Fantasy

#16                                    Readers Journal                                    11/29/11                                                                                                                                                                                                Dear Mrs. Zrihen                                                                                                                                     I just finished a book that I was reading for the past two weeks. Janette Rallison calls this book My Fair Godmother.  Out of this hole book I was able to find one passage that I thought was significant to this book. That passage is:                        

“Chrissy looked at me, her wings fluttering and the wand grasped in one hand. She checked her watch. “ Is this going to take a long time?  I hate to rush you, but I have a shopping trip planned with some mall pixies.” I touched my pillow sham, thinking. “ I just wish that some how my life could like a fairytale. You know, with a handsome prince waiting for me at the ball, and that somehow when I meet him, everything will work out happily ever after. “ Chrissy checked her wrist-watch again, hardly paying attention to me. “ Okay, great. One Cinderella coming up.” Before I could say another word – and I had planned to say, “ Wait, that wasn’t my wish! “ – white sparks surrounded me. The next moment I found myself in a cold, dark room. (Pg. 47)

This passage is significant to the story because it leads to the climax of the story.

           

            I used many strategies before, after and while I was reading this book. One strategy that I used before I read this book was to look at the illustration on the front cover of the book and the title of the book and predict what this book would be about. I predicted that this book was going to be about a teenage girl and her fairy godmother because the fairy godmother on the front page looks like a teen-ager. Another strategy that I used before I read this book was to skim and scan this book to see if there was any text features in the book. One text feature that I found in this book was one or two illustrations. One strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to find words that I don’t know and use context clues to try to figure what those words mean. Another strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to make predictions about what I think would happen next in the text. One strategy that I used after I read this book was to see if my predictions were right. Another strategy that I used after I read this book was to reflect on what I just read and put it in to my readers journal.

            I was able to find many literary elements while I was reading this book. The genre of this book is fiction and the sub genre of this book is fantasy. There are many characters in this book. The main character in this book is Savannah, a high school sophomore, who her boyfriend dumped to go out with her older sister, Jane. But when a fairy godmother becomes mixed up in this mess it turns in to an even bigger mess. Savannah finds herself in trouble in the Middle Ages. She is the protagonist, and she is a round/dynamic character. Another character in this book is Tristan a guiltless boy who gets trapped in the Middle Ages. Tristan turns into a hero and has to marry Princess Margret, in order to become King, but while he is in the middle ages he finds his true love, Savannah. Tristan is a round/dynamic character.     

Chrissy Everstar, a high –heel wearing, gum chewing teenager who is better known for her mistakes than her magic. She is a round/dynamic character. Jane is Savannah’s older sister, 18-years old, who goes to the Middle Ages to find her sister. She is a round/ dynamic character. Hunter is Jane’s boyfriend, and goes with Jane to the Middle Ages to help find Savannah.  Tristan and Savannah true love gets them out of the middle Ages and back to the modern world. The King’s son, Rodderick is the protagonist in the story and tries to stop Savannah and Tristan from going back home. Some foil characters are the villagers, the wizard knights, and the knights. They are all flat/static characters.

This story took place mainly in the Middle Ages and modern day but mainly in the Middle Ages. The main social condition is middle class. Savannah has to get Tristan back from the Middle Ages safely. The moral of this story is that you should always be thankful for what you have. The tone of this book is romantic and the mood of this book is survival. The point of view is to entertain. The point of view if first person. The author’s perspective is subjective and because the author is biased towards the Savannah’s situation. The pattern of organization is chronological order because it presents the events from which they occurred. The conflict is external. And is man vs. society. There were a few figurative language forms I found.  “She just couldn’t cut the mustard” is an idiom. “ I just wish that somehow my life would be like a fairy tale. This is a simile because it’s comparing her life to a fairy-tale using the words like or as. The kings nose was three feet long” is a hyperbole because it’s an exaggeration. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!” this is also a hyperbole because she is so hungry that she could eat anything.

I found the plot structure very interesting. The exposition was when Jane stole Savannah’s boyfriend. The rising action was when Chrissy got assingned Savannah Delano fro her class project. The climax was when Savannah was granted three wishes. And Chrissy twisted Savannah’s wish around. The falling action was when Savannah and Tristan got there way back to the modern world. The resolution is that Savannah got to go to prom with her Prince Charming, Tristan.            

I would rate this book a 9 ½ out of 10 because it was an amazing book and the author put a lot of descriptive words in to this book and she made as if you could actually see what is going on. I would recommend this book to teen age girls because they would most likely have a better chance to be able to relate to what Savannah is going though. In all I can’t wait for the next book that she writes.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                    Roxanne Fine

current event #3

Current event #3

Title: Animal Shelter's behavior experts face life and death decisions for animals

Author: John Owens

Source: The Miami Herald

Topic: The animal shelter

Main idea: The animal shelter has to choose between keeping the animals and putting them to death

Authors purpose: Inform the reader about the animal shelters decisions based on the animal behavior.

The author’s perspective is objective because he is not only speaking about the dogs being out to death but also how they may actually live.

Pattern of organization: Argument and support. To prove why the dogs are being put to death.

Text features: A title is helpful by showing what the article is most likely about. Quotation marks that show some peoples opinions.

Summary: this article is about how animal shelters make the decision to put the animals to sleep or put them up for adoption based on their behavior.

Sagnifances of this article is: so that the reader can see the kinds of decisions shelters make which is either to put the pets up for adoption or put the pet to sleep.

What I learned from this article is: that some animals get put to sleep while others get put up for adoption based on their behavior.

What I liked about this article: was that the author used many quotation marks in this article to represent other people’s opinions.

What I didn’t like about this article: was that this article didn’t have any pictures so that the reader can see what happens in the shelters.

Who should read this: I think everybody should read this because it might show them what they do at the shelters and it might tell the m to take care of there pets better.

Text to self-connection: I can relate to this because my aunt had a dog and even though the dog acts badly she hasn’t put it to sleep.

Text to world connection: That I made was that animals all around the world is abandon and then put to sleep because they do not have a good behavior.

Text to text connection: That I made was to a book called a Lost Dog because it was also about a dog that had to be put to sleep.

New vocabulary I learned

   

    Word                             Context Clues                                         Meaning

1. Euthanized          reread it many times                                     To put to sleep

2. Evaluation                       inferred                              The value or number of something                                          3. Advocacy           Looked at the words next to                         motivation; support

RJ#15

#15                                                   Readers Journal                                     12/06/11                                             Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                                                                                                                      I am in the middle of reading the book My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison.

                        I used some strategies before, and while I was reading this book. One strategy that I used before I read this book was to read the synopsis of the book and see if I would be interested in this book’s subject. Another strategy that I used before I read this book was to skim and scan through the book to see if there was any text features in the book. One during reading strategy that I am using is to find words that I don’t know and use context clues to try to figure what those words mean. Another strategy that I will use while I am reading this book is to make predictions about what I think would happen next in the text. I did not use any after reading strategies yet because I am not done with the book.

                       

Even though I did not get to finish this book I still was able to find some literary elements in this book. The genre of this book is fiction because the events that go on in this book are not real. The subgenre of this book is fantasy because it includes magic and fictional objects. The main character of this book is Savannah, a high school student that hates going to school. Another character in this book is Savannah’s boyfriend Tristan. That is all of the characters that I know of for right now. The authors point of view is first person. The authors perspective is subjective.

           

The exposition and rising action were interesting. The exposition of this book was when Savannah bought a prom dress assuming that she was going with her then boyfriend. The rising action was when Savannah’s boyfriend dumped her for her older sister Jane. And that I all I know for now.

                       

If I had to rate this book I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 because so far it is really interesting and descriptive. I would recommend this book to most teenage girls because they can relate to this more than boys. I really hope to finish this book.

                                               

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                        Roxanne Fine

RJ#13

#13                                    Readers Journal                                    11/22/11                                                                                                                                                                                                I just finished a breathtaking book. The book that I read is called A Child Called IT by Dave Pelzer. This book was a memoir because it is about a specific part of a person’s life written by that person.                                                                                         I used many strategies before, during and after I read this book so that I would understand the book better. One strategy that I used before I read this book was to look at the picture on the front of the book to predict what the book was going to be about. I predicted that this book was going to be about a young child writing about there childhood because a memoir is a person writing about what they experienced at a specific time in their lives so I knew it had to be about the author.  Another strategy that I used before I read this book was to create a purpose to read this book.  One strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to visualize the most intense and emotional parts of the book. Another strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to reread the parts of the book that I didn’t understand. One strategy that I used after I read this book was to reread the most interesting parts of this book. Another strategy that I used after I read this book was to reflect on what I read and put it in to a readers journal.

            I was able to find many non-fiction elements in this book. The topic of this book was self-help. The genre of this book is non-fiction and the sub genre of this book is memoir. The main idea of this book is that David went through a brutal punishment when he was a child. Some cause and effect relationships that I found in this book were that David played in the grass and then his physico mom found him doing that and then she took him inside the house and burned his hand on the stove. One thing that I compared were his life when he was a child and when his life now. For example when he was little he got mistreated and now he is treated very well. The P.O.O is chronological order. The P.O.V is first person.                                                                                                                                     This book was really inspiriting. I would rate this book a nine out of ten because it was too sad. I would recommend this book to young adults because I don’t think that children would be able to handle this book in an emotional way.                                                                                                                                                                        Sincerely,                       

                                                                                Roxanne Fine

RJ#12 MEMOIR

#12                                    Readers Journal                                    11/15/11                                                                                                                                                                                                I just finished a breathtaking book. The book that I read is called Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes Courter.  This book was a memoir because it is about a specific part of a person’s life written by that person. I found one passage in this book that was interesting to me which was:                                                                                                                                    “ I thought my teacher was going to lecture me about my past not being and excuse for my poor behavior. Instead she went on to tell me that she had also had come from a rough background herself and knew what it felt like to not to struggle without support at home.”                                                This passage stood out to me because it shows you that more people have things in common with you then you know. This passage was significant to this book because from that point on Ashley tried to make every negative into a positive.                                                                                    I used many strategies before, during and after I read this book so that I would understand the book better. One strategy that I used before I read this book was to look at the picture on the front of the book to predict what the book was going to be about. I predicted that this book was going to be about a young women writing about her childhood because a memoir is a person writing about what they experienced at a specific time in their lives so I knew it had to be about the author.  Another strategy that I used before I read this book was to read the synopsis on the back of this book and get an idea of what this book was going to be about.  One strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to visualize the most intense and emotional parts of the book. Another strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to reread the parts of the book that I didn’t understand. One strategy that I used after I read this book was to reread the most interesting parts of this book. Another strategy that I used after I read this book was to reflect on what I read and put it in to a readers journal.                                                                        I was able to identify many non-fiction elements I this book. The genre of this book is non-fiction, obviously and the sub genre of this book was memoir. The topic of this book was foster care system. The main idea of this book is the improvement foster care. The main idea was implied. One supporting detail that supports the main idea is “ I don’t understand how people can treat innocent children or any human being like this, with so disrespect. I need to do something about this right away!” this detail was factual. Another supporting detail that supports the main idea is “ I wrote my essay on my life in the foster care system so that I could give a voice to the other children that’s going through the same situation and make the foster care system better, so that these children have something to hope for.” This detail is factual. Another good name for this book could be “The Fight To Start Over” because in the text it stated what she had to overcome in her past to start over with her life. The essential message of this story is that when children are put into foster homes they sometimes are not treated very well so they need some one to stand up for them and take care of them such as Ashley Rhodes Courter did. One cause and effect relationship that I found in this book was that Ashley’s mother made very bad decisions so the police came and took her children away and put them into foster homes. One contrast that I found in this book was that the Moose family mistreated Ashley by treating her like a slave and the Courter family treated like she was there own daughter by treating her kind and loving.                                                                                                                         I was able to identify some text features that were in the book. One text feature that I found in this book were pictures of Ashley’s new family and the journey though out her life. Another text feature that I found in this book was captions under the pictures that explained what every picture meant. Some other text features that I found in this book were bold words, capitalized words and italicized words that showed the readers the significant of the title and the word. The author’s perspective was biased toward the moose family and the foster care system. The P.O.O of this book was chronological order because it presented the book in which the events occurred. The author’s point of view was first person. You can’t really check the accuracy and validity of this book’s information because if what Ashley said was true then there is not really anything to check.                                                                                     While I was reading this book I was able to make connection. I couldn’t really relate to this book because I have never been in the same situations as Ashley. This book could relate to the world because many children are in foster homes right now and maybe they are not really being treated correctly. I have never read a book about this topic so I can’t tell how this book can relate to another book.                                                 All in all this book was very entertaining. I thought this author’s story was very inspiring. I would rate this book an 8 out of ten because this book was very descriptive, entertaining and well put together but I think she could have done a little better describing her mother. I hope to read another book about Ashley Rhodes Courter’s life adventures soon.                                                                                                                                                            SINCERELY,                                                                                                                                                ROXANNE FINE

CURRENT EVENT #2

Date: 11/13/11

Name: Roxanne Fine

Title: A Legacy of Service: Three Generations of Pines family have served in military                                                                                                                                    

Author: Perry Stein                                                

Source: Miami Herald

The topic of the article is loyalty.

The main idea of the article is stated because the main idea of this article is to show how a family have served in the military for three generations. The main idea of this article is implied.

                                                                                                                                                                              The author’s purpose for writing this article is to inform readers about the soldiers that care about the country such as Bolivar Perez – Rios’s family.

The author’s perspective in this article is objective/subjective (biased) because: The author’s perspective in this article is objective (unbiased) because the author of this article did not include any opinions or was not in favor of anybody in this article.

The pattern of organization of this article is flashback.                                                            

The reason the author chose this pattern for this article is because the author might of wanted to describe what position Bolivar Perez –Rio was in at the time.

The text features included in this article are: One text feature that I found in this article is a photograph of Bolivar saluting along with his son and grandson. This text feature helps the readers by showing how much Bolivar and his family cares about the military. Another text feature that I found was a caption. The caption helps people understand what is going on in the photograph and what the photograph means.

This article is about (a summary in your own words) this article is about a inspiring 92 year old man which is Bolivar Perez-Rios who is fond of the military and has experience in the military. He inspired his family to go in to the military.

The significance (importance) of this article is that the readers can know about the people who are protecting them.

What I learned from this article is that there was a bombing on Dec 7, 1941 of the Perl Harbor.

What I liked about this article is that this article was easy to understand and was interesting.

What I did not like about this article was that the article didn’t really describe what happened after an experience.

 Who should read this article and why: I think everyone should read this article because this article shows you how much people in the military do to keep there country safe.

This article reminds me of (text-to-self) I can’t really relate this article to myself. I do not know any books with this topic. This article related to the world because I don’t really think people appreciate the people that are risking their lives for their nation.

New vocabulary I learned

   

    Word                             Context Clues                                   Meaning

1. Platoon              I reread it many times          A sub division of a company of soldiers

2. Shrapnel                        infered                                      fragments of a bomb

3.Comprised          Looked at the words next to                         consist of

RJ#11

#11                                                Readers Journal                                     11/07/11                                               Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                                                                                                      I just finished reading a book called Half Minute Horrors by Sara Ruth. This book was a bunch of short stories. The genre of this book was fiction. The subgenre of this book is short stories because the stories only have one theme, mood, tone ect ….  This book dose not have a significant quote because there were many short stories in this book that focused on different subjects.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         I used some strategies before, during and after I read this book. Two strategies that I used before I read this book was to create a purpose for reading this book. The purpose that I am reading this book is to do a readers journal on it. The second strategy that I used before I read this book was to read the heading of the book and read the synopsis of this book also.                                                                                                                   Two strategies that I used while I was reading this book was to visualize the most intense parts of the sort stories. The second strategy that I used while I was reading this book was to skip some of the sort stories if they were boring because there were a lot of stories.                                                                                                                        Two strategies that I used after I read this book was to reflect on what I just read and write it in my readers journal. Another reading strategies that I used after I read this book was to think about the main idea of this book. There is main idea of this book because there were many short stories on this book.                                                                                                                                                            The mood of this book was suspicious and scared. The point of view of this book was first person and third person. The tone of this book was scary. The author’s perspective was biased. The author’s purpose was to entertain. The patter of organization of this book was climatic order. The theme of this book was horror. The moral of this book is not to be scared.                                                                                                                            I would rate this book a 5-10 because this book was way to short. But the stories were interesting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          SINCERELY,                                                                                                   ROXANNE FINE :)