Entry Four - Looking for Alaska

I chose to read "Looking for Alaska" from the Printz Award winning books.  The available list had a ton of really interesting books and I look forward to reading a few more, including:  Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman.

The complete list of Michael Printz Winners can be found online at:  http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/printzaward/previouswinners/winners

Looking for Alaska was a winner in 2006 and it is still a very popular book today.  Part of the reason is that the theme of finding yourself and growing up is a timeless and relevant theme and so many of us can relate to it.  A friend also recommended that they had read this a couple of years ago, had enjoyed it and thought that this would be a good book to blog about as the characters in this book are the same age as I am and I can relate to the stage in which they are growing up and changing.

The book was not boring because I could relate to the characters, the settings changed constantly, there was a lot of mystery and intrigue and it focused on the characters learning life lessons that my friends and I are going through in high school.  There is the pressure to be liked, the draw of an interesting and captivating character which would be similar to some of the popular kids at school.

I also picked this book because when discussing this project with my friends, we thought that it would be a great idea to read the book together and be able to discuss what was going on in the story together. 

During the summer, I was able to go on vacation, and bring one of my good friends along with me.  We read the book on the airplane, and discussed it with my mom and sister while we were having fun.  

I had a great summer and a great time reading "Looking for Alaska".

Entry Three - Looking for Alaska

 

 

Looking for Alaska by John Green

 

 

I have really enjoyed reading Looking for Alaska - although the title of the book implies that you, the reader, will focus on finding the character, Alaska, the deeper theme is how the main characters in the book truly end up trying to find themselves.  At the beginning of the story, we learn about Alaska, and how the characters Pudge and Chip, relate to her, want to be with her and focus on her wants and needs.  A great quote that captures how they feel about her is:  "So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”

 

Then...something terrible happens and Alaska dies.  The focus of the characters reaches into the depths of their loss and grief as they try to find out what happened to her and how they feel about her.  Truly, though, they begin to discover who they are and it becomes to be about finding themselves, where they are and what they want out of life instead of focusing on Alaska.

 

My favorite quote to demonstrate when Pudge and Chip stop seeing Alaska as the center of their universe and start to grow up and find out who they are, and their own worth in life is:

 

“When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.” 

 

 

I highly recommend that you read "Looking for Alaska".  I enjoyed the book and shared a lot of the themes with my friends this summer.

Looking For Alaska

Blog 2

This blog on the book “Looking for Alaska” will discuss the complexity of the main characters, Alaska Young, Mile Halter (aka “Pudge”) and Miles’ roommate, Chip – focusing on what each character wants and desires.

Alaska Young – Alaska is a young, gorgeous, energetic and troubled teen who takes the world by storm and lives by seizing the moment.  She captures the heart of Miles Young and his heart is broken by her mysterious death.  Alaska may be considered a trouble maker by some, but she is an exciting character that encourages other people to join in her exciting life.  Alaska wants to live life to the fullest.  She wants everything now and doesn’t consider the consequences which can cause other people to dislike her and become jealous.

The big question of the story is whether Alaska committed suicide or was in an accident. 

Miles Halter – Miles on the other hand, is a conservative, careful teen who doesn’t believe in taking chances, until he meets Alaska Young.  Miles never fit in with his home town and he is somewhat nerdy and unsocial.  When he starts Culver Creek Boarding School, Alaska captures his heart and his spirit for life.  His favorite poem is written by Francios Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps”.  Instead of waiting for the “Great Perhaps” he begins to focus on life as a “Great Experience”.

Chip – Chip has been at Culver Creek Boarding School for a long time and he is also a somewhat nerdy character.  When not at school, Chip resides in his mother’s trailer.  Chip, too, wants to experience life and he doesn’t want to end up like his mother.  Chip, as well as most of the school characters, develops a crush on Alaska and wants to find out why she died.  He also is a good friend of Miles’ and the two develop a stronger, deeper friendship, discovering who they are while growing up.

Looking For Alaska

Blog 1

For my 2014 summer reading assignment I chose to read “Looking for Alaska” written by John Green, a Printz Award Winner. In this book, the major characters are Alaska Young and Miles Halter.  Miles is nicked named Pudge in the book.  This was a name given to him by his roommate, Chip because of his chicken-legged frame – heavy on the top, skinny legs on the bottom.

The book focuses on the main characters, Alaska Young, who attends to Culver Creek boarding school with his friend Miles aka Pudge.  Alaska and Miles are two completely opposite characters, Miles keeps waiting for things to happen while Alaska is the crazy, gorgeous, clever character who, although screwed up and mislead, MAKES things happen.

The two explore what is possible and impossible going through adolescence and launching into the “Great Perhaps”.  There is also a love story element in that Miles falls for Alaska, both because of her adventurous spirit, but also because she makes him feel more alive and in the moment.

Unfortunately, there is a tragic accident and Alaska loses her life.  It becomes the focus of Miles and Chip to investigate the mystery and find out who and WHY Alaska was removed from this life.

I predict that Miles will spend more time and awakening moments discovering the mysteries of his life while exploring the mystery of Alaska.  There are a lot of connections to a movie I saw this summer, Heaven is for Real.  In Heaven is for Real, a little boy, experiences a near death experience and comes back with the ability to help people answer questions they have regarding people they have loved and lost and questions regarding their own value on earth.

I recommend that you read “Looking for Alaska” it opens interesting discussions on why we are here and what our purpose is.

 

Final Blogging Assesment

Final Blogging Assessment-English 1B

To be honest I would hate to be in this book! The society affects the individual in the book mocking jay because of the authority having so much power. In the book the society is in poverty and there is a great rule called the capitol compelling individuals to compete in games that they must participate with 24 competitors who fight to the death in an arena designed by the capitol. This society personally affects katniss the main character in the book because she has to fight in the games for her life because she was chosen. Later in the book she causes an uprising while competing in the games and the society once again puts her in a worse position. The society around her also can’t help her because of her being separated from the districts and her family. After Katniss breaks out of the arena the capitol feels a new different kind of anger. All the capitol once now is Katniss dead. From the start the society has been affecting Katniss and it only gets worse. Wow who would want to be katniss in this book. Also Katnisses feelings are hurt when the capitol threatens Katnisses family be dead when they can’t find her on the hover craft when going to district thirteen. In the book I conclude that the society and katniss will constantly having some type of effect on each other and without them affecting each other there would not be much of a story at all. Wow… I guess in the moral of the story it sucks to suck.

 

1)      In my blog I use “sucks to suck”, “wow who would want to be katniss in this book “and to be honest I would hate this book. Both these help demonstrate voice by voicing my opinion I n more of a way I would in real life. “Sucks to suck” in a way tells the reader how I feel about the situation in the book and lets me express my opinion through my own words. This goes for my second and third voice selection because in the blog it lets the reader see here I am coming from and how I express how I fell in my own words.

 

2)       In my blog some purposeful diction and syntax choices I made to enhance my writing were using the word compelling instead of forcing or another word to make it formal. Also I used the word great in my blog which is informal because I could have made it a more informal word that would make it change the meaning like humongous. Also I used the word breaks to describe how the competitors broke out of the arena which is informal diction because I could have used another word like terminate or halt to describe the scene. The syntax in my blog is in the sentence “Wow… I guess in the moral of the story it sucks to suck.” This sentence shows syntax because of the punctuation of the dot dot dot used to create a dramatic pause or conclusion to lead to my voiced opinion. Also in the sentence “To be honest I would hate to be in this book!” it shows syntax because I use an explanation mark to describe how much I fell about being in the book.

the worst thing about my book ( Mocking Jay)

The worst thing about my book is that you feel like you have to keep reading the third book because you have to know the end. The book I am reading is in a series that has three books that all play together. In the book I am reading now is starts to slow down in action are not as good as the first two books I read. The thing that I don’t like the most about the book I am reading is that it is really slow in the third book I am reading. When you read the first two books like I did the third books you expect to be the same and have tons of action in it. But sadly that doesn’t happen. I mean really this is the third and finale book and it’s supposed to have the most action and great climax but it never happens. I mean the book is good overall but when you have two really great books being compared up to this one I t makes this one seems not as good and lets you down a bit. I think if I could tell the author something to do better in this book it would be to have a bigger climax and also make the story not as slow overall. I feel like this would of helped and make this book and series the best yet. Anyway I just want to say other than just the slow part in the book is was still a good book and enjoy all the books Suzanne Collins has to offer.

Mocking Jay ( why do you think the author wrote this book)

The book I am reading is an outstanding book when it comes to life lessons and different ways of thinking. I think the author Suzanne Collins does a great job at expressing this in her work.  I think that Suzanne Collins mainly wrote this book to express these ideas and life lessons to the reader that in life you have to fight for what is right and do what you thinks best. In her books this is expressed in the main plot of the capitol over powering the districts in the books. This idea is expressed a lot in the world we live in and in seen in everyday activity. Martin Luther King is a great example of expressing the same idea Suzanne Collin writes about in her books, having freedom of speech and fighting for what is right. I also believe she wrote this book because in the start she wanted to write a trilogy and I knew from her first two books that it would have to go along with the idea of rebellion and her main plot. This also is a great message to readers and allows you to be creative around the idea she picked to write about.

Mocking Jay

The work in this book can tell us how people behave in the story. In The book I am reading mocking jay I can connect to the real world with how people act. In both the book and in the real world most people seem to want to do something about something they don’t like. Its common sense to most. Say that your grades are falling down in school, so then you really work hard to get them up to that A you want. The same is for the book. In my reading the capitol who controls the society likes to mistreat the people because they can and like to. Since the society doesn’t like this mistreatment there instinct is to rebel and do something about it. This idea of behavior is that people like to do what they want and they will make the change if they don’t like something. This is true for real life and for both the people who live in the districts and also the capitol who are the rich and powerful who controls the society. Throughout the story both groups of people try to get what they want and see who will come out with all the power. It is a fight for both groups to get what they want and think what they think is right.

How society affects the individual(Mocking Jay)

The society affects the individual in the book mocking jay because of the authority having so much power. In the book the society is in poverty and there is a great rule called the capitol forcing individuals to compete in games that they must participate with 24 competitors who fight to the death in an arena designed by the capitol. This society personally affects katniss the main character in the book because she has to fight in the games for her life because she was chosen. Later in the book she causes an uprising while competing in the games and the society once again puts her in a worse position. The society around her also can’t help her because of her being separated from the districts and her family. After Katniss breaks out of the arena the capitol feels a new different kind of anger. All the capitol once now is Katniss dead. From the start the society has been affecting Katniss and it only gets worse. Also Katnisses feelings are hurt when the capitol threatens Katnisses family be dead when they can’t find her on the hover craft when going to district thirteen. In the book I conclude that the society and katniss will constantly having some type of effect on each other and without them affecting each other there would not be much of a story at all.

Why I am interesed in picking up this book (Mocking Jay)

I was interesting in picking this book because I am in the middle of the series and this book is the last book. Also I am interested to read this because I saw the second book catching fire in the movie theater and it left me hanging at the end. Now I want to read this book so I can see how this series of books will end. I also picked this book because I am interested in books that take place in the future. I have fun reading books that also have action and adventure in it just like the first two books have in the series and hopefully this one too. I also thought this was a good book to pick up because some of friends who have read the whole series told me that it was a good book to read and it fills you in on one happens next after catching fire. That was just what I wanted so I decided to read it.