Day #5 Voices

       What are some of the voices you’ve been listening to? We all have a voice, but there are also voices that we listen to, it could be from your head friend, or even your gut. It’s your decision to which voice you want to listen to and have an effect on the way you act. In today’s society girls have struggled with the voice inside their head that says there not good enough or they will never make it. But we can’t listen to the negative voices in our heads, instead listen to the positive voice of God saying “You are beautiful, I created you in my hands and I have set you apart.” We can’t listen to the negative voices, because they will only bring us down and hurt us. But instead we need to listen for the Holy one. We can also hurt each other with our negative words that we might say to one another, instead why don’t we lift each other up in positive words. It says in Mark 12:31 “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ‘There is no commandment greater than these.” This is a powerful verse, remember we all have a voice but it’s your decision on how you want to use it. I encourage you today to use your voice in a positive way and give someone a nice compliment today.

Voice

           Everyone has a voice, but its up to you to use your voice and make in imprint on someone through your writing. Voice is the writers personality on the page, the style in which a point of view is conveyed. In the book "The Great Gatsby" the author has a very unique voice in the book. In many examples like Jay Gatsby making an impact on Tom, who is the writer. He uses voice by giving his opinion on things in the story.

Voice is not literally speaking, its the authors point or writing style on the reader. Why would you want voice in your writing? Does it even change your writing for the better?
You want voice because it makes your writing style stand out from the others. People want to read a book, an article, a blog post, and people want to see how that authors writing stands out from other writers. They want to be intrigued, interested, and sit back and say wow that was an amazing story, the author did so good on having a unique writing style. Voice can be very important because you want to leave an impact on a person by sharing your story. We all have a voice but its up to you to use it in a great way.

     In this weeks reading of "The Great Gatsby", Jay Gatsby is warming up to Nick Caraway. First, he invites Nick to his party. Which this is unusual because people don't usually get personal invitations. After the party Gatsby wants to stay in touch with Nick. So a couple days later Nick wakes up to a loud car sound, and Jay Gatsby pulls up and asks him to hang out with him for the day. At this part the author does a really good job describing what the car looks and what is going on. While this was going on Gatsby is trying to become friends with Nick because he is trying to get Nick to invite Daisy over so he can talk to daisy again. Everything is starting to make sense of why Gatsby is having all of those parties and why he is trying to become friends with Nick. Gatsby is trying to get to know Nick because he knows that Daisy is his cousin. After reading a little more I liked how the author described in great detail what Gatsby did to set up for Daisy to meet her again. Gatsby sent over his servants to mow Nick's grass and trim the bushes. He also has tons of flowers in his house waiting for daisy. This showed how nervous he was to see Daisy once again, he wanted everything to be perfect for her.

Day #2 This Day

       "Who is in control of the car when it’s moving? Duh, the person driving the car, right?" This was a question asked in today’s reading of "Even More". I can also relate this back to my church lesson a couple months ago. This statement wasn’t supposed to be taken literally; it was a way to show a representation of you and the Holy spirt in your life. This representation is trying to show who is in control of your life. I can connect to this question because there has been times where I have struggled with letting God take control of a situation, and just giving him my worries. But there have been other times where I know I can’t do it on my own and ask God to help me. In day 2 there was a line that really stood out to me and I really liked it. It says, “If you aren’t sure who is in control, consider this: when you’re influenced by the spirit, your mind-set is I surrender all”(95). This was a very powerful statement and it really made me think, that if God has a plan for me, he wants me to give my worries to him and let go. I encourage everyone today to let God take over and handle ever situation no matter how big or small it is.

Day #1 Start Small

       Are there any times in your life where you just feel like you can’t do it anymore? While reading “Even More” in proof read number five Day 1 I have learned to not give up in one of the smallest situation. Lately, while school has been coming down to the wire many kids feel burnt out and can taste the summer. But many other kids feel overwhelmed by all the testing and projects due. These last grades can either make it or break your final grade. While the past couple weeks have been stressful and keep getting more stressful.

       Over the pass couple weeks I have been really applying my daily reading to my life. At the moment when I don’t feel like I have strength to do something, God helps me and shows me exactly what I need, to reassure me that everything is in his hands. For example in day 1 it said, “And as believers, we are victorious. Not because of anything we have done, but simply because we trust that Jesus has won the victory for us” (91). This was such a great impactful saying. Even in the small situations of when I feel like I can’t do it, I know that God won the battle, and has already taken care of my problem, but I have to have faith in the small situations. Also in the reading it has a bible verse that really helped me and stuck with me. It was Luke 16:10 which says, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” This bible verse just showed me to just trust in the Lord. But I encourage everyone today, to just give it to God and just let him take care of your problems.

Even more

Bible study

Today I am going to switch it up and talk about my bible study. I’ll be talking about my girls bible study group I have each week! Being in a bible study group is amazing! Each week we go through and read the book “Even More” by Rachel Lovingood and Jennifer Mills and it gives us a teaching and then we answer some questions. Our book is a 40 day experience for girls and young women. What’s unique about this book is it helps girls come together and grow a relationship with God. Each day it gives you a teaching and then a bible verse. After that you answer some questions that it asks you and you write them in your journal. Not only does it give you that but also it has a section that you do with your group! I encourage all teens and women to read this book. Come together with one another and learn and grow with it.

Jay Gatsby

         As the characters and the story are developing this week in The Great Gatsby, I am learning the main character Jay Gatsby throws very large parties in his mansion. He doesn’t even invite anyone but everyone just knows his routine and shows up. Many people have been going to his parties for years and have never seen Gatsby. But, Nick Caraway, who is Gatsby’s neighbor, got a special invitation just from Gatsby. This is unusual for him because no one ever gets to meet him or gets invited to I wonder what this means. F. Scott Fitzgerald describes it as, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited-they went there” (41). If Gatsby doesn’t usually invite people to his party then Nick must be really important to get a personal invite. So far while reader he is looking for Gatsby and no one never sees him but suddenly he comes out of nowhere and talks to Nick. I’m going to keep reading and see why he got a personal invite. 

      This week while reading "The Great Gatsby" I really like it so far. Im still in the beginningbut so far I  have been seeing the main characters develop. One of the main characters are Tom Buchanan, who is married to Daisy. Tom is one of the most richest men in the town. Tom has turned out to be a dishonest, rude, uncaring, and arrogent. He is not loyal to his wife, a quote that supports his untrustworthy self says, "There is always a halt there of at least minute, and it was because of  this that I first met Tom Buchanan's mistress" (Fitzgerald, 24). This is already showing Tom's personality. He can't be trusted and is cheating on Daisy. Already while they are all having dinner together you can tell how Tom and Disy's relationship is not good. Daisy knows what is found on but yet she stays with him.

The Great Gatsby

            This week I stopped reading Faithful. It started out to be a great book but the author stretched it out with many chapters and I knew I did not have that much time to finish it. The beginning was great but I started to get bored after a couple chapters. It was a little bit too stretched for me. But great news I found another great book from my sister. Her and her class is reading The Great Gatsby By: F. Scott Fitzgerald.  She likes it and she got me hooked on it by telling me to watch the movie with her. So I did and I loved it so much that I wanted to read the book and compare. Will the book or movie be better?

       The book starts out with the character Nick Carraway who is the stories narrator. He is the one that lives in the small house next to Gatsby’s mansion. He is also Daisy Buchanan 2^nd cousin. Jay Gatsby, who is a very wealthy man that lives in a large mansion right next to Nick. Daisy is one of the main characters; she is married to one of the richest man in town, Tom Buchanan. The narrator starts out by describing in great detail of the first main setting, in the Buchanan’s home. It gives such wonderful rich description of there home. It says, “Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the Beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens…” (Fitzgerald, 6). The way the author added a very specific description before everything he was about to describe was amazing. He didn’t just say mansion he added Georgian Colonial mansion. Just a few words can change how the author is describing it. So I thought the author started the book very well with great description. I can’t wait to keep reading.

      

F•a•i•t•h•f•u•l

           There are many ways on how the book "Faithful" By: Janet Fox uses good figurative writing. Also another way the author uses good technique is just using elevated writing. But also there are areas in the book where she could elevate her words. A quote that shows her great word choice and description says "Lightning flickered on the far horizon, echoing the tiny lights strung from branch to branch in the gardens outside. In small parlor where the women gathered to primp, I found kitty, and we admired one another's dress. She was done up in blue silk that spilled in ten yards of rustling train. Her hair glittered with diamonds that matched her necklace" (Fox, 27-28). This quote not only has descriptive language but also it shows great setting and the reader can imagine it and expierience it with the main character Maggie. Some of the descriptive words that help the reader picture it is flickered, echoing, tiny, strung, and primp. If the author did not have these words in her book, her writing would be boring and nobody would want to read it. So if you want to keep the readers attention it's a good idea to have great vocabulary, figurative language, and more!

Book Review over Fahrenheit 451

             Our world is trying to create everyone to be equal, but everyone will never b equal and that's okay. It was a novel of fireman who are paid to set books ablaze. The main character in the story is a firefighter named Montag. His job was  to find anyone who had a book and burn them along with there house. Everyone knew that books were forbidden. Montag was a fireman for 10 years and loved his job, he didn't question what life was before they burned books. But a young girl came around named Clarisse McCellan who was 17 years old. She wasn't like many people. She questioned the world, when many people wouldn't even care. She was a very observant person. She would go on long walks and she would go on the subway and watch how everyone spoke, she would watch the sun rise and fall during the day, she would watch birds fly and flowers bloom.
When Clarisse and Montag talk in the beginning of the book Clarisse asks many questions that Montag have never even thought about. "She laughed at this. "Good night!" She started up her walk. Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. "Are you happy?" She said (Bradbury,10). This quote explains how CLarisse was curious and had deep thoughts for everything. When Montag goes home he starts to think am I happy? And then when he learns why he isn't happy it changes his whole view and perspective on things one being, are books really bad? Or what if they are making the wrong decision.

            Overall, I truly loved this book. I loved how the author wrote, he added great detail and figurative language to his story. This book really made me think, what if books were banned. It would be terrible.
You couldn't read a fairy tale, mystery, adventure, or even cook books.

I recommend this book to everyone if you want to have a interesting great read!

* *  * * *
5 stars

New book!!

                                                   Faithful By: Janet Fox

    I just started a new book called Faithful! It's a novel by Janet Fox. I'm only in the beginning but so far I really like the begginning, it is in the older days starting in 1903. The main character is named Maggie who is 16 years old. Her mother has disappeared and everyone thinks that she is dead.
Her dad and maggie go on an adventure to try to find her mom. She has to leave her elegant Newport home. Then they make there way to Yellowstone Montana to try to find her missing mom.

  I like how the author has a small description in front of each chapter. I'm really excited to get to read this book and to go on the journey with Maggie trying to find her mother!

   Faithful, forgiven, and sirens are all a series together that Janet wrote!

A Long Way Gone; Book reccomendations

Why readers should read The Long Way Gone

• It has an amazing life story

• It has great descriptive writing

• The author shows what he is going through really well

• It shows person vs person and person vs nature

    Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

      I recommend this book to ages 13 and up because there are some graphic wording and description in this book. I really loved this book because the author did a really nice job describing what he saw, touched, felt, smelt and more. Ishmael has an amazing story to tell and it really changed my perspective on things. The author goes through some major conflicts in his life and one of them being war is taking place at his town and losing connection with his family. I suggest this book to people who are interested in learning about different culture and want to listen to someones amazing true story. Jump out of your bubble and read this amazing book! It may change your life and your perspective on things.

A Letter to the Author

       Dear Ishmael,
    You wrote the book The Long Way Gone. This book was not just a book but a testimony on your life growing up. The book that you wrote inspires me to do things different or think different in many ways. Your life story has really changed my perspective on many things.You have gone through so much that I can't even imagine what you went through.
 
    This book is a story about you growing up. Ishmael tells his story about war that strikes through his town unexepectantly. Now at this time it shows person v.s person and person v.s nature. Ishamael now has to go against the rebels who are violently killing anyone they see or come near. I can't even imagine going through this. First, war is taking place, next, he is separated from his family and now he is trying to survive the crazy wilderness. He doesn't know who to trust because he could run into one person from his town or run into the rebels. I can't wrap my head around people who would not even care to kill thousands of people when they didn't do anything. This world is just crazy!

     This book made me think of how much I have. When ever we complain we should think of others and what they have gone through. Definetly, I know for sure that I am blessed with my wonderful family and everyone I know and everything I have. I loved this memoir that Ishmael shared with the world. It has truly touched my life in many ways. Thank You!

                                                                                           Sincerely,
                                                                                                      Skyler

Focusing on resiliency

       Ishmael does have resiliency throughout the book right now. The tips that he is using is he takes decisive actions which means he's taking control of his situation. Before he makes a decision he thinks about it and talks about it with his brothers. I have applied this to my life by have a situation and not knowing what to do and asking myself how to answer this and then when I don't know i ask my mom and we discuss what I could do about it or say.
       I think we all could apply this more to our lives because sometimes when we get a situation we don't even think about what we are going to say and do and then when we say it or do it it doesn't come back in the best results because we weren't patient in that situation. In the book A long way gone another tip he used was he accepted the change, he accepted that the rebels or war were takin place and he is going to keep pushing and pushing to try not to give up on his family ad there life. He was determined.
       Ishmael also keeps things in perspective, when something bad is happening he tries not to think about it, but tries to think in a positive way put right now its hard to to get these crazy images out of his head of all the adults and kids dead in the village. I think we could apply this to our lives, we always focus on the negative things in life. And I think this is another second wasted not being positive. In war there are many ways to think negative but all Ishmael is trying to do is survive and think about the memories he has with is family. He just keeps his head positive and says he can wait to see his parents. A quote that shows a positive thought " I have a feeling that we will find our families, or at least news of them" (Beah, 189). This shows that these boys are not giving up and even in this really rough time they are still staying positive, which is really hard to do if there is a war in your town. I have learned just by reading this that I shouldn't complain because a lot of people have it worse than I do in there situation.

Memoir Partner discussion

Questions we discussed about our book

       In my book the conflict has definitely emerged, the rebels have made it to the town. The rebels are going to the town and killing people and kids quickly. Everywhere you look there are people fleeing as fast as they can to try to get away from the killers. Already, where ever they look there's body's and blood everywhere.

      The kids first thought was they should go back in town to try to find food and money, but all they could remember seeing is a town with friends and familiar people dead. In chapter 2 there was a large description of the scene, it says, "The breeze brings the faint cries of those whose last breaths the faint cries of those whose lat breaths are leaving their mangled bodies. I walk past them. Their arms and legs are missing; their intestines sill out through the bullet holes in their stomachs; brain matter comes out of their noses and ears" (pg 42). After the kids did not find any money or food they decided to flee into the woods. Now in the book its Nature vs Self. They have to find food, water, and shelter to survive. Also at this time in the book it is also showing conflict as person vs person, which means nobody can trust anybody. They don't know if its the rebels or people from their village so its a main struggle to really trust anybody. So this means that there really by them self in finding food or shelter. Through out the book my question is will they trust one another and find what they need to survive the rebels?  

2 ways to make your writing better; what the author uses in Wintergirls

           While reading the book winter girls found a couple unique quotes from chapter 008.00. The two quotes use two main writing ideas, imagery and descriptive language. In the first quote the author uses imagery. When the author uses really good imagery this helps the reader really be the character and experience what the character is seeing and feeling. The quote that really describes the imagery says, "I bit the days off in rows, corn kernels that popped in my mouth and wedge between my teeth. Bite. Chew. Swallow. Again. Bite. Chew. Swallow. Again." (Anderson, 47). So why would the author add this? Well it helped me go into the characters shoes and helped me imagine what was happening.
Another quote that used figurative language says, " They stuffed me like a pink little piggy ready for market. They killed me with mushy apples and pasta worms and little cakes and marched out of the oven and lay down to be frosted" (Anderson, 47). I loved how the author used really good figurative language and it just really added amazing detail and you could see this in your mind all going on thats why I loved it so much. So I hope I use more figurative language and description in my writing because this adds so much amazing details. And I hope you do to because it adds a great elevation in your writing.

Authors Writing

            While I'm reading the book winter girls I'm getting an idea on how the author writes. The author uses a really unique way to describe how the character is feeling. The author really does a great job on putting the reader in the characters shoes. Some reasons why I really like her writing is because she uses similes and metaphors, and allusions. A page from the book that really shows the authors wonderful writing says "“I am the library aide who hides in Fantasy.
I am the circus freak encased in beeswax.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.
When I get close, they step back. The cameras in their eyeholes record the zit on my chin, the rain in my eyes, the blue water under my skin. They pick up every sound on their collar microphones. They want to pull me inside of them, but they’re afraid.
I am contagious"  (Laurie Halse Anderson, 35).

            This automatically made me go into the characters shoes. How would I feel if I was getting mistreated like this? How would I feel? And how is she going to handle this situation? This page and the authors writing made me want to keep reading and reading this book. And I can't wait to see what happens.

New Book

        So I just finished my book battlefield of the mind by: Joyce Meyer and  my sister suggested I Should read winter girls. She told me she couldn't put it down because it was amazing. My sisters not much of a reader and this was one of her favorite books she has read. she begged me to read it because this author has a great way So I'm not that far in the book so I wanted to look up the author and learn more about her.

       So the author is Laurie Anderson and a little summary I found says
"Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer best known for children's and young adult novels. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2009 for her contribution to young adult literature. WikipediaAlso other information I found is she was...
Born: October 23, 1961 (age 53), Potsdam, NY
Awards: Golden Kite Award for FictionSpouse: Scot Larrabee (m. 2004), Gregory H. Anderson (m. 1983–2002)Parents: Joyce Holcomb, Frank Adams Halse Jr."

I am very excited to read this book and hopefully I will make you want to read it also!

BELOW I HAVE ONLY READ THE BOOK FEVER AND I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN I READ IT IN A FEW WEEKS




Books that she wrote:



Speak


1999



Wintergirls


2009



The Impossibl...


2014



Fever 1793


2000



Twisted


2007