Reading Wishlist

My book list:

Diveregent,  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, This Star Won't Go Out, Eleanor and Park, Will Grayson Will Grayson, Fangirl, Heaven is for Real, and Skinny

Post#11 Book Talk

Book#3 Review

The books I have read are both realistic fiction. The first book is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and the second book is An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.  Thirteen Reasons Why is a about a girl named Hannah Baker that committed suicide; she leaves tapes explaining why she committed suicide and each person on the tapes will receive them and listen to all of them.  One day they showed up at Clay’s house and when he started to listen to them all he could think about was what did he do to her to be on the tapes.  He wanted to know why “you don’t belong in the same way as the others” and that is why he needs to listen the tapes before he gets to his.  The story is told in a very unique way allows the reader to hear the tapes and see what Clay thinks and feels.  In An Abundance of Katherines, the story revolves around a boy named Colin who has dated nineteen Katherines; he doesn’t date anyone that has a different name.  Each Katherine also has to be spelled the same.  Colin is always the one that gets dumped and after the nineteenth Katherine he goes on a road trip with his best friend Hassan to try to forget Katherine nineteen.  They end up in Gutshot, Tennessee and they meet Lindsey Wells and they stay with her and her mom, Hollis for a couple of weeks.  For those couple of weeks they work for Hollis by interviewing people at the factory about what they liked about Gutshot.  When they are there, Colin tries to figure out the Theorem that predicts what the relationship will look like and who will be the Dumper and the Dumpee;“he hadn’t gotten Katherine III on paper, and one cannot take an equation that predicts eighteen out of nineteen Katherines to the Nobel Prize Committee,” when he figured out the Theorem, only Katherine III didn’t work and he didn’t know why.  He tries to figure out why it didn't work on her,but then he finds out the missing piece that happened with Katherine III. 

            Clay and Colin are very similar because they both change throughout the book; both characters choose to change their outlook on life.  Hannah’s tapes change Clay’s life because he learns her perspective. Clay learns to be more empathetic, to take a chance on getting to know someone different. While Colin is in Gutshot he is tries to break away from being a nerdy genius and lets himself have a little fun; he might even break away from his dating ways.  Colin learns to break free from some of his habits as well, allowing for a less structured life.  Both start out as quiet kids who keep to themselves, but each, through different circumstances learn to change.  The main difference is that Clay changes because of a painful event and Colin changes because of an event that turns out to be positive.  Clay tends to think with his heart, while Colin tends to think with his brain even though both just want to be normal.

            In Thirteen Reasons Why I really liked about that it had a very strong message to it and it made you really think about people who are going through a hard time or people that are getting bullied at school.  You see kids in the halls that are getting bullied and you don’t do anything about it, but after you read this book it changes you.  You don’t want anyone to be bullied and you don’t want it to go so far that they want to commit suicide.  This book doesn’t only change Clay and the way he looks at life, but it also changes the reader as a person.


            I give Thirteen Reasons Why 5/5 stars because I really liked the message to the reader and I would recommend it to anyone and people who like fast pace books.  For An Abundance of Katherines I give it 4/5 stars because it was a little boring in the begining and I though it wasn't one of the best books John Green has written.  I would recommend it to any teen or young adult reader and if you like to read realistic fiction.

Post #9

I think that my narrator in An Abundance of Katherines is likable because even though it’s told in third person you can see that he enjoys writing and that he can relate to the Colin Singleton. The characters that are in my book are Colin Singleton and Hassan; they are best friends and they are nerdy.  At first you feel a little sad for Colin because he doesn’t have many friends and he has been dumped a lot by Katherines.  Colin and Hassan are on a road trip because Colin is trying to forget about Katherine 19.  They stop in Gutshot, Tennessee and they meet a girl named Lindsey Lee Wells.  Lindsey is very likable because she always has a smile on her face and she is nice and kind to others and that is why everyone in town loves her.  You can relate to Colin because he is nerdy kid in school and doesn’t have very many friends.  He is trying to get away from being a genius all the time and become a normal kid.  He wants to branch out and do more things other than just studying and working on his theorem.  Colin and Hassan are hired by Hollis, Lindsey’s mom to interview people at the factory in town.  Throughout this time, Lindsey and Colin bond while she is trying to teach him how to tell an exciting story that happened to him.  

Post#8

            In my opinion, the book has to be 100% the truth to be non-fiction because if it’s not a true story it shouldn’t be called a non-fiction book.  People will believe the author that they are telling the truth and not a 95% the truth and the rest is made up.  If it’s not 100% the truth it should be considered as a fiction book not a non-fiction book.  I know they won’t know exactly what happened and what was said, but they should try to create a similar scene for the readers. If they change a small detail that’s fine, but if they change a big detail like Fray said he killed the girl and in real life he didn’t.  They shouldn’t change big scenes, but changing small minor details is fine and no one would really care. 

Post#7

Post #6 Readicide

I think that we should continue to teach literary fiction because we still need to show students the literature that everyone has read over time.  I do think sometimes the teachers do over-teach the book like Romeo and Juliet by taking a quiz every week about what we read and knowing quotes from different characters.  I think students would enjoy reading the classics if we didn’t take a quiz over the book every week to make sure we understand it and we kept up with the reading.  Also, I think we should allow students to read a book of their choice so they will start to enjoy reading instead of being told to read this book and finish it on this date.  If the student could read whatever they wanted they might find out that they like the author and they want to read more by them or find out they enjoy reading.  I think we still need to read the classics, but maybe we can let the student read what they want to read for fun as well.  Reading strengthens the mind and imagination and allows one to explore different places and times. Reading allows the kids to open up their minds and imagine everything that is going on in the book; they get to create the appearance of the characters and the how everything looks.  The classics are still the most famous books from the past and the students should experience reading them even if just to understand the language and historical context.  Everyone needs to read the classics in my opinion, but we should let the students pick a book they want to read to encourage them to read by themselves and not just read the books for school.

Post #5: The Book Thief Adaptation

The first thing the movie needs to include is how Liesel and the mayor’s wife have a connection.  When Rosa Hubermann sends out Liesel to collect the laundry; the mayor’s wife invites Liesel into the house and shows Liesel her library.  Liesel is amazed and every time she goes to pick up the laundry and she stays for a while to read.  After many visits to the house the mayor finds out and kicks Liesel out of the house and they say they can’t afford to have their laundry done anymore.  Liesel starts to "borrow” books from the mayor’s wife without her knowing.  The mayor’s wife does know and makes sure to leave a dictionary and a letter for her. They need to show they both have a love for books and learning and this is where Liesel gets the name the Book Thief.

The second thing they need to make sure the audience knows is that the narrator is Death.  If people haven’t read the book they would be confused about who was narrating the movie.  If they get rid of Death as the narrator, the book would different and you wouldn’t know as much detail or fully understand the circumstances.  It also gives you a different perspective than usual books, which makes the book unique.

The third scene they need to keep is showing the background of Max.  People who haven’t read the book will be confused on why Max chose Hans Hubermann to trust with his life.  If they didn’t explain everyone would wonder why he went to Hans and not someone else?  The back story of Max will help the audience understand the reasoning behind why he chose Hans which is that his father fought with Hans in the World War One and he kept his accordion for him.  Also, when Max is there they need to show the bond created between Liesel and him throughout the movie and how Liesel trusted him and loved him by reading to him when he doesn’t wake up for a while. 

One thing they should exclude from the movie is all of the soccer scenes.  There are so many of Liesel and Rudy and all of the other kids playing that it will be repetitive.  Although I did like reading these scenes it’s too many to keep in the movie.  They can keep at least one to show how Rudy and Liesel bond and become closer friends.   

The second thing they should cut is when Liesel rolls the cigarettes for Hans.  It’s not important to the book and the audience will still get the movie if it’s cut out.