reading days

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Woodsong 3

The character I am going to write about is the main character. He is the man who wants to know more about wildlife and how things work. He tries to learn about his sled dogs. When he first started sledding, he didn't know much at all about them, but he is soon learning some things the harder way. He works and he goes animal capturing for the government. Any little money he can get, he goes for it. When he witnessed the killing of the deer, that is when I really knew what kind of person he was. I think he is a very sensitive man.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Woodsong 2

the first 30 pages.....

In the book Woodsong, the first thirty pages introduced me to the main character. They have no said his name, but he is a very interesting man. He tells about when he witnessed a pack of wolves attack a doe. He said that all the could do was watch. He was never taught that in this world there are sad endings. He gives very good discriptors that show is true feelings thile he witnessed the doe dying.
He was given some sled dogs. He knew nothing about them, but wanted to learn. Because he was short on money, he decided to earn a few dollars by trapping animals for the government. He used the sled dogs to take him on a 60 mile route. When he is running the dogs he gives them dry dog food. He tells how he later finds out how bad that dog food is for them. He never runs them at night, even though that is the best time for them to run. Again, he doesn't know that much about them. Continuously, he says how badly he wants to learn.
He talks about Storm, one of his sled dogs. Only 20 miles until home, and he decides to run the dogs through the night. A stream of dark liquid spews from Storm's rear end. He thinks it is diareah, so he pulls the dogs over and ties them to a tree to see how Storm is doing. After lighting a match, he discovers that the liquid is actually blood. He does not know what is wrong with Storm, but his mind tells him to get the dog to the doctor. Storm gets tied up to the sled, but he refuses to stay tied down. Storm gets off the sled every time he was tied down. The man had no choice, but to let Storm run. For seven hours after this, Storm continued to run. He did not die, though, but what is wrong with Storm is not revealed yet.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Woodsong 1

Woodsong
by Gary Paulsen
132 pages
published by the Penguin Group
copyright 1990

I selected this novel because it looked like it was about animals because there is dogs on the cover. I also selected this book because I wanted an easier novel than I read last time.

I got the dog clue on the cover. This is really the only clue I got. I am not very far, and I only have read about the dogs, so my prediction was correct; the book is about sled dogs!!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Lovely Bones 9

The main character is a young girl. Her name is Susie. She has love from her family, and misses them deeply throughout the book. She would have had a wonderful life, I think, if she would not have gotten raped. She goes through a lot for being the young character she is.
The novel, Lovely Bones, is about this girl who was walking home from school a little late. Her neighbor talks her into going to look at his little club house. When they arrive in the hidden club house, Mr Harvey, the neighbor, rapes her. He uses the hat she was embarassed to wear to smother her while he was raping her. After he raped her, he cut her up into little peices. He disposed of her body in a safe and dropped it into a huge hole in the ground. The police only found a peice of her elbow. They investigate Mr. Harvey further down the road, but find him clean. Her family tries to prove that Mr. Harvey killed Susie.
The most important setting in this book, in my opinion, in the club house where Mr. Harvey raped Susie. This place was frightening, cold, and dirty. It was Susie's worst nightmare. The club house was the place that Susie was alive last. Its almost like I (the reader) was a fly on the wall watching a horrible crime being commited.
I think there are many climaxes in this novel. One that happended early in the book was the most important, I think. When you first start reading the book, its like you get thrown into the rape so soon. This was a very fast coming climax I was no ready for.
I think the author wrote the book maybe because of something that they had experienced. The details and story line are so picture perfect. Everything that I read, I could picture in my mind and feel how the characters were feeling. It just seems like the words in the book are deep emotions that feel so real.
I would rate this book at about a nine. It is a very good book that kept me reading. It was not hard to understand what was happening. The words creat emotions that come from every character, and this is easy to see. Overall, I thought it was a wonderful book and would recommend it to anyone.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Lovely Bones 6

From heaven Susie watched her sister enter Mr. Harvey's house. The story was told in Susie's point of view.

Susie: " I have to do it. I have to get into Mr. Harvey's house. I know there is something hidden there. I carefully crawled toward Mr. Harvey's house. I crawled along the side of his house, so nobody can see me. I need to know what happened to Susie, and I am not turning back now. As i break this glass, all I can think about is Susie and her pain. It is cold and freaky, but I don't care. I'm walking up the stairs....this house looks familiar to mine. I'm going upstairs...and I will find something. Somebody is coming, but I do not care. I have come too far. There is some papers here, and I am taking them. Mr. Harvey is coming now, and I admit I am scared. It hurts when I jump out the window, but I am alive for Susie.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Lovely Bones 5

The setting of the novel is either in heaven with Susie, or on earth with Susie's family. Susie watches her family from heaven. The author makes you feel for Susie, because she cannot live and grow with her family like her siblings are. Her father thinks that Susie is watching him. More information should come up and her crime should get indentified....I am guessing?

Lovely Bones 4

"Susie is dead. Do you know what that means?" said her father pg. 69
This quote shows that the father is starting to move on easier, and he is able to talk about the situation to his other children. He wants to tell them what has happened to her, but he doesn't know how exactly to do it. But with the Monopoly analogy, he finds the way.

"I build this for the kids in the neighborhood. I thought it could be some sort of clubhouse."pg. 11
This quote tells what Mr. Harvey had said to Susie to convince her to go into the "clubhouse". Mr. Harvey wanted her in the clubhouse so he could rape her, and he had a very horrible way of getting her to trust him.

Lovely Bones 3

The character is a girl who is walking home and doesn't think anything about her friendly neighbor. She is a good looking, popular girl who could have gone far in her life if it wasn't for her rapist.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Lovely Bones 2

The character is a girl about 12 years old. She was walking home from school and gets raped by her neighbor. Her father talks to the neighbor, and suspects something suspicious. He calls the police to investigate, but they find nothing wrong. Her father smashes all of the boats in the glass bottles that they have made together. Her family explains to her younger brother that she has died. They explain it to her through Monopoly.

Susie wathches her one year younger sister kiss a boy on Christmas from heaven. She can watch anyone she wants. Susie also watches her best friend Clarissa, and she keeps an eye on the boy she had a crush on; the boy she managed to get one kiss from before her death.