Where Washington Walked

Reader’s journal #5

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                                           09/27/11

I just finished reading Where Washington Walked by Raymond Bial.  The main idea of this book is places where Washington once was and the main idea is implied because I had to use supporting details to figure out the main idea, it wasn’t stated in the book.  I know that this is the main idea because some supporting details are lived in a small plantation known as pope’s creek in Westmoreland county, Virginia, in 1736, when George was nearly four years old,  his family moved about sixty miles farther up the Potomac river near little hunting creek, which later became mount Vernon, and lived in ferry farm.  These details are factual.

While reading this book I got bored and took a nap.  I thought this book would be more interesting.  Since I got bored while reading this book I would rate it a 3, one being the lowest and ten being the highest.   

An example of cause and effect is that Washington was a great leader which made him a great president.  Some text features I found in this book are pictures, captions, title, acknowledgment, and publication.  The pattern of organization is chronological order because it is talking about George’s life in order from when he was born to the day of his death.  The author’s purpose is to inform.  The author’s point of view is in second person.   Five new vocabulary words I learned were rural, infant, amid, pastures, and destined, and I used a dictionary.  Rural means relating to, infant means a very young child or baby, amid means surrounded by, pastures means land covered with grass, and destines means to predict.

The genre of this book is biography because it’s about a person’s life and it was written by someone else.  I would name this book places where Washington’s been.                                         

Two strategies I used before reading were skim and scanning and asking questions.   Two strategies I use while reading were making sure I understood every page cause some pages were confusing and answering questions.  And two strategies I used after reading were summarizing the book and writing a reader’s journal.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Sincerely,                                                                    Erika Alban

A Kiss In Time

Reader’s Journal

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                            09/21/11

I am currently reading A kiss in time by Alex Flinn.  I only got to the part when Talia wakes up from her sleep.  I really like this book.  Mrs. Zrihen also recommended this book to me.

The genre of this book is Fairy Tale, Fiction.  The characters are Talia (the princess), Jack (the guy that kisses her), Travis (Jacks friend), Malvolia (witch), Amber (Jack’s old girlfriend).  This took place in a castle in Europe.  The plot is Talia gets stabbed with a spindle by Malvolia.  Then the whole town falls asleep and their location disappears on the map.  Jack and Travis are wondering like idiots because they didn’t want to go to another museum and they are walking they find a castle.  They go in and they look into rooms.  Then after a while, they find a room with a girl in it.  Jack decides to kiss her and then Talia wakes up and so does everyone else.  The main problem was that Talia got cursed by Malvolia.  It’s internal because when she wakes up she is 316 years old and she won’t be able to celebrate her 16^th birthday party and external because the whole town is asleep.  The type of problem is character vs. society because Malvolia is the character and she puts everyone to sleep which is going against society. 

I think the author felt bad for Talia when she was not able to celebrate her 16^th birthday when she was going to turn 16.  I didn’t like Malvolia because she stabbed Talia.  The lesson is don’t do anything strangers ask because they might have a plan.  The message is strangers can be mean.  This story is written in first person, and I know this because the book says I.  The pattern of organization is cause and effect because something happens and then something else happens because of what happened.  For example, Malvolia stabs Talia on the finger and causes everyone in town to fall asleep.  The author’s purpose is to entertain.  This book reminds me of sleeping beauty.  I really like this book so far so I would rate it a 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. 

Two strategies I used before reading were skim and scanning and predicting what the book would be about.  While I was reading I was compare and contrasting some events from this book and sleeping beauty.  And I would reread because I would read but think about something else.  Also, I would summarize each chapter. 

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                Your favorite student Erika Alban

Payback

Reader’s Journal # 3

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I just finished reading Payback by Paul Langan.  I pick this book because it was the second part of The Bully, and I really liked the book The bully.  The genre of this book is realistic fiction because it’s not real but could happen.  The antagonist is Tyray Hobbs, the bully.  The protagonist is Darrel Mercer, the one getting bullied by Tyray.  And the supporting characters are Ms. Spencer (the school principal),  Rodney Banks (Tyray’s friend), Amberlynn Bailey (a girl Darrel likes), Lark Collins (a freshmen Tyray thought was cute), Harrold Davis (Darrel’s closest friend), Mr. Fitch (the history teacher), Kendra Wilson (a girl who used to like Tyray), Bones (a guy that used to hang out with Warren), Eddie Bryson and Len Stanley (met Tyray in middle school), Jaime Wills (Amberlynn’s friend), and Jupiter (the guy that sold the gun to Tyray).  This took place in California, during school in the morning and afternoon.  It was sunny and then at the end it was raining.  The conflict is that Tyray sees only one solution to his problem which is buying a gun to point in at Darrel.  He wants to do this because Darrel grabbed him and lifted him and then slammed him on the ground and Tyray landed on his left wrist and broke it.  The problem is internal and it is character vs. character.  I think the author felt bad for Tyray when everyone didn’t talk to him and said mean things like “I guess you’re not a big guy anymore, the must have shrunk!”  I felt happy when no one talked to Tyray cause that’s how Darrel felt before he slammed Tyray into the ground.  The theme is don’t do something to someone if you don’t want someone to do to you.  The moral is what ever goes around comes back.  The author’s point of view is first person.  The pattern of organization is cause  and effect.  The author’s purpose of writing this book is to entertain. 

First, Darrel breaks Tyray’s wrist and gets Tyray angry.  Then he decides to bring a gun.  He started spreading rumors about it.  And Ms. Spencer asked him if it was true that he had a gun.  Then he she Darrel on the street and starts to walk towards him but before he got to him he fell on his knees and shot the sky because Darrel saw him aim for himself and screamed no.  I can tell Tyray was surprised when he knew Darrel cared about him.  Then they walked home.

Two strategies I used while reading were skim and scanning, asking questions and predicting what was Tyray’s only solution.  Two strategies I used while reading were thinking if any of my questions were answered and summarizing every time before going to sleep.  Two strategies I used after reading were answering my questions and writing a reader’s journal. 

I would rate this book a 9, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.  I rated this book 9 and not 10 cause I sometimes got bored, but like two times only.

                                                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                                    Your favorite student Erika Alban

Tiger Eyes

Reader’s Journal # 2

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                                   09/06/11

I just finished reading Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume.  I really like books Judy Blume writes.  This book is realistic fiction because it is based on a true story that had happened in real life Judy Blume.  When she was twenty-one, her father had died because he had a heart attack, and in the book, Davey’s dad dies when she is fifteen because he gets shot.   The protagonist of this story is Davey.  The antagonist is the guy who robbed and shot Adam, Davey’s dad.  The foil characters are Bitsy (aunt), Walter (uncle), Wolf (friend), Mr. Ortiz (Wolf’s dad), Jane (friend), Hugh (friend), Lenaya (friend), Ned (Gwen’s friend), Gwen (mom), Jason (brother), and Minka (cat).  This story took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey and Las Alamos, New Mexico, but mostly in Las Alamos, New Mexico.  The main problem is that she won’t leave the past behind and move on.  The problem is internal and it is character vs. self. 

I feel sad when Davey’s dad dies because he gets shot, Wolf’s dad dies because of cancer, and Wolf leaves New Mexico.  I think the author cried for days when her dad died.  She was probably very glum and couldn’t sleep.  The story is told in first person.  The pattern of organization is cause and effect cause when her dad died Gwen, Davey, and Jason went to Las Alamos to visit Bitsy and Walter, and Gwen started to get headaches.  Another example is when Gwen got headaches which caused them to stay longer in Las Alamos.  The author’s purpose is to share what had happened in her life but with using other characters.  The author is bias.  I can’t find any figurative language in this book.  I learned that you can lose something that you really love.  The message is that you have to move on and leave the past behind.  I don’t understand why Wolf didn’t stay in New Mexico?

I would rate this book a 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.  Mrs. Zrihen is a great recommender.

First Davey’s dad dies in a seven eleven store in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Then Jason, Davey, and Gwen go to Las Alamos, New Mexico to be with Bitsy and Walter.  She meets a guy named Wolf at the canyon.  Then one day Wolf’s dad dies and Davey started to cry more than she cried when her father died.  That day Wolf wrote her a letter saying that he had moved and he will be back in the spring.  Then Davey started writing letters to Wolf and gave it to him in the spring.

Two strategies I used before reading were predicting what the book would be about, and I thought it would be a sad book about a girl.  I also skim and scanned and found a lot of text features like the title, picture, title page, dedication, publication, chapters numbered, italics, and a synopsis.  Two strategies I used during reading were every time before I go to sleep think about the summary of the book from the beginning so I won’t forget the beginning.  Plus, I looked up words I didn’t know like Hemophilia.  Two strategies I used after reading were thinking about the literary elements, and think about the cause and effects.

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                        Your favorite student Erika Alban