The Seer of Shadows

Reader’s Journal # 20

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                                                                                                        01/17/12

            I just finished reading the book The Seer of Shadows by Avi.  The story of this book was really good but the author had a lot of grammar errors.  For example, “Do you think her rich.”  Since the book had a lot of grammar errors, I would rate this book an 8 out of 10.

            The strategies I used before reading were skim and scan.  For example, by reading the title and looking at the cover I already knew my mood.  The summary told me what the book was about.  And the hook made me want to read this book.  I also found more things but didn’t really help me, like, the title page, publication page, and dedication page.  The second strategy I used before reading was predict what this book was about based on the cover.  Prediction: I think this book will take place in a cemetery because I see tombs.  Two strategies I used while reading were reread parts I didn’t understand.  For example, the last eight lines on page seven.  I also visualized as I read.  Visualizing made the book seem like a movie and helped me better understand.  Strategies I used after reading was summarizing what the book were about which made writing my reader’s journal easier.  Another strategy I used was writing a reader’s journal to show people I understand what I am reading and tells people things about the book.

            The genre of this book is historical fiction because it’s based on a real story that happened a long time ago, during the Civil War.  This book takes place in New York City, New York.  The weaher condition is foggy and the social condition is rich and poor.  The pattern of organization is cause and effect because everything happened because of something.  If the wealthy woman would have never went to Mr. Middleditch, then he wouldn’t have taken the picture,  Elenora’s ghost wouldn’t come and haunt us, and more things wouldn’t have happened.  The author’s point of view is first person because in the book there are words like I, me and etc.  The author’s purpose for writing this book is to entertain the reader with a story that really happened.  The tone of this book is suspenseful and the mood is scary. 

            The characters of this book are Mr. Middleditch (photographer, and he was a teacher), Mrs. Frederick Von Macht, Horace Carpetine (main character), Mr. Greeley, Madame D’ Arco, Harriet (Horace’s sister), Mr. Toby McClain (Harriet’s husband), John (Horace’s brother), Mrs. Von Match (wealthy woman), Elenora (Mrs. Von Match’s daughter), Pegg (Mrs. Von Match’s servent), Astors and Mr. Vanderbilt.

            The quote that stood out to me the most was “who should you believe?  The elegant, wealthy Mrs. Von Macht or an ignorant black girl?”  This quote told me that Mr. Middleditch judges people by their appearance which is not good.  The significance of this quote is that he is a vain person.

The plot structure of this book is that a wealthy woman finds Mr. Middleditch and wants him to take a picture of her and put it near her tomb.  Mrs. Von Macht lied to Mr. Middleditch because she didn’t say that she abused Elenora or that when she had a fever she wouldn’t take her to the doctor or anything.  One day Horace takes a picture and a ghost appears.  Then she realizes its Elenora and Elenora wants to punish those who abused her.  And then at the end of Horace’s “Diary” it says that she wishes she never sees a seer of shadow again. 

Sincerely,

Erika Alban

Deep and Dark and Dangerous

Reader’s Journal #18

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

        I just finished reading Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn.  This book was a cliffhanger because I couldn’t put this book down.  The strategies I used before reading were skim and scan.  For example, by reading the title and looking at the cover I already knew my mood.  The summary told me what the book was about.  And the hook made me want to read this book.  I also found more things but didn’t really help me, like, the title page, publication page, and dedication page.  The second strategy I used before reading was predict what this book was about based on the cover.  Prediction: I think this book would be about a ghost that died when she was alive because on the front cover there is a person that looks dead and at the bottom of the front cover it says a ghost story.  Two strategies I used while reading were reread parts I didn’t understand.  For example, the last eight lines on page seven.  I also visualized as I read.  Visualizing made the book seem like a movie and helped me better understand.  Strategies I used after reading was summarizing what the book were about which made writing my reader’s journal easier.  Another strategy I used was writing a reader’s journal to show people I understand what I am reading and tells people things about the book.

        The genre of this book is fantasy, fiction because it’s a ghost story.  The book takes place in Maine.  The weather condition is rainy.  I think the social conditions of this story are middle class.  The author’s point of view is first person because it has words such as I, my, etc.  The author’s purpose is to entertain.  The mood of this book is scary.  The tone is suspenseful.  Some figurative language I found is personifications, similes, metaphors, and hyperbole.  An example of personification is soon the mist swallowed her up, on page 40.  An example of simile is look at your hair-it’s almost as long as mine, on page 7.  An example of a metaphor is I’m just a bag of bones, on page 46.  And an example of a hyperbole is I’ve wanted to see it foe ages, on page 8.

        The quote I picked was said by Ali’s mom.  “The lake’s deep… and dark… and dangerous”  I picked this quote because this was Ali’s warning about the lake.  When Ali was at the lake for a while she realized her mom was right.  Ali decided to go to the lake because the thought her mom was overprotective.

        The characters in this book are Dulcie (Ali’s aunt), Clare Thornton (Ali’s mom), Ali (main character), Emma (Ali’s cousin), Staci (Ali’s best friend), Pete (Ali’s dad), Mr. Bear (Emma’s bear), Sissy (Emma’s “friend”), Erin (ice cream women), Jeanine (Erin’s mom), Chauncy (Ms. Trent’s dog), Ms. Trent (Dulcie’s friend), Teresa (girl that drowned), linda (Teresa’s older sister), Caroline Hogan (Ali’s classmate in third grade), and Edith (Sissy doll’s name).  the protagonist is Ali, the antagonist is Sissy, and I think Emma would be an antagonist and foil.  And the rest of the characters are foil.

        I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 because it was my favorite book and it was scary and I love scary books.

The plot structure is Ali looks through her grandmother’s boxes in the attic.  Ali finds a picture with her mom, aunt, and a girl torn out of the picture, and a lake in the background.  Ali asks her mom who is standing next to Dulcie and her mom said it was her.  Then Ali was more specific and asked her who is standing on the other side of you, and her mom said she doesn’t remember.  Dulcie wanted to fix the old cottage at the lake and needs Ali to babysit Emma.  Then they went to the lake.  Dulcie was painting the cottage for the first time when Emma met a girl named Sissy.  When Ali saw Sissy the first time, she knew by Sissy’s eyes and the look she gave to Ali, Sissy was a liar and was going to cause problems.  They asked her where she lived and pointed to Western Cove.  Then a few days later Emma started looking for her in Western Cove with Ali and didn’t find her.  Then a few days later, Sissy came back and the first thing Ali asked Sissy were do you live.  And this time she pointed the opposite way.  Then they started building a castle and Sissy kicked Emma’s castle down.  And Ali would scream at Sissy why she did that.  Then Sissy said why don’t you get in the lake and Sissy added on, don’t be such a scardy cat.  So she jumped in and when Emma went up to get air Sissy would push her back underwater.  Ali pulled Emma out of the water and she started crying.  Then Sissy said she was just playing around.  Sissy had a doll Emma loved.  Sissy told Emma to get in the canoe and showed her the doll and went in and Ali had to go in to because Emma would get out and wasn’t going to leave Emma with Sissy alone.  Then when they got to the place where Teresa died Sissy took the doll away and put it over the water so Emma can dive in.  Then the boat tipped over and Sissy went down and Emma started crying cause was going to drown.  Then Sissy said I can’t drown twice!!(Because Sissy is Teresa).  Then one day Sissy changed and they all became friends and Ali promised if she change she would make a funeral for her and that’s how it ended.  The conflict is man vs. supernatural and it’s external.

Sincerely,

Erika

Homework Pass

Homework Pass

All the Lovely Bad Ones

Reader’s Journal #16

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,                           12/13/11

      I just finished reading the book All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn.  I just realized this book was about more than one ghost.  Two strategies I used before reading the book were skim and scanning for text features and predicted that the book would be about a ghost because I saw a ghost on the front cover.  Two strategies I used were visualized Corey being a ghost and I skipped a few pages.  Two strategies I used after reading were figure out if my prediction was right, it was, and I wrote a reader’s journal to show you that I understand.

      The quote I picked was “you woke Miss Ada up and she woke us up.  Now you have to put us back to sleep.”  The reason I picked this quote is because it gave me a lot of information.  The significance of this quote is it explains why there were shadows, things pintching people, everything flying in the air and more (because there were ghost that Corey and Travis woke up).

      The characters in the book are Travis, Corey, grandma, mom, Calebs, Mrs. Perkins, Miss Ada, Mrs. Kowalski, Mrs. Brewster, Henry, Seth, Ira, Mrs. Donovan, Tracy, Chester, Mrs. Duval, Mr. Nelson, Tim, Robert, the Jenningses, and Mr. Brewster.  Travis and Corey are antagonist because they caused the ghosts to wake up.  The protagonist is Mrs. Brewster because she caused the ghost to stop doing things they were doing and talk to Corey and Travis.  And the rest of the characters I listed were foils. 

      The genre of this book is Fantasy, Fiction because it has ghosts in it and it’s a ghost story.  The tone of this book is funny and the mood is scary.  What made the book scary was how the ghost were just doing scary things like turning off the light or throwing pebbles at Corey and Travis and then laughing.  I thought this was scary because I pretended I was in Corey’s shoes.  What I learned was to not play tricks on other people.  The message of this book is to not believe everything someone says.  The author’s point of view is first person because the author says I, me, my, etc.  The author’s purpose is to entertain the reader with a ghost story.     The pattern of organization was cause and effect because everything happened because of something.  For example, Corey and Travis went to their grandma’s inn because they weren’t able to go to camp because they wouldn’t accept them.  They acted like ghost because in a book it said people moved away from the inn because there were ghosts and people that go to the inn want to see a ghost. 

       The plot structure is Travis and Corey go to their grandma’s for the summer and they really want to do a trick.  They pretend to be ghosts and wake up the real ghost.  Then the ghost start to do these things like mess up their room, throw pebbles at them and turn on all the radios as high as possible.  Their grandma blames them for everything.  Then Corey and Travis meet the ghosts (Seth, Ira, and Calebs).  Then they become friends and the ghost stay in the inn.

       I would rate this book a ten out of ten because I barely put the book down when I started reading it.

Sincerely,

Erika Alban

curnt event #3

Current Events Journal # 3                                                       12/11/12

Title: Animal shelter’s behavior experts face and death decisions for animals

Author: John Owens

Source: The Miami Herald

The topic of the article is Animal’s Life

The main idea of the article is Animal shelter’s behavior experts face and death decisions for animals

The author’s purpose for writing this article is to inform use about what happens to animals in animal shelters

The author’s perspective in this article is subjective because he says opinions

The pattern of organization of the article is flashback because it starts in present day and then talks about the past

The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is to give examples

The text features included in the article are:

Title: Tells you the main idea,   Dialogue: shows that people are having a conversation, and parenthesis: more specific, for example “She also demonstrated an extreme level of stress…and (was) unable to settle herself when left alone.” 

This article is about animals put to death because they are unsuitable for adoption

The significance of this article is we need to know what happens in animal shelters every year.

 What I learned from this article is to what’s happening in animal shelters.

What I liked about this article is that it talks about animals

What I did not like about it is that lots of animals get put to sleep

I think everyone should read this article

This article reminds me of Mrs. Zrihen’s dog, Shemesh

This article reminds me of the book Dogs

This article reminds me of animals

New vocabulary I learned

Word Context Clues Meaning

Euthanized	They run animals through a series of behavioral tests, and those who pass can move on to adoption, while those who fail may be euthanized, joining the 7,400 dogs and 11,000 cats put to death at Chicago shelters annually.	Put to sleep
Advocacy	"The reason we're here is because we love and respect animals, and we understand the stress that they're under coming to a shelter environment, so they need to have some sort of advocacy,"	The act or process of advocating or supporting a cause or proposal
Condemns	"What was once a tool to flush out aggression in a potentially dangerous dog is now a weapon that condemns the average dog,"	Wrong or evil

All the Lovely Bad Ones

Reader’s Journal # 15

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

      I am almost finished reading All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn.  This book is extremely scary and a cliffhanger.  Two strategies I used before reading the book were skim and scanning for text features and predicted that the book would be about a ghost because I saw a ghost on the front cover.  Two strategies I used were visualized Corey being a ghost and I skipped a few pages.  Two strategies I used after reading were figure out if my prediction was right, it was, and I wrote a reader’s journal to show you that I understand.

      This book is about a girl named Corey (antagonist) and her brother Travis (antagonist) that go to their grandma’s (foil) inn in Vermont for the summer.  The inn is called Fox Hills and in a book it says that there are ghost in Fox Hills so everyone goes to the inn and people (foil) are whining because they don’t see a ghost.  Corey and Travis decide to pretend they are ghost so more people could come.  They lie to the Jenningses (foil) saying that they saw a ghost to look outside at 3:00 AM (Corey is dressed up as a ghost and screams and people look out the window).  They run upstairs and they jump in their bed and their grandma opens the door and asked if they were awake (acting tired).  The next day the Jenningses say they saw a ghost and Tracy says that she wanted to see the ghost up close so she went camping put in the groove.    When Tracy (foil) went camping, Corey and Travis were inside flashing lights.  The next morning, the Jenningses said there’s more than one ghost!  (Man vs. supernatural).

      The tone and mood of this book is scary.  The author’s point of view is first person because it says I me and more.  The genre of this book is fantasy, fiction because it’s a ghost story.  The theme is and moral is don’t believe in something until you seen it.  The pattern of organization is cause and effect because Corey and Travis went to their grandma’s inn because they weren’t able to go to camp because they wouldn’t accept them.  They acted like ghost because in the book it said people moved away from the inn because there were ghost and people that go to the inn want to see ghost. 

      I would rate this book ten out of ten because it was very interesting and it was very detailed.

Sincerely,

Erika

      

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