TKAM: Week of 12/15

Do you like what you read? Why or why not?

     Personally I thought TKAM was pretty good. It wasn't bad or absolutely amazing, but it was good. One of my favorite things about the book was the fact that it was presented from a child's point of view. Scout at her ages throughout the book had not developed prejudices to match those of the other community members in Maycomb, so we're able to have the events in the book described to us without any bias or prejudice at all. On the same topic, the child's POV also lets you see how the events in the story were interpreted by and affected a child's innocence. That was honestly a really interesting part of the story. You'd have an event occur where Scout didn't understand what was going on but you do, so it's like dramatic irony.

     Another thing about TKAM that I enjoyed was how it went through multiple years of Scout's life. You're able to see how she changes and how the people around her change. For example, we're able to see how she first views Boo Radley as a myth or just a story that fascinates her but then finally sees him as a real person at the end of the book. For Jem, we're able to see how he matures throughout the book as different events affect the way he feels or views things. The most obvious perk of having the story take over multiple years is the fact that the larger time frame allows more events to happen. With the larger time frame we were able to read about Scout's different school years; the trial; and Bob Ewell's death.

     The characters were also pretty enjoyable, if  I may say so myself. They're very realistic (in my opinion) and the author was always able to give them realistic emotions. To me, it seemed as though the characters had been well thought out. None of them seemed to be put in on a whim or anything. They all served a purpose; not just to take up empty space. Even the negative characters (shout out to Mr. Ewell...) were still enjoyable. They were well written and they still had depth to them. As the story is a snippet of Scout's years, the characters can also show you the kind of people you may meet in you life. You might meet someone as bitter as Mr. Ewell or someone as honest as Tom Robinson. You might meet someone with morals as good as Atticus' or as strong and determined as Scout.

     Overall, the story was pretty good. Although it was pretty good, I don't think I would read it again. For me, it's a good book for a one-time read.

TKAM Photo Analysis

Title:  Bradford, near the Bradford mines at Bradford, Alabama. From these towns 

came many of the people living in the Palmerdale Homesteads, Alabama

Observations:

It's not a log cabin but the house is made of wood. The house is elevated on small stilts. The stairs on the house look lopsided or rickety. There appears to be an outhouse in the back. There is a chimney on the roof. The house has a lot of windows and doors. The shrubs and grass look dry along with the dirt road. In the distance you can see a lot of trees like you would see in a forest. They have a swing and two chairs on their porch.

Inferences:

Some houses are on stilts to prevent vermin from getting in the house so that could be the reason they have an elevated house. If the house is lopsided then the ground of even house itself is unstable. An outhouse means they didn't have running water (at least not for toilets). This doesn't suggest they lived in terrible conditions, but maybe not the best. The chimney suggests that they burned fires in their home. We can assume that the fires are where they got most of their heat during the colder seasons. The dry ground and shrubbery means there wasn't a whole ton a rain in this area. The family must have liked nature and sun (they have so many windows!).

Could it be Maycomb?

I think this could definitely be what Maycomb looked like. Scout describes the houses as "rickety", which I think can completely be applied to the home depicted in the picture. Another similarity is that Maycomb has dirt roads and his very hot and dry. In the picture we can see obvious dirt roads and the dry plants can lead us to believe that this place also suffered from heat and dryness/lack of rain. People in Maycomb kept their doors open everyday (unless someone was sick) because they were very welcoming of visitors. The house in the picture has a lot of windows, which remind me of Maycomb. Doors in Maycomb were left open to appear friendly. In the picture, I imagine it could be just the same...but with windows instead. A lot of open windows seems just as welcoming as an open door, in my opinion.

TKAM Found Poetry

Scout

I was being a girl.

People hated them.

Shut your trap.

Go home.

You're gettin' more like a girl everyday...

People hated them.

Hold your head high.

I thought of running away...

Pink cotton penitentiary walls closing in on me,

Girls always imagined things.

People hated them.

Southern womanhood...

Frail ladies.

Heavily powdered,

Cutex Natural,

Just lovely...

People hated them.

Be a lady.

You're gettin' more like a girl everyday.

Be a lady.

Born hypocrites.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Week of 12/1

**Character relationship between Atticus and Aunt Alexandra**
Chapters 9-12

     Since Aunt Alexandra has been introduced into our story we've been able to see how much of a foil she is to Atticus. One of the differences that really show how the two are very different is the way they want Scout to grow up. Aunt Alexandra firmly believes that Scout should be acting like and further learning how to act like a lady (like her dearest Aunty). She believes that Scout's behavior is really uncalled for as a girl and future lady, of course. Atticus, however, does not see Alexandra eye-to-eye on the matter. Atticus's form of teaching his children how to be good people is to have them watch him and just sort of learn the right ways from him. He wants them to play out their own lives and let them see for themselves if the actions they've done are either right or wrong. With that, he wants Scout to be her own individual. Does she want to act the more tomboy-ish way she does? Ok. Does she want to play with Jem instead of other girls? Ok. Is she enjoying herself? Yes, so why force her to be someone she doesn't want to be? To put it simply, Atticus wants Scout to be who she wants to be. Alexandra, however, wants to mold Scout into a "proper" Southern lady.

     The sibling duo, however, does share a similarity. They both want what's best for their Finch family...they just don't share the same views on what is best. Alexandra thinks that shaping Atticus's kids into gentlemen and ladies is the best road for future Finch generations. If you think about it, she could quite possible be right. From the way she acts and the way Atticus acts, can't we infer that the both of them were raised to be proper ladies and polite gentlemen? Perhaps Aunt Alexandra just wants what she and Atticus have for Jem and Scout. To her, this isn't quite so bad. Jem would be a fine gentlemen like Atticus and Scout would be a fine proper lady like Alexandra (in the South's standards, of course). Atticus, like I said before, also wishes the best for his family. Perhaps it's because he chose to be different from the rest of the Finch family and Maycomb citizens and not become an agricultural-related worker, but he wants his kids to be their own individuals. Do what they want, be who they want to be. He feels this is best for their family and themselves. Atticus chose to be his own individual later on in life and he turned out pretty satisfied so wouldn't that be best for his kids? His family?

     Another difference we see between the two is their acceptance. It takes awhile to think about it and to have it come to mind but why does Atticus sort of allow Scout to rebel? We can see from Aunt Alexandra that Scout's behavior is very much not the norm for girls in the South during that time period (and even now). Aunt Alexandra greatly accepts the South's views on women but Atticus seems to simply disregard them. From there, you can go even deeper and question if there was a difference in the way the two were raised. Maybe, Atticus was the Scout growing up. Maybe, as a child, he did not want what was expected of him and he sees that in Scout. If he knows the feeling of not wanting what is forced on you then that could be a reason he chooses to let Scout take the reigns of her life. But, I am quite curious...Why does Aunt Alexandra just accept the boundaries set on women when the person she grew up with doesn't? Now, we can see that children have a greater affect on each other than adults do on them. Adults can yell and bite you, but other children are your pack. If you do not go with the pack, then you'll be left behind. Was that not the same in the South back then?  


                                                                                 

The Rules of Survival: Week of 11/17

**What did you think of what you read?**
Pages: 70-END

     This book was very...OK. Not bad, but not very good either. However. it leans more towards the good side. The Rules of Survival is a first person take on child abuse. I originally just wanted to read this book because it sounded interesting and well...it had a cool cover. After reading it, it turns out I've actually learned a lot about child abuse.

     I've always liked reading books where the narrator, in first person, has something that separates them from most other people (in the most not-offensive way possible). Books where the narrator suffers from depression are interesting because if it's not something you experience  reading the book allows you to get a better understanding of what depression feels like. Books told in first-person where the narrator has autism or Aspergers are really interesting to read because you get this totally different view on normal life. Those are the kinds of books I read to get an understanding of what something that I don't experience feels like. I wasn't expecting it, but I got that same experience with The Rules of Survival.

     I wasn't expecting to actually learn anything about child abuse. At first glance, it seems like such a simple topic. The parent or guardian or whoever it is is simply abusing their child. It's a bad thing but it seems so simple to understand. This book helped me understand that it's not very simple. It's especially not very simple for the children involved. The author did a great job of describing through Matthew what being in an abusive home feels like. She describes it as constantly living in fear because you never know when your abuser is suddenly going to explode on you. You never know what going to happen. You never know if today is the last day you'll live. When the author said that it feels like you're "living with fear all the time," it was a very sort of straightforward way to say what it feels like. My favorite way she described the feeling of living in that kind of home was when she described it as living in a constant play. She says,

"I was the director of our theater, arranging the stage set, telling you and Callie to take your places, prompting you to do or say this or that, whisper-feeding you lines of dialogue and bits of businness. "Don't forget to hug her!" "Go get her some Advil and a glass of water, fast." "Ask her if she'll help you with your homework later, she likes that."

And all the while I was directing, and acting, I also had to gauge the reaction of our audience of one--Nikki--and make adjustments to our play so it would suit her mood. Her picture of who she was. I knew every move, every motion in every possible scenario, and all the plays melted together onto an endless onstage nightmare, all  of them beginning with the sound of the downstairs door slamming open and her high heels clacking on the stairs. "

     The trio of siblings in this story, I learned, are one of the lucky families. In the end, they end up leaving their abusive mother and travel into the safe hands of other guardians without being separated. The narrator tells us how many siblings are separated when they're saved, so he was really grateful he and his siblings were able to stick together. With a whole trio of kids being abused by their mother, I wondered why they never told anyone about it. The narrator eventually tells us that he wanted help--he wanted to get his siblings out of there. He was worried that no one would believe them, people would make matters worse, or he and his siblings would be split up into foster care. This immediately reminded me of why kids don't want to tell adults that they're being bullied. However, in child abuse cases, the person that has been around raising the child is the one hurting them.

     Overall, I think I would recommend this book to someone who doesn't know much about child abuse. If you don't know much (or anything), then this book seriously teaches you. However, I'd give it a 7/10. Not bad, but not too great. There were somethings that could be improved in the book, I think. It's not like the book is unreadable or anything but it doesn't really make you not want to put the book down. There are books that you simple cannot put down because they're that great. This is not one of those books. It's an OK book with a terrible little twist near the end but twists and turns doesn't make a good book. It helps, but it doesn't automatically make a book memorable. The Rules of Survival was good, but it's definitely not one of my top books.

Twisted: Week of 11/3

**Draw a picture for what you just read. 
Pages: 0-END

Tyler, the main character, thinks his life is falling apart. He's being accused of committing a crime he had nothing to do with, his father isn't the best, his mother is upset, and he might just be losing his best friend. I wanted to draw an interpretation of his life falling apart, because that was a big part of this book. I shaded the entire page dark gray to sort of represent how his life was already pretty dark before anything started happening. I thought of his life like a piece of cloth. Every time something bad happened, the cloth tore and fell apart. Eventually, you can see what's underneath the cloth -- you can see all the badness that caused it to tear. 

In the tears in the cloth, I wrote quotes from the book that show the different events causing his life to suck. "Migraine," represents Tyler's mother. His mom is very upset, I guess is the best way to phrase it. She resents her husband because of the things he does. She ends up arguing with him so much she drinks and gets migraines. Tyler knows why she gets them and it makes him hate his father even more. The tears in the lower left corner say, "Don't help." Tyler's best friend was trying to help him get through his problems. Tyler tells him not to help him because he'll just make everything worse in the end. I made that corner of the cloth not completely torn. You can see their are small fragments left. I did that to show that even though Tyler had hurt his friend, his friend still wanted to be there for him when Tyler needed it.

One of the larger sections says "I didn't do it. I didn't do it." Tyler is being accused of a crime he did not commit but it seems all he can say is that he didn't do it. There's no evidence to prove he didn't do it. It's all he can say in his defense. I made that section really big because it one of the things really tearing him  apart. He's being accused of hurting someone he genuinely loved and cared about, but no one believes him. The other large section has multiple quotes in it. They're all quotes from when Tyler had spurts of violent thoughts or actions. A lot of those quotes came from moments where Tyler was fighting or when he was having thoughts of violence against his father. His father, who was in one way or another, connected to all the events. 

On another note, this was a really good book and you should totally read it because it was such a really good book. Like really good.

Good book.

Like really good.

Brave New World: Week of 10/20

**Describe the major conflict. What side are you on?**
Pages read: 72-112

The major conflict in Brave New World is definitely the society itself. Is it right or is it wrong? Utopia or dystopia? I'll go more into the society more once I learn more about it, so here's just a small run down of it:

Everyone is trained, in a way, to develop in a certain way. Certain children will be trained to love certain things and associate them with happiness so eventually they'll love the job they are assigned to. Because of the training, no one hates their job and everyone is happy. The downside, however, is that no one really has a choice of wether or not they want that job. But, they're happy. So it doesn't really matter, right?

It's so hard for me to say whether or not I support that. No one gets to pick their job, but no one hates their job. But no one gets to pick their job. But they're happy with their job. You could go on with that forever. They may be happy with their job, but is it OK to not let them pick? Is it OK to train them to love it? Morally, I suppose not. I mean, a very big thing people support is the idea of freedom. The idea that you can do what you want, say what you want, think what you want. The society allows you to think and say what you wish, but it does sort of take away the "do what you want" factor of freedom. And that's where it gets really tangled again. They don't have the real freedom to do what they want, but the job they've been trained for makes them happy. That's the job they want to do. To them, it's freedom to be able to do that job they love.

It helps to think, "Well, if they weren't trained for it, then they wouldn't necessarily all want the job they've been assigned to, right?" YES. It is VERY helpful to think about that when it comes to this book's conflict. It also helps to think, "Well, they're trained to love it, right? So, is it real happiness?" That is also very helpful to think! And after you stop and think of these questions alongside the society's happiness and training, it's still very hard to come to a conclusion of whether or not the society is good. It all just comes back to the whole point of they are happy, whether they like it or not -- and apparently they all like it.

I think people would take different sides on this conflict. Some people may think the society is bad because it sort of takes away freedom. Others would say it's good because everyone has a form of happiness, the economy is stable, and no one is poor. Happiness; freedom; stableness. Opinions on this society are going to based off of what the person thinks is most important in a society. Do you want everyone to be happy at the cost of freedom? Do you want a stable society? A society filled with freedom? You'd get so many different opinions on their society. I, frankly, am in the middle. With this society comes many ups and downs. Happiness, but missing freedom. Stable economy, but controlled population. (Controlled population is very controversial. It creates a steady economy but the pop. is being controlled.) I can't pick a complete side. I'm in the middle, sometimes leaning towards bad and sometimes leaning towards good.

This book makes you think so much and it makes the book a hundred times better than it already is.

The Rules of Survival: Week of 11/10

**Analyze the impact word choice has on the meaning or tone of a text. 
Analyze how dialogue or specific incidents reveal information about characters**
Pages read: 0-70

The Rules of Survival  tells the story of Matthew, a thirteen year old boy. He lives with his eleven year old sister, his five year old sister, and his abusive mother. The story is told in Mathew's POV as he writes the abusive events in the form of a letter to his youngest sister. He wants to write her this letter so that she can truly understand what she went through as a child and so she can know the rules of survival (hence the title).

With the book's topic being domestic abuse, a lot of the word choice has been negative. One of the first examples of this is, "I wonder if you really need to know exactly what happened to us -- me, you, Callie -- at the hands of our mother." Most of the negativity in this sentence comes from him just saying "at the hands of our mother." When people use that phrase (at the hands of whatever), they usually mean that something bad has happened and this person has caused it or been the one to inflict it. So from that, even if you didn't know what the book was about, you could come to the conclusion that he's going to tell the story of bad things that happened to him and his siblings because of his mother.

The topic of the book not only allows for negative events, but it allows for positive events as well. These events, both good and bad, help give us an understanding of which characters should be labeled under good  or bad. One example of this is when Matthew directs to his youngest sister: "I don't want to hear any details about what happened when our mother kidnapped you -- so long as you've forgotten it, anyway. So long as you're not having screaming nightmares or something." We can learn quite a bit about a few characters just from this one quote. We learn that Matthew is bothered by the things his mother does. We can see that he hates them and does not want to hear about them. But, we also learn that he cares about his sister very much. We know that he hates hearing about the terrible things his mother does. Even so, he'd be willing to listen to his sister talk about them if the events have frightened her and talking to him would help. We can also see he cares because if she doesn't even remember it, he isn't going to interrogate her on the kidnapping and risk her remembering even the smallest detail of what she went through.

There is a character is this book named Murdoch. So far, he's the only character that has stood up for Matthew and his siblings against their mother. When we're first introduced to Murdoch, we can already get a bit of information about his character. "The father's eyes bulged. His fists were clenched. He drew one arm back. But Murdoch was still looking straight at him, and I knew--you could feel it vibrating in the air--that even though Murdoch had said he wouldn't hit him, he wanted to. He wanted to hurt him. 'Hit me,' Murdoch said. 'Come on. Better me than the kid.' "  In this scene, Murdoch was standing up for a child that was being abused by his father publicly in a store. We can see that Murdoch has a strong sense of justice. Instead of ignoring the events like many of the other shoppers, he confronted the father to help the child. Along with that, we can also see that he knows what's OK to do and what's not OK to do. It was OK to stand up to the father. It was OK to tell the father to hit him rather than his child (it was brave, too). However, he knew that it would not have been OK to hit the father, even if he wanted to; even if he felt the father deserved it. We can see he knows where to draw the line.

I don't know how I feel about this book...Right now, 5/10. Not bad, but not very good either. I'm not very far into it so it's hard to say. There's just something about it that bothers me a bit. I might even go as far as to say it's ever so slightly boring. Maybe, it's a good idea for a book but it's just been executed a bit poorly? Right now, I just wouldn't recommend this book. It's very so-so.

Brave New World: Week of 10/27

** Do you like what you are reading? Why or why not?**
Pages read: 112-153

      Am I enjoying this book? Yes. Yes. Yes. Very much so. It is seriously so interesting, no one has any idea how interesting it is until you've read it.  So far, it's great.

     The book is about a utopian society and like The Giver, it's showing the reader the darker side of that paradise. The dark side of the society has already been revealed but even so, I think you can still consider it a utopian society. On some level. Maybe. It's so interesting because it makes you think about what a utopia really is. In The Giver, as soon as the dark side is revealed, we can all agree that their society is actually much like a dystopia rather than utopia. However, in Brave New World, it's hard to tell.

Their society is centered on the idea of the assembly line created by Ford, the creator of the Model-T car in 1908. This is where utopia and dystopia clashes. Children are no longer born by mothers and fathers. Rather, they are created artificially. In labs, eggs are fertilized and from there, things get a bit more...Futuristic. The eggs are then "conditioned" to become whatever the lab workers need or want. The society is broken up into five classes, with a highest and lowest class. The people in the classes have different jobs depending on what class they have been created into. For example, someone in the lowest class would be a person pressing buttons for you in an elevator. Someone in the highest class might be the director of a company or a specialist. So labs can take these eggs and condition them to fit into which ever class they want. Need more geniuses? All they need to do is put certain chemicals into the eggs and they will develop to fit the needs of the society.

But again, this is where the line between utopia and dystopia is blurred. Everyone is conditioned to fit into their own class. Everyone is conditioned from the very beginning to fit their job. Everyone loves their job. No one is unhappy. Because they can create workers when they need them, the economy is stable. People have also been conditioned to help keep the economy booming. When the embryos grow into babies, the conditioning does not stop. Again, certain classes go through certain stages of conditioning to suite their job and class. However, there's one really clever part. The government wanted people to spend money and travel, so they conditioned babies to associate plants with happiness and joy. This made people travel like the government wanted to. However, they loved plants so much that they no longer wanted to stay in cities (with no wilderness) and work. The government then tried a different tactic. They conditioned a new set of babies to hate plants. How did they do this? They would put a group of toddlers in a room. Whenever they touched a plant or got closer to it, the babies were shocked with electricity and they suffered through a terribly loud and painful noise. They grew to associate wilderness with pain and suffering. But, the government was clever. They conditioned the children to hate the wilderness but love outdoor sports. This meant that the people would still work in cities and factories but they would no longer have that need for wilderness. Instead, they would only travel out to the country to play sports (which required them to spend more money on gear).

All in all, everyone is happy. No one hates their job and the economy is stable. But it makes you think about what a country being "stable" really means. Yes, no one hates their job but they have been trained to do so. They, essentially, have no choice. People have been so conditioned to stay happy and content that when someone shows the slightest sign of being unhappy or different, they all freak. They freak out or they simply don't understand how this person is not having the time of their life. The main character, for example, is one of those people not having the time of his life. Bernard is an Alpha, the highest class. People of his class are to be respected always, and even feared. However, that is not the treatment he gets. Bernard is shorter than the usual Alpha (by eight centimeters), so he's scene as a joke. Because he is shorter and not respected as he believes he should be, he is unhappy. Because he is unhappy, he is an outcast from everyone else. Because he is an outcast, he doesn't view things as a utopia. In a way, he is a person looking into their world but he just sees a zoo. He sees these animals and he sees what they are doing, but he doesn't quite understand why.

So...So far it's pretty good. It's really interesting with the points it brings out that can be applied to today's society. I don't recommend it if you can't handle a bit of mature topics...I guess is the best way to phrase it.
Just don't read it with someone looking over your shoulder.
That would not be best.

The Ache of Amontillado - Narrative

**The authorities have picked up Montresor and brought him to the local police station for questioning. Write a one page dialogue that illustrates Montresor's conversation with police.


I stared out the window of my home. Carneval overtook the streets. Again. Fifty years ago I was a young 35 years old with a dear "friend" of mine at the same celebration. Fifty years ago I ended his life. Stepping back and looking away from the window, I swallowed with a frown. No regrets. No regrets.

ba-boom. 

Just then, a rattle on the door. My heart jumped. The knock was loud. It was bold, it was powerful, it was frightening. My ears no longer rang with the sound of music, dancing, and screaming outside. They rang with one knock on the door. They rang in time to the beat of my heart in my chest.

"Just a drunk looking for more wine for his companions...Carneval does bring the drunks. It does bring the drunks..."

ba-boom. 

I took small, slow steps down the stairs. My legs ached and my cane prodded to find the next surfaces. Heavily breathing, I opened the door. My eyes squinted to focus on his face; a young face with messy stubble and messy hair. But he did not smell of wine or of Carneval. He was not a drunk.

"Sir, are you alright?" he said worriedly.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine... Just a little old."

The young man smiled and lightly chuckled at the joke, showing his messy teeth. "It's nice to see some people can still keep a sense of humor without being drunk around this time. Speaking of drunks...Do you know where I can find a man by the name of Montresor? I was hoping he might still live here."

I shifted. "Yes...I do still live here. I am Montresor. What do you need? I do not give away wine from my catacombs." I said harshly.

At my words, the young man no longer smiled a messy smile. He wore a serious expression, like a whole new man; no longer an untidy face.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me, sir."

"Why's that? Go with a drunk? I think not."

He laughed a serious laugh. "No sir. Not a drunk. An officer."

He pulled out a circle. Bright gold, engraved. A badge. The symbol of a police officer.

ba-boom.   ba-boom.

***

The room was cold and empty. It was lit by a fluorescent light that seemed to make the foul smell of the room even stronger and even more nauseating. A table sat in the middle of the room, made of metal the temperature of a hundred glaciers on the coldest night. The young man...Young officer sat across from me and set a file in front of him. He stared at me and smiled. Leaned back in his chair, and stared.

"How is carneval treating you this year, Montresor?"

"Just fine. Just like every year."

My arms ached uncomfortably. I massaged my right arm carefully with shaking fingers.

"Wonderful. May I ask...How was carneval treating you, say, fifty years ago?"

ba-boom.   ba-boom.   ba-boom.

Ache. Swallow. Smile.

"Fine. Just fine. One has to appreciate the older days when you're my age. You can't go celebrate at carneval like you used to. Wine, however, still tastes delightful."

"Who did you like to celebrate with?"

"Friends, of course."

Shift.

"Did you happen to know a man named Fortunato? I hear he was quite the celebrator." He leaned forward in his chair. "Was quite a celebrator, yes?"

Smile.

"Yes. A drinker on occasions. But what do you need? I know nothing of his death."

"That's not what I hear, Montresor."

ba-boom.   ba-boom.    ba-boom.    ba-boom.

I smiled to hide my rising worry and the rising ache in my arms. "Just who are you hearing it from, may I ask? A couple of drunks? At Carneval? Hah! Surely you're not stupid enough to believe a drunk on Carneval night, officer!"

"Yes, one would be a fool to believe the drunks on such a night of alcohols. And what was it that Fortunato specialized in? Wine, correct? But anyway, Sir Monstresor, our witness was not a drunk. She had not yet had a drink when she saw an...interesting sight, for lack of better word."

"Interesting sight? Well I'd say one might see quite the number of interesting sights on a night of drunks, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes. Quite true," he said with a smile. "But this sight is far more interesting than anything else you might see. Why, she saw you! And with who, I wonder."

"I'm afraid it escapes my memory."

"Don't play clueless, Montresor! You may be old, but you are without a doubt, a smart man. Our witness saw you with Fortunato. As far as we know, you are the last to see him before his apparent death. She saw you and your friend enter this exact house. What did you two do? What did he do?"

ba-boom.   ba-boom.    ba-boom.    ba-boom.   ba-boom.

"We simply drank a little wine. Some amontillado. Fortunato was a fine man in the art of wine but he could handle no more of it than any other man. He became drunk, as well as I. I, though it may be embarrassing, I fell asleep rather quickly afterwards. Fortunato left me in my home and went out to Carneval. He was a smart man when he was sober, but I cannot say the same for when he was drunk."

The officer stared at me, expecting more. I smiled pleasantly.

"I'm afraid I can tell you no more."

The officer looked unsatisfied. "Montresor, no one claims to have seen the man at Carneval after he entered your home and drank your wine, as you say he did. And no one has seen him for fifty years. Why is that?"

"Officer, haven't we agreed? You're not going to get much information from drunks on Carneval. They cannot tell their own hands from the hands of those next to them. And as I have said before, Fortunato was stupid man when he became drunk. Very...Very stupid in fact. Probably got himself into trouble."

"I see..." he leaned forward once again. "Would you mind...Showing me the location where you both drank together?"

***

I climbed the stairs down to the catacombs this time. I had not been down here in ages, it seemed. My aching legs could no longer take the climb.

ba-boom.   ba-boom.    ba-boom.    ba-boom.   ba-boom.   ba-boom.

I lead him slowly through the maze inside. Walls upon walls of fine wines covering graves of unknown men and women. A heave with each step.

We reached the section where I had taken justice into my own hands. I smiled at the remembrance.

"What is this wall, Montresor?"

"Oh, just a renovation."

He looked skeptically at the wall and ran his hands over the stones. "Why?"

I leaned against the wall of the catacombs, my arm supporting me. "Oh, you know. Just to seal off an unwanted section. Rats favored it." I said, heaving.

ba-boom  ba-boom  ba-boom  ba-boom  ba-boom  ba-boom  ba-boom  ba-boom

"Are you alright, Montresor?"

"I'm sorry, what was that you said?"

ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom

My face contorted. I collapsed. I clutched my chest, over my heart.

ba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boomba-boom

"Dear god! Montresor!"

***

Th crew set down their sledge hammers after knocking down a large enough portion of the wall to step through.

"Do you really think he just...renovated it? Down here?" a crew member asked, looking around the well kept room.

"Hard to say. When I spoke to him, he seemed rather sure of himself. Calm and confident. Didn't realize he was in the middle of dying!"

"Hah, maybe you're just a pretty bad officer."

The dust settled down from the wall. "We'll see about that," the officer said.

The crew members all looked down and twiddled with their sledge hammers in an effort to look occupied. The officer rolled his eyes and entered the room, alone. He covered his nose immediately. He jumped back when his foot crushed something with a loud crunch.

"Crew!"

**End**

Time Travel Q & A

Q: Where would you go? 

A: Baltimore, Maryland

Q:To which year or period would you travel?

A: October 7th during 1849

Q: Who would you want to meet or what event would you want to witness?

A: I'd want to meet Edgar Allan Poe before he died. 

Q: Where would you find this person or see this event?

A: Now that's the hard part...People don't know exactly where he was found.Some people say he was found just wandering the streets, others say he was found on a park bench. 

Q: Why would you want to meet this person or witness this event?

A: When people found him the day he died, he was already too delirious to tell them anything. I think a man like him would have really interesting things to say if you could have met him before he died (or before he started hallucinating). If not something interesting, he might have had something to say about what killed him in the end and it would be pretty cool to know why he died. Some say he was found outside a bar. So really, I'd have a hard time finding him!

Q: How might YOU change history?

A: Well, assuming I'm actually able to find him before he becomes delirious, I don't think I would change history even if I talked to him. I just kind of feel like his death was his death and there's nothing that should really be changed about it. Not in a mean way, though! I just think...That's that. What happened happened, even if it was tragic. Even if I were to get him to a hospital faster, what are the chances the medical technology back would have been able to save him? I know nothing about doctor-ness so I definitely wouldn't be able to really help him.

First Quarter Reflection

First quarter went by pretty fast. Faster than how it would go by in sixth or seventh grade. I guess you really become more aware of the time going by once it's your last year. Anyway, first quarter has brought me quite a few things.

First things first, the forty book challenge. So far I've read three books (four books if you count one I read outside of class) and will be done with my current book pretty soon. In these few books, I've learned more about what genres I prefer and what I like in books. It's making reading more enjoyable for me. I didn't really have an idea of a genre I liked last year, so I didn't read many books. I didn't want to read something I didn't like. Already this year, however, I'm noticing that I'm actually wanting to read. I'm hoping that I'm going to read a lot more books this year now that I know what I actually enjoy.

Blog wise, I honestly don't think my blogs have changed very much since August, but not in a bad way. I feel pretty satisfied on my writing with my blogs (unless I'm not focused when I'm writing them...then that's pretty bad...) so I'm glad I haven't changed much. Obviously, you can always improve, but I'm happy where I am.

My blogging strategy is definitely not the best...and that could completely be improved. My blogging routine usually goes like this:
1. Read the book.
2. Time to turn in blog!
3. I don't do the thing.
4. Read some more.
5. Don't do the thing.
6. Finally turn in my blog like two days late.

I have trouble doing the thing. You know what I mean. Not procrastinating. Not doing the blog. It's a terrible process. I think I do this because most of the time, I don't feel like doing it. So I don't. And I know this is bad. Another thing is the fact that some weeks, I feel I haven't read enough, so I take another day or two to read some more before diving into a blog. To improve, I could definitely read more during the week so I don't have to take extra time to read and end up with a blog two days late. That could definitely be improved. Other than that, I feel pretty good about my blogging strategy!

I've learned quite a bit about the world from first quarter. A big thing I've learned about is the Ebola virus epidemic this year. It's really cool (and kind of terrifying) to have learned about the epidemic when it was just a quarantine and worry in Africa. Over the course of a month or two since we learned about Ebola, the virus has spread to multiple countries. Including the US. It's cool to have seen it grow and learn that these things really do happen, but it's kind of scary. On another note, I've also learned about different perspectives on things. When we do class discussions (of sorts) on the world issues we've learned about, it's interesting to hear everyone else's opinions, takes, and solutions on the problems at hand.

It's hard to say how my research skills have improved...I mean, I don't really know what they were like before so I feel I can't accurately contrast them with my skills now. However, I'm going to assume that they have. I think now I'm willing to check many more websites/sources to get the information I need. Before, I might have just stuck with one or two sources and called it a day. Now I feel much more willing to find better and stronger sources in order to get good information to prove my point or include some information. But still, I'm not very certain (sorry).

I'm feeling pretty good about this quarter though! It kind of makes me dread the end of the year with saying goodbye to everyone, 'cause I feel like I've had a pretty good time so far.

Brave New World: Week of 10/13

** Character Development**
Pages read: 0-72

     New World  is about a Utopian society in AD Ford. What is "AD Ford"? AD Ford is 1908, the year Henry Ford first introduced and published his T-Model car. So, the book is set in the AF era in AD Ford. What is AF? AF is 'after Ford.' Ford being Henry Ford, again. The year is AF 632, 632 years after Ford first brought out his T-Model (so really it's the year 2540 but they number their years after the number of years that have passed since T-Model). But because this is a book about a Utopian society, it has taken quite a bit of time to introduce the reader to the way this society works. Basically, there hasn't been much character development. There definitely has been some-- just not a lot.

One example of character development came when the author described the feelings of Bernard Marx: "How bitterly he envied men like Henry Foster and Benito Hoover! Men who never had to shout at an Epilson to get an order obeyed; men who took their position for granted; men who moved through the cast system like a fish through water--" The society includes a caste system and Bernard is all the way at the top with Epilsons being all the way at the bottom. Bernard's rank should give him complete respect from those below him but because of the fact that he is rather short for someone in his rank (he's shorter than the average by 8cm), he isn't taken seriously. He has to yell to be obeyed unlike those in his same rank that merely have to whisper to be obeyed right away. This makes Bernard very angry and sad in a society where everyone is very happy. He's an outsider. The quote tells us that Bernard is a bitter person and then proceeds to explain why, making it direct character development. It tells us something explicitly about Bernard's character.

'"Perfect!' cried Fanny enthusiastically. She could never resist Lenina's charm for long." is another example of direct character development for both characters mentioned in the quote. We're told something about both Lenina and Fanny's character. For Lenina, we're told that she has a charm or a charming aura of sorts. Fanny, we learn, cannot resist this charm. We also get some indirect development from this. It states that Fanny can't resist Lenina's charm, but it also suggests that she gives into other things very easily. This is indirect character development because it only states Fanny can't stay mad at Lenina, and that's direct. Fanny caving into many things is indirect because the reader can come to a conclusion about it from the fact that she gives into Lenina so easily.



I think the covers are pretty cool for this book so I felt inclined to include four of them within this post. I'm so sorry but come on look at them.

Blog Improvement: Reflection

To see the progress I've made with blogging, I went back and read every single blog from seventh grade October. So that was quite a bit. Quite a bit of cringing. One of the first things I noticed was that I summarized the book way too much. Even now I still have a bit of a habit of summarizing the story a bit more than needed, but my summarizing back then was just way over the top, I think. I didn't include much of the prompt and spent a lot of the blog just telling the reader what the story was about, so that wasn't very good..

     I also noticed my overall awkwardness when reading the blogs. If I could describe my old blog with just one word it would be awkward. Without a doubt. Somehow, when I was writing them back then, I didn't think they sounded that awkward. Now, however, I have never truly understood the meaning of the word 'awkward' until I've reread those old blogs. Please let them be deleted and forgotten. I think this might have been spurred on by my habit of being repetitive. I wasn't repeating things very often, but when I was repetitive, I was full on redundant. Incredibly so. Like, "Wow did I just repeat the same idea like five times? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that's what I just did."

   Thankfully, I don't think I write like that anymore. At least, I hope I don't. I'm pretty sure that, at this point, my writing has improved from that terrible stage. I'm starting to try and not summarize my books too much, just giving the reader a very brief idea of the conflict and characters. But, my overwhelming amount of summarizing was a pretty big problem (in my opinion) so I think that might actually take quite some time to completely improve. 

     Awkwardness-wise, I have no idea if I've improved on that! When I was writing those blogs, I thought I was completely un-awkward. Now that I read back, I realize I was pretty bad. So, I'm desperately hoping I'm not writing these eighth grade blogs with a false sense of un-awkwardness like I was in seventh grade. I really hope my writing sounds as natural or casual as I think it sounds in my head when I think about what to write. Seriously hoping. 

     I think I can learn quite a bit from my old writing. As I notice all the things I could have improved, I also take note of it as a bad habit I used to have or still do have as I write. For example, because I noticed I am sometimes repetitive, it has taught me to keep an eye out for things I've already said or suggested. In the same take-note way, I've also learned to keep my amount of summarizing in check. It really is like me learning from my mistakes.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You: Week of 9/29/14

** Author's Technique**
Pages read: 0-103


     Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You is about James, a teenage kid suffering from depression and a panic disorder he doesn't really want to admit he has. I thought the author used some pretty interesting techniques to really get his whole story across, especially because the story was told in James' point of view, so the author had to come across as a kid living a not-so-good life.

     One of the first techniques I noticed was the fact that the author used dialogue to tell most of the story. It reminded me of how "The Lottery" was written, with a lot of information coming from the dialogue rather than more information coming from the narrator. Because of James' depression, he sees a therapist named Dr. Adler. Quite a bit of the story after Dr. Adler is introduced is told within the conversations between James and Adler. With their conversations, we learn more about the things James has gone through and how he feels about them (because obviously, he has to talk about his feelings in therapy). Although, it wasn't just the actual verbal dialogue telling the story. There was also a lot of information pouring out of James' internal dialogue. Even though James goes through Therapy, he struggles to really voice everything he's feeling, so the reader learns more about the problem as he debates it in his head.

     Another technique was using character's back stories for their characterization. This was major in the development of James' character, but it also occurred with the people around him. One of the first back stories we hear about from James is the story of his mother. His mother had married James' father  but soon divorced him. After that, another marriage and divorce. After that, yet another marriage and yet another divorce. James tells us about these marriages and the affect it had on his mother. We learn why she's so sad and tired now. All the back stories we hear from James helps us get the back story on him. Though the complete set of reasons for his depression hasn't been completely revealed, we can tell from the back stories (and the way he tells them) that his parents' divorce is a cause of his depression. His parents, both being rather self absorbed, don't really pay much attention to James. And he doesn't mind. The problem is, without them, he doesn't know what to do with himself. When they are with him, it seems they don't really listen to him, either. So far, back stories have been piecing themselves together and are helping the reader learn more about James' past; and especially about an event in his past he doesn't want to talk to anyone about.

     The final technique I noticed while reading was the description the author used. The author described scenery and people more often than he would describe events happening (he left that to the dialogue, really). An example of description in this book is,

"Dr. Adler watched me patiently, in the way a psychiatrist would watch a patient, her face perfectly devoid of any expression except for a slight smear of concern."

     This book had a lot of descriptions of people and places but I just had to choose this one. "her face perfectly devoid of any expression except for a slight smear of concern." I just love the way the author chose to say it. He could have easily said something like, "She showed no emotion except for a tad bit of concern," but he didn't. He chose a more creative way of saying it with the use of "smear of concern," and saying how her face was "perfectly devoid of any expression". It's pretty interesting.

Banned Book Vlog

The Boy Book: Week of 9/15/14

** What did you think of what you read?**
Pages read: 117-END

This is usually a book I would probably never pick up because of the title. The Boy Book. Pretty self explanatory on what it was about, right? Well, not in the moment I saw it. In that moment, I had a mere minute to find a book, read the summary, check it out, and leave the library in a mad dash. So, in the moment, a book with a penguin on the cover and a sort of unique title seemed like a good idea. Especially since the summary made no sense. And here is how the boy book actually turned out.

Well turns out it was a second book in a series. So I was a bit lost for a while. Thankfully, the speaker gave a brief summary of the events in the past book. This isn't a direct quote, but this is what happend.

1. Circle of tightly knit lady friends.
2. Speaker has dream boyfriend.
3. Friend likes dream boyfriend.
4. Speaker and Dreamy McDreamy break up and friend steals him.
5. Speaker makes out with ex boyfriend.
6. Speaker is caught making out with ex boyfriend.
7. Speaker loses all friends (but two who weren't in the circle).
8. List of Speaker's past boyfriends in posted around high school.
9. Speaker is officially isolated in school.
10. SECOND BOOK! YAY1

A pretty common plot, except for the list thing. I had no idea what this book or the first book was about, so you can imagine I was pretty caught off guard. I wasn't expecting an extremely girl-drama book. 

But surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. The girl drama in the first book is just the whole book, I assume. Since I haven't read it. But in this second book, it's a mere surface, I suppose you could say. Basically, it branches out into other parts of the story. The second book focuses on the speaker, Roo, trying to cope with everything. She goes through therapy lessons, trying to become neutral with old-circle-friends, and just trying to not mess things up anymore. As I write this I realize it doesn't exactly sound thrilling, but you have to believe that it was actually pretty good. 

The writing itself was something I really enjoyed. It was really casual sounding, in a way. I guess because the story was from a high school girl's perspective, the author wanted it to sound like it was actually by a high school girl. And she did a pretty good job of it! It didn't sound as formal as a lot of other books, but then again, it wasn't completely terrible writing. It was still good writing. It didn't have much imagery or figurative language or much things like that, but it was good. Another thing with the writing was the fact that it had the kind of writing that had a lot of comedy and sarcasm. So that was great.

Character wise, it was really good. The characters are all there for a reason and none of them seem hastily added in or anything when you read about them. They all have a purpose in the writing. They all had their unique dialogue that sounded real and had emotions that made the characters themselves seem realistic. They sounded and acted like real people you would meet any day, so the author did a really good job with that.

Though I may have complimented the plot earlier, here is where I might take a little of that back. IT had a pretty OK plot idea, and that's what I was complimenting. Though, the actual moving on of the plot was a bit...bad, I suppose. The plot was definitely moving along, but at the same time, it seemed pointless. Like you weren't exactly sure of what the whole point of this book was. I guess with that you could say, "Oh so you mean you couldn't tell what would happen? That's a good author. One who's writing is so good that you can't tell the future of their character's." You could definitely say that. Definitely. I just don't know if you would say that for this book. I couldn't tell what would happen at the end because it seemed pointless. And it can be hard to tell the POINT of something that's pointLESS.

I'd give this book a 6.5 maybe 7/10 good book wise. For entertainment purposes, a solid ten outta ten. 

The Boy Book: Week 9/8/14

** Figurative language & imagery
Pages read: 0-117

The Boy Book doesn't include much figurative language. In fact, if I try to think back, I really can't think of any (but I'm sure they're in there somewhere). So, I'm going to focus on the book's imagery. It's even kind of hard for me to write about the imagery in the book because there doesn't seem to be much of it. The parts that are imagery aren't very descriptive, but they do count. Rather, the book tells the story by mainly explaining what's happening in that moment without too much description. Frankly, I don't really mind. It gives the writing a sort of casual feeling, if you get me.

One of the first examples of imagery is, "I wanted him to see me as a damsel in distress and come to my aid and touch my hand and feel a rush of desire and remorse. I had wanted him to notice my legs in my fishnet stockings as I knelt on the floor to pick up the quarters." This piece of imagery was cool because even though it wasn't incredibly descriptive, you really get an image in your head of what the main character described. Because she mentioned the style of her stockings and the sadness she felt, the scene kind of plays in your head like a short movie clip.

Another imagery example is, "The feeding schedule was posted all around the zoo, so a few minutes before we were supposed to start, visitors began crowding in around the penguins, watching them swimming their fat bodies through the blue water. The room was dark, and penguins on the land part of the enclosure seemed to sense that feeding time was near: a good number of them had waddled over to the door, waiting for the keepers to come out with buckets of fish." Again, this text isn't very descriptive. Still so, it manages to give the reader a clear enough visual to go along with the text.

The style of this book just doesn't seem to have much imagery or figurative language, as you might have noticed. The descriptions of people or objects that the book includes really just put an adjective here or there, but not much. It's kind of weird, but strangely nice. The book describes what's happening rather than what things/people look like, and it's not that bad. I wouldn't say it makes for an interesting read, but it's a bit more casual or informal. I like it!

Book List Challenge

This list is in no particular order...

1. Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

This is a very recent read for me (This summer, in fact) but it's definitely my favorite book right now. Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets is about a boy who's very sad but honestly wants to be very happy. It's about finding your own beauty, wether it be in other people, yourself, or even in pictures of trees. I loved this book because it had made me cry, but then it had made me laugh because of all the deep emotions put into the writing. Really, just a great book. **The fact that there's a talking pigeon is just another reason to love this book!**

2. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Yup, this is a kids book. And, I read it once when I was a kid. It was one of a few books that I actually genuinely enjoyed reading at that age, so I really loved it. I thought the story was good, the characters were strange and funny. Great for a kid. I read it yet again last year to relish the book once again, but with my far older age, I read it in a new light. When you read this book when you are older, you notice how many messages and life advice the author puts into the narration or character dialogue. You notice all the puns and jokes you maybe didn't notice the first time. In my second time reading, I was amazed at just how true and relevant the messages were. They were things that a person should definitely do throughout their life. Great things to keep in mind.

3. Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers

This is another very recent read for me that has become one of my favorites. Debbie Harry Sings in French is about a teenage boy who feels out of place in  a lot of things. In school, in family, with friends, even music. He's not sure who is yet, so he just tries to blend in with whatever his friends are into. But, sometimes he's not even sure they're real friends. After a very scary incident (*involving his friends*), he moves to North Carolina to live with different family. It's there that he starts to discover who he is and who he wants to become. He wants to be like Debbie Harry. Though she's a girl and he's a boy, he wants to be as beautiful, strong, and tough as her. This was a really interesting and good coming-of-age story that I really recommend. It teaches you that it really is okay to be you, and there are guaranteed people that won't like it. But, they don't really matter if who you are is what makes you happy.

4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

This one, pretty much everyone read in class and I'm pretty sure most people actually enjoyed it. I decided to put Of Mice and Men on this list because of all the symbolism that it had. For example, there was Candy's dog and Lennie. This book really made you think about things like our current society versus our past society and if it's any better. If you count out all the symbolism, I would have still put this book on my list. It's an old book, but I thought it was a really good read. The dialogue, setting description, and plot really match the time period the book was set in. I had thought that I would utterly hate this book, but I surprised myself on how much I actually enjoyed it.

5. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

This book is a compilation of many short stories by Harlan Ellison. I read it in an omnibus that included two other short story books by Ellison, but this one was my favorite. The short stories were all mainly  mixture of sci-fi and horror stories and there was a short story called I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. So, the book was named after this first story. The short story of the same name of the title of the book (confusing, right?) was actually my favorite short story in the whole book. It was about a computer called AM that killed every human being except for five. The computer keeps the people alive for thousands of years, never letting them die. In this time, the computer is torturing them, both mentally and physically. The story is told from the perspective of one of the captives, so it's pretty interesting.
Though the short stories were mainly tragic and sad, they were all very interesting and well written. It was a good book!

6. Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Anything but Typical is a story about a boy with autism. I think stories that have a narration from someone with autism are really interesting, because you get to hear a totally new perspective on things. Anything but Typical did a really good job of doing just that. Jason, the boy who's point of view the story is told from, points out some really interesting/cool things because he views things differently. The book also had a pretty good plot, so I really liked that. Another cool thing in the book was that Jason was an online writer. This meant that he would sometimes include part of the short stories he wrote into the book. Overall, it was just a really cool and interesting book.

7. Daemon Hall and Return to Daemon Hall by Andrew Nance

The Daemon Hall duology is one of my favorite things to read. I really like the horror genre with movies, but I can never find a good horror book that's actually kind of creepy. I've read a number of horror books but they were always pretty lame and boring, so I stopped trying to find a good horror book. But then I saw Daemon Hall. It was really amazing. It's about five kids that enter a horror short story writing contest. The five kids that won get to spend the day in a haunted house with a famous macabre writer. So, of course, a lot of creepy things happen in there. And it's awesome. The story itself was really cool and the descriptions told in first person were really cool too. Not only that, but it was filled with plot twists. The other really nice thing I liked about was the fact that it included pictures. There were only a few, but the art style was unique and had a very dark look for the book. The goes for the second book, which had a completely different idea but was really awesome as well.

8. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein


I have to include this book. How could someone not? I read this book a lot when I was rather young, so I didn't quite get its meaning. I read it again when I was older. I cried, actually. It's amazing how much the tree loved the boy but so sad how the boy seemed to not care about her. Almost like a fair-weathered friend. It was really heartbreaking as the boy took more and more of the tree but always leaving her behind, and it has taught me that I should never do this. If someone says they're happy as long as you're happy, you shouldn't take advantage of them by saying it'll make you happy. You can make the person very sad. Anyway, for a children's book, it's really good and sweet.

9. You Don't Know Me by David Klass

At first, I didn't like this book. The narration was strange...It seemed bland...I didn't like it. Somehow, chapter after chapter, I felt the writing got better. The story got more interesting. More details, more meaning, more depth. More everything. It suddenly became a very good book and also one of my favorites. You Don't Know Me is about a boy who no one knows. Sure, they may know his face or they may know his name, but they don't know him. They may be his friend or they may be his mother, but they don't know him. His story is about the girl he likes and also his home problems. He's being physically abused by his mother's boyfriend but doesn't say a word because he believes it would only make matters worse. The best part about this book was the amount of emotion and depth put into the parts of the book about his home problems. They made it seem so genuine and real that I wouldn't be surprised if the author himself suffered the same experience. It was just really good. To anyone that ever reads this book, don't put it down because the beginning is boring. I'll admit it is. You just have to wait a bit. After a while, things get funny, emotional, and just great.

10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

I read this book all the way in the beginning of sixth grade, but I still remember it now because of how much I enjoyed it. It tells the story of a boy with a mild form of autism. Like I said before, I find stories that are told from a person with autism are pretty interesting. They let you view a totally new way of seeing things and understanding things. This book was a mystery book, so the main character's autism made it pretty cool. His autism enabled him to take clues he found and put them together because of the way he thought of them. The plot itself is actually really good to. The main character's neighbor has a nice poodle named Wellington. And Wellington is murdered. So this mystery must be solved. It sounds like the plot for a children's book, but it actually branches out into other things. The main character discovers things about his father, his neighbor, and the mother who was never in his life. It's actually a really good book and I really recommend it.
**Also please note how cool that cover is. I mean it's really terrible to say but the dead dog on the cover was pretty creative right there. Or maybe not. Who knows.**

5.