The Chocolate War- Robert Cormier- Tone Blog-10/1/14

Isabela J.
10/1/14
What type of writing techniques does the author use?
Pages- 0-43



     The Chocolate war. What a weird name for a book. Well, thats exactly what it is. This books takes place in a Catholic schools for boys. There can be no harm in a Catholic school, right? Well, in this school there isn't, but thats no because of the teacher. Or the rules. But for the Vigils. The Vigils is a "secret" group of boys that the teachers know about and the kids are scared of. The Vigils are kind of like the bullies that enforce their rules..? They assign assignments to kids in the lower grades and make them do things that the Vigils find "Funny" so they don't try and think to mess up the status quo. However, when one kid is picked to sell annual chocolates to raise money for the school, he refuses the Vigils and things get nasty. Now, Jerry Renault has to decide, "Do I dare disturb the universe?..."  As you could probably notice, the way I described this book is with questions,which is a style of writing. Every author has a style of writing whether it is by questions, word choice, format, anything. Thats what this blog is about. Style and mood.


      While reading, I noticed one really big part of the book is when we see an assignment be given out for the first time. During this part of the book, I noticed that the writer, Robert Cormier, used a lot of imagery and detail. One specific part that I remember reading where we see this is when the author starts describing the setting of the meeting, and how he uses descriptive words and explains the lightbulb hanging in the room,"---private, the solitary entrance easily guarded, and dim, lit by a single bulb dangling from the ceiling, a 40-watt bulb that bestowed only a feeble light on the proceedings." I think this is a good quote to show style in writing because he described the lightbulb using words like "Feeble." I think that this is a good showing of Cormier, because you really don't see words like that in modern literature.


     Another thing I want to talk about is mood. Mood is the way you feel after you read a book or a part of the book. One part that made so tense and curious is when Archie, the person who gives the assignments, is beating around the bush about an assignment he is going to give to a kid named, Goubert or as they call him, The Goober. Robert describes the way the kids are acting and all the tension in the room that it makes you feel like you are right there waiting to see what is going to happen. The exact part of the book I am talking about is right here,someone snickered. Archie stiffened, shot a look at cCarter=r, a withering look that said, tell them to cut the crap. Carter snapped his fingers, which sounded in the the quite storage room=m like the banging of a gavel." I picked this part because you can tell how instantly the mood in the book is and you feel as if you were part of the vigils.
   



   


   

   

The Giver- Vlog

Pretty Little Liars: Book 3 : Perfect-Sara Shepard

Pages- 5
Prompt: What songs would represent the main characters?

How the books
Pictured the girls.

How the show pictured
the girls.

      Well, we all know, everyone is different and everyone has a different personality. The characters in my book; Alison, Emily, Spencer, Aria, and Hannah are very different. Alison is a very frilly girl. She likes all the girly things like the color pink, Paris, sparkles, tiaras, everything. But she has a mean dirty side to her. I feel that her song would be, Dirty Little Secret by The All American Rejects. I feel that this song is perfect for Ali (her nickname in the book) because Ali is a very secretive person. If you have any suspicion, she will taunt you with the secret an dangle it right under you nose. Emily is sooooo different from Ali. She's more of a sporty,shy, curl up and read a book girl. I feel that her song would be The Rocky Theme Song.  I feel that this perfectly resembles Emily because she is very competitive and athletic, especially with swimming. She will train for weeks before the swimming season starts and will never miss practice unless some one is dying or maybe for a little romance swim in the lake. (a little hint of book two)

   












      I think Spencer is a touchy subject. I feel that she has around maybe 2 songs. I feel that her whole life is surrounded by people, especially her mother, telling her what to do. She has to go to Princeton. She HAS to get good grade. She HAS to athletic. She HAS TO BE PERFECT. So, I feel that one of her songs would be Mother Knows Best from Tangled. This song is perfect for Spencer's surrounding and life. But like I said I think Spencer is capable of another song. I feel that really any classical music is perfect for Spencer. She has been in this type of environment for her whole life and she has also kind of  grown onto this concept of being perfect! She lives, breaths,and thinks of this idea.

     Hannah is a very glitzy girl. She loves to shop, dress up, and use makeup. She's as you can say, an average girl.But she didn't use to be. she used to be really chunky but changed herself over the summer her best friend went missing. I feel that the perfect song that would represent her would be Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. I think that this sing is perfect for Hannah because she lives for fun. Party, dancing and all the fun things. I think that this song perfectly
describes a girly girl.

     And Lastly, one of my most favorite characters, Aria. She is a very creative, artsy, different person. She's not an average girl. She will wear a party dress, fish-net stockings, and 5 inch high heels to picture day at school. As you can tell, she is a very UNIQUE person. Personally, I feel that here is no song to grasp all the different sides of Aria. she has so many characteristics ti her no song could rap it all up. If I had to pick one song to describe her artsy personality, I think that it would have to be Chandelier by Sia. I think that this shows her artsy side because the song itself is SO different. A different music video as well. The interpretive
dance is something that Aria would love.





   

If I Stay 9/10/14 (Imagery blog)

Pages read- 173 out of 234



     This book is very different from other books, at least to me because it pretty much is made up of all imagery. We are like ghosts and we only see whats happening but we can't really do anything about it. One really good piece of imagery is in the beginning, "I wake up in the morning to a think blanket if white covering our lawn." Although this is a small piece of imager, it shows us what time of year it is,around winter, thats its cold. We can infer that it is slippery out side which will play a major role later in the book.

     Another smaller piece of imagery is, "I call, but as I walk towards him, the pavement grown slick and there are gray chunks of what look like cauliflower" and "pieces of my fathers brain is on the asphalt." These two pieces of imagery kind of give us a look at how bad this crash was. It gives us an insight on what the are they are in looks like.

     Lastly, one really good piece of imagery that I found is this quote right here, (this is a flashback where a minor character is describing her funeral) " Without missing a beat, Willow said : Play 'P.S. You Rock My World' by the Eels, And I want one of those green funerals where they bury you in the ground under a tree. So the funeral itself would be in nature, and no flowers." Or how her mother wants her funeral to look like. "I my ideal situation my bighearted pushover husband and I die quickly and simultaneously when we are ninety-two years old. i'm not sure how. Maybe we're on a safari on Africa- 'cause in the future, we're rich; hey its my fantasy- we come down with some exotic sickness and go to sleep one night feeling fine and then we never wake up. And no James Taylor. Mia plays at our funeral. If, that is, we tear her aways from the New York Philharmonic." These two pieces of Imagery are very good because they give us an insight on what type of people Mia had in her life. (Mia is the main character.) This shows us they thoughts and likes and dislikes and the personalities of the people in her life.

Books, Books, Books, and More Books! 9.2.14

During my school time, I have always been told to always have a book with me. I have had books that I loved and that I hated. These next ten books have made me enjoy reading and have made me look at life of things a different way.

1) Thirteen Reasons Why :  Jay Asher
This books is one of my all time favorite books because of story of the main character , Hannah , that has been bullied and in a depression for a while and because of it, killed herself. Throughout the story, we follow a boy , Clay Jensen , that has received tapes of Hannah explaining why she killed herself and everyone she made a tape of is a reason why she decided to take her life away. This book makes you feel like your actually listening to the tapes. You are actually part of the book. When I read this in 7th grade, I remember, I was addicted.



2) Hunger Games Series: Suzzane collins
The Hunger Games series are definetaly unique. Through out the three book series, we follow the lives of Katniss Everdeen, and Peeta Mellak as they deal with the hunger games, TWICE, and battling with the capital to get Peeta back. When I first heard of this series, I thought it was really dumb at that it was going to be boring. I tried reading them twice and got so bored. After a while I went t a garage sale and saw all three books for sale and the were SUPER cheap. When I got them, I automatically started reading them and I was hooked

3) Pretty Little Liars & Flawless: Sara Shepard
The two books are AMAZING. As we read these books we follow Spencer Hastings, Aria Montomgery, EmilyFields , and Hanna Marrin as they are haunted about there best friend, Alison Delaurentis, and her kidnapping, by someone named "A". I heard of this series through the hit T.V. show Pretty Little liars. These books are riveting and will make you turn very page until you finish them. There are 12 books in the series and I am currently reading the third one. I love these books and the show. - A




4) If I Stay: Gayle Forman
This book is something completely unique. I am currently in the middle of it but so far it has really made me think about what I have, In this book, we learn about Mia, a cellist that has a wonderful family, and wonderful boyfriend and a wonderful life. This is all until she gets in a car crash and it all goes away. Her mother, father, and brother, Teddy, have all died. She is stuck in this state where she can see everything but no one can se her. During all this chaos she has to decide if she wants to live or die. This book it one of those books that make you stop and think. "Wow, I have a great life, family, and friends." I want to see the movie but of course you cant see the movie without reading the books!!

5) Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck

This book has so many feelings in it that I can barely describe it.  In this book we see Lennie Small ( actually a really big guy)  and Milton as they go out and try to make enough money to live out there dream where they will have a small house with a wood burning stove and rabbits and trees and everything you can imagine. When they arrive to a ranch to work it seems that for a while, they will be able to accomplish there dream until Lennie gets himself into trouble and something huge is the punishment. When I first saw this book, I thought that it was going to be really boring and dumb. However, this book was actually very interesting and had cliff hangers at the end of every chapter.

6) The Giver : Lois Lowry
This books. I cant even explain exactly how GOOD it was. This books takes place in the future where everything is the same. Same food, same clothes, same social class, everything. One day we meet Jonas, an eleven year old boy who is about to turn twelve and get his job assignment he will have forever. On the day of the ceremony, Jonas gets a job that is very very rare. He has been assigned to "The giver" The Giver is a man/woman that has remembrance of all world memories and has to pass them onto every new giver that comes.

7) The Pigeon series : Mo Williams

These books were probably why I woke up in first grade,. These were the most funniest, craziest, but dumbest books EVER! Each book has a recurring character, the pigeon. Each book talked about not letting the pigeon do something like stay up lat, eat a hot dog, or drive a bus. The way that pigeon would react would crack me up. I think it was because all of the sarcasm that the pigeon would have to other small characters. These books will always be dear to my heart.
                                               

Prisoner B-3087- Alan Gratz
This book is based on true events. this takes place in WW2 where we follow Jack Gruener as he has to deal with losing his parents, his home and living on his own. One day he is taken away and is sent to horrible work camps, death camps, and death marches, This book made me cry multiple times because of the horrible things that
happened to this little boy that grows up knowing barely anything about a happy life or a nice person. Throughout this books we see Jack grow up, fall in love, and learn how to grow up. I personally really loved this book because it gave me a deeper insight on the Holocaust and what people went through

9) Esperanza Rising : Pam Munoz Ryan

The reason this book made me fall in love with it was because it made me think. People that were like me, (Mexican) used to have to leave there family  in mexico, some to America expecting big things and having to work back breaking hours with little pay, and bad housing conditions. this all happens to Esperanza and her family as the come to America after her father is killed by bandits and her mother had to marry her husbands kinda creepy brother to stay in the house they live in or they have to leave after her house burns down.
 I read this book in fifth grade and really really really loved it.

10) I Wish to be a Christmas Tree : Colleen Monroe

This book was and still is my favorite childrens book no matter what. This book tells you about a HUGE tree that lives on a tree farm that has seen his friends go and become christmas tres. All he wishes is for a family to pick hi, take him home, and decorate him for christmas and love him. All he feels is leftout. One night when he is possibly the saddest he has every been, the farms animals gather up leaves, pine cones,berries, ETC. to decorate their beloved friend to show him that he is love and to them, their christmas tree. This book game me an early look on feeling left out but that you need to know that you have friends that love you.

Summer reading post number 4 - Pretty-Little-Liars- By sarah sheperd

Prompt:Pick a character(s) that you feel is similar to you in a way
Finished

     I feel that i am like Aria Montgomery. Me and her always have questions to ask. We are always very curious about things. When a person mentions something but then says "NEVER MIND" we both become anxious to kn ow what it is. If you don't want us to know, why did you mention it. We will demand to know what it is.

     Another way reason on why I feel that I am like Aria is because of our fashion sense. Me and Aria both have a different but unique styles. Aria is very into lacy,dark,red clothing. Although I am a very bright person who loves lace, I still match different colors with different things, but we both know when something doesn't look right.

     The last I feel that I am like are is in our friends. Aria has Spence- the preppy,out together, fancy friend, Emily- the sporty,plain (in the sense of no sparkle or too bright clothing), and funny friend, and Lastly, Hannah- the glamorous, bright, sparkly and very up to date in fashion friend. I feel that I have these types of friends.Although they don't have all the qualities that I listed, they do all share different qualities
with the character.
   

The Walking dead, Book one. (summer reading post #3) !*Spoilers*!

     The walking dead novels is a series that I believe is still on going. It is a series of graphic novels that correspond to the show on T.V. In the first book, I realized that there is so much in the book that either isn't in the show or happens earlier or later. One big difference in the the book is that Daryl Dixon, a big character in the show, hasn't appeared. This came to a shock to me because his role in the show is so important that it is surprising that they would just make up a random character.

     Another big difference between the show and book is the death of a once main character, Shane Walsh.
In the show, The death of Shane happened at the second camp they settled into. A farm where you meet the characters, Maggie Greene, Hershel Greene,Otis, and many more minor characters. However, the death of Shane in the graphic novel takes place in the very first camp the group settles into right outside of Atlanta, Georgia. One similarity though is that Shane died in the show and in the books by getting in a fight with Rick Grimes, another main character in the show, over power over the camp and many other things that Rick supposedly "Stole" from Shane after arriving to the camp after being in the hospital for multiple weeks during the zombie apocalypse due to police business.

     Lastly, I realized that in the books, there are so many relationships that are not put into the show. in the books, a character named Tyreese, seen on the show, falls in love with another character, Carol who is also seen on the show. I was so surprised that this relationship was never or at least has been put off in the show. The relationship is so important in the book because it gives a bad "first impression" on Michonne, a MAJOR character in the graphic novels and the show because Tyreese cheats on Carol with Michonne who knew that the two of them were together.

     So, Overall I have realized that The show and ythe books of the Walking dead are very similar but are also  very different.