City of Bones

             I read the book City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare. Clary Fray is a normal girl who lives in Brooklyn. But after one birthday trip to a club named Pandemonium, everything changed. There, Clary meets a group of shadow hunters, people who fight demons. Their names are Isabelle, Alec, and Jace. The story goes on and tells about the adventures Clary goes on as she is whisked into the chaotic world of shadow hunters. Shadow hunters have to kill demons, and protect people from downworlders who mean harm (warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and faeries). This includes saving her friend Simon, who had been turned into a rat and kidnapped by vampires. I think the theme of this book is life isn't fair, but those who are determined enough can change that. This is because throughout the book, bad things are happening to Clary, but her fierce determination helped her fix some problems.

           One way how Clary is determined is that she attempts to regain her memories that might save the world, even though that will cause pain and a total invasion of her privacy. Clary finds out from a witch that someone has placed a spell on her that makes her forget all memories from the shadow world. She goes to the Silent Brothers, a group of men who can't speak and can read people's minds and memories, to see if they can see beyond the block. But when they do that, they can see everything she thinks and has ever done.It's also a painful process. This supports my claim because some thing bad happened to Clary. Most people would ask how to fix it, but then say oh well when they heard how to fix it. But Clary was determined enough and went through the process. Her determination convinced her to go through with it. And that's something that most people don't posses.

           Another way that Clary is determined is that her BFF Simon got turned into a rat and kidnapped by vampires and she went to rescue him, knowing she might not come back. She and her shadow hunter friends went to a party and Simon drank a potion by accident. He was turned into rat and some vampires took him home, thinking that he was one of their friends. Clary realized what was happening and told her friends. They told her to forget Simon because the vampires would kill her for breaking into their territory. But she went anyways and brought him back home safely. This supports my claim because Clary was willingly risking her life to save Simon. While most would forget him, she did some thing beyond extraordinary. She was determined to save him and she did it with everyone telling her she would never make it out.

        The last way that Clary is determined is that she went after a villain, also her father, named Valentine who had captured her mom. She knew that he would kill Clary so she wouldn't get the mom. He wanted her because she had a very powerful weapon and wanted to know where it was. This supports my claim because her determination convinced her to save her mom and face her father. And everyone tried to stop her but she went. If there was more of her determination in the world, there would be much less problems in the world.

           In conclusion, I think the message in City of Bones is that life isn't fair, but those who are determined can fix some of those problems. This is because Clary faces many hardships, but overcomes them with fierce determination. I just wish that everyone would have this type  of determination. This would make many problems go away. Laziness would be gone and less people would complain. so i think that everyone should try to be as determined Clary. I think they would find it making their lives better for not only themselves, but others too.

The Hunger Games

Everyone has nightmares about kids being killed. But what if you were the one killing them? Katniss Everdeen participated in the Hunger Games, a game where 24 children from different areas are forced to kill each other. When her district is picking the candidates, Katniss's little sister, Primrose, is picked to fight. But knowing she could never survive, Katniss volunteered to take her place. I think that what Suzanne Collins is trying to show us in  The Hunger Games is the inequality between the rich and poor. I think this because in many areas of the book, Suzanne makes the poor have the worst of treatment, versus the rich who have the best treatment.

The most noticeable difference between he rich and poor is food. The districts have very little food. Katniss even has to hunt in illegally in the forest behind district 12 to get very little food for her family. But ever since Katniss got on the train to the Capitol, she has gotten massive amounts of very fancy food. I think this supports my claim because the rich got lots of food while the poor had almost none. the poor were starving on most nights while the rich had leftovers on others.

Another reason that supports my claim is the Tessera system. The reaping is when candidates' names are picked out of a bowl to participate in the games. Anyone can be picked, but the Tessera system made it more likely for the poor to be picked. The Tessera system is where people can get food and oil from the government. But in exchange, the government puts your name in the picking bowl a certain amount of times. the more you take, the more times your name is put in. This supports my claim because the poor don't have enough food, so they would use the Tessera system a lot more than the rich, who don't need food from the government. This makes it more likely for a poor person to be picked, since their name would be put in many times.

In conclusion, I think what Suzanne Collins is trying to show in The Hunger Games is the inequality between the rich and poor. She shows us this in many areas of the book, from the beginning to the end. I think there's more to what she is saying though. I think this message also works for our world because you can see the difference between the rich and poor here too. the poor may have a small house and cheap clothes, while the rich have a big house and designer clothes. But something I also noticed is there is no middle class in this book. in our world, we have people who aren't rich, or poor. in Panem though, there is no such thing. either you're struggling to stay alive, or you're living a lavish life with all luxuries. 

Divergent

Everyone has that special someone. And for Beatrice, that someone is Tobias. I read the book Divergent  by Veronica Roth. This book is about a girl named Beatrice Prior, who chooses to leave her home faction*(Abnegation) and join a another faction called Dauntless. But this new home is very different than her old home. Here, she can do many things she couldn't do in Abnegation. And along the way she meets new friends, as well as enemies. The theme of this book is "love conquers all". This is because her love for Tobias, her friends, and her family helps her overcome many barriers. 

When Beatrice joins Dauntless, she changes her name to Tris. She meets and falls in love with her instructor, Four(Tobias). Later on, there is a battle between Dauntless and another faction named Erudite. Later on in the battle, she faints and wakes up in a tube that’s filling up fast with water. She tries to break out but fails. As she is preparing for herself to die, she sees her mother. She thinks to herself that she cant leave her mother and breaks out of the tube. This connects to my theme because her love for her mom determined her to break out. And when you love someone, you do things for them that you would probably be better off avoiding. If Tris's mom never came, Tris would have died then, and not have to face the pain that awaits her in a few minutes. 

Another time when my theme is demonstrated is at the end when Tris tries to end the battle. Tobias is stuck in a simulation* where he thinks he is shutting down the system that is controlling the Erudites army when really, he is keeping it running. When Tris arrives, Tobias mistakens her for the enemy. He threatens to shoot. She tries to snap him out of it, and finally succeeds when telling him "Its me Tobias. Tris." He goes to the computer, shuts it down, then tells her he only needed to hear her name. This is important because the scene demonstrates my theme. If someone else charged in instead of Tris, Tobias would have shot them and they would be dead. But Tris had a strong connection to Tobias. And that's how she saved him and avoided being shot.

In conclusion, I think the message in Divergent is "love  conquers all." This is because her love for Tobias, her friends, and her family helped her overcome many hardships. The character Tris taught me more than just "love conquers all". She taught me that its actually part of a bigger message. This message is "love makes the world go round." This is important because love makes everyone happier and can be found anywhere from a person to even a toy car. When Tris fell in love with Tobias, she became a much happier person. She stopped threatening people and always making rude remarks. So think about it. Who is your special person? And does that person make you act like Tris?
vocab
*faction- group or clique
*simulation-the act or process of pretending; feigning.

reading response:ttyl by Lauren Myracle

I read the book TTYL by Lauren Myracle. The book is about three best friends named Zoe, Angela, and Maddie and their struggles to go through the 10th grade. I think that the theme of this book is that true friends will always be there for each other during struggling times. I think this because when Angela's boyfriend Rob went out with another girl, Angela was super sad and her friends comferted her till she got over him. And, Angela and Zoe helped Maddie get over the stupid things that Jana Whitaker did to her.

One of the reasons that I think the theme of TTYL is true friends will always be ther for you is because Zoe and Maddie helped Angela get over her boyfriend problems. When Angela's boyfriend Rob started to hang out with another girl named Tonnie, Angela started be become a little dissapointed. Then when Angela was going to dinner with her parents and saw Rob and Tonnie on a date there, she became super dejected and wouldn't leave her room. Zoe and Maddie were constantly im-ing her that everything would be alright and that Rob was an unworthy jerk. Another reason that supports my theme is that when Jana Whitaker was being a super jerk to Maddie, Maddie got really angry(maybe even a  little hurt). But Angela and Zoe were helping Maddie get over her anger constatntly. They were telling her that Jana does those things to every one and that it was Jana's loss if she wanted to be mean to Maddie.

In conclusion, I thought that the theme of TTYL by Lauren Myracle was that true friends will always be there for each other. I think this because when Angela had boyfriend problems, Maddie and Zoe were helping her through them. Also, when Jana Whitaker was really mean to Maddie, Zoe and Angela were helping her through her anger until it was gone. I think that this is a really important theme because sometimes  people are frustrated with things. And if they don't have someone to help them the problem will only get worse. So if you have a true friend, they can help you with these struggles and make them disapear.