Thursday, March 31, 2011

Reader Response #2

Reader Response
      I am responding to “Ghost Ride” by Marina Cohen. I have read 86 out of 181 pages. This novel is fiction.
     The main character in this novel is a 14 year old boy named Sam. He is the protagonist.  The antagonist is a boy named Walter. This novel is fiction because it involves ghosts and un-realistic stunts.

 
 
Retell
      This story takes place in a town called Sleepy Hallow (like the legend). It takes place in modern day. Sam is a new kid who moves into Sleep Hallow on his first day of high school. Sam lives next door to a really weird kid named Walter. Walter is a geek. Walter likes to spy on Sam. Sam misses his friends at his old school but he has made some new ones. Sam’s new friends are a not the best crowd. He hangs out with a kid named Cody Barns AKA Maniac. Cody does crazy stunts that can get him killed. Cody asks Sam if he wants to join in on a stunt and Sam says yes.  Sam is going to go do a stunt with Cody at midnight... That is what has happened in my book so far.

Relate      I can relate this book to a book I have read called “Word Nerd”. In word nerd Ambrose (the main character) moves and goes to a new school and gets bullied. Sam does not get bullied but Cody made fun of him before they became friends. Sam and the Ambrose were both sad when they moved schools and left their homes. This novel also reminds me of the super hero “Ghost Rider”. I say this because Ghost Rider is a super hero who does crazy stunts, and in this book Cody does crazy stunts. This book is also called “Ghost Ride” so it sounds like the super hero. That is how I relate to this book.

Reflect
I like this book so far. I think it is interesting and each chapter ends with a cliff hanger. I think Sam is going to get hurt when he is doing a stunt with Cody, or maybe Cody will get hurt. If one of them gets hurt they can get into trouble. What if they run into something “out of the ordinary” like ghosts. I think this because title of the book is “Ghost Ride”. That is what I think about this book.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Reader Response

Reader Response

I am responding to “Tupac Shakur, The Life and Times of an American Icon”. It is written by Tayannah Lee McQuillar and Fred L. Johnson. I have read 249 out of 249 pages.
 The genre of this text is biography. I know this because it is based on a real person’s life story. This Biography’s protagonist is Tupac Shakur (2pac).  This article does not have an antagonist because it is a biography. The setting of biography during Tupac’s child/teenage years takes place in Baltimore, New York. The adult years take place in L.A (Las Anglos), California. This biography talks about the life of the famous American “Rap” artist who was murdered in 1996. It starts from when he was a child all the way until he is an adult. The conflict of Tupac’s life is that his mother wasn’t really there for him when he was a kid, which led him into hanging out with the wrong people. She was in and out of the house. Tupac has several Biography movies out and has starred in over a dozen movies!
Retell
The main idea of this biography is life that life isn’t always easy and you sometimes need to take some risks. Tupac was an amazing poet as a child. When Tupac was young the other kids would make fun of him because his strange names and torn-up clothes. Tupac only had 3 pairs of pants and a few shirts. The “Black kids” would make fun of Tupac because he wrote poetry and was horrible at basketball. Tupac was actually born in jail (his mother was pregnant when she was serving time). Tupac mom Afeni, was in jail for stealing when Tupac was born. As a young child Tupac stayed with his aunt Gloria. As he got older he stayed with his mother, who was hardly home. Tupac’s mother never taught him how to cook. He had to learn himself. Tupac’s best friends from when he was a kid were Jada Pinkett and John Cole. Tupac was friends with them until he died. Tupac would go to John’s house as much as he could because it was warm and had food. When Tupac was a teenager he had to bring his mom home marijuana and when she didn’t show up for it, he decided to smoke it. That is how Tupac first started doing drugs. When Tupac turned 17 he joined “Digital Underground” and became “2pac”. 2pac was very popular and eventuality left “Digital Underground” and made his own album2pacalypse Now”. After that 2pac became even more popular and made many more albums. 2pac became good friends with Biggie Smalls, which was a big mistake. Biggie just used 2pac to become popular and when 2pac was in jail Biggie claimed to me number 1. When 2pac was done with Biggie, he joined “Death Row Records”.
Relate
I can relate to this biography to the world. I say this because there are a lot of kids going through hard times and don’t have the best lives. Some kids have parents that do drugs; the kids can’t do anything about it. Other kids don’t have parents to take care of them. And some kids are raised on the streets! That would be a hard life and 2pac had to go through it. That is how I can relate to this biography.
Reflect
I would like to read another book about 2pac. His life is very interesting and I think it can be made into some good realistic fiction books.  I admire Tupac and think of him as a role model. I say this because he had a hard life but he still became very successful. I would like to meet Tupac and ask him about his life, what he thought about and how he survived.