Choice Book Report 2

   Reality Check

By: Peter Abrahams

  Cody Laredo LOVES football. It's his life, besides his girlfriend, Clea. Cody is the main character in my book. He isn't very good at school. Clea is so smart. She aced every class accept for calculus. Both Clea and Cody are eleventh graders. He lives in Little Bend, Colorado with his dad in a small apartment above the Red Pony. Cody is QB of the football team. They were doing really good until a sore loser ran into him and tore Cody's ALC. Junior year is the most important year and now Cody can't play. I'd say that Cody can make some good decisions and others I wouldn't make myself. He took not being able to play actually really well, better than his own dad. He worked out at the gym everyday and his knee got better.

  Cody wasn't very good at school to start with, but I think it was because he wasn't trying hard enough and that's why he dropped out. He dropped out because he said he wasn't good at school and he kept missing it because of his knee. To me it just sounds like he's giving up, but he did get a job paying more than minimum wage. That was the only time he gave up.

  Because of a B in calc, Clea got sent to a boarding school in Vermont. She went missing. It was all over in the papers. Cody had broke up with her before she left. When he finds out he goes all the way to Vermont to look for her. He doesn't really reveal much of himself to others, and he plays detective a lot. I think it says that he cares deeply for people close to him, but he's too negative about himself. He doesn't give himself enough credit. He's so positive about everyone else, says good things, but he doesn't say too much about himself. Cody needs to give himself more credit for what he does.

  Another thing is he has a good sense of judgement...most of the time. You can't let your guard down and it's hard to know who to trust. He didn't let his guard down and he judged who to trust pretty well I think. One part in the book that really showed this was when Cody was driving down the road, at night, and noticed a car behind him. He sped up, so did the car. Finally Cody finds out it was a cop and the cop pulls him over. Cody was sure if this was just some poser or a legit cop, so he didn't give away to much information and never let his guard down with him.

  Last thing is Cody doesn't seem to know what to say at important times, says the wrong thing, or doesn't understand what something means. A lot of times it's funny. An example would be, '"Why?" Cody said. The word just popped out, totally unplanned, not even making any sense that Cody could see. He clicked off." That's what he said to his dad on his phone after he left Colorado to Vermont. 'Cody hadn't known what to say to that.' An example of Cody not knowing what to say during a job interview.

  Overall I'd say Cody is good at making decisions, has a pretty good sense of judgement, but should probably think before he speaks or actually think of something to say!

             Part 2/Conflict

  I think there was conflict everywhere in the book. Conflicts with the weather, others, himself, even animals. First there are problems between Clea and Cody as one and Clea's dad. It doesn't actually say, but you can get that Mr. Weston, Clea's dad, doesn't like Cody being Clea's boyfriend. He seems to think he's bad for her and that's why she got a B in calc. Then between Clea herself and Mr. Weston, he likes perfect. A 'B' in calc isn't perfect enough for him, so that causees more problems between all three of them. Mr. Weston ships Clea off to boarding school in Vermont, Cody breaks up with Clea. That's actually a decision I wouldn't have made. Cody took "advice" from his dad and it didn't make much sense to me. I don't think Mr. Weston likes Cody because he's not loaded with money and he isn't very good at school. Those are just little ones at the begining.

  When Cody's in Vermont there's a huge conflict between Cody and what ever made Clea disappear, whether it's nature, a person, or herself. It's not necessarily right there, it's more indirect. I don't want to give away the book, but there were somethings I wouldn't have done. The way he ended up and the choices he made were actually things I wouldn't have thought of and they were actually really good ideas.
  Another conflict was with nature. Cody, not really thinking, didn't bring winter clothes. No boots, gloves, hat, not even a warm jacket. So while there's a search group looking for Clea, it's snowing. Driving didn't seem like a problem for him. But he never bought gloves or anything. He thought about it, and he had lots of money. If I were him I would've bought at least something to keep me warm.
  There were conflicts with Cody himself too. Deciding on where to go to college. Clea wants him to be somewhere close, but he wants to go for football. Then he's thinking about being away from her and other colleges. He switches back and forth about that a lot. Then there's problems when he breaks up with Clea. First when his dad says they should break up because they're too different, Cody disagrees.Then later when Clea's about to leave he decides his dad is right and he breaks up with her. Literally right after Clea leaves Cody regrets everything. I wouldn't have listened to his dad. His dad is an alcoholic and sounds like he was abusive when Cody was young. He obviously doesn't care about Cody's relationships and didn't see what Clea and Cody had. He just cares about Cody's football career. Most of this fits Cody's personality well except for breaking up with Clea.
  The book really grabs your attention and is actually suspensful. It's kind of funny too.



Choice Book Report

Let the Circle Be Unbroken
Mildred Taylor

Part 1


I read the book Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred Taylor. The main character of the book is Cassie Logan. In the beginning she is 10 years old, but in the end she's 11. She lives with her mom, Mary Logan, dad, David Logan, brothers, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man Logan. Her grandma, who they call Big Ma, and Mr.Morrison. Mr.Morrison isn't related to them, but he lives in a cottage on their land and considers them family.




I think Cassie can be very nosy. She wants to know what's going on and what people are doing. Cassie follows Stacey around when he's with his friends, and butts into their conversations. Once in the book Stacey was with Moe talking about girls and Cassie decides to follow along without them knowing. After awhile she just starts talking to them thinking she's part of the conversation. Another time Cassie asked her dad what was wrong with Wordell. Wordell doesn't talk very much and is friends with a guy named Joe. The author doesn't exactly tell you that there's something wrong with Joe, but you can guess that he has some sort of mental disability. Her dad tells her that there is nothing wrong with him and he is just perfectly fine the way he is.


Besides being nosy, Cassie is very brave and courageous. When people are in trouble or need help she's there. Stacey decides to go to T.J.'s trial, which is dangerous because he'd get a whipping from his dad and there are a lot of white people. Racism was really bad during the Depression. Cassie said if he was going she was going. White people almost spot them on the white part of town. They used a white bathroom and drinking fountain. Once they yelled and thought the people in the courtroom could hear them. Even after all that happened she stay wanted to stay.


Another part in the story when Cassie was being courageous was when a white man threw a bottle at a black man. Cassie's friend was running towards the white man and she knew what was going to happen, so she ran after him to stop him. While she's running there's chaos all around her. Mr.Morrison stops her and goes after her friend instead.


Cassie and her brothers find a man beaten very badly. They wanted to take him somewhere to get him help, but if they brought him then they might think it was them who had beaten the man because they were black. Instead, they thought of different ways to get him help and one of them was to get their white friend who lived nearby. They had to sneak up and try to find him quickly before the man died and before they got caught. If you want to look up to someone who is brave and courageous, you should look up to Cassie.



 Part 2


I think the point of view in the story is very important. The story is told from Cassie's point of view. She describes what she thinks things look like, what she thinks things will look like, what she wants, what she thinks about people and other things, and what's going on. If it was told from any other point of view it would be a totally different story. When Cassie, Uncle Hammer, and Papa first meet Jake Willis this is what she thought, "The grin was still on his face, but there was something in his tone which made me uncomfortable." That was her first impression and it stayed that way thought the whole book. It could've been a lot different for Uncle Hammer, who was talking to Jake Willis. Uncle Hammer could have thought that Jake was just curious or was trying to get him angry or annoyed.


In other parts when Cassie saw Stacey after months she described how he looked and how happy she was to see him. If it were in Stacey's point of view we would've know what it was like for him and Moe and how he felt when he saw his family. Instead which just know what he told us.


I think Cassie's point of view was chosen because if it was any one older they would know why things are happening like they are in the book and if it was any one younger they wouldn't understand. David needs to go back to the railroad to make more money to pay the taxes. Stacey, Mama, Big Ma, and Uncle Hammer understand this, but Cassie wants to know why he can't just stay this one year. Well this one year the government decides that farmers and plantation owners need to plow and percentage of their cotton to try to bring the depression back up. Christopher-John and Little Man don't understand taxes or government at all, and that's mostly what the book is about besides the racism!


One touching part of the book where you really felt what Cassie was feeling was when the government was coming around telling land owners to plow up another part of their cotton because they supposedly made a mistake. Cassie, Big Ma, and her two younger brothers were at the Turner's when the government came and told them they had to plow it up. This was the first year in a very long time that the Turner's had a very good crop and they had to plow it up. They wanted so badly to get off that land. Moe started freaking out and crying. His dad was very disappointed too. All Cassie thought was that she wanted to cry too.

That is why I think Cassie's point of view is important.

                             

Memoir 2

   Two summers ago my family, aunt, uncle, and cousins from California came back to Minnesota for a week. We all went up to Nisswa, a small tourist town near Brainerd and Baxter. There's a resort on Gull Lake that we stay at every other year with them. We stay in a condo near the indoor and outdoor pool. My grandparents who live in Baxter bring their boat and we go fishing and tubing.
  
   One of the days we were there we decided to go to the turtle races. My cousin Sarah and I decided we wanted to race together. I was standing in the middle getting ready to set the turtle on the ground to race. The turtle was a big dark green monster. It had sharp claws that kept scratching at my hands, and it's head kept sticking out like it was trying to eat something. After I set it down to race, it zipped across the pavement and right before the finish line it walked sideways. Stupid turtle. Sarah's didn't win either. We all went go-carting instead.

   My other uncle, Rob, and cousin, Kyle come from the cities and stay with my grandparents. Usually we go around the Fourth of July, so we do fireworks and stuff. It's really exciting. Two years ago we went to this hill by some building, and we watched the fireworks. They were huge. Bright. Loud. And right up in your face. We were really close to them because they were doing them at the bottom of the hill, across the forest, and in the lake on the barge. It looked like there were a hundred different colors, shapes, and designs.  When we were done we did sparklers and went swimming in the pool before midnight.

   That was one of the best vacations I've had there.

Memoir 1

  Two years ago for my twelve birthday I had four people come over. Carly, Karly, Tori, and Allison. We had a lot of fun, but I forgot about a lot of stuff except for...something. First I opened my presents. Carly gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble. Tori and Allison got me the exact same stuffed animal. I forgot what Karly gave me, but I know she got me gum.

  Then we ate. It was pizza or sandwiches or something you usually eat at parties. After we ate we decided to go for a walk to the park. As we were walking around Carly wanted to prank call Sara and tell her she ordered ten gallons of mustard. Obviously she knew it was us 'cause we were laughing in the back. Sara came and met us the park.
 
  While we sat in the grass, Carly and I started yelling "I love you!" at random cars that drove by. Everyone just sat and laughed. After a couple of cars passed by there was one that wasn't to happy about us screaming at them. They rolled down their window and told us they were calling the cops for sexual harassment. At first we didn't believe them, but they pulled over to the side of the road and we saw them take out their phone. We got kinda scared, so we walked down the block, across the street and into the other alley running because we heard sirens. All of us were a little spazzy, so we actually thought the cops were coming after us. The only scary part was that when we got to the other end of the alley we saw the car driving around by the block.

   Of course we ran back to my house screaming and laughing. We stayed outside really late just playing and talking. Then we went inside. Allison brought A LOT of make up, so we decided to get "make-overs". Obviously they weren't pretty. Allison had make up all over my face and in my hair. Carly got red lip gloss in my carpet. I wasn't to happy, so I washed my hair in the sink, which wasn't to comfortable by the way. We decided to play truth or dare instead. It got a little crazy 'cause Tori dared Carly to lick my foot. She said it tasted like beef jerkey, which was weird 'cause it smelled like pommegrantes.

   We weren't sure if Tori was going to be able to sleep over or not, but her parents came, brought her stuff, and told us she could stay. We "watched" a movie. The movie was on, but we were actually talking about getting chased by the cops.
 

Introduction

   I'm Anna. I have 2 brothers. I'm fourteen and I like the color orange. I love swimming. 
   I like to watch TV and listen to music. I don't have any pets except for a few fish that are my brother's.
   I like being organized, and some of my friends think I have OCD.