House Rules by Jodi Picoult

              In the book House Rules by Jodi Picoult, the issue of the abilities of people with learning disabilities is raised. In the text, one of the main characters has Aspergers, a high-functioning form of autism. Jacob, I believe, is a brilliantly gifted child. He can memorize all the scripts of the movies he sees, and when he has an obsession, such as dinosaurs or forensics, he studies that obsession so carefully that he becomes an expert at it, surpassing a lot of knowledge that humans could not gather in that amount of time. But this condition also has it's drawbacks. Jacob cannot understand people at all. He interprets what people say very literally, and wants to be accepted so very badly, but doesn't know how. Also, certain things can upset him very greatly, such as the color orange or even the crinkling of paper. Jacob is also slightly OCD; order is extremely important to him. All these things ultimately label Jacob a "retard" and stupid. But I believe Jacob is very talented, but nobody realizes it because of his social awkwardness.
           A reason that I think Jacob is very gifted intellectually because of his skills to become a genius in any subject he wants. For example, in the book, he is very interested in forensics. He is constantly setting up fake crime scenes and he can recite any laws regarding the justice system off the top of his head. At one point in the text, Jacob shows up at an actual crime scene where a hiker was found dead in a snowbank. The police were struggling to identify the cause of death, and Jacob discovered the actual cause of death before the authorities did. Also, he is obsessed with a TV show called Crimebusters, in which he solves all the cases before the "detectives" can. This may not seem like a prodigious feat, but an average human could probably not accomplish that. As well in the book, there are flashbacks to his other obsessions in the past and he just seems to know everything about them. As you can see, Jacob, even though he has Aspergers, is a very talented individual.
        Though Jacob is very intelligent, the drawback of his smartness is his issues with people. People with Aspergers often have trouble reading people, and take things very literally. People would think Jacob was a genius if he wasn't so socially awkward. For example, a casual conversation starter for Jacob would be an outrageous fact about forensics that only experts would seem to know. This causes rejection from his peers and frustration in Jacob. And even though Jacob is 18, he still throws temper tantrums. And these temper tantrums are over very specific things, such as too much of the color orange, or if his schedule is out of order by the tiniest thing. This gives Jacob the label "stupid" and "retard" but only because of his lack of social skills. Yet in actuality, he is a very smart person.
        In conclusion, House Rules by Jodi Picoult makes a very interesting comment on the abilities of people with learning disabilities. Jacob, intellectually, is beyond the average person. Yet socially, he struggles. Only because of his bad interactions with people, Jacob is labeled as a stupid person, when he truly isn't.

Ask Me no Questions by Marina Budhos

In the book Ask me no Questions by Marina Budhos, the author makes you think more deeply on the issue of illegal immigration. In the story, Nadira Hossein lives in a nondescript neighborhood in Queens. They are illegal “aliens” from Bangladesh and they escape in the middle of the night to apply for asylum in Canada. Using expired visas, her father unfortunately is detained. Her mother stays in Canada, waiting for Abba (her father) to get out of jail. Nadira and her sister, Aisha, go back to Queens where they now live at their aunt’s and uncle’s apartment. But when Aisha comes down with some kind of post traumatic stress disorder, Nadira determinedly goes to Vermont, where her mother is. The trial is held, and the judge starts giving illicit accusations about her father, saying he had joined a terrorist group. Nadira realizes that they have the wrong name and clears it. But they still have to go to court to get legal housing. Aisha is still a bit traumatized, but she is okay. The judge grants them legal housing and Nadira describes her feelings for it in this passage: “When the gravel cracks, wood on wood, the air seems to explode with light. Abba turns around and I see he is crying silent tears. But he says nothing”. The book made me think about the conflict on illegal immigration, and now I seem to look at illegal immigration differently.

There are many themes and issues explored in this book: illegal immigration, which Nadira and her family are [illegal immigrants], post traumatic stress, which Aisha has, poverty, and prejudice against Muslims. All of these issues are explored differently, like how Nadira describes Aisha’s post traumatic stress: “After that, something shifts between Aisha and me. It’s like she’s opened the door and wriggled over into her own private world.” Whereas on prejudice against Muslims, She describes it as a thing she doesn’t pay a lot of mind to, but it still haunts her. Aisha’s post traumatic stress, it’s a thing she can’t ignore and she is frightened and disappointed in Aisha. But illegal immigration, the main issue in the book, is explored in depth to the reader. Nadira lives and breathes illegal immigration, and the thought of being deported or being wrongly convicted of being in a jihadist kind of group is everywhere: in her dreams, her school life, and the lies that she always has to tell in order to keep her identity secret. It really made me think differently of illegal immigrants.

In the book, the author (Marina Budhos) tries to make you think more highly of illegal immigrants. She sneaks her opinions in through passages of Nadira’s thoughts: “We heard of hundreds of deported Iranians from California and others from Brooklyn, Texas, upstate New York. We watched the news of the war and saw ourselves as others saw us: dark, flitting shadows, grenades blooming in our fists. Dangerous.” There are many issues in America right now, but she brings us back to the subject of illegal immigration. It is actually a very big issue. The author tries to show us that illegal immigrants are not evil, sadistic people who are associated with terrorism and drugs. They just want a better life for themselves. She also shows that the media exploits illegal immigrants by painting them as bad people. Marina Budhos really made me think more supportively about illegal immigrants.

The book Ask me No Questions by Marina Budhos really deepened my thinking about the issue of illegal immigration. A lot of people are unsure where they stand in the issue of illegal immigration, but the author tries to show that it may seem like illegal immigrants are overpopulating America and taking up all our jobs, but they just want a more prosperous future, because a lot of the time their countries (Bangladesh, in Nadira’s case) are corrupt: “Then one day Naseem disappeared, gone to join the Mukti Bahini, “Freedom Fighters”, who wanted their own nation. Every day my grandmother pressed her forehead against the window gate, praying her eldest son would walk down the dusty street. But it was not to be. The more Grandmother prayed, the worse the news became. They heard about university students shot and professors murdered on their pillows. They heard about Freedom Fighters mowed down in dirt pits, Hindu villages riddled with gunshot.” Marina Budhos is trying to say that illegal immigration is actually a really big issue in America and these people are normal people like you and me. Reading Ask me no Questions really deepened my thinking on the issue of illegal immigration.

In conclusion, there are many issues in the book Ask me no Questions by Marina Budhos, but illegal immigration is the main issue. She goes very deep and personal into the issue, which really makes you think about illegal immigration in a different light, and how the media abuses the issue of illegal immigration. It is a very serious conflict in the United States, and the book Ask me no Questions by Marina Budhos really made me think more deeply about illegal immigration.

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is a really good book about a teenage boy named Craig who suffers from clinical depression. He wants to commit suicide but he stops himself and checks himself into a hospital. He ends up in the adult psychiatric ward. This book has a lot of lessons that are both presented and supported in a good way. This book actually taught me some very important lessons about life. One of the lessons is that you shouldn’t try to live with a problem; you should try to solve it. Another one of the lessons is that you shouldn’t keep your feelings bottled up.

One of the lessons in It’s Kind of a Funny Story is that shouldn’t live with a problem; you should try to solve it. When Craig tried to live with his problem (his depression), it was awful. He threw up almost everything he ate, he could hardly sleep, and his grades were dropping rapidly.  When I first heard how Craig’s life was, I could actually kind of understand why he wanted to commit suicide. Craig just didn’t try to solve his problem, which was one of the reasons why he wanted to commit suicide. If he wasn’t depressed, he obviously would not have contemplated committing suicide. This lesson is presented when one of Craig’s friends, Nia, comes to visit Craig at the hospital. Nia says that she also has depression, and Craig suggested that she should get help for it, because he felt better when he got help for it. The lesson was supported when, at the end of the book, he isn’t depressed anymore. He got better because he tried to solve his problem by checking into the hospital and getting treated for his depression. In the end, his problem was solved, and he started living a much healthier and happier life.

Another one of the many lessons in It’s Kind of a Funny Story is that you shouldn’t keep all of your feelings bottled up. This lesson was presented when Craig told his parents about his depression and the fact that he wanted to kill himself. Craig’s parents said if he told them that he really wanted to kill himself, they could have done something about it. I, myself, did not understand why Craig did not tell his parents that he wanted to commit suicide, because you could tell that he didn’t want to keep feeling what he was feeling. This lesson was supported when Craig started telling people that he wanted to kill himself. Once the truth was out to the world, Craig actually started feeling better. He no longer had to hide the truth from other people. In the beginning of the book, he was trying hard to hide the fact that he was depressed from his friends. When Craig was hanging out with his friends and his friend asked him if he was okay, he shrugged them off. Doing this stressed Craig out, so when he didn’t have to hide anything, he felt less stressed. All in all, the lesson that you shouldn’t bottle up all of your feelings is presented and supported in this book.

In conclusion, It’s Kind of a Funny Story has a lot of good and important lessons. All the lessons in this book are presented and supported clearly. You can tell in this book what the author is trying to tell us: to not bottle up are feelings, and don’t try to live with a problem, try to solve it.

Protagonists and Antagonists in The Pact by Jodi Picoult **Spoiler Alert**

            In the book The Pact by Jodi Picoult, the protagonists and antagonists are very interesting. This story is about a teenage boy who kills his teenage girlfriend Emily Gold out of an apparent suicide pact. Both families are very close and this changes both families lives upside down. The protagonist is obviously Chris because his struggle is the one that is most displayed in the book. The antagonist is difficult to figure out, since no one is truly blocking Chris from what he wants, except the police and the disrespectful prisoners. But once I looked deeper I realized that Emily Gold, his dead girlfriend that he loved is the antagonist because she is blocking Chris from what he truly wants: justice. She caused him all these problems that blocked him from getting his freedom.
         For the protagonist, since a large chunk of the book takes place in the courtroom, you almost are rooting for justice for Chris, because you know he is innocent. He is the one the story revolves around and you want him desperately to get what he wants. I think that Chris is a very interesting protagonist though, because it's very difficult to step into his shoes. Chris loved his girlfriend so much that when she wanted to kill herself, he did that for her because he loved her so much. This kind of love is so rare and it almost made me reject the text because it was so powerful. But I think Jodi Picoult did this on purpose because it draws the reader in and makes the story even more rich. The author gave us the image of an average kid who has this undying passion for this girl, and as teenagers this is crazy. It''s cheesy, almost. But this allows to identify with him more because he is just an average kid. This makes him a really interesting magnetic protagonist.
           I believe that the anagonist in The Pact is Emily God because even though she is defunct, she causes many obstacles for Chris. She causes him to go to prison and be charged with a homicide, but the troubles that she caused for him did not stop there. Emily's parents, Michael and Melanie, were like a second pair of parents to him. They ended up hating him and Melanie even screamed angrily at him in court. I also think what Jodi Picoult did with this was interesting because Chris loved Emily so much, yet she's the antagonist. It sends a message that the people we love do the most terrible things, intentionally or unintentionally. Chris realizes this towards the end of the book when the trial is becoming increasingly terrible, he thinks to himself that Emily put him through this horrible mess and she's almost the one to blame.
         In conclusion, I believe that in The Pact by Jodi Picoult, Chris Harte is the protagonist and his dead girlfriend Emily Gold is the antagonist. The author made some very interesting choices in the texts and almost flips the roles of the protagonist and antagonist around a bit.

The Pact by Jodi Picoult Through a Social Action Lens

 Q: How does the text make you think about justice in the world?
           The book The Pact by Jodi Picoult really makes me think about justice in the world because in the book, two teenagers who are lovers and have known each other their entire lives, and they make a suicide pact to kill themselves. The boy, Chris, shoots the girl, but the police arrive before he kills himself. The girl, Emily, ends up dead while Chris lives. The question of whether justice is being served or not is a prominent issue, along with many other intriguing concepts about justice that come into this book.
         The question of whether justice is being served or not is a very deep issue in The Pact. Emily died, killed by Chris, but it was because she wanted to die. She gave him her consent, and even though he planned to kill himself along with Emily, he lives. I don't think justice is being served because even though he had an intention, it was not fufilled, and Emily is dead. For the parents especially, because their daughter was cherished and loved by both of them. Yet in the book, the police are treating the case as a homicide. Even though I believe that justice is not being served, I don't think Chris comitted a heinous crime. He was a lost, depressed boy who his parents didn't understand. Emily was in the exact same situation as he was. I'm not sure what kind of life he should lead, but I am positive that justice is not being served.
         I think that in the real world, justice would not be served in this situation. In America when children are involved in a murder, the people get very angry. The kids in the book are 16 years old, and people are going to have a lot more sympathy towards the grieving parents than to Chris himself. Children and violence are a very delicate topic all around and if this case were to be tried in the real world, Chris would probably be convicted of a homicide. For example, in the case made against Casey Anthony recently, she was found not guilty yet the public was furious. Because there was a child involved it makes the matter so delicate. In America we are almost blind to the facts, and if this was a real case a jury would probably be blind to the fact that Emily consented to her death.
        In conclusion, the book The Pact by Jodi Picoult says a lot about justice and whether it is being served or not. It makes me wonder about what would happen if this case were to be tried in the real world.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Through a Social Actions Lens

Q: What really hard things are happening in the book?
          The book Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is about a  9 year-old boy named Oskar Schell who's father died on 9/11 in the World Trade Center. He then embarks on a journey to find the lock of a key of his dad's. One really hard thing that is happening in the book is the issue of identity and knowing who really are. Oskar is incredibly smart and mature for his age, and it seems like he has an idea of who he is as a person, but as he goes along further in his journey, he realizes that he really doesn't. For example, Oskar has this little business card that he carries around with him and in the beginning of the book, and it states that he is many things and professions. As the book goes on, you see another picture of his business card and there are many things crossed out on it with angry scribbles all over the place. This really signifies Oskar's struggle with himself  and knowing who Oskar Schell really is.  I think Jonathan Safran Foer was trying to say that even though sometimes we may think we have a really clear idea of who we are, but since we are allways changing, we will never know.
          Another really hard thing that is happening in the book is how love can be so difficult. Oskar loves his mom and at one point in the book Oskar was being really cruel to his mother and after she forgave him he said this: "We cracked up toegther, which was necessary, because she loved me again." Some may think love goes away like that, but in actuality, it's messier and more painful than that, like Oskar's mom's relationship with Oskar: "She looked at me for a second, then stood up and walked out of the room. I wish she'd slammed the door, but she didn't. She closed it carefully like she always did. I could hear that she didn't walk away." This relationship shows that the people who love you will always love you, no matter how painful for them it is. I think we all have this kind of relationship in our lives at one point, and Jonathan Safran Foer really shows that.
        In conclusion, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer has very extremely hard things going on for Oskar and other characters in the book. One issue is identity and truly knowing who you are. The second one is how difficult love can be and the effect it has. Through a child's eyes the author helps us see the world in a way.

The Issue of Sexism in Burned

         In the book Burned by Ellen Hopkins, the main character Pattyn is very changed by her religion. Her self-esteem plummets because in her extreme Christian religion (Mormonism), men are superior to women. This made Pattyn think she wasn’t even “pretty” nonetheless “beautiful”. This made Pattyn have a lack of confidence. Also, Pattyn feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere: in her church, at home, not even in her own body. These beliefs of Mormonism caused this change because Pattyn doesn’t truly accept all these ideas that her church preaches: “The message came loud and clear: Woman are inferior. And God likes it that way” Pattyn doesn’t feel very comfortable as a woman, and this dynamically changes her.

            First, Pattyn has a slim self-esteem and a low confidence level. In the Mormon beliefs, women are the inferior gender. They are expected to have numerous children, and it’s not for the joy of bringing new life into this world: “Pattyn, she says, it’s a woman’s role” Sexism is very much alive, and Pattyn is forced to become a housewife. So Pattyn is forced to have a limited future, which made her very displeased with herself and her religion.

          Also, Pattyn doesn’t think of herself as “pretty”. She believes that she is rather drab and plain, actually: “Me, beautiful? I’m as plain as cardboard” She pushes beauty off to the side because women aren’t supposed to be so magnificent and gorgeous: Men are. This also plays with Pattyn’s mind a bit, gradually diminishing her self-esteem.

            Second, Pattyn doesn’t feel comfortable and content with herself. She feels like she doesn’t belong or fit in: “I felt I didn’t belong, not in my church, not in my home, not in my skin.” This is caused by her strict Mormon ideas of cold, hard biased sexism. She explores this in the story of Adam and Eve, because God wouldn’t give Eve another chance when the serpent tempted her and she ate the apple. She believes that if Adam and Eve weren’t in love, God would’ve only cast Eve out of the Garden of Eden, because Eve was a woman. Pattyn feels like she doesn’t belong because in her large, Mormon family, she is a woman, with a destiny to keep on bringing more little Mormons into the world. Pattyn sees as conceiving a child to be a miracle, a blessing. Her mother sees it as a job, a profession. These views make Pattyn feel as if she doesn’t belong.

            In conclusion, Pattyn becomes very changed by the opinionated beliefs: Her self-esteem decreases, her confidence is minuscule, and she feels uncomfortable and awkward in her own skin. Pattyn doesn’t accept or agree with the views of her church, and she feels like a woman can do just as much if not better, then a man. Pattyn’s views cause these feelings, and she is a very dynamic character when confronted by her religion.

Text-to-Text Connection: Nineteen Mintues By Jodi Picoult and Columbine by Dave Cullen

         I am reading the book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult which takes place in the quiet suburban town of Sterling, New Hampshire. But then one day, a bullied and rage-fueled boy takes action and opens fire on students, killing many and traumatizing all of America. While I was reading this book, I thought about a book I read in 7th grade about the horror of Columbine- an actual event. These books were both about school shootings and the permanent effect it has on the people who experience it, but I found that they were very different.
        In Nineteen Minutes, the boy who is the shooter is very vulnerable and sad with an incredible amount of understandable anger. Jodi Picoult makes him almost relateable to, with ignorant parents who as much as they try will never understand and just being a loner makes you feel connected with Peter Houghton. Whereas in Columbine, the boys are psychopaths who were also bullied, but instead of hurting their anger kept mutating only to be released into a horrible crime.
          Since Columbine is reality, it should seem much more frightening than Nineteen Minutes, but Nineteen Minutes scares me more. This made me think about the reality and fiction aspect of the books, but not just the books, in real life. Recently, I was watching an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent and it left me amazed at the dynamic of the charcters and the unraveling storyline that never ceased to shock me. Yet when I watched Dateline: NBC (A show about real-life crimes happening to people) it didn't shake me at all. In fact, I was bored thirty minutes in. Everybody insists that it's scarier if it's real, but I beg to differ. In Nineteen Minutes, the descriptions of the rivers of blood that ran down the halls and deafening screams of students gave me chills. In Columbine, the interviews and stories of traumatized students was a little tedious. I think fantasy is scarier than reality because you can do anything you want with it, and that's what Jodi Picoult did.
         In conclusion, the book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and the book Columbine by Dave Cullen are similar because they both discuss tragedies of school shootings, but they are different because the shooter personalities are different and one is fiction and the other is reality.
         

Keeping the Magic Alive: Bridge to Terabithia

Do you think the magic of Terabithia ended with Leslie? Do you think Paterson wants to end it for you when the book ends? Did you have parts of your childhood that felt magical? Describe them.
       In the book Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, the main character or protagonist Jess is faced with the untimely and devastating death of his best friend Leslie Burke. But the magic and luster of the fantasy land of Terabithia that they created did not end with Leslie's demise. I think that even though it seems to fade a little when she dies, Jess fights to keep the magic alive by showing the wonders of Terabithia to his little sister, May Belle. He makes her queen of Terabithia and continues the legacy. Terabithia will never be the same because of the unfortunate death because Leslie was the sole creator of this imaginary land that ultimately became Jess and Leslie's world. But because Jess continues the amazing spark that is Terabithia, the fire does not fade.
       I don't think Paterson wanted the magic to end when the book actually ends. I think this is because Bridge to Terabithia is simply one of those books that is unforgettable. It is incredibly deep and shocking for a kids book swelling with deeper meaning and metaphor that even at a time like this without the text in your hands, you begin to realize all these things you did not realize when you originally read the book. The magic most certainly did not end for me because as a naive innocent 4th grader, it became my first confrontation with death. I had have distant relatives die, forgotten wrinkled faces concealed by the shiny black wood of coffins. At the end of Bridge to Terabithia, I was so shocked and terrified, almost. So the greatness of the book did not end for me when I first read it, and I definitely don't think that Paterson intended it to end.
       I did have those childhood magical experiences where it almost feels like one of those old black and white gauzy home movies where the child is giggling about absolutely nothing. I remember one part of my childhood very specifically that seemed very magical to me. It's like a clip that plays over and over in my brain where I'm just running or toddling on my pudgy toddler legs through Prospect Park and the glass tickles my bare feet. As a child, the simplest things feel so magical and lovely, and Bridge to Terabithia definitely captures that and brings you back to your childhood, no matter how long or short away it was.

Archetypes in Bridge to Terabithia

    For my rereading book, I am reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. In the text, Jess is the hero. He's a very lost boy who almost seems pushed into adolescence at a very young age because of his inattentive judgmental family, but he still has a child's view, almost, about the world and bigger scale situations. He is on a loss of innocence journey, gradually losing his inner child as the story goes along.

    Leslie is his mentor, and she is his age (9 or 10) but she has an adult soul. She is so incredibly smart and she introduces Jess to the wonder of good literature like Moby Dick and Hamlet and expands Jess's imagination. She ultimately becomes Jess's world because of her broad and ever-expanding imagination. She helps Jess have a bigger imagination as the story goes on.

     The shadow in Bridge to Terabithia is reality, because while Jess explores and rules the imaginary kingdom of Terabithia with Leslie, he has no worries about his life or whatever predicament he may be in at home or school. But when Jess comes out of Terabithia, he has to face his problems. For example, Jess's dad thinks that he's a "sissy" because he loves to draw and he plays with girls. His older sisters and peers at school ridicule him relentlessly as well.

     There is no clear shapeshifter in Bridge to Terabithia, but it almost feels like his mother is a shapeshifter. She never teases him and she is the kindest to him in his family besides May Belle, but she doesn't accept that Jess always plays with Leslie. Throughout the book she calls Leslie and her parents "dirty hippies" and she won't let Leslie come to church with them unless she looks feminine and ladylike.

    I am almost finished with the book, but even though I know the ending I am very intrigued to to see Jess's true loss of innocence when the tragedy happens. I wonder what role the mother will take in the end as well.