Weekly Blog Mon. Oct. 27th "Curveball the Year I Lost My Grip"

 Prompt: What have you been reading? What does it remind you of in your own life?

Book: Curveball the Year I Lost My Grip


   
      Imagine, you're standing on the mound, sweat's pouring from your face, and you have your cap tightly around your head. Your cleats are too tight, and your jersey is too roomy! Your glove is feeling like its to big, and you think your arm is about to fall off. Everyone on your team is all depending on you, the batter is practicing his swinging, but you can't pay attention to any of this. The only thing you can feel is the shocking and stinging pain in your arm near your elbow, Craacckk!! Your elbow grinds together like two pennies scratching each other! You suddenly fall to the ground in agony and you close your eyes so you can't see anything or maybe anyone. You try stopping the tears from flowing from your eyes, and you feel someone and hear someone. They're calling your name and you won't listen.
     This is the main conflict for "Curveball the Year I Lost My Grip" by Jordan Sonnenblick. Pete who has been feeling something wrong with his elbow he was just afraid to tell his coach or his best friend Aj in fear of getting benched. This book can relate to my life because my sister has a lot of problems and she plays basketball with the problems. Like a couple years ago when I lived in Lyons, we had a huge backyard and we had a huge space for basketball, so my brother and sister were playing and she rolled her ankle but kept playing with the pain. The ball went over our neighbors gate and she jumped the fence but when she jumped back over there is this long piece of round brown wood that is lined agains the fence and she landed the wrong way on her (rolled) ankle and sprained it.
     This is similar to Pete's situation because he felt the pain in his elbow but he kept playing baseball to not feel like a wuss or to just completely leave the pain. My sister felt the pain in her ankle but kept playing basketball and then really hurt her ankle to the point were she couldn't walk on it and couldn't move it. (I mean it was nasty like it was all big and fat, with bluish purple going on. It was like 3x's her normal size ankle.) I can also relate to Pete because when he was injure his Coach had to lift him off the ground and it hurt him then he had to move his arm which sends spine chilling feelings. When I broke my collarbone I was on the ground and I couldn't move my right arm because it sent shocks throughout my arm, so it hurt and I felt the same pain he did when I read it because I had prior knowledge of how it felt.
 

New Ending to "The Lady or the Tiger"

     Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed immovably upon that man as he walked up to the right door. As he opened the door people sighed at the sight of the beautiful maiden dressed in a blue and green silk dress. Sewn with wonderful and glistening sparkles. Her neck was embraced with a simple yet beautiful blue jewel strung around her neck with a simple thick black string. The young man looked to the beautiful princess with a depressing face. The princess was flabbergasted. She jumped up from her chair forgetting to act like a lady, she looked at the fair maiden and the handsome lover. She let out a tiny shriek that was covered in the sighs and awes of the audience. Down her porcelain pale face was a tear, she looked to the barbaric king who was grinning.
     The princess ran down the steps of the arena and ran to the youth. The fair maiden was hugging the youth and blushing making her porcelain face reddish/orangish. The youth stood there, back straight, teeth bared. The princess ran to the young youth, tears strolling a mile a minute down her doll like face. The fair maiden stopped hugging the youth and turned to the princess. She gave her a mean look, and the princess returned it with a meaner look without knowing so. The king walked down the the princess, "Oh princess! Are you not happy now?" The princess shook her head and fell to the ground, "no father I am not happy. I am very distress. I did not want this to happen and I do not want to continue." Her father looked down at the crying princess who was no longer as beautiful as she walked in. Her once porcelain face was now tomato red and flushed. Her once beautiful colored eyes were not a beautiful blue but were a evil red and puffy. Her once flat stomach was now gaining air. She was gasping for air while crying.
     "But my darling, my jewel, why are you so filled with despair?" The king asked the crying princess. She got off of the floor and walked to the youth. "Dearest King, I do not want the young youth to be with this lady. I want him to be with me. I believe it is unfair of you King to demolish our relationship." The King who is usually barbaric and is self centered saw how much damage he has done to his daughter. While the audience silently waited, thinking this is some kind of entertainment, the King turned to the audience and cleared his throat. "I herby decree that this young youth, shall marry my daughter the princess." The crowd cheered and awed with delight, while the fair maiden stormed out of the arena. The youth smiled and the princess wiped her face. He picked her up and spun her around, they walked hand and hand out of the arena and walked to a field nearby.
     The princess grabbed some flowers from the flower bed and held them in her hands. They were not dressed in custom clothing (well at least the youth wasn't). The princess was dressed in a breathtaking purple silk dress embroidered with silver gems that glistened in the light. Her neck was bare but her hand was hugged tightly by a beautiful black cuff glistening with purple diamonds. Her hair was neatly put into a bun. The youth however showed no significance of his appearance. He had on brown cut up pants and a white button up shirt that was covered in dirt. They married quickly and spent their life happily ever after.

Oct. Mon. 20th Beware of Lucinda the Fairy! REWARD!!!

Lucinda the fairy is not always easy to identify, however if you look for the right characteristics you should be good. She has small feet as all fairies do and is very beautiful thanks to the help of magic. If you see someone reappear  and disappear out of no way you found the correct fairy. As Mandy (another fairy) describes Lucinda as "the only one stupid enough to go around flaunting her powers like that." But beware children Lucinda is tricky and might give you a gift without you knowing. Or like Ella could give you another gift. She is giving terrible gifts such as making newly wed couples always in love, or like Ella the gift of obedience. Worse, she can make you into a squirrel! After talking to Mandy (Ella's godmother)  however she learns not to make any more *gifts*. Lucinda learns the lesson by turning herself into a squirrel and giving herself the natural gift of obedience. Read on to find out what happens to Lucinda, Ella and Mandy. Ella Enchanted!

1st Quarter Reflection

     The first quarter of 7th grade was a lot of fun. I loved the challenge Mrs. Larson gave us called the 40 book challenge. I am currently on my 40th book but I have at least 2-3 genres left to do. I enjoy a challenge I am thinking of reading more than just 40 books (which I have to do anyway). At first I thought it would be hard to do I mean 40 BOOKS!!! Now that I am almost done with the challenge I think back and say, well 40 books wasn't that hard.
     My blogs have been progressing since August by learning how to properly write a paragraph and how to make my blogs more interesting. I've learned to make the blog more interesting so the reader can follow along. My blogs from over the summer weren't based off one idea I was zooming around talking about a giraffe and then the next sentence Wisconsin. Well unless that giraffe was in Wisconsin.

Indirect and Direct Characterization "Girl Stolen" *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Prompt: Pick a sentence in the book and explain how it affected the character.
     "Even knowing that daylight would bring far greater danger, Cheyenne found herself missing the little sight she had." This shows that Cheyenne doesn't know what will happen and daylight will be a danger because people might see her or Roy, TJ, or Jimbo. She has a tiny bit of sight in her left eye but that was no use to her. This is direct characterization because it shows Cheyenne is scared for daylight and being found running away from Roy's house. The setting affects the character because she is having more and more anxiety worrying about the sun coming up and the three men coming to look for her in the woods.

    Griffin's house affects the way Cheyenne feels because she doesn't know how to direct herself around the house without her cane (which Griffin's dad burned). The only person that helps hr around the house is Griffin and he is not always able to help when his dad or his dad's employees are there. The setting also affects Cheyenne because she knows if she runs away there is nothing but woods and the road is miles away. The road is where hardly anyone comes to.
     In Girl Stolen the author describes Cheyenne as brown haired girl who is in high school. She is also blind which has a huge impact on the plot because she can't see where she is being held and she doesn't know what roads they took, or what the address of the house is. Another huge direct characteristic is that her dad is a very important person at Nike so while she is held at the house they ask for money. Knowing she is blind and they know she can't escape. Her father has no choice but to help his blind girl. She also has pneumonia which if she does not take her medicine she can die from it.

Forged By Fire

Prompt: Describe the main characters
Pages read: 0-143


       A sister, an overprotected brother, an abusive father, and a slave mother make up the wonderful book of Forged By Fire. Forged By Fire is about a brother who's pass was about child abuse and an intoxicated mother, who after his house burns down he moves in with his aunt. Long live tragedy his auntie dies of a sudden heart attack on his birthday and he is forced to live with his mother who never cared, his abusive stepfather who's a vicious monster, and his precious little sister who he loves more than anyone in the world.
       Gerald is in high school and he loves to play basketball. His best friends Andy and Rob who died have had a big influence on his life and his little sisters. Not only that of his past he has been abused by his evil mom who has made him sit in his own poop for hours, burned his hand, and left him unattended for hours on end just so she can go have fun. Gerald has also experienced death of his loved one (mentioned earlier) his believed Aunt Queen who he would cook for, build for, and he lived with.
       Angel is Gerald's lovable and innocent sister. Angel is lean and graceful. She loves to dance (and eventually becomes anorexic because of her dance instructor) Gerald describes her as able to dance to any beat or any song. Angel like Gerald has had an unfortunate past, she was sexually abused from her stepfather Jordan, was born in jail, almost killed by Jordan, and has been through court cases to regain her innocence. When Gerald first met Angel, he described her as big brown puppy eyes, and very small or petite. In the beginning of the book Aunt Queen thinks it's amazing how Gerald and Angel created this brotherly, sisterly bond when they had just known each other and have just met.
       Monique and Jordan are Angel's and Gerald's mother and stepfather (you can assume which is which), Monique is always running around like a chicken without a head to please Jordan. She is always dressing to impress him and is basically his slave. Monique doesn't like to receive the fact that Jordan is hurting Angel. Jordan is the abusive stepfather and is an alcoholic, he treats Gerald badly and abuses Angel. Jordan claimed that he was the father of Angel, but later on in the book he told Gerald that he was not, in fact Angel's dad and he was no father of anyone.
       To find out what happens to Angel and Gerald go to the Berwyn Public Library or to the LRC and check out Forged By Fire!