Isaac Newton by Margaret J. Anderson RJ 8

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

I just finished the book called Isaac Newton: The greatest scientist of all time. By Margaret J. Anderson. This was actually a pretty good book for a biography. I would recommend this book to Mikey Rogatinsky because since he wants to grow up as a scientist he should learn from past people to know how they became scientists. Overcoming every obstacle and not caring what people said about him he kept on going.

This is a mix of sentences from different paragraphs from page 1 and 2:

“She named him Isaac Newton after his father, but there was no father... Isaac Newton died in October.

Hannah's boy was born early. He was so small she could have fitted him inside a quart jug. He was so weak that she had to fix a little pillow around his neck to hold his head. On the day he was born, two women who were helping Hannah went over to the neighbor's house to fetch some medicine. They saw no need to hurry. They were so sure that little Isaac would not live until they got back that they rested on the wall"

Even though this was a pretty long paragraph I think this was a very important passage because it told that Isaac Newton was very weak when his was born, but look at him now! He's one of the world's most famous scientists. I think this is a very important passage to the reader because it makes you see how awful most of the lives of great scientists began. 

Some strategies I used before I read this book was to see the cover and the synopsis to see what the story might be about to confirm it later on in the story. The prediction I made was that this story was going to be about Isaac Newton and his harsh journey to becoming a scientist. Another strategy I used before reading this book was to skim and scan for text features that help the reader understand what's going on in the story. I mostly found illustrations about places in the story. Some strategies I used during reading were to make predictions about what was going to happen next in the story. The other strategy I used was to look for vocabulary that I didn't know, but I can't name any right now. Some after reading strategies I used were to confirm any other predictions I did and to reread parts I didn't understand.

The genre of this book is biography nonfiction because it's talking about Isaac Newton, but not himself. The topic of this story is to think because since Isaac Newton thought about many things he was able to solve more problems. The main idea of this book was that Isaac's childhoods was bad, but he was able to go forward to inventing new things and explaining others with other scientist's work. This main idea is both stated and implied because at the beginning of the book it states that his childhood was hard, but when you go far more into the story it tells you that he invented stuff. Another title I would give this book is " Isaac Newton: the world's thought man," because he thought a lot in his office and when he was a child. 

Some supporting details of this story was that once it said that Isaac Newton invented the telescope with two mirrors to see better this detail is factual, another one is that in the beginning Isaac had a rough childhood where he didn't have many friends and wasn't that liked this detail was sensory, it also states that his father was killed and his mother had left him with his grandma, but he was able to move forward when he went to grammar school where he learned Latin, finally this detail is factual.  

The essential message of this story is that you should never give up on you dreams and that if you have a problem keep it in the back of your mind and think about it when you can. 

Once Isaac Newton was very good at thinking most of his time into problems and curiosities that were sometimes lethal, and to the effect  he was able to know the travel of light and color, the laws of gravity, make a telescope, and how the moon was attracted to the Earth. I would compare Aristotle with Copernicus because they both studied outer space, but I would contrast them because Aristotle thought that Earth was the center of the universe but Copernicus disagreed and theorized that the Earth was actually going around the sun. 

Some text features I found in the story were some illustrations of places, like London where Isaac stayed most of his time and joined the social society. Also illustrations of people who were certain people the book was talking about at that time. Another one was italic writing to emphasize on words like book titles, names, ETC.The other text feature were that in the end of the book there were experiments that Isaac Newton did, which helped the reader understand his creativity. The last text feature was that in the end there was a glossary for certain words.

The pattern of organization of this story is Chronological order because it was time order from when he was born to when he died. The author's purpose was to inform the reader about Isaac Newton. There was no author's perspective. The P.O.V is third person. I couldn't find any figurative language.

I went to the library to look about Isaac Newton and it was related to the book. Also the internet and I tried not to go on Wikipedia. Finally, I looked at pictures of the places where Isaac was to see if they match with the ones in the book.

I didn't really see any unknown words in the book. 

I could compare this book to me because I always think about what is happening around the world and about problems. I could compare this book to another book " Alexander Fleming: the founder of penicillin." I would compare this book to real life because some people have to think about problems about the world and improving real life. 

I would rate this book 10/10 because it was really good.

Sincerely, JUAN 702

The Road to Calmann By Rosemary Sutiff

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,


I just finished the book the book called The Road to Calmann by Rosemary Sutiff. In the end King Arthur was in a battle against his son, Mordred, which he killed in the end, but during the fight Arthur got hurt badly on the head, so he told his assistants to carry him to the lake of avalon, where Merlin had taken him when he was little. After he was carried near the lake his sword was thrown in the lake and a stairway like path opened, and so he was carried there with his sisters welcoming him.Many days after that all the people, well most of them, were sent to the chapel where Arthur had stayed with his servant, Sir Bedivere, and they stayed there until they died and other came back like Lancelot and Guenever, the Queen.


Since I am done with the book I shall now tell the reading strategies I used after the book. First I used the confirming the predictions I made in the past to better understand the story, for example I predicted that the author used the cover page based on an event in the story and I was right because in the end when Arthur and Bedivere were in the chapel and Sir Bedivere was carrying King Arthur to the lake. This Rj might not be long because most of the stuff I have included in the past RJs but I found new settings like, Benvirick, Avalon, and other more that I forgot how to spell. 


Also the weather conditions are rainy because in the last battle it was raining and also foggy most of the time. The social conditions is that when King Arthur left to battle against Sir Lancelot his son, Mordred, took over the throne and made everyone confused about King Arthur and their loyalty. Another is that King Arthur thought that Sir Lancelot, his bravest and best knight, and Guenever, Arthur's wife/Queen, were with each other and that filled King Arthur's heart with despair and sorrow.


I couldn't talk about the book I should be reading because I want to give enough details and  not just say for each part " I haven't gotten that far in the book" and that other stuff. If you didn't find the stuff in the rubric check Reader's Journal number #6.
I would rate this book 8/10 because it was interesting, but not a cliffhanger. 


                                                                          Sincerely,
                                                                      Juan Diaz 702

The Road to Calmann By Rosemary Sutiff

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

I am still reading the book The Road to Calmann by Rosemary Sutiff, but I plan on finishing it this week because I want to go along with the challenge. I picked this book from the library because I have sometimes heard the legend about King Arthur, so I wanted to give it a try. Before I began reading this legendary book I used some strategies like figuring out why I should read this book and if I am reading it to be informed or entertained or both, perhaps. The other strategy I used before reading this book was to look at the cover page and/or the synopsis to predict what this book was going to be about or maybe if the reader didn't like the cover then maybe reading the back will grab their attention, like the famous quote " Never judge a book by its cover." When I began reading this book I realized I had to use some strategies, so I predicted what was going to happen later in the book, for example when I predicted that Sir Urrer was going to betray Sir Lancelot. Also I reread some passage where I might be reading or daydreaming, and maybe because I didn't understand it. Some strategies I will use in the future is to confirm my prediction  that I made before and during reading the book and perhaps ask myself some questions about the book to refresh my memory. A paragraph that I found interesting and important to the reader was on the last paragraph on page 15. 

"...Lancelot, the foremost of the King's knights and Dearest friend..."

Even though this is a very small passage it showed the relationship between the King and Lancelot, so maybe thanks to that Lancelot might be the one who killed Arthur.

The genre of this book is, of course, folktale and it's a legend because the stories of Arthur are mostly legends. The Tone in this story is Adventurous because in the voice of the author you hear the excitement that is happening. The mood is exciting because I couldn't wait to know what will happen. The theme of the story is companionship from what I have read so far because Sir Lancelot was always loyal to the Queen. The angle the story is told is 3th person. The P.O.O is chronological order because of the clue words that I found that were “next, later, after, ETC." The author's purpose of writing this book was to entertain the reader and I don't think this book has neither a perspective nor a figurative language. The setting is in Lancelot and the time is day and night, the social conditions are that there have happened some cases where Sir Lancelot has to save the Queen because she is getting into problems. There are no weather conditions.

The protagonists in this story are King Arthur, Sir Bors, Sir Lancelot, and the Queen. The Antagonist is, so far, Sir Pinel and Sir Meliagraunce. The foils are the other high knights and everyone else. The plot structure is in the Rising action or inciting incident.

I would rate this book 4 out of 5 because it was very interesting but boring at times.

                                                                                  

                                               Sincerely,

                                                                      Juan 702

The road to Camlann: the Death of King Arthur by Rosemary Sutcliff Rj#5

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

I just started the book called the path to Camlann: the death of King Arthur by Rosemary Sutcliff. An before reading strategy I used in this book was to look at the cover and at the synopsis to figure out what the story might be about, like in this story I figured out that this story is going to be about the death of King Arthur from the book written by Rosemary Sutcliff. Another strategy that I used was to skim and scan for text features like illustrations; this book had illustrations when I began reading. Some during reading strategies I used when I was reading this book was to use context clues for unknown words, like the word " Pulleth" which I then figured out that it meant pull, but used in the English that British people used back in the day. Another strategy I used was to make predictions on basic events and using background knowledge to make conclusions. The after reading strategies that I'll use are going to be to ask myself questions of what happened in the text and to confirm my predictions.

I didn't find any important passage in the story yet, but the genre of this book is folktale, legend because King Arthur is a legend. Since I haven't read that much so far I think the tone of the story isn't clear yet, but I think is mysterious because he is talking about how King Arthur had done so much and we don't know what is going to happen. The mood that I felt was excited about what was going to happen.

The pattern of organization of the book is chronological order because of the clue words, next, then, ETC. The main character in the book and the antagonist is Arthur Merlin and some others that I think are going to be involved. I haven't gotten that far, so I don't know the antagonist. The conflict I think is that the times of the rule of King Arthur are at its latest and darkest, so maybe Arthur has to survive. The setting is in Camelot, the capital that Arthur named. The author purpose is to entertain the reader with this legend. The author's perspective is unknown because I don't think the author is supporting anything.

I am in the exposition where the author is refreshing the reader the earlier stories she wrote for the reader to understand this book, because this is a sequel. I haven't really found any figurative language or moral, but the point of view of the story is 3th person. from what I have read I think this book should be rated 8 out ten because the author is making me interested and I just started anyways.


                                            Your favorite student,
                                                     Juan 702

They dance in the sky: Native American Star Myths by Jean guard Monroe and Ray A. Williamson Rj #4

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

I just started the book called they dance in the sky: Native Americans star myths by Jean Guard Monroe and Ray A. Williamson. The genre of this book is folktale and its myth because it talks about Native American’s myths. I picked this book because I wanted to see different constellations and how they related to Native Americans. A passage that interested me when I began reading was:

"The small cluster of stars we call the Pleiades is one of the most important constellations of mythology. Nearly every society or people in the world have told stories about Pleiades"

I picked this passage because it really summarized the whole story about the constellations of Pleiades and how many people made stories about it. Also this important to the reader because it says that many societies know about the constellations and write stories about it. The before strategies that I used before reading this book were to predict what was going to happen in the book by looking at the cover page and the title, like I predicted this book was going to be about different constellations and their characteristics. Another strategy was skim and scan for text features like illustrations or graphs that might help understand the book. For example when a new chapter starts the author draws the constellations. The P.O.O of this story is classification order because the M.I of the story is constellations and it's broken down in to different constellations. The point of view of the story is third person, the clue words I found to know that are "they, he, she, their." The author’s purpose into writing this book was to inform us about constellations and how Native Americans used them. Some during reading strategies I used was to confirm my predictions in the past and I was correct. I also used the strategy of rereading passages when I didn't understand or I didn't pay too much attention. After reading strategies I used was to think what was in the book and ask questions about it. Another one was to visualize what I had read.
The setting in this book was where the Native Americans lived and there weren't any characters because it only described the stars and how people used them. I am in exposition where the author writes about Pleiades. The tone in the story was informative because the author wanted to teach me about stars. While reading the story I felt really interested in the story because of the description of how Native Americans used the stars. There isn't a moral in neither the story nor a theme. I don't think there's also a conflict. I would rate this book an 8 out of ten because it was informative but not that adventurous.

                                     Your favorite student,
                                            Juan 702

Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

I just started the book called Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury. A strategy I used when I picked this book was when I saw the title " Night of The Howling Dogs" it really standed out because on the illustration it showed the wilderness and the animals like the wolf, so maybe it would have been about people who had to survive on the wilderness all alone. Also when I read the back of the book it really caught my attention and explained to me what the book would be about, so it confirmed my prediction. Another strategy was to skim and scan for text features around the story, like for example the title which revealed where the story was going to take place, in the wilderness, also when I look at each chapter title it shows the topic of the chapter and a part of the cover page, another text feature was the synopsis that made me interested in the book. A passage in the story that took my attention was the first paragraph of the story on page 1:

“At 3:20 in the morning I woke up and rode my bike down the old coast road to Casey Bellows hose. I followed the broken white line in the middle of the road, ghostly gray under the stars. Every now and then somebody's yard light blinked from the jungle, but mostly it was black as tar. The only living thing I saw was a toad that sprang out and leaped across the road. Scared the spit out of me."

I think this passage is important to the readers that read the book because this passage helps people understand that a great author usually sets the reader into a scene to explain and make the reader interested into what he/she is reading. Also I like this passage because it old how the town that the kid lived in looks so dull and silent on such and early day, so it showed the big change from day and afternoon.  This book's genre is realistic fiction because when I began to read it I found out that this event could have happened in real life, and I need the genre for Mrs.Zrihen's " A Book a Week Challenge."  The conflict in the story is Man.Vs Man because this is about Dylan having troubles with Louie; an Eighth grader who had met Dylan in another conflict some time ago, this book is external. The characters in the story that I have read so far are: Mr.Bellow, Casey, Dylan, Zach, Sam, Reverend, Louie, Tad, and Mike, the protagonist is Dylan and the antagonist, I think, is Louie. The foils are Zach, Sam, Mike, and Tad. The tone of the story is sometimes annoyed because when the author describes that Louie was pranking Dylan. The mood that I felt while reading the story was excited because I didn't know what was going to happen next. I don't really know the theme because I haven't gone that far in the story so I couldn't find it out. The point of view of the story is first person because the author is referring the story to himself because of the clue words" I, me, and me." The pattern of organization of the story was chronological order because the story is going from beginning to end. The author's purpose into writing this book was to entertain the reader and make the reader be excited. The setting of this book is in Hilo, Hawaii. Some during reading strategies that I used was to confirm my prediction that I made in the past and I was right. Also I used the strategy to use to understand Hawaiian words that were mentioned in the story. I couldn't do any after reading strategies because I didn’t finish the book.

Hope you enjoyed.

                      Sincerely,
                          Juan 702

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry RJ #2

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,

I just started the book called The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry. I got this book from your library, because since I know you have read many books maybe you could have recommended this to me. This book is realistic fiction because it was able to happen in real life, but it is made up, and also I needed this book for the Book a Week challenge that you gave us. It has been good ever since I started to read it this afternoon in your class. A passage that caught my eye in this book was in the prologue when the person was talking about the “the silent boy" named Austin on page 5:
  "I wondered, then, as I still do, about the boy who had once given me a kitten and changed my life forever. His name was Jacob Stoltz."

This paragraph was very important to this story because it showed the main idea of the story, a boy who had changed the author's life. I picked this passage because it basically helped the reader understand why she wrote the story and what it is going to include. 2 strategies that I used before reading this book was to make predictions about what might happen in the book like when I first saw the book I thought that it might be about an insignificant boy who had to go to war to help his country, but then afterwards, after reading the synopsis, I found out that it was about a girl who was very interested in a boy who many people thought that he was a foolish and dull kid in her town. Another prediction is that this book would be about the harshness of being left out and many people criticizing you. Another strategy I used was to skim and scan  for text features that might help the reader understand the book, some text features were illustrations that explained what was happening in that page next to it. Some strategies I used during reading this book was to confirm my predictions and they were right because Jacob was most of the time alone in the field on a stone. Also I used context clues for certain words that I didn't know about, but since I just started the book I haven't found any yet. The tone of this story is sad and gloomy because of the color schemed cover page and how it's all grey. The mood I felt about this book this was sad because Jacob was always criticized by people. The theme of this book is unknown because I haven't read this book for a lot of time, so I still don't know that much about the book. The angle the story was told from was first person because it said the clue words like "I." The pattern of organization of this book is flashback because it begins in 1987 and then it goes back to 1908-1911. I think the author wrote this book to entertain people. I am in the exposition of the book where the main character, Katy, meets Jacob for the first time. The characters in the part that I have read so far are: Katy, Jacob, Austin, Katy's parents are the main people so far, the oil is: Mr. and Mrs. Smoltz, Mrs. and Mr. Bishop, Paul, Austin's brother, and Jessie wood. There isn't a perspective in this story because the author isn't really support anything specific. The setting doesn’t really say it but other places are mentioned where family members of the author were said.
I would rate this book, from what I have read, a 7 because it was somehow interesting.

                                           Sincerely, JUAN 702