"The adventures of HuckleBerry Finn" By:Stanley Suter

        Prompt-Are the characters realistic? Why or Why not?

        This week I have been reading "The adventures of Huckleberry Finn" By:Mark Twain, and so far it has been both good, and really hard to read. I really like the plot line, a boy who would rather be in the wilderness than living in houses and following rules. So he does something about it. He escapes from his no-good dad and makes it look like he died and was dragged out of the house. He is a theif and often taking advantage of other peoples sympathy, getting hundreds and even thousands of dollars off of peolpe that support the church.

        The main character Huckleberry is the most realistic character in a book that I have ever read. He is almost never brave in the hard situations, and unlike in other books he often fails with robberies, meeting frauds and other crooks along the way. The author always sets up the perfect love scene, then  he ruins every one of them with a need for a plan or a silly sceme. Another character who seems realistic is Jim. He is the only negro in their groop and he is wanted for running away. He wants to get back his family and free himself by getting across the border and into the north.

        Some of the characters that arn't realistic are the "King" and the "Duke". They are two men that got onto the raft for refuge and then started playing whole towns out of their money. They knew every scheme that people could pull out of their sleve and it seems like he knows what everyone else is doing. What seems unrealistic about them is how Jim and Huckleberry saved them, and they immediately turn behind Jim and Huckleberry's back and try to go through with a plan without them.

"Notes from the Midnight Driver" By:Stanley Suter

        Prompt- Who is your favorite character? Why? Who is your least favorite character?

        This week I have been reading "Notes from a midnight driver" and I really like it. Its about a kid, who when his parents divorce, tryes to drive over to his fathers house, drunk.So, he makes it to the end of the block, and crashes into only a lawn gnome, but destroying his moms car and ending up in a hospital. Now, after being in court, he has to do 100 hours of service at a home for the old.

        My favorite character is Sol because he is the smartest, funniest old man in the nursing  home, always pulling pranks. At first, Alex and Sol hate the time that they have together. Then, when Alex brings his guitar, everything changes. He loves it when Alex plays, and even cries during one of Alex's preformances.

        My least favorite character is Alex's mom. She often hits him, yells at him, and does other seemingly abusive things to him. She divorces her husband, then grounds Alex because of his andger and where it got him. His dad leaves one hint on their divorce, that his mom actually PUSHED him
out, he didn't want to leave. She even picked Sol as a punishment, knowing that he was one of the most obnoxious people in the home, and THAT totally backfired.

"Of Mice and Men" Stanley Suter

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

        This week I have been reading "Of Mice and Men" and I really like it. We are already half way through the book and the main characters have just been introduced. I really like how the book started, with Lennie and George getting ready to start their job as a migrant worker, after getting in trouble, in the last town, Weed. Now the have gotten to the farm, and the work's nice, but the people are really violent and shady.

        For the most part, the title doesn't fit the story. The main animal in the book would be either a dog, or a rabbit, definitely not a mouse. Other than the fact that Lennie carries a dead mouse in his pocket, the mouse really isn't in the story. And so far, the plot lines has been absolutely un changed by that. However, it could mean something symbolic in one of the characters.

        The part about "Men" does make sense. All of the workers on the ranch are men, and over all, only one woman even lives on the land. Also, if the title was symbolic, it would make sense, George is the man, and Lennie is the mouse, because he acts so small. Lennie also has the mind of a child, so they could be referring to his compared to Georges mind, in that his is so small, compared to Georges being so big.

"The Outsiders" Stanley Suter

        *Prompt* who is your favorite character and why? Who is your least favorite character?


        This week I have been reading "The Outsiders" and I really like it. I have been introduced to the main characters, Ponyboy (seriously), Sodapop, and Darry. This is set in the late 1900, where the Greasers are a rival gang with the Socs. In the book they are getting ready for a giant gang clash, where they will decide who stays and who goes from their territory. This means that if Ponyboy loses, he could be beaten half to death every time he leaves the house.

        My favorite character is Darry, because he is by far the smartest and strongest character in the book. He acts like a dad, even though it is tough when they diagree, and he is barely eligible to be a parent. He even sacraficed college in hopes that Ponyboy and Sodapop would be able to. He is still a part of the greasers, and their un-ellected leader.

        My least favorite character is Sodapop. I don't like him because he acts like too much of a goof at times. He has a great sense of humor, but he is either in a great mood, or he shuts himself out from the rest of the world. He is neither smart, nor athletic, but he seems to be the glue between Ponyboy and Darry. He even tries to marry his girlfriend, at age 17, but when she rejects him he takes it out in the clash of the gangs.

"Shark Girl" By:Stanley Suter

   *Prompt* Do the people in the book seem like actual people?

        This week I have been reading a book called "Shark Girl" and I really like it. In the beginning it shows her regrets and how her arm was taken off by a shark. As fun as that sounds, it really isn't. Then it tells her time in the hospital to when she gets home and is trying to live without her arm. It gets really interesting how embaresed she gets and the depression she feels, which is all lifted once she finds other ways to do things.

        The first character is one that I don't see as realistic. He is Micheal, the brother of Jean, the girl bitten. He is more angry at her than with himself, because he doesn't want to help her out, or to "serve" her. I find this un realistic because I would hate myself for not being in the water if my sister almost died without me. I also found it unbelieveable how he pushed her directly after she got out of the hospital. She seemed to be in a serious mental state and should have taken her time.

        The next person that I think seemed totally unrealistic was the mother. She seemed almost ok with what had happened, and after the incident she didn't stay with her own child too long after. Instead she went to work and had people come over and look after Jane. Micheal seemed to be the only reliable person that Jane could count on in the hospital, and he wasn't able to stay there full time. Those are the characters in my book that are unrealistic.

"Poetry Reflection" by, Stanley Suter

         Poetry reflection 

         Stanley S.

        Poetry’s importance in my life is very small. As I do not enjoy either reading or writing it I do not consider it very important, at least in my life. I find that writing it has been very slow and I have trouble finding a good topic to write on. I end up sounding very cheesy and my poem doesn’t flow well. I haven’t seen or done many things worth writing, and that would be the easiest type of poetry, I think for me, is to write story.

        I also do not think that poetry belongs to everyone. Myself being a living example, I know several other kids that struggle and don’t like poetry. That is why I would say that poetry is not for everyone. Some people like to read, but not write poetry and I would say poetry would be for them. It is like other things, not all people are for baseball, or basketball are they? People that do not like poetry, I would say poetry is not for them. 

        I know these two things from personal experience alone. Several of my friends, including me have asked each other for help on a topic, that usually does not turn out well. I also know that many people don’t like poetry and surely do not like writing it, I think that if you asked them, they would tell you straight up that poetry was not for them.  Again, things like music, sports, and other things, people say all the time is not for them. Like people being less athletic than another, the same sort of rule applies for poetry, people that are in that mental mind set will do much better than those not.

        They life and experiences of a poet affects the poem that he or she creates drastically. If the poet has a bad childhood, many of the poems could be bad as well, or just the opposite. For example, if someone only knows of gum drops and unicorns, they won’t be writing about the monster under the bed. The experiences of the poet is the poem.

"Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf" By:Stanley S.

Prompt-Describe your most and least favorite characters and explain why.

        This week I have been reading "Wereworld: Rise of the wolf" and I really like it. There are certain very slow parts that develop into awesome fighting scenes. I starts with a kid, a loving mother and a hating father who falsly accuses the son of killing his mom and trys to kill him. Even though it was a giant rat, in this world of transforming humans. This boy, Drew is the last of the wolves, all of the others having been slaughtered by the lions in the great war. In the book he starts out going to high cliff to oppose the lion king but is side tracked several times and is finally captured by the kings guard.

        My favorite character is Drew. He is the "lone wolf" (that was a good one, you have to admit it) and travels on his own for the most part. He meets up with the medic, Hector and from then on they travel together. I like Drew the best because he is the toughest and the most determined. Hector is frightened easily and often throwes up, looking like a wimp. He acts bold but he isn't arrogant, a nice strong boy.

        My least favorite character by far would be Gretchen. She is the girly girl "Im a little princess" (she really is) type of character, who complains way too much. When Drew kidnaps her she is totally unpredictable and irrational, making very stupid moves. The thing about her that really angers me is her unstopping persistence of stupid moves. She leaves the hotel in the middle of no where just to try to get away from Drew and Hector, when she has no idea that 95% of the guard is corrupt and would hold her for ransome. Luckily Drew caught her in time...