Pre-Reading, March Book Clubs;1984

It is hard to say a perfect utopian environment. No utopian environment comes without the dystopic side. That is why those stories are called a utopic/dystopic book. Also our world is not perfect at all. Everything seems to have a bad side and even the simplest things can be followed up with something bad. For example, riding your bike can be fun and entertaining but it can also lead to a concussion if you hit your head hard enough which can happen simply by bumping over a rock. This makes it super hard to imagine everything. So right now I am going to try and think of every childhood dream, every adult wish, every selfless or selfish desire.

I would make it so that travel is quick and easy. It wouldn’t cost so much to go to the other side of the world. I would also make travel as safe as it could be with a record of no injuries since it had been built and forever from that time. I would do this because my best friend/cousin lives in Alaska and often since her mom died, she hasn’t been able to come for Christmas. I only get to see her in the summer and Christmas time if I’m lucky. I have many fond memories with her and I often miss her very much.

   I would also make there be no health problems because they limit the world. I often see the world as a giant handicap. Humans could do so much individually and as a whole if we didn’t have anything holding us back or scaring us away. People wouldn’t have diabetes or cancer and everybody would die by natural means. Yes heartbreak is something that we all need to experience but it doesn’t have to be by someone dying.

   I also have always wanted a personal horse. I would like there to be a genie or something that grants wishes in each family for everybody to have one selfless wish per week. I would wish for a horse. However, the genies must be wise enough to see the future of what the person will do with that power. They have to make sure for example that I don’t want to use the horse to run over an old person.

   In conclusion, people need to watch what they do with their utopian places. It should be used lightly and have everything taken into consideration.

Mr.Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore; Post-Reading

Books are very powerful things. They can be your best friend or they can destroy you. In this novel, however, the books have a way of speaking to all the members of the Unbroken Spine. They especially help Clay find how to combine two of his favorite things, books and technology, something people like Corvinia don’t believe go together.

In this book, the people belonging to the Unbroken Spine were busy searching and decripting codes and trying to live forever. What they didn’t realize was that they needed a new approach to things. They knew what books could do for them, they just weren’t getting the right kind of books. In a way, Clay was their savior book. Like the quote from the book says “All you need to do is find the right book at the right time”. They found Clay and his new methods and as soon as they did, their minds began to open a little bit. If Clay hadn’t linked computers to books, he would never had seen the Reading Room and would never have gave the people the new approach they needed. 

I have often had a rough day when all I wanted to do was to go inside on of my fairy tale books. I would find my book at just the right time and whatever happened disappeared. It saved me, and possibly others too, if the thing was severe. Sometimes you don’t even need to open the book. Even something related to that book will do. I have also had many times when I thought that I couldn’t make it to the book so I just thought what would my favorite character had done. The right book can make someone happy and the wrong book can drag someone down. 

I think what this quote is trying to tell us is that if we can remain positive and use our knowledge we can do great things. For a while there, Clay didn’t think that they could copy the sacred book that there was only one of but he found a book, or an article, and got help from Grumble. This is a perfect example of us being helped by just a book.

Mr.Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Pre-Reading

    Books. They are probably the best friends you will ever have. You can even fall in love with the character it produces. It stays with you all day in your hardest times and in your triumphants. It can also displease you by leaving you on a cliff hanger. It may take a while for you to find a book that you in love with. But when you do, you won’t ever forget it.

    Books can help you get advice on anything. You can read about what your favorite characters would do in your situation and then you even know how their plan turns out by reading more. They can be your family if you don’t have the best family. Maybe your character is even going through the same thing you might be going through. It’s always nice to know when people are going through the same thing as you. They can be used for motivation and knowing that what you’re doing is good. It can be used to compare yourself to. You can look at one character and try and be more like them or look at the villain realize that you aren’t as bad as people think you are. Books can also take you into a world that isn’t you own. They can expose you to many different places and so many different types of character.

    They can also be that one thing you are rewarded with. In my personal experience one of the best things you can get for Christmas or your birthday. I got 4 books for Christmas and three of them were continuing off of my favorite series. I just finished two of them today. Of course even though I am sad that it is over, I know that it gave me a sense of happiness.

    Books can be so amazing and life changing. In this book, I hope that the main character loves books too. I also hope that something exciting with a kind of mystery because the best books are those that keep you waiting for another one. After all, they can destroy you or empower you.

Eleanor and Park; Post-Reading

    It is true that you can’t fix yesterday but you can fix what you do today. For example when Park says” yesterday happens” to Eleanor she realizes what she did and starts fixing herself to be a better person.

    Eleanor and Park were misfits for each other from the start and they knew that it would be hard to overcome. They had to work extra hard like convincing each other that they liked each other(and eventually love each other), had to please Park’s parents which took a while but after his mom and Eleanor bonded over make-up, Park’s dad soon followed suit. Also, Eleanor was always picked on and for her to have someone care about her was different. It took a while for her to understand that someone could care about her. The night that the quote takes place is one night when she comes over, at the beginning of their relationship she didn’t come over much so the first time was very nerve racking for her. She, of course, was just trying to protect herself against the feeling of being cast away. So she reacted in a way that would get her out of there. She didn’t know what the consequences of her acting that way would be but she found out the next day. That is when Park tells her that he was a little upset Eleanor realizes that she didn’t need to act that way. She realized that he would never intentionally hurt her.

    This quote also might mean that things happen that are similar to what might be known as a “yesterday”. Most people think of what they did yesterday as something wrong, so in this quote Park might also be trying to make Eleanor feel loved and now that she only hurt him a little and that she can fix it and he won’t be mad at her. He might have thought that she acted the way that she did because she didn’t feel welcome. So when he says “yesterday happens” he is trying to make her feel better and understand that he has a lot of “yesterday's” too.

    In conclusion whichever way you take it, from Park’s side or Eleanor’s, they both were just trying to make each other feel better about their relationship.

Eleanor and Park; Pre-reading Blog

    Most middle school students don’t realize that there is a significant difference between the words “like” and “love”. There are many different areas in life were this could take place even in a teenagers life.

    One area that this could happen is with dating. Everyone understands that middle
school dating is not the same as normal dating where you might actually go out.
In  middle school they don’t really go out they just text and give each
other looks in the hallway. So how does the word that you choose make a
difference? Well for one thing people are used to hearing the word like in
middle school and the word “love” with their parents whom are most likely
married. So especially in middle school when you’re going through changes in
your attitude, hearing the word love can set off an alarm. Once that alarm goes
off there is no stopping it until you move on to a different person. This is
often the first time a teenager will feel that feeling of insecurity in a relationship.
On the other side, however, when they hear “I like you”, they feel good about
themselves and they feel like there is one more person who cares about them in
the world. They feel like they are in a good place, even though most the time
they don’t know what that feels like anyway.

   Another area that this could happen is with food. Many people can say that they like a
food but if you really like it then you could say that you love that food.
There is a significant difference there. If you say that you like a food most
people will take that to mean that you enjoy it but would not like to eat it
often and don’t think about eating it often. But if you say that you love the
food that means that it is something you want all the time, and for special
occasions like your birthday. It also is the kind of food that when you get
home from school you can’t wait to eat that snack. This applies a lot to a
teenagers life because as we all know, teenagers love to eat (not like, love)
and eat a LOT!

    I can see this applying to Eleanor and Park because it says in the blurb that
they are different and not seen together well but fall in love anyway. There
could also be an argument in the book about the two words we have been
discussing and that could lead to the “break-up” part of the book (most love
stories have them).

    In conclusion I think it is better if we all think about the weight of our words
before saying them and what they could mean to each other.

Touching Spirit Bear;Post-Reading

Touching Spirit Bear;Post-Reading

    Cole Matthews and Peter Driscal at the beginning and throughout the book were enemies and frankly were afraid of each other until the very end. They ended up collaborating and Peter helped Cole put a carving at the bottom of his totem pole for his dance of anger. That is where the quote “Life's a circle and every part of a circle is a beginning and end.” I am choosing to use this quote for my blog.

    When I hear this quote my emotions get mixed up. How can something be a beginning and an end? I also think that it means that everything will always be the same and that gets boring. If you are constantly going in the same direction it has to get boring. But it does say that you get a beginning and an end so maybe it is just like life, but you keep on going.

    It applies to the book because it kind of shows that you get a second chance like Cole did. He totally blew his chances by burning the shelter the first time and then hurting the Spirit Bear. Then he got mauled by the Spirit Bear, nearly died, but they rescued him. They took care of him and got him a second chance on the island. If they hadn’t returned him to the island than he could have become paralyzed and not have ever recovered his soul.

    I think that it also applies when it talks about Peter Driscal’s recovery. He sustained something very traumatizing. It also made him very insecure and made him attempt suicide two times. If he had not had the courage to face his fear and go to the island than his circle would have never even have been drawn. He started it and because of that he was put in the circle of recovering.

    In conclusion I think this quote talks about the circle of life and how when you choose to start your circle that you are immediately insuring that you will be okay. Remember, this only works if you have good intentions.

Touching Spirit Bear Pre-Reading

A totem pole shows all the things a person values in their life. Those could be many different things like your family members faces, your favorite animals, favorite color, lots of things.

    One of the things I would probably start with would be a horse running in the field with a falcon overhead. I would pick this because horses are my favorite animal. Also because they represent freedom and playfulness. Also many people see a horse as a traditional Native American symbol. The falcon flying with the horse shows the bond between different animals and not just within their own kind. The falcon also represents freedom and taking off and leaving the nest. With the two together it reminds me personally of a movie that touched my heart a lot. It was called “Spirit” and in this they talked about how the Western expansion affected the wild horses and the horse Spirit is a wild mustang and he and his partner fly along together and when Spirit gets captured he is tried to be freed by his falcon friend.

    Another thing that I would put on my totem pole would be a flashlight because it represents light in a unique way. Most people would put the sun or something like that because it represents pure light but I would want mine to be unique. The flashlight would represent the light that is easy to harness. Often in life we look at the dark side of things when really all we have to do to see the good side is look. For a flashlight, literally speaking, all you have to do is flip the switch. Then you have light. So unlike the sun a flashlight will never go away. Sometimes all you need is the light ray of light to give you hope.

    I would also add a cross because it represents 3 things, my family giving me the faith and tools to learn it, Jesus’ trust in his father,God, and the sacrifice he made for us. All of these things would factor into my totem pole.

    There are so many important things in my life that I would need to put on the pole but there are just a few. I look forward to this book.