Reader's Journal #19 - Science Fiction

                                                                                                                           1/10/12

Dear Bailey Levy,

             This week ive been reading the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Ever since i saw on my Tumblr dashboard the winner or more than one of district 12 i was dying to finish the book already so i went ahead like you told me i should. 

          “Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to…to show the Capitol they don’t own me. That I’m more than just a piece in their Games” -Peeta Mellark. I chose this quote because The Capitol thinks of them as toys fighting in there box which they can only leave if they win. They think they could just do whatever, because there in charge.
        
The capitol wants entertainment. They want what could get them money. It doesn't bother them that 23 teenagers die every year from just there "Games". Which i think is Pathetic. There population is decreasing just for the money to increase. The genre of this book is Science Fiction, which is a made up or predicted story that will take place in the future having to do with science or technology. The protagonist of this book is Katniss, The antagonist of this book is the Careers. The setting of this book is Panem, In the Arena, the weather changes all the time because the game makers decided to get bored and like to see some action when nothing happens.

            In the Exposition was the reaping and Introducing district 12. In the Rising action Katniss became friends with Peeta and they both were training for the games. The climax was when the famous quote was told "Ladies and gentlemen let the seventy fourth Hunger Games begin!" which is my favorite quote. The falling action is where i am at right now in the book, when Katniss and Peeta actually fall in love not pretending.
     
         The tone of this book is very anxious, my mood as the reader is suspenseful. The theme of this book is Survival and Freedom, the moral is usually clear at the end of the book which i didn't reach yet!  The author's perspective is first person since the narrator speaks as Katniss using the words I, Me, We....  The pattern of organization is flashback, because Katniss has many flashbacks of district 12.

         I rate this book a 10 out of 10, I never thought it would be so good! Definitely attention grabbing! I couldn’t put my book down at most times! I recommend this book to all teenagers, because you will understand how lucky you are to have food and a home. Some people would love to trade and be in your place.
                                               Love,
                                    Raheli Haliva
       

Readers Journal #18

                                                                                                  1/3/2012

Dear Sharon Alfandary, 

     This week i finished the book Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy By Ally Carter, which is the second book of the series after the book you read this year: I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You. I recommend this book to you because you already read the first book and you can tell what it will be about. And also i know you will love it just as much as you liked the first book. The first book is a bit better then the second but now there's more guys involved! I'm going to spoil it for you a bit, There school isn't an only girl school anymore! Which means more guys that like Cammie. 

    My favorite quote in the book is "A spies worst enemy is Overconfidence" -Cammie On page 73. I agree with this quote because its not only about spies. Overconfidence is never good. Too much of it makes you so confident. Then you have expectations for things that don't come true. Or didn't exactly meet your expectations. Be confident but never too much. 

   The genre of this book is Realistic Fiction, because this story is believable. But not real the setting and characters are made up, The story is not true. As you know, some of the characters in this book are Cammie which is the main character and everything is told from her perspective. Bex and Macey are Cammie's best friends. Some of the new guys in her school are Zach, Grant and Jonas. Not a lot is mentioned about Jonas and grant! so find out! But Zach is like the new Josh for Cammie ! Cammie is the protagonist and there are no antagonists. The setting of this book is Gallagher Academy, In the winter time. Which isn't mentioned but i'm guessing it is rainy and snows.

    In the Exposition of the book, Cammie and her mom arrive to the 'dressing room' at the mall (where everyone from Gallagher meet after summer). Rising Action, Cammie flies out to Gallagher to finally see her two best friends after summer vacation. Climax is when Cammie gets new guys in her class! Falling Action Cammie meets Zach, and in the resolution they date ! which i find adorable because there even cuter together then her and josh! which was really cute. The tone and mood of the book is mysterious! everyone is very mysterious at times and there's a lot of spies and missions which always keeps you wondering.

   The point of view of this book is first person because Cammie is talking about her self. The author put them self in Cammie's place, the pronouns me, i , we are used a lot. The pattern of organization of this book is flashback, there are many memories Cammie thinks about while in the middle of a scene. Authors Purpose of this book is to entertain us about spies and young romances. 

   

    I rate this book a 10 out of 10, because i loved every part of the book. I was always in the zone and focused It was attention grabbing. 

Love, 

Your Friend 

Raheli Haliva :)

Reader's Journal #11- Short Story

                                                                                                                           11/15/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,    

           

    This week i read the story Dream Catcher By Marion Francis. "They say when you lose someone you love, you can wish them back in another person . . . This was the case for me" i picked this quote because i think every person has the same hopes and expectations for every person. and since hes wife passed away he had the same hopes and expectations towards Samantha which were to go out. Try to have a family. 

     Before reading and purchasing the book i read the reviews which were good, so i wanted to read it myself, i also looked at the rates. Which were five stars, and fours. While reading, i wrote down some vocabulary words, that were unfamiliar to me. After reading, i searched for more books by the other to see if there was a continuation of the book since i was dieing to see what happens after! 


    The genre of this book is Short story. Which means it could be fiction or non fiction, but it usually has one setting and often told in first person. The characters in this book were Samantha, Mellissa, Max and Cody. Cody is the narorator of this story since the story is told from hes perspective. The whole story basically is all about Cody. Samantha is Cody's new wife. The protagonist of this book is Cody. there is no antagonist in the story. The setting is Taking place in Twin rivers, Ohio, The time is all year long. In the exposition Cody is still married to Melissa, telling her how much he loves her. In the rising action  Melissa past away from breast cancer. The climax of this book is When Cody meets Samantha at the coffee shop he owns. In the Resolution Samantha and Cody are happily married expecting a little girl named after Melissa.  

    The main problem in the story would definitely in my opinion be Melissa's sickness. Melissa and Cody were perfect for each other and Cody did everything he possibly did for her. The conflict would be Character Vs. Self. Since Cody is facing a couple of trust problems. Debating between trusting Samantha or not, should he wait longer? 


    The tone of this book is very emotional as Cody faces hard times, hes mood changes. My mood as a reader would be sad about Melissa. I would also be shocked. The moral of this story is all written in the quote. never expect too much or the worse. The author's point of view was biased, because he was only giving us hes side of the story not Samantha's feelings or thoughts. not even Melissa's. The author's purpose for writing this story was to entertain us about sad romance story, that turned around into happy for Cody. 


   I rate this book a 10 out of 10, because i really did enjoy every second of it, also the author was so specific that i had an image in my head at all times. 


Your student, 
Raheli Haliva

Reader's Journal #7- Biography

                                                                                                                                                  11/10/2011

Dear Mrs. Zrihen, 

   I just finished reading the book Kim Kardashian 's biography written by Celebrity Media, Before buying this book i looked at the Rates it has gotten, 3 stars out of 5 by two people rating. I also read the reviews the book has. While reading, i wrote down all the quotes i ran into and important notes, such as that shes divorced. but today, she is happily married. After reading, i searched the highlights of the book to make sure i got everything i needed to know.

 " I know people think we drive around in these nice cars and we do whatever we want, our parents will just pay our credit cards but that's not how it works. Sure my parents were nice enough to get me a nice car at 16 but at 18 i was cut off, i had to do it myself, i worked really hard to get it" -Kim Kardashian. On page 7. I picked this quote because everyone has the same impression on every single famous person, because that's what it looks like from our perspective, we can't see all the hard work unless we do it our self's.

  The genre of this book is Biography, non fiction. It is a biography because it is a real story based on someone's real life story. But it is told from someone else perspective. Some character's in this book are Kim Kardashian which is the main character in the book, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian are also character's in the book that are spoken of a lot. The author wrote this story to entertain us on Kim Kardashian's life. There isin't really a mood and tone in this book since the author is only telling us facts and events in her past. The author is not telling us a story where there opinions are included, which helps us figure out the tone. The authors point of view is second person since they are using the words She, and They etc. Kim doesn't talk herself in the book, only in quotes that the author took from her.

  The topic of this book is Clearly Kim Kardashian and the main idea would be Kim Kardashian's life story. The main idea is stated since it is written everywhere. or talked about. Some supporting details to the main idea would be,  Her family,  and Her goals in life. These supporting details are both factual details. They are factual details since they are facts and stated in the book. In biography books there usually are not essential messages. This book has no essential message since it is about her past and she didn't do anything major that made a change.  From my background knowledge about Kim i could compare her contrast her to her sisters, since i watch there show but in this book Kim is the only character mentioned unless it added Khloe and Kourtney to one of Kim's actions but they have nothing told about there personality's in the book. There were many text features in this book! Titles, Sub titles, Italicized words, Bold words and pictures.

Some new words i learned in this book were, Defamatory, which means injuries. Alleges, which means to have proof of something. I rate this book a 9 out of 10, because i would of liked it if the author put more feeling into the book then just facts. However, i reccomend this book to everyone! Kim Kardashian is a very interesting person to learn about! 

Sincerely, 

Your Student, 

Raheli Haliva.

Reader's Journal #4- Realistic Fiction

                                                                                                                                           9/19/2011

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

This week I’ve been reading the book the Horse Whisperer, by Nicolas Evans. Since the book is 350 pages I did not get to finish it this week. “There was death at the beginning, as there would be death again at its end” On page 1, I found this quote interesting because it’s true.  And it got my attention since this was the first sentence in the book, it kept me hooked. This quote explines that once something happens at the beginning it still happened at the end, Death for someone close will remain there at the end too.

Before, while, and after I used many strategies. Before I started reading I looked at the front cover, it has an illustrating of a horse in a dark background, I immediately guessed that there were horse races, that got dangerous I assumed from the dark colors in the back. Another strategies I used before reading was that I skimmed and scanned through the book for text features, I found that the book is divided into 4 parts. While reading I Asked the questions like Q. “how can I relate this to my life?” A. I could relate to this story about horse riders, that this summer I had a chance to ride horses but I chose not to since I was scared and that is what happened after the accident. I did not do two after strategies since I did not finish the book.

The Genre of this book is Realistic fiction, because This book is based on a family that there daughter is a horse racer, and she had an accident with the horse at a race, which is possible to happen to anyone. The dad tom booker makes a huge deal out of it since he was a horse trainer once too! Therefore, It is realistic fiction since it is not a memoir or a biography, & the characters are made up. So far into the book I cannot tell any characterization & the protagonist and antagonist situation is not really Clearfield yet. The setting of this book is not exactly mentioned; some places would be in tom’s house.

The plot structure of this book is in the exposition Tom’s Beautiful daughter goes out at night w her friend on the horses and gets hit by a car L then in the rising action She finally recovers from the comma and all the citizens of town have been talking about it, I did not reach the climax, Falling Action and Resolution yet. The conflict of this book is a professional horse trainer & racer gets in a comma from an accident while in a race. She is forever traumatized, will never forget what happened, the question were all wondering is that is she ever going to ride a horse again? Did it change her love for horses? I hope she does decide to ride again. Character vs. Self- because she is facing a problem only she could fix or decide what to do. 

The tone of this book is definitely very mysterious! Which makes the book to grab your attention by making a really dramatic scene were all dyeing to know about! My mood as a reader was just the same as the tone, but a bit sad since the accident and everything that is mentioned about it…

I think the moral of this story is that safety comes first. Before you ride a horse you have to make sure everything is good. Some mistakes in the book were made since winning came before safety.  The point of view of this story is first person since the words I she he we me and myself were used a lot by the author’s choice. The pattern of organization of this book was chronological order, since at the incident it tells us what happened first second third or last. Author’s purpose of this book was to entertain about horse racers and a typical life of a horse trainer.

“A horse rider should never give up like a loser, fight until you win it” This figurative language is a simile. “Horse trainer, must study her horse like a book” simile. This is the only two figurative languages I ran into.  I rate this book a 9 out of 10 since horses aren’t really my favorite animals so I couldn’t relate to everything in the book! But so far, it’s good J

Love,

Your student,

Raheli Haliva J

Reader's Journal Week #3

                                                                                                                                                          9-12-11
Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

This Week I read the book "Flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanon.  "Maybe my mom's right. Maybe there is more to Bryce Loski than i know, And maybe its time to meet him in a proper way" -Julianna. On page 212, I Picked this quo nbte because wow i never thought she would notice it! How much she annoyed him and made a mistake for bothering him like that when they were little! But Although she did bother him a lot, at the end it happened. They happened.  After 6 years of her flipping over him. After 6 years, Bryce started thinking about her in a different way a better way. More than just friends.

The Genre of this book is Realistic fiction, Romace, and Drama, It is romance since it it a love story, but it is possible for it to happen in real life so  thats why it is Realistic Fiction, It is Dramatic since many fights and arguments happen in this book! The two main characters in this book are Julianna and Bryce. When julianna was first descibed in the book as tis little annoying and obssesed girl. Now Julianna is sweet and nice, Bryce was first described annoyed! But now i think of him as in love. Bryce and Julianna are round characters. They are also both the Protagonists, There are no Antagonists in the book.

The setting of this book is all year long, There is no specific Place, all that is mentioned is there neighborhood, since there neighbors. Weather conditions change all year since the book talks about 6 years of there lives. The Plot structure is in The Exposition Julianna flipped when she met bryce. In the rising action Julianna started getting over Bryce, Climax was That Bryce started liking Julianna, If the falling action Bryce and Julianna were put to seat together in science, which made them get along better. The Resolution were Bryce and Julianna Dating and in love.  The tone of this book was dramatic! and annoyed! Both were annoyed by eachother at some parts! My mood was definetly excited and happy, to see them together, well at least i wish i saw it.

The Moral of this story is No, just since there was no love at first site doesn't mean there is no love. In my opinion, Love  at first sight is looks which don't matter. Therefor, There is no love. The authors point of view was first person using the words "I, WE"... the authors purpose was to entertain about a love story from a young age. The authors perspective was biased since the story was written in many point of views. The conflict of this book is character vs. society, Julianna vs. Bryce. The pattern of organization is spatial, since the location of the two houses were described in the book. I rate this book a 9 out of 10 because the beginning was slow! but it just kept on getting better! I would recommend this book to all the girls, Because i doubt guys will have as much feeling into the book and it won't grab there attention.
 
Love,
Your student,
Raheli Haliva.

Readers Journal #2

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         9/6/11

Dear Mrs Zrihen,

This week I finished reading my first book "The Last Song" by Nicolas Sparks. I used many strategies this week, all my before strategies I used two weeks ago when I first started the book, While reading I skimmed and scanned through the book for text features, I found capitalized and italized words. After finishing my book I reviewed all my notes from last week and made sure I understood all the parts I wrote down that I wasn't so sure about.

The genre of this book is Realistic fiction / Romance, since it is a romantic story but could happen in real life, but the characters are made up. Now that I am done with the book I can finally identify the characterization, Motive, Ronnie in the beginning was a goth teenager and wasn't shy like most, she looks outgoing but with no motivation. Ronnie looks like she needs help in some way she doesn't like to tell us how, but as a reader that when the post its help, From the notes I took in the first 2 chapters to the last 2 chapters Ronnie changed A LOT.  I figured out what was hurting Ronnie, Her dad. Her parents. Her parents not being together, not living together. I agree with her, it would of been killing me on the inside too. Ronnie just doesn't like to show it but she was really hurt.

The Protagonist in this book was Ronnie, will and her family. The antagonist which was blaze in the first half of the book is no longer an antagonist, since she apologized to Ronnie and there friends now.  The setting of this book is Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina. The book was based on a love story in the summertime, which was very hot just like any other beach, The authors tone was very excited and very sad at the end, in my opinion the book couldn't of ended in a more worse way. No one expected her dad to die, at least i didn't. My mood was very surprised, and sad that I started crying with the book. This book still has the same moral, family comes first, there the only people that will be by your side FOREVER. Don't waste your time like Ronnie and notice it way to late.  The authors point of view is second person, The authors purpose was to entertain a summer romance. The pattern of organization is spatial, since they tell us there exact location.  

The exposition of this book is when Ronnie first arrived to Wrightsville beach, and started fighting with her dad. The Rising action is when Ronnie first starts dating will, that definitely kept me reading the book! After that, The Climax which is the highest or most important event in the book is when Ronnie Made up with her dad and finally stopped fighting, The falling action was sadly that Ronnie found out her dad has being lying to her and he’s being diagnosed with breast cancer, The resolution is Ronnie got accepted to a good college in Boston, right after her dad past away, This book was also called the last song since at the funeral Ronnie played the last song her dad has played on the piano. 

I rate this book a 9 out of 10 because the ending really did disappoint me, i was looking forward to an happy ending and i got the total opposite. I recommend this book to all the girls and maybe guys that love to read sad books and romance !

Love, 

Your Student, 

Raheli Haliva.