Julia Balder 808                                Hunger Games Response                   November 19, 2014

            The first book in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins is the banned book I read.  This book is about two 16 year olds who were chosen at District 12’s reaping of the 74^th  Annual Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games, which is a fight to the death that contains 24 kids from ages 12-18 years old.  It was created after the uprising in District 13.  District 13 and everything and everyone in it were killed because of their act of treason by rebelling against the capital.  The capital made these “games” to remind everyone not to rebel and the killing symbolizes what would happen if they did.  The contestants kill each other till one person is left; this person gets wealth and fame.  To get selected for the Hunger Games your name is put into a glass ball, based on your gender, at the reaping the two contestants from each District are selected, one girl and one boy.  Your name is put into the mix with the other kids of your gender starting at age twelve and each year until you reach your final reaping before adulthood (when you are 18 that is the last time you can be put into the mix) your name is added and additional time each year.  The two contestants selected, from District 12, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, go through a series of trials fighting for their lives.  Katniss has such an important role in her family and why she is in the 74^th Hunger Games.
            Katniss has an important reason to accept her fate, her family.  If you are selected for the Hunger Games than you have one more chance to be saved if you are selected by having your name be pulled out of the glass ball, another person of that gender is able to volunteer as tribute.  In Katnisss’ situation that isn’t possible.  Originally Katnisss’ younger sister, 12 year old Primrose Everdeen was selected at the reaping as the girl tribute.  Katniss being the older sister she is says, “I volunteer!’ I gasp. ‘I volunteer as tribute!”  This shocks everyone and now Katniss is forced to go because no one can be a volunteer for a volunteer.  Katniss puts herself in this role to protect her little sister from dying in the games.  In District 12 no one has volunteered for some one else in the past 73 years that the “Game” has been around.  This shows the love that Katniss has for her sister and how she would die for her.  Katniss is a loving family member and really does care.
             Katniss is also important in her family for the role she plays in it.  For a time after Katnisss’ father had died in a mine explosion her mom was grieving for a long time and wasn’t staying focused and getting what her children needed.  Katniss had taken up hunting, which requires crossing the “fence”; a fence that is supposed to be electrified 24/7.  The book says, “Trespassing in the woods is illegal and poaching carries out the severest of penalties.” Katniss still crosses the fence and kills animals for her family to eat.  She is the one to provide food for her family since her dad has died and it is very hard to get money to buy food.  This quote shows how much she cares for her family, risking her life just for Prim and her mom to eat every night.  Katniss also signed up for tesserae; when you get extra grain and oil every month, as a result of signing up you put your name in the reaping ball extra times every Hunger Game because you are getting supported by the government. She would rather die knowing that her family had enough to eat every day. Again Katniss is risking her life just so her family can eat and function every day. This shows her personality and character, a carrying young girl who wants what is right for her family. 
            Overall, Katniss is the older sister always trying to help her family out and lend a hand.  Suzanne Collins creates the main character, Katniss, as a carrying girl who wants to do right by her mother and sister.  Katniss, the girl who risks her life every day just so her family can eat and try to live a normal life.  Collins did a wonderful job on creating this character and this book.  This book really teaches people that you can’t just rely on your parents and that once in a while do something by yourself without the help of an adult, guardian, or parent.

Julia Balder 808                                                                                       October 27, 2014

                                       Young Adult Book Reading Response

            "Susannah was like a second mom to me." In the book, The Summer I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han, Susannah is the parent you wished you had.  The character Susannah, otherwise known as Beck, has the role as the main characters mothers’ best friend.  She owns the beach house where her kids and the main characters family live during the summer.  The main character has always gone to the beach house for every summer of her life, Susannah has always been there waiting for them to arrive.  Susannah is an important character in people’s lives.          

            Susannah is always kind and caring towards her family, friends, etc. In the book it says, "When did you go and grow up? When did you turn into this phenomenal women?" Susannah shows love and compassion to every one and compliments people. It says something about your personality when you compliment everyone, with Susannah her personality is so nice and fun.  The book describes her as a friendly person always doing right by her children. The book takes place over the summer and the main character doesn't know winter Susannah and she always imagines Susannah like the summer but with down coats and hot chocolate rather than shovels and buckets. The story also says, "I'm offering up moral support to my best friend in the world," after being caught by her children smoking. This shows how Susannah is kind to her friends and loves them. This also shows how Susannah would do anything for her best friend and offers any type of moral support (in this case smoke pot).  This shows Susannah is a loving person and will do what is good for her and her family and friends around her.  Overall Susannah is caring to her family, friends, etc.

            Susannah is a warm loving and selfless person, she is a great person to be around.  The text says, "Summer doesn't start until our friends get here, Susannah said, reaching across the table touching my hand."  This shows how inviting and warm it would to be around Susannah.  The main characters family has always looked up to her, to Susannah Isabel once told her I wish you were my mother.  This shows how caring Susannah is and how she loves her friends.  The story says, "Susannah even tried to get one for the summer house, so I could practice (practice piano)."  Susannah was willing to get Isabel a piano just so over the summer she wouldn't fall behind.  Susannah really cares about the well being of other people before herself. This shows how she puts people before her and try’s to make everyone feel okay and at home at the summerhouse in Cousins.  Susannah would do anything for anyone if it meant their personal happiness.  This shows everyone that Susannah is a great person always putting others before her.

            Overall Susannah is a warm important character because she can bring out the best in people.  Susannah always wanted for people to be happy even if she didn't know them. I believe that Susannah would be a great teacher, always caring about the students, wanting them to be happy and have a fun way of learning.  The story always describes her so well and the author did that to make the character Susannah the mom you never had.  Susannah is the warm, friendly, kind character that you always knew would be something great.

Julia Balder 808                                        Ashes Essay

Many stories contain symbols to enhance the meaning of the story.  In the short story Ashes, the author, Susan Beth Pfeffer, uses symbolism to engage the reader into the story.  The story is about a girl, Ashleigh (known as Ashes), whose parents are divorced and who has an unstable family.  Her father needs money and her mom is in college.  Pheffer uses symbols to strengthen the meaning of her short story.

            The necklace of stars is used as a symbol in the story and shows that it’s something more than just a pretty accessory.  The necklace, I believe, represents how the father says he will do things and promise the main character, Ashes, things, but like the necklace of stars, but he never delivers his promise.  The story says, “Like most promises, this one never quite happened.”  I believe that she is talking about how the father will say that something will happen, but it doesn’t always follow through.  I think that her father is trying to make his daughter feel like he is the best father, and will always be there for her, even though, in most cases, that never quite happens.  As an example in the story, it says how he forgot to pick her up from school and he didn’t have enough money for her to go on the school trip.  He might tell her things, but it often never happens.  Also in the story, it says,  “All I can give you is dreams, Ashes.”  Ashes chooses to put too much faith and trust in her father.  I believe that the necklace of stars represents how people put way too much faith in people who have let them down before and never get what they are hoping for from them.  This strengthens the readers understanding and comprehension of what is going on in the story involving her parents, and her skepticism towards her dad.

            The teapot is also used for more than a house decoration. The teapot is the place where Ashleigh’s mother stores $200.  The money there so that just in case of any crisis in their lives, the mom would have money just for that problem.  The mom refers to it as “Her emergency money, her Martian money, and her earthquake money.”  The story also says, “With mom, there are a lot more rainy days and she takes a grim sort of pleasure being ready for them.  The flashlights with working batteries for a black out.  The extra quarters when the laundry isn’t quite dry.  The giftwrapped bottle of wine for the unexpected and undesired Christmas guest.  Her pocketbook overflows with tissues and tampons for anyone who might need them.”  This quote shows how her mom is trying to be ready for anything that might happen, and that she likes to be ready in advance for everything.  I believe that her mom is so insecure and unhappy about her first marriage and how bad it went, that she is beating up herself for all her ‘bad’ life choices and the fact that they never have enough money.  The story states, “There’s a new diner, opened right around the block.  Let’s treat ourselves, Ashes, and go out on the town.  Can you afford it? I asked, after doing the mental arithmetic of diner versus pizza.”  Because Ashes’s parents don’t have as much money as other families, and because they struggle so much, I can infer the teapot’s real meaning.  The teapot represents a secure place that is safe.  It is a safe place away from the faulty marriage and divorce.  The story says, “The teapot was right where it belonged.  I lifted the lid and stared at her emergency money.  It was shaped like a little house, with a curtained window and a flowerpot on the windowsill. It was the sort of house I’d never lived in, probably never would.”   This symbolizes that the teapot (and the money in it) is a “stable house” that the mom and daughter can still have.  The mom wants her daughter to be safe and happy, just like almost every parent wants for his or her child.  This makes the story stronger by making people realize the pain that the mother went through, and why she does the things, like have a $200 stashed away just for any big problem that threatens her and her daughters life.

Transportation is also more than a bus or a car in Ashleigh’s life. Transportation in this story is the link between the daughter and the father.  The car is the way that Ashleigh gets home, and to her fathers house.  The story says, “It helped that he didn’t live a hundred miles away.  Just at the other end of town, a two-bus-trip ride.”  This shows how transportation is important for keeping Ashleigh and her father connected. Without the bus and her father’s car, it would be hard to get back and forth.  Because Ashes’s father has a car, it makes their relationship so much better because they can be more interactive and the car makes it easier to communicate with each other, rather than going to see someone once a month.  The story says, “Dad drove me home Tuesday nights.”  The car means more than a hunk of metal; it is the link between Ashleigh and her father.  When her Dad needs money, he is very reluctant to sell his car to get the money.  With the car, they get to spend more quality time together, I think, even then when her parents were married.  I think that because her parents had been arguing all the time, she never got time with either of them.  This symbolism of the vehicles makes the story stronger by giving the deeper meaning the idea that the transportation is really the link between Ashes and her father.  

In the short story Ashes, the author Susan Beth Pfeffer, gives meaning to the story using symbolism of certain objects in the story.   There are multiple symbols in the story, but three really stood out: the necklace of stars, the teapot, and transportation (buses and cars).  These symbols all represent problems that either could happen or have already happened in the main character’s life.  The author puts in symbols in the story to make the readers to understand a deeper meaning about the characters in ways that make the story more interesting and relatable.  Throughout the story, the author drops hints as to what different symbols mean.  Pfeffer had perfectly executed putting symbols all over her story, so her readers would get a deeper meaning and having an easier time connecting to the main character’s life.   I believe that stories with symbols are easier to understand and give the reader a greater likelihood of making connections, which strengthens the story overall.

Summer Reading Response - Before We Were Free

In the book, Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez, the story focuses on the main character, Anita de la Torre, who is a twelve year old girl growing up in the Dominican Republic, in the year 1960.  The book starts a month before her twelfth birthday and ends right after her thirteenth birthday.  Anita’s parents are a part of a group called the Butterflies.  The Butterflies want to get rid of the dictator who rules over the Dominican Republic, and gain freedom.  Anita and her mother end up getting out just in time, before the government finds and captures them.  Anita de la Torre’s main personality trait is her strong curiosity.  Her curiosity causes her to discover strong emotions, gets her in trouble, and finally helps her understand what is really going on in her country.

Anita’s curiosity and questioning causes her family to have to tell the truth to her.   At one part in the story, after arriving in America, when Anita is wondering about her father and uncle, she asks her grandfather, “When are Papi and Tio Toni ever going to get here?”  Her grandpa said, “Your uncle and father are dead.”  Every family member in the room bursts into tears.   Her curiosity about things also sometimes gets her in trouble.  Every day, Anita goes to the supermarket and looks at all the food.  One day, she decides to get a cart.  “I go up and down each aisle, filling the basket with things I really like, pretending I have the money to buy them.”  The storekeeper stops her and says, “Do you have the money to buy all of this, young lady?  His tone of voice suggests he knows I don’t.”  She has to fight to get away from the storekeeper.  Finally, for Anita, being curious means that she comes to learn more about what happened in her country and the truth about her parents.  When she was once hiding from the dictator’s troops, along with her mother in a closet, she asks her mother what was going on.  Her mother tells her about the Butterflies (Las Mariposas), sisters who were organizing a movement to bring freedom to the country.  Anita’s mother tells her how the Butterflies were ambushed and murdered, and how she and Anita’s father have taken up the cause of the Butterflies.  “I couldn’t believe my own mother with her bad nerves was part of a secret plot!  But suddenly, like one of those lamps you click one more turn and it throws an even brighter light, I saw her at Papi’s old Remington, typing up declarations, or out in the yard, burning incriminating stuff, or in the garden shed, covering a sack of guns with an old tarp.  My Joan-of-Arc mother, my Butterfly mami!  I felt so proud of her!”  Her curiosity truly helps Anita understand what was happening and why they had to leave the Dominican Republic.  It is her questioning that causes her to find out the truth about her mother.

Anita de la Torre is blessed with a curiosity for the truth.  Curiosity helps her in unexpected circumstances, even when the same trait sometimes gets her in trouble or even jeopardizes her family’s freedom.   She is still even curious, when she finds out the truth about the death of her father and uncle, and her mother orders, “Tell us!  I want to know how they died.  I want my children to hear this.  I want my country to hear this.  I want the United States to hear this.”  Anita doesn’t cry, but listens carefully until the very end.  Throughout the book, despite her troubles, her curiosity helps her understand life better, helps her mature and get wiser.