Siren- Letter to Author

Dear Tricia Rayburn,

I really love your book siren! It's suspenseful and unpredictable. I was just looking online and I saw that you wrote two other books for this series which makes me so excited! I can't wait to read them after I'm finished with Siren. I loved how you made the disappearances personal to the characters and not just people who were washing up on shore smiling. I also think it's really cool that you wrote about Siren's because I feel so many authors now write about things like Vampires, Wear wolves, and other well known creatures. Where as, reading your book was the first time I ever heard of Sirens. I would definitely recommend your books to anyone looking for a good read. 

Siren-Best thing

Siren is such a great book. After Vanessa's sister goes missing, Simon and her begin research because they believe her death off of a cliff was no accident. It starts with all of the men washing up on shore dead; however, that isn't what is making them research so much. The thing making their hair stick up on the back of their necks is the fact that each one is smiling from ear to ear. Simon and Vanessa are becoming suspicious of some of the girls they hang out with. 

After doing lots and lots of research, they figure out that there are creatures in the ocean called sirens. They have silver eyes and are women who sing to men and lead them to their death into the water. That's why I love this book. Not because there are weird creatures that kill people, that would be creepy if that was the reason. I like it because it's unlike so many popular, typical books and most people don't know about the supposed creatures Sirens. 

Siren-Fear of Everything

    

I just started a new book called Siren; the author of Siren is Tricia Rayburn. I chose this book because I saw it on my sister’s bookshelf and the cover had me intrigued. Vanessa (the main character), has an irrational fear of just about anything you could imagine. As a seventeen year old girl she is still afraid of the dark and every night her sister helps her fall asleep with small talk and questions. A few things Justine might say are, "Did you see that cute dress Erin Klein wore today?", or "It's so bright in here," "I can see everything-my backpack, my blue glitter bracelet, our goldfish in his bowl. What can you see, Vanessa?”

So far in this book, Vanessa and Justine Sands go on their traditional summer vacation to Winter Harbor, Maine. This ends up as time spent with the Carmichael boys. Two years before this summer, Justine found a cliff called Chione Cliffs. Ever since Justine found them, the Carmichael boys (Simon and Caleb), and the Sands girls (Justine and Vanessa) go to the cliffs to hang out and dive during their summers together. However, Vanessa's fear of Oceans has not been helpful when it envying her older sister Justine, she opts out of cliff diving and stays at the top of the cliff, wishing she could be fearless.

There was one paragraph that particularly made me understand Vanessa's jealousy for her sister. "'Backflips!'" Justine exclaimed. 'No,' Simon said. 'No way.' I couldn't help but smile. This was exactly what I loved-and envied-most about Justine. While I still slept with a nightlight, couldn't read Stephen King, and was physically incapable of making a perfectly safe cliff dive, Justine lived for the same blood-pumping rush I tried my hardest to avoid. Here we were, minutes away from being drenched and fried, and she wanted to guarantee her shot at electrocution by jumping into a whirlpool-backward."(Rayburn 8). I feel as though throughout the book, Vanessa will become more fearless, she obviously wants to be. Now all she has to do is convince herself she can do anything Justine can-without fear.

 

 

Until I met you- Review/Summary

I just finished reading Until I met You and I loved it! I would recommend it to any girl looking for a great book to read. Out of a 5 star rating I would rate this book a 5. 

At the beginning of Until I met You, Jessalyn moves to a new town after her father tragically passes. She was bullied in the town she used to live in. People would make fun of her for being shy and make up rumors about her. Jessalyn and her Mom move to Avondale to have a new start. She begins her senior year at a new school with one friend she met over the summer named Olivia, over the year she becomes friends with two guys named Cason and Evan. Evan and Olivia start dating which brings Cason and Jessalyn closer as friends. 

Later in this book Jessalyn and Cason are at a New Years festival when Cason kisses Jessalyn. She is really confused at first but they end up dating a few weeks later after talking. Cason and Jessalyn talk about their pasts, one thing they talk about is breaking Jessalyn out of her shell. He helps her by bringing her to his families restaurants to do karaoke. 

Hopefully you like this review/summary along with some spoilers of Until I met You, and I hope you look into reading it.

Until I Met you- Dynamic Characters

     I am about 2/3 of the way finished with Until I Met You and some of the main characters have changed dramatically. In this blog I am going to talk about the main Dynamic Character.

     One of the HUGE characters that has changed is Jessalyn. Jessalyn (as I have mentioned before) starts off as a really shy Character, when she is around other people her face turns red, and she stumbles and stutters with her words. One night, Cason has Jessalyn tag along with him for a walk to the grocery store. While Cason is around the store looking for his necessities, Jessalyn has a guy at the front trying to flirt with her. He talks to her for about 30 seconds and after he says, "Hey, are you new around here? I don't think I've ever seen you before." She bolts out of the store and hides behind one of the walls until Cason comes out. Cason comes out minutes later laughing about what happened and Jessalyn tells him that it isn't funny at all and this starts her story about her past and problems with being shy. Weeks later Cason texts Jessalyn, telling her that he has a great way to break her out of her shell. Cason drives her to a restaurant with karaoke and they sing together. This is the first step to help her break out of her shell and become more comfortable around other people, from then, to where I am now, Jessalyn has become more and more confident.

Until I Met You- The best thing about it...

When it comes to good books for me I like something that's realistic and unpredictable. So many stories I feel are predictable and that takes all of the fun out of it-this is why I sometimes have a hard time reading or finding a book I really like. For example, in Divergent the whole time I was reading I could kind of tell what would happen after each thing.

In my current book: Until I Met You, everything is surprising. For example, Jessalyn goes over to her mom's new friend's house and her daughter ends up being one of her somewhat new friends from school. Until I Met you is also realistic because it isn't like some chick flick where the girl falls in love with the bad guy. Jessalyn gives him a hard time and makes him earn her trust in order to figure out whether or not he's good or bad.

Although Cason is known as the "Bad Boy", Jessalyn has not seen any behavior to prove the rumors true. I feel like people just make assumptions about people and believe everything they hear. With Jessalyn not listening to those rumors, it puts a little twist on how the story flows.

Predictions- Until I Met you

    I recently started reading Until I Met You and it is a REALLY good book! The main character's name is Jessalyn, Jessalyn is a super shy girl who's Dad passes away unexpectedly, after his passing, Jessalyn and her Mom move to California to get away from all of the memories from their loved one. Jessalyn starts a new school and she gets really nervous because she was bullied at her old school for being shy. 

    On the first day of her new school, the first day of Jessalyn's senior year, she meets a girl named Olivia. She also runs into a guy who is supposedly the bad boy of the school, his name is Cason. Cason and Jessalyn's moms happen to teach together and they have dinner together. 

    Later in this book I'm predicting that Jessalyn and Cason get together. Jessalyn seems to get annoyed by him but I think she is just trying not the like the "bad boy". She does say though that she doesn't like rumors if she doesn't know they are true, and as of right now Cason hasn't done anything to make her think those rumors are true.

What I plan to read next

I just finished the book Divergent and I really enjoyed it. The next book I plan on reading is Until I Met You. Until I met you is a teen fiction book written by a girl named Emma. I found this on the app Wattpad. The reason I really want to read this is because it's classified under teen fiction which will hopefully make it more intriguing towards me because those are the kind of books I like. Also, it is written by a girl that is 17 so her point of view would be similar to many other high school girls. Until I Met You is a story about a girl named Jessalyn, she has always been shy and would hold herself up into her room... Until her Dad passes away. Jessalyn and her Mom move to California and this is her fresh chance to start over and maybe even come out of her shell to make a few new friends. I'm really looking forward to this book!

Divergent-setting and comparisons

The locations in Divergant are very bland. No one really seems super happy which makes everything dull. The school is just like any other school except the abnigation faction are dressed in gray clothing, making them stand out rather than blend in like the government planned. Tris the main character is part of the abnigation faction. This faction values selflessness. They are not allowed to look in the mirror, girls cannot wear their hair down, no makeup is allowed, and many other things to make them what seems to be keeping them from being superior to someone else or from other people developing jealousy. Divergent reminds me of Harrison Bergerson, the short story we read last week. The relations come mainly from government control, and the rules that involve everyone bein average, or in their own specific place. This book is really really great and I would recommend it to anyone! 

Divergent-Reason for choosing and comparison

I recently started the book Divergent. It has been HIGHLY reccomended by others and I have also seen so many blogs reviewing divergent. Of course I had to read this book everyone thinks is so good. Everyone is right! I started reading Divergent last week and it's so good! The fact that this society divides people into different sections is really interesting yet weird... I know I would never want to live this way but it makes for a good story right? This book reminds me of Matched in a way. Matched is a book I read in 8th grade, bascially when you get to a certain age you have a ceremony to see who your match is (your soul mate). I think this is like matched because the societies in these books have major control over their citizens. Although, as of right now it seems as though Tris in Divergent has more control over her life than Cassia from Matched. I really liked Matched so hopefully I continue to like Divergent just as much!

Honors English 1A - Favorite book

      During my first trimester in Honors English I read three books, The Fault in Our Stars, Romeo and Juliet, and Premeditated. I am a slow reader and I am not easily drawn to books, as you can tell by me only reading two independently. Although it can be tough for me to sit myself down and actually read without zoning out, the Fault in Our Stars was something I actually looked forward to reading. Not only did I love it, but SOOO many other people have rated it highly and reccomended it to others.

     Finding a good book is very challenging and goodreads helped me find this one. I liked The Fault in Our Stars for many reasons. To start, it has a story that's relate able; maybe not to the exact extent as knowing someone with cancer but just the fact of having a hard time with someone you love or someone you're very close to. This book faces the real realities of the world while at the same time still giving and interesting story that leaves you wanting more.The Fault in Our Stars Trailer

Blog Reflection

Honors English 1A Blog Reflection

Annie Backs

Bell Four

Feb 21, 2014

This trimester I have really grown as a reader and writer. Blogging weekly has helped me read deeper into my novels and look closely for specific details. This has also helped me improve my writing skills by being able to compare and contrast with outside sources to my current books, writing summaries, and many more things. This trimester I read 2 books and I did meet my goal. I will admit I could have done more though. The second book I chose was no where near as good as my first one so, I had a harder time engaging myself in. The two books I read are, “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Premeditated”. Good-reads played 100% of a part in my book choosing! I think it's really a great way for students to find books they really enjoy. I know that I have a hard time sitting myself down to read and when I have a book I'm interested in, this just makes reading so much easier and more enjoyable.

One thing I struggled with in this experience (blogging and reading) I struggled with keeping up on my yellow sheet (mainly with commenting). I got all of my comments done, but, I didn't always do them the week that I needed to. This gave me more work in the long run. One of my strengths in blogging was summarizing. I think I did a good job when it came to summarizing and throughout the trimester I got more and more practice. Summarizing is something I'm going to do throughout my whole life so the more practice the better right?

My understanding of theme and character growth over the trimester has increased by sooo much! At the beginning of the trimester, writing a thematic statement was really challenging for me. However, we practiced a ton and now I understand how to write a theme statement. Writing about character growth hasn't been quite as challenging for me but, writing blogs has helped me improve on analyzing different character traits.

http://charliesreadingblo.blogspot.com/2013/11/big-girl-small.html#comment-form

My first blog this trimester talks about Judy Lohen and her characterization. At this time I feel like I did less describing the character and more of trying to use big words, and well written figurative language. While those things are important, you don't want a metaphor in every sentence, or have every word so complex that its hard to understand what you're trying to say and explain.

http://charliesreadingblo.blogspot.com/2014/02/behavior-premeditated.html#comment-form

My more recent blog post in this trimester is talking about the characteristics of Dinah in Premeditated. While I still use good vocabulary and well written sentences, I also do a better job of explaining what kind of person Dinah is. Such as, describing how she looks, her expressions, how she acts around other people and how she treats them, what thoughts go on in her head, etc..

I really think blogging this trimester improved many skills of mine that I will be able to take advantage of in the future. It has helped not only me become a better writer but also all of the other students blogging.

Predicitions - Premeditated

Right now in Premeditated, Dinah is still hating on Brooks for his actions towards her cousin Claire. My future predictions for this book are that Brooks and Dinah are going to end up really liking eachother. Dinah is going to realize that Brooks has changed since the bad things he did to Claire and Claire will get better. I think this predicition will happen because I think that people always deserve another chance. Life makes people learn and although some people don't learn from their  mistakes, many do and clean up their act. Brooks is probably feeling really guilty for the way he treated Claire and I think that will make him a better person in the long run because he will know not to do whatever he did to her again.

Behavior - Premeditated

Behavior in different books can vary based on how the book is set up. In premeditated much of the behavior of characters is relating to stereotyping people. At the beginning of this book, Dinah is attending a new school and as she is learning new people's names, she puts them into specific categories as if they all belonged to a specific stereotype because of how they looked. One example of Dinah putting people into different categories is when she first meets Abigail-not-Abby. Abigail-not-Abby is characterized by Dinah as "a girl who wore her life on her face", one of those who follows rather than leads. So far I really like this book and recommend it to anyone looking for something to read.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a great classic play and I'm really happy we are getting a chance to read it in class. For starters, if we hadn't started the unit off with the Elizabethan language, I don't think I would understand the story as well as I do now so that was a great way to help us depict the style of writing by Shakespeare. Reading this play is a way to bring us back in time and see what things were like while at the same time telling us a great story. I really enjoy not only enjoy reading Romeo and Juliet, but I also like watching the movies in class and comparing the old to the new.

Premeditated- Style of Writing

Premeditated so far is a great book! The writing style is different though but I like it. It's similar to how Big Girl Small was set-up. The author uses a lot of foreshadowing. For example, Dinah is attending a new private school because her cousin Claire is in the hospital because of some sort of traumatic experience.  However, we don't know exactly why Claire is in the hospital and that's when the author uses foreshadowing, dropping little hints along the way about why Claire ended up in the hospital. Dinah is also hating on this guy named Brooks. It doesn't explain why she is but once again this is a place where the author uses foreshadowing. So far this book is really good and I would recommend it to anyone looking for something good to read! 

Premeditated- Dinah

                Dinah isn't the kind of girl who wants to be like everyone else. She's the kind that wants to stand out but not stand out at the same time. That was all until her cousin Claire got sick and Dinah moved in with her Aunt and Uncle. She starts to attend a new private school, Dinah has to bleach out her black hair dye to somewhat reveal her natural blonde, say goodbye to her usual dark eyeliner, black clothes, and depressing looks. Switching them out for a uniform, stick straight blonde hair and a preppy look. I just started this book and can already tell that she will grow as a character in this book imensely. I'm looking forward to reading more.