Duke: Week of 4/22/14

Pages Read: Finished

This book was so great that I finished it in two days. Duke is about a boy who's father is in the war and he is doing everything he can to help with the war. He's running errands for his mom, taking his little sister to school, and he planted a victory garden. This war is World War 2. Everyone did there share, at home and in the war. This boy has a big decision to make, either give his dog up and help with the war, or keep him and be "selfish". The boy, Hobie, thinks that it would be selfish if he kept his dog so he doesn't know what to do.

The author is Kirby Larson and she does many things to make me want to keep reading. One thing that the she does is tell all of the character's thoughts. Even the one's of the not so important characters. She also tells the reader what the Dad and Duke are feeling far away from home. I chose this book to read for a couple reason. The first reason is because I saw a dog on the cover. As people know, I love dog books. The second reason I chose this book is because it takes place during World War 2, so I thought it would be entertaining. The last reason I chose to read this book it because it looked entertaining. The cover made the book pop out at me.

My favorite character in Duke is the main character Hobie. I like him because he does the right thing no matter what. He feels bad when he does bad things, but most importantly he helps his mom a lot. When she is sick he does everything he can to make her feel better. He makes tea for her, he watches his little sister, and he lets his little sister tag along with him to a friend's house. He also makes sure that his dad is proud of him. He does everything he can to help the army and his dad. He also doesn't take advantage of anything and keeps his temper with the bully.

Weird but True: Week of 4/14/14

“The U.S. President’s plane, Air Force One, has never landed more than 3 seconds off its scheduled arrival time.” I found this fact interesting because even though this is the President, you think that he would be late sometimes. I never expected that the President’s body guards are this serious about their job.

“Grass looks greener to girls than it does to boys.” When I read this fact I thought to myself, “Does this mean that girls can see colors better than boys or just grass?” This fact really interests me because I never really thought about this, about grass be brighter to some people.

“Squirrels sweat through their feet.” I really just love this fact. I love squirrels and I have to say, it is very interesting that they sweat through their feet. It sorta puts a new perspective on squirrels now.

“There are more vending machines in Japan than there are people in New Zealand.” This fact made me really interested so I looked up how many people are in New Zealand. I found out that there are 4.433 million people living in New Zealand as of 2012. I also found the population of Japan which is 127.6 million as of 2012. I realized two things. One Japanese people really love vending machines and New Zealand has a real small population.

“A cat named Tuxedo Stan ran for mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada.” I laughed when I read this fact. I thought about if this was actually legal for a cat to run for mayor. I also thought that it was a cute cat and I loved the name.

“The most common password on the Internet is password.” I think most people take it as a joke when a website says set a password and the password can’t be password. I never actually thought people did this, but apparently most people do.

“The average adult tells about 11 lies in a week.” This fact makes me really think. It has made me wonder when adults are really telling me the true. 11 lies a week amount to 1.5 lies a day. That means kids get lied to everyday. To think the adults actually call kids liars.

Wuthering Heights: Week of 4/7/14

Pages Read: 170 - 356


I think that this book is amazing. When I first started reading it, I was slightly confused. I was sure what was happening, but now that I’ve got further in, I been able to follow the plot. Now, that I’ve been able to follow the plot the book has been great.  I think the title fits the story. I think this because Wuthering Heights is where the story mostly takes place.

One word that I didn’t know when I was reading was interspersed. I think it means mixed. I think this because when I used context clues mix is a good fit. The part of the story that uses this is talking about the kitchen. They were explaining what was near the fireplace. When they used interspersed, they said, “interspersed with silver jugs”. The real definition of interspersed is to scatter among or between other things, place here and there. In a way that is the same definition as mix, which is, to combine. So I was right.

Some questions I would ask the author are:

What inspired you to write Wuthering Heights?

Where did you come up with the title Wuthering Heights?

Where did the pictures from the book come from?

Wuthering Heights: Week of 3/31/14

Pages Read: 60-356

I have to say that the most interesting part in this book would have to be when the main character is spending the night at Wuthering Heights. He walked there in the morning when the sun was shining, but when he wants to leave there is a big storm. He is not able to walk back home without getting lost. The people at Wuthering Heights don't want to guide him because it is impossible to get anywhere in the storm, so he's forced to spend the night.

Everyone walked in the dining room, where the dogs were sleeping. As soon as everyone entered, the dogs jumped up and onto Mr.Lockwood. The other men just stood there laughing, but when the maid found out, she rushed to the rescue with a metal pan. The maid put Mr.Lockwood into a room that was forbidden by Heathcliff. I think that this was the most interesting part because the forbidden room had very interesting stuff and Mr. Lockwood dreamt of something interesting to.

Double Fudge: Week of 3/3/14

Pages Read: 74 - 213

This book is such a great one. I love it, I love how it is so realistic. Double Fudge is about a five-year-old kid who just got obsessed with money. He is obsessed with it that the counselor at his school calls his parents in to talk about problems going on at home. The only thing is that there are no problems going on at home, there is just a kid who really, really, likes money. His parents think that if they take him to see how money is made and how you get money then, he won't be so obsessed with it. Unfortunately, it was no help, I wonder if there is any hope for this kid.

This book is believable because just about everyone, has that one family member who always annoying you, embarrassing you, or just asking dumb questions. Sure, you might not go on a little adventure trying to explain what they are doing wrong, but it's practically the same. This book is also believable because it explains the older brother's thoughts. How he thinks of his brothers obsession. This makes the story very believable because what the older brother thinks is what I'm thinking as I read it.

Five Characters are:

Mom:
Strict
Impatience

Dad:
Impatience
Happy

Peter:
Nickname is Pete
7th Grade
Smart
Logical

Fudge:
Real Name is Farley
School-Smart
1st Grade
Obsessed With Money

Tootsie:
Baby
Learning Words

Poetry Essential Questions

Poetry does have a place and importance in my life. Poetry never really had a importance in my life, until the poetry unit. I found that poetry had be a way to express the way you feel about things. It helps me express my ideas, to tell people what I think. That’s why poetry has an importance in my life. I always think my about my family when I write poetry, mainly my two little cousins. They give me ideas when I can’t think of one. That would be the place that poetry fits in with my life.

Poets use their life and experiences to help them write their poem. The life of a poet could make the poem sad, if they had a bad childhood, or happy, if they had a fantastic childhood. It really depends on the childhood of they poet. Childhood is what people try to remember the most. The experiences that a poet has can also make the poem gloomy, or exciting. They could write about a fancy restaurant they been to, or a horrible restaurant they been to. It is pretty much the same as the life of the poet, but the experiences last a life time, while the childhood only really last a couple of years.

Poetry does belong to everyone, but everyone might not know it. Poetry tries to dig it’s way into everyone’s life, but some push it back. Even though you try so hard not to let it in, it gets in and it starts to effect your life. You become more aware about poetry and you get slightly more creative. It might take some people awhile to let poetry into their lives, but once it enters your life, the people who pushed it away will regret it more then, you. I know this because I let poetry enter my life. At first I hated it, but now I see why I need it. It helps me write, be more creative, and much more. I regretted it at first, but now I’m as happy as I can be. Poetry is great, I just wish everyone had the time to let poetry enter their life.

"Purpurdurgs In Prohit" - Nonsense Poem