"North of Beautiful" by Justina Chen Headley

            I am reading the book “North of Beautiful” by Justina Chen Headley. So far, this is about a girl named Terra. She is in high school and she has a boyfriend named, Eirk. If you saw her from behind you would probably think that she was perfect, but she is not. She has this big mark on her face. She covers it with a bunch of make up. She also loves maps; she inherited it from her dad, which is a teacher at her school. I think that there is a pattern in this book; I think the pattern is that she gets bullied by people for her birthmark and that she doesn’t know what to do, so she believes them.

                I think she doesn’t know what to do because when she couldn’t wear make up when she was little she couldn’t cover it up so she knew that it was true, that the birthmark made her look ugly. For example, on page 5, she four years old, and was at dance class and she was chose to be Cinderella. When she got chosen there was this girl named Alicia, she got angry because she wanted to be Cinderella, so she told Miss Elizabeth in a diva in training way, “But Miss Elizabeth, Terra is too ugly to be a princess!” and at that moment, everyone in the studio, including Miss Elizabeth, was staring at her cheek. At that moment, Terra knew that they were right, that she was ugly. She felt like the ugliest girl in the class, when she wasn’t. I think that the mark on her cheek has become her weakness over the years of her childhood. I think that she should tell the bullies to stop by showing that she doesn’t care so that they will realize that it is a waste of time.

                Another reason why I think she doesn’t know what to do when people bully her about her cheek is that she doesn’t speak up. For example on page 17, when Erik asked found the brochure that Dr. Holladay had given her for her cheek to get fixed by surgery. When he was looking through it Terra was freaking out. When he asked her “So are you going to do it?” and when she replied “ No” he seemed confused and said “Why not?” and that’s when she stopped speaking, all the memories came back to her, the really bad ones of her getting called ugly. I think Terra should have just told him the truth, that she didn’t want to fix her face or that she was thinking about it. Also I think that she should have said that she likes the way her face looked, that she wanted to leave it alone and continue putting make up on it to cover it.

                I also think that she doesn’t know what to do because she never defends herself. For example, When she got bullied during dance class when she was four, she didn’t do anything, she just kept quiet, until the new girl, Karin, had stood up for her and told Alicia “ Your uglier than the ugly stepsisters!”, which had made Alicia shut up. I think that Terra should stop making Karin and other people defend her for her. I think she should grow up a little and stop the bullying, or else it will get worse.

                As you can see, this pattern occurs a lot in the book so far. It occurs so much because she is always trying to get rid of it or trying to not let people notice it by putting make up over it. If you think about it, the Pattern connects to the theme or message because in the book they mention that she is always covering her flaws, and can connect to the theme or message if the message or theme is to be who you are and that you are pretty the way you are, so don’t change the way you look just for the public’s attention. I think that she should just be herself and shouldn’t change the way she looks.

Non-Fiction Critical Analysis

             The article, “Should Colleges Stop Requiring the SAT/ACT?” by William C. Hiss and Wayne Camera, explains the pros and cons of having the SAT/ACTs. Hiss explains how it would be better to not have the tests because high school grades are a better predictor of college success. On the other hand, Camera explains how the standards are different at certain schools, so it would be hard for the admissions office to choose from the grades. Although William C. Hiss has good evidence as well, I agree with Wayne Camera, I think that they should keep the SATs and ACTs.

                One reason why I agree with Wayne Camera is because there are more than 35,000 public and private high schools in the U.S with huge variations, it would be impossible for the college admissions offices to be familiar with them all. Adding on, the standards for an A at one school can be different as opposed to others, which is not fair for most kids. Another example how, according to Camera, “some schools do not offer advanced placement or honor classes, which give students a chance to impress colleges. For students without these options, standardized test scores can be another way to prove themselves.” Thus helping students who wouldn’t have a chance to prove to the colleges that they are worthy enough. Furthermore, when William C. Hiss stated, “ High school grades, not test scores, are the best predictor of college success,” I did not agree with him because some students cheat on tests that were given to them in school, which made their grades better than what it should’ve been. Taking the SATs and ACTs would show the students’ true potential, and whether or not they are acceptable. Overall, I think that college standardized testing should continue because it would be extremely easier and reasonable.  

                In conclusion, I think that colleges should keep the SATs and ACTs because they are very helpful. Moreover, I thought this article was very interesting because I am planning to take the SATs in the future. In sum, colleges should keep standardized testing because it is easier and more reasonable.

Romeo and Juliet Literary Essay

                In the play, “Romeo and Juliet” written by Shakespeare, is about two young teenagers falling in love. One is named Juliet, whom is thirteen, is from the Capulet family. On the other hand, Romeo is sixteen, and is a part of the Montague family, which is the enemy of the Capulet’s.  They met at a party that Juliet’s dad had set up, it was love at first sight. They soon became so in love that they secretly got married at Friar Lawrence’s church. However, they didn’t see that Juliet’s parents had already set her up an arranged marriage with a young man named Paris. Thus, many complications occurred, leading people to do unspeakable things, including both, Romeo and Juliet, to commit suicide. Throughout this play, the themes, guilt, consequences, and hope had occurred numerous times.

                One theme that occurred throughout the play was guilt. As I said before, many problems happened, thus, causing many people to do regretful things. One example is when Tybalt killed Mercutio, he felt guilty after because it soon got him killed.  Adding on, Romeo also felt remorseful because he killed Tybalt, which got him banished from Verona. He also felt guilty because he couldn’t see Juliet anymore, “'Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here, where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog and little mouse, every unworthy thing, live here in heaven and may look on her, but Romeo may not. More validity, more honorable state, more courtship lives in carrion flies than Romeo. They may seize on the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand and steal immortal blessing from her lips, who even in pure and vestal modesty, still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin. But Romeo may not. He is banished. Flies may do this, but I from this must fly. They are free men, but I am banished. And sayst thou yet that exile is not death? Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife, no sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, but “banished” to kill me?—“Banished”! O Friar, the damned use that word in hell. Howling attends it. How hast thou the heart, being a divine, a ghostly confessor, a sin-absolver, and my friend professed, to mangle me with that word “banished”?”(3, 3, 30-52). Another example is when Friar Lawrence made the plan, (which was for Juliet to drink a liquid that made her sleep for hours so that people will think she is dead, in result, she wouldn’t have to marry Paris) he soon remorseful it after, “And if aught in this miscarried by my fault, let my old life be sacrificed some hour before his time unto the rigor of severest law,” (5, 3, 281-284) meaning that he knows that it is his fault so he should be punished. Furthermore, Juliet felt guilty for agreeing to his plan because it caused Romeo to kill himself, as well as Paris. Overall, the theme guilt plays a huge role in the play.

                In result to all of those events, the theme, consequences had arose. For example, when Tybalt killed Mercutio, the consequence was Romeo killing him. Therefore, the Prince announced, “And for that offence immediately we do exile him hence. I have an interest in your hearts' proceeding. My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding. But I’ll amerce you with so strong a fine that you shall all repent the loss of mine. I will be deaf to pleading and excuses. Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses, therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste, else, when he’s found, that hour is his last. Bear hence this body and attend our will. Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill,” (3, 1, 148-149) meaning that Romeo is now banished from Verona, which made him leave Juliet. Another example is when Friar Lawrence made the plan and when Juliet agreed to it, the result of both of these actions was Romeo, herself, and even Paris’ death.  It also resulted in the Prince publicizing, “Their course of love, the tidings of her death. And here he writes that he did buy a poison of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet. Where be these enemies?—Capulet! Montague! See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords, too have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished,” (5, 3, 308-312), meaning that everyone is punished. All in all, many of the events that were caused by guilt formed many consequences throughout the play.

                Lastly, the theme hope had also occurred in the play. An example of this is when Romeo and Juliet hoped for their marriage to work out well, they kept trying and trying to make it work out by trying many different things. One thing they tried was only letting Romeo go to Juliet’s house at night, so her parents wouldn’t catch him. Another example is when Juliet was always hoping for Romeo to be safe, she hoped that nothing bad would happen to him when he got banished. Adding on, she was relieved when she found out that Tybalt was dead, “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, when I, thy three hours' wife, have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have killed my husband. Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring. Your tributary drops belong to woe, which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain, and Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband. All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?  Because he wanted to kill Romeo before,” (3, 2, 106-109). Juliet also hoped that her marriage to Paris would be cancelled, “O God!—O Nurse, how shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven. How shall that faith return again to earth, unless that husband send it me from heaven by leaving earth? Comfort me. Counsel me.—Alack, alack, that heaven should practice stratagems upon so soft a subject as myself. What sayst thou? Hast thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, Nurse,” (3, 5, 205-214). Another example of hope used in this play was when Juliet was hoping that Friar Lawrence’s plans will work, before she drank the liquid he had given her she kept praying that it would work because she really didn’t want to marry Paris. In sum, the theme hope occurred many times throughout the play.

                In conclusion, in the play, “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare, three themes were shown, guilt, consequences, and hope. In fact, guilt and consequence connect to each other because whatever the guilt caused the people do had formed consequences. All in all, the three themes, guilt, consequence, and hope occur countless times throughout the play.

"Locomotion" By Jacqueline Woodson

                 I am currently reading the book, “Locomotion”, by Jacqueline Woodson. This book is about an eleven year old boy named Locomotion, but most people call him Lonnie. He writes in this book, only poetry, because it sometimes makes him feel better about certain things going on in his life. Locomotion lost his parents to a fire and his little sister, Lili, had been taken by different parents in foster care. However, I think that all of these problems are way too stressful for such a little boy.

                Lonnie has been through a lot throughout his life. One thing that he had to deal with was losing his parents, which was really hard because it caused so many other problems to come up. For example, after the fire was over, neighbors took both Locomotion and Lili in to take care of them for as long as they could. However, soon, the neighbors couldn’t take care of them anymore, thus, they were sent to foster care. When they finally got people to adopt them, they got separated because they had different foster parents. In addition, Lonnie doesn’t like his foster mom because she always tells him to be quiet. He also doesn’t like Lili’s foster mom because she won’t let Locomotion come to visit Lili, in result, they had to meet somewhere else. Another example is having to deal with his friend Eric being sick. Eric has the sickle-cell anemia, which could be deadly after a long period of having the disease. All in all, Lonnie has a lot of problems/issues to deal with at such a young age.

                In conclusion, Lonnie has a lot to deal with throughout his life, like trying to visit his sister and trying to forget seeing the fire. Moreover, he has to deal with not only family problems, but also school problems, like trying to fit in and has to deal with Eric have a deadly disease. 

"Weetzie Bat" By Francesca Lia Block

                I am currently reading the book, “weetzie bat” by Francesca Lia Block”. This book is about a teenage girl named Weetzie. She meets a boy named Dirk at a bar and soon or later become best friends with him. They go everywhere together, to rock concerts, different bars, parties, etc. When they became really close, Dirk had confessed that he is gay. Thus, he and Weetzie decided to find “Ducks” (soul mates) for each other. They would search every party they went to, every bar, every concert, they pretty much search everywhere. Both Dirk and Weetzie had found people, but just not the right ones. For example, Weetzie kept going out with the wrong kind of guys, the ones that didn’t treat her right, meanwhile, Dirk just couldn’t find the ONE. Then, one day while Weetzie and Dirk were at Fifi’s house, Dirks grandmother, Fifi had given Weetzie a gift, it was an old dusty lamp. When Weetzie went home that night, she decided to clean the dusy lamp, suddenly, a genie came out of nowhere and granted her three wishes, one, was for Dirk to find love, two was for her to find “Her Secret Agent Lover Man” (her soul mate), and three was for her and Dirk to have a beautiful house to live in. Not thinking any of these wishes would come true, Weetzie never talked about it… that was until they did. Overall, a lot of things that I thought would never expect would happen. But then again, things that I did expect to happen, did.

                While reading this book many events occurred that I absolutely had no idea would happen. One example, was the genie coming out of the lamp. I thought it was just a gift that Fifi wanted to give her for good luck or something, but it was way different. Instead, she gave her last set of wishes to Weetzie. Another example, was for Dirk to be gay. At first, I thought Dirk only went up to Weetzie at the bar so that they could hook up or something, but then they started to hang out more, which made me think that he just wants to ask her out in a romantic way, not too slow or quick. But, he just confessed that he was gay. In addition, I never thought that the wishes would come true but they did. Dirk found his true love, in fact, his name is Duck. So did Weetzie, she found her true love, and his name is actually My Secret Agent Lover Man. Overall, a lot of weird and unexpected things occurred throughout the book.

                Although unexpected things happened, some expected things also happened. For example, I knew that Weetzie was going to find her true love because Dirk did, which means her wishes are going to come true. Adding on, I knew that Fifi’s house was going to become Dirk’s and Weetie’s because it was also one of her wishes. Another example is when Weetzie said she wanted a baby (but her spouse objected to that idea) and Dirk and Duck helped her with that. I knew that Dirk was going to help her have a baby because he himself wanted his own child, thus, Dirk, Weetzie, and Duck had slept together and Weetzie became pregnant. Moreover, I knew that My Secret Lover Man was going to get mad about the pregnancy because one, he didn’t want to have a kid, and two, it means Weetzie had cheated on him. Overall, a little expected things also occurred throughout the book.

                In conclusion, both expected and unexpected events occurred while reading this book. Adding on, this book was very interesting, however, it was also very weird. Overall, this book was very entertaining.  

My Literary Essay

           In the book, “Paper Towns” by John Green, the Green talks about a senior in high school named Q, who has two best friends, Radar and Ben. Q is the average high school kid he has good grades, doesn’t get into trouble, has friends, not very popular, etc. However, one night, his crush, and most popular girl in school, Margo, came up to his window and asked him to help her on an eleven- step mission. At first, he was hesitant to go with her on a mission at night, but eventually, she convinced him to go with her. He thought it might make their relationship better, wishing that it might result in him taking Margo to prom. However, he never knew that it could’ve changed the way he acts, talks, and what he does. This made me think about if the author purposely tried to teach a lesson on why you shouldn’t change yourself so others will like you more.

            In the book, Q was a good, intelligent, and kind guy. He never would think to stay awake on a school night, or even on a weekend. He got lots of good grades, and never broke the rules. He did everything he could to stay on top of his work and keep everything going for just a few weeks until school officially ended. He was nice to his friends, helped them out when they needed it the most. For example, when Radar had girlfriend problems, he helped him out. Adding on, he barely got into fights with them, thus, they were very close. They would play games every day after they all finished their school work. Overall, Q was a very nice, intelligent person.

            However, he eventually changed after that night with Margo. He broke the rules, didn’t do his homework, went to bed late, and didn’t even study for his final government exam the next day. For example, Q took his mom’s car without her permission and left with Margo to help her with the eleven- step mission. In addition, him and Margo broke into three houses, Jason’s (Margo’s cheating boyfriend), Becca’s (Margo’s ex-best friend), and Chuck’s (the bully that bothered Q everyday) and spray painted their cars and house. Adding on, they broke into one of the most popular buildings in Orlando, Florida. Q even ran from a guy shooting a shotgun and the police. In fact, he skipped graduation (which he would’ve never done if he didn’t go with Margo that one night) just to find Margo when she never came back to school after that crazy night. Also, when he and his friends skipped graduation, he didn’t tell his parents, which is very usual because he never lies to his parents. Clearly, Q changed himself just for Margo to like him more so that he could take her to prom (which never really happened).

            After realizing this, I noticed that Green was probably trying to teach the readers a lesson on why you shouldn’t change yourself just for others to like you more. For example, at the end of the book, after all Q did for Margo, she still didn’t date him, nor did she stay friends with him, thus, all the changing with Q was a big waste. Adding on, Q could’ve gotten arrested when he went with Margo to get revenge on her boyfriend, Jason and her ex-best friend, Becca, this is something he would’ve never even thought about before, and he didn’t like getting in trouble, especially when it involves police. Another example of Q changing himself for Margo is when he spray painted her ex-boyfriend’s car, he would’ve never done that before because he knew that would have gotten him into huge trouble with Jason and his friends, but he still did it so he could look cool and “bad” in front of Margo. I think John Green purposely put these details in there to show that Q wouldn’t do these things normally, but he would just to fit in. Overall, I think that Green is trying to show us that changing yourself for others is not worth it.

            All in all, Q is a very intelligent teen that just wanted his crush to like him back, like all other teens. In result, he tried to be someone that he was not. Overall, I believe that John Green was trying to make his readers understand that changing yourself is never the answer to being cool, popular, or for your crush to like you. I think he was trying to send a message that being yourself is always the answer.

Link to my original blog post: http://amanisawesomeblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/iam-currently-reading-book-paper-towns.html

Non-fiction Critical Analysis

               This article, “Spread a Rumor, Go to Jail?” is about how a 16 year old boy named Yang Hui got arrested for spreading a rumor online. In fact, he was the first person to be arrested under this new law called “rumor mongering”. This law claims that if your post gets “more than 5,000 views and reposted more than 500 times”, you will get arrested. However, he wasn’t only arrested for posting a rumor online, they say that Hui’s offense might be the explanation of a local man’s death. Adding on, this article is about how China censored Facebook, Twitter, and blocks foreign media websites, they do this with what’s known as the Great Firewall.  I think that the author gives me hints throughout the article on what he is trying to make me think or feel.

                I think the author is trying to make me think that this is not a ridiculous law. For example, when he quoted, “The best way of putting an end to Internet rumors is for the government to stop disseminating lies,”  by a Chinese fiction author, Yu Hua, he made sure that the quote made it seem like this law could help convince us that the law was a smart idea that the government came up with. Adding on, he wants us to feel bad or sad because a local man died because of Yang’s opinion. In addition, the author probably wanted us to think about what we do online and think about what comments we post. They want us to think about rumors that we have spread ourselves or have witnessed being spread, thus, making us feel bad about it and making us think that this law could actually be helpful. Overall, he makes us think the law is helpful and feel good about it.

                All in all, I think that this article was very interesting. However, my opinion has changed a little bit because before I read this article I thought that spreading rumors wasn’t a big deal, but now after reading this article I realize that it can be a big deal in some cases. For example, it could cause deaths, like it did to a local man in China. I also would like to know what the rumor was and why was it so popular. Also I would like to know if the guy was popular, which could be the reason why the rumor was popular. Adding on, I would like to know why Yang Hui would spread the rumor in the first place. Overall, I thought this article was very interesting and changed my opinion on spreading rumors.