Rules: 4/17/14

Pages: 1-80
Prompt: Summarize what you just read.

     The book I am reading is in the summer and about a twelve-year-old girl named Catherine. Her brother David has autism and cannot understand things very well. The easiest way to make him do something is to call it a "rule." With his disability David needs to know that something will happen or must happen or he will not listen. Catherine writes down rules for David and herself to help her through her own life. David will always do things that embarrass her and that is why she started writing rules down for him. One of her rules is "Keep your pants on!" She tries to help David but he often embarrasses her.

     Every week David goes to therapy. Even though she does not have to go Catherine often goes. She likes drawing the people in the waiting room. One of these people is Jason. Catherine does not know what disability he has but he cannot talk. He needs to touch note cards with words and pictures on them in a book he carries around to talk to people. At the beginning of the book when Catherine goes with David to therapy she decides to draw Jason. Jason's mother sees Catherine looking at Jason and yells at her. Catherine is very upset. But when Jason comes out of the waiting room he tells his mom to tell Catherine he likes her picture of him. Catherine gives her picture to Jason. Jason then asks Catherine to draw him some cards for his speech book. Catherine enjoys making these cards for his book and making them more colorful than the ones he already has.

     At the beginning of the book a new family is moving in with a twelve-year-old kid. This makes Catherine very happy because all of her friends are on vacation over the summer. She hopes to make friends with the new girl but she knows that David might embarrass her. When she goes to invite the new family over for a barbecue to meet them David is in the front yard. He sees a bee and starts screaming. The neighbors see all of this. Catherine decides not to invite them to the barbecue. She lies to her mom and says they were busy. A few days later her neighbor comes over. Her name is Kristi. She knows that David has a disability and doesn't really care. Catherine thinks that Kristi will be her friend.

Of Mice and Men: 4/8/14

Pages: 0-37

Prompt: Describe the main characters.

     One of the main characters is Lennie. He is described as, "a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily" He is not very smart and cannot make good decisions for himself. He always gets himself into trouble. At the beginning of the book we find out about why they had to run away from the town they were in. He was touching a girls dress and she got scared. This led to them being chased out of the town. He depends on his friend George to make decisions for him. An example of this is when they go to their new job George tells Lennie not to talk to anyone. Lennie helps George because he is very big and strong and can do jobs that require great strength. These jobs help them collect money to start their own farm.

     Another main character is George. He is described as, "small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose" He is smart and helps Lennie make decisions that he cannot make himself. He get annoyed with Lennie often and thinks that he could have a better life without him in it. He promised Lennie's Aunt he would watch Lennie so he is forced to stay with him. Whenever he makes Lennie upset by telling him he is annoying he tells him a story about how they will have a farm with rabbits that Lennie can watch and pet. He is often very forceful with Lennie. He will restrict him from doing much of anything. An example of this is when he tells Lennie not to talk at all when they are talking to who will be their boss to get a job.

     One of the supporting characters is Curley. George says that he's seen that kind of person before and that he is trying to get Lennie scared so he can beat him up. Lennie is very scared of Curley because of this and George tells him not to go anywhere near him. Even though George tells him to stay away from him he tells him that if Curly hits him he can beat him up. Another supporting character is Curley's wife. Even though she is married to Curley she flirts with a lot of the other workers at the ranch. A final supporting character is Slim. He is described as having a "hatchet face" that was "ageless." The author writes that "His ear heard more than was said to him." Everyone looks up to him as a role model and the author writes, "his word was taken on any subject."

Shadow and Bone: 4/1/14

Pages: 1-282
Prompt: Describe the main characters.


     The main character is Alina Starkov. She has magical powers but finds out when she is much older then most Grisha (magical people). She has the rarest power, she is a sun summoner. This means that she can make bright light shoot out of her. She and her best friend Mal are both orphans and were raised together. When she was tested to see if she was Grisha she kept her power concealed so she could stay with Mal. Her powers were discovered when Mal was in danger and she was trying to protect him. When she goes away to learn Grisha powers she does badly because she is upset about being away from Mal and is not eating enough. Mal is a big part of her life and she goes looking for him during a party with many people from around the world.

     Another main character is Mal. He is Alina's best friend because they stayed together before she was taken away to become a Grisha. When he was crossing the Fold, a very dangerous area that is dark and filled with monsters, with Alina they are attacked by Volcra, vicious winged monsters that used to be people. He is hurt by one but Alina saves him by shooting light at the Volcra. He then joins the army as a tracker and helps track down a stag that will make Alina more powerful. He is a very good tracker and some people say that he "can make rabbits out of rocks." When they ask for people to go to a party to tell the leader of the Grisha that they found the stag he volunteers to go in hope that he would see Alina. He wanted to make sure that she was ok. After the party he deserts the army to help Alina when she runs away from the Grisha camp.

     Another main character is Genya. She is a Grisha called a Tailor. She can change peoples appearances in small ways. When Alina needs to be presented to the king she fixes the bruises and imperfections on her face. She also does this for the Queen all the time. She becomes one of Alina's best friends. Some people say that she is in a relationship with the King. A final main character is the Darkling. He is the most powerful Grisha and leads all of the other Grisha. One of his powers is darkness. He can make rooms dark and make it dark only for certain people. That is how he demonstrates Alina's power. He makes the room dark and touches Alina. Because he is an amplifier it makes it easier for Alina to use her power. When she uses her power it gets rid of the darkness. Later in the story Alina discovers that the Darkling is actually an evil magician who created the Fold. He is actually planning to use Alina to hold back the Volcra so he can expand the Fold. When Alina discovers this she runs away with Mal.

The Split History of World War 1: 3/4/14

Pages: 1 - end
Prompt: Summarize what you just read.

     The book I read is about World War 1. It tells the two points of view to help people better understand the war. The two sides have very different opinions about the war and a book telling each side separately is very informative. It allows for many new ideas to be explained. The first main event in WW1 is the murder of Franz Ferdinand. He was the next in line to lead Austria-Hungary. Serbia was blamed for the murder and Austria-Hungary wanted to punish them. The only thing stopping them was that Serbia was allied with the powerful Russia who had treaties with France and Britain. Austria-Hungary was not powerful enough to fight all of these countries so they asked their ally, Germany, to support them. Germany, who had a powerful military, agreed and sent Austria-Hungary a "blank check" saying that they would protect them from attack.

    Germany declared war on Russia and France and attacked France through the neutral Belgium. Britain had an alliance with Belgium and declared war on Germany. Germany had made a secret alliance with the Ottoman empire to help fight Russia. Soon most of Europe was at war. Germany attacked France to attempt to knock them out of the war quickly so they could focus on fighting Russia. They had taken most of Eastern France and had fought of Russian attacks. But there was a problem. The German army in France was advancing so quickly that supplies could not keep up with them. Britain and France's armies had built up defenses at the Marne River. When they got to this river the Allies attacked and pushed them back about 65 miles. Retreating the Germans were ordered to dig trenches along the Aisne River and defend the land they had already taken. When the French couldn't push them out they built trenches along the Germans lines to protect themselves from German attacks. This lead to trench warfare.

     The British blockaded Germany's ports keeping food and supplies from being given to them. This resulted in Germany using submarines, or U-boats, to sink ships going to the Allies. This was one of the causes for America entering the war. In 1915 a German submarine sank the Lusitania. Nearly 1,200 passengers died including 128 Americans. Another reason for the Americans entering WWI was the Zimmerman telegram which was sent from the German Foreign Minister to the German ambassador to Mexico. It was suggesting making a treaty with Mexico to help them fight America if they entered the war. Also some historians argue the America entered the war because investments in the Allied countries. When America entered the war their troops were fresh and ready to fight unlike the European armies giving them a large advantage. The Germans surrendered while they still had troops in France. The Ally leaders met and made a peace treaty for Germany to sign called the Treaty of Versailles. There were no German representatives at this meeting and Germany thought it was very unfair. They were forced to sign it by the Allies. It would eventually lead to the beginning of WWII.