https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr Quarter 4 Book Project en-us 2019-04-24 17:47:52 UTC 2023-06-05 08:07:47 UTC hello@padlet.com 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853455 I read "The Boy From the Basement" by Susan Shaw. The genre of this book is suspense fiction.]]> 2019-04-24 17:52:54 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853455 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853627 The book upon up with Charlie talking about his everyday life. Drawing in the dark locked basement. Having to sleep on practically concrete floor. Starving everyday, only getting food when his mom is able to sneak something to him that father will not notice. The only time he can use the bathroom is late at night when everyone is asleep. While they are sleeping he will sneak upstairs get a piece of bread and put some peanut butter on it. He also has to use the restroom outside because they lock the bathroom to make sure Charlie cannot get in. It's been years since Charlie has been outside and his father has brainwashed him to think outside is dangerous. This all changes one night when he goes out and the door accidentally closes and locks on him. At this point he has been so starved that he starts to get hallucinations. He starts to hallucinate a giant spider and he starts running eventually passing out in the middle of the street far from his home. When he awakes he is in a place like he's never seen, the hospital. At this point he thinks that father has sent him somewhere as a punishment for going outside. The doctors help Charlie to become healthy and help him. Multiple times they try to ask him questions in what happened and where he lives but he is always scared to answer because he thinks father will know and punish him more. Also while in the hospital he is always fearing the large spider that stays in the corner of his room and increasingly gets bigger and louder. One of the nurses tries to explain to Charlie that it's not real and he needs to build a wall in his mind to block that spider out. Once Charlie is finally healthy enough in the hospital they try to ask him who is parents are, where he lives and simple questions like that. The problem however is that Charlie doesn't know his parents real name, where he lives or anything. After about a day they move Charlie to another part of the hospital for recovering kids. He gets put into a room with a kid named Aaron. After resistance Charlie finally opens up about what happened telling him that he went up from the basement and got locked out. Aaron can't believe what he hears and thinks Charlie is lying. Later on in the day a counselor comes to try to help Charlie and ask him what happened, so scared he will be in trouble if he tells Aaron realizes that Charlie was in fact telling the truth. Aaron then tells the counselor what Charlie said had happened. After a few days they locate Charlie's parents and bring them to the hospital. When they arrive to Charlie's room with a policeman Charlie thinks that they are fake but soon realizes they are real. When he does that he tries to go to them but is held back, but eventually gets a hug from his sobbing mother. At this point Charlie has no idea what is happening because he always thought it was normal for kids to live in the basement with no food. Counselors and other people the hospital try to tell him what has happened and even though Charlie wants to go back home to his parents they tell him he cannot, and that he will be staying with someone called Ms. H. With help from nurses he goes outside and sprints to Ms. H's car frightened for his life that father would be there. He has never really been in a car or outside so while in the car he had to wear something over his head so he would not go crazy. He finally gets to Ms. H's house and she shows him the amazing room he will be living in swell as his new brother, Ambrose. Charlie cannot believe that kids could live in such a nice room, and have more than one pair of clothes to wear. Ms. H and other teachers start to slowly assimilate Charlie and teach him all the things he missed out on, such as reading. He also lacks most very common knowledge and questions everything. Charlie also often keeps contact with the friend he made in the hospital Aaron. Aaron tells Charlie all about this game called soccer and Charlie promises that one day he will be brave enough to go outside and watch a game. Charlie and Ambrose start to become really close and Ambrose helps Charlie a lot, and shows him what being a family is supposed to be like. Later Charlie has gone along way and Ms. H asked Charlie and Ambrose if they would be fine if she went to the store for 15 minutes. They both agree that they would be fine and Charlie decides that he is strong enough to go in the backyard with Ambrose and kick around the soccer ball. While they are having a great time playing in the mud, all the sudden Charlie's father arrives. He goes to Charlie and tells him to come with him. At this point Charlie is starting to understand what his father had done to him so he disagrees. Once he disagrees father starts to choke Charlie and tell him that during the trial Charlie will say that father did nothing wrong, so he could come back to live with them. Ambrose goes crazy yelling for Ms. H forgetting she is gone, but she soon comes. When she arrives home she sees father choking Charlie and runs out there to save Charlie as father scrambles. The book then skips forward to the trial where father is sentenced to jail and mother is not but she did get a punishment. Even though Charlie is sad this happened he is also very happy that they are being punished for what they did to him. It then skips a few months in advance where Charlie has finally built up enough courage to go outside and watch Aaron play soccer. When he goes he loves it and can't believe what he's been missing his whole life. He had finally overcome everything that had set him back and happened to him to become a "normal" kid. ]]> 2019-04-24 17:53:13 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853627 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853729 Charlie: Charlie is the main character in this book. For most of his life he has been locked in the basement by Father. Because of this he doesn't know much of anything. Mrs. H helps him a lot and teaches him a lot and he soon starts to become very smart. Charlie is a very strong, caring, and willing kid. Even though people have done bad things to him he still really cares about them and after a little hesitation he learns to trust people and care for them.

Mrs. H: Mrs. H is Charlie's parent after he is good enough to leave the hospital. She is a very caring woman who understands what has happened to Charlie. Everyday she helps Charlie and her other son she took in Ambrose, learn everything they need to know and help them along the journey.

Father: Father is who locked Charlie in the basement. He is a very controlling person that doesn't understand what it's like to be normal. He says the outside is bad and very dangerous. He locked Charlie in the basement because he believed that he was "broken".

Aaron: Aaron is Charlie's first and best friend. They met when they were both in the hospital sharing their room. Aaron is the first person that Charlie told he was locked in the basement, and that that's where he lived with no food. During the story their friendship progresses and without Aaron, Charlie may never have grown to be a normal kid. Aaron is very understanding and acceptive of what happened to Charlie and wants the best for him, and also wants him to experience what it's like being a kid .]]> 2019-04-24 17:53:26 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853729 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853828 There are three settings in this book, the basement, the hospital and Ms. H's house.
The book starts in the basement, it is a pitch black place, and doesn't give much explanation as how it looks because I don't think Charlie himself even knows. It is important because without this location the story's conflicts would have never taken place.
The hospital is the second location in this book. This part of the story is very confusing for Charlie, but this is also where the story changes the most and that's why it is so important.
Ms. H's house is the very final setting of the book. It is a very welcoming and colorful place and it is very important because this is where Charlie becomes himself. ]]> 2019-04-24 17:53:37 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853828 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853861 Man vs. Self: Through much of the book the main conflict is Charlie vs himself. Charlie found himself in the hospital because of his hallucinations in his head and the giant spider that follows him around. He has this internal battle with his head and hallucinations that changes what he does everyday. He can't solve other problems in this book because he thinks the things in his head will kill him. This conflict is finally resolved at the very end of the book when he faces his fear of the spider and fights it away. 

Man vs Man: Charlie vs his father is also another very important conflict throughout the book. Charlie's father locked him in the basement causing him to starve and eventually get hallucinations. During the time Charlie thinks its normal but as the book goes on he realizes what happened to him and how abusive his father was. Also later in the book when Charlie is trying to become a normal kid his father comes and threatens Charlie. This conflict is finally resolved when father goes to jail for child abuse. 

Man vs Society: The last battle Charlie faces is his battle against society. Once he is finally with Ms. H and away from his original family he must learn how to be a normal kid, and learn all the things he missed not being in school. Slowly over time he overcomes this battle with the help of Ms. H and Ambrose. ]]> 2019-04-24 17:53:40 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853861 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853890 I think the theme of The Boy from the Basement is that anything is possible. Charlie went from living a sad lonely live in a dark cold basement to eventually having a great new life. Charlie also never thought he would be able to learn all the things that Ambrose and Ms. H knew how to do but after time and hard work he learned everything. He also thought that he would never be able to go outside and play but through mental hardship he pushed through it and ended up loving being outside. ]]> 2019-04-24 17:53:43 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853890 21cseverson https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853986 I will give this book a 4.8 out of 5 star rating. The book overall was very good and interesting I just wish it was a little longer at the beginning and end. The book had plot twists good enough to keep me engaged in the book and many times I didn't want to stop reading. It was also very interesting to see Charlie progress throughout the book and see how he changed, and grew as a person. ]]> 2019-04-24 17:53:58 UTC https://padlet.com/21cseverson/pxt23upelfkr/wish/353853986