Along for the Ride

Explain why you chose the book you did. 

I chose the book Along fot the Ride because I heard Sarah Dessen is a great author. I know she has written a lot of books that are really good. I have never read a book by her so I wanted to try to read a book from her.  Along for the Ride made the New York Times Best Seller List. I also chose this book because it is a romance book which I like.  Also, the comments on the back of the book are amazing. People seem to be able to connect with the characters which I love.

Write a blog post about the author and include some research about their life and/or other works.

Sarah Dessen's fisrt book was published in 1996, it was called That Summer. She has written 10 more books since then and is one of New York Times Bestselling Authors.  Here is an interweiw of Sarah Dessen, I didn't watch it myself because it is over 8 minutes long.

Has anyone read Along for the Ride or any other books by Sarah Dessen?

Independence (Significance #4)-Character Prompts

How has a character changed since they were first introduced? What have they done or said that’s changed your opinion of them?

In the series Significance, Maggie changes a lot from the first to the fourth book. When first introduced Maggie was a teenager who graduated high school early so she could work because her mom had left Maggie and her dad. Since her mom left Maggie's dad moped around the house and didn’t really care what was going on, he also lost his job forcing Maggie to pay for most things.
The events in Maggie's life caused her to be distant and nor very friendly. Now in the fourth book Maggie has found a significant, which is someone that you are in love with, but it has many more things too. Maggie is also confident, happy, stronger, and dependent on her significant without being clingy.

My opinion of Maggie has changed from liking her, a lot, to not so much. "So...everything I always imagined it would be." In this quote Maggie dream of how her wedding would be is perfect to her, she has no problems with it. Books are supposed to be relatable and the first two books were, but the third and definitely the fourth books are not as relatable because of how perfect Maggie is and how she fixes almost all of the problems she has.

Would a book that has a perfect character be as relatable to you as books that dont have too perfect characters?

The Fault In Our Stars

Last trimester I read The Fault In Our Stars this book was amazing, but very sad. The voices of the character's were great. They were smart and sarcastic. The narrator of the book was Hazel. Hazel is a girl who is suffering from terminal lung cancer. Because of her lung cancer, Hazel was taken out of school except for a few lecturers every week. Hazel's condition keeps her at home all the time, at home Hazel reads and watches TV. Hazel reads An Imperial Affliction constantly. The book ends in the middle of s sentence and Hazel wants answers from the author Peter Van Houten who now live sin Amsterdam. Her mom forces Hazel to go to a support group, one day while she is at Support Group she meets Augustus Water who changes her life in many different ways.

Augustus is a kid who had cancer and had to get one of his legs amputated. He now has a prosthetic leg and can walk fine, but gets tired quicker. Hazel gets Augustus addicted to An Imperial Affliction. Augustus believes that kids with cancer shouldn't let the cancer rule their lives, Hazel quickly realizes that is what she has done and tries to change. Hazel gets Augustus addicted to An Imperial Affliction. Hazel and Augustus start out as friends and grow very close. When Augustus has his "wish" left he takes Hazel to Amsterdam with him. On the plane Augustus tells Hazel something big, which changes their relationship to more than friends.

This book is wonderful, but also very sad. A great read!

Safe Haven-Theme and Summary

   1.   What point is the author trying to make through writing this novel/poem/etc?

  I think the point in Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks is that you always have another chance for happiness.  

 "She was probably strapped to a bed in asylum somewhere, lost in an entire world of her creation."

 This quote from Safe Haven is Katie being happy again after running away from her husband who hit her, she is so happy she almost doesn't believe it is real.  Asylum used in the quote is a synonym to haven, which is used in the title. Haven means a place of shelter and safety, asylum. This supports the point I made about the book because Katie is finally happy again, so happy she almost doesn't believe it is real.

Allegiant-Analysis

1.       Analyze the impact of setting within the plot of the text.  How does the imagery help to promote poignant and/or suspenseful moments of the text?  How does this enrich the mystery, tension, or surprise within the text?

"As far as I can see, there are low buildings separated by trimmed grass and fledgling trees. The roads that connect them are well maintained and well marked, with arrows pointing to various destinations: GREENHOUSES, straight ahead; SECURITY OUTPOST, left; OFFICERS' RESIDENCES, right; COMPOUND MAIN, straight ahead."

This is Tobias's first look at a old airport, the O'Hare. It is a new setting within the book, one the reader's nor the characters have experienced before. The imagery promotes tension filled and poignant filled moments because the characters can either take what they see and like or or dislike it very much. The new setting can create a variety of situations for the characters  either good or bad. It enriches mystery because as the reader I want to know more about what the characters think about this new place.  It also enriches surprise because you do not know what will happen in this new place. Also there is no exclamation points or exciting words within the quote so you know that Tobias is not excited and doesn't know how to react to the new place because of syntax and diction. The words that are in bold are places Tobias has never heard of, but he doesn't give the places much thought allowing the reader to draw conclusions. The obvious meaning of the quote is that this is a new place for Tobias.

House of Hades-Reading Skills

"Annabeth's heart raced. She knew the exit was close. If they could make it out of the Mansion of Night, maybe they could leave the drak brood of demons behind. She began to run faster, which would have meant her death if Percy hadn't stopped her."
Question: Would she really have died if she ran off the cliff or is there something below the cliff?
Prediction: I predict that Annabeth will be shaken up after almost dying and will confide in Percy until she thinks that she can move on. Once she is ready to move on I think she will keep moving, and try to forget about it.  She won't let herself be completely held up by Percy because she knows he needs him just like she needs him.
Text-to-self connection: one time I was with my grandpa and we were doing some hiking trails with my brother, and two of my cousins.  The trails took you high and there were some major drop-offs were you could have fallen to your death. This was very scary for having a three year old around. I can relate to this quote because I was very scared for my three year old cousin. I was constantly looking out for him, and making sure he wasn't too close to the edge of the trails.
Text-to-text connection: In the Gone series Sam saved many kids from being killed and became a hero from it, but that left him so that he couldn't rely on others unlike Percy and Annabeth.
Text-to-world connection: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416642/Rhys-Clark-killed-girlfriend-injured-falling-150ft-cliff-trying-rescue-puppy.html
In this article people die trying to save their dog. This shows that people are good and try to help one another.

House of Hades-Characters

1.       Describe a conversation that you would like to have with a character from your book.  What would this conversation sound like?

I would like to have a conversation with the character Pery Jackson in the book House of Hades.

I would ask him how it feels to be a demigod. I can guess that his reply would be something about it being very cool, dangerous, worrisome, and magical. He would comment on the many dangers he faces and how he knows every monster he fights he may be the last one, but he would also talk about the amaxing things you can see, and how amazing the other demigods are.

I would ask him how it feels to be a hero and if he feels alot of presure from being known as a hero. I think his reply would be modest and he would say that he is really not a hero, but that he is just protectign the people and things he loves.

I would then ask him how he learned to fight so well. I imagine he would reply that it was alot of practice and hardwork. I think he would say that if I tried i would be good at it too.

I would want to know about Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-blood. He would say the positives and negitives about both camps and how he would mix them together to create the best camp for demigods possible.

We would talk of the Greek and Roman gods, and how their personality defers. I would say that i like the Greek gods better and I would ask him which side he likes better.