Extra! reading response: Mortal Danger

     This book is about a girl named Edie who was relentlessly bullied at her school.
  
 "The relentless jokes, endless harassment- if this was all I could look forward to, then I was ready to check out. I didn't know why people at school hated me so much. To my knowledge, I'd never done anything except exist, but that was enough. At Blackbriar Academy- an expensive, private school that my parents thought guaranteed a bright future- it wasn't okay to be ugly, weird, or different. I was all of the above." (pg.2)

    The bullying went on and on until one day they went to far. This was the last straw and Edie decided to commit suicide. Teetering on the edge of a bridge about to jump off she's stopped by a hand grabbing her arm and telling her to stop. She's given three favors (in form of an infinity symbol on her wrist with a cross through it for each favor she uses) to be used in three years, but in return she must do three favors for a mysterious company she knows little to nothing about.
    
    Edie is faced with decisions that could save her and those close to her or kill them. Everything she does is scrutinized and she has to be very careful if she has any chance of getting out of this alive.     

Remembering Fairy Tales

     I chose to do my research on Hans Christain Anderson's Fairytales. I chose this topic because the person I'm corresponding with expressed that she loved this book as a child. I love remembering fairy tales from my own childhood.
     His works include the Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, and the Little Mermaid. Allot of people will recognize these stories from their own childhoods. They at first weren't very popular, but they became very popular later on. He is well recognized today for all his tales  and there is even an award given away in his name.
     I personally have always loved his stories. I'm sure most of us have seen Disney's version of his stories especially now with Frozen, which was made from Hans Snow Queen. These fairy tales had a large impact on my childhood, bringing a little magic and imagination. They harbored my love for reading giving me the vast imagination I needed to understand the worlds woven by my favorite authors. I'm able to be completely submersed in their world, and without my imagination I would never be able to enjoy them as much as I do today.
Below is a link telling about the original story of the Snow Queen:
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-SORT&inPS=true&prodId=GPS&userGroupName=morenetspk&tabID=T003&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=15&contentSet=GALE%7CA341367251&&docId=GALE|A341367251&docType=GALE&role=BCPM
    

Reflection

     These links all pertain to discrimination between people. They were all very intriguing, I especially liked the study done on the children. The way that they turned on each other when one difference was shown was surprising. When someone of power says this is whats right they follow.
     The way we feel about people will be passed on to the next generation. Children follow by example and the second they were told one eye type was better they acted different and treated each other different. The children who were told they were better started performing better then people who were told they were inferior. The way we think of ourselves greatly effects how we act and how well we do. . The way that

Reading Response #4: Death Sentence

     This series is about a kid who is framed for murder and sent to a prison miles under the surface. This prison is guarded by huge deformed hounds and huge guards. Now after Alex's second failed escape attempt he's turned into the thing he despises the most, a guard of furnace called a blacksuit. The picture to the left is how I imagine they look after muscles are jammed under their skin and they're stitched back up, their eyes turned silver to see in the dark, and pumped full of nectar. The nectar is a black liquid that strips him of everything human and makes him into a hulking killing machine. He resists remembering what his friend Simon who emerged with himself still intact said, "Remember your name."

     This book explores what it takes to become a monster. Alex is strapped down being pumped full of nectar and forced to watch a video depicting savage murders between animals at first then people. He thinks "If there's nothing left of you but darkness, how can you not become a monster (58)? He begins to lose the battle for control over his body and mind. Even the strongest of will give in when all hope is lost. He begins to rethink his feeling

s on humanity and the way he see's the weak.

Reading Response #3: Solitary

    

     This book is the second in a series called escape from furnace. It’s about a boy who is framed for murdering his best friend and is sent to Furnace, an underground prison made for murderers under the age of eighteen. The second book starts with him attempting to escape by blowing a whole in the wall to expose an underground river. They jump in not caring what could happen only feeling elated to get away from the horrors of Furnace. But, this only gets them so far and they are recaptured and placed in solitary.  Above is a picture of what I imagine the river to look like (without the person of course). It’s very fast and leaves them battered with no food. Alex, Zee, and Gary make their way through the cave but, as most hopes are in Furnace it was stopped short when they fell right back in the hands of the guards. Gary was injured and dragged to the infirmary while Zee and Alex were taken to solitary confinement.

      “All it needed was me, and my fear. Because alone in the silence, in the unfathomable darkness, I knew that my own thoughts would drive me mad. My own mind would kill me.”

     This quote shows what it’s like in the complete darkness of solitary. It’s a small hole carved in the rock in the shape of a rectangle that consists only of a small grate in the floor and a huge metal door on top. Once it’s closed you’re shut in complete darkness with only your own dark thoughts to keep you company. Alex was able to escape from Furnace once but can he survive being locked in with his demons?

Reading Response #2 Perfect

     This book is about four kids who are striving for perfection, but each of them have their own definition of the word. Whether it be Cara who is striving to overcome her parents high expectations without ending up like her twin Conner who attempted to commit suicide, Kendra who strives to have the perfect body by starving herself and exercise, Sean who wants to be the best at baseball and uses steroids to do so, or Andre who loves to dance but who's parents would never approve.

     To the right is a picture of a girl with tape over her mouth saying, "I won't eat". This represents Kendra who starves herself in order to fit the image of perfection. She wants to be a model so perfection is all she can think about. This means she'll do anything to get the perfect body including starving herself and surgery.

 

     Teenagers all want to meet these impossible standards and in this book they find out sometimes what makes you perfect is what's on the inside. The very first page of the book states this very well it says,

     "How do you define a word without concrete meaning? To each his own, the saying goes, so why push to attain an ideal state of being no two people will agree is where you want to be? Faultless. Finished. Incomparable. People can never be these, and anyway, when did creating a flawless façade become a more vital goal then learning to love the person who lives inside your skin? The outside belongs to others. Only you should decide for you-what is perfect."

     Ellen Hopkins states that loving yourself is so much more important than what anyone else thinks. So don't strive for perfection. You should learn to love the person you are no matter what others think.

Reading Response #1: Revived

     Revived is about a girl who died at a very  young age in a car crash. Her and twenty other kids were all used as guinea pigs for a new drug called Revive. The drug is administered through an injection into the blood stream and it will bring back people who die suddenly. They didn't want the public to know about their testing so it was all "hush hush". It worked on most of the children but not all and the ones that it worked on were moved away and had their names changed. The main character is Daisy the opening is her dying from a bee sting (she is very allergic) she is taken in a fake ambulance by the people from the revive project and is given the drug. She moves to a new town likes she's already done so many times but this time she vows to try to make friends unlike with her last school. She meets a girl named Audrey and they hit it off. Things really start to look up but can it really last?


        This book is full of people putting on false faces. When your "parents" are government officials every time they're in public they have to act normal. I know how it feels to always put on a face on for those around you. Smile even if you don't feel like it inside. We all have our false faces we put up for everyone else but what would happen if you let someone in? Maybe they would be more understanding then you think. 

101 things about me

• I love to read
• My favorite color is blue
• I've been to the Rocky Mountains
• I collect Hard Rock t-shirts
• I was in Movie club
• I was in book club
• I love to get on youtube
• I love to watch Supernatural
• I recently had a family reunion in Texas
• I visited Galveston Island
• I love to go to the library
• I've never really enjoyed writing
• I have one dog named Tanner
• I have two step-brothers and one step-sister
• My parents are both remarried
• I have a pet leopard gecko named blizzard