reading minute

I choose to read a few poems from Falling Up by Shel Silverstein for my reading minute because it is one of my favorite poem books that I read when I was younger. I like how not only do the poems rhyme but the writer makes them funny and illustrates it well with pictures. Shel Silverstein also wrote A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk ends which is just like Falling Up.

plan b...part 3

To continue off my other blog of plan b part 2, I left where Reed just arrived and he's acting like he owns the place, and Vanessa is still not happy about his arival even after a couple of days later. While I was reading, the events that happened was so far all about how Reed thinks he's better than everyone else. He wants to ride a taxi to school, and he even orders take out for lunch!! Vanessa finds herself really hating Reed and Reed finds himself really hating Vanessa but they try not to show it. The worst part for Vanessa is finding out that her parents are making Reed go with her along on her Yale visit to her boyfriend! She's very iritated that Reed has to go and she first doesn't realize why but then when she was talking to Reed about it, he said there parents asked him too. Now she realizes that she underestimated her parents. She thinks they don't trust her so that's why they sent him with. As the date comes closer she actually finds herself bonding with Reed more, they talk about college and even though they don't have the same opinion it was still nice to feel like they can talk. Another big event that's going one in the Vaughn household is that Vanessa's dad is putting on a play and asked Reed to be in it. Reed accepts and Vanessa finds herself left all alone since all her family members are participating in it but her. This book is really good and I love how it really shows Vanessa's and Reed's relationship throughout the book. You can really tell how it's starting to get better, but my prediction is that something along the trip will end badly and they'll start right back at the beginning.

two way street...part 4

Iv'e now finished the book and it's been great! I left off where they both know they still love eachother but they try to hide it but not very well. So from then, I've read that courtney gets a phone call from her best friend (the one that's dating B.J.) that he told her that there is no internet girl. Courtney thought about it, and she didn't tell Jordan she knew but she felt really hurt because she thought he made that up because he didn't really love her. Jordan, on the other hand doesn't know she knows until later when B.J. calls him and says what he did and Jordan is confused. He's wondering why she hasn't talked to him and if she was mad. At the end, Jordan relizes that he loves Courtney still a lot and now that there's nothing to lose he wants to go tell Courtney about her dad but before he could, Courtney's dad calls Courtney to tell her himself. There, Courtney is very mad and confused. She runs away from Jordan and it becomes this huge big fight again. I don't want to ruin the end of it but it's really good and I recomend this book to everybody cause I love how the author writes it.

Plan B...part 2

I've finished a couple more chapters and the last time I blogged I left off saying that Vanessa and her family have just heard about the news that she has a new half brother, Reed Vaughn, and she's dreading the arrival date. Now I have learned that Reed was sent down by her mother because he was having troubles with the show, and just recently crashed his new car into a corner store. His mother thought it would be nice for Reed to take a breather and a break from the show until he pulls his act together. Reed is no much happier than Vanessa about staying and it turns out they already have things to argue about. Like before Reed came, Vanessa has never had ground rules, she never had a curfew and she had her parents trust. Since Reed arrived, her parents decided that a curfew was necessary and Vanessa isn't happy about that at all. There first arguement was about Vanessa taking up too much space in the bathroom with all her products, and Vanessa found that one day he took out her stuff to find room to move his stuff in. My favorite quote so far is when Reed says, "Can we get out of here? They're all over me" (p. 56). I like this because it backs Vanessa's point on how she thinks he's selfish and inconsiderate. This scene happened at the airport and that was the first thing he said to them when he met them. I thought it was funny because this line proves he's not happy about being there. My prediction is that Reed and Vanessa will have a lot of problems and he'll want to leave back home to C.A.

CHILDREN HEROES

There are many ways that a child can be a hero. Weather it's from recovering from an illness to picking up trash around your community, anyone can be a hero. When someone says hero we usually think about an adult, but why doesn't someone think about children? I think a lot of adults underestimate children, and i'll admit to, that my first thought of a hero is definitely not a child. Also I think that when someone talks about a hero, I think the first conclusion people come to is people that save others. I've always thought that too but i've now relized that a hero doesn't have to be someone that saves peoples' lives but being brave and having to overcome their fears.

Recycling:
http://ecochildsplay.com/2008/09/03/green-super-heroes/

The significance of this ariticle is that a hero doesn't have to be extreme. Being a hero is described here as someone that can go around the neighborhood and collect cans and bottles to recycle. I chose this because it shows that young children could be heros too, there is no age limit.

Inspiration from Children:
http://www.jmphotostudio.com/Page3.html

This article is about a mother who got the inspiration for images from her 10 year old daughter. She loved to read and one day they decided to paint her as the character of her favorite book. I like this because sometimes I think that adults think that children are young and naive and they don't think much about how much we really can do. But this shows that this child inspired and developed the idea of paintings with her mom.

Cancer Survivor:
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=tori_degen

This article is about a girl named Tori Degen and she fought agaisnt cancer and once it was over, she started volunteering at Make a Wish Foundation and is sharing her story with others. I chose this article because I liked that just because she survived she didn't just go into her life like nothing happened, she helped other cancer patients that was once just like her. I'm glad that she didn't just think of herself and didn't give up on the other children either.

Anne Frank:


http://people.smu.edu/fnichols/diary.html

I love these quotes especially the first one. The significance is that just because she knew that things were hard, she didn't give up, she just let everything fall into place. I think this is a great description of a hero because she went through a lot and stayed strong. Even though she said there was nothing she could do, she was brave and I think that is one of the most important characteristics in a hero.

Bethany Hamilton:

http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Bethany_SJH_

This is an amazing story of a girl named Bethany Hamilton that when she was just 14 she lost her arm by a shark while surfing by a shark!! She's a hero in many ways. First she survived the shark attack and swam safely back to shore, second, even after she got bitten, she still got back on the surfboard within that month! I think this takes great courage to go back out there when that sport was the one that harmed her life to begin with. I chose this because she's a great role model to children to never give up and even though this was a terrible thing that happened, she turned it around to make it a great thing!

CONCLUSION:

These articles above really showed me that my definition of a hero isn't always about rescuing people from danger but the characteristics that make up a hero. Like bravery,courage, or overcoming your fears. Above, it taught me that there are two kind of children heroes. Ones that fight back and ones that give back. Like cancer patients, for example, fight back cancer and they become heroes by surviving. Children that give back, like picking up cans and recyclables around the neighborhood are heroes because they don't ask for anything in return, they do it because they want to. I've learned that a Hero doesn't have to be extreme it can be something like over coming your fears and being brave. Also I've realized that children can make just as big of an impact as adults and more than that, I've found out that there are a million children heroes out there today.

Plan B

I recently started a book called Plan B, by Jenny O'Connel, and I've only read a few chapters so far but its peaking my interest already. So far it's about a girl who found out she has a step brother, Reed Vaughn, that's a teen celebrity!! And that's not very good for Vanessa because first of all she hates Reed, she thinks he's selfish and starved for attention. The second part is that her best friend is in love with him!! So right now, in the book, her family is really excited to see him and is moving the furniture and her mom is even cooking for his arival!! Which she never does but now Vanessa thinks that everyone is a little TOO much interested in there new addition to the family. To make things worse, she has a ton of college applications to get through but there's only one that really counts to her. Yale. Where currently her boyfriend is at and that makes it all the more nerve wracking to make sure she gets in too.

Her recent plan before Reed comes is to get past her senior year, travel Europe with her best friend during the summer, and then join her boyfriend Patrick in Yale. But now she's not quite sure that plan will stick when she hears about Reed. I haven't got to the part when Reed comes but i'll post back as soon as i read it!!

two way street...part 3

To continue from my other posts about this book, so far i said that they've begun there road trip (3 days) and its been very tense. Now it's very clear that Jordan still has feelings for Courtney but obviously he's not going to tell her now because he was the one who broke up with her. The chapters that go back to when they were dating shows that how Courtney's dad is now kind of threatening Jordan that if he tells her, he'll ruin there relationship and that's creeping Jordan out a lot. Before they broke up, Jordan tell his best friend BJ he really likes her, actually loves her but he's still unsure about what to do about her dad. Him and Courtney go on a trip to Miami during break and Courtney is really sure that she loves him and that she's ready to sleep with him. On the beach, she tells him that she loves him, but Jordan just says thanks. That ruined the trip for both of them because since then, they've been kind of avoiding each other. When they get back home, Courtney goes over to Jordan's house, she apoligizes for the trip and tells him that things don't have to change because of it, and that's when Jordan says that it does and he breaks up with her. A lot of things have been going on now during the trip, they clearly both love eachother still but try not to show it by trying to get eachother jealous with there previous love life (so they say). That's all I have read so far, but my prediction about the rest of the book is i think that they'll soon talk about what happened and get back together. I think Jordan will also tell Courtney about her dad because he really does love her.