Summer Assignment Entry Four

  From the Printz Award List I chose Stolen because I wanted to know how Ty kidnapped Gemma, and what did he do after he kidnapped her; did  Ty treat Gemma nicely? This caught my attention because the girl was kidnapped and taken to a place without any people, and was really hot and dry. I wondered how will she leave that place, or will she stay there forever.

  I would recommend this book to people who likes to read about kidnapping. This book is written really well, and you may see some things that you will not see often in other books, such as breaks instead of chapters; using "you" instead of "him", "he", "her" or "she". I think this is different from other books about kidnapping because the kidnapper started to pay attention to the girl when she was 10. and decided to take her away when she was thirteen,and he started building the house in the desert. He took her away because he wanted her life to be better, even though he may have not made it better, but he told her everything he found out by stalking her friends and family members.

Summer Assignment Entry Three

  "Sometime later, I collapsed again. And that time, I know I couldn't get up, no matter what I did. I rolled against the sand, and, and thrust my face into it. I wanted to be an animal, burying deep, deep down. I dug, trying to pull my body under, trying to reach the cool. But all my strength had sweated out of me. Everything had drained way. The sand had absorbed it all. I lay there, half-buried in the grains. I closed my eyes against the sun and sank down."
  Gemma threatened Ty for the car keys, and escaped. But the car got stuck, and started sinking into the sand. Gemma stayed next to the car for a night and started walking the next day; but she was completely lost in the desert. She started walking early in the morning, when it was still cool outside, but it got hotter and hotter, she ran out of water, and had no other supplies that could help her. As it got hotter she lost more water from her body and started getting sunburns. She fell and couldn't get up again so she started crawling. After a while she collapsed. Will she die, or will Ty save her?

Summer Assignment Entry Two

  In Stolen, Ty wants Gemma to have a better life, and he wants Gemma to love him and stay with him forever.
 Gemma wants to leave the desert and leave Ty, and go back to London.
  The theme of the book is the people around you (your friends or your family members) may not be  nice to you, or caring about you; even though they look like they're being nice to you or caring about you.
  Another theme of this book could be that you think you are making someone's life better, but you could actually ruining their life.
The author mostly uses first person point of view and second person point of view in this book. First person point of view (I) is used to describe Gemma; the second person point of view (you) is used to describe Ty. Every time Gemma is talking about Ty, she would use "you" instead of "he" or "him". It's different from other books because they usually use third person point of view to describe the other characters.
  Another thing that is special about this book is that there aren't any chapters. But, the author uses breaks to change settings.

Summer Assignment Entry One

  The main characters of the book Stolen include Ty and Gemma. This book mostly takes place at a desert in Australia. Gemma was kidnapped by Ty at the Bankok airport and was taken to the center of the desert. No one lived around them, so Gemma couldn't get any help from anyone.
   The main characters:
   Ty- He first met Gemma when Gemma was ten years old, which was when he started paying attention to her. He stalked her friends and her parents. He knew that Gemma's parents want to send Gemma to a boarding school and move without her. He planned on taking her away when she was thirteen.
He wanted to take her away so her life would be better.
   Gemma- Gemma was going to go to Vietnam with her parents, but was taken away by Ty at the Bankok airport, and was brought to the middle of a desert.

Why did Ty take Gemma to the middle of a desert?
How long did it take for Ty to drive to the center of the desert?
I think Gemma will try to escape, but Ty would notice and bring her back to the house.
This book can be connected to The Giver because in The Giver, everyone is controlled by their government. In this book Ty brought Gemma away and is trying to control her life.

The Book Thief

 If you are planned to read this book, or have not read the ending before; you probably would not want to read this blog, because I might tell you what happens at the end.
 I just finished The Book Thief; the ending was pretty good. Near the end, when the Allies bombed Himmel Street (the street they live on), many people died. Liesel watched her neighbors die, her friends die, and her family die. Liesel survived the bomb, but everyone she cared about has died, and her life has been changed again.

The Book Thief book trailer

The Book Thief

The Book Thief

  Liesel went to look for Max on August 1943. When he saw Liesel, he was really surprised. "'I can't believe...' The words dripped from Max Vandenburg's mouth." Liesel looked at the Jews, they were all really skinny, because of working a lot and starvation.
 A soldier saw her, and told her to leave. "'Hey!' he called in. He pointed with his whip. 'Hey, girl, what are you doing? Get out of there.'" But Liesel did not leave. The soldier started whipping Max until he fell to the ground. Then, the soldier started whipping Liesel.

The Book Thief

 "Certainly, war meant dying, but it always shifted the ground beneath a person's feet when it was someone who had once lived and breathed in close proximity." Micheal Holtzapfel's brother died because of war. Micheal was in a building used as a hospital with his brother when he died. They were in the hospital for three days; from when his brother was sent in the hospital to his brother's death. "'I was in one of the buildings we used for a hospital when they brought him in. It was a before I was coming home. I spent three days of that week sitting with him before he died...'" I think Micheal felt really bad when he was in the hospital because he watched his brother dying , but couldn't do anything.

The Book Thief

  Liesel's family is hiding a Jew, Max in their basement. Nazi soldiers are checking basements to build shelter, and they've reached Liesels neighborhood. Liesel's mother suggest to bring Max upstairs and hide him under Liesel's bed, but they ran out of time. They heard someone shout "Open up" and Liesel's father opened the door. The only way to stop the soldiers was to distract them. Liesel's father hurt Liesel's knee on purpose, and her leg started to bleed. But it didn't stop the soldier, the soldier told Liesel's father that they are going to check their basement, and started walking down the staircase. Suddenly Liesel's father had another idea to distract the soldiers. "He walked to the hall and called out, 'Everythign good down there?'... 'Would you like some coffee, some tea?'"

The Book Thief

  Liesel's family is doing something really dangerous- hiding a Jew in their house. If someone else finds out and tells the police the Jew will get caught, Liesel's family may be punished; or could even be killed. During the day, the Jew will hide in their basement; because it's winter, so the Jew will go upstairs during the night.
  Liesel and the Jew both have nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night. "In their separate rooms,they would dream their nightmares and wake up, one with a scream in drowning sheets, the other with a gasp for air next to a smoking fire." They both have nightmares because of bad experiences they have had. Before Liesel was adopted, her brother was killed. The Jew probably saw how other people were killed, or how the other Jews died; and that he was almost killed.

The Book Thief

  There was a name and an address written on a piece of paper; Hans Huberman, Himmel Street 33, Molching. Why is there a note with Hans Huberman's name on it? Does this mean that Hans Huberman is going to be killed; or is he being watched by someone? Who wrote this note? Why did that person write this note? What will happen to Hans Huberman's friends and family members? What will Liesel do if she knows that there is a list with her father's name on it?
  After people knew about this note, they started to get worried that they might also be caught because they know Hans Huberman. "There was much hunching in the dark.'We don't know what might happen. I might get caught. You might need to find that place.. I'm too scared to ask anyone for help here. They might put me in.'"

English homework

 In the column Krista wrote thank you letters to firefighters, polices, and some other people, to thank them for saving people's lives.
  Here is the hyperlink of the column: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2014/03/02/letters-a-thank-you-to-those-who-helped-during-after-fire-/5923191/
  I think the best line from this column is "To all of you, many of whom we do not know and may never meet, from the very bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!!!." We should always be thankful to people that helps you, even if you don't know who that person is. Everyone should remember this sentence, and always be thankful.
  Krista Ramsey's columns are short and easy to understand. The words she uses aren't hard to understand, and sometimes she also includes slang."...you might well feel a pang when people arrive in jeans with sunglasses atop their heads."
  Here are some questions that I would like to ask Krista Ramsey:
  1.Where do your ideas come from?
  2.Do you like writing?
  3.How long does it take you to write something?

The Book Thief

  Liesel stole her second book from the book store. Before she went to bed, her father read some of it to her. I think she really liked the book because she asked her father to read the rest to her. "'Can we finish the book, please'... He opened the book and began. 'Chapter Twelve: Respecting the Graveyard.'"
  When she went to school the next day she wanted to steel another book from the class book shelf, but she was stopped by a classmate.
 


I think maybe she will be caught because of stealing books and lose everything she has. When someone does something for the first time there will be a second, third, forth.. So I think she will keep on stealing books, and lose everything she has.

The Book Thief and Between Shades of Gray

  I started reading the book thief because after I read Between Shades of Gray I wanted to know more about holocausts during World War 2. So I went on google and looked for books about holocausts and World War 2, and I found The Book Thief.
  So far, I think the book is pretty good. But the beginning is a little confusing.
 I think Between Shades of Gray is better, because it talks more about how people felt on the train, and what they did to survive. This book grabbed my attention immediately when I started reading it, and it made me want to keep on reading it.

The Book Thief

  Have you ever wondered about what would happen if you had to change new parents. This is what happened to Liesel in The Book Thief.  Her new father is really nice. Everytime Liesel wakes up from night mares she would always see her new father next to her telling her "Shhh, I'm here, it's alright", and wouldn't leave until Liesel falls asleep.
  But Liesel's new mother isn't that nice. When it was Liesel's birthday she gave her an old doll, that didn't have hair and was missing a leg. And all she said was "She's lucky to have that much."
 When Liesel was learning English, she wouldn't let her ask help from Liesel's new father.


 
 

Blogging

 The first time I blogged, I didn't like it. But I guess it's not as bad as I think. Everytime I blog I look through the pages I just read. Looking through the book more than one time makes it easier to know what's going on.
 Blogging is also a good exercize. It gives me a chance to practice my writing skills. It is easier to write summaries after I started blogging. Before I started blogging it was difficult to find the important parts of a passage or book, and write a summary. Now, after writing a lot of summaries, made it easier and faster to find the parts that are important.
 But there are still a lot of things that I need to work on, like adding in my own voice.
 

Blizzard Bag

  Liesel said:"First the colors. Then the humans. That's how I see things. Or at least, how I try." When I read this part I wondered why she said that the first thing she tries, or wants to see is colors. Now I know it's because she usually doesnt' get to see anything that has colors. I think people usually thinks what they don't have is what they think is the most precious thing in the world.
  Liesel also said: "Here is a small fact, you are going to die."Everyone knows that they are going to die. But what they don't know is when they are going to die and how will they die. Some people might want to die, while others want to survive, it depends about how they feel about living.



 When I just started going to school in Shanghai, I didn't thank friends were really important, but after a few weeks I thought they were important. Without friend you wouldn't trust anyone around you.


Everyone knows that they will die sometime, but everyone wants to live longer.

The Book Thief

  In The Book Thief, people usually don't see any colors. All they see is the color of early morning, late night, and the color in the train; and these colors are basically the same. Liesel, who is the main character said " First the colors. Then the humans. That's usually how I see things. Or at least how I try." I guess I would also be like this if all I could see was black.
  Imagine if one day you can't see. What would you want to see? Your parents, your friends, flowers, trees, etc.? I guess this is how Liesel feels.   Maybe she will start forgetting what the world actually looks likes. When I went to China for 2 and a half years, I started to forget what the United States was like. I thought of this a lot. Liesel may also feel the same way.

Fahrenheit451

The book ended with" When we reach the city." I don't like how it ended because it doesn't tell us what happens when the reach the other city. In the other city, will the still be controlled by the government?
I think in other city, people are also controlled by the government.,but people have more rights. They are allowed to read books, but they couldn't read want they wanted to; they could only read books that the government wanted them to read.

Fahrenheit 451

  Some characters in Fahrenheit 451 has changed.
  At the beginning of the book Montag thought firemen were doing the right thing and he liked his job. After having a talk with Clarisse his thoughts changed. He wondered why people couldn't read books and was curious about why reading books were illegal. He started hating his job. Once he stole a few books before he burned them.
  Mildred also changed, but not a lot. At first she didn't really cared about the society. All she cared about was the parlor show. Near the end of part one, she changed. She changed because Montag showed Mildred the books he hidden. At first she wanted to burn them, but after Montag told her why he stole the books, Mildred agreed to read the books with Montag.

Fahrenheit 451

  Fahrenheit 451 is ray Bradbury's predictions about what will happen in the future. There are some technology in this book that proves this story is not present. The two machines they have is an example, one machine is used to slice open your stomach and the other is used to change the blood in you body. Another example is the toaster Montag had, toast would pop out of the toaster, and the toaster will spread butter on the toast, then it will send the toast to you plate.
  In this book, reading books were illegal, but they could read articles and read the parlor walls. Firefighters job is not to put out fire but to burn books.