Book Report 4

Candy is a book by Kevin Brooks. It’s not the type of candy that you eat, it’s the name of one of the main characters; Candice, also known as Candy.  Candy isn’t the average girl who lives in London. She has things going on in her life that most people hopefully will never have to deal with. Although, Joe, the person who’s perspective the book is based on, falls in love with this girl. Joe describes Candy as a perfect girl. He ignores any of her flaws that other people might be able to see. Joe and Candy met at a bus station in the middle of London. Joe sees this girl from a distance. She has perfect skin, pale white. Her eyes were a dark almond color and she had her chestnut hair tied back into a perfect ponytail. When Joe first looked at her he was amazed he had no clue what to do. This girl who he thought was beautiful was standing right in front of him.  Candy had given Joe her number. Joe called her a week later because he didn’t want to sound like a complete idiot on the phone with this girl. Little did Joe know that once he called her his life was going to change forever.

Candy had a dark side. She was involved with things that no ordinary 15 year old boy should endure with an 18 year old. Candy was a prostitute. There was no easy way for her to tell Joe the truth about her. She lived in a house filled with other girls just like her. She was also addicted to heroin. The reason Candy got into this mess was because one night she was feeling a little rebellious and ran away from home. She met this guy Iggy, who is now her pimp. Iggy is Candy’s source for getting her heroin. Candy never tired to become the way she is now. Candy has tried a few times to get out. Every time Iggy caught her and beat her up for it. Candy had a hard life until Joe came around to helping her out. Joe had an enormous amount of determination. He would do anything to help out Candy. One time Joe followed Iggy from the train station to the house where Candy lived. He was able to sneak in to go see Candy while Iggy had left for a while, that is until Iggy had returned…

The book Candy uses foreshadowing. Foreshadowing was used on the first two paragraphs of the entire book. I think Kevin Brooks used foreshadowing in this part of the book because it opened up your mind to many different thoughts that would happen. If anyone had read the first two paragraphs they would realize that something bad was about to happen. The first two paragraphs made you want to keep on reading to find out what was going to happen next.  Through about the first hundred pages Kevin Books made you wonder what was really going on in Candy’s life, why she hadn’t changed and why she does what she does. When Kevin Books was making you wonder he was giving out small hints so that you could figure it out what is truly happening in Candy’s life. You figure out soon enough that her life isn’t as normal as most people. To some other people Candy’s life might be as normal as it gets.

Another part of this book when Kevin Brooks used foreshadowing was on Joe and Candy’s first date. Joe had skipped school to meet up with Candy at the London Zoo. At this point in the book Kevin Brooks had already made it clear that something was wrong with Candy. Joe knew there was something she was hiding. Joe and Candy had been eating lunch then; Candy got up and went right to the bathroom in a hurry. You could tell that she was on a mission, and whatever needed to be done had to happen right away. When she returned from the bathroom she was a little loopy. She was all of a sudden all over Joe. She decided to take Joe to her favorite part of the London Zoo. When they got there, Candy’s emotions were everywhere. She started pulling Joe into a corner and started making out. The way Kevin Brooks explained their kiss, it wasn’t hard to know that what Joe was doing was going to get him in trouble, and quickly. With the author adding this part of the book in it makes an impact on the rest of the story also.

Book Report 3

The book Side Effects is about an eighth grade girl named Isabelle or Izzy as everyone else calls her. Izzy is sarcastic when she doesn’t want to hear or face the truth. Izzy shows a lot of sacrasism the most when she finds out that she has Lymphoma. She tries to make jokes about it probably to help her feel better. Throughout the whole entire book Izzy usually has some type of smart remark when she’s in the hospital or at home sick.  Izzy is also extremely stubborn. When Izzy first found out that she had Lymphoma she needed to have some way of getting the medication and chemo through her body. She refused to get a PICC line which would be like a port for the chemo to go through. Instead, she said no to putting the PICC line in.  She just wanted them to take blood through a vein in her arm and put the chemo through her vein. In the end, Izzy’s veins in her arm were about shot because of the number of times they had to poke her arm to get blood. Since Izzy was scared and refused to get a PICC line, her punishment was her veins getting shot.  

I pictured Izzy as a girl who doesn’t really care about her appearance. Most girls who are in 8^th grade just like Izzy would probably have to disagree about that statement because they care about what they look like. Izzy seems like the type of girl who would wake up in the morning, throw on some type of outfit that looks like it works, and call it good for the day. Izzy is also not into drama, unlike her best friend Kate. When Izzy was home sick or in the hospital getting chemo, Kate would always come by to visit with her and tell her all about the drama Izzy was missing out on. She is also pretty outgoing too. Most people are shy and don’t like going out in public when they have the side effect of hair loss from the chemo. Whenever Izzy felt like getting up and doing something, she did. She even worked up the courage to talk to the guy she really liked when she was out with her friend Kate one time. All in all, Izzy is a pretty laid back girl.

                Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss are a pretty good book. The author did a really good job explaining how cancer can affect teenagers- not just for the older people. Amy Goldman Koss also make a thorough job of telling how the whole process works without giving you a research paper explanation. This book was also funny too because she made the main character Izzy, a sarcastic 8^th grader who doesn’t really take all of this really seriously. She makes Izzy come up with a joke to make the whole cancer thing not seem as sad. This book is also pretty easy to relate to if you have or had cancer or if you know someone with it or who had it too. It also gives people hope that the character Izzy will survive and be able to continue with her life after the cancer goes away. I would recommend this book to anyone especially people who are teenagers because I think they can relate to how things happen in those years of life. I’m not sure if a guy would want to read this book because it didn’t really seem like a type of book a guy would like or want to read. This book also doesn’t have very many pages that are what made me want to read this book. This book has larger print and it is only about 143 pages. You can finish it very easily and quickly.

Book Report 2

                The book Ruby Unscripted by Cindy Martinusen-Colma was about Ruby who used to attend Cottonwood High School realizes the changing of different schools when she moved to Marin County High. Ruby, a 10^th grader at Marin County High School discovers that she doesn’t fit in with the people that attend her new school. Ruby went from being popular and having nice clothes to finding out that when compared to the other students at her new school she had nothing.

The students at Ruby’s new school have everything top of the line whether it is from shoes to cars. None of the kids have to work because their parents pay for everything, unlike Ruby, she has to work at a café that her aunt owns. Ruby has a hard time knowing who her friends are because she left them all in Cottonwood. So Ruby decided if she’s going to have to live in Cottonwood she might as well try to adapt to it.

 Ruby has a gay friend who helps her with the clothing situation and gave her all his sisters’ old clothes. It seemed like just because she started to “fit in” she also started to change her personality. She started to lose contact with her best friend Kate for her new friends in Marin County. Kate would text her or send her an I.M. on the computer and Ruby would usually put it off while she talked to the other people.  Ruby beings to become a little self-absorbed when she finds out that her best friend Kate has a big secret. When Kate told her the secret, Ruby only thought of how she felt instead of how Kate felt. One night Ruby decided to leave the house while her mom and step-dad were gone, Ruby went out with a friend to a party. That was extremely unusual for Ruby though. Ruby usually almost never disobeyed her mom or her step-dad. While Ruby got grounded for going out that night she got time to think. She had realized how far away she was to God and how she almost forgot about him in her life. Ruby tries to get back with her relationship with God and goes to church every Sunday, and actually listens to what is being said. Ruby believes that if she really tries God will help her with the move and help her get through high school.

                Ruby goes through a lot of changes after she moves to Marin County High School in CA. First Ruby has to work at her aunt’s café called the Underground. The Underground is a common place after school with the kids from Main County High School. One day when Ruby was working at the café a group of the popular girls came in for coffee after school. Ruby had to go over and ask what they wanted. Right away a girl spoke up and said “Hey isn’t that the new girl?” Ruby instantly started blushing and got really embarrassed because everyone at Marin High School don’t need jobs because they’re parents give them anything they want. The girl started making fun of Ruby for having to actually work at the café. Ruby was getting mad because it was just her first day of school and she wasn’t at all in the mood to get crap from anyone. So Ruby decided to stand up her herself and told the other girl off. The girl got up from her seat and told Ruby that was no way to treat a customer if you want business and the rest of the girls group got up and left. Ruby then realized that one girl stayed behind. Her name was London. London was so proud of how Ruby stood up to the other girl just like that. London knew how big of a jerk the other girl was, so London said see ya around school and that they should hang out sometime. At least someone was able to leave the café on a good note.

                I think Ruby did the right thing to stand up for herself. I don’t think there is anything worse as you grow up to be around a bunch of stuck up girls who act like they have everything and they are just so much better than you are. If Ruby would’ve just started yelling and freaking out, then I think that would’ve been way over the top. Ruby handled herself very casually and basically just told the other girl to back off, and she did so it worked. If someone made fun of me for working then that’s they’re problem. How do they think they’re parents get money to pay for all their expensive things that they want?

                I really enjoyed reading Ruby Unscripted by Cindy Martinusen-Colma. Although I’m pretty sure only a girl would read it. Ruby can pretty much help you will almost any problem you have out there. For example she has guy problems just like every girl in the world faces sometime in their life. She’s also trying to figure out who she really is and who she wants to be and so on. Of course Ruby can’t help you with all your problems though. This book can also help you realize what you want to do and what you can do to fulfill your dreams of doing whatever it is that you desire. This book isn’t like a reality TV show on paper. Ruby Unscripted has about zero drama compared to a reality TV show.

 Ruby faces challenges that not every ordinary teenager deals with on an everyday basis. For example Ruby starts to lose her best friend Kate because she has a college boyfriend now. Ruby’s friend spends almost all her time with her college boyfriend and starts to lose contact with Ruby because her friend Kate lives back in Cottonwood. I can honestly say that this was a really good book and I would recommend it to almost any girl beginning to go through their high school years.

Book Report

The main character in the book The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton was Ponyboy. Ponyboy was a part of a gang called the greasers. Most people thought that all greasers were bad people pretty much because of the way they looked. They all had greased back hair with a tough look on their faces to not mess with them or they would seriously mess with you while they had a cigarette in their mouth. Unlike most of the other greasers in the gang Ponyboy is smart and has some common sense, he knows when something bad will happen if he makes the wrong choice. In this book Ponyboy has the greaser look, but he doesn’t like to be the bad guy in any situation, but Ponyboy gets into some trouble with some of their enemies in the Soc gang. Ponyboy is a nice kid who is always looking out for people especially his best friend Johnny. Ponyboy and Johnny stick together in the gang and they always know that at least someone will have their back. When Ponyboy was almost being drowned by a Soc named Bob, Johnny was right there to help out Ponyboy. When Johnny was hurt in the hospital Ponyboy came over every day to visit him and make Johnny feel loved. Ponyboy is also extremely brave. In one chapter Ponyboy is with his friend Johnny in Windrixville, as they were about to leave the town they had realized that the church was on fire and there were little kids screaming for help. The people in the town didn’t know what to do so Ponyboy and Johnny stepped up to help the children inside the church from the flames and became well known heroes. Ponyboy is a very loving person. One of the gang members Dally, who Ponyboy isn’t the biggest fan of, was injured and got put into the hospital. Even if Ponyboy didn’t really like Dally he still went up to the hospital with him because the greasers were the only family Dally had left, and Ponyboy couldn’t let him feel alone. Ponyboy has also done some bad things. Ponyboy was at a park by his house with Johnny one day and a group of the Socs showed up. One of the Socs started to drown Ponyboy by a nearby fountain, so Johnny jumped on the Soc and stabbed him. Both Johnny and Ponyboy knew that the police would soon be after them so they ran away, but in the end they were caught but not sent to jail.

The author S.E. Hinton chose Ponyboy’s point of view. I think the author chose Ponyboy because he was the youngest of the greasers and he sees and knows everything that goes on in the gang. I think Ponyboy was a good choice for the point of view but I also think that Johnny would’ve been a good point of view too. Just like Ponyboy, Johnny had some tough things going on in his life too, if not worse than Ponyboy. Johnny was about the same age as Ponyboy and Johnny was pretty much living on his own. His parents could care less what kind of danger or harm Johnny was in. Johnny is a tough kid and knows how to look out for himself and for the others in the gang. I think if S.E. Hinton made the story line and point of view for Johnny the book would be similar, just a little more into how it would feel to be unloved by your family and being a young boy living on the streets all by yourself without people to turn to.  Over all I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book to anyone especially if they are wondering what it’s really like to live with a gang and what not back then. I probably would not recommend this book to anybody who really gets into books and can’t handle death .I would also not recommend The Outsiders to somebody who doesn’t like to read or hear anything about fighting, people getting hurt, and about quite a bit of blood. Even if you don’t like those things I would still tell you to read this book because this is the way it seems like more and more teenager are starting to live because of many different reasons. This author does a good job explaining things in detail but not too much detail that would turn you away from this book. This book was very intriguing and made me want to keep reading it. There was never a dull moment that I can remember from this book. So all in all I really like this book and I would encourage everybody to read it too.

Memoir 2

   In the spring of 2003, I had lost my very first friend. I don't mean moving away lost. I'm talking about no matter what I do I won't see her again.


  Her name was Katja. I met her at 'The Tree of Hope' at the Centra Care Center in St.Cloud. The Tree of Hope is an even for children with cancer, the familes with survivors and the familes who didn't get so lucky, like Katja's.


   Katja had Acute Myelogenous Leukemia otherwise known as AML which is a type of childhood cancer. When she was a year and a half she started to get extremely horrible nose bleeds that lasted for hours on end. Katja also had very bad bruising. Katja was an only child and one night her dad woke up in the middle of the night to check on her, to find his only child laying in a pool of blood. That was how the doctors discovered she had AML. She was sent the next day to Childrens Hospital and Clinics in Minneapolis. Katja was on chemo therapy for 3 years, girls usually only have treatment for 2 years and boys for 3. She was having some difficulties with the medicines so her doctor recommend a bone marrow transplant. It is very hard to find the perfect donor which is a 6 out of 6 for a bone marrow transplant. Katja found a donor matching with a 5 out of 6, that was all they could find and she was desperate for it. That still wasn't enough, she was going to need a second transplant. Her soon to be brother would be her donor, however her baby brother came too late. Katja had died at the age of 5.


   My family and I received a letter a few days letter to attend Katja's wake and funeral. Most children when they are young don't understand what the wake and funeral mean besides a large crowd of people gathered around a closed casket, balling their eyes out and usually wearing black. I understood everything that was happening I was honestly really scared. It was one of the hardest things I think that a 7 year old could experience, to see a little girl in her blue Cinderella dress that she loved for the last time...ever. I still wonder to this day what her life would be like now if she was still here.

Memoir 1

It was a sunny Saturday morning in February. I got up way earlier than needed. It was 6 am and i was supposed to leave at 8:15 am. The morning seemed super slow, I could not wait to get to Talahi Elementary. I was about to play my very first basketball game for SCAYBA. I was extremely excited I've been waiting for this day for three weeks now, and the day was finally here! I ran out the door at 8:00 and yelled for my mom to hurry up because I wanted to get there early.




The game started at 9:00. I was SO nervous that I would trip over the basketball and fall on my face, and a million other things running through my head. All I had to remember was this was most people's first game and everything would be fine. But did that work..? Absolutely NOT. The ref blew the whistle and I got this sudden awkward feeling in my stomach. Once the game got going I felt a lot better and the game felt like it was getting easier and before I knew it, it was half time. Half time lasted forever, well it seemed like forever because I was just ready to get back out there and play.




The final buzzer went off. We had lost the game but just by maybe two baskets and some people went home disappointed. Well for me the end of the game was a whole different story. I was pretty much happy because I made it through my first game and it was actually lots of fun. I couldn't have asked for a better game. (:

Introduction

Hey.
I'm Brittany.
I am in cross country and track, so I kinda like running. I used to be in softball, dance and gymnastics, but I've always wanted to play hockey when I was younger.I really like to watch sports too. My favorites are football, the Fifa World Cup, and pretty much any summer olympic sport.
In my free time I like to watch tv and hangout with some of my friends. I also like to go to my cabin and go tubing and water skiing. So that's just somethings about me.