Reader's Journal #17 Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I have been reading Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld.  It is a really good suspense book, and very funny at points.  Here is a quote from the book on pages 28 and 29 that I enjoyed:

                “Xantippus was tightly wedged into the wardrobe, but by pulling together they managed to pry him loose.  He fell roughly to the floor, growling furiously.  Mucius unwound the gag, bent over their teacher and asked with concern:  “How do you feel?”

                Instead of replying, Zantippus closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.

                “He’s dying,” Antonius said.

                At that, Xantippus opened his eyes again and growled ferociously:  “By Jupiter and the heavenly gods!  Why did you wait so long?  I almost suffocated.  Quick, untie me!  My arms and legs are dead.  You’d better get a knife from the kitchen.”

                Antonius and Publius managed to untie the ropes around Xantippus’ legs.  With the big bread knife that Flavius brought from the kitchen, Mucius freed their teacher’s hands.  Xantippus moved his arms cautiously and began clenching and unclenching his fists, groaning softly.  “Help me!”  he ordered the boys.  “I can’t stand up.”

                I chose this passage because it has suspense in it and funny in it at the same time.  This passage is significant to the book because without it the suspense wouldn’t even begin.

                My two before reading strategies are to skim and scan the book and to read the synopsis.  My two during reading strategies are to read the title and try to understand what each chapter is about and find context clues for vocabulary words I don’t understand.  My two after reading strategies are to understand what I have read and to prepare for Reader’s Journal.

                The genre of this book is humor and the characteristics are events that are exaggerated or written for laughs.  The characters in the book are Caius, Rufus, Antonius, Mucius, Flavius, Julius, Publius, and their teacher Xantippus.  Most of these characters are flat because they always have the same idea.  The protagonists are all of the main characters.  The antagonist is a mystery and has not been revealed yet in the story.  The protagonists are their own foil because they discuss their ideas among themselves. 

The setting of the story is Ancient Rome and so far the conditions have been sunny.  The exposition is when Rufus makes fun of Caius by writing “Caius is a dumbbell” and Rufus is threatened with being expelled from the best school in Ancient Rome.  The rising action is when one day they find that Xantippus has been abducted and thrown in his wardrobe.  The boys find him and take him out and then try and find who did this crime.  Then they find “Caius is a dumbbell” written in red all over the new church in the same handwriting.  The climax, falling action and resolution I haven’t gotten to yet.

The conflict right now is external and is man vs. man because they need to find the person who wrote on the church and abducted Xantippus.  The tone and mood is silly because no one can stop being silly.  There is always some joke being told.  The theme and moral I cannot say because I haven’t finished the book.

The point of view is third person.  The pattern of organization is chronological order because most of the time it uses dates.  The author’s purpose of the book was probably to entertain.  The author’s perspective is probably subjective because technically this could have happened in real life. 

I would rate this book definitely a ten out of ten because it is outstanding and ha suspense in every corner of the book.  I would recommend this book everybody in middle school.

Sincerely,

Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal #16 Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,
I have been reading the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is a book in the fantasy genre set on a deserted island. There were no quotes from the book that I thought were interesting.
My two before reading strategies were first, to remember what I had read in the past and second, to compare what I have read to what I am about to read. My two during reading strategies were to find vocabulary words I didn’t understand and to review parts as I went along. My two after reading strategies were to review everything I read and prepare for my second Reader’s Journal on this book.
The characteristics of the fantasy genre are stories about things that can’t happen. The characters of the story are the same, Piggy, Ralph, and Jack. The characters themselves have changed. They feel more courageous because they have a feeling they’ll make it and get off the island. Their characters are static. All three characters are the protagonists. The antagonist is technically nature. They have no foil because nature doesn’t have a foil. The weather is most likely sunny because they lit a fire that didn’t burn out. The exposition of the book is like I said when they all find each other on the island. The rising action is when they start getting more confident about how to do stuff on the island. I have not gotten up to the climax, falling action, and resolution. The conflict for everyone is definitely man vs. nature and is definitely external.
The tone and the mood of the story are serious because it has a serious voice. The theme of the story is surviving on an island, because that is what they are doing. I haven’t found what the moral of the story. So far, I think the moral of the story is believe in yourself and you can do anything because at this point in the story the boys believe they are going to get off the island and it looks like they are going to. The point of view is third person, because it says in the story “he” and “she”.
The pattern of organization is cause and effect, because everything they do has some kind of side effect. The author’s purpose is probably to share with the reader a story just to entertain and not to inform. The author’s perspective is definitely subjective because of the tone he writes in you can tell.
The rating I would give this book would be a two out of ten because it can be very boring and it never gets interesting. I would not recommend this person from one to a hundred because it’s lame and it should be getting better.
Sincerely,
Michael Heskiel

Current Event article #3

Date:  Dec. 12, 2011
Name:  Michael Heskiel
Current Events Journal
Title: Animal shelter's behavior experts face life and death decisions for animals
Author:JOHN OWENS
Source: 
The topic of the article is about animal shelters
The main idea of the article is: about animal shelters and how the animal has a test for behavior and if the animal passes he goes to get adopted but f it fails they get put to death stated (implied/stated)
The author’s purpose for writing this article is to inform readers how they run things at animal shelter
The author’s perspective in this article is that he probably doesn't agree with this idea objective/subjective objective (biased) because because it is very cruel
The pattern of organization of the article is cause and effect
The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is because the cause is pass the test the affect  is dieing or not
The text features included in the article are: tittle helps by understanding what the article is about
helps by
, and helps by
This article is about  an animal shelter in Chicago that had a six year old American bull terrier that was put to death because it was wasn't behaving.  It talks about the men and women who decide which dogs and cats get adopted and which one get  put to death and how they decide.
The significance (importance) of this article is to show what they are doing to the animals in the animal shelter.
What I learned from this article is that they killed a lot of the animals they get.  I thought all animals that go to the animal shelter go for adoption.
What I liked about this article is it informs the reader about something I don't think most people don't know about.
What I did not like about it is it should have given an author's perspective.
Who should read this article and why.  People who like pets should read this article to understand what is going on to some of the animals that go to the shelter.
This article reminds me of (text-to-self) of how I'm not allowed to have a pet and how I dearly want one.
(text-to-text) It reminds of the memoir I read titled The House of a Million Pets  by Ann Hodgman and how she always adopted pets.
(text-to-world) That all the people out there who are cruel and evil to pets.
New vocabulary I learned
Word Context Clues Meaning
1. Euthanized:  "Joining the 7,400 dogs and 11,000 cats put to death at Chicago shelters annually."  It means put to death to save from suffering.
2. Perpetually:  "...which is why Brown's arms are perpetually covered with scratches and bite marks."  It means always.
3. Incompatible:  "Because there's nothing more heartbreaking than taking a dog home and then finding out that there's something incompatible between you and your dog, and then you have to return the pet to the shelter."  It means does not agree or does not get along with.

Reader's Journal # 15, Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I am currently reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding.  It’s an OK book so far, but I found a really great quote in the book on page eight.

                “You can’t half swim.”

                “Piggy.”

                Piggy took off his shoes and socks , ranged them carefully on the ledge, and tested the water with one toe.

                “It’s hot!”

                “What did you expect?”

                “I didn’t expect nothing.  My auntie – “

                “Sucks to your auntie!”

                Ralph did a surface dive and swam under water with his eyes open; the sandy edge of the pool loomed up like a hillside.  He turned over, holding his nose, and a golden light danced and shattered just over his face.  Piggy was looking determined and began to take off his shorts.  Presently, he was palely and fatly naked.  He tiptoed down the sandy side of the pool, and sat there up to his neck in water smiling proudly at Ralph.

                “Aren’t you going to swim?”

                Piggy shook his head.

                “I can’t swim.  I wasn’t allowed.  My asthma – “

                Sucks to your ass-mar!”

                Piggy bore this with a sort of humble patience.

                “You can’t half swim well.”

                Ralph paddled backwards down the slope, immersed his mouth and blew a jet of water into the air.”

                I picked this passage because I thought it was the funniest thing so far in the book.  The significance of this passage to the book is that it brings out the character of Piggy more.

                My two before reading strategies were one, to skim and scan the book and two, read the synopsis.  My two during reading strategies were to read the book and understand what it was talking about and to try to connect the chapter to the title of the chapter.  My two after reading strategies was to one, summarize in my head what I read was about and two, to remember what I read for Reader’s Journal. 

                The genre of this book is fantasy.  The characters of the book so far are Ralph, Piggy, and Jack.  Most of the characters flat and round because they never change anything.  They always have the same ideas in their heads.  The protagonists are Piggy, Ralph, and Jack.  The antagonist has not appeared yet.  The foils have not yet appeared yet, either.  The setting is on an island.  I’m guessing the weather conditions were hot because they barely wore clothes to keep them warm. 

                The exposition is when you figure out that they are stranded on an island then Ralph meets Piggy and Piggy and Ralph meet Jack.  The rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution I don’t know yet.  There is a conflict with Piggy is that all the kids know his name which he didn’t want.  He’s very fat and him specifically keeps thinking about ideas to get off the island.  This is internal and character vs. self.  The tone and mood are serious.  The theme I can’t say yet, but I’m guessing the theme is how to get off the island.  The moral of the story I don’t know yet.  The point of view is third person.  The pattern of organization is cause-and-effect, because everything they do, something else happens. For instance, when they blow the conch shell, the effect is that everyone hears and comes towards it.  The author’s purpose is most probably to show what can happen to you if you’re stranded on an island and not near civilization.  The author’s perspective is most probably agreeing with this story and is biased.

                I would definitely rate this book three out of ten because so far it’s dull, boring, and l don’t understand most of it.  I would not recommend this book to anybody because I don’t thinks anybody else would understand it, either.

                Sincerely,

                Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal #14, Fleshmarket by Nicola Morgan

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I just started reading Fleshmarket by Nicola Morgan.  It is a horror story that is set in 1822.  Here is a quote from the book I really liked on page 2:

                “She looked at the ceiling and grew colder.  A large spider hung briefly on it thread above her face.  Watched her watching it.  It scuttled back toward the safety of its web.  The sunlight threw flickering shadows, which danced drowsily across the dull ivory plaster.  The loud murmuring of the spectators lulled her and she could almost believe that this was not going to happen.

                No one had spoken her name since she entered the room.  Maybe she was not really there?  Where was her husband standing?  Where was her baby, her curly-haired, diamond eyed daughter?  She was glad her older child, Robbie, had not been allowed into the room.  But she must not scream, or he would hear from the outside and not understand that this was something that must be done, this cutting into his mother while she lay awake on the table.  In front of all these peering bushy-faced men.”

                I enjoyed this passage because it makes it sound very dramatic.  The significance to this passage to the book is that without this passage, you wouldn’t get an idea of how the room was.

                My two before reading strategies were to skim and scan for text features and read the synopsis.  My two during reading strategies were to understand any olden day words, since there were a lot of olden day words and understand what’s going on.  My two after reading strategies were to review what I had read and to prepare for Reader’s Journal.

                The genre of this book is horror.  The characteristics were shocking.  The characters in the book so far were just a surgeon and a woman who so far don’t have names.  Both of them are definitely static because they go from courageous to sad to proud.  The protagonist was the woman and the surgeon. There is no antagonist so far.  There is no foil so far.

                The setting of the story was not mentioned, but the place was the operating room in the infirmary.  The time was in 1822 when they had no anesthetics. 

                The exposition is when the woman needs an urgent surgery to remove a breast cancer tumor.  Five days after the surgery she dies.  The rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution I haven’t gotten to yet.  The conflict hasn’t been revealed yet.  The mood is eerie.  The theme hasn’t been revealed yet.  The moral so far is avoid breast cancer especially for the girls because you most probably will die. 

The point of view is third person.  The pattern of organization is cause and effect, because she got breast cancer and she died.  The author’s purpose is probably to scare the reader.  The author’s perspective is that he most probably doesn’t agree with this and is biased.

I would rate this book so far a nine out of ten because even though it’s pretty intense, it’s missing a certain quality.  I would recommend this book to eighth graders because younger kids would read this and freak out and have nightmares.

Sincerely, your student,

Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal #13 The House of a Million Pets by Ann Hodgman, illustrated by Eugene Yelchinin

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I am still reading the memoir, The House of a Million Pets by Ann Hodgman and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin.

                Here was a passage from the book I really enjoyed from page 68:

                “We can put him in the tank with the fish,” David said.

                It was fun to watch him there.  Crayfish – in case you’ve never seen one – look exactly like miniature lobsters.  Crayfishy was tiny, maybe an inch and a half long.  For a couple of days he zoomed energetically around the tank.  Then we came into the playroom on the third morning to find that Crayfishy had killed puffy.  He had also eaten Puffy’s eyes.”

                I picked is passage because I thought it was very funny, especially how David didn’t know how to take care of pets.  This passage is important to the book because without it, we would all think that David is a dull man who never buys pets.

               My before reading strategies for this book were to remember what I read last time and start a little bit before where I left off to remind of me of what I had read.  My two during reading strategies were to understand what I was reading and to look for the various text features.  My two after reading strategies were to understand new vocabulary words and comprehend what I had read.

                The genre of this book like I said before was memoir.  The topic is a lot of pets.  The main idea is about a woman who keeps buying and buying pets and this is implied.  If I could give this book another title, it would be Too Many Pets in the House.  Some supporting details of the main idea are one, each chapter is the name of another one of the pets she got.  Second, it says at the beginning of the book that she loves to buy pets.   My third supporting detail is the title.  The essential message of the book is that be kind to all the animals because they are all very nice, which is my conclusion.

                One example I saw of cause and effect was is that due to the fact that David put a crayfish in a fish tank, the effect was that it killed Puffy and Bulgy (these are the names of their pet fish). 

                Comparing and contrasting the text, you can see that some of the text gets down to the point but yet some of it doesn’t. 

Some text features I saw was an illustration of Puffy being waved as a flag by Crayfishy.  The front cover’s picture looks like it was drawn in crayon.  I noticed that on page 26 there is text box. 

The pattern of organization is difficult to describe, because there are flashbacks, then flashbacks within flashbacks.

The author’s purpose was to show how she loves pets.  The author’s perspective is that all people should love pets and agree with her, and this is biased.  The author’s point of view is that everyone should at least get one pet.

The tone and mood of the book is funny, definitely humorous.

Here are some great new vocabulary words I learned:  Hoist.  Some context clues I used was that the kid was pulling and couldn’t walk, so I think that this means to pick yourself up.  There were no other vocabulary words that I noticed that I didn’t understand.

I say this reminds that I can never get a pet even though I really want one, this book makes me feel like I don’t really need one.  This text reminds me of the song “Bingo” because there are a lot of animals in it.  As text to world, it reminds me of how many animals are out there and how they are captured.

                I would rate this book ten out of ten because it is hilarious and informative.  It teaches you about animals.  I would recommend this book to anybody because it has easy vocabulary and it is funny.

Sincerely, your student,

Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal #12 The House of a Million Pets by Ann Hodgman with illustrations by Eugene Yelchin

Dear Zrihen,
I have been reading The House of a Million Pets, a memoir by Ann Hodgman and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. Here is a passage I really enjoyed:


“Anything gets turned into a song. If I see the UPS man, for instance, I might sing:
The UPS truck’s here now,
All covered with grime.
Doggies, do not fear, now –
He comes here all the time.


Or I might sing:


There is Johnny’s backpack,
Why won’t he take it up?
I think we might trip o’er it,
So dreadful for a pup!


I’m so used to this terribleness that I hardly notice when I start singing. One day, I had to take the dogs out to walk around the yard, and while I was putting their leashes on, I sang them a song to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” It went like this:


Doggies’ leashes are such fun,
Doggies love to run and run.
Doggies’ leashes are such fun,
Doggies love to run and run.
Doggies’ leashes are such fun,
Doggies love to run and RUN!”


I picked this passage because I though was so funny. It shows how people can get connected to their dogs. The significance of this passage is that without it, you wouldn’t understand how the author got carried away.
I used six reading strategies while reading this book. My two before reading strategies were one, to look at the cover and see if I would be interested in it. The next before reading strategy I used was to look at the author and see if it was somebody I know about. My two during reading strategies were one, to read and understand what was going on and two, to put the illustration and text together on some pages. My two after reading strategies were first to understand what I read and second, to spot text features.
The genre of this book is memoir, which is characterized by the story of a person’s life written by them. The topic of this book is the story of Ann Hodgman’s life and her pets.
The main idea of the book is of how her everyday life had pets in and how she loved pets. The main idea is stated, because in the introduction it says, “This book all about my life with my pets.” All she talks about how she gets her pets and how she likes pets. I would also call this book, No Such Thing as Too Many Pets because a whole room she had to devote to just her pets.
Here are five supporting details of the main idea. One, it tells you at the beginning that it’s going to be about pets and is factual. Two, the front cover’s text features make you think it is going to be about pets and is also factual. Next, it only has pictures of different kinds of pets they bought and is sensory. The fourth supporting detail is when you read the book the first thing it says is, “Welcome to my barnyard,” and that is factual. And the last supporting detail is it talks about pets in the synopsis, which is factual.
The essential message of this book in my own words is that we shouldn’t be greedy or mean to our pets. We should treat our pets as well as we treat humans.
A cause and effect relationship I found in the text is due to the fact that she bought a Sugar Glider, she had a lot more poop cleaning to do.
What I compare in this book is that all of it has to do with the same subject animals. What I would contrast from this story is that it talks more about the animals than it does about the human beings.
Here are five text features I noticed in the book. One, the cover has writing like it was written in crayon. Second, there are different funny pictures in different parts of the book. Third, every time an animal goes to the bathroom in the book, the words are in bold letters. On page 26, the regular text form turned into bullet note form. Last, there would be picture of a different animal in different parts.
The pattern of organization for the book is it is divided into chapters with subsections and is in chronological order.
The author’s purpose is most probably to show and encourage people to go and get themselves a pet. The author’s perspective is that everybody should have a pet to enjoy. The point of view is that pets are good.
I only learned one new vocabulary word. The word is marsupials, which are animals that carry their young in pouches on the mothers’ bellies. The context clues I used were words that talked about babies and pouches.
In relating this book to self, we should be happy with the animals. In text to text, this book is not like I have ever read before. In text to world, the world should work together to keep the animals safe and comfort them.
I would rate this book ten out of ten because it is important and funny at the same time. I would recommend this book to sixth and seventh graders because it is very description and the pictures make it more vivid.
Sincerely,


Michael Heskiel

Current event Journal #2

Date:11/13/11
Name:Michael Heskiel
Current Events Journal
Title: A legacy of service: Three generations of Pines family have served in military
Author: PERRY STE
Source:the Miami herald
The topic of the article is A legacy of service: Three generations of Pines family have served in military
The main idea of the article is: about the veterans fighting hard for our freedom and remembering veterans day  (implied/stated) implied
The author’s purpose for writing this article is to show everyone how are veterans worked hard to give us our freedom
The author’s perspective in this article is objective/subjective subjective (biased) because
The pattern of organization of the article is chronological order
The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is because it gives it a feeling of an emotion
The text features included in the article are: Illustration
helps by to give a visual of who the person is.
caption helps by to know whats in the illustration
picture, and helps by to show how it was in war
This article is about (a summary in your own words) a portorecin family that served in the army and what they did to help in the war
The significance (importance) of this article is to show how veterans day is an important day
What I learned from this article is people in the army also have to diffuse mines
What I liked about this article is that the details a very vivid
What I did not like about it is that some parts are very gruesome
Who should read this article and why all Americans to remind them of ho gave them their freedom
This article reminds me of (text-to-self) How i can understand who gave me the freedom
(text-to-text)of a quote
(text-to-world) We all should follow in the steps of those people
New vocabulary I learned
Word Context Clues Meaning
1. Legacy- Law. a gift of property

Reader's Journal # 11, Spaceships and Spells, edited by Jane Yolen, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles Waugh

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I have read another story in the book, Spaceships & Spells edited by Jane Yolen, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh.  the story is “The Fable of the Three Princes”, by IsaacAsimov.  In the story I really liked this passage,

                “She Made a mystic pass with her hands (for she was a very well educated princess indeed), and there was a bright flash of light.  The courtiers had covered their eyes, for they knew what to expect; but Prince Secundus and Prince Tertius were not prepared, and they were blinded for a moment by the flash.

                When they recovered, they saw a statue being loaded into a cart so that it might be transported to the avenue in the garden along which the princess took her morning walk.

                The statue was that of Prince Primus, arms folded, expression handsome and proud.”

                This passage is important to the story because it shows that the princess isn’t easy to please.

                The reading strategies I used when reading the story were first to skim and scan the story, then I tried to understand hard vocabulary words.  Next, I prepared for Reader’s Journal.

                The genre of the short story is fantasy.  It is characterized by events that involve magic and cannot happen in real life.

Most of the characters in the story don’t have names.  The characters in the story are the Emperor, the princess, Prince Primus, Prince Secundus, and prince Tertius.  Everyone in the story was a protagonist and there really wasn’t really an antagonist.  The setting is in a kingdom and the arena.

The exposition and rising action was when the three princes to go get money for the kingdom and the one who came back with the most would be king.  The climax was when prince Tertius marries the princess.  The falling action and resolution happen when the debt problems are fixed and the kingdom is back to normal.

The conflict is character vs. character because the three princes are opposing the princess in order to see who would marry her.  The tone of the story is competitive.  The moral of the story is never to judge a book by its cover.  The point of view is in the third person.  The pattern of organization is cause and effect.  The author’s purpose is to entertain.  I can’t tell what the author’s perspective is.

I did not see any figurative language in the story.  I would recommend this story to the girls in my class, but not the boys because this type of fantasy is the type that girls would read more than boys.  I would rate this story four out of five stars because even though it was more for girls, it was very suspenseful at points and I was eager to know what happened next.

Sincerely, your student,

Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal #10, Spaceships and Spells, edited by Jane Yolen, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I read the book Spaceships and Spells edited by Jane Yolen, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh.  It is a collection of short stories.  Here is a passage from one of the stories, “Watch Out” by Bruce Coville.

                “As he turned to his wife, he pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket.  “look at these directions,” he said.  “Read the last paragraph to me.”

                It was his wife’s turn to sigh.  “I don’t have to read it,” she said.  I know it by heart:  ‘Once and object is placed in the Cave of the Gnome, it can never be returned.  So please be sure to use only objects that have no real value.”

                This passage is important to the story because it shocks the reader, for up to this point, we thought this magic trick wasn’t real magic.

                My reading strategies for before, middle and after are to read the synopsis and understand the book.  Two, understand meanings of words I did not know.  And three, to comprehend reading so that I could write a Reader’s Journal.

                The genre of this book is short fantasy fiction.  There are many characters in the stories of the book.  The settings were from everyday places to castles and dragons’ dens.   Due to the fact that there are a lot of stories, the plot structure is short fiction.  The exposition, rising and falling action all vary from story to story.  There are many conflicts in the stories.  For instance, the conflict in “Watch Out” is character vs. the supernatural.

                The tone and mood of the stories I have read is mostly mysterious.  Each story has a different moral.  As an example, in “Watch Out,” the moral is always read the instructions.

                Each story has a different author’s point of view and perspective.  In the stories I have read, I have only read literal language and have not seen any examples of figurative language.

                I would rate this book so far two out of five stars because it is really not my cup of tea, but has good parts here and there.  I would recommend this book to people who like a lot of fantasy and science fiction in short stories.

Sincerely,

Michael Heskiel

Current Events article #1

Date:  10/30/2011
Name:  Michael Heskiel
Current Events Journal
Title: Will Steve Jobs' final vendetta haunt Google?
Author: Michel Lieddtke
Source: The Miami Herald
The topic of the article is:  Google's possible theft of Apple ideas.
The main idea of the article is: Steve Jobs thought that Google stole their idea and brought spies into Apple.  
The author’s purpose for writing this article is to show how Steve Jobs was and will remain an important man in the world of technology.
The author’s perspective in this article is subjective (biased) because he took Apple's side in the argument.
The pattern of organization of the article is chronological order.
The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is because it is the latest news since Steve Jobs passed away.
The text features included in the article are: Caption under the Steve Jobs picture, headline in large bold print, and text in regular size. The caption  helps by showing how proud Steve Jobs was of his products.  The headline helps by giving the reader an understanding of what the article is about.  The  regular sized text helps by presenting the information of the article.
This article is about (a summary in your own words) 
The significance (importance) of this article is that informs the reader how Steve Jobs made a difference.
What I learned from this article is that Steve Jobs was a man that cared about his products and would do anything to protect them from spies.
What I liked about this article the fact that the article informed me about how Steve Jobs thought of his products and competitors.
What I did not like about it that Google stole Apple's ideas and Steve Jobs trusted them.
Who should read this article and why:  Everyone because then everyone would be informed.
This article reminds me of (text-to-self) that when my brother steals something from me. I should remember to fight for my rights.
(text-to-text) It reminded me of the book Slob because the main character, Owen, kept going back to fight for his cookies.
(text-to-world) It reminded me of North and South Korea because they are always bickering back and forth.
New vocabulary I learned
Word Context Clues Meaning
1. Vendetta - drive for revenge.
2. Android - an operating system from Google that is free.
3. Vitriol - anger.

Reader's Journal #9 The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I just finished reading the first book in the “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books by Lemony Snicket.  The name of the book is The Bad Beginning.  Actually, I found out that the books are really written by Brett Helquist, he just writes using the name Lemony Snicket.  I don’t know why he does that.

                Anyway, here’s a passage in the book that I liked a lot because it’s funny.  It happens at the very beginning of the book in the introduction.

                “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.”

                I like this passage because it shows that this book is not a reader’s first choice to read because of the sad endings everywhere.

                The reading strategies I used were to skim and scan for text features, read the synopsis. The two during reading strategies I used were to point out where there were good and bad endings and used context clues to find the meanings of unfamiliar words.  Two after reading strategies I used were to guess what the next book in the series would be about and prepare for Reader’s Journal.

                The genre of this book is mystery.  The characteristics are sad.

                This book was flat.  It was flat because not much changed in the book.

                There were three protagonists in the book.  They were Sunny, Violet, and Klaus.  They were three children who went to live with Count Olaf who is the antagonist.  He wants to steal the children’s fortune.  The foil for the three children is Mr. Poe.   Count Olaf’s foil is the theater troop.  The setting is in Count Olaf’s house, the beach, the bank, and the production theater. 

                The exposition is when the three kids are at the beach.  The rising action is when the children are told their mansion burned down and they are sent to Count Olaf’s to stay.  The climax is when Count Olaf traps Sunny in a cage and forces Violet to marry him in a play, except that it would be for real.  The falling action is a after Violet tricks Count Olaf, one of his henchmen turns out the theater lights and whispers in her ear the Count Olaf will be back.   The falling action is the resolution.

                The tone and mood of the book are scary.  The theme goodness and cleverness triumph over evil.  There is no moral of the story.  The point of the view is confusing.  Lemony Snicket is sympathetic to Count Olaf, but Brett Helquist is sympathetic to the children.

                The pattern of organization is the book is divided into chapters.  His purpose is to entertain.  But it’s not very entertaining to watch poor little children being bullied.

                I would not recommend this book to anyone because there is not much happy about it and not many people like reading sad books.  The passage that I chose from the introduction was very true.  I would rate this book a three out of five stars.  The book was OK, but the exciting parts were too obvious about what was going to happen next.

                Sincerely, your student,

Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal #8 Escape: the Story of The Great Houdini

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I am nearly finished reading Escape: The Story of The Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman.  Here’s a passage that I really liked:

                “In Dresden, while weighed down with chains and manacles, he proposed to leap off a local bridge into the river.  It would be a dramatic but dangerous stunt.

                The Dresden police said no.

                Houdini made the death-defying jump anyway one September day in 1900.  Bess couldn’t watch.  He had long practiced holding his breath in the bathtub for longer and longer periods of time.  Now, with breath to spare he stayed underwater until the anxious crowd watching from both riverbanks must have thought he had joined the fishes.  When Houdini finally burst to the surface, laughing, free of manacles and chains, the crowd went wild.

                Houdini had touched a live wire.  He was a man who seemed able to escape the shackles of daily existence.  In Germany this had a special appeal.  The master of escape excited the dream of triumph over the rigid Teutonic culture of strict rules, “where everything not compulsory was verboten.”  The onlookers cheered inwardly and outwardly for this American who snapped his fingers at the fetters of life.

                But when Houdini, dripping wet, crawled onto the grass, he was arrested.”

                The reason why I picked this passage was because it showed how much courage and determination he had to do that even when the police said no.

                My two before reading strategies were to review what I had read last time, and to skim and scan what I was going to read for text features.  My two during reading strategies were to understand what I was reading, and note unfamiliar words.  My two after reading strategies were to ask questions about things I did not understand in the book, and two, to prepare for Reader’s Journal.

                The genre was biography and the characteristics were dazzling.  The topic was on Harry Houdini.  The main idea is how Houdini made a living.  This main idea is definitely stated because the book talked about how much money he made.  The essential message of the book is not to be afraid of what you want to do and go for it.

                A cause effect in the book is because of his dazzling escapes, Houdini would get more and more famous. 

                 I would compare that every time he did a trick the audience would love it.  I would contrast his religion and the way he acted was not very similar to the way his father did.

                Some text features I noticed were at the beginning of the book it’s big, 3D, and bold.  This shows you how the book is probably going to be.  At the beginning of each chapter the first letter of the first paragraph begins with a fancy letter.  This reminds the reader of how posters were written in Houdini’s time.    The title of each chapter is written the same way and shows the same thing.  Every time it says the name of one of Houdini’s escapes, it’s italicized.  This shows how all of the tricks Houdini did were big. 

                The pattern of organization is that everything is told in date order because you can get a better understanding of how his life ran throughout the years. 

                The author’s purpose is self-explanatory.  He wanted to tell about the life of Houdini.  The author’s perspective is that he admires Houdini.  The point of view of the book is from someone who admires Houdini.

                Five new vocabulary words that I learned were “verboten” which is German for forbidden; birdshot, which is a type of ammunition fired from a shotgun for hunting; hostility, which means anger and aggression; vagabond which is a hobo.

                I would rate this book five out five stars because it really explains Houdini’s life and I really learned a lot about him.  I would recommend this book to anybody who likes magic.

                Sincerely, your student,

                Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal # 7 Escape: The Story of The Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I started reading Escape: The Story of The Great Houdini, by Sid Fleischman.  It is the biography of Harry Houdini.  My favorite passage from the book is from page 8: 

                “HE JESTS AT HANDCUFFS shouted a Los Angeles newspaper, while Houdini challenged the world to duplicate his escapes.  But as the years passed, he could read his voluminous scrapbooks, and they were telling him that flinging off handcuffs was no longer making headlines.”

      I chose this passage because it shows that even when Houdini was losing good headlines, he still tried to do better and tried to do new tricks to get new headlines.          

      The two before reading strategies I used were one, to read the jacket cover to get an idea about what is in the book, and two, read the table of contents to understand what each chapter is about.  My two during reading strategies were understand Harry Houdini and what he did, and to understand the hard words that I didn’t know.  My two after reading strategies were one, to understand what I read for Reader’s Journal, and two, to understand what I learned about Harry Houdini.

                The genre of the book is biography.  Its characteristics are that it tells you about Harry Houdini.  The topic of the book is Harry Houdini.  What I have read so far in the book talks about when he was already famous.  The main idea so far has been about Harry Houdini’s success and it was implied.  Another title for the book might be Escape Master because that’s what he was.

                The supporting details from the book that support the main idea are that he always made a lot of money from his shows, the newspapers wrote about him, and in his time he could do what no one else could do.  The first two details are factual and the third one is sensory.

                The essential message of the text is that if you believe that you can do something, you’ll always be able to do it.

                A cause and effect that I found in the book was that when Houdini realized that just flinging off handcuffs would not be enough anymore to get the same kind of publicity as it had in the past, he decided to try to do more amazing tricks.

                The pattern of organization is that the book is divided into chapters, with pictures of Houdini mixed in.  The author explains that he wrote this because he had a liking for the subject.  The perspective is that he is with Houdini because he believes that Houdini worked hard and deserves to be treated good. 

                Five words that I did not know before reading this book are pluck which means to take out, sleuthing which means scanning or researching.  Cornice, which means the means the corner edge of a building.  Guru, which means master or teacher.  And obscurity, which means hidden or unknown.

                I would rate this book five out of five stars because it has a lot of information, it’s a Jewish book, and I like reading about magicians.

                Sincerely, your student,

Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal # 6, Genies, Meanies, and Magic Rings

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I’ve started reading the book Genies, Meanies, and Magic Rings.  The covers says, “retold by,” Stephen Mitchell.  It’s a book of folk tales.  One of the stories is, “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.”  This story is almost nothing like the movie.  Here is a great passage I found in the story:

                “Lend me a hand, Uncle.  I don’t think I can make it up by myself.”

                “First give me the lamp, my boy,” the sorcerer said.  “Then I’ll help you up.”

                “No, no, Uncle,” Aladdin said.  “It’s not the lamp that’s weighing me down.  Just lend me a hand.  I’ll give you the lamp as soon as I’m out of here.”

                “Don’t be stubborn, boy.  Give me the lamp!”

                “But, Uncle, it’s buried under – “

                “I don’t care where it is, you little scoundrel.  Give the lamp right now!  Do you hear me?  Right now!”

                “But, Uncle – “

                “Don’t you ‘But, Uncle’ me!  Hand over that lamp you filthy little beggar!  Hand it over right now if you know what’s good for you!”

                I picked this passage because this is where all of the action in the story begins.  The significance of this passage in the story is that without this passage there never would have been any action.

                The two before reading strategies I used was One, to look at the front cover of the book and figure out what it is about.  When I looked at the front cover, I noticed that the book was going to be about a genie.  Two, I read the synopsis and I figured out that it was going to be a bunch of stories of Arabian folk tales.  My two during reading strategies was One, to see what was different in the story from the movies, “Aladdin,” and Two, figure out what was different from what was in the movie.  My two after reading strategies, were One, to understand the story, and Two, to understand what could happen in real life and what was folk tale-ish.

                The characteristic of folk tales is that they are very unrealistic.  The characters in the story were round and flat – they never changed from the beginning to the end of the story.  The sorcerer, who doesn’t have a name, wants the magic lamp, and Aladdin wants to marry Princess Laila.    The protagonist is Aladdin and the antagonist is the sorcerer.  There is no foil in the story, Aladdin tells what he’s thinking to a few characters.  The setting is “a very long time ago in a city in China.”  The weather conditions in the story were always dry.  The social conditions were the people were always happy to start a new day.

                The exposition is that Aladdin is poor boy and he meets a rich sorcerer who pretends to be his uncle.  The rising action is when the sorcerer sees how much Aladdin has gained with the lamp and ring.  The sorcerer tricks Princess Laila to give in her old lamp and trade it in for a new lamp and that’s how the sorcerer gets back the lamp and steals everything that Aladdin owns, including Princess Laila.  The climax is when Aladdin finds Princess Laila and all of his items in Morocco and saves her and the lamp by getting a strong drug and giving to Princess Laila.  She invites the sorcerer for dinner and gets him drunk.  When he isn’t looking, she pours the powdered drug in his wine and mixes it.  The sorcerer drinks it and klunks out.  The falling action is when they take the lamp back and return everything back to normal.  The resolution is that the king was so impressed and happy for Aladdin that he fired his old prime minister and hired Aladdin as his new prime minister and everyone lived happily ever after. 

The conflict is character vs. character.  The tone of the story is serious.  The mood is happy.  The theme of the story is don’t take for granted what you have.  The moral of the story is the same thing.  The point of view is with Aladdin.  The pattern of organization is short story.  The author’s purpose is to retell what he thinks is a true story.  The author’s perspective is that he is for the book.  The figurative language I found was “Dear God, where did all this luxury come from?  Is it real?  Am I dreaming?”

I would rate this story a four out of five stars because it sounds like a story that all folk tales would use but it’s still good.

Sincerely,

Michael

Reader's Journal #5 Slob by Ellen Potter

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,
I have nearly finished the book Slob by Ellen Potter. Here was a passage I really enjoyed on page 92:


“Nine minutes of standing outside in the frigid cold in my gym shorts, two and a half minutes of walking to the lunch closet. At the twelfth minute, I discovered that my entire lunch sack was gone.
“In its place was a note. It said:
“NEXT TIME I LEAVE THE CLASS, COUNT TO 20, THEN FOLLOW ME.”


I enjoyed this passage because without this passage, there wouldn’t be any suspense and mysteriousness. This passage is significant because it raises the stakes in the story. We don’t know who wrote the note or why. We think it’s Mason who wrote it and that Owen is about to catch him. Another passage that I liked was this on page 124:


“I knew it was silly. I’d been right behind Mason so I knew that he didn’t have time to rifle through my lunch, but I wanted to check anyway. I unrolled the tote bag and opened it up.
“That’s right. You guessed it.
“My frickin’ Oreo cookies were gone.
“So it wasn’t Mason after all.”


I liked this passage because it put a twist in the story. Up until now in the story we thought it was Mason who had been stealing the cookies and now we know he isn’t. That leaves Owen back to square one because now he doesn’t know who is stealing his cookies.
One before reading strategy I used was understanding the last part that I read so that I would have a better understanding about what the next part would be about. The other strategy I used was to skim and scan for figurative language. The two during reading strategies were to understand what I was reading and to understand the suspense and hard words. The after reading strategies I used were to review what I’ve read to check for understanding and to remember what I’ve read.
The genre of this book is realistic fiction. The genre characteristics, characterizations, motive, protagonist, antagonist, foil, conflict, point of view, author’s purpose and perspective I have done in my last Reader’s Journal. The setting for the story has not changed. The exposition was covered in my last Reader’s Journal. In the rising action, what happens is Owen finds that his whole lunch is taken and finds the note. So he follows Mason when he leaves the room but doesn’t count to twenty. He sees Mason running away from him so Owen starts chasing Mason. While he’s chasing Mason, Owen bumps into his friend Izzy. Eventually, Izzy and Owen get caught and are sent back to their classrooms. Owen decides to look in his lunch to see if the Oreo cookies are still there, but they were gone. So he realized that Mason wasn’t the thief. When Owen gets home, he works on Nemesis and figures out that what he needs is a retro TV magazine to get it to work right. He asks Jeremy (his sister) if her friend can let Owen borrow her retro TV magazines. She and Owen finally make a deal that he will give her his boy clothes and he gets to use the magazines for two weeks. Then they see that Nemesis starts working. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.
The tone of the story is very kind of comic. The mood is happy. I haven’t gotten to the moral of the story yet.
I would rate this book five stars out of five because it is funny and has a lot of suspense, and I love funny stories.
Sincerely,


Your Student,


Michael Heskiel

Reader's Journal # 4 Slob by Ellen Potter

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

          This book I started reading is Slob by Ellen Potter.  This is a really good book about a fat kid who loves Oreo cookies.  Here is a passage from the book that I enjoyed reading:

          It felt like Mason Ragg was leaving me a message.  Something like:  I can get in and out of your lunch so easily that I even have time to seal up your eco-container.  And PS, and eco-container is very hard to seal.  You are powerless against me.

            I picked this passage because it shows the part where Mason Ragg wasn’t going to give up stealing the Oreo cookies; if it was him, because we don’t know if he did.  Without this passage the book wouldn’t have the same feeling of the kid stealing the Oreo cookies.

          The two before reading strategies I used were to read the cover to try to get an idea what the book is about, then I read the synopsis on the back of the book.   The two during reading strategies I used were to read and understand all of the vocabulary words and to understand what the story was talking about.  The two after reading strategies were to think about what I read and used the bookmark you gave me to mark where I left off.

          The genre is realistic fiction and its characteristic is that it seems like a story that really could happen, unlike science fiction that will never happen.

          The characters are Owen, Owen’s mom, Andre, Caitlin but she changed her name to Jeremy and is Owen’s sister, Mason Ragg, and Izzy Shank.  The characters seem like people coming alive because of the way they made the book you literally see the story in your head.  So far the characters in the book are flat, no one has changed.  The protagonist is Owen and the antagonist is Mason.  Owen’s motive is to stop Mason from taking his Oreo cookies.  Mason’s motive is to be a bully.  Owen has two foils, Nima and Jeremy.  Nima sells momos, which are a kind of dumplings.

          The book is set in New York and we don’t know when it is set.  The conditions I guess you can say are bright and sunny.  The social conditions aren’t explained. 

          The exposition is at the beginning of the story.  Owen starts off being a fat kid at gym class.  The other kids mutter to themselves around him.  Andre calls him “flapjack”.  He’s well treated at home because his sister thinks he has a lot of potential.  Owen is working on a machine like a television called “Nemesis.”  His mother has him on a diet.  And Owen loves his Oreo cookies.  Every day he always looks forward to eating the three Oreo cookies his mom packs in his lunch.  The conflict starts when Mason steals Owen’s cookies.

          In the rising action, Owen reacts to his cookies being stolen by looking to see if anyone has cookie stuff on their face.  He sees Mason sitting where he and Izzy usually sit.  Owen sees that Mason has three cookies stacked on the side.  That is where he gets the suspicion that Mason has stolen his cookies.  Then Owen walks home from school with Jeremy sad that he didn’t get to eat his cookies and that his coach tortured him.  Further into the story Nima tells him to make a machine like Nemesis to stop Mason from stealing his cookies.  Owen builds the machine and sets it up in the beginning of the day.  When he sees that Mason Ragg comes back from the bathroom not hurt.  Then Owen goes to the bathroom to check on his machine and he sees that his Oreo cookies are gone and the machine didn’t go off.  Then Owen goes back into the classroom walks up to Mason and asks him to give back his Oreo cookies.  Mason said that he knew nothing about his Oreo cookies.

          I haven’t gotten to the end of the book so I can’t talk about the climax, falling action and resolution.

          The main conflict is Owen wants to keep his cookies from being stolen.  The conflict is character vs. character.  The tone of the story is witty and the mood is light.  I haven’t read enough of the story to say what the motif is.  I can’t say what the moral of the story is because I haven’t gotten to the end of the book.  The point of view is first person because Owen is telling the story.

          The pattern of organization is the book is divided into chapters.  The author’s purpose is to make money.  The author’s perspective is that she is sensitive to fat people.

          I think the book is good.  It’s very funny.  I would recommend this book to everybody because it is very funny and there is no such thing as people who don’t like funny books.  Everyone likes funny books.   I rate what I’ve read five star out of five stars because it is really funny and I like humorous books. 

I think this is a really good book and I can’t wait to finish it.

Sincerely, your student,

Michael Heskiel