My Final Blogpost

          After creating this blog over the year, I have realized that I focus a lot of my reading on analyzing the characters. I gathered this because a lot of my posts are about characters and what I think of them. I think one way I benefitted from blogging as a reader is that I got to dive deeper into the book, it made it more interesting to read. If I did a post about the theme or characters, it would get me more interested in the book. This happened because I asked a lot of questions in my posts as I would try to find the answers in my next reading.

          I think that writing in a notebook is way different than writing online. They are different because your notebook is more private than online, more secure. I prefer to write online because I like typing and I feel like I write more when I'm typing. Writing online can be liberating because you can feel like you have "contributed" to the world with your thoughts. It's limiting though, because maybe some people don't want to put all of their thought out on the Internet, but it makes no difference to me. I think that some people actually are themselves online. They actually want to show who they are on the Internet, I think the people who do this are pretty self confident. Others, who create different personalities online, are just hiding themselves, most likely because they have insecurities. A lot of people might abuse the freedom of being online, but I don't think that is only because of sites like Facebook. People will probably want to say things anywhere online that are cruel, or that they just don't want to say to a persons face. I believe that this is actually an okay thing because I feel like people can get hurt more when things are told to there face. I don't support bullying either way, but online might be safer because it takes away the chance of physical harm. 

          Personally, I don't really want to keep up this blog or start a new one. Honestly, I enjoy just reading alone and reflecting in my mind, instead of writing it all down. My opinion of blogs overall is that they can only be really interesting if the blogger is interested in blogging. 

Burned post #3 Ellen Hopkins

          The book Burned by Ellen Hopkins is about this girl Pattyn who is in a abusive, Mormon household. Her father is a drunk and slightly abusive as well. Her mother is a very cowardess women who never stands up to her husband. Her mother also restricts Pattyn from socializing like a normal teenager would. Through out the book the way that Pattyn challenges her freedom causes conflict. This book is a good example of how freedom is "abused" then taken away.

          In the book Pattyn's parents teach her to "play everything safe" and to always be interested in all things Mormon. All things Mormon, such as boys. Pattyn abuses the freedoms (which are not many) tht her parents give her and starts a relationship with a boy who is not at all Mormon. Her father then finds out about their relationship and all of the "unmormon" acts they have been committing. Then her dad forbids her to see this boy and even leave the house to socialize. This is the point where Pattyn's freedoms are taken away. 

          I thought it was interesting how a theme of freedom was present in this book because we are learning about it in class. In class we are talking about freedom in a philosophical way, I wonder if the author was also questioning freedom when she was writing this book? I think that a lot of books have an underlying theme of freedom and it can probably cause controversy about what freedom really means. This book has allowed me to think about what the definition of freedom is, and how it can be taken away.

            

Romeo and Juliet: The Conflict of Love - Essay

            Love always seems to be a huge conflict in love stories. It is never easy. There might be the “perfect” love in a romantic movie or book, but it is never smooth sailing. There is always an issue. The couple fights, or there is something keeping them apart, or someone cheats, something is always conflicting in the love. Usually, the people find love, lose it (the conflict causes this), and then get back together and have a super happy ending. Although Shakespeare makes Romeo and Juliet’s love bound to end in death, he still makes the conflict of their love one of the main conflicts in the book. The biggest conflict in “Romeo and Juliet” is not only the feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s, but the fight for Romeo and Juliet’s love. Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet face obstacles such as family rivalries and social expectations in the fight for their love. Ultimately, they are not successful and the struggle to be together ends in death, the obstacles were simply too difficult to overcome.

            Romeo and Juliet’s fight for love is as big a conflict as the feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s. In the play, Romeo and Juliet’s love is very present, and so is their struggle to be together. The feud between the Montague’s and Capulet’s is also present, but not in detail, it is just the underlying cause of all the other conflicts. Also, the fight between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s is not even explained. Shakespeare does explain that they have this ancient grudge against each other, but he does not explain why they do. Shakespeare says, (prologue.5-6) “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,” by this he means that the enemies both had children, and then they fell in love and were forced to take their lives because of their parent’s feud, this shows that their love is now a feud. Since the prologue shortly explains everything that goes on in the play, this further proves the fact that the whole play is about them falling in love, trying to make it work, and then dying. This concludes that Romeo and Juliet’s is a huge conflict in the play “Romeo and Juliet”.

            Family rivalries are one of the obstacles Romeo and Juliet face in their fight for love. Their family’s rivalry forbids their love. In (prologue.1-4) it says, “Two households, both alike in dignity (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene), from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” Shakespeare is saying that there is this huge rivalry that makes all of the town people fight. Clearly, if these two families are such rivals then they would definitely not want their children being together. There are also other small rivalries that come between Romeo and Juliet’s love. For example the rivalry between Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, and Mercutio, Romeo’s kinsman. Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio because they hate each other so much. In (3.1.93-95), Mercutio dies and his final words are, “I am hurt. A plague o’ both your houses. I am sped. Is he gone and hath nothing?” cursing the households of the Montague’ and Capulet’s. This then causes Romeo to kill Tybalt, out of anger. When his act of crime gets him banished, he can no longer be with his love Juliet. Then Romeo and Juliet make their plan to run away together, this plan fails because of a misunderstanding. As you can see, the rivalry leads to the end of the lovers love and lives.

            Another obstacle they have to face in the fight for their love is the social expectations of both Romeo and Juliet. In the play, since Juliet is in a very high class, she is expected to marry a very high class man. Her parents set her up with the very rich Paris. She is expected to love him and marry him, but as you know, she has her love set on Romeo. In (3.5.117-120), Lady Capulet is telling Juliet about how she has to get married to Paris, “Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn the gallant, young, and noble gentleman, The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s Church shall make thee there a joyful bride.” These plans interrupt with Romeo and Juliet’s plans to run away together. Romeo also faces some social expectations. In the beginning of act 2 scene 4, Romeo’s friend Mercutio is very suspicious and angry about where Romeo has been and why he ditched them. He says “Where the devil should this Romeo be? Came he not home tonight?” (2.4.1-2) We know that he has been with Juliet though. He mainly does not tell them because he does not want it getting around town, because then they definitely will not be able to be together because of the forbiddance by their parents. From Juliet’s commitment to Paris and Romeo’s suspicious friends, their love is also stopped by social expectations.

            Romeo and Juliet’s fight for love is one of the biggest conflicts in the play. Many obstacles disrupt their love and the conflict is never really resolved. Shakespeare must have a reason for making this play have a tragic ending. I wonder if he was trying to send the message that young love does not end well, or that an ancient grudge cannot be broken unless something like this happens. Whatever he was trying to say, I wonder if he was trying to tell it to future generations? Whether he was or wasn't trying to do that, his message still lives on in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.  

May Nonfiction Post- Showing Grass-Roots Support For Immigration Overhaul

The article "Showing Grass-Roots Support For Immigration Overhaul" by Julia Preston is about the marches that were put on by the supporters of immigrant legalization. The main idea of this text was to show that there are many supporters of immigration legalization. The author shows us this by explaining the many marches that people have organized to help get immigration reform. The author says "Tens of thousands of immigrants, Latinos and other supporters of an overhaul of the immigration system turned out on Wednesday for marches," . By saying this the author is stating how wide spread the support for immigration reform is.

The author is trying to make us think about the immigration legalization. Preston uses a lot of positive facts about the marches that people take to solve this issue and how people that think the immigration laws are unfair are finally taking a stand. The author wants to make us feel like the people who are trying to make immigration laws easier are right. Although she never flat out says it, the author says a lot about how a change in these laws is better for our country.

I have always felt that immigration laws are so unfair. That they were to harsh, and that making them easier would only benefit out country. This article just really supports all my thinking on the subject. I wonder what the authors actual views are in the situation? There are many people who support this, and who don't. Now that I think of it, immigration laws are probably a big social action issue. I think I should read more about this issue to find out more about what people think about it.

Burned Ellen Hopkins post #2

This book "Burned" by Ellen Hopkins is narrated by this girl Pattyn. It is all about how Pattyn is living in a really religious household. Throughout the book Pattyn changes into a "dirtier" teenager. She becomes more attracted to guys and she begins to question religion. Although Pattyn hasn't made her whole change, she is in the beginning stages of going through a huge one.

One of the things that is changing about Pattyn is that she is now more attracted to men. She keeps saying that she is a Mormon and these things should not be on her mind, but that she can't control it. She says that she has unnatural dreams and thoughts. Another change Pattyn thinks she is going through is pulling away from her religion. Sometimes she questions if she even wants to me Mormon, but then she quickly pulls herself away from that thought.

I think that these changes are the base plot if this book. Like the whole whole book will be based off of the changes that Pattyn is going through. I wonder when Pattyn will completely change? I wonder if these changes, such as pulling away from religion and getting a boyfriend are the changes that de will end up going through. I also wonder whether Pattyn will change in any other ways.

April Non Fiction Post- Blade Runner

        This article is called "Blade Runner". I found this article in a Junior Scholastic magazine. This article is about this man, Oscar Pistorius, who had a dream of competing in the Olympic Games as a runner.Oscar Pistorius was born with out fibulas which are the bones that connect your knee to you ankle. He has relied on prosthetic legs his whole life. Oscar is from South Africa. He has competed in the Paralympic Games and won at a high level. He is trying to qualify to competed in the normal Olympics. If he does qualify he will be the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.(This article was written a year ago so Oscar Pistorius has qualified to and has  competed in the Olympics already.)

         The author of this article (name n/a) wants the readers to feel very inspired by this mans dream.This is true because the author talks a lot about the fact that this man will be the first handicapped Olympian and how great that is. The fact that this is a positive tone makes the whole story a lot more inspiring to the readers. The author of this article also wants to reach out to any readers that are in the same situation as Oscar. The author wants to tell them that anything is possible. The author does this by displaying how this amputee man goes after one of his wildest most ambitious dreams.

        Something I will take away from this article is that this man's story is very inspiring. I thought his story was inspiring because he is not only helping himself by chasing his dreams but also helping others chase their dreams by setting this example. I think that authors should write even more articles about these types of things to help inspire our generation. I really enjoyed reading this article, I suggest anybody read it if they have the chance.

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

The book "Burned" by Ellen Hopkins is about a girl, Pattyn Von Stratten. She is raised in a religious and abusive household. I have recently started reading this book so I do not know a lot about the plot. But I did start to notice the way the book is written. It is written in a kind of poem form. I think the form of the book has a great amount of effect on whole strong.

One way the form of the book affects the story is that it makes it more dramatic. Sometime only single words are written on the right margin and if you read them all together they sort if relate. Another thing about the form that affects the story is how the title of the chapter is also the first few words of that chapter. It is a great artistic choice. I thought it was a good artistic choice because it's just interesting to me how the beginning words also relate to the rest of the chapter.

I really enjoy reading this book because of the form. I think the artistic choices make it more interesting. I wonder what other authors write in this form? I look foreword to coming across other books like this one.

It's Kind of a Funny Story- Ned Vizzini

This book "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini, is about a depressed kid named Craig. Craig is struggling with school, his family life, and his social life. At school Craig cannot keep up with his grades. At home he cannot connect with his parents or be in a positive attitude. And he is not finding any happiness in his social life, even though he does have friends. Overall, Craig is just a depressed teenager who is trying to overcome his depression.

In this book, the protagonist is Craig. If you were reading this book you wouldn't immediately think that Craig is the protagonist because he is the one who is depressed, but if you look over all the facts, he really is the protagonist. He is the one who wants to not be depressed. He is the one who wants to be happy. He is the one who wants to go to the hospital and get help. I mean, sometimes he can be a little standoffish, but then he finally warms up to the situation.

The antagonist in this story isn't a person, but more of a thing. The antagonist is Craig's depression. The disease (depression) is eating away at Craig. It is stopping him from being happy. It's stopping him from being motivated to get help. It is stopping him from being social. The antagonist in this story is pretty bad, but like all, it can be eliminated with help.

It's Kind of a Funny Story- Ned Vizzini post #2

I am in the middle of this book "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini. So far the depressed high school kid, Craig (the main character), has planned to commit suicide. He plans to, but he doesn't actually. He ends up calling a suicide hot line and then he admits himself to a hospital. He has just gotten to the hospital and I am at the part where he is getting a tour of it. I am really enjoying this book, but there are a few things I'm confused about.

One thing I am confused about is how the book just jumping to Craig making this quick decision to commit suicide. I mean I understand that he is depressed and everything, but I feel like there was not enough build up in the story. In the story, Craig is depressed about school and everything, but he doesn't seem to have a depression like "I want to make the decision to kill myself in five seconds". It might not be the way the story is written by the author, but it may just be reflecting the kind of depression we have today. I just might not be educate on depression enough to know why he made such a quick decision.

Another thing I am confused about is what the underlying cause to Craig's depression is. They talk a lot about it, but I have a feeling that they are not saying the real reason why he is depressed. I think that it might be that he's depressed because of something happening to him earlier in life. Craig explained that he knows the depression started when he got to high school, but maybe it was always there and that just "activated" it.

I might not know the answer to these confusions now, but maybe later in the story they will explain these things. I look forward to finishing the book.

It's Kind of a Funny Story- Ned Vizzini

        I have recently began reading the book It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. I find the book quite interesting. It is all about this teenager Craig and the depression he is going through. I like books like these because they make me think about what it would be like if I were in the position of a depressed teenager, not that i want to be, but it is just interesting to hear about the experience. The character I would like to analyze in this post is Craig.

        Craig seems to be a nice kid, he has nice friends, he has a nice family, and he got into a nice high school, but under all that nice stuff, there is something wrong. Craig is extremely depressed. Craig, his friend Aaron's girlfriend,his doctors, and his family are the only ones that are aware of his depression. Craig seems like a person who would lead a perfectly normal social life, but he doesn't. In fact, he pretty much shuts himself off to socializing. Craig is the narrator so he doesn't just come out and say "I'm not social!", but he sure does show it. For example, his friend Aaron had a party and Craig just sat in the corner looking at records. Craig is not only shut off to socializing, but he is also shut off to other ideas than his own. For example, Nia (Aaron's girlfriend) was talking to Craig about how he should tell Aaron about his depression, but Craig was totally against the idea, and he had to come up with a million reasons why not to tell Aaron. Nia has really been the only one who has confronted him about how he puts walls up ("walls" to block off socializing and new ideas).

        I believe that if Craig did not block himself off to the world then it would help out a lot with his depression. But on the other hand the depression might be what is causing him to block himself off. In my opinion, that is what is really awful about depression. It is kind of like a cycle, you want to do good things things that will help you get out of depression but depression is holding you back from doing that.

Blog Review- Rosie Vasen

http://thebooknook13.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-perks-of-being-wallflower-2.html

        I thought that Rosie's post was very good. I have read this book Perks of Being a Wallflower and I thought is was a really fantastic book. After reading the book, and then reading Rosie's post I really agree with what she is saying. I noticed that Rosie's post did kind of question the character, and what Charlie is all about. She talks about how he really goes through a lot of struggles in his life. He absolutely does. I like how she refers to Charlie's life as "journey", because his life really is a journey.Another thing I liked about Rosie's post is how she made comments about the authors choices. She talked about how the fact that Charlie is writing to a friend that doesn't back makes you focus more on Charlie's adventure. I also think that this choice makes the story even more interesting.

        In this post Rosie also discusses how she thought that it was interesting how the person Charlie is writing to could know all about his life but not do anything to help. This makes me think about society and how we know about all these issues in society but we can't or won't do anything to fix them. I think that this post of Rosie's stood out among others because it really digs deep into what the author is trying to do. And it doesn't only do that, it also digs deep into the character at the same time. Something else I enjoyed about Rosie's post was her organization. Each paragraph had a focus and then they all came together in the end. she did a really great job!
       

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

        This book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is the second book in the hunger games series. I have just began reading this book and so far it is all about everything that is happening a while after Katniss the main character won the Hunger Games along with Peeta. Peeta is another boy in Katniss's district. In the first Hunger Games book Peeta was the boy who was "fake" in love with Katniss in the Hunger Games battle just so that they can make it out alive.

        So far I have noticed that there has been no significant character change. Katniss still seems to be that quiet "keep your feelings to yourself" girl. The only change she has really experienced is the fact that she is making an effort to have a better relationship with her mother. Peeta also has not changed very much. He is still very generous, also quiet and he is still liked a little more than Katniss. Haymitch, the previous mentor if Katniss and Peeta is still a drunk and kind of old man. Katniss's mother is also still very nervous all the time. The only change she has made is that she is out of her shell a little more and is not still completely closed off to the world because of the death of her husband. All of these characters have not gone through significant changes yet, but maybe further into the book they will.

March Nonfiction Post - "Facebook Fever" by Nick Bilton and Evelyn M. Rusli

The article "Facebook Fever" by Nick Bilton and Evelyn M. Rusli is all about how the popularity of Facebook is increasing along with the stock prices. This article was written when Facebook had just started sharing stocks. This article discusses a lot about how Facebook started out with their sharing, and how the company has a very high value. The authors talk about how Facebook has started out with a very high initial public offering (I.P.O). This article also mentions the man who painted the walls of an office for Facebook, he was offered 60,000 dollars upfront or a stock for when Facebook goes public, that stock is now worth 200 million dollars.

The authors want the readers to think about how Facebook has had much success with their company. The authors show this by including all the perks of their business and all of the great profit they have made. They also want us to feel like making a company go public is a very profitable thing for a company to do. The authors make us feel this way by only talking about the positive things that come when companies like Facebook go public.

After reading this article I have realize that Facebook isn't only a social network for me my friends and also many adults, but also one of the most profitable companies ever. I also take away that sharing shares of a business is also very profitable. I think that the way everything works in stocks is pretty crazy when you can make such a profit. I also think that it is pretty amazing that such a young man (Mark Zuckerberg) can make such a huge company and get so rich so fast.

Non-fiction post- February- Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb

        The book Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb is about the author, Lori's, struggle with anorexia as an eleven year old child. The book is Lori's diary for the whole year of her being eleven. She writes about her family, how she got into anorexia and her journey through the eating disorder. The main idea of this book was to show the readers what it is like being an anorexic child. Lori Gottlieb does this by giving the actual diary of her childhood anorexia. She also does this by including all of the details about how she felt during her anorexia, what got her into anorexia, and everything that happened during her anorexia. The fact that her story is truthfully coming from the perspective of a child, herself, who actually went through this helps the readers understand the main idea a little better. It allows the readers to step into the shoes of this eleven year old anorexic child, if it was just someone writing a book about anorexia it would not be as plausible.

         In this book Lori Gottlieb includes how much she was influenced by media. Gottlieb wants us to know that things like magazines, books, and TV can really influence children to change the way they are just to be "perfect". Gottlieb wants us to feel like these types of advertising that influence kids to change the way they are, are negative things in society. The authors lets us know that children are easily influenced by media by including the part in her diary, that she wrote at age eleven, about how TV and books led her to be anorexic. For example, Lori says "Drink eight tall glasses of water every day, Thirty Days to Thin says." She is referring to one of the diet books she bought, they say that if you drink a lot of water, you feel full and don't eat. Lori talks about how she follows a lot of the "rules" in the diet book and takes tips from commercials. These are the things that lead her to just completely stop eating. She makes us feel that this is a negative thing by telling us the ridiculous things she did just to follow the "rules" in these diet books. For example, she explains how she refused to lick an envelope because she thought it might have sugar on it and that one book said "sugar is the enemy".

        This book has changed my way of thinking about this societal issue. It has made me look a lot deeper into it, and how it can so negatively affect our society. Lori Gottlieb lived in L.A. as a child and through out the year she was anorexic. Not to be super stereotypical or judgmental, but I have thought before that a lot of people who live in L.A. can be very superficial because of all the show business surrounding them. After reading this it kind of proved my point because all of the parents are always on diets and everything so it influenced the kids a lot. I also thought this book really helped me understand what the mind set is for someone who is anorexic. It's a great book! I recommend it!

Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb

        I have recently began reading the book Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb. This book is a diary written by the author, Lori Gottlieb, about her formal self. She was anorexic at age 11 and this is the story of it. In this book she talks a lot about self image and how she thought there were so many things wrong about her appearance when she was a child.

        In the book, Lori Gottlieb is eleven years old in 1978. She talks a lot in her diary about her parents and her friends and what it is like at school. She says that when she was in first and second grade she was pretty popular. She explains that she had blonde hair and that now it is brown. When Lori says that she is not really popular anymore, she says that part of the reason is because she has brown hair instead of blonde. She mentions that she read in a magazine that dishwater brown hair was boring.

         Lori seems to be very affected by these types of materialistic statements in magazines, but she says that she does not really care for make up and stuff like that. I feel like Lori might be lying to herself when she says that she doesn't care for make up. She says that she isn't that interested in it, but then why is she so worried about the color of her hair. Maybe it's because she really doesn't like anything about her to be boring. In fact in the book she says that she really thinks that it is good to be called "unique" because it means that everyone around you is boring, and she rather be unique than boring.
       
        I think that the reason Lori cares so much about her hair color is because it was said to be boring in the magazine. This goes to show that the way that media can change the way that people thinks has been going on for a while. I don't like the idea that things like magazines work so hard to have perfect models and stuff like that just so little girls can aspire to be "perfect" like the woman in the magazine. But I do know that some of the way that we react to magazines has to be in our control. I wonder why some, like Lori, get so influenced that it leads to something like anorexia.

Running the Risk by Lesley Choyce Post #2 (KIND OF SPOILER ALERT)

        I have recently finished the book Running the Risk by Lesley Choyce. This book is about, as I explained in my previous post, how a burger shop called "Burger Heaven" gets robbed. This book is narrated by the main character Sean. It follows Sean's life after and in the middle of the armed robbery.

        I thought it was interesting how everything in this book lays out. In the beginning of the book Sean is in "Burger Heaven" when it gets robbed. The stakes are very high when the book first starts because it is right in the middle of the robbery. The middle chink of the book is about how the armed robbery changes the way Sean looks at the world. It makes him feel like everyday should be lived a little closer to the edge. The book also explains through Sean how it affects other people around him. In the end Sean identifies the guy who robbed "Burger Heaven", when he does this it gives him a sense of reassurance. Everything is a lot more clear in the world for the time being.

        Lesley Choyce does a good job with developing the characters in the book, especially Sean. He really defines what they are like and what they want. He makes Sean this teenager who has been a goody two shoes all his life, but wants to break out of his shell. He makes Jeanette, Sean's kind of girlfriend, want to act like a bad girl, but really she is always nervous. He describes Sean's dad as strict, but in the end Sean and him have a real heart to heart. The way these characters are developed really makes for a better and more interesting story.

Running the Risk by Lesley Choyce

       I have recently began to read the book Running the Risk by Lesley Choyce. So far I am really enjoying this book. It is about this teenager, Sean, who was in the middle of an armed robbery at a burger shop in a suburban town. I like this book because the chapters are fairly short and because I feel like if I wrote a book like this, this book sounds like how my version would sound. In this post I want to zoom in on the main  character and narrator, Sean.

       Sean is a very interesting character to me. He is interesting to me because he has a couple different sides to his personality. One side is the side that is laid back when an armed robber comes into a burger shop in the middle of the night. I feel like this side of him is the one who wants to rebel against his parents and live on edge, but can't quite make it there. He also has the side to him who is kind of clueless about what to say to a girl. I mean, he knows what to say, but in his head, he always seems to be wondering if whatever he said was the right thing to say. These two sides of Sean kind of contradict each other. They do this because the first side I mentioned is the side that wants to break out of the little suburban town, and maybe try some different more edgy things, and the other side is making more relationships or attachments to the small suburban town. 

      I think that the author, Lesley Choyce, purposely put the different sides of Sean in the story. I think this because if the main character has a few different sides then the story becomes more complex. If the story is more complex then the reader will spend time analyzing the book, which usually makes it more interesting and more intriguing to read.

Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers

        The book Bad Boy is a memoir written by Walter Dean Myers. I'm not very far into the book yet, but I already have a feel of what its about. It's all about Walter Dean Myers's life growing up in Harlem. I also think it's about some of the challenges he faced being "quick tempered" as the book described him, and all of what it was like for him in his teenage years.

        Something that I found interesting about this book is that based on what I've heard of Walter Dean Myers story, he didn't have it so good. He was growing up in Harlem with a poor family and he was faced with a lot of racial issues. I found this interesting because most of everything I've read so far in the book is really positive. If I grew up the way he did, I don't think that I would have such a positive attitude when I am telling the story of it all. Maybe he is being so positive because when he was younger he tried to look for the good in everything. for example in the book he said "What I loved most about Harlem, though, was the music." This is not a negative statement about how he faced racial issues, or about how his family had trouble getting by, it's about his good memories. Maybe another reason why he is saying positive things is because it's the beginning of the book and he doesn't want to just drop a bunch of heavy stuff right on your lap when you first start the book.

        There could be many possible reasons for why he chose to have such a positive attitude when he is telling the story of his partially rough life, but I have to read further into the book to figure out why. I am interested to hear the stories of his childhood, maybe some of the negative things to really see what he thinks of it as an adult author.

Non-fiction Post for January- Steve Jobs The Man Who Thought Different

This book is a biography about Steve Jobs written by Karen Blumenthal. In this biography Blumenthal discusses Steve Job's life and his road to his incredibly successful company Apple. The main idea of this book is to inform the readers of Steve Jobs' life. In the beginning of the book Blumenthal tells us where Steve Jobs lived as a kid, how he was adopted, and where he went to school. Further into the book she talks about the friends Jobs made in his teens and twenties. His friends were very tech savvy just like him. Then, Blumenthal goes on to talk about his college years and how he dropped out of school. Later in the book Blumenthal goes into the years that Jobs invented the Apple computer and how his career took flight.

I think the author wants us to think about how much Steve Jobs has had a big impact on the world. The author makes us think about this by explaining all of the times that Jobs invented things and how successful they were. I think the author also wants us to know that even though Steve is a very successful man, he is not the easiest man to work with. In the book she says, "He sometimes cried when things didn't go his way and regularly took credit for the ideas of others." In this sentence Blumenthal highlighted the problems that Jobs had in the business world. She put that sentence in for a reason, and that reason was to point out that he was difficult, and make us think that even the most successful of people have their flaws.

Something I take away from this book is the knowledge of Steve Jobs. I also take away the lesson that you don't just become a billionaire, you have to work your way up to it. I also learned that some of the people who are successful don't always have the best personality all the time, they're only human. My thinking has been changed because before I read this book I just thought of Steve Jobs as the guy who invented my iPhone, but now I look at him as a man who had a goal to do something great in his life, and he accomplished it.

Steve Jobs The Man Who Thought Different post#2

        The book Steve Jobs The Man Who Thought Different is a biography by Karen Blumenthal. This biography is about how Steve Jobs started off and how he ended up in his career with the very successful company Apple.

        In this book, Blumenthal discusses how Steve Jobs had friends who shared a mutual interest in technology. His friends were Steve Wozniak and Bill Fernandez. They were also described as deeply interested in electronics just like Steve Jobs. Wozniak was about four years older than Steve and Bill. He knew much more about electronics so Steve thought of him as a mentor figure. Blumenthal said that they all had a great bond over electronics.

        I have not gotten far enough into the book to know exactly how the relationship between these three friends end up, but I think I have an idea. Even though Blumenthal says that they have this great bond in the beginning, I don't think that it is going to last much longer. Wozniak and Fernandez are described as very smart, but for some reason I think that Jobs is going to grow them out. I could be completely wrong, and they could actually have credit for all of the Apple companies success. I could also be right though. It was mentioned that Steve Jobs is a very difficult man to work with.If he doesn't get his way then he throws a fit. Eventually if Fernandez and Wozniak are continuously working with him then they are bound to run into some disagreements. I am just guessing that Jobs working behavior might push away Wozniak and Fernandez at some point. After all it was Steve Jobs who ended up with the billionaire company.