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