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