Short Story Plot

A Tragic Miracle

Reading Log and Short Story Response

I like how we have been working on short stories in class. Most of the stories are interesting, but some points in the story are hard to comprehend. My favorite short story was "To Da- Duh, in Memoriam", because the author did a good job depicting the characters. I enjoyed how I could imagine the characters physical and emotional pictures, in my head. My least favorite story was "Dry September", because it was about segregation and I didn't like the terminology used. 

I thought class discussions on the short stories was very productive. You could compare your annotations with someone else and pick up on details you missed. Also other classmates could have different interpretations of the writing and meaning of the story. Class discussions helped me fully understand the story and answered questions about parts in the story I didn't understand. Annotating with a different literary element focus each night help develop my understanding of the elements. Overall working with short stories has been enjoyable. 


A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
9/24 45 min
pp. 53-56

Dry September 
9/26- 60 min
pp. 21-32

Picture Perfect by D. Anne Love
9/27- 60 min
pp 1-94

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
9/28- 90 min
pp. 3-37

Total- 255 min

Reading Log and Response 9/17- 9/23: Sphinx's Queen

Sphinx's Queen by Esther Frieser is an interesting way of describing the unknown childhood of Queen Nefertiti. Sphinx's Queen is the second book after Sphinx's Princess in the series. I enjoy how Frieser is able to convert a boring historical topic into an action packed historical fiction book. She has a other series that refer to famous women's childhoods like Helen of Sparta in Nobody's Princess. I like how she is able to be creative in expanding on historical life and make the book seem like a fiction novel. Sphinx's Queen is an excellent read for people that like books with little twist, that keep them up all night reading.

Nefertiti is portrayed as brave, very beautiful, and slightly sensitive.  Throughout the book Nefertiti challenges and attacks on others in battles that she is unsure she can win. Many people call her pretty, want to marry her for her beauty or are jealous of her beauty. She is sensitive to Thutmose when he tries to starve himself to death; even though he tried to kill her. She also loves to help others in need. Nefertiti is committed to her friends and even sets them free. Nefertiti has a fear of being alone and her aunt tells everyone not to speak with her.  Read Sphinx's Queen to take a journey into Egypt and explore Nefertiti's world and surroundings.


Sphinx's Queen
9/17- 120 min., 9/18- 60 min., 9/19- 120 min. 9/20- 30 min.
pp. 1-347

Harrison Bergeron
9/17- 30 min.
pp.124-

Da-duh in Memoriam 
9/19- 45 min.
pp.57-65

A&P
9/21- 25 min.
pp.119-123

Total: 430 min.

Olivia Claire's Thoughts and Dreams

Calm down...I have to get some rest. Mom is stressing me out, she can be a huge pain sometimes. "I'm putting you on a strict diet, and locking you in your bedroom till you're 18." Just piece of toast and 10 cups of water today, no more... She been bothering me with her junk ever since dad left. She won't cook or clean...our house is like a hoarder's nest.

And Ryan with his gold swept hair and blue eyes, begging for my forgiveness. I mean what kind of girl gives a cheater a second chance. I saw you with Vanessa at the mall! Did you really think the mall was the BEST place? I'm there 24/7 practically! Vanessa? Out of all people! My arch enemy! How I remember, Vanessa in her Jimmy Choo Pumps with a smirk big enough to swallow the whole town! How ecstatic she was to announce that she was hanging with my boyfriend! Humiliation... Vanessa 1, Olivia 0!

Rejection again, it's like the 100th time. Every audition is never returned with a call. Hollywood with my name in big letters, its like a dream come true. All I want is to walk down the red carpet or see my face on the TV...

"Action!"a voice yelled.

"What?" I asked confused. My eyes slowly fluttered open. Where am I? Hello? Whose voice is that?

"Cut! Mrs. Rose, get into character!" a man with a megaphone with white block letters screaming director. "Just take it from the top, people!"he added.

"Olivia Claire Rose come here." my mom gritted through her teeth. She grabbed the collar of my designer blouse, and dragged me off the set. "You better pull it together! Do you know how much I sacrificed for you? Get back on set! You better remember all your lines, or else!" She slapped me across the face.

"Yes ma'am..." I mumbled sarcastically.

"Young lady, don't speak to me in that tone!" she screamed.

"How's this? I hate you! And You ruin my life!" I shrieked. Running as fast as I can to my car, tears streaming down my face. I hit the gas and drive. I can sense the familiarity, like I know what's going to happen next.

"Olivia, get out of bed or I'll whip you!" my mother yelled from downstairs, interrupting my thoughts.

Literacy Narrative Ebook

I might have to change the name of some the people I mentioned in my literacy narrative, just in case. Also Another round of proofreading assistance is a good idea in order to ensure my paper is grammatical correct. I'm thankful that the ebook is only semi-public, because putting the ebook on the front page of the website seems like a lot of pressure. If our class ebook was on the front page it would stress me out, because tons of people would see it. 

I like the idea of adding images to enhance my writing. Some of the pictures that you can see through the writing could have small pictures on the side to support the feelings. Adding pictures will make the writing more alive, because it gives a visual sense. Some examples in my paper would be a peppermint, piece of paper, or thesaurus, because I wrote about eating a peppermint, the edges of paper hitting the side of the desk and flipping through the thesaurus. 

Having different fonts and formats throughout the ebook is a good idea, because it gives each piece uniqueness, makes the book casual, and gives the writers freedom.  The cover could be a huge Wordle with an significant word from each of our papers. I'm not sure about the title, but someone suggested the title, "We are Number 4" and I was intrigued by it. The design/ layout should be casual, but organized; something exciting. The ebook could have different songs to connect with each paper. Overall the ebook sounds like an enjoyable experience and I look forward to be working on it.

Reading Log and Response 9/9- 9/16: The Elite

The Elite by Kiera Cass was intriguing and kept me wanting more. The Elite is the sequel to The Selection about teenager America and her love relationships. Prince Maxon narrowed the Selection down to the top six. America is confused with her experience with Maxon; he tells her secrets and tells her that he loves her, but then she catches him kissing her arch- enemy.  The author surprised  me throughout the book, allowing the characters to do the unexpected. When rebels come to invade the palace, and find America instead of hurting her they curtsy to her.

I think that the ending of The Elite was a little stretched. America always talks about how she wants to leave the palace, but when she gets the opportunity she stays. I feel that next book would be more compelling to readers, if America would have left the palace. If America knew the king hated her and she was losing Maxon, why did she bother staying?  In the next book the plot should've been about America's and Maxon's life without each other and a significant event reunites them. It would be interesting to see what would happen if America chose Aspen and lost Maxon.

The Elite, Kiera Cass

9/9 60 min., 9/10- 120 min., 9/11- 120 min.

Literacy Narrative:

9/10-40 min., 9/12- 20min, 9/14- 60min 

Total-  420 min., pp.1- 323

Literacy Narrative Response and Weekly Log 9/3-9/8

      This week in English class we have been working on literacy narratives. A literacy narrative requires more deep thinking than other pieces of writing because describes a story about reading or writing. I'm excited about getting feedback from my peers in order to help improve my writing. The things that I have been struggling the most is creating vivid details that draw images in the minds of others. I'm also dealing with lot of grammatical errors, particularly related to comma usage.  

     I'm extremely nervous now, after completing my first day of peer review. One of the girls at our table had an exceptional paper; I'm not even sure if my narrative can even compare. While I wrote my literacy narrative I personally thought it was easier to write the introduction than the conclusion. The words and details in my introduction flowed together really nicely. Though in my conclusion the words seemed forced out of my mouth, kind of like writing a social studies essay. I hope the members of my peer review group give me valuable feedback to help expand and develop my writing, and show me where I can enrich my details to give the writing more feeling. I will try to resist the urge to apologize for my work when I read it tommorrow to my group. It just feels extremely awkward for me to read my work outloud. 


Weekly Log: 9/3-9/9

Burn for Burn, Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

9/3-60 min., 9/4- 120 min., 9/5- 60 min., 9/6- 45 min.

Literacy Narrative:

9/3-20 min., 9/4- 20min, 9/7- 60min 

Total-  385 min., pp.1-358

Dialogue

Secret Relationship Issues:

     Claire and James have been been secretly dating for the past six months. The pair has been sneaking around to save their public reputations. James finds out that he is being sent off to military school and is breaking the news to Claire. Claire is waiting for James in the janitor's closet until the door knob turns ever so slightly and a crack of light fills the room. A shadow appears in the doorway.

     "Who's there?" Claire shouted terrified. 

     James replies, "It just me,sweetheart." 

     "Happy Anniversary!" Claire exclaimed.

     "Back at you, darling!" James replied with a wink.

     "Shhhh",  whispered Claire playfully lightly punching him in the arm.  She adds, "We don't want anyone to catch us."

     James asked, "How much longer are we going to have to keep this up?"

     Claire whined, "No idea, I can't  risk losing my reputation."

     James questions, "so I'm not worth the suffering?" 

    "I don't know; we are from two different cliques. Aren't you worried of other people's opinions?" Claire said devastated.

    "Don't you love me?" James asked hurt.

    "It is better for both of us to keep our distances." Claire stated concerned.

    James said, "We can't sneak around forever."

   "I guess you're right." agreed Claire, snuggling in closer with James.  

   "It would pain me to lose you." sniffed James.

    Claire asked compassionately,"What do you mean? What's the matter?"

   "My parents are sending my off to military school!" James choked through tears.

   Claire whisper-shouts, "Your leaving me, after all I've risked!"

   James whispers wholeheartly, "Always rememeber that no matter what happens I will always love you", he adds "Good night, my love."

   Claire gave James a light peck on the cheek. "Good-bye!", she whispered dissapointed as she ran off bawling  into the distance. 

Literacy Narrative: Rebel Music

    Rebel Music by Daniel Felsenfeld is about a guy that finds his passion in classical music. The author's word choice helps you imagine the scene, like him listening the "real" music for the first time. The sentences flow together and aren't choppy. The words the author uses depends on the age he was in the writing later on when he writes about college his wording is more sophisticated than when he was referring to his childhood.

     Personally I found the piece of writing strangely interesting since when the guy was younger he played classical music on the piano, but never really sought much interest within the pieces. Later on in his life, he describes the first time listening the Beethoven, the Most Beautiful Thing he ever heard. I thought it was really intriguing how something that the author once hated; he later found deep passion for. I thought it was an powerful literacy narrative but didn't have the same feel that the literacy narrative about cats brought. The narrative about Miriam's journal writing about cats made you feel her emotions bursting out of you. As for Rebel Music personally you have to relate in some sort of unique way to actually understand some of the feelings he brings on throughout the narrative.

Reading Log and Response: The Selection

The Selection by Kiera Cass is an amazing book, it is full of surprises and is uniquely interesting. I thought the choice of setting was a extremely creative dystopian type society since the book is set in the future after America is taken over and changed to the country Illea. Illea is a monarchy with a caste system ranging from 8, the homeless, to 1, the royals. America the main character is a five that is chosen to be in the Selection, a contest to become the prince's bride, but she doesn't want to be in a part of it. She goes anyway because her secret boyfriend Aspen and her family convince her.

America is able to stay herself through her miraculous journey. All the other contestants changed their look and personalities to appeal to Prince Maxon; but America believed that she would rather be herself and be kicked out than to be fake and stay. America would always tell Maxon the truth whether he believed her or not; which is why Maxon liked America the best. America has a hard time figuring out what she wants with Maxon. In the beginning all she wants is to be friends, but later on she knows that they have something bigger than friendship that hasn't been uncover yet.

Reading Log 8/27- 9/2:

The Selection, Kiera Cass

8/27-60 min., 8/28- 65 min., 8/29- 60 min., 8/30- 45 min.

Literacy Narratives:
8/27-20 min.

Total-  250 min., pp.1-327