The Old Willis Place

Readers Journal # 14

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                                                                                   11/29/11

            I just finished reading the book The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn.  This book was a cliffhanger because I couldn’t put the book down.  Two strategies I used before reading this book were reading the synopsis which told me the setting of the book and a little bite about the book.  I also asked questions like is this going to be a scary story?  What are some rules Diana and Georgie have to follow?  Two strategies I used while reading were visualizing what the Old Willis Place looks like.  I also summarized each chapter to make sure I knew what I was reading about.  And two strategies I used after reading were writing a readers journal to share what the book is about and to show that I understand the book and answering my questions (Is this going to be a scary story?  Yes the book was extremely scary.  What are some rules Diana and Georgie have to follow?  Stay away from the house (The Old Willis Place) and do not disturb Miss Lillian’s slumber.)

The quote I picked was “I just don’t want to be dirty like you!”  Diana said.  The significance and reason why I picked this quote is because its an example of compare and contrasting and now I know Georgie is dirty and Diana is clean. 

The genre of this book is Fantasy, Fiction.  The characters in this book are Diana (round, antagonist), Georgie (round, antagonist), Lisa (round, protagonist), Nero (round, foil), Mac Duff (round, foil), Mr. Morrison (round, foil), Trigger (flat, foil), Gabby Hayes (flat, foil), Miss Lillian (round, foil), mom(flat, foil), dad (flat, foil), and police (flat, foil).  The setting of the book is in the woods, the weather condition is rainy and sunny, and the social condition is poor.  The tone and mood was scary.  The theme and moral is do not break rules.  The author’s point of view is third person because it says I, me and more.  The pattern of organization is flashback because the author started by saying that Diana and Georgie live in the woods and then in the middle of the story it talks about how they got to living in the woods, it doesn’t just say it, Diana tells her little brother Georgie cause he wants to hear it.  The author is subjective because it’s only talking about the antagonists’ point of view.  The author is biased because he isn’t against anything.  Figurative language I found were similes, metaphors, onomonopeas, oxymorons, and hyperbole.  My favorite character is Diana because I like how she steels things from Lisa and then says sorry and steels more things.

 (The plot structure) Diana and Geogie live in the woods because something happened to their mom and they can’t see people or something will happen.  Then Lisa moves into a house in the woods.  Diana steels some of Lisa’s stuff like her diary and reads it, her bike, and her teddy bear that her mother that died gave her.  Diana writes to her that she is the one steeling her stuff and she is sorry, that she will give it back.  Then Lisa wanted to meet her (Diana isn’t allowed to because she isn’t able to let people she her).  Diana stole shampoo to wash her hair and braids it and when they meet they become friends.  They go to The Old Willis Place, the haunted house (Diana isn’t allowed to either because it’s a rule for her; she can’t go in the haunted house).  They see Miss Lillian, a ghost and get out a few minutes later.  And then Diana and Georgie see their mom and go.  The conflict is man vs. supernatural because Lisa and Diana are against Miss Lillian, the ghost.

I would rate this book a ten out of ten because I didn’t have to reread parts and I really liked how the book was scary.

Sincerely,

Erika Alban