Hehe :)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Before We Were Free
Well, even though I am reading Goodnight Mister Tom, Mrs. Deu gave us a book called Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. I've just started reading the book but I see a few semi-big connection between the main character and me on the first page. Anita is the main character and she is from the Dominican Republic, and she is going to an American school in the Dominican Republic.
The first thing I see is that she is a girl who is not from America but attends an American school. I go to the American International School of Cyprus, and I'm Turkish Cypriot. Also, she says in the book "we are preparing skits for Thanksgiving, two weeks away. Although the Pilgrims never came to the Dominican Republic, we are attending the American School, so we have to celebrate American holidays". At this school, we do things like that. In the past few years, we've celebrated Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
Another thing that we have in common is that Anita describes the day in the Dominican Republic as "it's a hot, muggy afternoon. I feel lazy and bored. Outside the window, the palm trees are absolutely still. Not even a breeze". In the summertime in Cyprus, it is always boiling! The air always feels sticky and hot. There is sometimes no wind outside and it feels like the Sahara Desert. However, it is great to go swimming at the beach here :)
Also, a text-to-text connection that I have is from this book to one of the stories that we read from out vocabulary book in English. I remember it being in the Dominican Republic, two girls having to leave their classroom, their class practicing for Thanksgiving, and I remember the name Alvarez.....=D.
Even though, I am going to have to read this book for Social Studies class, it sounds really interesting. Right now, Anita's cousin has to go and everyone isn't sure why. When her cousin started packing up her bag, the teacher pointed to things that Carla (her cousin) usually keeps in her desk until the end of the year (like a locker) and said "aren't those yours?" I'm interested to find out what's going to happen to Carla.
The first thing I see is that she is a girl who is not from America but attends an American school. I go to the American International School of Cyprus, and I'm Turkish Cypriot. Also, she says in the book "we are preparing skits for Thanksgiving, two weeks away. Although the Pilgrims never came to the Dominican Republic, we are attending the American School, so we have to celebrate American holidays". At this school, we do things like that. In the past few years, we've celebrated Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
Another thing that we have in common is that Anita describes the day in the Dominican Republic as "it's a hot, muggy afternoon. I feel lazy and bored. Outside the window, the palm trees are absolutely still. Not even a breeze". In the summertime in Cyprus, it is always boiling! The air always feels sticky and hot. There is sometimes no wind outside and it feels like the Sahara Desert. However, it is great to go swimming at the beach here :)
Also, a text-to-text connection that I have is from this book to one of the stories that we read from out vocabulary book in English. I remember it being in the Dominican Republic, two girls having to leave their classroom, their class practicing for Thanksgiving, and I remember the name Alvarez.....=D.
Even though, I am going to have to read this book for Social Studies class, it sounds really interesting. Right now, Anita's cousin has to go and everyone isn't sure why. When her cousin started packing up her bag, the teacher pointed to things that Carla (her cousin) usually keeps in her desk until the end of the year (like a locker) and said "aren't those yours?" I'm interested to find out what's going to happen to Carla.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Goodnight Mister Tom
The book that I am now reading is called Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian. I know that you have already read it, so I don't think that it is necessary to explain it. Nothing big has really happened in the story so far, and therefore, there aren't that many important characters being introduced in the part of the story that I am reading. There has been a few "small" characters, such as Mrs. Fletcher, but there are only two ones that matter. These two are Mister Tom and Willie.
First, I'll tell you about Willie. He was sent to live with someone (who turned out to be Mister Tom) because of the war. He seems to be nosy and a bit curious of everything around him. He describes himself in the book as "wicked", "troublesome" and "nosy". He was even thinking "I'm such a bad boy" and "I'm dreading the moment when Mister Thomas discovers how wicked I really am". I have to disagree with Willie. He seems like a nice boy who is just an average kid, sly! I can tell that he is good at heart because he's trying to do what his mother told him to do when he left home, be good. He also chants to himself "I must be good". So far, he han't done anything bad but I'll have to see later on if what I think about him is really true.
The next character that I'll be talking about is Mister Tom. I like Mister Tom quite a lot. He had a wife named Rachel, who died, along with his son, so I think that these dreadful events softened him up a bit. He has a dog named Sammy who is also like him, caring. At one point in the book, Willie thought that Mister Tom was going to hit him, but he didn't. Later on when Mister Tom was sitting with his dog, he was talking to him and he said "Well Sam, I don't know nothin' about children, but I do know enuff not to beat 'em and make 'em that scared". Also, Mister Tom has gone to people like Mrs. Fletcher to try and get Willie some new clothes. Not only that but he also tries to make his stay better, by giving Willie his own room and feeding him lovely food. I can tell that he really cares about Willie because he is thinking a lot about what to do with him. He said "I ent 'ad much experience at this 'ere motherin lark". This tells me that he's trying to think of ways to give Willie a good time.
I think that the book is great, thank you for recommending it to me. I predict that Willie and Mister Tom will get on well and I also predict that Willie won't do something utterly terrible like he thinks he will. This book is great!
First, I'll tell you about Willie. He was sent to live with someone (who turned out to be Mister Tom) because of the war. He seems to be nosy and a bit curious of everything around him. He describes himself in the book as "wicked", "troublesome" and "nosy". He was even thinking "I'm such a bad boy" and "I'm dreading the moment when Mister Thomas discovers how wicked I really am". I have to disagree with Willie. He seems like a nice boy who is just an average kid, sly! I can tell that he is good at heart because he's trying to do what his mother told him to do when he left home, be good. He also chants to himself "I must be good". So far, he han't done anything bad but I'll have to see later on if what I think about him is really true.
The next character that I'll be talking about is Mister Tom. I like Mister Tom quite a lot. He had a wife named Rachel, who died, along with his son, so I think that these dreadful events softened him up a bit. He has a dog named Sammy who is also like him, caring. At one point in the book, Willie thought that Mister Tom was going to hit him, but he didn't. Later on when Mister Tom was sitting with his dog, he was talking to him and he said "Well Sam, I don't know nothin' about children, but I do know enuff not to beat 'em and make 'em that scared". Also, Mister Tom has gone to people like Mrs. Fletcher to try and get Willie some new clothes. Not only that but he also tries to make his stay better, by giving Willie his own room and feeding him lovely food. I can tell that he really cares about Willie because he is thinking a lot about what to do with him. He said "I ent 'ad much experience at this 'ere motherin lark". This tells me that he's trying to think of ways to give Willie a good time.
I think that the book is great, thank you for recommending it to me. I predict that Willie and Mister Tom will get on well and I also predict that Willie won't do something utterly terrible like he thinks he will. This book is great!
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