Zebra Forests, Stanley Suter *SPOILERZ*

         Prompt-List conflicts.

         This week I have been reading "Zebra Forests" and it gets much better the further you get in the book. The children and their grandmother are still hostage to their criminal father, but Ryan wrote a letter to notify the chief of police about their location and when to come where Andrew would least expect it, and his sister sent it when she was on a trip to the grocery store. They think they will be saved in about two days when mail is deleted.

          The major conflicts that pertain to the children and their grandmother is that first, they are being held hostage by a murderer and they have no way of escape. Also, they are conflicted to whether or not they should turn in their father, regardless of him being a killer and holding them with no outside contact possible. Their grandmother is psychologically damaged from the death of her husband (which I have a strong feeling had something to do with her son), that affects her to the point that she stays in her room for days on end.

          The largest conflicts for Andrew Snow is concerned about would be the fact that police are looking for him to no end, and have actually come to his door, where his mom saved him with her extreme lying skills. He also has to worry about the siblings trying to escape, while taking care of his mother. He walked in on Ryan trying to pick the front door lock with a knife, and he bent his wrist to disarm him. I really feel like he is in a pretty bad spot for what he has done in the past.

Aow Impressions for 2/20, Stanley Suter.

          Prompt- What did you learn from our Aow Gallery walk?

          My Aow was about how ISIS has taken Egyptians, over two different times, and how Egypt sent an air strike against them. But this was the Libyan authorities fault. They didn't complete the proper search protocol and many of them are thought to be ISIS members that have gone corrupt. The Egyptian leader is currently trying to hold their "police" responsible for the deaths, and we have names of suspects that are believed to have aided ISIS. That was pretty much my entire three page article.

          The most reoccurring article that I viewed was about how ISIS has recently killed 21 Egyptian (Christian) citizens, and how Egypt has bombed ISIS. I think things are near a peak for ISIS, mainly because they have shown themselves at almost every major country in the world and are acting out of line for most countries that will put a stop to their power. After hearing the articles that everyone else choose about ISIS, I have made the prediction that this was the straw that broke the "camels back", as the Truman Doctrine states fairly vaguely that anyone that wants to be free may be backed up by the U.S., meaning that we are going to wage war on ISIS.

Zebra Forests By: Stanley Suter

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

           This week I have been reading "Zebra Forests" and so far I really like it. It is about a house outside of a town where two siblings live with their grandmother. They realize that they have been lied to since birth, thinking that their father was dead and their mother had run away. They find out, after "Andrew Snow," their father, excapes from a nearby prison and hides at their house, whether they like it or not. Oh yea, and their mother is dead.

          My favorite character so far is Ryan, the younger sibling. He loves the evil people in the stories, and he tries to fight his father when he barges into their lives. His creativity is the leading spark that allows them to escape from their now seemingly crazy grandmother, and their fugitive father. I disagree with how he feels towards his own family, but I give him credit for staying on his toes.

          My least favorite character is their grandmother. I hate her. She is a senile, uptight, lieing, rule making, son of a gun. Senile because she defends her criminal son from the cops and keeps the children inside the house. Uptight because she doesn't let them fight, or she freaks out and goes up to her room for days at a time. Lieing because she lied to her own grandchildren about their parents, and rule making because she won't let the children go out to the "Zebra Forest" while it is raining.

         

Book Talk Blog, Heat by Mike Lupica

Heat, By "Mike Lupica"

Gallery Walk Assessment

       I learned, in the Gallery walk that people are still talking about the death camps and the Holocaust. I also learned that scientists are concerned about the temperature of our climate and that it has risen by almost a degree in the last 100 years. A lot of Domestic abuse has been removed, and domestic crime has decreased significantly in the last year. On a less happy note, ocean coral is dyeing because of chemicals that have been released into the ocean. South Korea is sending "The Interview" on balloons into North Korea, the movie that they hacked and got into a big fuss about.

       In the class period I learned that ISIS continues to grow stronger, and domestic violence has cut down in the past year. These are important for the world to hear, both good and bad, because they can teach us a lesson about the struggles for certain causes and the people that live in this world. As a child, you aren't worried about terrorists coming to kill Americans, or the str
uggle for women's rights in the U.S., and unless we read articles like we have in class we will never learn. By those standards, the class period served a great way to get snippets of information on these topics.

Heat, By Stanley Suter

          Prompt-Does the title fit the Story?

          This week I have been reading "Heat" by Mike Lupica, and I find myself being pulled further and further into the book. We finally get to view a first person view of the game, and we see how good Michael really is. He pitches next to a no hitter on another team, and his team wins by a point. I have a feeling that he will be recruited to a higher league and leave his team, because he is going to have to achieve something or recover from something before the end of the book, otherwise it is going to be a very pointless book.

          The title fits the book if you think of heat as pitching. I have a feeling it may have to do with his emotions, or the way he makes it to the major leagues, his highest dream. After he goes into details about his fathers death, and what he wished for their building owner to take care of his children so they couldn't be sent back to Cuba, their original home. He was a taxi driver that saved a woman from her ex-boyfriend after she left the car, and due to that small excitement he has a heart attack. Refusing to go to the doctor, he dies on their couch. This was shocking for Michael and Carlos because they had played baseball and talked to him the day before, and it really pushed Michael to become a good pitcher.

          The title is a horrible fit for the book because I feel that it wasn't as clear or as explicit as it should have been. For example, in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone" it was really clear what was going to happen in the book. I mean, Heat? Is there going to be a drought? I only was pulled into the book because last year in Battle of the Books the sports books were very good, so I figured this would probably be good. It is very uplifting to read when he plays. Overall, I think that they named the book "Heat" because of Michaels emotions towards his father's death, and the competition on his way to the top. It does fit.

I commented on Steven, Gabe, and Nikolas.
         

Heat, by Stanley Suter

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

          This week I have been reading "Heat" by Mike Lupica, and so far it is really unrealistic. The book starts out with a robber taking an old woman's purse, and being too quick for the cops to catch him. So a kid named Michael hits him (with a baseball) with enough force to knock the robber out from home plate. As you can see, a teenager being able to do that is so slim that it seems impossible. But he goes home to where his brother is getting ready for the three jobs that he works, and his brother flips out on him for saying that they couldn't afford baseball tickets to a yankees game. The whole thing seems over dramatized and more that a little corny, but Lupica writes well.

          My least favorite character so far would have to be the old lady that owns the floor. She purposely was carrying around a purse that was meant to look much more expensive than it was. She was also flashing over 100 dollars, so it is no surprise that she was robbed and knocked over. I know it wasn't right to be robbed, because it sucks if your the one it's being done to, but she was asking for it. She goes senile screaming "THIEF THIEF" and i'm sorry for picking on the old woman, but that was obnoxious and I can't stand things like that.

          My favorite character would be Michaels brother, Carlos (I don't know why but when I think of him I picture Carlos). He refuses to give up to poverty and instead of working off of our poverty system he works his hardest to support for Michael and himself. It is clearly stressing him out that he can't afford to buy anything nice for Michael or himself and he can barely keep up with his rent, bills, and food. None the less, he promises to take Michael to a baseball game before the season ends, making him a very respectable character.

Nadrian, Citlalli, Sarai.