What's 812 Reading? discussion

Who is a “monster” in your book? How does he/she/it affect your protagonist? Remember, it may be an internal or external "monster"!

Make sure to consult your reading response checklist.

Did I….
-Write a topic sentence that provided the title, author, and genre of my text?
-Provide context of what is happening in the text, so my reader understands what I’m talking about?
-Find a direct quote from the text that proves my idea?
-Thoroughly explain the significance of my quote/how it proves my idea?
-Check for correct punctuation and spelling?

In my realistic fiction book, Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen, the protagonist, Annabel faces lots of antagonists, or monsters. Ever since an summer incident with her best friend, Clarke, and a newcomer girl, Sophie, these two people became the monsters in the book. Clarke stopped becoming Annabel's best friend since on one friday night, she, Sophie, and Annabel had wanted to rent some pizza and watch a movie together. Sophie, on the other hand, wants to go down to the pool and hang out with some good-looking guys. Clarke refused because of her parent's rules, and she doesn't want to break them. Annabel had wanted to go that night since Sophie mentioned that Chris Pennington, the hottest guy in the school want Annabel to go to that hangout-place. Annabel couldn't refuse, but she doesn't want her best friend to get upset but she went anywhere. There, she hooked up with Chris, and Clarke got angry right after that. She refused to talk to Annabel during the whole summer. In this book so far, every time Annabel sees Sophie in the hallways of the high school, Sophie always calls her a "whore", "bitch", or a "slut". Just these one word remarks. Annabel, on the inside feels hurt and she sees her old friend, or supposedly a good friend, Emily, following her around. Annabel had once been just like Emily, following Sophie around like a baby duck following its mother. "The truth was, it hadn't been that long ago that I'd been the one who walked alongside Sophie while she did her dirty work, when I was the person who, while not taking part of the slur, didn't stop it, either. Like with Clarke" This quote represents all what Sophie's assistants are doing and that her dirty work has never been stopped before. I do not think anyone has the courage to stop her work and tell her what's right. Sophie is not the kind of person which you can easily stop her to do the right and respectful thing.

Ben F 812
In the non-fiction novel We beat the streets by Drs. Sampson David, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt the monster they have to beat is their life in Newark New Jersey. Three streets are violent and dangerous and full of junkies and dealers. One direct quote from the text that’s backs up my claim about Newark is on page 29 the book states ‘’ Drug dealers and buyers where so commonplace that the boys had learned to ignore them and play games in their shadow.” This quote is significant because it shows that the streets in Newark are dangerous and can easily stop someone from becoming successful. Also they had to deal with the street life everyday if they let it get to them they could potentially end up in a very different place such as jail or even worst they can end up dead. Another piece of evidence that backs up my claim is that on page 31 the book states ‘’ The three boys already numb to the chaos that surrounded them, knew that staying out of trouble was a lot harder than just talking about it.’’ This quote also shows how difficult it was for the boys to stay out of trouble and maintain a healthy life and successful.

In the realistic fiction book, The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, the protagonist is Sage and the monster that is continuously hurting Sage is the secondary character, Conner. Sage is an orphan that Conner purchased from an orphanage because Sage resembled the person Conner is trying to impersonate in order for his plan to work. Conner is a nobleman of the court. You would think he’s very loyal and pleasant but instead he is evil, heartless and perjurer. Conner’s plan to impersonate the long lost prince is extremely dangerous, nonetheless Conner doesn’t care since if the plan fails the child he picked to play the role will go to jail and suffer. Mott, who is a friend of Conner’s, helps him with his plot. On the other hand, Mott doesn’t want to do what Conner expects of him all the time. An illustration that shows Conner is a monster comes from a small paragraph in the book when Conner hits Sage. “Without warning, Conner grabbed me around the neck, where he held me while Mott tied my hands. I noticed he gave me some slack on my wrist but it didn’t matter. Despite the churning inside me I had to let Conner do what he was going to do. Then Conner released me, and Mott tied a gag in my mouth”. This quote demonstrates Conner’s evil monster trait, using threats and abuse forcing Sage to follow through with his plan.

In the fantasy book, Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher, the antagonist, or the "monster" in this book is Incarceron. Incarceron is a prison, which prisoners where born in the prison, and none were brought to the prison from the outside. Finn, a teenage boy was one of them. Maestra, the other protagonist was also a prisoner, and she wanted Finn to help her escape from the prison. The prison doesn't have an entrance or an exit, so no one from the prison can escape to the outside world. But there is a key. And Finn needs to find a key. The key is the one that can open the doors so that the prisoners can escape, and be free to the outside world. But the prison is huge. There are cities and forests to it too, so it would be very dangerous, and the Incarceron knows. "Her hatred scorched him. Then, as she turned away, the bridge lurched." This quote shows how escaping from the prison is dangerous, and how it is affecting Finn. Incarceron knows that Finn and some other prisoners are trying to escape, so the prison decides to tip the bridge, and kill some of them that way, the others can't move on without them and they can't find the key, and then escape from the prison.

In the fiction book, Holes, by Louis Sachar the antagonist, or the monster in the book is Mr.Pendanski and he affects my protagonist Stanley Yelnats because, he is mean to Stanley by making him dig holes five feet deep and five feet wide and he also monitors Stanley while he is digging holes and while he monitors Stanley he is also very critical to Stanley and Stanley does not appreciate that. Mr. Pendanski is also very strict to Stanley and the other inmates at camp green lake and that proves that Mr.Pendanski is the monster/antagonist.

Readers Response

In the book Holes, by Louis Sachar right now in the book Stanley finds a tube in a hole he dug with little bits of gold on it and kissin kate barlow's signature on it but it was hard to see because it has been dug up for so many years and another inmate nick named zig zag that has been there for 2 years makes Stanley give it to him because he said to Stanley that it would be most fair because he has been there longer than stanley has been and Stanley Surprisingly gave it to him so now if zig zag turns it in to the warden he can get the whole day off.

in the realistic fiction book " Life as we know it " by Susan Beth Pfeffer, this tenage girl whos life changes dramaticly after an astrode hit the moon. Yea the astrode hits the moon all the time, but not this time because after it hit and it however creates worldwide disasters. The moon is responsible for many of Earth's environmental controls, and when the orbit of the moon changes, so does the environment. Tidal waves destroy coastal cities, killing millions of people. Thunderstorms knock out the electricity in Miranda's school. None of it seems quite real to Miranda, even when her mother sends her and her brothers on a grocery run to buy all the canned soup, aspirin, vitamin pills and toilet paper they possibly can. Gas climbs to $5 a gallon, then $7, and pretty soon it's $35 for three gallons, and you can only get three gallons at a time. And a quote that proves my6 point would be, " This is the Presidant of the united states brodcasting from my ranch in Texas, ther has been an economic break down, but we are americans and we will get through this together, and now we can only put our hand in hope." This proves my point because this shows how dramatic this realy is.

In the autobiography book, The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer, the protagonist is david, the monster or the antagonist in this book is his mother, Roerva. When david was 7 years old the abusing started and the starvation started. David's mother constantly abuses him, and was making him starve. Roerva was making him starve by only leaving him leftovers from his brothers. Roerva once let him run away because his dad Stephan and his mother had an argument about how she always abuses him and lets him starve. " There, mother said triumphantly states. The boy did it. It's his decision. i didn't force him remember that, stephan. I want you to know i didn't force him." Stephan is a bit scared of Roerva. Roerva went looking for david in her mini van, in the streets but david hid on the side of cars because he did not want her to find him . This quote shows that she finally let david choose his own choice of doing something. David finally got away from that house of disappointment. He could not believe that she let him go and run away from the house but he wasn't going to stay away from home for to long. David went into this bar and he saw a quater on the table and thought to him self well maybe i can buy my self a sandwich or so, but then the bar tender mark saw him take the quater and said "stay here i'll bake you a pizza" but mark really called the cops and once the cops arrived david knew he was going back to his horrible mother, but when david was going to leave with the cops mark gave him a box of pizza. David had hope in his self that one day he will make all of the abusing and starving would end.

In the realistic fiction book, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld the antagonist, or the monster is the city itself. The city is the monster in this book because of what it did to Tally. Tally cared for Shay, but on the day of Tally’s operation instead of being taken to be transformed, she is arrested by the city. She was told to betray Shay and to find her a turn her in. If she dose not then they wont give her her transformation to become a prettie. This made a lot of trouble for Tally because she had to chose the transformation she always wanted and to turn her friend in or to save her friend and never have the transformation.

In the realistic fiction book Checker Flag Cheater by Will Weaver, the protagonist is Trace which is 17 years old who is a famous young racecar driver. His biggest “monster” in the book is Jimmy which is his friend and follows along with his travels. As of now in the book, Trace has been racing on the track in the north of US and received tons of boos from the crowd and tons saying that he is cheating. Still, he is passing the tests that he is not cheating. While Trace takes his time off from the race, he goes to do his online classes and signing autographs all over the place. Since Trace has been playing and racing, he didn’t do much of his online class homework. He is chasing up with the homework and goes to a library now to do a special assessment. The one that always annoy Trace is Jimmy and he is the “monster”. Jimmy is changing Trace about what he does. Jimmy is Trace’s friend that has no education, driver’s license, and always waste his time by playing video games. Jimmy tells Trace about these problems and they influence Trace in a bad way. Usually, Jimmy plays Xbox with Trace and costs Trace to not do his homework. One piece of text from the book that shows this is on pages 114-118 (Note: Pages on Nook are very different from regular books, Pages are doubled) “”Your counselor tells me that you haven’t been turning in your online work, you won’t take her calls, you don’t respond to her e-mails.” “I’ve been racing a lot,” Trace began. “Don’t kid me,” Tasha said. “At most you race three times per week. You’ve got lots of off-hours while you’re traveling. What are you doing with your time?” After Tasha searches through Trace’s cabin, she finds the cabin and the other text that shows Jimmy is bad is, “”Jimmy and I play some,” Trace said. “He’s good.” “What does that tell you?” Tasha said. Trace shrugged again. “He’s a good gamer because he plays a lot. Because he plays a lot is why he’s a tie and setup guy,” Tasha said.
“‘Proficiency at pool is a sign of misspent youth.’ “After Tasha explains to Trace how Jimmy’s life is ruined, Traces understands and does his homework. Trace shows how Jimmy has wasted his time by not working and playing. Trace starts to work on his homework carefully because he doesn’t want to end up like Jimmy. Jimmy is the “monster” because he is being a bad influence to Trace and wasting his time in life playing just like how Rowley in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is wasting his life doing nothing and being a bad influence to Arnold.

In the realistic fiction book, The Mocking Jay written by Suzanne Collins President Snow is the "monster." He wants Katniss to suffer because of the prank she pulled with the poisonous berries. He is always leaving signs for Katniss to find but only ones she would understand and no one else. Another example is that President Snow and his peace keeper Thread tried to kill Gale one of Katniss' friends, a person she cared about. Katniss wasa rebel and wanted to turn the tables on him to have him killed for everything he has done to his own people. Either she kills Snow herself when she is captured, or coin kills him. ( they're going to flip a coin.)

In my story The Maze Runner by James Dashner, my antagonist Thomas faces an antagonist named Gally. Gally would make life at the glade very difficult for Thomas. Gally would usually bully Thomas and call him these weird names at the glade like: “Shank” Shuck.” Are some of the examples of Gally tormenting Thomas. I’m not a dong, greenie,” Gally spat. “I saw chucks fat face in the window.” He pointed again, this time right a Thomas’s chest. “But you better decide right quick who you want as your friends and enemies hear me? One more trick like that-I don’t care if it’s your sissy idea or not-there’ll be blood spilled. You got that, Newbie?” This is an example of Gally Tormenting Thomas and because he is the newest member at the Glade the call him Newbie. Thomas never did anything to Gally. Gally just chooses to torment him. At first Thomas thought it was just a tradition they did to Newbie’s To toughen them up. Thomas soon realized it was personal.

In the realistic fiction book the hunger games by Suzanne Collins the monster in my book is President Snow. In the book he is threatening Katniss in the book. "Speak, Miss Everdeen. Him I can easily kill off if we don't come to a happy resolution," he says. This quote is talking about when Katniss is not talking about Gale so President Snow got mad, so he threatened Katniss to kill Gale. This shows that President Snow is threatening Katniss

in my fiction novel the specials by scott westerfeld. The monster in my book is the smookie. in the book the smookies kill one of the specials and steal their boards witch got out of hand. That was one of the monsters in the book

In my realistic fiction book Blood is thicker By Paul Langan the monster in my book is Hakeems Cousin,Savon. Savon has moody swings. He would be happy somedays but mostly rude and mean and very quiet towards some people. Since Hakeems Father has an illness (Kidney Cancer) his family is moving to detriot which is a other struggle because his family can no longer afford a house and he is forced to share a room with his Moody and Secretive Cousin,Savon. Who knew your own Blood could be an Enemy! Later on Hakeem gets curious and trys to find out whats wrong and why Savon his cousin is acting like so moody.

In my fiction book Baby by Joseph Monninger the monster in my book is her boyfriend Bobby because he is always a bad influence on baby he tells her what to do all the time. She stands up for herself but not all the time, in one part of the story baby's boyfriend came to pick her up and she was walking one of her snow dogs Laika, when he came they went to his car. Laika was in the backseat and chewing on something she found, in Bobby's car, he glanced in the rearview mirror then he hit laika against the side of her chest,''Don't ever hit her,'' baby said ''she's chewing.''he said ''Don't hit her.''baby said.

In my Autobiography novel A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer the ''Monster'' in my book would be dave's mother. Mostly because of the way that she treated himas a child and how it influenced him througout the years. So it basitly scard him for life, which is has something he has to deal with throughout his whole entire life.''Even though I know she returned to sleep on the bottom bunk bed of my brothers bedroom, I sense that she still has control over me.'' This quote shows that knowing the fact that he knows she doesn't have control over him living in the same house as her, he still from fear in his mind he's a little kid again worried he's going to do something to him.