothing happened, the worse he felt. Two similar characters are Brutus' wife and Pearl from "The Lies They Tell". They are similar because they both prove themselves to other people. Brutus was convinced his wife was strong enough to be part of the conspiracy by telling him that she is not any other women but the women he chose to be his wife. Pearl proves that shes more than just a "Towngirl" to Bridges and his friends by doing spontaneous activities with them. They are similar because they both rise up to challenges to prove themselves.

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First theme- Step outside your comfort zone: This is a theme because as the main character, Pearl, steps out of her comfort zone her life becomes more enjoyable and less stressful. She was previously just a “Townsperson” until a guy name Bridges convinces her to hang out with him and his friend group. As she starts hanging out with them, she starts to have more friends and stresses less. She used to put her dad’s burden on her shoulders for no reason but being more open to new things relieves her of that problem.

Discussion questions:

1. Is there a limit to when you should stop exploring new things in your life?  Would expanding your comfort zone be more beneficial or negative to someone’ life?

2. What are the positive and negatives to reaching out to make new friends?

Second theme is-  Always support your family: Pearl’s dad was a caretaker and a family he was watching over had their house burned down. The whole family died and the murderer escaped. Although it wasn’t his fault he blamed himself especially because he couldn’t figure out the killer and he turned into a drunk. Pearl worked everyday to found out who killed the family so he could ease her dad’s mind?

Discussion question:

1.       Should you always take your family’s burdens into your own hands? At which point should you leave them alone?

2.       Is there a boundary to where you need to stop supporting a family member? What does the boundary look like

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Now that I have progressed through the boo"the lies they tell" by Gillian French, I can come up with a prediction for what is going to happen. So far the main character, Pearl, has been hanging out with Bridges to make her long time crush, Reese, Jealous. But as she continues to spend time with Bridges, she also spends time with a guy names Tristan because of how close Bridges is with Tristan. Tristan is part of the Garrison family whose house burned down killing everyone in it. This all causes Tristan to began to act weird. I predict that as Pearl spends more time with them she will discover a secret to the Garrison family tragedy. She has already found out that Bridge's family and the Garrison family had secret business that people didn't know about. I believe that she will find out that Bridges family or some other family she will come to know will have something to do with the murder of the Garrison family. The murder was apparently from the inside as someone lit the house on fire and got away. Pearl works as a waitress so she knows most of the people in her town. I think the murderer will be someone she is relatively close and friendly with. This predicament will cause a big problem in her life because she will have to decide between telling Tristan the truth or hiding her friend's secret about being a murderer. That is my prediction and I believe she will tell Tristan the truth about his family's death.

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In my current novel "The lies they tell " the author Gillian French likes to be descriptive when describing the setting. For example she says " She followed along the flagstone path into the shadows of the carriage house, where towers of boxed napkins and coffee stirrers stood as tall as she was. Up the spiral staircase to up the unfinished second floor, where Dark Brew stock took up most of the spaces except for Reese's corner." She is also descriptive when it comes to the characters in the novel. For example when describing the main character's father the author said "He sounded fine, same old Dad, but the late haunted nights had seamed his face already full of sharp angles." I like how descriptive the author is because it paints a picture in my head. When she describes the dad i can visualize the signs of aging and being worn out on the dad's face. I can incorporate this into my writing by describing a situation when giving an anecdote in a persuasive essay. For example i could more accurately describe the situation more so the reader can visualize that moment in time better. This could help me better use the anecdotal example I am trying to make. In my last persuasive essay i talked about how my past mistakes made life harder for me. But instead of just saying that I hurt someone with my mistakes I could say "my mistakes affected another person's life terribly. It gave them a reason not to trust people anymore; it gave a reason to stress over everything. Slowly you could see the bags under her eyes getting darker overtime." This more descriptive detail shows the reader how exactly my mistakes affected someone rather than just saying it.

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If you were to look at my reading log from this year, you would notice that I mostly read books in the realistic fiction genre. This is because the plot of this genre of books give conflicts within the plot that are easy to relate to. The characters are mostly kids in school with problems related to school, friends, and even relationship related problems. For example, in my current novel that I am reading called “Bluefish” by Pat Schmatz, the main character, Travis, has problems with school. His problem is that he does not know how to read and that affects all of his other classes. I can relate to this because sometimes in my algebra 2 class, I feel like I have no idea what’s going on. I feel completely lost but just like Travis I have someone to help me and guide me through the class. This person for me is a girl named Sydney and for Travis it’s a girl named Velveeta. Sydney and Velveeta both go the extra mile to help Travis and I to really learn to keep up with the other kids. This kind of relatability is what attracts me to realistic fiction. I haven’t pushed myself to read harder books this year, Going forward I could challenge myself by reading harder books and branching out of the realistic fiction genre. This would improve my reading comprehension and expand my vocabulary. Reading bigger books is one step I could take to improve my reading.

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In my book "Heart of a Champion" by Carl Deuker, the author explores the issue of abusive relationships, and children growing up with an absence of a father. The main character, Seth, has always wondered why he never grew up with a dad. Although he vaguely remembers his father as a child, it is like his dad's existence hasn't even effected his life. This is a problem in today's world because kids are growing up without the experience of a father to guide them. In my personal experience; my dad has taught me a lot that my mom couldn't. Things like girl advice, sports and that understanding of what being a young boy is that my mom doesn't have. Another reason why growing up without a father is a problem is the stress that it brings It brings stress not only to the mother, but also the child. Without a dad, more responsibilities will be put on the child and at a young age isn't the best thing for their mental health. Another problem in the book is Seth's best friend, Jimmy, having a abusive father. After his parents decided on a divorce his dad went to their house and started throwing and pushing Jimmy's mom in anger. The book conveys the message that this creates a problem in the child's mind. Jimmy has always been good at baseball but after this incident, he was performing badly for the next few games. This goes to show that an abusive parent does nothing but bad for the kid such as creating distractions, and making them emotionally scarred.

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My new book is "Heart of  champion" by Carl Deuker. Reading this book has made me reconsider all the things i have tried but then gave up on. Seth is the main character and although he isn't the best at baseball, he doesn't give up on his passion. An example of something i should have done and not give up on is my job. When school started i quit my job at Dominos because of how overwhelmed I was from all the work. I regretted this because I loved my job; I loved the people, taking people's order, and most importantly i loved the money. Seeing Seth go through struggle of family problems and still doing something he loved made me regret quitting. Another effect the book had on me was making me see the world in a more lightened way. Before I thought the world was something that just loved to throw problem after problem at me and that my life was hard for no reason at all. Seeing Seth grow changed all this for me. Seth used his lack of a dad to grow into a more motivated person. With this motivation he worked even harder at baseball than other kids. Instead of seeing my schoolwork as a burden to my real job, i should've used that as motivation to  grow and become a more hardworking person. Looking at the world and it's problems as an opportunity to grow instead of a reason to give up on something would be more beneficial to me maturing.

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The character from "Don't get caught" is Max who just happens to be my favorite character. Throughout the book, Max was a very confused character and showed signs of a person that was still trying to find what kind of person he truly is. He is constantly at war with himself as he is sometimes the typical shy quiet kid who will never do anything to attract attention to himself or, he can be a outrages and devious kid who pulls pranks on other students. Personally I like Max because i enjoy his development throughout the novel. Max has a rather likable character as he always seems to do the right thing. When he thought the chaos club was messing with the high school to much, he pranked them doing what he thought was right. I think the author wanted me to enjoy Max's personality because it would make me become more connected and into the plot of the book. By developing what seemed to be a real concern for a fictional character, it made me more entwined with the plot and other characters as well. A characteristic i see in myself along with Max, is the enjoyment of messing with people. Max found great enjoyment in pulling pranks with his friends which is something i enjoy also. I like this characteristic about myself because it helps me enjoy life more and having an aspect of myself that isn't always serious. A characteristic i admire about Max is his desire to help people and to fight for justice. This kind of good heart is something that could help me improve my personal relationships.

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As i inch near the end of my book "Don't Get Caught" by Kurt Dinan, my predictions about the character development were right. I predicted Max would develop into a more confident character and develop an idea of what kind of person he really is. After being framed and almost arrested, you would think he would put his pranking antics to an end right? But instead he made the choice to continue to prank not only to stand up for himself but to also do what he thought was right; where as his old self would have just been idle and not have done anything. You see character development in his friends also. His friend Malone has always had a grudge and some sort of rivalry against another girl named Libby. Malone always got emotionally hurt when Libby did something but as you get deeper into the book Malone finally confronts her, says everything that Libby has done to her, and states that she is done getting hurt by her. You can see maturity beginning to grow in both of these characters. The character development really exemplifies the theme of finding who oneself truly is. Although it takes some struggles and moments the can utterly deplete ones confidence, you can find out out who you really are inside. In Max's case it takes getting bullied and getting framed to find his self confidence and come to the conclusion that he isn't the kind of person to get pushed around easily. He finally stands up for himself and finds that he is the kind of person to make things right.

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In my book, "Don't Get Caught", the story is being told from a first person point of view. It is being told from the view of the main character, Max. So far, the point of view hasn't changed to any other characters and the story has been told solely from Max's point of view. I think a big and important part of the book is the character development of Max. I think if the story was being told from multiple character's points of views, the plot wouldn't be as interesting for the reader. Also, Max seems to have two conflicting personalities so it already seems like two different characters are taking throughout the plot. I think the theme of the book is based around finding your true self, this is exemplified through how Max seems to have doubts about pranking others, while his other friends have no empathy for how others are affected.This is showing how Max is still developing an idea of who he is. It is easy to track this development by telling the story from one point of view because it shows direct change. If the point of view shifted between characters in the book, the whole plot and theme would be different. For example, characters such as Malone, conduct pranks for a different reason. While Max was doing pranks to stand up for himself, his friends, and to strike justice to the chaos club; Malone did pranks solely based on revenge. The theme of the book would be altered because the pranks would have more meaning.

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This week i finished Holes by Louis Sachar. My second prediction from week two was somewhat correct. I predicted that Stanley and Zero would eventually make their way back to camp and prove the camp to be corrupt and make it get removed. I also predicted they would make their way up the god of thumb mountain. On this mountain they would find something to fulfill their hunger and thirst. This was also something i predicted as they find onions for their hunger and water in the dirt for their thirst. However my other half of the prediction was not accurate. I predicted that Stanley and Zero would gather the other camp prisoners and revolt against the warden. What really happened was Stanley's lawyers came and eventually deemed Zero's arrest unwarranted and said Stanley was not guilty. Overall the book was more of a fun and relaxing read than a challenging and intense one. The book Holes had little to no metaphors or similes but an occasional use of personification. The book compared to the movie was more enjoyable. The development of the plot was better and it made the plot in the movie seem rushed. My favorite part of the book was the character development of Zero. At the beginning he appeared to be an introvert and a weird character but as the story developed and Stanley got closer to him, he developed into my favorite character. His backstory and the way he opens up was enjoyable to see develop as I got further into the novel.

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I am reading the realistic fiction novel, Holes by Louis Sachar. I chose this book solely because i wanted the first book I read this year to be a easy one. What also attracted me was the fact that i re-watched the movie not to long ago and i wanted to compare it to the book.  I am currently at the part where the main character, Stanley Yelnats assumes the KB on the warden's jewelry Katherine Barlow. After reading this part of the book I predict that Stanley will somehow confirm his assumption and ultimately tell the other kids at Camp Green Lake. I think this will somehow lead to their freedom and the arrest of Katherine Barlow. Her arrest will be be the end of Camp Green Lake, as it will be seen as corrupt after being ran by a criminal So far, I like the book more than the movie. It is more engaging with the audience and has more details. The book has a more complex plot with more of a backstory to why Stanley got sent to Camp Green Lake. The plot in the book compared to the movie is more complex and informing at this point of the book. This book isn't challenging for me.The diction and plot is easy to understand. It is a book for younger kids so the plot is simple and not as fast pace as more challenging books. There also aren't a lot of pages compared to more advanced book overall making it an easy read.

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This week i have got further into Holes by Louis Sachar and have rewritten my predictions for the book. However, before I get into my predictions i want to reflect on the authors style of writing. The author is developing two plots at the same time, which is different from the movie form of the book. Not only is he developing a plot for the main character, Stanley, but he is also developing a plot for the backstory of camp green Lake. He blends these two plots carefully as the background story doesn't give too much information all at once. This style of writing gives just the right amount of information which allows the reader to have a multitude of predictions. For example whenever Stanley found a gold tube that had "KB" embedded onto it, he assumed that it stood for the convict Kate Barlow. After this i made the prediction that the warden was Katherine Barlow. However, the following chapter she gives the backstory of how Kate Barlow died in Camp Green Lake. This an example of how one part of the book can stir up a plethora of predictions but then the next part where the author gives a backstory on the past of Camp Green Lake  can shut down my predictions and create more. Now that i discovered Kate Barlow is dead, my new prediction is that after Stanley and Zero ran away; they will find something on the "Thumb of God" that will help them survive their thirst and hunger. I believe after they find food and water i predict that they will sneak back to the camp, get all the other kids and lead some sort of revolt against the camp leaders.