Reader’s Journal # 1

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,                                                                                                     08/30/11

            I just finished reading Crossing Jordan by Adrian Fogelin.  I know the you haven’t read this book.  This book was recommended by my friend Lital.  She told me this was an excellent book.  So I went to the library and got the book.  At the beginning it just talks about Cass’s dad building a fence because African Americans are about to move next door.  Then Jennie (the African American girl) and Cass become friends because there was a hole through the fence.  And they had so much in common because they both like to read and run.  They used to go to the graveyard and  read to Cass’s old next door neighbor that died and right before she died she gave Cass a book.  Then at school the kids realized they were friends and tried to make their friendship impossible.  There was a kid named Andy and he was very races.  Every time someone would steal he would blame Jennie.  Then one day Missy (Cass’s sister) had a heat stroke and Jennie’s mom was a nurse.  Jennie’s mom didn’t have to help but did and then Cass’s dad had changed what he thought about them.  All of this happened in Tallahassee, Florida while they were in middle school.  The main problem is that Cass’s dad built a fence because African American’s were moving in.  The problem is internal and it is character vs. character.  The genre of this book is realistic fiction.  A character that went through the process of characterization is Cass’s dad.  First he didn’t like his neighbors without meeting them.  Then he changed after Jennie’s mom saved Missy. 

            While reading this book I can tell the author felt good because she changed kids’ attitude by judging people by their color.  And I felt relieved when I got to the ending.  The theme of this book is never judge a person till you’ve walked in its moccasins.  The moral of this story is don’t judge someone until you meet them.  This story is written in first person.  The story was in chronological order.  This book was written to entertain the reader.  I think the author is bias.  Some examples of figurative language are similes, metaphors, dialogue, oxymoron, and onomonopeas.

            Two strategies I used before reading this book was reading the summary of the book and reading the reviews for the book to see if it was actually as interesting as the summary.  Two reading strategies I used during reading were thinking about what I just read to make sure I understood and can keep on reading.  Also, I skipped a few pages.  Two strategies I used after reading were making a reader’s journal to prove that I understood what I read and I read it.  And I thought about the literary elements. 

           

Why did Cass’s dad have to build the fence because they were African Americans?  I would rate this book 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.  This book teaches you to not be races, and don’t hate someone without even meeting them.  Also I think this was a great book but not better than A Child Called It by Dave Pezler.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                        Your favorite student Erika Alban