Mystery of Life

Author’s Note: This is a theme piece about the determination of a young boy named Bud to find his long lost dad.  

If you lived in an orphanage for almost your whole life and you knew that you have other relatives living in the world that you could find, what if you found a clue that could help you find one of them, would you try to find him or not?  A young kid by the name of Bud in the book Bud Not Buddy by is about a boys’ determination to find his lost father.  Determination is a huge theme in this book and it is also shown in life and literature.

The first  of many reasons that this book shows the theme determination is how Bud never gives up looking for his dad. One moment in the book he misses a train that would have brought him right to his destination, but he didn’t give up, he researched maps and decided to take the 7 day walk to Grand Rapids.  Also, when he finally made it to the house his dad was at, is father turned him down and denied any relationship between them.  Bud didn’t give up, he kept spitting out evidence like a printer spits out paper and finally his dad caved in and told him the news.

Although Bud is extremely determined to find his Dad, the whole city of Flint Michigan is also determined to help Bud find his dad. Right after Bud misses the train he went to  a library and a librarian gives Bud food and a map  so Bud can walk to Grand Rapids. Likewise, while Bud is walking to Grand Rapids a random bus driver pulls over, picks Bud up, feeds him, and takes him to where his father is.  Lastly, Bud’s father’s band always sticks up for Bud when his dad didn’t believe they were related.

Even though, Bud, Not Buddy is a one of a kind book with a giant amount of determination, Enclave by Ann Agurrie is another story that shows determination because the main character Deuce is determined to save her section of the city or Enclave and find out who her parents are.   Both of the characters in these books are very strong and started off with nearly nothing.  But, given a small  opportunity each of these characters can get determined and do almost anything.   An example is in Enclave when Deuce and her partner are running to help save a city, they run days on end determined to save the collapsing city.  Both of these stories show a significant amount of determination.

Not only does the theme in this book relate to literacy, but it also relates to life.  Most humans and animals that are determined will go to an extraordinary measure to accomplish a task, kind of like Bud.  For example, if a  

After overcoming all of these obstacles Bud is so much stronger and his journey paid off with Bud having an actual family.  None of this would have happened though, without Bud’s amazing determination. Also, Bud would have never got to where he needed to be.  Determination truly is a huge theme in this book and in many other literacy writing and throughout life.

Defending Your Colony

Author's Note- This is a prediction piece about what I think will happen in the book Enclave. I have wrote an alternation ending to explain what I think will happen as well as my other predictions. 

In first part of the book Enclave by Ann Aguirre the main character Deuce has her naming day, which consists of Deuce getting 6 scars up her arms to represent that she is a huntress.  The next day she is rushed into battle with the briefing that an unknown animal called the Freaks are threatening their village.  I predict that Deuce and the rest of the hunter and huntresses will go out and try to stop them but most of Deuce’s ally’s will die and they will have to retreat.  I will also predict that the beast will have a giant leader that Deuce and her remaining ally’s will have to search for and kill throughout the book.  Lastly, I think that Deuce will kill the leader Freaks and things are going to return to normal in their village.

I think this prediction is accurate because most of the Hunters and Huntresses are new recruits so I think that the savage Freaks will maul the un experienced bow men and women.  Plus, Deuce is probably the toughest one so I think she will survive.  Finally I know if there is a leader beast that the Hunters will have to follow it because the leader of the village is very strict and un caring about the conditions of his people and has very harsh rules in place . 

This book is similar to the character Catness in the book The Hunger Games by Susan Collins because both of them have a main character who is trying to survive in a different environment than normal.  They both have to hunt for food and survive by themselves.   Also, both of them are really good at hunting and amazing with a bow.  Finally, both of them have broken up family’s, Catness doesn’t have a Dad and Deuce only has sisters and brothers.

Alternate Ending-

Deuce and her partner Silk marched off into the darkness of the winding underground tunnels.  Their job was to hunt the freaks and find the food that got caught in the traps.  Silk and Deuce went for the first trap and saw their first freak tearing apart the game they caught.  They sliced the beast up and five  more jumped out from their hiding places and jumped on top of Deuce.  Through the hoard of freaks a giant mutated freak slipped into Deuce’s view.  Silk was trying to get the freaks off but there were too many.   

The freaks took them back to their den and locked the Hunters in a cage.  After being starved for 2 days the whole colony went on a search for them and fought off the hoard and Deuce escaped and had to kill the giant freak.  After a mighty battle the Huntress came out on top and the colony turned back to normal.

Changing Wilderness

Author’s Note: This is a Character Development piece about how the character Cole changes in the book Touching Spirit Bear.  Cole doesn’t think he has to change but as he finds out, he does need a change.

At the beginning of Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikealsen, the main character Cole hates every speck of life including a fellow student Peter.  Cole  bullies just about every kid in his school and when he hears that a boy named Peter is talking bad about him, you know something is going to go down.  After school Cole strikes with UFC like power and causes Peter have real issues.  Cole is sent to a bare Alaskan island for a punishment and is forced to survive for 6 months.  At this point everyone knows Cole needs to change.

While Cole was on the island a huge series of events occurred that helps Cole become the man at the end of the book.  First, Cole burns all of his supplies so he has no food, and then he tries to kill a random white bear.  The white bear turned out to be a Spirit Bear which mauled Cole leaving multiple flesh wounds and barley any life left in him.  It is a struggle, but Cole somehow makes it back to the camp and survive long enough for rescue after this Cole is a changed man.

When Cole returns from his punishment he is anew person.  His attitude for life changed, as well as his attitude for Peter.  As the book quotes “Cole put down the bag. Today things are going to change.”  On the first day back Cole visits Peter and help him recover, even though he s still immobilized Cole helped Peter recover a lot.  After Cole does this the people in the town start changing their attitude towards Cole.  All of the kids don’t rat him out after he does something small and the cops act a little nicer to him. 

Not only does Cole affect the lives of the people in the book, but he also affects the reader.  At first the reader thinks that Cole is lifeless being with no sole.  Although as the book goes on the reader feels Cole’s pain when he is hurt in the woods and end up loving him after he returns.  He really influences the reader to not make the choices he makes, because there will be consequences. 

This transformation is similar in the book The Call of the Wild where the main character, Buck, who goes to the Tundra  to escape from life, which is basically what Cole did in Touching Spirit Bear.  Both character need to change their life Cole needs to handle his anger and Buck has to escape from dog slavery.  The characters receive countless beating shaping them into the finished figure they are at the end of the book. 

Cole’s appearance changed in a whole bunch of ways.  First, he started acting nicely to everybody he sees as to the mean Cole where he would bully everyone.  Also, when the community sees that Cole is helping out Peter, they start to like him more too.  Now everybody in the town likes Cole more and he is feeling  better about himself.

Founding America

Author’s Note: This is a piece about all the great thing our Founding Father’s gave us in America.  They were the men that sculpted America and her people.

How did our great country of America come to be?  We started off as a bundle of colonists with no order or leader.  That all changed when our first president and part of the Founding Fathers took charge.  In the upcoming years there was a variety of different Founding Fathers that helped America become the country we know and love today.  They added things like beautiful monuments, freedom, and our amazing  government.  Our country wouldn't be as good as it is now without our Founding Fathers.

One thing our Founding Fathers brought to America were all the monuments, city names, and money.  If we didn’t have our Founding Fathers our money would be really different because either a president or Founding Father’s face is on our currency.    In addition, we wouldn’t have the same cities or states as we do now since most cities are names of our Founding Fathers.  George Washington is probably the biggest influence,  a whole bunch of cities are named after him and his face is on a lot of money.

Another way the Founding Fathers affected us is the way we have our freedom.  They gave us the freedom of speech, political, and many more.  Without that we would be like any other country that has to follow certain rules that the people can't change.  Every day we can choose what to wear and what we want to do that day.  Most people don’t know how good freedom is.

Probably the most important way the Founding Fathers affected us is the government they put in.  Our democratic government is like no other we can actually choose our president and government figures.  Also, like the freedom our president cannot order us around like a bunch of slaves, they can't  put in rules we don't like.  We have a few broken holes in  it, but overall it is an incredible government.

Without our founding fathers, this nation wouldn’t be half as good as it is now.  The founding fathers dedicated their lives to making our country better.

New Recruits

Author’s Note: This is a writing piece about the cause and effect happening in the book Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse.  This piece also analyzes the climax of the book.  Some things people might need to know about this book are that half-bloods are half god and half man.  They have the powers of the gods and help save Olympus in the Percy Jackson series.

When Percy Jackson and his friends go on a smaller mission to try to recruit two potential half-blood recruits, the job turned into a whole new assignment when a group of hunters, half bloods that run around with bows, and monsters show up.  All of a sudden a mini war is taking place between the hunters, monsters and Percy.  Percy and his crew had to act fast and finish their original mission.

Even though, the battle played a big part in the book the climax took place when the captain of the hunters gets captured and one of the new recruits , Rico, discovers he had underworld powers.  Now Percy and Rico go to rescue the leader of the hunter, they encounter a titan named Atlas who is literally holding the world.  When the leader of the hunters get captured Atlas switch places with her and she is forced to carry the world or else the earth will get destroyed.

This book is very similar to the book Enclave because in the book the two main characters Deuce and Fade have t escape a run-down underground town.  When they escape they find a girl getting beaten on by gang members, so they fight the gang and rescue the girl.  The girl whose name is Teagan tags along with Fade and Deuce like how Rico tagged along with Percy and his friends.  Overall these two great books have the same rescue concept.

Rico eventually battles Atlas and forces him to switch back with the Hunter leader.  Rico joins the half-bloods and everything turns back to normal.  Plus, Rico has a brilliant plan to get back on the titans which applies in the next book.  If Percy hadn’t recruited the powerful  Rico then they might not have rescued the leader of the hunters or created the amazing plan.  

The Battle for War

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece about the main conflict and resolution in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief  

The book I read was Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan there were a lot of conflicts like the one between Percy and Annabeth at the beginning or the battle between Percy and his Ad-Hd.  Probably the biggest conflict though is between Percy and Zeus.  The main conflict is how the God Zeus  is falsely accusing Percy for taking his lightning weapon and is threatening to start a war among the Gods.

In the book Percy has  to try and get a weapon that he didn’t steal and has to find it with no knowledge to where it is.  Percy has to think fast to get it because Zeus said in three days he will start an attack against Olympus.  So Percy travels from state to state searching for clues to where Zeus’ Lightning Bolt might be.   Along the way he encounters monster, gods, and also has to decipher clues hidden across the US.

The conflict is in this story is really similar to the movie Over the Hedge because the main character in the movie a raccoon gets falsely accused for stealing a bears food and has to get it back before a certain date.  If he doesn't the bear threatens to start a war between the bear and the raccoon friends.  The whole movie is basically the same as the Lightning Thief but instead of a missing lightning bolt it is the bears hibernation food.

Even though there are so many things wrong the conflict gets resolved when all the clues point to a former friend ,Luke, who stole the weapon all along.  Percy confronts Luke  they both have an epic battle, but  in the end Percy prevails and gets the lightning bolt back to Zeus before he could start a war among the gods.  However, Luke makes a daring escape and starts to plan another way to start war.

In my book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief the main conflict is between Percy and Zeus’ stolen weapon.  When Percy realizes how bad the situation is he steps up and fixes everything.

The Road to High School

Author’s Note: This is a personal narrative piece about the struggles kids face on the way to collage.  I got the idea for this piece when our school had an assembly for anti-bulling.

The road to high school might not be the easiest way to travel, but everyone needs to do it.  Some kids suffer from getting bullied, getting caught  in drugs, or just don't get anything in school.  Also, there are some kids that feel left out because they don't play any sports.  There are many issues in school that nobody can completely resolve.  Even though there are a lot of issues, if kids stay on track and out of trouble, they can overcome these obstacles.  

First off is bullying, a huge problem in every school.  Any kid that gets bullied feels powerless or scared.  As Chris Colfer quoted “When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper. They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless.” Although every school has countless ways to try to help, almost none of them do.  If the bullied kids tell an adult that talks to the bully, they feel like a snitch; if they don't they keep getting bullied and hurt.  Not only does bullying bring down students self esteem, but it can also lead to kids killing themselves because they don't feel right.  

Although bullying is bad, I don't think it is as terrible as kids doing drugs,which is a problem in most suburban areas.  If a student doesn't like the way they are, they might resort to drugs to make them feel better.  Most times a victim sees another kid doing it, so they think it is all right to do when really it isn't.  Other times they might want to look cool so they start doing drugs to try to impress their friends.  Drugs can affect how you work in school and can sometimes mess up your whole life too.  

Finally, some kids just don't get how to do good in school.  It may be from a messy binder and folder to a disease where they can't learn as well.  Many people could improve in school if they gave a little more effort, like reading  a book at home instead of watching TV.  Or asking for more help in school and taking notes to remember what they learned.  Other people with more severe learning problems might have to get tutored or stay after school to get extra help.  People that struggle now need to do something because they still have high school and collage ahead of them.

Student can overcome most of these challenges in school if they don't get in trouble and stay on track. If you do what you need to do and word hard, you can have a very successful life.  

New Life

 Author's Note: This is a retelling piece about the book Crossing the Border.

A young and poor Mexican boy nicknamed Turtle journeys to America in hopes to get extra money for his family.  Along with his friend, Pepe, the boys will face Border Police, a group of killers, and  fearsome mountain lions.  When Pepe and Turtle finally make it to America they look back and notice how lucky they are to be alive.

Fall the Wonder Season

Author’s Note: This is a piece about the joys you can have in Fall.

Think of the crisp air, beautiful leaves and chilly wind.  Fall is finally in season after spending three months in the thick muggy summer air, we get to relax in what seems like the perfect time of the year.  From  Halloween to fall football and baseball Fall truly is the greatest season.

All of the kids are out raking leaves to try to earn the extra money to get those new shoes or the expensive gaming system.  Raking the leaves into one big pile on the street and then inviting all the kids over to jump in it was one of the many highlights for elementary kids around our block.  Another would be how they bust out their Dad’s new leaf blower and spray all the leaves at the daredevil of the group.  Then some of them just like riding through them with their bike hoping some leaves would get caught in the tires so the bike sounds like a motorcycle. 

Not only do the kids get to have fun but adults get the family time when Thanksgiving rolls up.  So much delicious food and deserts you don’t even know what to get first.  Nothing is better than eating a slice of turkey and watching the Bears cream the Packers. Parents love meeting distant relatives that come in from different states to enjoy an amazing night.  The thing I like to do most after Thanksgiving is go shopping at Black Friday.

Although all of those other activities sounded fun, there’s nothing I love more than starting football and basketball.  For the whole summer I’m stuck with just recreational baseball.  Which is fun for a while, but there is something about the sport where you can hit someone and not get in trouble by the kids mom.  Or rejecting someone so hard that the ball goes in the stands.  These sports play a big part in my life and they all start in fall.

The nice weather, amazing sights, and fun for everyone is a great part of everybody’s life. Fall really is the most superlative season of them all.

Dog Fight

  Author's Note: This is a piece about how my dog was the runt of the liter; was this a fact or fiction.

Teddy ,my dog, an 8 year old mammoth St. Bernard who ways over 150 pounds.  Believe it or not he was the runt of the liter.  He was so small the owners were practically giving him away.  Plus, only one of his eves is black and regular St. Bearnard's have both off their eyes black.  Our neighbor has a dog that is over 160 pounds.  My dog is still a midget among the giants of other St. Bearnard's. 

Math Battle

I always liked math class it was always fun and it came so easily to me.  But now we’re in 7th grade and we changed into a program called Aleks which is all independent and digital learning.  At first I thought it was the best idea but now it’s plain out boring.  Working on topics, not knowing how to do any of them, and no teacher assistance.  Math class in like a torture chamber now.  I wish we could go back to regular class.

The Best Book

My book is titled Trash it is a mystery about 3 ghetto kids that look through the trash for a living.  One day they find a bag with 20,000    pesos and an identity of an unknown man.  Now the boys have to uncover the mystery of where the man kid 1,000,000 pesos and his daughter.  The 3 boys encounter policemen, ghosts, and a lot of rats.  Anyone who likes mysteries and action will love this book.

Favorite Place

Author's Note: This is a piece about what place I would go in the world.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go, the Bahamas or maybe China.  For me I really want to go to Africa.  I want to go to Africa because there are so many cool animals you can see.  Plus, I would like to see how all of the Africans live.  I watched a TV show where they went to Africa and it was like a picture from a pop up book.  It would be so fun  to go to Africa.

Delicious Food

 Author's Note: This is a short story about my favorite restaurant. 

When someone asks “what’s your favorite restaurant” what do you say about it.  Do you say I like the hot juicy turkey or the cold jiggly jello.  For me I love the restaurant titled Dennys.  I love the warm buttermilk pancakes and the hot juicy cheeseburgers.  The food tastes as good as a thanksgiving dinner.  Just feeling to food makes me drool as much as my dog on a summer day.   Every time I go I get something new, there are so many choices.  Denny’s is a fun place with quality food for the whole family.

Dinosaurs

Author's Note: This is a small piece about what kind of life the dinosaurs lived years ago.
 
Dinosaurs are the most magnificent creatures of the past.  Roaming the earth far before we even thought of  existing.  Feeding on leaves, drinking the mucky water, and sleeping in caves.  Oh what a life the dinosaurs lived so simple but yet far more complicated than ours.  They never knew what their life would be like; they could be the king of the land killing everything that went in their path and live for decades.  Or they could be the prey of the land and get eaten within a few hours of their birth.  The life of a dinosaur is not a stable life, but it twas a life they had to live.

Semantic Devices

Semantic Devices

Symbolism

Symbolism

A Real Football Champ

Author's Note: This is a piece about how people can be whatever they want to be.  If you work hard and have big goals you can be very successful.  

Football Champs by Tim Green is an outstanding story of how a 14 year old boy, Troy, posing as a water boy is the defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.  Everything was going good until one day a reporter found out his true identity.   The whole team goes on a wild goose chase trying to keep the news reporter from ruining Troy’s reputation.   The author teaches readers that you can be whatever you want to be if you work hard.  

Troy knows what he wants to do and he just does it.  Not only does he help coach the Atlanta Falcons ,but he also plays football for a Junior Football league and his team is going to the state championship game.  But the news reporter, Pele, could ruin all of that by exposing Troy.  Everyone on the team has to be on top guard to help find Pele before he can ruin Troy’s future.  Just like this story another football superstar JJ Watt followed his dreams allowed him to have a first round draft pick with the Houston Texans.  He now even has bracelets that say “Dream Big Work Hard”. 

Even though those people were really good in football everyone can be good in what they want to do.  For example, the people who invented Google had to work really hard to create that amazing search tool.  The whole thing started off with two boys and their huge dream.    Also, in the book Pele got to be what he wanted to be, he wanted to be a reporter all his life and he finally got the job.  Another example is myself when I didn’t make the basketball team in fourth grade.  I worked really hard and tried out for the team and made it the next year.

In your life you always need to have big dreams and then work hard to achieve the goal and Tim Green teaches readers how.  If everyone in the world can work a little harder and achieve some of their goals we all can be very successful.

I am Found

Author's Note: This is a piece about me responding to the book Found.  This piece talks about bravery and why and when we need to use it.

“Nine-one-one, Jonah thought, of course.  His knees almost gave way at the thought that a bunch of police officers in dark uniforms would soon come swarming the cave, saving them all, saving Jonah from having to make any more choices, any more mistakes.” (272)  Found, by Margret Peterson Haddix, is a thrilling mystery that begins with an unidentified airplane filled with babies landing at an airport.  The story describes how two kids from the plane try to find the truth about their past. The author teaches readers you have to be brave when times are hard.

In the story the characters need to be really brave because they encounter some really scary things like ghost, crazy janitors, and a bunch of other weird people who try to stop them from finding out who they really are.   Also, in a different book called Among the Hidden by Margret Peterson Haddix the main character has to be very  brave too  because he shouldn’t even be alive.  Another example of bravery in the book Found is when the two main characters ,Johan and Catherine, have to fight off the wicked JB from sending them back in time.

Even though the characters in the story have to be very brave people in real life have to be brave too.  A few people who have to be very brave are anybody who has a disease.  If someone in your family has cancer or that is really sick you have to be very brave.  Plus, in the book the kids have to be brave because if they try to get back to their normal time it might break the future making everything a lot different.  Lastly, people have to be brave because if they were afraid of planes and they had to do a business trip they would have to brave and go on the plane.

In your life you always need to be brave and the Margret Peterson Haddix teaches reader why.  All of us need to be more brave in life.

Team Work is Key

Author's Note: This is a piece about the book Into the Ravine is about three characters.  Their names are  Jules the smart one, Chris the athletic one, and Cory the weird one.  They go on a thrilling adventure encountering snakes, water rides, and zombies.

Into the Ravine by Richard Scrimger is a mischievous tale about three boys and their journey down a ravine.  The trip requires a lot of team work to overcome all the obstacles thrown at them.   Into the Ravine teaches readers that team work is a skill you will need for your whole life.

There are so many things you need team work to do for instance, if you were on a basketball team and there were seconds left and you were swinging the ball around.  If someone on your team wasn’t paying attention they could lose the game because they dropped the ball or let the other team steal it. But if you had teamwork and everyone was paying attention you could win the game.

Even though sports is something you really need teamwork for, you also need some teamwork when you are in a job.  In a job you might have to work together with someone to write a paper. If you don’t do it together it could be really hard to do.  But if you did it together you if would be easier than spreading butter on toast. Also, if your boss sees you have teamwork you would likely get a raise. 

That’s not all; everyone uses teamwork in their daily life.  When I am folding cloths and my sister helps me and we get the job done faster.  In addition if I were making a project for school, I would likely have a friend help therefore we would get the work done twice as fast.  Finally if I needed to unload groceries from the car it would be a lot easier with a buddy to help me carry the bags in.

A skill you need your whole life is teamwork and the book Into the Ravine teaches reader why.  We all need teamwork in our lives to succeed.

Snow

Author's Note: This is a piece about what everyone does when snow comes.

Snow is so peaceful, descending from the sky.  It showers over buildings, cars, and people giving them a coat of white.  When it falls, kids build forts and go sledding.  Adults shovel the driveway and hope that the road will be clear when they drive to work.  School gets canceled and everyone jumps for joy.  Snow plows are at their finest working day and night, plowing the streets for us.  Snow will not last forever though, by the time April comes all the snow will be gone.

I am an I-Pod

Author's Note: This is a metaphor piece about what being an I-Pod is like.

I live in your pocket.  I can speak loud or soft.  You can plug me into a computer.  I thrive on electricity.  I am bright.  You can put a case on me.  I am always there.  I will go on all the trips you go on.  I am tough.  I can be dropped.  I am very light.  I come in an assortment of colors.  I am an I-Pod.

Live On

Author’s Note: This is a cool quote I found on the internet that I will resond to.

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”- Robert Frost

                I like this quote by Robert Frost a lot.  Whenever something bad happens everybody always tends to keep that bad memory in their mind and their life changes from being always happy to always sad.  This quote tells people to let that memory go and live on with their life.  If anything bad ever happened to you, you have to push through because after it is passed, you can still live a good happy life.  I know it is easier said than done but, if you try to let the past go you will have a better life.

The Christmas Car

 Author's Note: This is a piece about the point of view of a present before Christmas.

Finally, the time is here Christmas Eve.  I’ve been waiting in that kid’s closet forever, but now they finally took me out and wrapped me.  The anticipation is killing me; I want to get played with so badly.   For the last few hours (which felt like days) the kid kept looking right at me, shaking me and trying to figure out if I was socks or the awesome race car he always wanted.
On Christmas day the kid comes down with his parents and rips me open.  The kid looked like he was going to explode he was so thrilled, he didn’t even look at the other presents.  I was the race car of his dreams.   He got a race track and me and the neighbor car raced.  I met so many other toy friends and we always played together, it was so fun.  I can’t wait for next Christmas so I can see all the new toys.