TKAM #5: Dill

I finally did it. I finally ran away from home. I've been wanting to run away for the past couple months to Maycomb, I just didn't have the money.  Ever since my mother got married she hasn't been paying any attention to me at all.  Don't even get me started with my new dad, that guy started off being really nice but now all he does is ignore me.  Now that  I'm in Maycomb it seems like everythings better again.  I love being here, during the year while I'm in school all I look forward too is my summers in Maycomb with Jem and Scout.  

The worst part about running away was probably hiding under Scout's bed.  Here's what happened. . . When I finally got to Maycomb I had no idea what to do, I didn't go to my Aunt Rachel's house because I thought that she would just send me back to my mom, so i decided that maybe I could just live in Jem and Scouts room for a while until I thought things out.  While the Finch family was at dinner, I just snuck into their house, walked up stairs and hid under Scouts bed.  When Scout saw me I swear my heart stopped beating, I was scared to death, I thought it was an adult, but then when I saw it was Scout I was fine.  As soon as Jem saw me he went to go tell Atticus. I didn't htink he would tell Atticus right away, but he did.  I was scared, I thought Atticus would be mad at me, instead he fed me and let me sleep in Jems bed,  I didn't get much sleep that night.  The next morning Atticus sent me to Aunt Rachels house.

TKAM #4: Jem

A lot has been going on lately here in Maycomb.  The other day Scout and I realized that Atticus isn't like the other dad's around here, to start off Atticus is a lot older than other dad's.  While all the other dads in town are hunting and fishing, Atticus likes to sit and read.  I've always kind of been okay with this because that's just the way Atticus has always been for as long as I can remember; but the other day I learned something completely new about Atticus that completely surprised Scout and I.  It started with a dog, a crazy dog just wandering on the main street towards our house.  Calpurnia calls Atticus and he shows up with the sheriff, the sheriff has a riffle and hands it to Atticus and tells Atticus to shoot the dog.  Scout and I thought for sure that Atticus wasn't going to but to our huge surprise and amazement he took the riffle from the sheriff and shot the dog, hitting it with the first shot. Later Scout and I were talking to Miss Maudie and she told us that when Atticus was younger he was the best shot in Maycomb and everyone called him 'one shot Finch'.  Hearing this about Atticus was very surprising and so unexpected, I mean I thought Atticus hated guns, it seems like he didn't used to, I wonder what made him start hating guns, I mean he's so good at shooting.  That day flooded my mind with questions.  Scout and I were so proud of Atticus, and Scout of course wanted to brag and tell everyone school.  I stopped her, it just wouldn't be right to tell everyone at school, if Atticus didn't want us to know he obviously doesn't want the entire town to know.

Alright so a few days later it was finally my twelfth birthday.  The day after my birthday Scout and I went to town to spend my birthday money.  On our way we passed by Mrs. Dubose's house and there she was sitting  on her porch like on every Saturday afternoon.  Scout and I tried not to make eye contact but as usual she started yelling at us for no reason at all.  She started off with insulting Scout, Scout just stood there just like how Atticus taught her.  Next she started talking about Atticus, she always talked about Atticus in a bad way even thought Atticus was so nice to her, she would't stop going on about Atticus and eventually I couldn't take it anymore; we left.  When we were in town I finally bought the miniature steam engine and I bought Scout that baton she had been wanting.  We started walking home and I was still very mad about our encounter with Mrs. Dubose earlier, I came up with an idea.  As we were passing by her house I took Scout baton and I destroyed all of Mrs. Dubose's Camilla bushes.  I knew I would get in trouble but I didn't care, I hated that lady and after hearing about what she said about Atticus she deserved it.  We got home, ate dinner, and waited for Atticus to get home.  When I finally heard him walk up to the front porch and open the door I wondered anxiously if he knew what I had done.  He walked in caring the baton and one of the flowers, the expression on his face said it all. "Jem Finch, did you have anything to do with this?" he asked. 

"Yes sir" I answered proudly, maybe he would be proud after hearing what she said about him.  He wasen't, he made me go back to back to Mrs. Dubose's house to apologize, which was something I could not do.  I thought about just hiding outside for about half an hour and not go to her house, but Atticus would find out.  When I finally got to her house I forced my hand to knock at her door and  Jessie opened the door, she let me in.  I walked in and the house was exactly as I pictured it, very creepy.  I apologized, even thought I didn't mean it and now she wants me to read to her every day for 2 hours for a month. Atticus said I had to, I am not looking forward to that.

TKAM #1: Scout

Today was my first day of school, it was very dissapointing.  My entire life I have been so exited for this day, to finally get to go to school with all of the other children in town. To not be bored all by myself at home waiting for Jem and Atticus to return.  Today finally came and school was not what I expected it to be.  

To start off as Jem and I arrived to school, he told me that he didn't wasnt me to talk to me at school, which was something I did not understand at all, Jem and I were so close at home, why should it be any diffrent at school.  I was hoping things would get better once I got to my classroom, but they didn't.  When I walked into the classroom I imeadeatly recodnized everybody, everybody exept for one person; a lady no more than twenty one with a bright red-and-white striped dress on standing in the corner of the room. 

"I am Miss Caroline Fisher, I am from north Alabama, from Wistion County" , she told us as she wrote her name on the board.  After that we read a book about cats and then, she asked me to try to read.  So I did what she asked and I read, btu as I was reading I noticed she was getting mad at me fro some reason, I did not know why, so I just kept reading.  When I finished she told me to tell my father to not teach  me how to read anymore, and I did not understand her at all.  Atticus never taught me how to read, it just came to me, and I have been reading for as long as I caould remember.  I told Miss Caroline, but she did not believe me and she was very mad  at me; she said that I was not learning the right ways and that now I would not be able to read the correct way.  Miss Caroline told me to never read at home again, and that made me mad and confuse.  Why  should I get in trouble for knowing how to read, isn't that the whole point of school, to learn as many new things as possible; or do I not know these thigs because I'm just to little to understand.  

Well after a while it was lunchtime and Miss Caroline asked everyone to either raise their hand if they were going home for lunch time, or to take out their lunch, everyone did, exept for one student, Walter Cunningham.  Miss Caroline walked up to Walters desk "Wheres your lunch" she asked, Walter just stared at her.  

"Did you forget your lunch this morning?" she asked, 

"Yeb'm" Walter fianally replied."  Miss Caroline grbbed her purse and took out a shiny quarter.  "Here, go eat downtown todayand pay me back tommorow."  The whole class looked around at eachother, anticipating what was going to happen next, looking for who was going to tell the new teacher about Walters situation.  

I took a deep breath and finally said "He's a Cunningham ma'am."  

Everyone imeadeatly turned to look at me, Miss Caroline looked confused, "Whats that Jean Louise?" 

"Walter is one of the Cunnighams Miss Caroline", I reapeated trying to sound as clear as possible.  

Miss Caroline still looking confused said "I beg your pardon?" 

Oh my gosh what is wrong with this lady, she dosen't understand anything, I did not want to explain any farther but I felt like at this point I had no choice so I sighed and said "The Cunninghams are farmers ma'am, the crash hit them the hardest, they never take anything they can't pay back".  Everyone stared at Miss Caroline waiting for her response. "Jean Louise I've had enough of you this morning" then she picked up a ruler and whipped me.  I don't know what I did wrong and so far I did not like school at all, especially Miss Caroline.

Immigration Project Reflection

The immigration project was a project that we did this semester was an interesting project where I learned a lot. This project was made up of three parts, we read a book about immigration, we painted a painting based n our books, and lastly we interviewed a real immigrant that came from a different country and that lives in America now.
So, first we read Lit. Circle books about immigration; the book that I was assigned was called Hello, America by Livia Bitton-Jackson. Hello, America is a book about a girl that comes to America after surviving the Holocaust. I liked reading this book more than any other Lit. Circle book we had to read this semester. I was glad that I chose this book for Lit. Circles, it was my third choice, and at first I was kind of disappointed that I was assigned this book because it did not seem as exiting as the other book choices, but it turned out to be my favorite Lit. Circles book all year. When I read this book I learned about new immigrants and what their life was like wen they would first come to America. If I were to change anything about the whole Lit. Circles experience, I don't think that I would change anything, I think that everything is fine just the way it is. I like blogging a lot more than what we used to do before with Lit. Circles where we had to write out everything. I did not have any problems with the blogging experience, I liked reading the comments and seeing what my group thought about the book.
When we finished reading the book we had to create a painting to represent the book. Before we could start painting we had to draw 2 sketches to represent what we were going to paint. The first sketch that I was thinking of doing was a symbol from the book, it was a drawing of an old letter addressed to Eli Friedman man because at the end of the book she got a very important letter in the mail.   My second sketch was a re-done book cover; it said Hello, America & it had many symbols that represented the book.  I ended up painting my second sketch because I could not paint all of the words on the letter.  I felt like there was a very easy connection between my art piece and the novel, I felt like the book cover i made had more of a connection than the books actual book cover.  I liked the way my final product turned out and I don't think I would change anything at all.  If I were to do it again maybe I would have painted slower so that it would come out better.  I really enjoyed interpreting the book that I read through art and I hope that we can do it again with our future Lit. Circle books.

The third part of this project was the interview process; we had to interview someone that had immigrated from a different country to America.  I interviewed Jean-Michael Diot, an immigrant from France.  I feel like the interview process went really well and there were not really any problems.  The fact that I had to do 3 different interviews was not a problem and I thought that it was a better way to do it because that way you can get more information.  During the interviews I learned many different new things about Jean-Michael Diot, France, and overall immigration.  Interviewing an immigrant and hearing their story's made everything that we learned in class come to life; we got to hear first hand what it was like coming to America.  Overall I really enjoyed this project because it was fun and i learned a lot at the same time.

Hello, America Book Reveiw

For Lit. Circles this semester I choose the book Hello, America by Livia Bitton-Jackson.  This book was about an immigrant that came to America after surviving the Holocaust.  I chose this book because in 7th grade we learned a lot about the Holocaust and I always wondered what the survivors did when it was all over.   

When I found out that I had to read this book for lit. circles, I didn't really want to because it didn't seem as exiting as all of the other books, but it turned out that out of all of my Lit. Circle books so far his year I liked this one the best.  The reason why is because it was a lot easier to understand, it was really informative, and it was entertaining.  Unlike the previous book's I read this was a happy book, it was about how happy Elli was starting her new life in America & how great her new life was.  I liked reading this book because I liked learning about what America was like back in the 1940's, I don't know why but I like learning about that kind of stuff.  I enjoyed reading this book, and at the same time I was learning  a lot.  

I would recommend this book to people that want to learn about what peoples life's were like when they first immigrate to America because I think that many new immigrant's in the 1940's  could relate to Elli's immigration experience.  I would also recommend this to people who would like to learn about what life was like back in the 1940's because there were many differences as opposed to what life is like in America today.  

Reading this book helped me understand how difficult it was being a new immigrant in America,  coming to a completely new country where everything is different.  There were so many people in history that had to go though this experience and immigrate to a new country and there are still people that have to go through this today. Reading this book really helped me appreciate my life and be grateful for all of the opportunities that I have. 

Hello, America #6

Quote #1:

"Ocean Avenue is basking in the golden rays of the late afternoon sun, and I feel like embracing it's radiance, clutching my bosom together with my diploma. -Elli, page 229

Significance:

This was the part after Elli checked her mailbox and found out that she got her High School diploma which meant that she could go to college.  This was a really happy moment for Elli, like her happiest moment the whole book, this was the beginning of the life she had always wanted.

Personal Connection:

If something like this happened to me I would feel like Elli felt too. I would feel really happy to and I would want to tell people, but Elli couldn't tell anyone because everyone was working.

Question:

Did you think Elli would pass the test and get the diploma?

Quote #2:

"Livia Bitton-Jackson born Elli L. Friedmann in Czechoslovakia, was thirteen when she, her mother, and her brother were taken to Auschwitz." - Elli, About the Author

Significance:

Oh my gosh this book was based on a true story!... it was real! ... it was like a biography! Elli is a real person! Oh my gosh I had not idea, I thought that this was just a made up story but it's real. I didn't know that Livia Bitton- Jackson was Elli and that all of these things really happened.  That's why I chose this quote because it was the quote that stood out to me the most while I was reading this last part of the book tonight.  I can't believe that everything that happened in this book really happened.  This book just showed me how hard being a new immigrant in America really was.  Oh, and since her last name is Bitton that means she married David Bitton, that guy from the subway.

Character Analysis: Elli-

Reading this book, and reading about everything that Elli went through in order to get a better life makes me think that if somebody sets their mind to something, it can be accomplished.  Elli went through so much, from surviving the Holocaust, to adapting to a new culture in America, all she wanted to do was be a teacher.  Now she has a PhD, she's a best selling award winning author, and she lives in Israel, in the book she always said she always wanted to go to Israel.   Elli started off with nothing but she kept on trying and she never gave up and in the end it payed off. 

Question:

Did you know that this book was based on a true story?

Hello, America #5

Quote #1:

"The word camp sends a shiver down my spine" -Elli, page 184

Significance:

This was the part where the Principal was telling Elli about the camp that she could work at during the summer.  When I read this sentence I thought that it was really sad because even though she survived the Holocaust and it is over now, she still has to live with the memories forever.

Character Judgement- Principal:

I think that the principal guy shouldn't be so hard on Elli, I'm sure that he can't even imagine everything that she has been through in her past.  I feel bad for Elli because a lot of people are  giving her a hard time because she was a Holocaust survivor and that's supposed to be a good thing.

Question:

If you were Elli would you go to camp?

Quote #2:

"The next morning the harsh reality of the tight daily schedule hits me like an ice cold shower" -Elli, page 190

Significance:

When Elli said this she was referring to her first day of summer camp and how hard it was.  The main reason why I choose this quote was because I liked the way the author used a metaphor to describe how Elli's first day of camp was.  This sentence was important because Elli said that her first day of camp was like immigrating all over again.  She had to start off somewhere new where she did not know anyone at all and she did not feel welcomed.

Personal Connection:

Sometimes when I go somewhere completely new where everyone already knows each other and I don't know anyone I don't feel welcomed, just like Elli.

Question:

Do you think that Elli would have a better summer in New York with her family or at camp?

Hello, America #4

Quote #1: 

"Never get in a strangers car, especially late at night on a dark deserted street." - random guy in white Ford, page 123

Significance:

This was that one part where Elli just got in some random guys car because he said that he would give her a ride home, and it was like really dark and really late at night.  It was so crazy that Elli was just like 'oh okay thank you' as if she was living in like a Disney movie.  It was a good thing that the guy was just teaching her a lesson and that nothing bad happened. 

Personal Connection:

I can relate to this because when I travel somewhere else I learn that people live differently in different couturiers, for example there are some countries where little kids are playing by themselves outside at like midnight and there are other countries where people can't even leave their houses.

Question:

Did you think that something bad was going to happen when you were reading this part?

Quote #2:

"This number was put on my arm in Auschwitz by people like you!" - Elli, page 146

Significance:

Elli said this quote to a lady in the subway.  She said this because the lady was talking to her about some Jewish girls on the subway and Elli was like 'what, stop it, you know I'm Jewish'  and then she showed her the number on her arm and the lady was like 'what is that' and Elli started yelling at the lady because the lady was German.  The lady got really sad and Elli felt bad for yelling at her. I thought that this was an important part of the book because it was when Elli realized that not all Germans were anti-Semitic.

Character Judgement- Lady on Subway:

I kind of feel bad for this random lady, it's not her fault she didn't know about the Holocaust, at the time they didn't like to talk about it & she got yelled at.  At the same time she shouldn't have been talking about those Jewish girls behind their backs.  I'm sure that after this experience she will be more care full about what she says to random people.  So this experience benefited both her and Elli.

Question:

Do you think that Elli did the right thing by yelling at that lady on the subway?

Hello, America #3

Quote #1:

"This is what I love about America! The knowledge of possibility's and the freedom to achieve, if only I work hard." - Elli, page 94

Significance:

Elli said this quote after her first day of work at her second job, she was telling Alex about how someday in the future she wanted to be like her co-workers Sally and Evelyn.  She was just saying how people take advantage of how great America is, she says that a lot in this book.

Personal Connection:

I chose this quote because I think that it really represented America.  A lot of people come here for better opportunities.  I can relate this to the Immigrant project we are doing right now, the person I'm interviewing said that they came here because they had a very good opportunity here.  When you are here, as long as you work hard you can achieve whatever you set your mind too.

Question:

Do you think Elli will ever become a teacher?

Quote #2:

"Friday morning drags on & on"

Significance:

This was the part where Elli was at work, waiting for the day to be over, so that she could go visit her mom in the hospital. During this time I'm sure that Elli was feeling very anxious and worried because her mom was getting an operation , and I'm sure that she was very distracted and not getting very much work done at work.

Personal Connection:

I choose this quote because I can relate to it. Every Friday when I wake up I think that it's Saturday morning but it turns out that there's still one day of school left.  Friday's are slow.

Question:

How old is Elli?

Hello, America #2

Quote 1:

"No one noticed the number on my arm." - Elli, page 68

Significance:

Elli was referring to when a bunch of people came to her cousins house and shook her hand to say goodbye.  The reason why I choose this quote was because I was just reading this book and then I read this sentence and I remembered that she was a survivor of the Holocaust.  I just completely forgot, I mean Elli is just so normal, like any other immigrant, living a normal life as if nothing happened.

Character Analysis:

Elli- Elli is such an strong character. She went through  so much back in Europe, she lost so many family members and friends, and she is still haunted with the memories.  She's just here in America as if nothing happened, still persevering towards her dream of becoming a teacher.  Elli is a character that anyone can look up to.

Question:

Has there ever been a time when you were reading this book and you forgot about Elli's past?

Quote: 

"I guess we've taken everything on campus for granted." - Judy, page 70

Significance: 

In this part of the book Elli was visiting the Brooklyn College campus, and she made all these comments on how everything was so pretty, on things that her friends had never noticed.  Elli said that the schools back home were just concrete buildings.

Personal Connection: 

A lot of times when your really busy you don't notice the little things in life.  For example if you pass by the same things every day you don't really notice them, but if somebody is like visiting San Diego from a different city their like 'wow that's cool' and your like 'yeah i never really noticed that.'

Question:

Has there ever been a time where you didn't notice something really obvious?

Hello, America #1

Quote 1:

"How does it feel to have a different pair of shoes for every outfit? How many pairs of shoes do these girls have? I have been happy with the one pair of shoes I own . . . forever grateful that they fit well . . . forever remembering the shoes I was forced to wear in the death camps, the agony of walking miles and miles in shoes two sizes to small . . . " - Elli, page 23

Significance:

This quote represented that Elli's life was different now, compared to her life back in Europe.  Elli went from only having one pair of very uncomfortable shoes during the Holocaust, to learning that in America people throw away pairs of perfectly good pairs of shoes just because they break. I think that Elli feels that this is very strange and that Americans are very wasteful.  

Personal Connection: 

I feel like we really take things for granted, not just here in America but all over the world.  There is a lot of poverty all over the world and many people only have one pair of shoes, some people don't have any shoes at all & sometimes we just don't realize that.

Question:

Do you think that Elli will ever get used to America & be able to forget her past?

Quote #2:

"In Europe people talk to each other on trains. Here why doesn't anyone say hello as they sit down next to another passenger?" - Elli, page 37

Significance: 

This quote represented one of the many things Elli encountered that were different from what she was used to back at home.  I think that this was when Elli realized that she was not in Europe anymore and that she would have to get used to all of the new changes here in America. 

Personal Connection: 

When you do to other countries you realize that the United States is a very strange country with different customs.  In any other country when you go anywhere weather it's a store, or a bus stop, or a bank, or anything you say hi to the people and talk to them or they will get insulted.  Here, in America if you start talking to random people, they just look at you like your crazy, it's really different.

Question:

Has there ever been a time where you had to adapt to change?

New Americans Museum Reflection

From Haven to Home was a very interesting exhibit about Jewish people that immigrated to America and how it has affected our country.  In this exhibit I learned lots of interesting things about the Jewish history in America.  The first group of Jews came to America from Europe in 1654, they came to New Amsterdam (New York)  & it was only about 23 people.  During this time Jews were looked down upon, they lived in New York's lower East side and a lot of them worked in factories.  Over time more and  more Jews came from Europe because they felt like they were not treated equally because of their religion.  During the 1820's more synagogues were built & in 1834 Rebbecca Grantz opened the first Jewish Sunday school.  In 1924 congress decided to start having  an immigration limit, this was right before Hitler began the Holocaust and this was not good for the European Jews that wanted to escape to America.  Even though there was an immigration limit 200,000 Jews still came around the Holocaust.  I thought that it was really sad how America started there immigration limit as soon as the Jews needed it the most.  In this exhibit I learned a lot about  the hardships and accomplishments of the Jewish people & how they have impacted America.  

I liked the exhibit Children of Immigrants because I enjoyed seeing the child's story by looking at the photographs.  All of the children in the photographs had a whole new life in front of them, here in America.  The photograph that I found the most interesting was the one with all the little kids that came from different cultures at school in Chicago.  I liked this one because all of the kids were from different backgrounds, due to immigration.  All of the kids were so different, but at the same time they were so similar.  When your a little kid in elementary school, where you came from doesn't matter, everybody just gets along and plays together as if they've know each other their whole life.  The quote I choose was "The greatest thing I hope in my life is to become a successful person & to have family and friends to support me, not to be looked at by the color of my skin but by who I am inside" - Samaria Durakovic, Yugoslavia. I chose this quote because I thought that it really applied to this exhibit and it really liked the way that Samaria said what she hoped for in the future.  I hope that Samaria became a successful person, had her family and friends to support her, and was not looked at by the color of her skin but by who she is inside.

Immigration

Immigration is when somebody moves from their home country to another country, to live there. There are many reasons why people would leave their home to immigrate to another country. Sometimes immigrants leave their homes in search of a better life. People move to the United States because the United States is a free country where people have lots of freedom and many rights. For example here we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, there are other country's that don't. 

 

The United States is a pretty new country, it  only started about 230 years ago, and that's not a very long time compared to other county's.  So every body that lives in the United States came from immigration at some point in their family's history.  So United States has been affected by immigration in a huge way.   This is a very unique country, this country is very diverse and there are many different cultures, because the people come here in search of a better life come from all over the world.  If you go to other countries they won't be a diverse as this country because those countries have been around for hundreds of years, so there aren't as many immigrants like in the  United States, that is why people that live here come from so many different backgrounds.   

 

I think that immigration is a good thing because without immigration it would be so boring, everyone would be from the same cultures and backgrounds, nothing would be new or different. Another reason why I like immigration is because like many other people without immigration I wouldn't exist.

Capitalizing Practice

Before:

ok so im dead im floating around piggy ralph and their group try to start a fire boring.... umm lemme see what jack is doin the person that killed me!! >:(.. umm oh wait ralph goes to jack and blows the conch and he getting pelted with rocks. umm lets see the whole fortress that jack has is surronded bu gaurds. yup lets see oh jack has a pigs head and he tells ralph to leave and then he calls jack a thief and ralph asks to return piggys glasses. yup. they started to fight and sam n eric are tied up. then ralph asks again for the glasses then he loses his temper and then they fight again.

After:

Okay so I'm dead I'm floating around Piggy, Ralph, and their group try to start a fire boring.... umm lemme see what Jack is doing the person that killed me!! >:(.. umm oh wait Ralph goes to Jack and blows the conch and he getting pelted with rocks. Umm lets see the whole fortress that Jack has is surrounded by gaurd's. Yup lets see oh Jack has a pigs head and he tells Ralph to leave and then he calls Jack a thief and Ralph asks to return Piggy's glasses. yup. they started to fight and Sam n Eric are tied up. then Ralph asks again for the glasses then he loses his temper and then they fight again.

The Other Side of the River

The Other Side of the River

A Story of Two Towns, a Death, and America's Dilemma

The Other Side of the River is a a very interesting book by Alex Kotlowitz about two towns that are very different even though nothing but a river separated them.  I thought that the title of this book as very symbolic, the "river" was more then something that just separated Benton Harbor and St. Joseph; the river is a barrier flowing all around the world in between people.  

Overall I thought that this book was very unique, what I mean is that the author had a very unique style of writing.  There were many parts of the book where where you could tell that he was not being literal, instead he used symbol's to represent what he was talking about; this inspired me in my writing to be more symbolic instead of just saying the obvious.  One of the things that I did not like about this book was how the author would be very random at times, those were the parts where this book would confuse me, the book would just all of a sudden change the subject and I didn't really understand why.   I am glad that I read this book in school because if I didn't read this book here, I cannot imagine myself picking this book up wanting to read it, I would think that I would not understand it (sometimes I did not understand it, but most of the time I did).  

I though that this book was very well written, you could really tell that the author did his research because this book was based on on a true story, a boy in Benton Harbor named Eric McGinnis really was found on that early morning of May 1991, and they still are trying to figure out what really happened to him.  Everybody has their own theories, but to this day no one knows what really happened to him.  Alex Kotlowitz went to Benton Harbor in search of the true story.  He spent hours talking to many residents of both Benton Harbor & St. Joseph for many years just for this book.  

When you read the end of this book it makes you realize that this book is more than just about trying to figure out what happened to Eric McGinnis; this book is about Benton Harbor & St. Joseph.  As Kotolowitz was talking to all these people asking about Eric, he got so much more out of them, he learned about their background, their beliefs, their families and so much more; he basically learned more about their life by talking to them about Eric McGinnis.  By interviewing all of these people we learned the differences of the lives of the people on both sides of the river, and how Benton Harbor & St. Joseph were more than just two town separated by a river, but more like two completely different worlds.  

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading and who are good at comprehending confusing books.  This book can get very confusing going from past to present.  Reading this book taught me not to give up when you think something is boring because in the end, you might learn something; there were times when I really did not want to read this book and I just wanted to give up on it because I did not understand it, but I kept reading and eventually I grasped the over all meaning of the book.  To me the message of this book is to not let the "river" in your life separate you form other people, everybody is equal.

Lord of the Flies: Journal #13

Chapter 13- Nigthmares & Bedtime Stories

"Kill the Beast, Cut His Throat, Spill His Blood!, Kill the Beast, Cut His Throat, Spill his Blood!"  The boys were all chanting above Ralph, their spears a s sharp as shark teeth, the last thing Ralph saw was the hatred in Jack's dark eyes as he was standing above him with his spear to his heart.

"Ahhh!" Ralph woke up lying on his bed, he was sweating and breathing heavily, "It was justa dream, it was on ly another dream" he told himself.  It had only been two weeks since they had been rescued form the island.  But the memories were still fresh in his mind, everything since the first day when he was walking on the beach with Piggy, to the last day when he thought that Jack was going to murder him, when he thought that it was all over, when he lost all hope.  Ralph had been having all sorts of nightmares since he had left the island, now he was just living a normal life again, as if nothing had ever happened; the only diffrence was that now his parents were much more overprotective than before, they never wanted him to dissapear like that ever again, they wouldn'y even send him to school yet.

Ralph sat on his bed and refleted on his journey back home... After   the naval officer had found them on the island he had his men search the whole island for any surviving boys, no one said anything about Simon, Piggy, or the boy with the mullberry birthmark, not even Ralph.  The ride back home was very long and unconfortable, especially for Ralph.  I mean really put yourself in his position: your on a ship fo about two weeks with a group of savage boys that want to kill you and the only thing that is stopping them is the fact that the ship is full of trained naval officers with a lot of military experience, you would be unconfortable too.  In time everyone recovered form thie experince on the island.  Percival recovered, Maurice recovered, Robert recovered, even Rodger recovered, and Jack, well Jack is another story.  Sadly, Jack did not recover; he was very upset after all of the power that he lost, it just happened so quickly, all becuase if that naval officer.  Jack hated that naval officer, he did not want to go back home, he did not miss anyone, not his friends, not his family, he did not want anyone telling him what to do anymore, he just did whatever he wanted now.  the naval officer noticed Jack's problems on the ship and when they all returned home he convinced his mother to shend him to the RCTC, the Rehabilitation center for Troubled Children. 

Ralph remembered the first time he saw Jack, he was just an innocent little choirboy, with his little black robe and his little black cap.  He also remembered the last time he saw Jack, it was on that cold December day on that dock, the day they returend to England.  Sion's mother was there: the school gave out a notice  to all of the parents that lost their childrenon the crash.  Simon's family and Jack's family had been very good friends for many years and Simon's mother went up to Jack as he was leaving, 

"Have yo seen Simon darling"

"I'm afraid I haven't ma'am" replied Jack with an evil smirk as her eyes filled with tears...

Knoking on the door suddenly inturupted Ralph's flashback.

"Ralph, are you allright , i heard you screaming," Ralphs motehr asked refering to hi nightmare.

"Yeah I'm fine mum, don't worry about it"

"Allright, Goodnight"

"'Night mum" he replied as he sighed.  Ralph had told his parents about the island, but he had no exactly told them the whole story.  He told them that it was a nice peace full island that was all fine and jolly, you know like the the kind of islands that you see in movies and TV shows, where everythign is like some kind of fantacy world, yeah right.  He couldn't tell them the truth about what really happened on the island or they would send him to a psychiatrist, or worse, they would send him to the RCTC with Jack.  Ralph sat back as he was falling asleep adn thought about his experience on the island, it was something that he never wanted to forget, but also something that he hoped no one would ever have to go through.  I mean imagine if everyone went through that experince in their life, half the world would be in rehab; our world would be a mess.  Ralph knew that he had changed since he had come back form teh island, btu he really hoped that this change would make him any diffrnet in a negative way.  He hoped that thid change would not affect his future.

: . : 20 years later : . :

"Daddy, I don't wanna go to bed" complained Theodore

"You have to get your rest, were going to the zoo tommorow, remember!" replied Ralph

"Can you at least tell me a bedtime story before I go to bed, Pleaaaase!"

"All right, all right, one story, but you have to promise to go to bed afterwards, Okay?"

"I promise"

"Which story  do you want to hear tonight?"

"The one about the boys on the island!"

"Okay, where were we?"

"The part where Jack takes Piggy's glassses to make a fire!"

"Oh yeah, so evil Jack took Piggy's glasses, and there wa not really anything he could to about it because Jack was so mean and..."

 : . : The End : . :

Lord of the Flies: Journal #12

Chapter 12 - Cry of The Hunters

All that for Nothing - Jack

I can't beilieve it after everything I did, after all of the power I had, it dosen't matter anymore, because we were rescued. I mean I pretty much had all the power of this island and right before we were about to kill Ralph, they came. Ralph is a lucky guy, I mean if they would have came like 10 minutes later he would have been dead, but they came just in time to save Ralph. It's not that I didn't want to be resuced it's just that now that were going back home I'm just going to be same old Jack Merridew again, same old Jack Merridew that has to go to school, same old Jack Merridew that has to do his homework, and same old Jack Merridew that has to litsen to grown-ups. After all that we went through, it dosen't mean anything anymore, beacause were going back.  

On the othe hand when I saw Jack walking up to us with that officer, it was that moment that I realized how much I really missed home, and how much I really wanted to get off of this island.  When I get home I naver have to see or deal with any of these boys ever again, especially Ralph.  When I saw that officer he remiended me of my father and then I started thinking about my parents, this whole time they probobly thought I was dead.  I haven't thought about going home at all ever since the day Ralph and Piggy saw that navy ship and got really mad at me, in fact this whole time I was trying to avoid the topic of going home.  I guess Simon was right, all we needed was hope.

Lord of the Flies: Journal #11

Chapter 11 - Castle Rock

Were All Gonna Die Here - Ralph

I can't believe this, first Simon, now Piggy, we have to get off of this island now! This is just getting way out of control.  Ever since Jack became 'chief' anyone who I actually likes me gets killed, for all I know Samneric could be next, all because of me, all because Jack hates me.  Is it my fault that Simon and Piggy got killed?  I mean with Simon if we would have never gone to Jack's feast, Simon would have found us at our camp and we would probably be sleeping and everything would just be all fine and jolly.  With Piggy, we should have took better care of Piggy's glasses, them Jack wouldn't have found them and taken them, and then we wouldn't be going after him and get smashed by rocks.

Poor Simon, he was such nice guy, to be honest I never really liked Piggy he was always very annoying all talking about his ass-mar, but he was loyal, he never went off to join Jack like the rest of all of them, so I guess I miss him too.  I swear if we don't get rescued soon were all going to die, even Jack.

Lord of the Flies: Journal #10

Chapter 10 - The Shell & The Glasses

It was an accident... - Piggy

Even I have been trying to convince Ralph that we didn't kill Simon and that it was just an accident, I know the real truth, but I just can't get myself to admit it.  I can' t believe that we murdered Simon, how could we.  Now I want to get off of this island more than ever, I mean for all I know I could be next.  There is no order on this island anymore, ever since Jack became chief things are just so barmy.  If Ralph was still chief Simon would probably still be here. My auntie always told me that hate was a very strong word and to never use it against anyone, but I hate Jack so much.

I wonder what Jack is doing right now, he is pretty much in charge of all of the boys now, except for Ralph, Samneric, and me.   There up on Castle Rock, he doesn't even care that we lost Simon, he probably convinced the other boys not to care either.  Today he took my specs, and I know why, he took them to make the fire, he could have just took some of our fire, but he took my specs so that he wouldn't have to come back here to keep taking the fire.  I hate to admit it, but Jacks a pretty smart guy.  I don' think that the rest of the boys realize that now that Jack has all the power were all going to die, we need to be purged.  All we have left now is hope...

Lord of the Flies: Journal #9

Chapter 9 - A View to a Death

I Died... - Simon

For the most part today was a good day, well except for the end. Anyway, I must have fallen asleep or something because I had some kind of dream illusion type thing that I was talking to the Lord of the Flies, you know the pig on the stick full of black blood and flies. It was weird because somehow the Lord of the Flies was me, well not the regular me, a different side of me, the bad side of me, kind of like my own beastie, it was just really weird. The Lord of the Flies told me that I was wrong, you know how I told everyone that the beastie is just the evil in the each of us. He told me that if I kept telling every one that, they were going to kill me, even Piggy, even Ralph, well it turned out he was right

After I talked to the Lord of the Flies I realized that the beastie that everyone was saying they saw on the top of the mountain was just a dead British army solider with a huge parachute. I was so exited to go tell everyone. So I was on my way and suddenly it started to rain and I tripped on the parachute, I fell and tripped all over the place it was very dark and wet. Finally I got to the camp and I could not wait to tell everyone that i found the real beastie. Suddenly everyone formed a circle around me and started chanting and stabbing me, I think they thought I was the beastie, I mean it was very dark and my face was full of blood, I yelled and screamed trying to tell them about the real beastie and that it was just me, Simon, but it was impossible to tell them over all of their chanting and yelling. How could they do this to me, what did I ever do, honestly I thought I was one of the nicest people on this island. Even Piggy and Ralph were in it, just like the Lord of the Flies told me they would be. The last thing I saw was Jack's dark eyes full of hatred, I started to loose consciousness and them everything went black...I died.