The Devil's Arithmetic Summary

Thirteen year old Hannah Stern is a young Jewish girl, who travels back in time to 1942, during the time of the Holocaust. She's transported to a quiet, little, farm town in Poland. Hannah is addressed as, "Chaya," her Hebrew name, by two people. They are Gitl and Shmuel, Chaya's aunt and uncle. Hannah still has her memories of her time and family, but she's in Chaya's body. She's too confused to try to look around and figure out where she even is, so she is standing with them both speaking to her, things only Chaya would know. They spoke about her deceased parents, about how they passed away from a sickness going around the town she used to live in, Lublin. Confused and overwhelmed, Hannah was being hugged and shown emotions to. She was quickly sent off to bed by her aunt, who said she must be experiencing something from the sickness she is still recovering from. When she wakes up in the morning, she tries explaining frantically that she isn't from Poland, nor their time. They wouldn't listen and shook it off, yet again saying that it was the sickness. Hannah/Chaya will later on be taken to a concentration camp, along with a group of other people by Nazis. Hannah whimpers what she can remember from school about concentration camps, but no one will listen. She's forced through events, months in a concentration camp, trying not to get killed or hurt. Only the book will tell if she lives or not...
I think one of the themes in this book is really, don't take anything for granted. Whether it be your family, or your religion. Be proud of who you are, try to hear out what your family is speaking about. Understand what your family has been through, their suffering to get to where they are today, and all the suffering you might go through as well. The elders in your family are the wisest, listen to the life lessons they teach you, they'll get you far in life.

The Devil's Arithmetic

The beginning of the book was really interesting, the plot was good. Hannah is going through her "rebellious" teenage phase with the, "Do I have to go and celebrate the Seder?" and "Why do we celebrate the Seder?" She didn't want to eat anything either at her relative's house, because she had eaten a lot of jelly beans with her best friend, a non Jewish girl, for Easter. She engaged in many family activities, playing games, praying, eating, drinking, and celebrating. With not knowing completely what she was doing, Hannah gave her full cup of wine to The Prophet Elijah as an offering. With that, her grandfather rewarded her generosity with allowing her to open the door for Elijah. When she did, she began seeing a man, walking towards the front door she had just opened with a hoe propped on his shoulder. He sang a song Hannah was familiar with, one her family sang. She shook her head, assuming the wine had gotten to her, but then she looked again, and the scene changed even more.

Words Of The Wiser is the sign post for this. Hannah's grandfather is showing his tattoo from the concentration camp he was in, yelling at the TV and everyone when pictures of Hitler and Nazis were flashed on the screen. He tells everyone about how horrible the camps were and other things. Hannah remembers when she was jealous of her little brother, Aaron's, arrival. She tried to earn back her grandfather's attention by putting a number on her arm, just like his tattoo from the camp. She pushed so hard it wouldn't come off for a couple days, but he yelled at her, explaining to her again, how horrible the camps were and not to play around with that kind of thing, which she didn't.

Holocaust Blog

I think people were bystanders during the Holocaust simply because they were afraid. It's natural for someone being afraid to take action, they don't want to be sent to a concentration camp, have any of the things that were happening to the Jews and just targeted people, or get themselves or others killed for their actions. 
People were seeing the way the Nazis were targeting specific people and discriminating them for no good reasons, they realized or just knew since the beginning this wasn't the right thing to do. They wanted to take a stand, whether or not they had someone they knew that was killed, or going to be killed. 
I think I would have wanted to definitely help the Jews and others, unfortunately, I would be like the others, afraid. With me being afraid of the same things happening to me, I wouldn't exactly want to take the risk of my loved ones and myself dying. I believe that I read/heard that the people who were trying to protect the Jews would be treated the same way they were, isolated, killed, or even worse, be put in a concentration camp. Those who didn't agree to the Nazi rules and owned a business would fail immediately, so who's to say what would happen to the non-German people who didn't agree with the rules?  

Famous Last Words

"Famous Last Words" is about a girl, Willa, who is new to town. She moved from Connecticut to Hollywood, California. Willa is an average girl, don't let the part where she lives deceive you. The reason for her living there is her mother getting remarried to a rich, successful, directer. She doesn't like the decision, but she can't do anything about it.
The book starts out with Jonathan (Willa's new stepfather), Joanna (Willa's mother), and Willa, driving to Jonathan's house. Since Jonathan is rich, Willa thinks about how his house might look, and about the discomfort she'll have by the huge change. She used to live in an apartment, now she's living in a mansion.
Once they get there, Jonathan explains more about their magnificent household. Willa thinks to herself, "He calls it home, just a house, it's a mansion." Soon enough she finds herself calling her new home just a house, not a mansion. She is guided to her room to get settled it, her version of settling in is connecting to her deceased father. She puts a ring on, lights some candles, and sits silently with her eyes closed, hoping that she'll get a response. Unfortunately, no response, there never was anyway. Soon enough she get's called down for dinner, with that Jonathan begins discussing current events from a newspaper resting on by him. "A killer is on the lose, only killing young upcoming actresses." He reads. It doesn't take long for Joanna to begin worrying about Willa's wellbeing. Jonathan makes a joke about there being absolutely no need to worry, "As long as she isn't in acting,"
Willa is a curious, simple, and loving girl. She's curious about the killings and curious about other things. She is a very simple, calm, girl since she didn't even want to move to Hollywood nor be in a mansion. Last but not least, she is loving. She tries reaching out to her father all the time, she still loves him and ever since he died she has been doing the ritual thing she did in her new home to every house she has moved into. Even though there are no results, she continues to try.
This book is really interesting and cool, I can't wait to read more.

Nike Article & Poem Assessment

The article's argument was about Nike sweatshops in Asia and Indonesia that are treating their workers poorly. The workers are being underpaid, and mentally and physically abused. The article states that a factory in Indonesia is abusing their employees by kicking, slapping, throwing shoes, and forcing them to stand in the sun for mistakes they have made. I think this issue is unacceptable for a company as big as Nike. People put their money into the merchandise they purchase by Nike, trusting the articles of clothing are being made by workers who aren't being forced, and abused. Everything the owners of the sweatshop do is not needed, these workers slave away so the company can get profit when they don't even pay the people who actually make the products enough to live. The Nike employees in the Indonesia sweatshop receive $1.25 a day. This is obviously not enough for living expenses, which means no homes, food, or clothing for them. This could cause something horrible, such as their children falling into the cycle of poverty. With no money for the workers, their children won't have an education, thus working a dead end job. I already knew about how sweatshops treat their workers, but I didn't know such a huge successful company participated in these acts. This was the first thing that surprised me, the second thing was that they make the workers stand in the sun for their mistakes. I believe that the employees have a higher risk of dying if they stand in the sun from many different diseases or sicknesses. The worse part about this is that, if they do get sick, they won't get any health benefits/health care to treat them or help them. 

Sweatshop workers are underfed, as well as underpaid, and overworked. The person says she eats bread and cabbage, which is cheap. She claims that the clock tells her to slave away and keep working, as well as her boss. It had a deeper meaning and is put in a beautiful way for such an ugly subject. Rather than the article which is just informing the reader about the awful events that happen within a sweatshop bluntly. It puts the reader of the poem more in the shoes of the sweatshop employee. Just imagining yourself in a position as horrid as that is hard, but emotionally difficult. For me, it made me feel as if these people are being looked over and not cared for, as much as they should considering they make clothing etc,  for hours on end until their fingers bleed and don't even get to eat properly. The poem is saying how it is a cycle, working in a sweatshop, going home (some days or if they have a home), eating just enough to survive and have energy for work tomorrow, repeat. 

Thirteen Reasons Why.

Clay is nearing the end of Hannah's suicide cassettes. He has learned new information about others he did not yet know, and how that affected Hannah. Slowly, he learns more and more about why Hannah committed suicide, and he begins to think that what the people who sent her over the edge did was not okay. From name calling, being treated like an object, and lies, to sexual assaults. It seems like Hannah has been through them all, by everyone who was once close to her.
The genre of "Thirteen Reasons Why" is realistic teen fiction.
One of the things I really like and enjoy about this book is that the characters and, especially Hannah, are just like any average teenager in high school. Although it is a touchy and delicate subject, suicide is all too real and the author really brings out legitimate reasons to why someone would or would want to end their life. What Hannah endured was what this world has come to, the people she was once friends with stabbed her in the back, the ex-boyfriend she had ruined her reputation, and a boy who was peeping in her bedroom window. They all add up to a big weight on her shoulders which she could not take any longer.
I always read the genre, so I'm never disappointed and will continue to read books of this genre.
One part of the book I didn't like was when Hannah spoke about a list that was being passed around with her name on it. Since the book is in Clay's first person perspective, he thought, or said, he agreed with the list. It's not a bad thing, but for the timing of it and what the tapes are for kinda made me start to think differently of Clay. At the beginning I thought, "Oh, Clay seems like a nice guy." but after he said what he said I thought, "So he's just like the other boys that were tormenting her? What a shame,"
This is all from the book so far, I still like it and it's realness. It's fun and entertaining to read what Hannah says on the tapes. I can't wait to read more to find more out about her suicide.

Thirteen Reasons Why

"Thirteen Reasons Why" is a book by Jay Asher. He has wrote another book I read, "The Future of Us", which I enjoyed quite a lot.
The book is about a girl, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide. Clay Jensen, the main character, received a package. He thought nothing of it, since it was just a normal plain packaging box with no return address. Clay was excited, maybe the package was from an admire, or something else exciting. With growing curiosity, he snatched up the package from his porch and raced up to his room. He was hit with confusion when he saw inside was only cassette tapes. Thirteen to be exact. Clay thought about how he would play these since he doesn't have a cassette player. His quick thinking lands him in his garage, sitting at a table with an old radio that plays cassettes. He pops in the first one, all is normal until the sound of Hannah's voice make it through. Immediately, Clay stops moving. He thought that he would never hear her voice again. More into Hannah speaking, she explains how the tapes were sent to people who have played a role in her life, every tape is for one person.
Thirteen cassettes for thirteen people. The ones who have made an impact on her life.

Call Of Duty

I think Jose was a very brave person. He said he would rather die than lose a limb, he lost both of his legs and didn't think about dying, or at least didn't mention it. For him to be loving what he did (Marines) is such an inspiration. With all the detail in the little story he had, you could really tell he did enjoy what he did. The bond between his dog and him made me feel like they were inseparable. I'm surprised that the marines assigned his dog to someone else. I don't like war or anything like that, so I didn't know. I also didn't know that the marine who was assigned the dog had to train them themselves. I think that if something happens to a marine, like what happened to Jose, they should be able to keep their dog. They've build their bond with them, the dogs have their bonds with them, both care about each other. A dog shouldn't just be assigned to someone else when their marine gets hurt, they should be able to adopt them regardless of them being out of action.

The Future Of Us Review

"The Future of Us" like in my last post, was a pretty good book. I enjoyed the book and it was almost as if there was never a dull moment in it. There was always something happening, and not a bad thing. It'll keep you entertained. It really doesn't start off as slow as other books do. To me it started with a great beginning, it explains who Emma is and why she got a new computer and a little bit about just her life in general.
The POV is first person, although it'll change from Emma to Josh's POV between chapters, it is still first person. I know this because Emma and Josh say, "I, me, mine," etc.
I recommend this book for anyone who likes the near past setting as well as computers. The book is really about teen problems. Relationships, friendships, typical high school things. This book is really interesting, I hope more people read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

The Future of Us

"The Future of Us" is a book set in 1996, where internet and computers were still pretty new and sorta rare for someone to have. Dial up was used at that time, which means if someone is on the phone, you can't be on the computer. One of the two main characters, Emma, has gotten a brand new computer, a gift from her father. In her words, "Another guilt gift," since her parents are divorced and her father got remarried as well as moved to Florida (away from her) with his new family and life. Emma has an old childhood friend she's been straying away from, Josh. Josh pretty much introduced her too AOL by giving her a disk for it. Emma sees an ad after she makes her chatting account for a website called, "Facebook". She sees her name, along with a picture that looks like an aged version of herself. You'll see the development between Josh and Emma as the book goes on, as well as how FaceBook made them feel and act.
Emma is a kind hearted girl who dislikes her mother's choices. Even though she has a few friends, she thinks in the beginning of the book or how Josh and her used to always run in between others houses and how close they were. She seems to dwell on memories in the beginning of the story considering she thinks about calling Josh when she notices the profile of herself on Facebook. The book so far is really interesting to me, the relationship between Josh and Emma is set up really well. I like it so far, it's a nice book.

Lemon Brown Blog

The Lemon Brown story was very intriguing. Greg reminded me of a lot of boys I know or see everyday. The reason for Greg reminding me of some boys is because they often don't try, or do try, in school but get bad grades regardless. Greg wants to play sports and he can't if he doesn't do better in school, which he doesn't really have enough time to do that, so no sports. The sports part reminds me of a lot of movies I've seen and books, boys enjoy their sports very much and want to keep going but unfortunately can't due to their low academic grades. Greg actually reminds me a little of myself, I don't really do well in school and certainly don't enjoy the lectures from my mother at the end of the day. She wants the best for me and my sister, just like Greg's dad, but kids don't listen. I love how Greg smiled at the end thinking about the long lecture he'll get from his father, because after the experience with Lemon Brown he can appreciate his father's lectures at least a little bit more. 

I believe this connect with the homelessness we've been learning about by just Lemon Brown being successful and having a family. It definitely fits into the categories with the myths of homelessness. People thinking that the person is homeless for a bad reason, whether it be addiction, gambling, or laziness, Lemon Brown was successful and happy. He was trying to get back to the status he was at but couldn't due to things being changed.  

I think it's interesting how someone can be so, "famous" and yet be homeless when they can't do what they did before. I got surprised at the fact that people will go out of their way to just find out what someone is talking about. The troublemakers came into where Lemon Brown stayed because they heard he had a treasure, and assumed it was something worth money, when really it's just a memory for him and his son. 

Greg changed throughout the story by hating his father's lectures and by the end realizing that Lemon Brown made him noticed he has to realize what he has and seize it while he has the option. 

The Book of David

"The Book of David", is a book in the tradition of "Go Ask Alice", and other fictional diaries. This already differs from the normal tradition since it's in the point of view of a teenage boy.
The main character, who's name is never said, is an eighteen year old boy who is one of the best players in his football team. He seems to have the perfect life, a girlfriend who is captain of the cheerleading squad, friends, family, his football team is one of the best teams considering they're undefeated, everything should be perfect. So why is it not?
He has a secret. Something eating him alive, making him feel isolated. Like almost everything is aimed towards him. He knows that if the secret ever comes out, he'll be out of football for sure, he'll be humiliated by the entire school, and lose every scholarship he's gained.
He has to choose: Tell the truth, or, lie and keep everything.
Will he be forced to tell the truth? Or will he stay hidden and under the radar forever?