Ana’s Comments (group member since Aug 24, 2014)

Ana’s comments from the BDCHS Advanced Reading group.

Soul surfer by Bethany Hamilton. I rate this book a 5 out 0f 5 because Bethany's story is unbelievable and very inspiring. The setting of this book is in Kauai, Hawaii. Bethany was born to be a surfer she grew up in the water, it’s in her blood. She has never been afraid of the water nor whatever is in it. On October 31, 2003, Bethany was 13 at the time, was attacked by a 14- foot tiger shark while surfing on the north shore. The shark attacked from the left side taking her arm up to her armpit and half her board with it. Bethany lost 60% of her blood, surprisingly she made it through several surgeries as well as no infections. Before the attack Bethany was training for a surf competition. She had a very good attitude when she was on the road to recovery. A month after the incident Bethany was up and at it again as if nothing happened. Bethany never stopped believing in herself in a matter of four year Bethany became a professional surfer and has been sponsored by a lot of surf companies. Bethany supports many charities and currently has her own supporting and helping shark attack survivors. The problem in this book was when Bethany was attacked by the tiger shark. The solution was he over coming her fear and becoming a pro surfer. The theme in this book is hope, because Bethany never lost faith when she lost her arm she became stronger. From this novel I learned that not everything comes easy and doesn’t come the way you want it, Bethany always wanted to be a pro surfer but lost her am in the process. I loved Bethany’s story it was bitter sweet. I don’t really have a connection with the novel I just really hate sharks.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I rated this novel a 5 out of 5 because I felt a strong connection between the characters and myself and what they are going through. The novels setting in Indianapolis but changes throughout the movie when the characters travel. Hazel Grace Lancaster is the protagonist who was diagnosed with cancer since she was a child, Augustus “Gus” Waters a 16 year old who also has cancer, Isaac who is best friends with Augustus, he is becoming blind because of his cancer. In the beginning of the novel Hazel introduces her life and when she was diagnosed with cancer and her struggles throughout life, her mother makes her go to a support group for teens who have had or are currently struggling with cancer, on the first day she goes to the first session and she meets a boy Augustus. She despises him because he acts like a bad boy but when they start hanging out then they becomes close friends. Hazel shows Augustus her favorite book and he starts reading it. He became intrigued with it and emailed the author, throughout the novel they began to start a relationship. The author emails him back, and he invited Augustus and Hazel to meet him in Amsterdam. So Augustus and hazel go to his house, and they are shocked because he is a complete jerk and blows then off and they find out that his assistant was the one who was writing the emails. To make up for it, the assistant takes them to tour the city, in one of the tourist attractions Hazel and Augustus have their first kiss and instantly fall in love. Later that day Augustus breaks the news to Hazel that his cancer had spread and uses the term “I lit up like a Christmas tree”. When they fly back home his symptoms had gotten worse, and he was hospitalized. A couple weeks after Augustus knew the end was near and he asked Isaac and Hazel to write Eulogies for his funeral, but before it was too late he wanted to hear them, following the reading of the eulogies Augustus was rushed to the hospital and was later pronounced dead. Surprisingly after the funeral the author that stood them up appeared and gave hazel a letter, the letter contained Augustus’ feelings towards Hazel explaining how much he loved her. The problem in the novel is that they were both madly in love but both of their ends were near, there was no solution because Augustus died. The theme in this novel is that love never dies because their love was eternal. I learned that life is never fair I loved this book. I felt a real connection to this book because my best friend has cancer and the story was very touching.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I rated this novel a 5 out of 5 because I felt a strong connection between the characters and myself and what they are going through. The novels setting in Indianapolis but changes throughout the movie when the characters travel. Hazel Grace Lancaster is the protagonist who was diagnosed with cancer since she was a child, Augustus “Gus” Waters a 16 year old who also has cancer, Isaac who is best friends with Augustus, he is becoming blind because of his cancer. In the beginning of the novel Hazel introduces her life and when she was diagnosed with cancer and her struggles throughout life, her mother makes her go to a support group for teens who have had or are currently struggling with cancer, on the first day she goes to the first session and she meets a boy Augustus. She despises him because he acts like a bad boy but when they start hanging out then they becomes close friends. Hazel shows Augustus her favorite book and he starts reading it. He became intrigued with it and emailed the author, throughout the novel they began to start a relationship. The author emails him back, and he invited Augustus and Hazel to meet him in Amsterdam. So Augustus and hazel go to his house, and they are shocked because he is a complete jerk and blows then off and they find out that his assistant was the one who was writing the emails. To make up for it, the assistant takes them to tour the city, in one of the tourist attractions Hazel and Augustus have their first kiss and instantly fall in love. Later that day Augustus breaks the news to Hazel that his cancer had spread and uses the term “I lit up like a Christmas tree”. When they fly back home his symptoms had gotten worse, and he was hospitalized. A couple weeks after Augustus knew the end was near and he asked Isaac and Hazel to write Eulogies for his funeral, but before it was too late he wanted to hear them, following the reading of the eulogies Augustus was rushed to the hospital and was later pronounced dead. Surprisingly after the funeral the author that stood them up appeared and gave hazel a letter, the letter contained Augustus’ feelings towards Hazel explaining how much he loved her. The problem in the novel is that they were both madly in love but both of their ends were near, there was no solution because Augustus died. The theme in this novel is that love never dies because their love was eternal. I learned that life is never fair I loved this book. I felt a real connection to this book because my best friend has cancer and the story was very touching.

Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen. I rated this book a 4 out of 5 because I thought it was a nice book but just not the type of book that I like. The setting of the book took place in an area near Winona in Minnesota during The Civil War. The only character in this book is Charley Goddard there are other characters but they are mostly irrelevant to the story. The plot of the story is Charley Goddard is a 15 year old boy who lies about his age so he can be enrolled to be in the war. The only reason he wasn’t to go is because he friends are enrolling and this opportunity doesn’t come every day. Charley enlists himself thinking it would be an experience of a life time he thinks he’s going to come back the same person he always was and that nothing will happen to him. He leaves his poor mother behind but sends her a check every week. During the war when all his buddies are shot he realizes this is no fun and games. During the war he was shot in the stomach, and at this time period stomach wound shots don’t heal the bullet remains in there till the day you die. By the time he is 21 the war is over and he finally goes home. Charley goes to the park and people look at him like he is an alien. Knowing that Charley came home so traumatized, he had PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. When he is at the park he’s thinking about the time he was in the war and that all his friends are dead. Charley takes out his gun and kills himself. A problem that all the soldiers face about whether to stay and continue in the awful war, or to return home to their families. Many men commit suicide because they can’t handle the stress. The Theme for this book would be patriarchy because these men are willing to go war for our country voluntarily. From this story I learned that war is a huge deal and that it’s no fun and games it could really mess you up. I really liked the story but it was really depressing when Charley killed himself. I really connected to this story because I’m fascinated with the idea of war.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. I rated this book a 5 out of 5 because it was an incredible story. I loved it and it was very touching. The setting of the story took place in berlin, Germany during World War ll. The protagonist was Bruno, he’s an 8 year old boy who was forced to move due to his father’s job. His sister, Gretel, is completely oblivious to the whole situation. She thinks that the concentration camps are a good ideas and that the Jews deserve everything that the Germans did to them. There is also Pavel, he’s a sweet Jew servant and he becomes friends with Bruno, but he is terrified of Bruno’s father. Shmel is the same age as Bruno and he is he little boy that Bruno found at the camp. Ralf is Bruno’s father and is the soldier in charge of those concentration camps. Ralf has been promoted (he is in the army) this causes the whole family to move. Bruno’s father will be running the concentration camp from a couple miles away from their new house. Bruno is extremely curious about the camp because he thinks it’s a farm filled with children. One day when nobody is home, Bruno sneaks away to the camp, planning to play with some friends. When he gets there he sees a little boy Shmel. Bruno thinks that the cloths that they are wearing is part of a game, Shmel tells his that it’s the uniform that the soldiers gave them. Every day after that Bruno goes to visit Shmel and brings him food. Then Shmuel’s father mysteriously disappears so Bruno and Shmel make a plan tha Bruno comes as one of them to help Shmel find his father. In the next couple days Bruno goes in the camp. It’s nothing like he expected because he saw the videos of what they are supposed to be and they look lovely but they are nothing like that. The soldiers then put then in a big holding cell to supposedly take a shower. Little did they know that they weren’t going to take a shower they were sprayed with poisonous gas, they suffocated and were killed. The problem here was the concentration camps and how horrible they were. The solution was later on when they took them down. The theme of this book is hypocrisy, its hypocrisy because the Germans are saying that the Jews are a bunch of bad people that want to kill the Germans but in reality the Germans are the ones capturing the Jews and torturing them until they die. The lesson I learned from this book is that Germans were very cruel towards Jews. I honestly loved this story. A connection I would make to this is that I am very intrigued by our past and I love reading history books.

The book Monster by Walter Dean Myers was a great book. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars because I loved how the structure of the book was written in. The way the book was written in made me feel like I was in the book with the characters. The setting of the book was in a detention center in Manhattan, New York City. The characters in the book were Steve Harman who was 16, he was the protagonist, and he was arrested for being the "look out" for the armed robbery. O'Brien was Steve Harman's defense attorney. Petrocelli was the prosecutor in Harmans case. James King was the one who arranged the armed robbery. He got the "crew" together including Steve Harman, James king was the one who brought the gun and turned it into an armed robbery. Richard "Bobo" Evans stole money from the cash register and grabbed cigarettes so he could later on sell for profit during the robbery. He was also the one who snitched on everyone else who was involved in the crime. Osvaldo Cruz was one of the member of Diablos, he was sort of a wannabe. Lorelle Henry was a star witness. Jose Delgado, he found Mr. Nesbitts dead body, and Mr. Nesbitt the victim of the armed robbery. On September 22nd there was an armed robbery set up by James King that include Steve Harman and Richard "Bobo" Evans. They plan to rob a gas station but never meant to hurt anyone. Steve Harman, main character, was put on the murder case of Mr. Nesbitt after being accused of being the lookout for the robbery. The problem in the story is that Steve Harman is being convicted of something he didn’t do and that is kill Mr. Nesbitt, even though he was the lookout for the armed robbery. At the end of the book, the court finally realizes that he is innocent. The theme of the book would be loss of innocence because Steve has to face real adult problems at such a young age and dealing with this is helping him become a mature young man. From this book I learned a very strong lesson, a simple situation can turn very ugly. I enjoyed this book very much, I love watching Law and Order SVU, and this book and the show have so many similarities. I would love to read more books like this, it was very well written and organized.