Banned Books

                                                                                                                                             Skyla Lowe

                                                                                                                        808

Dear Ms.Berner,

            A banned book doesn’t give us teenagers the freedom to read because censorship is hiding the truth from us. Many parents are prejudiced as to what the school is exposing their teenaged children to read. Teenagers shouldn’t be told what books we can and cannot read, us students should be exposed to the explicit content in books if we are ready. Teen fiction can be dark but it shows us students that we aren’t alone if it can relate physically and mentally.

           

            Teenagers should have the right to read whatever they choose too because they should know the genre of books they can handle. Meghan Cox Gurdon a journalist from the article “How young adult fiction become to dark? stated “Contemporary literature has too much sex and violence, and our kids need to be protected from its “depravity”. This is not completely accurate for all books , some are exposing the content to help us. If students weren’t exposed to the explicit content then we wouldn’t be prepared to take in the conflicts that are going to occur as we grow into young adults. A teenaged blogger Emma said “Good literature rips open all the private parts of us--- the parts people like you have deemed to dark, inappropriate, grotesque or abnormal for teens to be feeling--- and then they stitch it all back together again before we even realize they’re not talking about us.” This dialogue Emma stated was very impactful because when us students read books we often realize that there’s an immediate connection to the protagonist and ourselves redeeming the inner us.

            As stated on nerdalert.com “banned books week encourages us to read” the student council feels as if we only get the freedom to read during the banned books week, which shouldn’t be the case. Many teenagers read for entertainment and education but when a teen does get interested in a book there is a high chance it has already been banned from the school.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was a book that was banned in a Texas high school because of religious rituals says Diana Verm, a teen. Diana Verm stated “the burning of the bible shouldn’t be put in a book especially not for teens to read” while another teen Darrell Lee said “Fahrenheit 451 was a eye opener”.  The student council would highly disagree with Diana Verm because although it did go into religious valuables the book was trying to show that nothing or no one is different from another, everything should be equal and nothing should be unfair. Darrell Lee was also a teenager and he said it was apart of his English semester in high school to read Fahrenheit 451 and analyze as well as interpret what he felt the book had meant to him. Everyone views books differently based on their past knowledge. Nerdalert.com had said, “The Wizard of Oz by Jim Shore was banned because there were too many strong women.” No book should be banned because one gender has more power than the other, it may be there to show the reader the point trying to be reached.

            Some may say it is a good idea to ban books because in article Reading ‘can help reduce stress!  It talks about how reading relieves your stress and your heart rate tends to decrease. Us students can predict that if a student were to read a book that isn’t banned it will decrease their heart rate rather than a banned book that involves a lot of violence bringing their heart rate increasingly high.  Banned books can also “… dramatically shape the way Americans see the worlds economic, social, and political situations.” This is true because many books do secretly throw in real world situations in a way the reader wouldn’t grasp so easily as too someone who can easily read between the lines.

            To conclude, many books tend to explore tough and explicit context to teenagers because as the years go by more and more incidents become frequent and even more common, in these incidents many teenagers don’t seem to overcome the problems so easy because it was never exposed to them. If schools are going to ban books the most us students should be able to do is debate about the book being banned. Banning a book should be an individual thing meaning a student should be able to ask them selves if they’re mature and ready to read the book. Banning books doesn’t give students another fundamental way to learn and broaden their vocabulary and thinking’s in life.

            

         Young Adult Book

                                      Skyla Lowe 808

  It is unusual for kids to care a lot about a parent who left them at a young age. Raspberry is a young girl who lives with her mother. Raspberry's father left when she was a child and is now homeless. The book Begging for Change by Sharon G. Flake , shows the relationship between a young girl and both her parents , mainly her father.

   In the book the dad finally finds his daughter after years of searching. When the dad finds Raspberry he is very excited to see his daughter but Momma doesn't want her father to come in. " Daddy's run-over boot keeps the door from slamming shut." No matter how many times Raspberry tells him that he isn't allowed in he refuses. The dad says he only wants "...visiting rights..." Which still is wanting to enter her house and see her. The dad is so courageous that he decides to ask Raspberry "Your Momma in there?" As he peeks over Raspberry's should in suspicioun, debating if he wants to barge into her house.

   Economically the dad is having a way more difficult time then the mom to fund and support Raspberry. This inference can be said because the dad says that him and his best bud are both broke " Ain't got a penny between the two of us." This can show that the dad is trying to pursue Raspberry to give up a lil money to help him and his friend, being thats she already let her dad into the apartment disobeying her Momma's policy. Because Raspberry was so insecure about letting her father in she tries to frighten her dad by telling him "She's coming in a minute...".

  Disrespect. The dad has gotten really insecure now. He has a plan to go into Momma's room in search of a few dollars or even more. Raspberry's first idea as she began to feel hurt was to call Momma meanwhile her dad is telling her " Your Momma just gonna get mad," he said pressing the reciever down. Dad knows that Momma wi call the cops so he takes his hand and covers Raspberry's mouth. Raspberry is scared and skeptical wondering will he leave her alone if she says she does have a few bucks "... And go get him a little cash, he will leave — maybe. But if I say no, he will stay way too long, begging me for money, maybe even hurting me." Raspberry knows she did wrong by allowing him into her Momma's house with no approval.

  " 'Cause nothing good comes of bad money." This story does achieve a goal in showing how a young girl lives with her mother while her father tries to enter her life with nothing good to offer. Sharon G. Flake really gave me a good understanding by showing me both parents points of view and Raspberry's, including a couple of bystanders who were there throughout the story as the climax increased. Many teen's today sometimes go through insecturity not only with parents but also friends.

"Ashes" Response

                           Ashes Response


“I wouldn’t have any other dad,” I told him. The short story “Ashes” by Susan Beth Pfeffer the reader is introduced to a young girl named Ashley, facing a family struggle. This is told by the protagonist’s relationship mainly with her father, showing us love is complicated even with family members that are close.

Ashes’ father complicates their relationship by manipulating her to get what he wants. Susan Beth Pfeffer says, “I knew I wasn’t a one-in-a-million girl, no matter how often Dad told me I was. But no matter how often he told me, I still loved hearing him say it.” Ashes makes this statement as if she knows her dad was showing fake affection but she didn’t want to ruin her own joy of hearing her dad repeat those words. In the short story it also states that dad says, “You look radiant,” he said. “You get more and more beautiful. Turn around. Let me admire every single inch.” Ashes knew she didn’t look so radiant and stunning because she had on “… jeans and a bulky brown sweater” her mother gave her for Christmas. The dad was trying to hold on to the last of his hope that Ashes would infer she was beyond special in his eyes.

The mother and father are very opposite in terms of stability. The mother is very stable and reliable because Ashes describes her saying, “Her pocketbook overflows with tissues and tampons for anyone who might need them.” I infer even when her mother is at a rough time in life she is still the one parent Ashes can rely on. The father on the other hand isn’t so stable, even Ashes can tell this. In the story Ashes dad decides to take her out to a to a diner and she says, “Can you afford it?” I asked, after doing the mental arithmetic of diner versus pizza.” Throughout their supper the father bring up the topic of finance saying, “All I need to do is put together a little financing, and I’ll be set for life.” Thinking back to the beginning the father doesn’t have too much money to start with, so how will he get this “little financing” to be set for life and show Ashes that he is stable and will be willing to be there when she needs him.
Ashes father knows that she doesn’t have the same affection for her father as her mother. This is told by Ashes and her father both, he tells Ashes “I wish I deserved you.” By saying this I can tell that Ashes’ dad constantly thinks about how astonishing Ashes is, and how he feels she does deserve a more supportive father. Another thing that supports the thesis is the dad repeatedly saying Ashes is a “one-in-a-million-girl.” Ashes repeatedly hearing this is going to give off thinking as to why does he keep telling me I’m one-in-a-million?
 

Susan Beth Pfeffer does achieve the goal as to showing the struggle in a young teens life with parents who are completely different in stability. Many teens today have parents who are both stable in love and finance, unlike Ashes’ father. Although it shows Ashes’ point of view in this situation it doesn’t show her  mother’s point of view or even her fathers, which would be interesting to read this on there behalf.

Money Hungry (Summer Reading Book/Baseline)

Money Hungry by Sharon Flake is about a thirteen year old girl named Raspberry Hill. Raspberry Hill is probably in the 8^th grade just like me. Raspberry is an ordinary school girl with a little clique of friends (Zora, Ja’nae, and Mai). The three of Raspberry’s friends all owned houses and apartments, unlike Raspberry. Raspberry was homeless at the time.    

               Raspberry lived with her hard working mother. At the time Raspberry and her mother weren't living under a roof, they were on the streets daily finding somewhere to sleep for the night. Raspberry’s mother worked throughout the day while she was at school, or at least thought she was. When Raspberry was dropped off at school in what they call her mother’s old rusty and raggedy car. Raspberry did all sorts of things to help build their money stash. During the hours of school Raspberry would sell rotten candies based on the holidays and also skip lunch. When Raspberry was supposed to be in school she would cut school to help the car wash place and she would go around cleaning people’s houses to gain money for her mom and her to one day have an apartment.  

                The reason why I think this book is titled Money Hungry is because Raspberry is hungry for money so she is finding any way possible to gain money. Raspberry’s mom doesn't want her daughter to stress too much over the fact that there house hunting, but Raspberry is taking it into her own responsibility to help her mother knowing that it is hard to raise a child and work all under the condition of having no home. This book really showed me that even though my mom says she doesn't need help that I should still help her because she does need me and may not want me to stress over it. This book also teaches me that I need to take more tasks into my own wings and figure them out because I am at that age where I need to be helping my family as much as I can even though I have a home and everything I need, you never know what life might throw at you. 

Should there be same sex education? Upfront magazine

Same Sex Education                                                                    Skyla Lowe 

Same sex education is beginning to occur around the world and is making kids very stereotypical today.

            I do not agree that same sex education is good for all children because some kids will be ready for the future and some will not be.

Children get stereotyped and schools reinforce it. I say this because when boys/girls come around the opposite sexes they feel then need to “dumb them selves down” to not make the opposite sex feel bad. This example shows how stereotyped the girls and boys can be from being with the same sex for so long.

In the article “single sex schools have negative impact on kids, says study” it states that students who are in same sex education began to get their occupational aspirations cut limited because of the opposite sex. This happens because kids don’t get enough time with the opposite sex a lot. The authors point is to show how much kids will only want to be with the same sex. I also know this because they grow up in same sex classes, which then gives most kid the option to not want to be with the opposite sex.

Children will then not want to play with the opposite sex or be around the opposite sex for to long.  It says “girls will only play with dolls and boys will only play with trucks”.  This supports my statement because it shows how much kids only want to be with the same sex after growing up that way ; in that environment. I also say this because the opposite sex will feel as if they were to be doing wrong if they played with the opposite sexes toys.

My point is same sex education does not benefit everyone for the future ahead of them in many ways. It affects how children feel when being with the opposite gender compared to kids who are in mixed gender classes (co-ed) . I feel as if same sex education benefits some kids and does not help others for the life that is ahead of them. Co-ed!  

Character Change Skyla Lowe 707

                                  The Fault In Our Stars
     In this book the main character Hazel is a dynamic character. I say this becuase in the beginning of the book she was very settle and didnt have speratic outbreaks but now into the book she is. For example there was this boy Augustus Waters that she dearly liked but now every time he even talks to her Hazel always says "no flirt talking" or " I dont want to hold hands if we are just talking" and he is now beginning to realize the change in her even when he is just generally talking to her. The character also changes physically because then she shows now how it really feels to deal with lung cancer and how much she really feels by having this really big outburst and actually even getting her parents scared causing her to have to visit the hospital for some days to watch her heart rate.

My Memoir

                 My Disney Adventure
                                                                                                             Skyla Lowe 707

    I couldn't sleep all night. I had the feeling most kids get before the first day of school when you're so anxious and nervous you cant sleep or control your excitement. I was so excited to go to Buffalo and visit my mother's good friend Ally. I knew this summer was going to be amazing!
"Were going to Disney," said my cousins in a happy voice.
"Well I'm going to Buffalo and Niagara Falls," I said in a 'take that' kind of voice.
      I was so excited to go that I couldnt stop talking to my cousins about all the fun I was going to have while my mom and aunts were putting our luggage's into the taxi cars. My cousins and I were sharing different facts about places we were going and the new things we were going to do.
"Sky lets go!"
"We are getting into this taxi'" yells my mother over our loud talking and laughing we did.
      As we ride to the airport I'm envisioning all the things we are going to do and the new things we might try or eat in Buffalo for a week. These thoughts won't leave my head. When we finally reached the airport my cousins and aunts had already checked in their bags in and were getting there luggage tags. As my family got their luggage, my mother and I joined everyone's tags said New York to Florida, LaGuardia I was expecting my tag to say New York to Buffalo, LaGuardia. When I grabbed my bag and looked at the tag I was so embarrassed and confused but also very excited I was going to Disney right along with my cousins.
    The excitement and joy actually made me tear up because not only was this going to be amazing but all my aunts knew me and my mother were coming along too. They all were asking me did I like the surprise while my mother was taking pictures. My head and stomach had butterflies. I was too happy and surprised to actually speak when I opened my mouth nothing came out. I just had a huge smile of joy and happiness.

The Fault In Our Stars (SPOILER ALERT)

                                                                                                                    Skyla Lowe 707
                                 The Fault In Our Stars Response

         The book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a very interesting and deep book. This book shows how a teenage girl lives her life with something that is very hard and difficult to cope with while growing up.  Even though I'm only a third way through the book so far this book really moves me as a person. The way John Green writes makes me feel as if I'm in the book with Hazel,who is the main character. Not only does this book uses a lot of feeling and internal thinking, but lastly very in depth description telling me how Hazel lives her everyday life with a struggle of having cancer in her lungs. The way Hazel lives her life is very impressing after school everyday she sits down with a group of kids including the director and they all hang out and talk about how they fought their cancer growing up. This makes me feel very warm-hearted that someone so outgoing would take the time and actually make not only a group like this but also a book that tells us how some people with cancer live their life with a struggle like having cancer anywhere in their body from the brain to the toe.

The Fault In Our Stars

                                                                                                                                 Skyla Lowe 707

      The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is a very inspiring book. This book gives you a good idea about how people with different needs then you live life , not only how they live life but also how they deal with this and how they encourage themselves. I feel like this is a good suggestion book for many people to read whether you want to learn young child issues or disabilities.

    In this book the author uses a lot of description to show the reader how the main character thinks which is Hazel who is 16 years old and struggles with something in life that affects her greatly. The way the author describes the book for you to understand Hazel gives you a lot of feedback on her observing  and hearings and also how she carries on which not only affects her but also her mother because her mother is the one encouraging her to do better and hope for success. The helper in this book helps Hazel out a lot not only with how to carries herself on the outside but how she also acts inside and her reactions to the things she does daily. I am not to far into this book but from where I am so far i definitely can tell that she will struggle and probably overcome there bumps along her road.

Where Your Cellphone Goes to Die

  Upfront Magazine Response                                                                                       Skyla Lowe 707
  
    I think it is not acceptable for electronic manufacturers to pay developing countries to take the U.S.'s e-waste because most Americans replace their electronic devices like cellphones on an average of 22 months and in 2010 the dump trucks junked over 150 million devices alone which is a lot. Also in other places they burn and trade these electronics for copper wires, gold, and silver threads which they then sell to merchants for a couple of dollars. This goes to show that the e-waste we have then goes to other places and we don't actually get a good outcome we just get less electronics to take apart or junk.
     I think it would take the U.S. Cellphone manufacturers a lot of thinking to do better things with the electronics people don't want no more by taking them apart and reusing them for more useful things like another phone, school supplies and other useful/helpful materials.When we throw away used phones only 37% is recycled and when we throw away TVs only 17% is recycled when we throw away/ give up wireless devices only 9% is actually recycled, all the other percentages of each item is trashed which pollutes the areas we live in and we breathe in bad air and these things affect us each and everyday because more than at least 1,000 people a day throw away devices or electronics and it just gets shipped which does not help us. Lastly they can also begin making phones out of products that can be recycled because some phones may not be recyclable, because I know it's kind of hard to disassemble a phone but there is technology these days!

                                                                                                                          
Minimum Age and Minimum Wage                                                            Skyla Lowe 707
                                                                    
           This article Minimum Age and Minimum Wage by Joseph Berger is very important to teach you about the sad lives of young children and adults in the 1900's which sounded very devastating. These kids suffered badly, they had to breathe in cotton dust and risk fingers also limbs working with the powerful looms. Majority of these kids had no education and worked from the age of about 8  till whenever.

            Sally Greenburg of the National Consumer's League noticed that child labor "perpetuated a cycle of poverty". What Sally Greenburg is actually saying is they made an actual cycle of how people lived an unbelievable cycle of poverty. These people worked twelve hours , six days a week being scorched by hot machines or suffering lung disease even mangled arms which is very sad. Although doing all of this hard work, they were only making twenty-five cents per hour , so everyone was getting basically $1.50 in a days worth of hard work. In a standard week they worked 20 hours and if you worked beyond that you had to pay time-and-a-half. Today this cycle is still in affect because now jobs still have young kids 16 and below can only work for a certain amount of hours per week. Another change now is our minimum wage, which is $7.25 or higher depending on jobs which increased twenty times more since 1938. Including the fact that kids under 14 that have jobs can only work with safe non hazardous materials unlike machinery or shoveling coal in the early morning cold. Lastly I think it will take a huge amount of United State employees to come together and fight for their rights to earn enough money to support themselves or  their families. I think by 2020 people will begin to realize how important minimum wage and minimum age really are.

       Some people I think are arguing for the fact that these young kids had to wake up at three o'clock a.m, and spend the day till almost sunset working in coal mines, taking the shells off of ice shrimp, also working in glass and garment factories. What I find most persuasive is how they explain the daily lives of these kids and how they had to survive just to keep there families in good condition. Also how the factory owners enjoyed hiring young workers for their nimble fingers and because when they complained they were able to pay them less; they called these kids the "breaker boys". These are some of the reasons that make this article very persuasive and easy to compare; how the work we do now to earn money does not compare to how hard it was for these people back then. They worked even harder just to make $1.50/ per day on a regular basis.

How does the Author use craft

    The Running Dream Response                                                                        Skyla Lowe 707

        In the book The Running Dream the author uses alot of crafting to describe/reveal the character also showing whats going on in the book. In this book the author Wendelin Van Draanen uses dialogue,internal thinking, and physical to describe what is happening with the character. In this book internal thinking is a big part of showing how the main character feels about her lifestyle after a change.
I think physical and dialogue play an important part but not as much as internal thinking to describe the character or the book.

       In this book some good examples of internal thinking is when Jessica says But im not sick . Im crippled. This goes to show that the Jessica doesn't have so much hope or self reliance in herself showing that she is still going to have a life. An example of dialogue is when she says " Do people think I'm special-needs now? Is that how they see me ? " This shows me that Jessica is having doubts on how people look at her everyday and how will she be categorized, which is important. An example of a physical is when the author describes jessica on her way home and rethinking of her neighbors and her sorroundings and how she feels things are going to change now. All of these examples help me think that Jessica is happy but she still needs to improve on self reliance and how well others think of her on the outside.

My Name Is Different.       

                Up, Up, High in the sky above the birds flying my name is being formed by nice fluffy marshmallow white clouds. Skyla. My name is not like a place, a town, a color , or weather it's different Skyla the odd one out the bunch. My name is like the only ripe apple on the tree ready to be picked. My name is like the gum with never ending flavor.

                My   name all started out when weeks before my mother was soon to give birth she decided to do a little bit of name thinking since she was already unsure of picking Demani or Rain. After thinking for a while the name or beginning sky popped into her head , but she thought just sky was a little plain and she wanted diffrent. Time and time had passed until she found a good ending to match sky. Skyla it was.

               Hard and tricky My name is like ice cream slowly melting as people pronounce. Sky. An ice cube half way frozen all most done till the ending. Skylar. A golden trophy for those one timers getting my name correct. Skyla, receiving a nice huge smile. You've won! Starting with a S ending with a good A,  SKYLA! 

My Life Undecided                                                                Skyla Lowe 707                                                                 By Jessica Brody                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The book My Life Undecided By Jessica Brody is about a teen aged  girl named Brooklyn  who has lots of problems going on in her life in and outside of school . Brooklyn  struggles often with getting through her problems. For instance, her parents had owned a motel in her neighborhood but Brooklyn and her best friend  decided to set her mothers motel on fire which was a bad decision for Brooklyn. This caused Brooklyn to loose all privileges, including the internet. Throughout Brooklyn's whole life she has struggled with making good decisions.

            Brooklyn decides to make a blog to help herself make better decisions since she can't make any good decisions on her own. When Brooklyn made this blog it was intentionally for blog readers to read and solve her problems and she would go along with it . For example she ends up meeting this cute boy in high school and doesn't know how to tell him she likes him. So she asks the blog readers and they decide for her. They advise her to tell him face to face, that she likes him, which is one of Brooklyn's worst fears, but she goes based off of the website and things go well and as planned.  

         I feel like this book was a good summer read for me right before entering 7th grade. I have a couple of years before I am in high school and I know it might be challenging at times when I come across decisions that may be hard for me . Normally when you begin high school lots of things depend on you and you become more independent in life because you are almost an adult . I really enjoyed this book and it made me think a lot; I recommend this book for any one interested in social / self issues.