Dear Mrs.Zrihen,
I just finished the story called A dark brown dog by Stephen Crane. This was actually a pretty good story to read and I would actually recommend this book to everyone, and that includes anyone who reads this journal. I found a good paragraph on the last page: "So the dog prospered. He developed a large bark, which came wondrously from such a small rug of a dog. He ceased to howl persistently at night. Sometimes, indeed, in his sleep, he would utter little yells, as from pain, but that occurred, no doubt, when in his dreams he encountered huge flaming dogs who threatened him dire fully."
Before I read this book the cover page took my attention from the start and it was many people crowding around one kid (which was actually holding a dog, as it said in the story,) therefore I inferred that this book would include a kid who must have done a great deed to the town, I was DEAD wrong. I also thought about the title" a dark brown dog" it interested me because it could have been about anything, so it gave the mystery. While I was reading I SO had to reread many parts in the books to actually understand it. I also learned new vocabulary like the word erect which means to stand upright.
After I finished I asked myself questions on what happened in the story AND who to recommend this book to.
I was pretty tired last week, nevertheless I picked a short story, fiction. It's a short story because it only has like two characters and not that many information. There were two main characters the child, which didn't have that much info about him, and the dog, a tiny brown dog. They are the protagonists and the antagonist is the dad who starts kicking the dog. The dog changed throughout the story by changing from a tiny dog to a full grown dog. The king had to live with the dog. This story is Man vs. society because the conflict is about the kid trying to protect the dog from getting stepped on or kicked. The setting is in both time and day, however the place is usually the house. I felt kind of sad to hear that a defenseless dog is getting beat up. The author also felt sad. The moral of the story is to protect the ones you love until they can get back on their feet.
This story is third person for its angle to the characters not the author herself. The story was organized into time order, because of the different time changes of the book. The author wrote the book to entertain because she is talking about a nonliving person, made-up. The author was biased because it didn't give the perspective of both the kid and the dog.
I would rate this book 9/10 for its interesting words.
sincerely, Juan 702
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Richard Peck Anonymously yours RJ # 13
Dear Mrs.Zrihen,
I just finished the book called Richard Peck: anonymously yours by Richard Peck. First of all I would like to begin by explaining that the genre of this book is memoir, I found that out because first this is the author talking about himself and since it's not his whole life, it's memoir; therefore, the point of view is first person. The central point the author is trying to make( main idea) is that Richard Peck is explaining the moment in his life where he began to become an author and he is also explaining the different books he has written. I have also found some ways to support this main idea and most of them are factual, except the last one; he wrote the book called Monster's night at grandma's house, he went to England to the university Depauw. His neighborhood was safer than the ones today. This main idea is implied.
Before I read this I had to look if the book was a memoir in the first place, it was stated at the front of the book so it was easy to find. Also I read the synopsis to see if the book might be interesting to read or just a dull book. When I started the book I saw that some of the words were getting mixed up, therefore I had to reread that part all over again. In addition, I also figured out some new vocabulary, for example the word Chandelier, which is a glass lamp that is on top of a dinner table, fancy. In the end I asked the 5W, so I could know that I understand everything. I would also figure out who to recommend this book to and I think everyone.
This book is compared to my life because first Richard Peck quit teaching to writing books, and when I was a little kid, I wanted to be a soccer player, however now I want to be a doctor. Even though this book is a nonfiction, this reminds me of the book the tale of desperaux by Kate Dicamillo in which Desperaux has to change his normal living mouse life to a savior. Maybe the people in the army didn't want to be a soldier in their later years, but when they saw what could have done, they join to help their country.
The essential message of this book is that if you see that there's a change needed to be in the world try to change it. In the book there were a chain of events that led to another like because Richard saw that novels needed entertaining and the celebration of an individual, he became an author in which books became awarded. The different books that he has written have been on real people in life, but on the other hand they have made up traits. Some text features I found were:
Italics- emphasize on a subject
Quotes- give meaning to the chapter of what it is about.
Dashes- give the meaning of word.
Big spaces- change in time or different subject.
This is a book that is based on a time/memory of a person, so then the way the author should have put this book in is time order. The author wrote the book to share the experiences he had when he became an author. The author was biased because he gave the perspective of himself not other close people that were with him. There was some evidence in this book( validity and accuracy) like the author gave the exact dates for which each event happened. He gave the names of the books he used certain people in. Names of people were given.
I would rate this book 7/10 because it was interesting but on certain parts.
Sincerely, Juan 702
I just finished the book called Richard Peck: anonymously yours by Richard Peck. First of all I would like to begin by explaining that the genre of this book is memoir, I found that out because first this is the author talking about himself and since it's not his whole life, it's memoir; therefore, the point of view is first person. The central point the author is trying to make( main idea) is that Richard Peck is explaining the moment in his life where he began to become an author and he is also explaining the different books he has written. I have also found some ways to support this main idea and most of them are factual, except the last one; he wrote the book called Monster's night at grandma's house, he went to England to the university Depauw. His neighborhood was safer than the ones today. This main idea is implied.
Before I read this I had to look if the book was a memoir in the first place, it was stated at the front of the book so it was easy to find. Also I read the synopsis to see if the book might be interesting to read or just a dull book. When I started the book I saw that some of the words were getting mixed up, therefore I had to reread that part all over again. In addition, I also figured out some new vocabulary, for example the word Chandelier, which is a glass lamp that is on top of a dinner table, fancy. In the end I asked the 5W, so I could know that I understand everything. I would also figure out who to recommend this book to and I think everyone.
This book is compared to my life because first Richard Peck quit teaching to writing books, and when I was a little kid, I wanted to be a soccer player, however now I want to be a doctor. Even though this book is a nonfiction, this reminds me of the book the tale of desperaux by Kate Dicamillo in which Desperaux has to change his normal living mouse life to a savior. Maybe the people in the army didn't want to be a soldier in their later years, but when they saw what could have done, they join to help their country.
The essential message of this book is that if you see that there's a change needed to be in the world try to change it. In the book there were a chain of events that led to another like because Richard saw that novels needed entertaining and the celebration of an individual, he became an author in which books became awarded. The different books that he has written have been on real people in life, but on the other hand they have made up traits. Some text features I found were:
Italics- emphasize on a subject
Quotes- give meaning to the chapter of what it is about.
Dashes- give the meaning of word.
Big spaces- change in time or different subject.
This is a book that is based on a time/memory of a person, so then the way the author should have put this book in is time order. The author wrote the book to share the experiences he had when he became an author. The author was biased because he gave the perspective of himself not other close people that were with him. There was some evidence in this book( validity and accuracy) like the author gave the exact dates for which each event happened. He gave the names of the books he used certain people in. Names of people were given.
I would rate this book 7/10 because it was interesting but on certain parts.
Sincerely, Juan 702
Monday, November 14, 2011
The ender's hotel a memoir Rj #12
Dear Mrs.Zrihen,
I just finished the book called The Ender's Hotel: a memoir by Brandon R. Scherand. I more or less admired this book because it didn't really hook me into the story nor take me in the story. It kind described the hotel in one of the passages in the book, at the beginning. I can declare to you that this was a vulgar book, because it included the awful word translation of a donkey's behind, and the word dam. A passage that I found pretty appealing to me, found on page 20-21 was:
"I tried to shake loose but my mother's nails dug deep into my wrist, puncturing my skin until small crescent blood-moons emerged. Then in one clamorous motion she and I spilled through the cafe and out the doorway onto the sidewalk, straight into the clearest kind of daylight. She secured her grip on my wrist and started dragging me toward the Ender's bar, one door down. I fought and cried, and for the first time in my life, I hit back. The bar was open and I stayed myself in the doorway..."
My interest of this passage was great because it really showed the rough childhood that Brandon had in his early ages. It would significant for the reader because it gave them a taste of what his childhood was like.
I, of course, had to use some strategies or I wouldn't be able to do this reader's journal or even understand the book better. I made a prediction before I read this book, based on the title. I would have seen if this book was awarded by a publisher or a company to see its value. When I began the book I had some troubles during the journey, for example the mixture words that made it seem like something else was happening, so to solve the problem I reread it many times until I got it right. After sometime I used another strategy, which was to find any word that I couldn't understand, so I used context clues. At the moment that I realized that I was done with the book I began asking I questions about the book, the 5W. Then when I was done I started thinking what kind of book this is for anyone, so I could recommend it.
I had to figure out the genre of this book and since at the cover page it said memoir, so it's nonfiction because it happened in real life and it's just one memory of his life. The topic of this book is life problems. The main idea of this book is that when Brandon's grandparents bought the ender's hotel they thought it was going to be a place to have newer lives, but it turned out wrong. This main idea is implied because it is not really giving it right at the beginning. I would give another title to this book which is "Where to fit in?" Some supporting details of this book were that Brandon's childhood was rough, this is sensory. He had to live with his grandparents, this detail is factual. His mother was divorced many times and she was an alcoholic person, factual.
The essential message of this story is to try to find out who you are, so you know what you are. The was a cause and an effect in this story that interested me like that because Brandon's mother was divorced many times and she had problems with her husband, Brandon ended up with his grandparents. I found some text features like the italics to emphasize the word so the reader can notice. Also there are the spaces between paragraphs that represent that a few days were passed or a subject is changed. There's the chapter title which give a conclusion of the chapter. At the end there's other books selected by the award for this book. Finally there are places where readers know other books for this author.
The pattern of organization is time order because it was actually the time between the beginning of the memory and the end. The author wrote this book to share an experience with the reader. The author's perspective is biased because it is giving Brandon's point of view. The angle in which the story was told was in first person for its saying "I, me, and I" and it is talking about himself. I couldn't find any figurative language in this story. The resources I used to know that his information was true were:
I really knew the entire vocab in this story so I can't find that out. This story could be compared to my everyday life because sometimes there are rough times that I go through in my life when I was a kid. I would compare this book to Isaac Newton because he started his life in a hard terrain without a father. This book could be compared to real life because many children don't have the privileges that I have and grow up rough and tough. I would rate this book 2 out of five because it was quite boring most of the time.
Hope this reader's journal fits your needs.
Sincerely, JUAN 702
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Current event 2
Date: 11/12/11
Name: Juan Diaz 702
Current Events Journal
Title: A legacy of service: Three generations of Pines family have served in military
Author: Perry Stein
Source: The Miami Herald
The topic of the article is loyalty
The main idea of the article is: Bolivar Perez Rios was a great soldier in many wars and he was congratulated, he passed down his influenced to three more generations like his son, grandson, and great-grandson (implied)
The author’s purpose for writing this article is to give an example of one military soldier who has served his country very well.
The author’s perspective in this article is subjective (biased) because he is talking about only one soldier in the army and his perspective.
The pattern of organization of the article is flashback
The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is because it was talking about Bolivar’s life back in the day and how he served in the army from a young age.
The text features included in the article are: Illustrations. Illustrations helps by letting the reader know who Bolivar is and his generations. Subtitles, this helps by letting the reader know which person is which. Sources and URLs helps by giving where the information can be found specifically.
This article is about (a summary in your own words) the different generations of Bolivar, a Puerto Rican soldier, who helped in the army and received many prizes like the blue heart, and the bronze star. He inspired his children, grandchildren, and soon his great grandchildren.
The significance (importance) of this article is that it lets you know how a Hispanic person helped in many wars, and this was just one person.
What I learned from this article is if you are good at something like at war, you might be able to influence other people because of your respect to the country.
What I liked about this article is that it gave an example of someone that was celebrated in veteran’s day.
What I did not like about it nothing
Who should read this article and why: people who want to know about some people who helped in wars and all of that they should read this article because it gave the example of Bolivar helping in war ever since World War 2
This article reminds me of (text-to-self) how I respect my country, Colombia, and the country I am now living in, U.S.
(Text-to-text) I would compare this to biographies of people who have died in war protecting their country.
(Text-to-world) Many people are now dying in wars like the Iraq or the rebellions in Greece of the economy.
New vocabulary I learned
Word Context Clues Meaning
1. Memento, inference, anything serving as a reminder.
2. Memorabilia, Example, souvenirs
3. LCDR, definition, lieutenant commander
Monday, November 7, 2011
The Tell-Tale Heart RJ# 11
Dear Mrs.Zrihen,
I just finished reading the book called The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. This was kind of a creepy story, because it involved a little bit of the main character stalking someone. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone because it was horrible, but kind of funny because the conflict was just because of a vulture eye that an innocent old person had, and he was killed because of that. The first strategy I used before I started this strange and queer story, I skim and scanned for text features, and what I found was that at the beginning the paragraph started by a capitalization and two dashes. The other strategy I used before starting the story was to predict what was going to happen and I predicted that this story was going to be about the author writing about a tale being told that might have been interested to her. After I read the first few paragraphs and went to the second page I used other strategies like to confirm my prediction I made before and it was correct, but too general for this story. The other strategy was to reread parts for any kind of reason; maybe I didn't understand it or I just want to read it many times. When I was done I, first asked some brief questions about what had happened in the story, like what was the conflict, where did it happen, ETC. I also thought about whom to recommend this book to.
The old man in the house was the foil and the police at the end because they don't talk at all except sometimes the police. There's no protagonist because the antagonist is the author talking because she killed the old man. No one in the story is dynamic only flat because it isn't described that much. The conflict was that the author hated the old man's eye that looked like a vulture's eye and haunted her for many times, so she killed him to end the problem. The social conditions are between the eye and the author which have a problem with each other. There are no weather conditions it is Man vs. Man, so it's the author against the old man. The exposition is where the author states for use not to think of her as mad. The rising action is when the author grows problems with the eye. The climax is that the Edgar is "stalking" the old man at midnight. Falling action includes where the old man is killed. The resolution is when the cops come.
The genre of the story is short story fiction because it only has one plot, one conflict, and mostly one of everything. The setting is in a house. What I think the author felt was being irritated with that vulture eye always taunting her. What I felt when I was reading this was crazy because this story is just WRONG!!!!
I don't know the theme and I don't think there's a moral. The point of view in this story is first person because the author is talking about herself. The author organized this book into time order because it is going through time. Edgar wrote this story to entertain the reader or maybe share. I couldn't find any figurative language and the perspective.
I would rate this book 1/5 because it was the worst.
Sincerely, JUAN 702
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