Sweet Tooth

Over break my older brother and I book swapped and he gave me three comic books. I have never really been one for his comic books but I figured I would give them a try because he was reading my books which was a change for him. I just finished the first one last night, it is called Sweet tooth, Out of The Deep Woods by Jeff lemire. The basic story line of this graphic novel is that there is a plague that is slowly killing off all the humans, but when this plague went into activation there was a birth of kids that were born with some kind of animal in them. They were born with antlers, animal skin, fur, hooves..something. Gus is the main character of this novel in the beginning it is only him and his father. They live in the woods together, his mother died of the plague when he was really young. Gus's father tells his to never leave the woods because there is fire and murder and sin out in the world. Every night they pray for their mother that she is okay in heaven and that someday God will take them there to see her. When his father dies, Gus adventures into the woods to bury him next to his mother and at this point in time he gets hunted by two hunters. Luckily, he is saved by Mr.Jepperd who Gus has seen in his dreams before but never in real life. Mr. Jpperd tells Gus that he is not safe and that he needs to come with him. Now being alone with no family, he goes. Mr.Jepperd explains to Gus that there is a lot of people who would pay a lot of money to have someone like him who is half man half animal but that he would protect him and take him to the preserve where all the other ones are begin keep safe. Gus goes with him and along the way gets the nick name Sweet tooth from Mr.Jepperd because at their first meal Gus would not eat any of the meat that Mr.Jepperd was cooking because he did not want to eat another animal, so Mr.Jeppered gave him candy bars. Which Gus loved! As the story progresses they encounter a lot of situations where people try and steal Sweet Tooth, but Mr.Jepperd save's him. But in the end Mr.Jepperd and Gus get to the preserve and Mr.Jepperd turns Sweet Tooth over for a reward that he was promised. The whole story shows that you can not trust anyone except what you were brought up on. That you should trust your instincts and not just believe what some stranger tells you because they have food and say they will project you!
I really like reading graphic novels. Seeing the really detailed pictures to go along with the story really helps to fully understand what the author is trying to get across rather than just going with the images that I create in my head! I am excited to read the next two comic books my brother gave me. I think this is a great way for students who struggle with reading to read. In high school when we were reading The Great Gatsby our teacher has the book in a graphic novel form and each day someone new got to follow along with the graphic novel form. It really helped a lot of my class mates understand better what was going on in the tale. It makes me think if Romeo and Juliet were in graphic novel form would more students understand it better?

Crank Continued..

I just got about 100 pages deeper into Crank and it is so extremely intense. I love this book. There are so many things to love about it. One thing that is really interesting that I think everyone should read it for or at least pick up the book and flip through it for is some of the sonnets are written in the shape of images.( like a house or an arrow) That is self makes the book more interesting I think. With every turn of the page there is something new and exciting to read about our character. She has traveled down to see her dad who she has not seen since her parents have gotten a divorce. While she is down there she realizes all the reasons her mother has left him and still hates him. He is still a drug abuser, a low life, had a low paying job and does not want to clean him self up. He works at a bowling alley under the table where he gets and abuses the drug coke. While Kristina is down there she meets this boy and falls in love stealing him from the girl who lives down stairs. This whole time that she is with this lover Adam, who everyone calls "buddy" she tells him to call her "Bree" her other half. When she is "Bree" she is not her self she does strange things she tries Crank,the "monster." Her father does not stop her, instead he just does a line with her and lets her walk home alone where she gets raped by three men. There are just so many things that happen with in 100 short pages that are so engaging. She has sex for the first time with Adam and Adam's girl friend see's and jumps out of her bed room window. There are a lot of things as a writer that you can incorporate to keep a reader truing the page and I think that Hopkins has really done it in this situation.
As a reader you picture and imagine what is going to happen next and with most box that I have read like the hanging tree I could guess and guess right what was going to happen next but with this book as i flip the page to see what happens next i find that I am wrong and that the writer has thrown me for a loop. As a reader this is something that I look for in a GREAT book. This book i would recommend to any person of all age levels. maybe 8 grade and up.

The End Of Many

I finished Reading a few books and just did not get a chance to blog about them.
Fahrenheit 451- I finished this book in a really fast manor. I have never finished a book so fast. I think because I enjoyed it so much. And the fact that it fit into the society so much today I could really relate to it. This book was written in 1953 and now today has evolved to actually make its self true. The idea that we do not actually need books to read. The idea that technology is going to take over to the world and we are going to lost touch with all the simply things in life, like reading a paper back novel taking in the old moldy smell of the book. I actually just read and article for my other class that they are coming out with the Human Body 2.0 where we wont need to actually ingest food anymore we can just implant these nano-bots onto our clothes that go into out body when we need nutrients. It is so interesting and scary to think about that we could actually not need to eat to survive! That is what I really take from this book that we are missing out on the small things by moving into this modern world that technology is taking over the world and replacing the simple pleasures that we used to enjoy.

Crank

I started reading Crank this past weekend. I picked it up a long time ago in high school and got about 15 pages in and just stopped because I lost track of time. I picked it up again and really loved it. I forgot why I loved it so much but quickly remembered. It is because of the short quick intriguing sonnets that Ellen Hopkins has throughout the whole book.
It is interesting because there are so many different characters portrayed in this tale even thought there are really only a maximum of 5 characters.( up to the part I have read) but it is interesting because the main character Kristina has a split personality. And when she talks both parts of her are talking . Every other line is what she says out loud and then what her other half Krista would say. so it is really interesting and fun to read.
So far the plot of my story is just a broken family, but it gets interesting I can tell because I keep filiping forward and reading the titles of each sonnet.

Collective thoughts

After reading my comments and post, I do see a change in my reading skills. I find my self trying to reach into the book more to find more answers than just what is on the page. When reading 451 I found my self willingly looking for more information on the web, as I finished Hanging Tree I found myself looking deeper into the authors thoughts as I read his words. There is a lot that you can take a way from a book that I think most people miss. I know a lot of people who find reading a chore so they just read because they have to so they are just reading whats on the page. Where as now I feel like when I read and respond to an open forum I find my self re-thinking about what really went on in that chapter and I am able to reconnect my self and mind with the book.

Survey's: How technology aids students with learning Disabilities

Please take these surveys accordingly to help me gather research for my project to show how technology aids students with learning disabilities. It is a known fact that students with learning disabilities learn completely different than the average student. I know form first hand experience. I would not say that I suffer from dyslexia but I grow everyday from my learning disability and intend to help other children see how a learning disability is not a disadvantage at life but an advantage. Most students who have dyslexia use different parts of their brain more than the others, for example I fail to use the part of my brain that helps me with my short term memory, comprehension, spelling, and writing. However other parts of my brain work really fast and well. I excel when it comes to creative wringing, sports,music, and building things. Being able to see things in different ways means that I learn and take in information in different ways. For me technology has always been a MAJOR outlet for me. It it were not for the speedy online dictionary I would not have made it though high school. My brothers and I were also privileged to use Dragon Speak which is a program that as you talk your way through your paper the computer program types what you say. These technologies have help my brothers and I (who both have dyslexia) to get through high school and many classes and over come out disability. If you would be so kind to participate in my survey below and help me acquire information for my project to show what schools and students are missing without technology and how it would be really beatifically if they had small things like Dragon Speak.
Below there are two different surveys the first one if for teachers and the second for students. Please take what ever one fits your situation because the questions are different. The survey is anonymous but your answers will be pulled into a final tally.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=u3xqnuFvxRMeWBt2HPLtF8qS%2fgOwdqs532uKEV4Dljw%3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=cpdcKDeMmCAJpvbKNN%2bRlxuHcOr4R5gDWfYnjXMuZQ8%3d

Fahrenheit 451

I just started reading Fahrenheit 451, I am really loving it. The main reason I love it is because it is a novel that has basically come true. The idea that we are going to be overwhelmed by technology and it is going to become the new way of reading for us has basically come true. I was just "googeling" the book because I am not that far into it and I wanted to know a little more about the author and I found a few short quotes that are really interesting.
"While the novel does tough on the dangers of censorship, Bradbury was adamant that this was not his focus. The novel is about the dangers of television, he said and his fears that such mindless entertainment would replace recreational free thinking."

To further prove this point here is an segment of a letter that Bradbury wrote to a fellow science fiction writer Richard Matheson:
"Radio has contributed to our 'growing lace of attention! [...] This sort of hopscotching existence makes it almost impossible for people, myself included, to sit down and get into a novel again. We have become a short story reading people, or , worse than that, a QUICK reading people."

This letter was written fifty years ago and now today we can make the connections that this is really coming true. I consider myself a quick reader now, I try not to be but sometimes you just have to be. I know watching my dad every morning read the paper when I was little he was never a quick read kind of guy. He would take almost two hours to read the paper cover to end. Now he goes to work with out reading the paper and just reads what articles he wants on the papers website.

I really am only three and two and a half chapters deep but I have heard a lot about this book and just decided to do some extra research. I also found the meaning of the title very cool. That 451 is the degree that books burn at, and the main character being a fireman.
The idea of cycles I can tell is going to be used a lot in this novel.
Till next time.