“Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic fiction short story about a boy named Michael who has to live with his Aunt Esther after his parents die. In the beginning, Michael is sad and grieves his parents. He has to live with his Aunt Esther because she was the only one who would take him. Soon, Michael buys a pet hermit crab to keep him company. His aunt tries to get closer to Michael by trying to have something in common with him.
Symbolism In the novel, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, she uses a lot of symbolism. One example of this is the recurring importance of rain. The novel is set in the Great Depression, which plays a large role in how her life is played out throughout. Billie Jo’s father is a white wheat farmer, struggling due to the lack of rain for his crops.
In the short story “Both Sides of the Fence,” by Teresa Bateman, the main character, Alberto, conveys the theme that you must look on both sides of a fence in order to making decisions through his thoughts, actions, and speech. In this story, Alberto attempts to prevent people in his pueblo from benefiting from his tree that was left for him by his family. As the story progresses, he suspects his neighbor from purloining his apples, but then realizes his wrongdoings and his foolishness. Through his character transitions, Alberto helps reveal the them that he has to consider both sides of the argument in order to put up a proper argument.
Decisions do not change your chance. In Night, a Memior written by Ellie Wiesel in 1958, a young boy by the name Ellie Wiesel suffers through the Holocaust with his father Shlomo Wiesel. Ellie Wiesel first experiences the Nazi party after being evacuated from his house and put in a ghetto. At this time Jewish people did not know the motive of the Nazi party. After being in the ghetto for a few months Ellie, his father, his mother, and sister where forcefully taken from their home and put in concentration camps.
Shells by Cynthia Rylant is a Realistic Short Story about a 14 year old boy lost his parents. One day Michael comes home with a Hermit Crab and names it sluggo. Both Michael and Aunt Esther like Sluggo. Aunt Esther and Michael love Sluggo so much, they go out and get more Hermit Crabs. Aunt Esther and Michael are closer because of Sluggo.
Extended out to most children is the hand of a parent offering a warm hug along with warnings of danger to their children. This is what any fit parent would do. However this is not always the case with all parents. For example in the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Rose Mary and Rex Walls are not fit to be parents because they don’t give their children what they need and have an unstable relationship. Jeannette and her siblings live off of what their parents can afford when they have sufficient money but they don’t use it to give them what they need.
In Allan Levine’s article “How a Summer Camp Taught Me What It Means to be Jewish in North America,” Levine highlights his personal experiences of how attending Camp Massad, a Jewish summer camp, positively influenced him growing up as a Jew in North America during the 1960s. Levine wrote this article to educate and reminisce on the importance of Jewish summer camps to Jewish youth and culture. Levine defines and explains jargon specific to individuals who have attended Jewish summer camp to ensure those unfamiliar with the topic understand his points. An example is when Levine explains the meaning of the phrase “Ruach,” meaning spirit, a term familiar to those who have attended Jewish summer camp. Levine draws on personal experiences to convey
In the 1980’s, many Indio’s were sexually assaulted, tortured and killed during the Guatemalan civil war. Gabriela, the main character in “Tree Girl” by Ben Mikaelsen, is a survivor of the Guatemalan civil war. Gabriela, a 15-year-old girl living in a small Guatemalan canton, experienced unspeakable things such as the deaths of the people in her canton, the witnessing of the pueblo massacre, and the fear of being caught by soldiers on her journey to Mexico. There are many important lessons to learn from this book, including how hope allows you to see past hatred. As you read through the book you learn similar lessons to the extent of what Gabriela had learned.
Rise of the dead A superpower is seen as a fictional feature since it is very unrealistic of obtaining such element, however I can always dream. If I could have any superpower it would be to communicate the dead. Whereas, with this ability I will improve the world by giving the people a more reliable justice system, and it shall bring about personal comfort. First, communicating with the dead will solve any mysteries.
In the book Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, Lauren’s views on the world change throughout the book. When she goes from a safer life than others to living on the streets with no knowledge of what to do, she must reevaluate her beliefs. In the beginning of the book, she is very morally right, but towards the end she does what she must do to survive. As she lived more on the street, her views became more flexible, and she gained a deeper understanding of life on the street. Her views are also heavily influenced by outside forces that she grew up with.
Everybody has an identity but everybody has their own unique identity. Identity means who a person is or who they define themselves as. In the memoir Brown Girl Dreaming written by Jacqueline Woodson, Jacqueline is a young girl growing up in the early 1960s when racism and the civil rights movements are going on. Growing up during this time was hard for Jackie because of all of the racism. Jackie is an award-winning author and is known for growing up in a very tough environment.
The execution of Eric Edgar Cooke will never equate to the lives that were destroyed by his brutality. The genre of crime has been challenged within the biographical novel, Broken Lives, written by Estelle Blackburn. This text revolves around the crimes of Eric Edgar Cooke and the wrongful incarceration of John Button and Darryl Beamish. Within the text, the crime genre has been challenged due to the portrayal of the legal system, as the police and legal system are not idolised within the text. This was conveyed through the use of expository conventions, such as emotive language and selection of detail.
Pay attention to the important things, because if not, they will have dreadful consequences. In the story "Icarus and Daedalus" by Josephine Preston. In this story, a very talented and very famous architect and his son are being held captive by the king of Crete. The architect, Daedalus, builds wings that can make people fly. Yet, the wings could not get too close to the sun or they would melt.
I have to say I love my job… and that job is to review books. However, this task can become difficult because sometimes I do not want to read books that are boring and do not grasp my attention. But a job is a job and I am required to review all types of books. Fortunately enough, the book I was asked to review was pretty interesting.
Spoken word poetry is the oral poetic form of poems. In Joshua Bennet's spoken word performance of "Tamara's Opus" at the White House on May 12, 2009, he conveys how communication restores and connects relationships among people. Bennet also conveys that admitting to your immorality and apologizing is crucial to forgiveness. Bennet demonstrates this by emphasizing his change throughout the spoken performance using sign language, gestures, and tone. For teens in my community, this is a performance I recommend watching, as it teaches us all about communication and apology.
