Speak #3

I'm still reading "Speak" and I've felt so bad for Melinda. She doesn't like school so she's always skipping class. She has to run around hiding in old janitors closets. "I find a light switch. I haven't stumbled into a classroom; it is an old janitors closet that smells like sour sponges." Mr.Neck really is a jerk. I understand you don't trust a student, but literally looking for small things they do wrong and getting them in trouble is too far. She even stole passes from her teacher just so she can have an excuse to get to class late. Heather had made a big decision for them both: to join the pep rally. She planned to skip but she failed miserably. Heather saw we and dragged her to cheer. Since no one knew Melinda, and Melinda knew no one, heather introduced her to everyone. Suddenly someone recognized her as the girl who called the police at a party. Because of her call someone else's brother got in trouble. "My brother got arrested at that party. He got fired because of the arrest. I can't believe you did that." Melinda panicked. She wanted to tell them all the truth but she couldn't. "I can't tell them what really happened. I can't even look at that part of myself." When they finally sat down to cheer for the football players Melinda felt the anger of the people affected because of the call. She got her hair pulled and a guy gave her a dirty look. All she wanted to do was forget that party. 

So many little things are leading up to a big problem. First off, her ex best friend, Rachel, hates her. "This was the girl who suffered through brownies with me, who taught me how to swim, who understood about my parents, who didn't make fun of my bedroom." Rachel doesn't even acknowledge her presence. "Rachelle blows candy cigarette smoke ring at my face. Blows me off." She calls herself Rachelle now because she "took in" her European side. Secondly, her family doesn't really seem to care about her. "At first, mom was pretty good about preparing dinners in the morning and sticking them in the fridge, but I knew it would end." Her dad comes home and she runs up to hide. "I hear Dad turn on the television. Clink, Clink, Clink - he drops ice cubes into a heavy bottomed glass and pours in some booze." She stays in her room for the rest of the night. Thirdly, it seems like something bad happened over summer. Something that might destroy her more than what she did to hide it. "If there is anyone in the entire galaxy I am dying to tell what really happened, it's Rachel." It also seems like there were other things she did to hide the truth. "Aren't you the one who called the cops at Kyle Rodgers party at te end of the summer?" This definitely did not give her the best reputation. Now that people knew who she was they made sure to make her feel how they did. "The girl behind me jams her knees into my back." I don't know the clima yet but for sure it will be something explosive. 

Speak #2

The book "Speak", show you the struggles high school students deal with on a daily basis. We finally learn the main characters name and it is Melinda. Her and her family don't seen very close. They seem like they just don't really even talk. Her mom just leaves her notes telling her to order pizza. Her dad turns up the volume enough for the neighbors to hear. Plus, he drinks like there's no tomorrow. The good thing is she makes a somewhat friend. Her name is Heather. Heather, is a new student at her high school. They were both considered "outcasts" in Melinda's point of view. Melinda seems depressed and tired. She mostly just wants to stay home, but she use to be outgoing like her new friend heather. "She always walks around with me down the halls chattering a million miles a minute. My goal is to go home and take a nap." Seeing other people be this way make Melinda a little jealous and disappointed in herself. "I use to be like Heather. Have I changed that much in two months?" She wishes to go back to her old self. Some changes you'll like, some you won't. 

This book is definitely a teen/realistic fiction. This book is about a girl in high school struggling to fit in. Melinda also seems to struggle with home life and self esteem. "Two muddy-circle eyes under black-dash eyebrows, piggy-nose nostrils, and a chewed-up horror of a mouth." That is the way she described herself. Any teenager nowadays doesn't like something about their bodies. Society has this mind set of "you will never be good enough" that no matter what you try, you will never be good enough. I bet Melinda is a beautiful girl. She is facing the struggle of dealing with assuming teachers and ex best friends who are evil enough to ruin your first week. Every person on earth has that person who was their best friend and they're either a stranger or enemy now. This book is really going to take twist and turns.

Speak

At the beginning of "Speak" the author, Laurie Anderson, describes a lonely teenage freshman. This girl sits alone on the bus, the school assembly, and lunch. Her old "clan" totally left her. Her little clan was made up of 5 girls. Nicole, Ivy, Jessica, and the bestest of her friend Rachel. They all just left. But Rachel definitely went from best friend to mortal enemy. Possibly. The first day they see each other after about a month, Rachel basically lets her know how she feels. "Her eyes meet mine for a second. "I hate you," she mouths silently." Apart from Rachel we meet another character who will probably make her year the worst. (Reminder I call the character, her/she, because we still don't know the name.) the new character is the social studies teacher, Mr.Neck. No, that is not his name, but he had a "whistle around a neck thicker than his head."  which is why she nicknamed his Mr.Neck. He just met her and he already thinks she's trouble just because, she didn't sit down right away and because she was walking to the bathroom without a pass. He didn't even care that she had food thrown on her. She just started high school and it was already a mess. 

I just began the book and she's already facing challenges. First off her best friends ditched her at the beginning of high school, and secondly she doesn't talk to anyone at all. At her first bus ride to school, no one sat with her. "As we leave the last stop, I am the only person sitting alone." This shows just how lonely she is. Besides being physically lonely, she is also emotionally lonely. She is afraid of doing things wrong. She is afriad she will mess up on the first day of high school. "I know enough not to bring lunch on the first day of high school. There is no way of telling what the acceptable fashion will be." But almost right away she finds herself in the biggest high school nightmare. She was "nailed" with food. She ran out the cafeteria just to find herself getting in trouble for walking around the halls without a pass. The first day of high school was tragic. 

Eleanor & Park #3

I have finally finished the breath taking book "Eleanor & Park". Rainbow Rowell is an amazing author! She put so much love and pain in just 325 pages. All of the characters you meet in this book will effect either Eleanor or park. From where I left off I was explaining that Eleanor and Park got into a huge conflict and they didn't talk for quite some time. Well things have changed a lot and quickly. Ever since the horrible things were written in her book, Park wanted her to check right after gym class. The writing had stopped so Eleanor didn't think it would happen again until one day her clothes were gone. She panicked and looked everywhere. She couldn't believe where she had found them. They were in the toilet. Her new jeans and favorite vans were attempted to be flushed down the toilet. She wanted to sob as far as she could but she just tried to suck it up. Eleanor knew if park saw he would want to go after someone. She tried to sneak to her coulees office but to her luck she encountered Park. His face boiled with anger. She quickly left. She didn't want him to see her in something that made her look revolting, in her opinion. But in Parks opinion, she looked extremely beautiful. Seeing her in the right gym uniform made him just want to hug and kiss her. Well to not give too much away, Eleanor and Park start to escalate on their relationship. But will something come to ruin their real life fairy tale? 

Eleanor definitely has changed a lot in the book. Park helped her change a lot. He made her realize that she is worth it and that love - the real type - can help. Before, holding hands was something new and strange to Eleanor. Just a simple touch and she was amazed. "If you ever wonder what that feels like, it's a lot like melting - but more violent. Even in a million different pieces, Eleanor could still feel Park holding her hand." Eleanor claimed on page 72. But on page 253 - yes 181 pages later - Park and Eleanor had taken big steps into their relationship. Parks point of view show us, "Eleanor pressed her cheek to his chest, and Park hugged her. He wished that they could go through life like this." They are obviously a lot more familiar with each other. These two different parts of the book show us that she goes from shy to open. Because of her home situation she was never secure. She didn't trust anyone, not even her own mother. She now found park. He has helped her grow. He's showing her to live life freely. 

Goals

Making goals for yourself is very hard. Mostly picking which ones you're actually going to complete. In my opinion, it's hard to pick just one academic goal. I mean you could have many small goals, but overall one of my main goals is to finish 8th grade with good grades. I want to go into high school knowing I could take on the challenge. I will pay attention more and work harder on my assignments. I will also ask more questions and possibly stay after for extra help. I want to go into high school not being afraid of what is coming my way.

One of my personal goals is to travel around the US. I really enjoy seeing new places and going on adventures. I'm going to work hard in school so I am able to get a good paying job. Also, I will find a job I really enjoy and make sure that the job helps me travel places. I would really like to go to a different country, mostly Canada. It seems like an amazing place to visit and I know that one day I WILL go. Im really excited to complete all my goals.

Eleanor & Park #2

I've read further into the book "Eleanor & Park", and then things seem to get good something goes bad. For example, when Park invites Eleanor for the first time, everything seems fine until she arrives. She starts to get worried and insecure. She leaves knowing she probably messed up. Knowing that maybe that was her only opportunity to get on Parks Family's good side. At this point in my book I tend to not get to excited when they take a big step because I know something or someone will ruin it. They go into winter break fighting. The thing that caused the conflict was Tina. Tina has made fun of Eleanor since she arrived. Eleanor thinks Tina is writing vulgar things in her books. Park thinks Tina wouldn't go so far. Sadly, Eleanor's home life really affects their relationship for a while. Richie is a inconsiderate pain, who doesn't know what respect is. Everyone, even Eleanor's mom, fear him. He doesn't seems to know when to stop. He doesn't give them a good life and besides that he drinks like there's no tomorrow. He makes sure to pick at Eleanor the most. They don't even have a decent bathroom or phone. Park and Eleanor go a long time with no communication. Park finally has the courage to look for her. He knows it was dangerous with Richie around. Eleanor snuck out and they saw each other and talked. But it couldn't happen again. They knew that they had to work around it all, but sometimes it seemed impossible.

So the book got really good. Honestly, this book makes me just wanna jump into their world and hurt everyone making their relationship impossible. Richie can find out at any moment that Park and Eleanor are together, he would 'half murder' Eleanor or not obeying him. Tina is also becoming a big pain! That girls likes to stir trouble with Eleanor. She might not be over Park and that might be a probable reason of why she bothers Eleanor so much. Park starts to show who he really is and it's not something his father wants. I feel like this is going to cause a lot of conflict against Eleanor because she's different. She likes to wear many strange things on her outfits and now Park wears eye liner. His father might say that Eleanor is to blame. So many things can happen that it seems like they're all against Eleanor. The only things I'm really afraid of is what Richie might do when he finds out about their relationship. Knowing how he is.. It might be something drastic. 

Eleanor & Park

The book "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell is literally the most beautiful/stressful book there is. It's so irritating! Yet, so amazing! We start out by meeting both Park and Eleanor at the bus. Eleanor is new but she is almost right away attacked by the meanest kids on that bus. Park almost immediately thought she was weird. She dressed really strange.  No one would even let her sit. Park saw how she was being attacked with glares and giggles, he tried to ignore her but he ended up letting her sit next to him. They would never talk or even look at each other. It seemed like they hated each other. After a while they Park started to notice that Eleanor was paying attention to some comics he was reading. He started to tilt the book a little more so she would be able to read. He started bringing comics for her to read. She would take them home, read them, and bring them back the next day. He'd always have a new small pile of comics for her. Soon they started talking. They found out they really enjoyed each other's presence. The thing about them is that they're different personality wise. Eleanor isn't the prettiest girl ever and she's well aware of that. She also doesn't have a good life at home. Her step father Richie kicked her out for a whole year. Ever since then things have gone completely bad. Park is a nerdy kind of guy, but his family is alright. He lives in a good house with a good mother and father, but he doesn't really get to be himself. Both Park and Eleanor fall in love, but will their love last? Will he save Eleanor? Will she help Park become himself? 

Any and every book have many beautiful themes. I think that one of the main themes is that you should always look beyond the looks and search for a persons true personality to be able to accept them. See, everyone looks at Eleanor like she's a weird girl who's a bit over weight, but Park sees what makes Eleanor special. He sees her flaws but still loves them. Park would be considered a nerdy kid who wouldn't really get a girl. Eleanor sees that he's a warm hearted kid who is actually really fun and amazing. Sometimes you just have to get to know a person to see how special they really are.