Reading

This year was filled with growth and improvement for me as a reader. I have learned important reading strategies like annotating effectively, how to discuss what is going on in the text, and how to pick out important literary elements. I think that this year especially, we focused on grabbing the deeper meaning in the text and picking out major themes. Now that I know how to read for a purpose, I go into my reading with intent to think about what is going on behind the story and discover the complex mechanics behind it. Additionally, I have learned to enjoy not only reading the books of my choice but also the books which we have read together in class. I have been able to get into all of these books and find something within them which I would not have looked for before taking this class.

Books which I have read this year outside of class:

Two Summers by Aimee Friedman

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson 

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon 

Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz 

Evidence of my work in reading: 

All the Bright Places- Blog post reading response 

This week my book has gotten me very involved and excited to read. I have learned more about both characters, Violet and Finch, and have been learning more about them as characters. Finch seems to be starting to fall for Violet even though he denies it to her. Violet is also having some of these same feelings but is very reluctant about them. Violet is having torn feelings about whether to stop hanging out with Finch and stay with her judgy friend group, or hang out with him anyways and ignore what her friends think. 

  

  This problem that violet is experiencing is very present in many real life relationships. Many people like to have the approval of their friends and people who hold expectations of them. This sometimes stops people from hanging out and getting to know certain people. I hope that violet decides that what her friends think of her doesn’t matter because I think that Finch brings out something in her that is making her happy again. 

Two Summers/ Questions- Blog post 

As I am nearing the end of Two Summers, by Amy Friedman, I have come across many questions. All of my questions could be put into different levels. As the book started to progress I was becoming curious about who Eloise and Vivienne really were. There were a few hints that gave away that they were more than just artist friends staying in Summer's dad's house. Later in the book, it is revealed to summer that these people are actually her dad's second family and that she has a secret half family in France. It is revealed differently in both versions of the same summer. But we do find out who they are, so I think that this would be a level 1 question. 

 Jumping to a level 3 question, I would say that one I have would be "how would my life be different according to the different life-changing decisions or events that have happened to me, and what would my life be like if they hadn't have happened?" This question can not be answered, and I do not know if some of the same things that I have discovered would have happened, just in different ways. I can have ideas about this question, but I will never know the answer. This question leads me to what I really enjoy about this book. Because it showed me how much everyday decisions affect how our lives turn out, but even so there are some things that happen no matter what, in whichever path we take.