Comparing Stories (Theme)

When I was little I would always make my parents read The Wizard of Oz to me, the Cowardly Lion would always inspire me to go out and beyond, just because I didn’t want to be a coward like him. The Cowardly Lion would only need his courage when someone was a threat to him or his forest.  Those are the times when you need courage.  Bravery and courage is a common theme in many novels.

Among the pages of Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, the main character Cole wants to take out his anger on other people.  For example; Cole beat up this innocent boy named Peter just because he was having a bad day.  Just because he beat up Peter he got sent to an island and had to show a lot of courage to survive.  Peter also got beaten up by a mythical spirit bear and he had to be brave and courage to survive.

Authors Note: I compared three stories and three characters that seem like they have a lot in common.

In the story Stolen, by Lucy Christopher, the main character Gemma was harassed, kidnapped, and abused by a 30 year old man named Ty.  Personally I think that Cole and Gemma would turn out to have a lot in common because of the path that they have gone in.  Gemma has experienced being drugged, Raped, and a slave.  Like Cole, she had to show courage and bravery to get out of these horrible situations.

Beyond the front cover of Among the hidden, by Margret Peterson Haddix Luke has to survive living with the population law, this law where each family can only have 2 children.  In Luke's case he is an 3rd child so therefore he is illegal.  Luke has to hide for most of his life until he gets brave enough to go outside and risk being seen.  I think it took major bravery and courage to go outside in his case, because where he lived there are a ton of Population Police.  Luke has survived not being seen for 12 years, personally I wouldn’t be able to do that and this is where survival comes in place.

In life, you need both bravery and courage. Without these qualities, you would live a very boring life and not be able to experience a world beyond your horizons. Like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, he solved his problems by taking Risks and visiting the Wizard of Oz.  I think that all characters should show those qualities through their stories, simply because it makes them a little more interesting. 

Gemma's After thoughts

Authors Note: I am doing my predicting piece, I am telling it from the main character, Gemma's perspective.

I almost wish that now days my kidnaper, Ty was still alive so I could prove to him that he didn’t change me at all.  That I love a different man than him and he treats me right and that I got to raise my beautiful daughter Anna.

I will never forget walking into Anna's bedroom on her 15th birthday, and warning her that there are crazy people in this world.  The main topic I told her about was to stick with someone at all times, I mentioned my tragic story and gave her the idea that it can happen to anyone.  I hope she is careful and if this  would ever happen to her, to keep your head holding strong and give a fight.

Gemma

Authors note: I wrote an character development piece on the main character, Gemma from stolen.

In the story Stolen, the main character, Gemma, is a very outgoing and a naughty girl.  For example, Gemma would always get drunk in the park by her house, because “its fun” she quotes. Also In this story she has gone from an outgoing girl, to a shy girl, ever since the "incident" happened.  She was at an airport just like a regular 16 teen year old girl going on a family vacation. When suddenly this psycho man drugs and kidnaps her, his name is Ty.  Little did she know where she was at, she was in an desert. Her mood changed from being frightened to confused.  Ty is forcing her to love him, and many more reasons. This shows how she has changed and influenced Ty to release her, and how she is going to start fending for herself and learn to stand up for herself.   

So far I must agree with the author Lucy Christopher, and her thoughts on how much Gemma is changing and adapting to nature. For example, When a large ant crawls over her pinky finger, she didn't bother to brush it away, she thinks, “Strange: a couple of weeks before I would've stomped on it.” That shows the impact of Gemma appreciating nature and God’s creations.

Therefore, Ty needs to be a better person, what I mean by that is he needs to act more like hes going to take care of Gemma, not sexually assault her.  But he doesn’t, he makes her take care of him. This makes Gemma feel almost suicidal and a maid.  All Ty will pronounce to her is “I need love, you're the person to love me and in return I will love you back”, But there’s one other problem, Gemma refuses to take care of Ty, witch I don’t blame her because Ty is a psycho.  Gemma just wants is to escape from this dungeon of lies, therefore Gemma influences Ty to let her on her own.  Of course it’s not as easy as she thinks it is, shes going to have to accept the fact that her attitude isn’t going to get her far in life.  She needs to push herself towards her goals, not take shortcuts out.

As Gemma approaches a whole new world of opportunities, she realizes that her thoughts were a dream and that reality is a nightmare.  Gemma proves to Ty that she is never going to ever love, care, or be pleasant to him, therefore he lets her on the loose.  Gemma had no idea how hard life was in the desert without Ty’s help, so she gave up and laid on the rough burning sand.  In the meantime Ty finds her covered in sand pellets and burned from the sun rays, Gemma learns to never escape again.

A lot of reasons caused Gemma to end up finding who her inner self is.  She has experienced changes from bad girl to good girl, frightened to confident, and weak to strong.  All of these changes have made Gemma into an mature young lady, I think that gemma has become a girl with a high potential in life.

The Blaze

Walking… cold brisk night, wind blowing upon my skin tingling my senses into thinking DANGER.  There's only one explanation for danger, the blaze is seeking for its prey.  The blaze isn't an actual "thing", it’s a person.  Six foot tall, buff, Blaze is coming for a scare!  I think to myself, what makes Blaze all that scary?  The fact that he's wearing an Michael Meyers costume on Halloween night, and attacking the teenagers sitting around the campfire.  Of coarse he's friendly, but when you make him mad, there's always a price to pay.  On Friday, October 26th, the night of the school's Halloween Dance, Playoff football game, and a bonfire, everyone is decked out with there amazing Halloween costumes. Blaze is different, he is outrageously covered with cloth wearing an rubber mask, out to get anyone that comes near.   

George Washington

Authors Note: I wrote about George Washington and how his rights should still be around now days.

If I could talk to George Washington I would tell him that chopping down Cherrie trees is not right.  Because I love cherries and George is kind of crazy.  I think that since he got his face on the one dollar bill he is special to America and the people in it.  There are billions of one dollar bills that represent him it the world right now.

When I think about George being the United states of America's first president  I think of how much has changed and how it will never be the same. The taxes have raised and the economy is horrid.  Gas prices are going up and people are losing their houses because of Obama care. 

But I bet he wouldn’t  know what Obama care is.  It’s just Obama making up outrageous  rules.  I wish that life was like the days when George Washington  were our president because he made the right choices.

 As part of his belief that our nation should practice honesty, he urged that our Government always be honorable in money matters. He urged our country to borrow as little money as necessary and to avoid piling up a big debt.  He realized that emergencies, such as unavoidable wars, would require us to borrow from time to time; but he urged that these debts be paid off as rapidly as possible.

There for we need him back in the spot for our president.  Even though he passed away centuries ago people in America will never forget George Washington as our first president. He made things right and didn’t cause much hassle. We need somebody to take charge of this country! There for, I choose George!

cause and effect

Authors note: I wrote an cause and effect piece on Touching Spirit bear.

There are a lot of events that lead up to effects that cause any major effect on many characters in the book Touching Spirit Bear.  The main character, Cole, he causes many problems and usually other people need to fix them.  Sometimes to fix these problems it will take a lot of hard work, for instance when Cole decides to beat up this kid that goes to his school, Peter.  He has no reason this cause will lead him into getting in trouble at school and the police getting notified,  It affects many other people like Peter’s family.

Cole Is one of the main characters and i think that His role is to be a bad boy.  a punk.  Cole likes to beat up other people and I think that that is not acceptable because some people don’t deserve it. But without Cole this story would be useless Because cole plays the role that causes bad things to happen, and give them an effect.

Therefore Cole beating up Peter causes him to get into trouble, and the effect on him doing that is being sent to the island. And wen Cole searched for the Spirit bear he got beat up by the spirit bear. All of this happened just because Cole beat up Peter.

Among the Hidden

Authors Note: This is an book advertisement on Among the hidden.

Among The Hidden is a very surprising, funny, and amazing  book. I think that it shows fear and strength with every chapter.  I recommend this book to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  This book will show you such a new point In life.  Its about an boy that finds a new point in life and I think it is very good.  A boy named Luke takes a new risk in life.  This is breath taking and everyone should read it and experiences a change.

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Baby cousin

Authors Note: I'm writing about the time my cousin was born and how it effects me.

I was always used to having all the attention in my family, being the youngest kid and only girl.  I was only 5 years old when my cousin, Erin was born.  She was breathtaking, but she stole all the attention away from me. 

I always love going to hospitals nowadays but back then I always thought ewe. I never enjoyed the smell of the latex.  I feel that when I’m in a hospital I’m going to get sick.

We enter the room where she was born,  I look at my aunt, covered in sweat sitting in hideous hospital clothes.  She greets us and says look at the baby!  One thing where is the baby?  I wondered, She pointed over to a container with bright lights on it I looked and I was amazed.

There for I was excited finally another girl instead of me!  She gets annoying now days but I got used to it and every moment I’m with her I make it special for her.  She looks up to me so I want to be a good remodel.

I loved my cousin, finally having another girl in my whole family that I could get to play dress up and play dolls with.  It makes perfect sense to be jealous because the attention will be stolen from yourself but I was kind of okay with it.  She was a beautiful baby. Now she is 7 and I still love spending time with her.

Zumbro

Refreshing  water, blue sky's, and  the smell of outdoors, make me feel comforted and relaxed.  I have experienced life like this in only one place in the world, The Zumbro River.  My family has relatives in southern Minnesota, near Rochester.  We usually spend about four to five days relaxing in Minnesota, one out of those five days my brothers and cousins all go down to the river on golf carts, we bring tubes and raffs.  As soon as we usually get there we jump right in to the cold fresh water.

  My memories of modeling on a rock are refreshed every time I visit the river.  Well were at the river we take place in log races where we sit on logs and all race downstream and first one to pass the old wooden bridge wins. I usually lost because I am the youngest but my siblings would always make me feel better by making me flower crowns and pronouncing me their princess.  

There for when I was the princess my siblings would pull me around in a raft.  I would lay down and hear the sound of the dog jumping in the river, and my cousins trying to get a ragged old ball from the sweet soggy puppy.  My mom, grandma, and aunt would all be sitting on the bench enjoying a cool refreshment and having a good time.

My memories of tanning, modeling, swimming, and being forever young will always last at the Zumbro.   I cant wait until next when I bring a couple of my friends, and I can tell them all about my old memories so we can carry them on to our children someday.  The Zumbro will always be someplace in my heart.

Conflict and resolution

Touching Spirit bear shows so much conflicts on the main character Cole.  He is a bad boy and never wants to be proven wrong.  He likes to beat up other innocent kids just to let his stress out.   When you have stress it kinda makes you feel like you need to release it and that's what Cole needs to do.  But i think its wrong for him to punish other kids that don't deserve it.

I think that if he went to a counselor his stress would be released.  It will also help the children that are hurt by him every time he doesn’t get his way.  But he cant go to a counselor because he's been running from the law ever since he was little. Therefor that makes him mysterious but we can fix that by getting him in a safe place were he is not endangered.