"The Giver"- Stanley Suter Week 11/25/2013 0-152

 *Prompt*-Tell me about the main character. What kind of person is he/she?

           Right now I am on page 152 of "The Giver" and the main character Jonas has just seen how a citizen is "released". In the book he was skipped in his age ceremony and was choosen as Reciever of Memory. As Reciever of Memory he has to take a whole world of memory onto his shoulders, just because the people of the town are too scared for all of them to have the memories. So, when a person is released, (a ceremony thought to be happy and nice) it turns out that they are actually given a shot that kills them, Jonas finds out when he watched his dad do one himself.

        In the beginning of the book Jonas is nice and acts perfectly, just like the rest of the people in his community. However, he recieves his job and rules (only because of a failure ten years before) and finds two rules that states how he can break other rules. Jonas does not break the rules, instead he makes sure to follow them.  Even when The Giver tells him not to apoligize because it wastes time, he almost slips up over three times. So right now Jonas is a very polite, unknowing boy.

        Much later in the book, after Jonas finds out about being "released" and freaks out, it turns his attitude around totally. The night that he finds out about being released he refuses to go back home to his mother and father, mainly because they were ok with what was happening. He even starts to formulate some sort of plan, while lieing to his father as he returns to his house. I think that this shows that he did change (at least his mind set) quite a bit. He went from stick to the rules to pretending he was lost in the river, so he could escape and useing his privleges to their full advantage.

"Scorpia Rising" Pages 0-215

*Prompt*- How have your feelings changed as you’ve been reading?

       This week I have been reading Scorpia rising, and I have to admit, it has been coming really slow. At this time in the book (like most action/mysteries) he is doing the tedious work of finding the whereabouts of Scorpia and what they are doing. Scorpia is doing the same to Alex without makeing too much of a stir. The reason for this is because in previous books the organization messed up with an assignment and isnt taken very seriously anymore.

        At the beginning of the book it seems like an end of a Harry Potter book, everything is calm, peaceful, and Alex is turning out very lucky. Then he gets ubducted by terrorists and his best friend dies trying to escape. This is part of the reason that I am finding the book so boring, it goes from boring work to stopping a bomb from exploding. My feelings towards the book have been less interested because the friend that dies is a very lively character and puts a lot of the feeling into the book. Although I got back into the book the terrorist leader tortured Alex by showing him the scean of his friends death over and over again, making sure attemps of escape were thrown away.

      Another thing that changed my feelings toward the book was how the organization Scorpia was taken so lightly. In the books prior to this scorpia messed up on two assignments and now they arn't even looked at as the number one criminal group in the country! Their specialty is stealing and they get an assignment to steal a rather large object out of a highly guarded museam, not a problem for Scorpia. They make up a plan to make sure that the object is kept where it is supposed to be, but dont get to put it into place because their client dies. This makes me feel even more bored with the book, what fun is losing power!?

11/13/2013 "Hatchet" pages 0-155

*Prompt*- Does the title fit the story? Why or why not?

        This week I was reading "Hatchet' by Gary Paulson. It all started when Brian flew over the Canadian wilderness, and guess what? The Pilot has a heart attack. So Brian quickly grabs the controlls and loses his sense of direction. Luckily, Brian is somewhat of a nerd, so he knows the basic controlls for the plane and is able to steer. When he notices his fuel is running low and he has lost all contact to the outside world, he lands the plane safely in the water. From there he starts his fight for food, shelter, and eventually, comfort.

        When Brian wakes up, the plane is gone and the sun is rising. He was tought from an old science teacher that the best way to solve a problem, is to lay out all possible answers and never forget that your most useful tool is himself. He has a torn windbreaker, a hatchet, shoelaces, shoes, casual clothes, and never forget, himself! (Cheezy) He quickly makes a lean to and finds enough food to last him for a while, even making fire using the steel end of the hatchet and some flint rock located inside of the leanto.

        I think that the title is not fitting for several reasons. For one, the story has a nice amount to do with Brian finding the hatchet but it could have as easily been Survival or Gone. Also it seems that he uses the Hatchet much less at the end of the book, he learnes to fish and makes a semi-effective bow. He was just hit and hurt by a moose, then tornado, and his whole camp is destroyed. Another possible title that has a great deal to do with the story would be The Rebirth  or something along those lines because when he gets back from his "trip" he is totally changed physically and mentally.