Reading Blog #8 Trash by Andy Mulligan

          Trash by Andy Mulligan takes place in a third world and is about three boys who live in a dump site. All they do all day is just rummage through all of the junk. One day, while the boys were searching, they found something that the police were searching for but instead of turning it in, they keep it and the story revolves around the uneducated boys to deal with all of the consequences that come along with keeping the bag. I think the theme in Trash is to not let your background underestimate you. Raphael, Rat, and Gardo were very poor boys and some of them didn't even have parents. The boys had no guidance whatsoever in this large journey of theirs but still manages to succeed even with big problems. I know that Rat is called Rat because he has no parents and all he really has in rodents as family. And most of the people in that third world "live in boxes...stacked up tall and high".. This shows how poor they were and how some were family less.

Reading Blog #7 Compare and Contrast

          I feel like the book Blackbox by Julie Schumacher and Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman are books that have both similarities and differences. They're both similar because they both involve having a sister who becomes depressed. In Blackbox, Elena's older sister, Dora, becomes depressed and Elena is affected poorly and in Backlash, Sydney's older sister, Lara, becomes depressed and Sydney is affected poorly. The reasons are different though. Dora just naturally becomes depressed. She stopped doing her homework, she lost a lot of weight, she slept too much, and she wasn't doing her hair anymore but nobody knew the reason why whereas in Backlash, Lara became depressed over bullying. She was cyber bullied and it caused her to attempt suicide. A similarity is that they both attempted and they both did it the same way. Lara was found in a bath tub with empty bottles of pills and Dora was found shaking on the floor with little tablets rained down on the floor. The stories are both similar and different. Sydney and Elena both go through the same things too. Having to deal with everything people say at school and trying to ignore it.

New Year's Resolution

          My New Year's resolution is to become more focused on school work. I find myself procrastinating lately. The steps I will take is setting up times to do certain things and take away the things that distract me. I'm looking forward to making sure all school work is done before it's too late and night and not doing homework in the morning like I do a lot.

Reading Blog #6 Blackbox by Julie Schumacher

          Blackbox is a realistic fiction story about a 14 year old girl named Elena who has a sister named Dora that was hospitalized and sent to an illness ward due to depression. Elena finds herself dealing with problems throughout the story because everyone is is it focused on Dora but once Dora gets out of the ward, Elena begins to only focus on Dora.

          I like this story so far because it shows how Elena really is trying out do whatever she can in her power to make sure that Dora is okay and safe. Even if it's little things, she still tries. Like when Dora was in the hospital, Elena, "brought Dora's favorite pajama pants and a sweatshirt that said 'IOWA SURF CLUB'(...)". This is showing how by bringing what Dora really liked that she cared about Dora and that was the most she could do at them moment. This is how any other family should be though. Helping family out in the hard times. Even if it something little, it doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts. You've at least tried.