Fahrenheit 451

Today, I started the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Just by looking at  the cover, I can tell that this book is going to be interesting since there is a book full of matches. I've read that this book is about a man named Guy Montag. Montag is a firemen , but this book is set towards the future so in the future, firemen start fires instead of stop fires. Why do they start fires? Don't ask me, I don't know yet. All I know is that in the future, firemen burn books and houses that held the books. Also, if people had the books in their house, they were marked as crazy, insane. As I continued to read, Montag meets this seventeen-year old girl named Clarisse McClellan. I , for one, think that she is a very smart and curious girl. Other people though, don't think the same. They think she is very, very strange. An example from the text would be on page 20, it states, "I've got to go see my psychiatrist now. They make me go."
Anyway, one day Clarisse says, "Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?" and Montag replies by saying, "No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it." (page 6, paragraph 3 and 4).   Okay, not true. Don't take his word for it. How did their society all of a sudden go from preventing houses from catching on fire to set them all on fire if they have any books? The only main reason why people in this book consider people who have books insane because it is against the law. Another event that occurred as I was reading, was that suddenly, Clarisse doesn't meet with Montag anymore. This made me worried, where did she go? In order to answer my question, I have to keep on reading.

Wait for Helen

Last trimester, I read a book called, "Wait Till Helen Comes" by Mary Downing Hahn. It's about a twelve year old girl named Molly and her seven year old stepsister, Heather. Molly also has a ten year old brother named Michael. Heather will not get along with Molly, Michael, and her new mother. She didn't want a new family, she just wanted her birth mother. Sadly, her birth mother died in a fire when Heather was younger. Whenever Heather is asked a question from her new family, she will answer. End of conversation. The parents on the other hand, try their best to keep the family together. So Molly tries to be nice to Heather, and Heather tries to stay away from Molly. Heather also wants to get Molly in trouble whenever she has the chance.
One day, Molly's mother decides to buy a church out in the country, so she could work on her paintings. They had also bought a graveyard that came with the church. Heather, followed by Molly, venture into the graveyard to see who died there. All the tombstones look normal except for the one that is under a tree. On the stone, it had the initials, "H.E.H" The initials stood for Helen Elizabeth Harper but those initials were also Heather's initials. After that, Heather came to the graveyard just about everyday. She also would talk to Helen's grave, as if she were actually there. Molly hears Heather talk about Helen and asks who Helen is, and the only thing Heather said was, "Just wait Molly, wait till Helen comes. You'll be sorry then for all the things you've done to me.". Molly was completely frightened. Molly and Michael then go into town to see if they could find any information about Helen. They learned that not too far from the church, there was a house on a hill that Helen, her mom, and her stepdad lived in. The house caught on fire, killing Helen's mother and stepfather. Helen escaped, but not too far from the house there was a pond full of weeds. That's where Helen fell into the pond and drowned. I would recommend this book for young adults who like mysteries and ghost stories. This video is a trailer that someone made based on the book, "Wait Till Helen Comes". I hope you enjoy it!

The Final BLog Assessment

I have only read one book this trimester. I didn’t meet my goal. My goal was to read three or more books this trimester. Goodreads helped me find books that I might be interested in based on my favorite genres. I looked at some of the books that goodreads suggested and I noticed that I was interested and I wanted to read some of them. One thing that I struggled with was that the book I was reading was very depressing, and I have noticed that whenever I read a depressing or sad book, I tend to read slower than I usually do. When I read books that are not as sad, I tend to read a little faster. This book, I noticed, took me about the whole trimester to finish. But when I read a book that was more in a genre that I usually read, like the book “If I Stay” by Gayle Forman, it only takes me about three days. To prevent myself from reading slower, I decided to read aloud. A strength that I had with blogging was showing my opinion about the book.

            My writing has improved over the course of the trimester because I thought of a connection between myself and the text. On January 7^th, my blog post states, “Sometimes, when I think of allergies, the first thing I think of is a little girl explaining a long list of items that she can't have or even smell. This little girl would always remain calm and know exactly what to do in case of an emergency. David on the other hand, wasn't calm. As his mother was taking him to the doctor, he kept fussing until he took something that made the swelling stop.” This shows that I compared to what I thought to David’s problem.

            Another quote from my blog is on December 3^rd, it states, “The theme of this book was to always think before you do. Every little decision you make can impact your life. From what color crayon you want use, to which house you want to buy.” This quote also shows a theme being compared to everyday life. I have improved because I wouldn’t usually think of comparing myself to the text. I’ve learned a lot this trimester. One of the main things that I have learned is to pick a book that has a genre that I really like to read in order to achieve my goal.

The Small Outsider

In the book, David's mother reads an article about how to educate an autistic child. They would put the autistic child in one small room and also have a teacher. Whenever the teacher would try to teach the child a new word, the child would have to drop a ball into a container and say the word. If the child did something wrong, they would turn off the lights and put him or her in the dark for five seconds. If the child does something correctly, he or she will be rewarded. If the child continues to something wrong more than once, the amount of seconds would add on from five to ten and so on.

Blizzard Bag

In the book, The Small Outsider, David had just learned more about food. He learned that some food is edible like steak and celery, and then he learned that some things you shouldn't eat. On page 90, it states,"From then on he tasted everything he ran across. Wthin a few months he had eaten his way through an incredible number of unlikely substances. He ate the cuffs off his shirt, took off his socks and chewed them into tiny shreds, and within six weeks munched his way through an entire bedspread. He was like a moth. He chewed dozens of holes in our blankets and nibbled the bottoms off all the clothes hanging on the  line. He worried the pompoms on slippers, and chewed through the cords or blinds." But clothes weren't the only thing David chewed on. He also began stuffing dirt, bugs, nails, bottle tops, sticks, and stones into his mouth. David's mother believes that this is just a phase and that it will end soon, hopefully.




In Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, I am learning that there are two lovers that immediately want to get married after meeting at the Capulet's Party. But I do have one question. When Romeo talks to Friar Laurence about him marrying Juliet, why doesn't Friar Laurence argue, even a little bit, with Romeo about marrying Juliet since both households are enemies?

The Small Outsider

While reading, I tried to put myself into the mother's position, David's mother. I felt numerous emotions came over me, but the main one was exhaustion. Every once in a while, David would just fight with his mother when she told tell him to sit or calm down. He would scream and scratch her, and it made her feel as if  there was no communication between a mother and her child. One day, they decided to go to the pool and Ellen, David's older sister, was so excited. She swam, kicked, and splashed and was far away from David.  I also learned that David didn't want to meet anyone else at the pool because when children came over, he began to get upset and splash at them. His mother tried her best to tell the children to leave David alone but they wouldn't listen. Then, one child splashed back at David. David screamed and began banging his head against the floor. His mother knew it was time to go home and called Ellen to come over. Ellen was upset, she didn't want to leave the pool, but she knew she had to. She was worried about her younger brother. David apparently didn't want to go home either. He began to scream and he clung onto the rungs of the pool as his mother and Ellen tried to pull him off so they could go home. People at the pool began to watch and stare in shock. Ellen felt even worse, because people were staring at her and they didn't understand the condition David was in. David's mother decided that people should know about autistic children so she and her friends decided to write a book about little David called, "The Small Outsider."

The Small Outsider

In the book, The Small Outsider, I have learned many things about autism. One of the theories for why someone might have an autistic child is because the parent is not very fond of the child but I strongly disagree.   Even though a child and a parent may not have a very strong connection, this doesn't mean that the child will have a  disorder. Some parents can have a strong connection with a child and later find out that their child has autism. I also learned that most autistic children have brain damage and that their emotions will change differently than other people's emotions. For example, an autistic child may laugh while everyone else in the room might be crying because of a terrible event. I also learned that David has quite a few allergies. David is allergic to peanut butter, eggshells, and a specific type of plant. When he would touch or smell these specific items, he would begin to swell and it would be harder and harder for him to breathe. Sometimes, when I think of allergies, the first thing I think of is a little girl explaining a long list of items that she can't have or even smell. This little girl would always remain calm and know exactly what to do in case of an emergency. David on the other hand, wasn't calm. As his mother was taking him to the doctor, he kept fussing until he took something that made the swelling stop. David was turning out to be a handful and David's mother kept getting letters saying that she should come and visit her father but she simply didn't have the time. When she finally started thinking about it, it was too late. Her father had passed away. She wanted to go to her father's funeral, but she was concerned about David so she wasn't able to come.