Category: Writing about Reading

Refugee Short Response

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While reading the book Refugee by Alan Gratz, my class and I came up with some amazing questions. Today I will be responding to some of the questions asked.

The first question I would like to respond to is. “Why don’t those dictators realize what they are doing? Why can’t they resolve this with some talking and compromising?” I think there are a few answers to this question but the main answer is that these evil dictators want more power and they will do anything to get it. I know this from real life right now. Currently the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin is invading Ukraine solely for power. This is not anything new, for thousands of years leaders have been going out of their way for more power. This is shown in Refugee when (in Mahmoud’s story) it is explained that the Syrian president is dropping bombs on his own towns and cities to prevent rebels from taking power from him.

The second question I would like to answer is, “I wonder how all of these kids get the confidence to do things, and how they get so brave?” I think the answer is that they find perseverance in hope and staying with their family. In all 3 kids’ stories, they are traveling with their families and they are persevering to keep their families together and to get a better life for all of them. This is proven in Isabel’s story when she persuades Leto to leave because she really wants her family to stay together. This is proven in Josef’s story when Josef slaps his father to keep his family together. This is proven in Mahmoud’s story in how Mahmoud is bearing terrible conditions and walking long miles to stay with his family.

Overall, throughout the story Refugee, there are many great questions to be asked.

Comparison Between Fly Away Home and Smoky Night

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Smoky Night and Fly Away Home are both books by Eve Bunting and recently, in class we have been reading a lot of eve buntings books and have been discussing them and applying them to a parts and purposes board. Today, I will be comparing and contrasting two stories by Eve Bunting called Smoky Night and Fly Away Home.

One thing I want to compare between these two stories is the symbolism in them. The main symbolism in these two books is the animals. In Fly Away Home it is the dove that symbolizes or mirrors the life of Andrew and his dad living at the airport. They want to leave and be in their own home but they can’t. The bird kept trying to get out just as Andrew and his dad are trying. The bird tried for days but it finally managed to escape from the airport. Just as Andrew and his dad will one day.

In Smoky night Daniels cat was the animal. This also sort of mirrored daniels experience in the day of the Los Angles Riots. I think this because Daniel and his mom were not friends with Mrs.Kim because of their differences but when they at least tried to be friends they learned that they could and would be friends. The same thing happened for the cats of the 2 families. The two cats became friends while they were in the fire hiding under the stairs together.

Another thing I want to compare is the characters. In Fly Away Home the main character and the person telling the story is a boy named Andrew. He lives with his dad at an airport so we know that at a young age he is already facing so many problems. Andrew really wishes to please his dad. We can see that because he is saving up to help with getting an apartment and when he tells his dad that it seems like he is beaming with pride. At the beginning of Fly Away Home, Andrew really is not that hopeful he wants to help, yes, but every day he sees people say “Hi” “It’s so good that you’re home”. He feels jealous and upset that they have a home and he doesn’t. I feel like after he sees the bird and how it got out of the airport he felt new hope for his future and his dad’s future.

In Smoky Night, the main character, Daniel is also the one who is telling the story.  At first glance, Daniel looks like he has a pretty normal life except that he is living in a community that seems like people are separated by race. I know this because Daniel explains that his mom says that they should shop at places owned by their own. Daniel explains this after both he and his mom see people in the LA riot looting and destroying Mrs. Kim’s shop. Throughout the story, people can obviously see that Daniel cares very much about his pet cat because on many occasions he is frantically asking people if they have seen his cat anywhere. One example of this is when he is talking to a firefighter and he asks “Did you see a cat, she’s yellow, maybe she’s still in there?” The firefighter answers, “Probably not, son, cats are plenty smart, she’ll be long gone.”

We The People Stronger- Janelle Monáe

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To me, this song means that every time the people get knocked down, they come back stronger and more unified. They get stronger together and they get stronger in times of darkness. This song really relates to our study of government because it’s talking about liberty, flaws in the government, and the people being united

In conclusion, this song makes me feel inspired to help the community and it makes me realize how just one voice can have so much power and make so much good change. The artist might be saying that community helps each other so much that when they get knocked down with challenges they come back up, together, and stronger. This song leaves me with questions about the housing movements in the video and if they are happening in real life.

Resistance by Jenifer A. Neilson- Character Ideas

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In the book Resistance by Jenifer A. Neilson, I think that there is a lot of information to be known about the main character Chaya. Chaya is a Polish-Jewish girl living during the Nazi occupation in Poland. She refused to accept to live in one of the ghettos and eventually be brought to an extermination camp so before she was about to leave her family to go to a ghetto,  so she escaped. She joined a resistance group and stayed in it for years. This situation made Chaya a very tough person and she expects things highly from others. This is important because throughout the story these are the main traits she applies to her partner, somebody who isn’t tough and makes lots of mistakes.

I think this could be applied as a theme in many books when the book’s main characters are friends or partners who are different. Some things that are different are worse than others. This leads me to think that from beginning to end the characters even each other out and learn the good things from each other. This brings them closer together. This is shown from beginning to end when Chaya and Lesther; two complete

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

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In the book, The Name of This Book is Secret an idea I had about the main character Cassandra, is because she is a survivalist that trait can lead to other traits as well. This is important because I think that this idea, expanded to be “Throughout stories characters discover new things about themselves” can be applied to many stories as a theme. For example, in Home of the Brave, we discovered that Ganwar was not hopeful and we connected that trait to Ganwar going through a lot and being the opposite of Keks innocent youthful personality.