Independent Reading Response #9

Oliver Twist

The book which I read during this semester is called “Oliver Twist” written by Kathleen Olmstead, retold from the Charles Dickens, and illustrated by Dan Andreasen. The main boy named Oliver Twist had a lonely life since he born, because he lost his mother and father. However, he escaped from the orphans which he lived and he went to London to get something more interesting. However, after he arrived at London, he still suffered by taking communication with the other event that he faces to. Here is the quotation that I felt either interesting or confused about.
“Good-bye, Oliver! God bless you!” – in this part, I just wondered what happened to Dick after he says good bye each other, because at the end, the book ends with a lot of Oliver’s happiness, and I thought the author will talk about Dick again, but he doesn’t also called him. Therefore, I was wondered.
“Mr. Brownlow, the man who lost his wallet, brought you home when you fainted.” – I surprised about this person what if I got stolen my wallet, which is very important things, I will not help the person who he/she took the wallet from me even the stealer is a child. Therefore, I was really surprised that when Mr. Brownlow brought Oliver to his house.
“ I am so happy for you Oliver,. You have found your family! – when I read this part I also felt happy because Oliver doesn’t have a family since he born, but after that sentence that picked, he got a warm kind family! So I really want to celebrate Oliver..
Over all, I enjoyed this book and I want to recommend to everyone, because you will learn how important the things are, such as family and friendship. If I were Oliver, I will not be able to success. Actually Oliver is a challenger, because he went to London by himself without looking the map. Therefore, I also like the main character’s personality. If people have a chance, please read it.

Independent Reading Response #8

Oliver Twist

Response #8: Pg 54 - 109

Response Type: Reaction and Evaluation

“Oliver Twist” is the book that I am reading and it written by Kathleen Olmstead, retold from the Charles Dickens, and illustrated by Dan Andreasen. The main character, Oliver is a young orphan boy who escaped from the house which he belongs in. The place where he goes after his escaping is London, the place where he thinks he can success his life in the future. Now, he arrives at London and finds a boy named Dodger who is very kind at Oliver and allows him to stay in his house. However, this house has a secret thing that Oliver still doesn’t know. I don’t finish reading this book yet, and I like this book so far, because of this main character and the conflict that the main character faces to.

First of all, I like the main character, Oliver. The author describes him as a pureness which people usually don’t have such characteristics. In the chapter 2, when Dick who is his first friend in the orphan house has hard disease and need some food, Oliver gives his little food and said “You’ll be better with more food.” This sentence shows me how kind Oliver is because I knew already that Oliver also doesn’t have enough food to eat. He sacrifices himself and gives the food to his first friend. Also in another chapter, he doesn’t know what he is doing even though it is illegal thing because he is too innocent He doesn’t know anything about the world and society. However, as the story goes, he learns the moral and he might distinguish what is good and bad. I like his personality because he is too pure. What I mean by this is that he doesn’t have any feeling of hate and grudge. I think he also doesn’t even know how to feel so, therefore I like him. I want to recommend to young children to read this book and they can learn how to be a good person in the future.

Secondly, I like the conflict that the main character faces. The first conflict that Oliver faces is that he stays in Mr. Bumble’s house since he is an infant. Everyday, he has problem with the food, and relationship between other orphans and him. However, after he escapes, he had fewer problems with the others, but he faces on the problem which he starts to live in the house where the thief lives but Oliver is too innocent, so he believes everyone in that house. I predict that he will have the conflict between the thief and Oliver because Oliver will say to the people that stealing the people’s stuff are not good, so he might persuade everyone to stop stealing. Therefore, I like the conflict between Oliver and other people.

I read more than half pages so far and I really like this book. This character shows the pureness of child and gives the conflict between many people, so that the character can solve it with the pureness. I want to recommend everyone to read especially young children because this is easy to understand and also this has pictures. Also each chapter has few pages, so when I want to stop reading, I can stop after I read one chapter. Therefore, I like this novel and I want to keep reading this until the end.

Independent Reading Response #7

Oliver Twist

Response #7: Page 1-53
Response Type: Connections through experiences, memories, or issues

The book that I have been reading is called “Oliver Twist” written by Kathleen Olmstead and retold from the Charles Dickens. This novel is about a boy who named Oliver and he is staying in Mr. Bumble’s house as an orphan. Mr. Bumble is very strict person and always gives him hard work with less food. Dick who is very weak and he is the only one friend that Oliver has. He couldn’t do any work and even though he has very heavy sick, Mr. Bumble doesn’t care about it. When Oliver asks Mr. Bumble to give him more food and meat, he gets mad and advertises to every citizen that if someone takes care of Oliver, the person will get five pounds. Oliver is sold by Mr. Bumble and bought by Mr. Sowerberry who is also strict as Mr. Bumble. Oliver worked hard in new house without much food. Finally, he got tried of it and escaped from the house. Where he is going is London where he thinks it is the best place to get more opportunity to be success in his life. This is what I read so far and I can connect to two stories with this novel. Those are Harry Potter and Cinderella.

Firstly, I think this Oliver Twist has very typical plot. In Harry Potter, it has the similarities with this novel. The first similarity is the beginning which begins with that the main character is placed with someone’s house. In Harry Potter, Harry was placed with the relative’s house but for Oliver, he was just sent in a house where he doesn’t know and doesn’t have any relatives. Even though the place where they stay is different, it is the same that they don’t know and have never seen their parents face before they become aware of the things around. The other similarity is that both Oliver and Harry had to do hard work, even though the people in the house don’t treat them well. Oliver doesn’t get much food and he had to sleep on the floor. Harry had less work, but he had to sleep in the lumber room and he had to wake up early to make the first break for his relatives. Therefore, those are the similarities between Harry and Olive.

Furthermore, I found the other similarities between Olive and other story which calls Cinderella. As people know the story, Cinderella’s sisters and mother forced her to clean their house up while sisters and mother go to the party. Actually, she doesn’t want to, but she couldn’t argue them, so she just followed what they asked. It is same as Olive that even though he doesn’t like to do the work, he should do, because that is what Mr. Bumble forces him to do. Also even Olive asks to give him some more meat for his friend, Dick, Mr. Bumble yelled at him and doesn’t give any food. However, Cinderella had better treatment than Olive. Here is the similarity of the treatment between Cinderella and Olive that both of them had bad treatment as well Harry.

Harry and Cinderella have similar problem as Olive, but I predict the ending of this novel that Olive will be rich person or lucky person because as we know about the Cinderella, she got the happiness at the end. Also for Harry, he goes to school which he loves. Therefore, I hope Olive will get the happiness at the end and he will be kindest person in the world. I really love this book, because this story has very common plot that I can predict what will happen next and also this novel has many chapters which means one chapter is very short, so when I want to stop reading it, I can stop at that chapter. I love this book so far and I want to keep continue to read it.

Independent Reading Response #6

Judy Moody was in a Mood

Response #6: Pg1-159

Response Type: Connections through experiences, memories, or issues

I read a book call “Judy Moody was in a Mood” during 2nd quarter which is written by Megan McDonald and illustrated by Peter Reynolds. It is about a girl who has a project from the begging of the school. However, she is really exciting about that project which is to make a collage relates her. She finds something that is useful for the collage with her brother and her friends. Actually she doesn’t like one boy, but as she stays, she and he will be friend. In this book, I don’t have any similarities between the protagonist and me, but I found the same things between my sister and her.

The first similarity between my sister and the protagonist, Judy Moody is that they have a younger sibling who always follows the older. For Judy, she has a younger brother named Stink. He loves to do something with Moody and even though she is doing her work, making collage, he always asks something to her and it disturbs her sometimes. For my sister, when I was the same age as Stink, I wanted to stay with my sister all the time, so I just followed her everytime whenever she goes. She really hated it, but even though she said don’t come to me, I just followed her. Therefore, for elder people, younger sister or brother always makes them in the trouble or annoyed, but the younger couldn’t realize it and just accompany or follow them. If I have a younger sibling, I might feel annoyed if they did so.

The other same thing as this book and my sister is that both of them had Venus flytrap which is a plant that eats flies. My sister got that plants for her birthday and it is very rare to get it. Both Moody and my sister treated the plant well, but for my sister, my rabbits ate the plants so it died. I think Moody loves this Venus flytrap, because she named it Meet Jaws and she always worried about it. For example, when she gave a fly to that plant, it closed the mouth and didn’t open for two days. Moody was so shocked about it and screams at her father and mother that it died even though it was not. It is also same as my sister that when the plants got eaten by my rabbits, she screamed and shouted at me. Therefore, it is the same that my sister and Moody loved the Venus flytrap and treated it well.

These two are the similarities between Moody and my sister. They both don’t like to get disturbed by their younger sibling and they had Venus flytrap. I like this book now, because when I think about the connection between real life and this novel, I could find some interesting thing such as my sister’s life and the main character’s life, so it is good for me to remind what happened to me when I was a child. Also I could know the difference between Japanese and American school lifestyle. Therefore this book is good to learn the other cultural things.

Independent Reading Response #5

Judy Moody was in a Mood

Response #5: Pg 112 -159

Response Type: Quotation

The book that I have been reading is call “Judy Moody was in a Mood” written by Megan McDonald. This book is about a girl who is very exciting to do a project which is to create a collage about her. She spends most of the time with her brother and her friends to finish her project. Finally, she finished making the collage and tried to bring it to the school, but a bad event happened to her. However, the happening creates her collage even better. Here are some quotations that I found while I’m reading.

·“I want to be a doctor like Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman doctor! She started her own hospital. She knew how to operate and put together body parts and everything” – This quote is from chapter 2, page 39. I like this quote, because she has a dream what she wants to be in the future. Also she respects Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor. She is motivated by this woman and wants to be the doctor For me, I do not even have an aim right now and also I have no one to respect. Therefore, when I read this parts, I was little jealous at her and felt I have to find something that I want to do in the future. I also learned a history about the first woman doctor from this sentence, so I like this sentence.

·“It’s okay. At least it didn’t get run over by a bus in a tornado.” - The sentence is from chapter 9, page 146. This is when her brother dropped juice on her final collage. Actually, she doesn’t want her brother to touch her collage, because it is her perfect project, but she had many things to carry, so she asked her father and brother to bring it to school. However, her brother did that accidentally, and both her brother and father said sorry to her a lot. What she said after she saw her wet collage, she said it is okay. Actually, she will get angry, but this time, she accepted their deed. When I read this part, I felt that she grew little bit, because after that event, she used that speck of juice to make one drawing. I was so proud of her and it disposed me to see her collage.

I enjoyed this book, because I learned how Judy Moody, the main character’s personality is like and how she manage her time for her project. I like her personality which is active and imaginative. She always goes outside to find something interesting with her brother and her friends. When I was young, I always go out side and play with my friends as her, so I feel an affinity with her in someway.

Independent Reading Response #4

Judy Moody was in a Mood

Response #4: P1-111

Response Type: 5.Question

The second book that I am reading for this quarter is Judy Moody’s series called Judy Moody was in a Mood written by Megan McDonald and illustrated by Peter Reynolds. Judy Moody is the protagonist of this book who is just started the third grade and the first project that she gets from the teacher is to make the collage. In the collage, she has to put some information about herself such as her hobby, happiest thing, and worst thing. So far, I read 111 pages and I learned that Judy is kind of selfish and strange girl and I found a part that I don't understand.

I don’t quite understand why Judy Moody didn’t like to paste her cat, Mouse’s picture on her collage when she had to put her family’s picture. When I read the part which Judy said, “We need a new pet. I have to pick my favorite pet.” If I were she I would choose Mouse. She was the only one pet in her family and even though she had some weak personality, she always stayed with them and spent her life with them. I thought that they don’t need to have a new pet to choose for collage. And I also feel weird when Judy’s parents don’t complain about buying a new pet for the collage. What her father says to Judy was “Let’s take a ride over the pet store. I’m not saying we’ll get a sloth, but you might like to have some goldfishes.” Actually, in my family, my parents don’t allow me to buy a new pet if I have one. The reason is we already love the pet that we have and if I buy new, it waste money. Also if we have time to buy a pet, it is better to finish the collage. Therefore, I felt that Judy’s parents are little bit kind to their child and Judy is a little selfish girl. Finally, they buy a pet called Jaws which is Venus trapfly. It is a flower and it catches flies by spreading out its fragrance.

As follows, I read more than half pages and I don’t quite understand the relationship between the title and the story, so by continue to read, I want to get some ideas why this title is “Judy Moody was in a Mood”. And also I can’t wait what happened to the end, so I will read it as soon as possible. I recommend this book to everyone who likes to read about the school life fiction. If I can, I want to read other books of Judy Moody’s series.

Independent Reading Response #3

The Beast from the East (Goosebumps)

Response #3: Pg1-151
Response Type: 3. Connection to Other "texts"

The book calls “The Beast from the East” is about a girl who had struggle time during the camp, and she and her twin brother had to play weird tag which they never played before. This book’s ending is not understandable for me because I thought the ending will be finished by happy ending, however it was not. After I read this book, I realize that this has some similar setting as a movie called “Friday the 13th”, but this book is not crueler than this movie.

The first similar thing is the ending which I don’t like. I feel really sorry for Gender, the main character and her brothers because after the climax, they have to play harder game than they played before. I know this book does not end happily because on the last sentence of this book is “Tag! You’re It.”, so this shows me that the tag will continue. If they lose the game, they might get eaten by the beasts which they play against. It reminds me that Friday the 13th because after Jason, the murder in the movie dead, he appears some day and kills many people again. Those stories never ended. Therefore, it has the same ending and makes me unhappy and nervous, but this is not only the similarity between the book and movie.

The enemy of the main characters have same hobby, killing the people. In the book, the main character’s enemy was big beasts and if the beasts win the game, they will eat Gender and her brothers. Also, on the page 36, the beast says to Gender “Free Lunch Place. It means anyone can eat you!” They really like to eat people and animals. For the movie, Jason always has the saw or chain saw to kill the people even though they are innocent. Although, he is different from the beasts, they kill animal or people as much as they want. I realized that both this movie and book’s genre is horror, so it also might have some similar plots.

It is the same that they kill or eat people. Nevertheless, it is different how cruel they are. In the Goosebumps, when the beasts lost the game, they said sorry and let the main characters leave. Also, they followed the rule, even though it is unfair for them and main characters. However, in Friday the 13th, Jason never listens to the people and kills them without any reason. He kills many innocent people. If I compare those, I feel that the beasts are much kinder than him, but they are still mean and killer. Therefore, the difference between Jason and the beasts is that Jason is real murder and the beasts are little bit kinder than him. I don’t like both of them though, because they kill people anyway.

As follows, I compare Goosebumps and Friday the 13th to find some similarities and differences. Both of them are horror, but different fear that I get from the book. I like to read and watch horror books and movies, but I don’t like when it is not happy end. I hope these similar connection might not happened in the world.