Reader's Journal-Fiction

#17                                                     Reader’s Journal                                           12/29/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I am going to use my homework pass for this readers journal.

Love, 

Joelle Ben-Nissan 802

 Reader's Journal-Fiction

#16                                                     Reader’s Journal                                           12/13/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            I have just read the book Chosen (The Chosen #1) by Denise Grover Swank. The genre of this book is Fantasy. Fantasy is highly imaginative fiction that uses strange or unusual characters, setting, and plot; it also will never happen in real life.

            There were many strategies I used before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I read my readers journal to remember what was happening in the book where I last left off. Also, I wrote down questions I was looking forward in finding later on in the book; like who the “Bad Men” were and why they wanted to threaten Emma and Jake. While reading, I discussed the book with friends that I knew read or are reading this book so that we would be able to learn things from each other and analyze what have changed since the beginning of the book to the very end. Also, I added more literary elements on a sticky note, which I have not read about before. I did this so that it would be proven that I am giving the reader correctly updated information about the book on my reader journal. After reading, I gave the book a final rating based on my likings and disliking. Also, I thought about the book as a whole and reflected on it by writing my readers journal.

A quote from the book that sparked my interest was located on the kindle (don’t know page number.)

“His head turned and he studied her in the mirror. “You don’t like him?” he asked. “No’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.” He stared with unblinking eyes. “You don’t need to like him. You just need to let him help us.” Emma’s anger erupted anew. She spun around and thrust her head between the front seats. “Why do we need him? We’ve done just fine on our own. We’ve never needed anyone before.” “Things have changed.” His face implied wisdom older than his years.”

I chose this quote because it really amazed me to see how a five-year-old boy told his mother how to make decisions and big choices they needed to follow in order to save their own lives. Also, it made me realize how much impact Will had towards Jake. By this quote, you can identify that Jake had a really good feeling about Will and I really wanted to find out why. This quote has significance to the book because it shows Emma’s characterization in the beginning, towards Will. It also shows a social condition Between Emma and Jake.

            There really weren’t so many characters introduced in the book. The main protagonists are Emma Thompson, Jake Thompson, and Will Davenport. They are all round, protagonists because they are described in detail throughout the book. Even though “The Bad Men” seem to act as antagonists because they are going against the protagonists, the book doesn’t mention their characterization so they are really considered to be flat and static characters. There were also no foil characters.  Emma has been trying to protect her five-year-old son, Jake from “The Bad Men”, who have been chasing them for an unknown reason. This incident has been happening for three years, but thanks to Jakes “special power” to tell the future, they have been safe. Will volunteered to protect Emma and Jake so that they would be able to defeat and run away from “The Bad Men”. Emma’s Characterization changed towards Will because of her five year old son, who reassures that Will can help them. At the beginning, Emma does not trust Will and doesn’t want him to help them but then she learns to accept him because of Jakes “vision”.

            The setting of this story varies but it mostly takes place in a cheap, roach-infested hotel in South Dakota, and then they drive to an unclear destination, mentioned as Austin, Texas. The weather conditions were the usual, hot and humid climate in South Dakota. Also, the time mentioned was in the months of present-day July. The social conditions are that Emma and Jake are extremely unfortunate, and they are always running away from “The Bad Men” when they chase them. Also, Jake, Emma’s son can see things before they actually happen and he believes Will can help his mom, and himself survive through the antagonists.

The author’s purpose is to entertain the reader with a highly imaginative, fictional story and the author’s perspective is objective because he does not include any of his opinions or feelings in the text. The point of view of the book is third person limited because the author is a narrator that only mentions one characters internal feelings, being what he thinks, feels, says, etc. Even though I practically finished reading the book, there is no theme, motif, or moral. The pattern of organization is climatic order because the author states what exactly happens from the beginning to the end of the book in order of events.

The tone of this book is to feel serious because the plot focuses on a very “straight face” scene. The mood I felt was to be disgusted in the beginning when the author vividly described the roach-infested hotel they lived in and the conditions they were in. also, my mood changed to curious throughout the rest of the book because I really didn’t understand what was happening at first and I wanted to know what situation the characters were facing.

            The plot structure was really straight up, to the point. In the exposition, not only did the author introduce all the characters, and settings, but she also drops the reader into a scene where Jake and Emma get ready to run away, from “The Bad Men” as usual. It didn’t take long for the book to begin the rising action. While reading the rising action, Emma, Jake, and Will go on an extreme drive to disappear in sight of “The Bad Men” that were chasing them. In this driving scene, I felt as if I really were in the middle of their situation even though I couldn’t really tell the real reason why they were being chased by “The Bad Men.” In my opinion, the climax, and falling action didn’t differ from each other in any way. It was hard to understand what part of the plot structure I was reading because almost every part of the book seemed like it was the climax. The same routine that went over and over was for Jake to announce that the Bad Men were coming and then for them to run away. Even though I only had two-three chapters left in the book, the resolution was not identified. The conflict of the book is man vs. supernatural, external because I came towards finding out that the “Bad Men”, the men who threatened them, where really some supernatural/ mystical characters.

The book didn’t contain so many figurative language sentences, but I was able to search a few.

·      “She felt vulnerable and trapped, like a noose tightened slowly around her neck” this is an example of a simile because it is comparing the way she felt trapped, while using the word like.

·      “We are not waiting outside like targets” is also a simile because Emma is comparing herself to a target, using the word like.

·      “He scrutinized her with his ice blue eyes.” Is a metaphor because the author uses ice to compare and describe Jakes eyes.

·      “The only response was the country music drifting from the propped-open back door of the bar and cicadas singing in the trees. This is an example of personification because the author gives the animal human features.

·      “Her fingernails dug into her palms” is another example of personification because her fingernails are doing human features.

All in all, this book was great! I recommend this book to teens, in particular because the scenes require a serious and focused attitude. Also, some vocabulary and the plot structure might be challenging and hard to understand for younger readers.  I rate the book an eight out of ten because I was hooked to the book since the first few sentences I’ve read and even though I don’t really like reading fantasy books, this book impressed me with interest. Clearly, the book was great and I really think anyone should give it a chance!

Love,

 Joelle Ben-Nissan

Current Events #3

  Date: 12/11/11

Name: Joelle Ben-Nissan

Title: Animal shelter's behavior experts face life and death decisions for animals

Author:  John Owens

Source:  The Miami Herald Newspaper-

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/02/v-print/2529551/animal-shelters-behavior-experts.html

·      The topic of the article is animal shelter’s decisions on animal behavior.

The main idea of the article is (implied/stated): The main idea is stated because it is clearly states it in the title of the article. It is: “Animal shelter's behavior experts face life and death decisions for animals”

·      The author’s purpose for writing this article is to inform the reader about the decisions shelters make to either euthanasia the animal or not according to the animal’s behavior.

·      The author’s perspective in this article is subjective (biased) because the author makes the reader have sympathy for the animals.

·      The pattern of organization of the article is both process order and cause and effect.

·      The reason the author chose to write in a form of process order and cause and effect in the article is to show the cause of either behaving good or bad and the effect of it. Also, it is process order because the author helped the reader with the process of how they make decisions.

·       The text features included in the article are the title, quotations marks, and the date.

-The title helps because it helps the reader identify the main idea of the article.

-The quotation marks help by showing valid conversation and action that Bolivar Perez-Rios said and was going through while the author “flashed back” at his experience.

-The date tells the reader when the author published the article.

·       Summary in my own words: This article is about how shelters make the decision to either put pets for adoption or put them to sleep according to their behavior. Yokie for example, was put to sleep before he was put up for adoption because he had an aggressive behavior.

·       The significance of this article is that the reader can have a better idea of the decisions shelters make to either put animals to death or put them up for adoption according to their behavior. This means that the animal you adopt is more likely to have a non-aggressive behavior, because the animals that do, are most likely put to sleep.

·      What I learned from this article is that so many pets are being put to sleep before giving them a chance to be adopted just because they are aggressive. It isn’t a pets fault if they are aggressive and I think they should at least give them a chance before killing them.

·       What I liked about this article is that the author included many quotation marks that other said because if gave me the opportunity to be informed on the opinions of others perspectives.

·       What I did not like about the article is that the author used a real life example, like Yokie because it was really depressing to hear that he had to be put to sleep. Also, I did not like that the author didn’t include a picture that would show a visual of his example, Yokie. 

·      I think people who are planning to adopt a pet or people who already have a pet should read this article because it would teach them more about what shelters do to the pets. Also, it might teach people how to care for their pet, for those who already have one.

·       A text-to-self connection I made was that I have a dog as a pet and thankfully, he was not put to sleep because of his friendly and calm behavior.

·      A text-to-text connection I made was to a book my little sister read about a dog that had disabilities and had to be put to sleep by his family.

·      A text-to-world connection I made after reading this article was that there are so many dogs, cats, and other animals that are being put to sleep in shelters around the world.

New vocabulary I learned:

Word	Context Clues	Meaning
1. Coalition	Context clue #4 (Example or Explanation) Because it uses a comma to show an example of it.	An Alliance
2. Euthanasia	I used context clue #5 (Inference/ Description) because reading the sentence helped me infer that it means to kill, when they stated that they would have to Euthanasia if the animal caused danger to others.	To put to sleep.
3. Utilitarian	I used context clue #5 (Inference/ Description) because reading the sentence helped me infer that it that it means functional, from the word next to it.	Attractive, Functional

 Reader's Journal-Fiction

#15                                                     Reader’s Journal                                            12/6/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            I have just started reading the book Chosen (The Chosen #1) by Denise Grover Swank. The genre of this book is Fantasy. Fantasy is highly imaginative fiction that uses strange or unusual characters, setting, and plot; it also will never happen in real life.

            There were many strategies I used before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I explored the ratings other people gave this book so that I can see several opinions people had before I read it. Also, I analyzed if the book was “just right” for me (it was). While reading, I discussed the book with the people who I know already read this book or to those who were currently reading it so that we would be able to learn things from each other and analyze what we each think of the book, while finding some literary elements together. Also, I kept track of the literary elements I found in the text while reading and I wrote the information I learned from my friends on a sticky note. This would be so that it would be easier to write my readers journal when I was done reading. After reading, I made inferences and drew conclusions about the information I read. Also, I critiqued and discussed the book with myself so that I can reflect on the book and write my readers journal.

A quote from the book that sparked my interest was located in the beginning of the book (kindle).

“They’re coming. Mommy,” Jake’s quivering voice whispered in her ear. His deep blue eyes filled with tears and she gently kissed her cheek. “We’ll be okay.” She tried to convince herself as much as she tried to convince him.”

I chose this quote because it dropped me into a scene and a hook. This is because the quote was written in the very beginning of the book, and It clearly made me want to read further to find out what the position the characters were in and questions I wanted to uncover. This quote has significance to the book because it made me identify that Emma’s son, Jake has some type of power to tell the future. People were after them and the quote made me want to know what those people wanted and what they did!

           

            There really weren’t many characters introduced so far in the book. The main characters are Emma Thompson, Jake Thompson, and Will Davenport. They are all round, protagonists because they are all described in detail throughout the book. Emma, Jake, and Will are protagonists because Emma has been trying to protect her five-year-old son, Jake from “The Bad Men” characters (the antagonists of the book). Emma has been running away from the antagonists for about three years because they want her son Jake, who tends to see things before they actually happen. Will volunteered to protect Emma and Jake so that they would be able to defeat and run away from “The Bad Men”. I haven’t read far enough in the book to identify any other antagonists, or protagonists and all of the characters characterization or personalities. Finally, the only foil character that was introduced was the teenager desk clerk of the hotel, who I don’t know anything about yet.

            So far, the setting of this story takes place in a cheap, roach-infested hotel in South Dakota. The weather conditions were not mentioned, but I believe that it is the usual, hot and humid climate in South Dakota. Also, the time was in the months of present-day July because of the surroundings and technical uses. The social conditions are that Emma and Jake are extremely unfortunate, and they are always running away from “the bad people” when they chase them. Also, Jake, Emma’s son can see things before they actually happen and that really results them in success.

The author’s purpose is to entertain the reader with a highly imaginative, fictional story and the author’s perspective is objective because he does not include any of his opinions or feelings in the text. The point of view of the book is third person limited because the author is a narrator that only mentions one characters internal feelings, being what he thinks, feels, says, etc. Since I have only read a small portion of the book, I have not yet identified the pattern of organization, theme, moral, or motifs in the book.

The tone of this book is to feel serious because the plot focuses on a very “straight face” scene. The mood I felt was to be disgusted in the beginning when the author vividly described the roach-infested hotel they lived in and the conditions they were in. also, my mood changed to curious throughout the rest of the book because I really didn’t understand what was happening at first and I wanted to know what situation the characters were facing.

            So far, the plot structure is really to the point and a lot has happened even if I’m only in the middle of reading the rising action. In the exposition, not only did the author introduce all the characters, and settings, but she also drops the reader into a scene where Jake and Emma get ready to run away, from “The Bad Men” as usual. It didn’t take long for the book to begin the rising action. While reading the rising action, Emma, Jake, and Will go on an extreme drive to disappear in sight of “The Bad Men” that were chasing them. In this driving scene, I felt as if I really were in the middle of their situation even though I couldn’t really tell the real reason why they were being chased by “The Bad Men”… Even though the conflict can’t be easily determined, I think the conflict of the book is man vs. man, external because it seems to me like they are against “The Bad Men”.

The book didn’t contain so many figurative language sentences from what I read but I was able to search a few.

·      “The chill of the air conditioner blasted her as they entered the room” this is an example of a hyperbole because the author exaggerates the airs action.

·      “ Emma turned toward Jake, frozen in his nightmare!” to me, I couldn’t choose between viewing this sentence as a hyperbole or a cliché because it sounds like an exaggerated overused expression.

·      She turned to look at him, the loose strands of long brown hair dancing in the breeze around her face.” This is personification because it gave the strands of hair human features.

·      “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” This sentence is a cliché because it is definitely an over used expression.

·      “The low setting sun hid behind the dilapidated motel units next door.” Is a personification because the sun hiding is known as a human feature.

All in all, this book is really good so far! I recommend this book to teens, in particular because the scenes require a serious and focused attitude. Also, if the book isn’t read by teens or older, the vocabulary and plot structure might be hard to understand.  I rate the book an eight out of ten because I was hooked to the book since the first few sentences I have read and even though I don’t really like reading fantasy books, this book impressed me with interest. Clearly, I really hope for the rest of the book to be as good as it is so far!

Love,

 Joelle Ben-Nissan

Reader's Journal-       

Fiction

#14                                                     Reader’s Journal                                           11/28/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I have recently started reading the book The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. The genre of this book can be both realistic fiction and romance; this is because it is a fictional story that could've taken place within the last 50 years and it is a love story.

A passage I chose out of the many was located in the beginning of the book (kindle)

“For an instant, Ronnie felt crushed of memories overwhelm her: the fire and subsequent rebuilding of the church, the stained-glass window, the song she’d finally finished. She thought about Blaze and Scott and Marcus. She thought about Will. She was eighteen years old and remembering the summer she’d been betrayed, the summer she’d been arrested, the summer she’d fallen in love.”

I chose this quote because it really reminded me of how good the movie was when I saw it. Ronnie tells her mother about the summer she has spent (which is what the movie focuses on). This passage is significant to the book because with this small paragraph, any reader could tell that the pattern of organization was flash back.

I used various strategies before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I read others reviews about this book to have a greater interest and understanding of what the book is about and if it is worth reading. Also, I skim and scanned the book to identify if it was “just right” for me. While reading, I tried to point out the literary elements to write on a sticky note so that it would be easier to write my readers journal. All the literary elements turned out to stay the same. Also, I created mental images throughout events in the book so that I had a great visualization of what I was reading. Clearly, since the author was so vivid and explanatory, my metal images were made quick and clear. After reading, I wrote my readers journal on all the information I kept track of. Also, I compare and contrasted this book to the movie it was based on and they seemed pretty similar so far!

While reading, there were many characters I was introduced to, although I don’t know much about any of them to identify their characterizations or personalities... the protagonists are Ronnie Miller, Steve Miller, Jonah Miller, and Will Blakelee. They are all round and dynamic. There is no antagonist. Some foil characters are Blaze, Marcus, and Jonah and Ronnie’s mother. Hopefully when I read later on in the book I can tell you more about each of these characters! So far, the setting is in New York City. The time is modern day, in the year of 2010. The weather conditions vary; they are either sunny or cold outside. The social conditions are that Ronnie’s parents are divorced and that she and her brother are being “forced” to visit their father in North Carolina. Her father, Steve, gets diagnosed with cancer.

Since I’ve only started reading this book, I have only read up to the rising action. The exposition is when Ronnie introduces a flashback she had from the amazing summer she has had with her Dad, Brother, Will and many others. The rising action is when Ronnie and her brother come to their dad’s house to visit. There are also no conflicts yet. I really hope to uncover the rest of the books plot structure and conflicts.

The point of view is mainly written in third person limited, but it all depends on the chapter you read. This is because the name of each character is the name of the chapter. This means, that if the chapter had a name on it, that chapter would focus on that person. The pattern of organization is flashback, clearly because of the quote I wrote and chose. The author’s perspective is unbiased and subjective. The author’s purpose is to entertain the reader with a fictional love story. The tone was to love and amuse and the mood was feeling interest, amusement, and sadness at times. I was not yet able to identify any theme, motif, moral, or any figurative language.

All in all, this book is really good so far! I really recommend it to anyone but mostly teens, just because it is a love story and it has some trick words. I rate it a ten out of ten so far and I really hope for the rest of the book to be as good as it is so far!

Love,

 Joelle Ben-Nissan

Reader's Journal-       

Non-Fiction

#13                                                     Reader’s Journal                                           11/21/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

 I have just finished reading the book: Why Me? By Sarah Burleton. The genre of this book is memoir. Memoir is a subgenre of fiction that is written about a true story and a specific memory or event in that person’s life. In this case, Sarah Burleton wrote about the horrific memories of her childhood, when her mother abused her.

A passage I chose out of the many was located in the middle of the book (kindle) “I tried to count how many BBs Indy had been shot with, but there were too many to count. Blood was pouring out of what seemed like every part of his body. Indy looked up at me as if to say, “I’m sorry!” I held his head gingerly and sobbed. I don’t know how long I sat there holding Indy in my arms, but when my tears finally stopped for a second and I could see clearly, Indy had died in my arms. I felt a rage like I had never felt before in my life. Sure, I had gotten angry over the years after a night of beatings, but this was different. And mom, standing in the kitchen humming like she’d just had the best day ever, was too much to bear. 

I chose this quote because it really broke my heart. I never thought how someone like the mom could be so careless about something. Sarah finally had a best friend (being the goat), and the mom had to kill and torture it, just because it was the only thing that brought Sarah joy. Also, this happened right after she moved houses, and changed schools. This incident was probably what made Sarah feel as if she had nothing left. This passage is significant to the book because it is the start of the books climax, now that Sarah has nothing, and lives in the middle of nowhere, where no one could hear her if she screamed, and she didn’t have a friend, even if it was an animal to talk to and be with when she was lonely.

I used various strategies before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I read my past readers journal, to see where I left off and what literary element I still need to find. Also, I skim and scanned the book for how much I had left to read. While reading, I tried to point out the literary elements that have changed, since I have last wrote my readers journal. All the literary elements turned out to stay the same. Also, I created mental images throughout events in the book so that I had a great visualization of what I was reading. Clearly, since the author was so vivid and explanatory, my metal images were made quick and clear. After reading, I wrote my readers journal on all the information I kept track of. Also, I compare and contrasted this book to other books I read that was about child abuse.

Since all the literary elements stayed the same since I last read, the topic is child abuse and the main idea is childhood abuse that is done both mentally and physically. The main idea is implied because it is not clearly stated in the book. If I had to give this book another title it would be: “My Tragic Memory of Being Child Abused” I would chose this title because it clearly states the topic and main idea. Also, I really think it would bring many readers attention! Three supporting details I found, that are factual and supports the main idea was mainly found in the passage I chose. For example, "Abuse for me was something that happened on a daily basis.” " I’ve been beaten with brooms, whips, extension cords, belts—basically, if it was in arms reach, I was getting hit with it.” And finally, " I known there are abused kids out there, kids who are on the outside may just seem weird or who maybe don't have the best haircut or the best clothes, who are facing the same teasing at school and torture at home that I faced.” The essential message of this story is child abuse can affect a child's life and it should never be done to any person no matter who they are or what problems they have. One cause and effect the book has was on Sarah and her mom. Since Sarah's mother called her names because she had some problems, it would affect Sarah to feel bad about herself and have no self-confidence. I can compare and contrast Sarah's abusive childhood with other books I read called “A Child Called It” and “The Lost Boy”. All these books are similar to each other because they are all focused on child abuse, they are both memoirs and all victims are abused by their mother, at a young age.

The pattern of organization of this book was chronological order because the author told her experiences and incidents in the order that they occurred. The author’s purpose is to share and to inform. This is because she talks about her personal experiences when she was a child, being abused and tortured, while also, informing the reader throughout the book about why abuse is not acceptable and shouldn’t be done. The author's perspective is subjective and biased against her mother and child abuse because she states her own opinions about how wrong it is to abuse and how awful her mom was, only defending her side of the story. The point of view is written in first person, by Sarah’s perspective because she uses the words “I, me, we, and us” in her writing.

There weren’t so many text features in this book, but I was able to identify headings, subheadings, the title, the picture on the front cover, and quotation marks. The headings and subheadings before every chapter make it easier to understand what each chapter was about. The title gave me an understanding of what the book was going to be about. The picture on the front cover was an image of a little girl and it gave me an expectation that the book will be about a child. Finally, the quotation marks gave me a chance to hear what other people said, by their own perspective.

Sadly, I was unable to find any figurative language because the author just wrote her experiences factually and didn’t exaggerate or use any personification or any other figurative language… my tone during the book was inspired and shocked and my mood was to be scared, have hate and to be attached. Finally, the only way I checked the validity and accuracy of the book was by using my background knowledge on childhood abuse events and other books; there wasn’t another strategy I could use to check it with.

         

Since this book was considered to be “just right” for me, I only found a few new vocabulary words. I used context clues like inferring (context clue #5 for all of them, but 1) to try and find their meanings. One word I learned was “bristle” which means to react angrily. I found this meaning by simply reading the sentence; (“The comment mom had made about my father made me bristle.”) Also, “stark” means to be complete. This is because when the book described her mother’s room, I noticed it was very complete.  “Inevitable” on the other hand, was taught to me by using context clue #1, which means the text gave me the definition. The definition it provided was that it means you couldn’t live without something. Also, the word: “inquisitively”, meaning to be curious. Finally, “Tirade” means a long talk of criticism.

In addition, I was able to make the same connections as I did before! A text-to-self connection I was made with the book was the similarities I had with Sarah and my personality. Even though I did not go through child abuse like Sarah did, our personalities can relate because we would both sacrifice things to help others like Sarah did when she wrote this book! A text-to-text connection I made was relating this book to the book A Child Called and The Lost Boy. This is because all of these books focus on child abuse as a topic. Also, their mother abused the authors in all books and all of these books were classified as a memoir. The last connection I made was to the world. I can relate this book to the world because many other children and people might also be set in Sarah’s position in child abuse. Clearly, Sarah wrote this book to inform others that abuse should never be done.

All in all, this book was absolutely incredible! I really recommend it to anyone because it was honestly a fast and easy read, just because you can never detach from this book. I definitely rate it a ten out of ten! People who have are being child abused or people who have abused a child should really read this book because it would surely teach them a lesson!

Love,

 Joelle Ben-Nissan