Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

In the book Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick is about an 8th grader named Steven Alper. Steven goes through an emotional journey realizing things are different from what he use to think. Steven also has to deal that his brother Jeffery Alper has cancer and school. Steven makes important sacrifices to try to help his brother or support him.

A huge sacrifice that Steven made was when he almost gave up his drum lessons. He relied that over one month his family could save over a hundred dollars a month. To Steven drums were everything. He practiced everyday and loved it almost more than anything. Steven tried to give them p but his understanding teacher Mr. Stoll lets him take free drum lessons. The only thing was that Steven never told his parents.

Another sacrifice was when he shaved his head. He did it to support Jeffery. Steven saw that Jeffery was upset and sad when he came home from the hospital bald. Steven went up stairs to the bathroom and took out a razor. He messily shaved about three quarters of his head before his mom heard the noise and went upstairs to yell at him. But after yelling she realized how supportive Steven was trying to be and said " If I'm going to have a bald son i want him to at least look good."  She then finished up the shaving and Steven went to the dining room with a baseball cap on. He sat at the table across from Jeffery's sad face. Steven took his cap off and saw the the look on Jeffery's face. Jeffery was happy and lighten up. This was a major sacrifice for Steven because he went everywhere with his new head like school and to his drum lessons.

The biggest sacrifice that Steven made was when he left the school concert right before his big drum solo. Jeffery got really sick and he didn't have his Matt medic toy. Steven knew that he would have to be the replacement but he had prepared so long for this concert that he didn't know what to do. But then he remembered his promise to Samantha and decided that he had to leave. This was the biggest sacrifice because he went to the hospital and skipped his concert that he had prepared for, for more than  three months.

In conclusion Steven gave up lots of sacrifices and matured. He gave up lots of things that meant to him like his concert and drum lessons. He also tried to be as supportive as possible by doing things like shaving his head. He matured by making sacrifices because he realized what he can do to help out instead of what he can't. 

One Year Nightmare

              A monster used to live in my walls. When I was about 3-4 years old I had the same nightmare every night for about a year. It was always the same thing over and over again. There would always be the same monster chasing me around and trying to capturing me. The way I remember it was that the monster looked like cookie monster except that his eyes were apart and it was twice as tall. The monster never made any noises but it walked very awkwardly. It walked very slowly and looked like it was limping all the time. It always carried a giant brown club and would use it to hit me after it caught me.

            Every nightmare, a door would appear in the same exact spot on the same wall. The only good thing was that the monster not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But there were far more bad things to cover that one up. For example a con was that my parents or any other family member could never see it. I would try to tell them every time but they acted like I was crazy and just ignored me then went back to watching television. I was really confused every time this happened because the monster was a 7 ft. tall blue thing limping around the entire house. The only way I could get a break from that thing for a few minutes is if I hid somewhere. Then it would always go upstairs and I would get a three minute break. After running around for half an hour (in nightmare time,) the monster would end up catching me. This was an every night thing for a year. Every night I would be terrified going to sleep. After it caught me, it would tie me up onto a stick in the middle of the living room and hit me with its gigantic club. Then I’d wake up at about 4:30am in the morning and feel scared and confused. I was confused because I had no idea why I had this nightmare all the time. I was scared because I was just chased by a 7ft. blue monster which just hit me over a hundred times. After that, I would just lay in my bed until I had to go to school. Every morning I go to school tired and paranoid.

            This nightmare got me freighted of my own wall. Every time I had walk past it, I would walk as far away as possible. I felt like I was stuck in a level in a video game that I couldn’t figure out how to beat. I never figured out why I had this nightmare or what had caused it. I even tried to persuade my mom to move to a different house or tear down the wall. This nightmare made me so paranoid that I always carried some sort of toy weapon with me whenever I walked past the wall. In one nightmare I actually had my toy weapon with me and I hit the monster. Nothing happened but all I was thinking was “You failed me toy.” Since the toy failed my I figured that it was useless. I stopped carrying the sword but I started to carry other things like my favorite power ranger hoping that it would be in my dream top save me.  

            This nightmare kept haunting me for a year until one night I defeated the monster……. I think. As usual I ran around for a bit and trying to tell my parents about the monster. As always they ignored me. But then when the monster went upstairs, I went into the door it always came out of. When I saw the inside I was really freaked out. The inside looked exactly like my room which was a small room with a small bed, a baby bed (my brothers), and a closet. I was just standing there in shock until I heard something slam into the door. The monster! I thought. It was trying to push its way in and I was using all my strength (of a 3 year old), and push back. Then suddenly my dream stopped right then. It was still 4:30am in the morning like always, and woke up confused. I had a million questions bouncing around in my head like what just happened. My thought is that the nightmares were like a survival thing based on time. It was like I had to survive the nightmare without being caught until time was up. After my nightmare I just laid in my bed half happy and half frightened. I just stayed in my bed until I had to go to school that day. But that day I felt different. I felt like I had accomplished something. I felt like I deserved a badge for defeating that monster. That entire day I felt the most confident I had ever been.

           

            After that night, I never had that nightmare again. I have had other nightmares about twice a year but I have found a weird ability that I have when facing other nightmares. Strangely, if I see something scary I tell my real self in my nightmare to wake up. It’s a weird ability but I love it. I feel like the reason I have that ability is because of my one year nightmare. And although I never had that nightmare again, I still stayed away from that wall and I stopped carrying a power ranger around. 

   

AFTER

In the book After, 2 high schools Pleasant Valley and  Central high turn in to prisons. Then both schools start to send students away. This all starts from a shooting out burst in the Pleasant Valley gymnasium. Central high the school of the main character Tom and his friends Avery, Brian, and Silas are all trying to figure this out. The principal of Central high sees this shooting as a sign. The next day after the shooting, he makes some changes to the school. He starts making a very strict dress code that bans a bunch of things but the one thing that stood out was that he banned the color red. The reason for this ban of red was because its an "unpleasant color". The principle keeps making these changes more and more until the school starts to turn into a prison.
The school starts becoming stricter and  stricter. Then they start to send kids away.The first kid that was sent away was someone maned Jerry Guadilingo. He was a side charter that was sent away for not having friends. Then they send away a girl named Stephanie because she refused to take of her red bow. Then they send away Silas because they found out he that he was on drugs. After that  everything cools down until the principal calls Tom, Brian, ans Avery into his office. He talks about their next game against Pleasant Valley. He ask them to lose on purpose to Pleasant Valley too give them some confidence. Of course they don't listen and win the game. Instead of punishing all of them all he does is send away Avery. Then after the game there are graffiti all over the school. They all say where is then who ever is missing. The "artist" turns out to be a girl named Becca who is the goody two shoes of the school.
The main character ends up getting caught and then tells his parents. They end up moving out of town escaping with Toms friends and family.

This I Believe

This I Believe

            I believe in video games. Video games are my stress reliever. Most people have a different stress reliever like punching a pillow, or finding their happy place but video games is my stress reliever. The only problem is that I can only use my PlayStation on Friday or the weekend so Friday is basically my stress relieving day. Friday is the day where I release all the stress I have held in for the past week.

            Video games are my stress reliever because they make me feel in control. In video games you can basically do whatever you want. You get to choose what you want to do and you can just fool around. After going 5 days in school getting told what to do I just get to relax and do whatever I want. But if there is a game where you have to do the objective, then that’s all you have to focus on. Unlike homework where you try to decide if finishing you ELA report first or finishing your Social Studies project first is more important. But none of that happens when all you have to do is focus on one thing, doing the mission. Video games allow you to pick what you want to do and are a great stress reliever for me.

            When I start playing video games I get trapped in a world I can’t get out until I finish what I am doing. I feel like I’m stuck inside a world where I can do anything and no one can stop me at all. Video games are like an addicting object or hobby that you can’t stop doing until you are satisfied with what how you finished. Video games are also like what your mood is. Normally if I feel energetic, then I play war games because all my energy can transfer into the game and I can play more aggressive. But normally if I feel relaxed then I usually play a sport game like Madden or NBA2k. Video games can be more than a waste of to some people and are more than what it looks like.

            Video games have a specific feeling you can’t describe. Every game has a different feeling to it even if it’s not a video game. For example, a card game like poker will give a serious vibe unlike a board game like Monopoly which feels like a just for fun game. It’s the same for video games. A game like Minecraft can just give a relaxing feeling because you can just do whatever you want in it. You can build whatever you want. But if you are playing a game like Call of Duty then there is more of an intense vibe because the objective of the game is basically to run around and kill people. Each game has its own feeling like each person has their own personality. Or like no two people are the same. Everyone’s a different person like every video game can give its own and different vibe.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Video games can be more than what most people think. They are all different and they can all give a different vibe. They can also trap you in a world you can’t get out of until you feel like you are done. They can tell moods and set the tone. Video games can make you feel in control and make you feel like nothing can stop you. Video games and can mean more than what you think to a person. To me they are my stress reliever. This I believe.

Flipped

                      In the book flipped, the two main characters Bryce Loski  and Juli Baker meet after Bryce moves into the neighborhood. Throughout the story we see how they change and why they change. In the beginning Juli had a crush on Bryce. But in the end, everything flips and the opposite thing happens. The chapters were formatted by the characters perspective. In the book there were two chapters on the events that happened, but one was told by Bryce and the other was told by Juli.

                       In the beginning of the book, Juli had a crush on Bryce, but Bryce didn't feel the same way. In fact he and his dad were annoyed by Juli and tried to get rid of her whenever possible. But on the other hand Juli tried to get to Bryce whenever she could and since Bryce and his sister Lynetta had a sibling rivalry, Lynetta would try to find Bryce for Juli. " I basically spent 5 years hiding and running from Juli Baker" says Bryce. But all of that changes when Julis chickens lay eggs. She starts selling them and giving free eggs to Bryce. But she finds out that Bryce was throwing out hundreds of dollars of her eggs. This is when everything flips. Juli starts getting these mixed emotions inside her about Bryce like there's a tornado inside of her. Bryce later reads the article about Juli and how she tries to save an old Sycamore tree and realizes he had different emotions about her than he thought.The book shows how people can change in a huge way. It also shows how people can change greatly then when you first meet them.

                         The book Flipped shows character change through the entire book even past the climax of the book. Wendlelin Van Draanen (the author) really made you feel sympathy for Juli and made you feel like you were part of that story.

Revolt of the Evil Fairies

Revolt of  the Evil Fairies

            In the story Revolt of the Evil Fairies by Ted Poston we learn about the discrimination the main character has to deal with. The yallers and the white were treated better than the colored people. Discrimination affects many people in the story and in real life. Everyone was affected by discrimination in the story even the teachers.                                                                                                                                                                                                  In the Booker T. Washington Colored Grammar school ( the school of the main character) they have a play every year about Sleeping Beauty. Even thought they are all colored, the yallers were treated as if they were more important. The yallers get the better and bigger roles, more jobs and also better treatment. In the play the yallers got the important parts like the good fairies, Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty. Discrimination also affected the teachers and many other jobs. The grownups with lighter skin got more jobs like lawyers, teachers, and more. Most of the jobs in the Booker T. Washington Colored Grammar school were taken by the yallers.                                                                                                                                                                                In the story the main character wants to be the role of Prince Charming because he has a crush on Sarah Williams ( Sleeping Beauty ). The only problem was that all the good roles like the good fairies or a big role like Prince Charming was always played by a yaller. This really upset the main character and was a huge part of the theme. Leonardius a yaller, gets the part of Prince Charming. In the story the main character had the best grades and was the leading debater, but no one cares because he wasn't a yaller. This part of the story taught me that discrimination is a horrible thing that is a everyday challenge.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              A quote in the story related to discrimination was when Rat Jointer said "If you black, you black." I think that, that quote meant that you should just accept the fact that you can't change anything about discrimination. The quote was like what the main character experienced. The main character was cut of the role because he wasn't a yaller. Just because you don't have light skin doesn't mean you should be treated unfairly. The main character clearly was hurt by it because during the play he stared  a big fight and didn't care that he was banned from next year's play.

            In conclusion, discrimination was a major factor in the story. The main character learned that discrimination is something that will always be affected by and that you can't really change it. There is some hope though that we can see though him and that is that even though you are going through a tough time you can face it if you just keep control of what you do.