Dear Mrs. Zrihen,
I have finished the book, Find Where the Wind Goes, by Dr. Mae Jemison. It is the story of her life as kid and as an astronaut. She was the first African American woman in space. Here is a passage from the book on pages 6 and 7 that I enjoyed:
Another early memory centers around what enticed my sibs to play with me voluntarily. Ricky and Ada Sue liked to blow on my belly and tickle me until I couldn’t breathe. I’d laugh so hard I thought that my belly and sides would never stop cramping and hurting. They would sneak in and do this when my mother wasn’t looking. I was also a welcome diversion during the vesicular stage of my chicken pox. That’s when watery blisters, or vesicles as I later learned they were called in medical school, could be burst open and scabs pulled off. I know you may think “Yuck!” But, I have come to appreciate that “Yuck” is precisely the job of older siblings. Younger or older, siblings are around to introduce us to icky things, to teach us humility, enable us to cope with the elements of surprise and fear, to present us with challenges, like how to get into their rooms, clothes, secrets or how to keep them out of ours. “Sibs” teach us the rewards of perseverance in competition: how to eat the fastest, to hold off from doing the chores the longest (my personal best for not washing the dishes was two day, which included innovative hiding places); how to pass the blame and make accusations stick (I would always laugh), and how to get the best treatment from parents, aunts and uncles, and other adult members of the extended family. I could also count on Ricky and Ada Sue to support me whether things were good or not. We may have had personal skirmishes, but we always wanted the best for one another. We were proud of each other’s accomplishments, and we would help the others with tasks (as long as it wasn’t washing the dishes!). The alliances between us changed as we grew – Ada sue and Ricky versus Mae; Mae and Ada Sue versus Ricky; Ricky and Mae versus Ada Sue; or everyone for himself or herself – but we’ve always been close.
This passage is significant to me because it shows how much she cares about life.
My two before reading strategies were one to skim and scan the book for text features and two, to read the cover blurb. My two during reading strategies were to one, try to relate what I had read to when I had visited the Kennedy Space Center, and two, to understand vocabulary words by using context clues. My two after reading strategies were to review what I had read and prepare for Reader’s Journal.
The genre of this book is autobiography. The characteristics genre is the author sharing the story of their life in a book. The topic of the book is Jemison’s life. The main idea of the book is her life and how she searched for where the wind blows in her life. Some supporting details of the main idea are that she continued to work toward being an astronaut no matter what her teachers believed and that she succeeded in achieving her goal. The essential message we would get from the story of Jemison’s life is try and you will succeed.
A text feature I noticed were right dead center in the book there were photographs of her. Another text feature I noticed were the sub-headings in each chapter. I also noticed that the chapters had titles, too.
The pattern of organization was chronological order because the book lists dates. The author’s purpose was to share the story of her life.
Three vocabulary words that I learned were vesicles, which means blisters; diminished, which means lessened or reduced; and diagnosed, which means identified.
I would rate this book a five out of ten, because it didn’t really interest me. I recommend this book to people who would like to work for NASA when they grow up.
Sincerely,
Michael Heskiel
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