When all the adults are GONE who takes over? Find out in the book GONE by Michael Grant

          "It's not about who's got powers, morons. It's about who's not afraid. And who's going to do what has to be done."- Michael Grant. Whether you have physical or mental power isn't significant when it comes to leadership. When the people determine who their leader would be, they observe their character, personality and capabilities to lead. A real leader manifest bravery, courage and doing the right thing. Gone by Michael Grant is a captivating and compelling book about a place in Florida called Perdido Beach where mysterious and unusual things started to happen. All of a sudden, everyone from the age of 15 disappears and the teens, middle schoolers and the toddlers learn survive and rely on each other. And on the kid's 15th birthday, at the exact time of birth, they vanish in the blink of an eye. Hunger threatens and everyone are frightened. Sides are being chosen and a strong, reliable and valiant leader is in need to organize everyone and everything. The characters in Gone resist the power of other characters in many ways. 
          In need of an efficient leader or a genuine, valiant leader you need to resist. A lot of times, when you don't want another person to take over leadership, what do you do? You take over before they even have a chance. This situation has happened in Gone. Sam is a quiet surfer boy who stands up for the right thing in difficult times. He once had had saved a school bus from crashing just at a young age and he saved a little girl terrified and trapped in a burning building. Everyone sense a true leader in him and the bullies are jealous and fear him for anytime Sam could rise up and take over. However to prevent this, the bullies inform everyone that now they are in charge and the main bully,Orc, is their leader and shall be called "Captain Orc." People are too afraid to resist the bullies's power. However, there are times when people resist. For example, when Sam, Astrid, Quinn and Edilio ignore "Captain Orc" there was an imminent danger of getting beat up. And that's exactly what happened. When Sam realizes that it was his fault that his friend's were getting beat up, it says, "Sam made a flying leap at Cookie. He grabbed Cookie in the crook of one arm and yanked him forward with his momentum. Cookie landed hard on his belly, and Sam rolled free." (Page 94) This quote is meaningful because it shows that Sam has courage and strength to defeat "obstacles" on his way. When he sees something wrong he stands up for it. Sam doesn't care who is in charge except if unworthy leaders take over, they have a problem coming. If you possess better leadership skills, you just take over by conveying your ideas and giving support and care for those in fear. Claine is a suspicious stranger and a student from Coates Academy, where rich parents sent you if other schools found you "difficult". Claine and his little group comes to Perdido Beach and Claine display potential leadership skills and tries to get people to his side. After organizing everyone and giving 10 nominated candidates essential jobs, Claine takes over the mayor's office. Despite having skeptical people confused about who's really leader, Claine eliminates anyone against him. Sam and the others soon realize that Claine's not a wonderful leader after all, although he has the majority of tough and powerful people. Sam resist to Claine's power by brewing a big tornado meaning to prepare for bloodshed. War seems very imminent. Claine better watch out, because a fire tornado is heading his way. For instance Sam talks to all his supporters and says, "Here's the thing. We're not going to give in. We're going to fight." (Page 410- 411) This is really meaningful because finally Sam decides to be a true leader. Moreover perceiving that Claine is pure evil and takes advantage of his powers, Sam is determined to take Claine down. Sam's words are powerful and no one can resist his power.
          To sum up, characters need to resist the power of other characters to reach an efficient and close-to-perfect leader. This matters because many times, there are terrible leaders. These leaders sometimes misuse and takes advantages of their power. This is unacceptable and intolerable. Teenagers can connect to this book because they realize they may have potential leadership skills ans when time of difficulty arrive, one must rise up and speak for all. Furthermore, the book can teach teenagers to be independent and depend on themselves for survival. Gone depicts a dystopian society where there are no adults and teens can learn to not rely on adults. he book prepares teens of what sort of problems they might be facing if all the adults are gone. Teens would also realize how important a leader's job is. If a deceitful person takes over, you should always stand up, fight and permanently remove him/ her from being a leader.      

Mockingjay Part 1

           The movie Mockingjay Part 1, based on the 3rd book of the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins was an inspiring movie that makes you think more about our world today. The themes that appeared in Mockingjay Part 1 was very similar to what happens in reality. Mockingjay is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen who becomes the face of the new nation; district 13. Her words moves people's thinking into deeper understanding that their capitol, the government, is not as great as it might seem. Katniss faces grief of the destruction of her home district (District 12) and sees what has happened to people that supported her. The injured and dead people who are helpless need her help and Katniss decides she will be their Mockingjay which symbolize leader along with rebellion against the government. Throughout the movie, there were many themes. 

          One theme that was present in the movie was violence. From ages 12 to 18, kids are entered in the hunger games and 24 kids/teenagers are chosen at random. They are forced to survive, fight and kill each other. In Mockingjay, it was mentioned that the games destroyed Katniss. This is very true. Killing and surviving in a difficult place can traumatize a kid/ teenager for their whole life. It is very frightening and who would actually want to kill anyone? Moreover because of rebellion against the capitol, the government of Panem killed many innocent people. The capitol bombed hospitals and destroyed districts. This shows what a corrupt government is capable of doing. In our world today there are many examples of violence. For example ISIS a terrible, extremist terrorist group in the Middle East are killing innocent lives just because people are not being extremely religious. Another example is the death of Eric Garner along with Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin who were suspected by the police of crimes they hadn't committed. In fact they were killed for that. The violence and killing of innocent people is very disturbing. 

          Another theme that was present in the movie was rebellion. When everyone realizes that the capitol is corrupt and that President Snow takes advantage of his powers, people starts to rebel. And the capitol would do anything to hunt down these rebels even if it means to shoot them at the spot. Because of Katniss's character and personality people trust her and expect her to do something to stop the capitol. Katniss's courage, strength and her words motivate people to defeat the capitol. With her rebellion, more people join. However this rebellion causes many deaths. This is alot similiar to what happens in reality. For example, the three-fingered salute which appears in the hunger games series, is a symbol used to show solidarity against a dystopian government, was used in Thailand by five students who hated their military led government. Their use of the three-fingered salute got them arrested just like what happened to many people in the hunger games series.

          Overall, the themes that appeared in Mockingjay is very similar to what happens in our world. Although with different situations, they all share a similar theme/ message. Mockingjay was a great movie that leads you to deeper understanding and teaches you to stand up for yourself and make sacrifices for all. I really recommend Mockingjay and the whole Hunger Games trilogy to readers who are looking for adventure and love science fiction books that take place in dystopian worlds. 

     

Response Based on Inquiry Question and Synthesis Page: The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer By Michelle Hodkin

          "Never try to solve all the problems at once - make them line up for you one-by-one."-Richard Sloma. There are times when we are faced with so many problems to deal. However it's difficult for people to find solutions to their problems. There are many ways to deal with your problems. The book, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, an amazing book to read, is about a girl named Mara Dyer who is in a state of shock of her friend's death due to an old asylum collapsing. Mara doesn't even remember what really happpened and why but soon she starts to recall her memories in her dreams and finds a huge power that lies within her. That power can kill anyone she wishes to kill or hate a lot. Mara is very confused and afraid of what she is capable of. Throughout the book, Mara Dyer deals with her problems in many ways.

          Many times, Mara runs away from her problems than actually facing it. She tries to escape from all her anxiety and be somewhere where she can't hurt her loved ones. She just gives up and think that there are no more solutions to help her go through what she's facing. For example, Mara gets really mad at her brother's kidnapper and immagines someone killing the man. However her plan to kill her brother's kidnapper almost killed her dad. Mara feels very remorseful about it and plans to make up lies so she would be put in jail, where she really wouldn't be able to harm the people she cares for. When Mara realize that she has no way to be fixed, she says, "All of my choices had been wrong. Everything I touched I would destroy. If I stayed, it could be Joseph or Daniel or my mother or Noah, next. But I couldn't just disappear, with my parent's resources, I'd be found in hours."(Page 449) This quote is very meaningful because it shows that Mara really loves and cares for other's lives. She really doesn't want to hurt anyone. Infact she wants to control her power so she wouldn't use it by accident. The mood of this quote is remorseful because Mara feels that it's her fault that her dad is in a death situation. Her dad almost could've died! However I think Mara shouldn't feel guilty because it's not her fault that she can't control her powers. Her emotions just naturally controls it. I think Mara should learn to control her emotions first. She should take baby steps such as starting to open up to her close ones. Another way Mara run away from her problems is that she moves to a whole different state and leaves behind everything including the place she had lived ever since she was born. For instance after her bestfriend Rachel's funeral Mara explains to her mom why moving will help her a lot, "She was always in this house - I can't look at anything without thinking about her. And if I go back to school, I'll see her there, too. But I want to go back to school. I need to. I need to think about something else." (Page 16) This quote is meaningful because someway or the other, everyone can connect to this. When we face greif, we try to move on by hanging out with our friends or doing things you like to do. Instead of moving to a whole different state, Mara should enjoy her life and move on. She would still be remembering her friends but she should realize that her friends would now be in a better place. A lot of people in reality tends to run away from their problems rather than facing them and finding solutions. Running away from your problems doesn't seem like a brave choice. As Edwin Louis Cole once said, "You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there," meaning when you fall in the waters, which symbolize a problem, you drown because you just stay there, which symbolizes that you don't do anything to solve your problem. However when you use your techniques and start swimming you prevent yourself from drowning. This symbolize finding solutions to your problems. All in all, characters in books and in reality usually run away from their problems and just gives up on finding solutions.

          Another way Mara deals with her problems is by seeking help. She tries communicating with other people and ask them for advice. She looks for the person who would understand her and help her go through her problems. For example, Mara shares her thoughts, feelings and her personal problems with her boyfriend, Noah, who she really loves, trust and knows that he would understand and help her fix herself. It says, " 'Fix me,' I commanded him. 'This thing, what I've done - there's something wrong with me, Noah. Fix it.' " (Page 393) This is meaningful, because it shows that Mara really wants everything to be fixed and back to the way it was before. It also shows that Mara actually tries to go through her problems. She's not afraid to hide her problems from her family and friends. Sharing your problems with your very close and loved ones is a very good idea. When they understands you, you feel supported and both of you can help each other. Another way Mara seeks help is by seeing a pshychologists and asking what's wrong with her. When all the other solutions doesn't seem to be working, Mara gives a final try. When Mara asks Noah where they're going he answers, "1821 Calle Ocho," Noah said. "You wanted to go back to the botanica, didn't you?" This quote shows that Noah really cares for Mara and wants to help her figure out her power. Noah also seems to know exactly what Mara wants to do. By seeking her boyfriend's help, Mara feels safe and more confident and motivated to find a solution. As you can see, seeking help is a great way to deal with your problems.

          Overall, Mara Dyer has many different ways to deal with her problems. This is important because many people throughout the world needs to realize that sometimes in order to solve your problems, you need to try different things and see if they work. There won't be only one solution; infact there would be many solutions to that problem. Teenagers can connect to this because they can realize that giving up is a cowardly act. They should be valiant and overcome any obstacles that come their way. This book thaught me that you need to work hard to solve your problems. By sharing your feelings and seeking help you really get supported and it gives you an idea to solve your problems. Running away from your problems should be the last thing you do. To sum up, you can deal with your life problems in many ways.                                                                        

Nonfiction Reading Response on Upfront Article

          The article, "No Job? Get Lost!" by Andrew Higgins, is about Norway's northernmost territory, Svalbard, that doesn't allow unemployment. In Svalbard you cannot live there, if you didn't have a job. Even the retirees are deported unless they had proof that they can support themselves. In this part of Norway, even homelessness is not allowed. Everyone had to have a permanent address. Moreover Svalbard rarely has any crimes.The author also talks about how the police enforced a rule that anyone moving outside the city limits of Longyearbyen must carry a weapon and know how to use it. In that case, the rule includes kids too! To sum up, Svalbard has its good sides of being one of the safest place to live but also the bad sides of unemployment not being allowed. 

          The author suported his opinion by adding a lot of details, quotes and elaboraton. His bias seems to be be more for the fact that Svalbard is a great place to live. For example he uses a lot of loaded words such as law-abiding society, prides and lawlessness. These words indicates a positive impression that Svalbard is a safe place to live. The author supports this by saying, "Residents regularly leave their car and snow mobile keys in the ignition and don't bother locking their front doors." Leaving your door open is a big risk to take and there might be cases of stolen items. However in Svalbard the people don't have to worry about their things getting stolen. The author added the perspective of Governor Odd Olsen Ingero of Svalbard and Mark Sabbatini, an American in Svalbard. Yet I think if the author added the perspective of the residents living in that place, it would make his argument stronger. All in all though, the article indicates that Svalbard is a great and safe place to live.

          This article has taught me a lot of things. I never knew that there was a place where unemployment wasn't allowed. I learned that Svalbard is so safe that people don't need to worry about leaving their doors unlocked. There's not many crimes in Svalbard. In total, the police in Svalbard handle about 100 cases a year. Compare to other countries this is really little amount of crimes. On the other hand, the price of fresh foods is very shocking. A gallon of milk in Svalbard is $27 , the world's most expensive milk. Compared to the United States that sell milk for about $3.70, Svalbard's price is too expensive. Even with the expensive prices I personally think Svalbard would be an amazing place to live. 

          

          

"Darkness Too Visible" Response

          The article, "Darkness Too  Visible" by Megan Cox Gurdon is about the author's opinion that Young Adult books are inappropriate for teenagers. Throughout the article the author provides many evidence to support her claim that Young Adult books contain dark topics such as pederasty, kidnapping, incest and brutal beatings. For evidence the author uses many challenged books to show that Young Adult books have many inappropriate topics that parents wouldn't want their kids to read about. There's many parents that don't want their kids to learn about disturbing topics of reality or the fictional world. Even the most popular books can have a dark side to it. 

          Throughout "Darkness Too Visible" the author uses a lot of loaded words. For example, the author used words such as brutality, ugliness, crude, despoliation and other words to describe Young Adult books. These words make me feel that Young Adult books aren't appropriate for teenagers after all. This is because such words indicate negativity in young adult books. Throughout the article the author uses a lot of parent's/adult's perspective but does not include a Young Adult book reader's perspective. 

          The article is definitely argumentative. I disagree with the author claim that Young Adult books are inappropriate for teenagers. Although young adult books can have dark topics, not all of them belong to the category. What is a dark topic depends on the reader as a whole. For example if the reader like violent topics, the reader would have a violent taste. Also if the reader is comfortable with reading Young Adult books with dark topics then there shouldn't be any problem. However the article did make me realize something. What I realized is that many books I have read that I felt comfortable reading were actually some of the challenged books because of adult/parent concerns of dark topics throughout the books. I also realized that parents and other adults think about dark topics in general. They don't think about what readers can learn from them. There's so much values and ideas young readers can learn from Young Adult books. Moreover the article included a lot of parents/adults perspective but didn't bother to add reader's perspective, opinions or quotes. I think Megan Cox Gurdon could've made her argument more stronger by adding reader's perspective because people who actually experienced reading Young Adult books are way different than people who knows about the topics of a Young Adult book. Overall I think throughout the article the author, Megan Cox Gurdon could've added about readers who actually experienced Young Adult books.

Reading Response: Legend by Marie Lu

                How would you feel if you have lost a family member and saw them die right in front of your eyes? How would you react or deal with it? I would cry everyday until my eyes ran out of tears. I would hate eating eating or doing anything I used to love to do. The smile on my face face would disappear and sorrow would fill my heart. In Legend by Marie Lu two of the main characters lose their family members and are left in sorrow. Legend is a fantastic must-read book. It is about 15 year old June, who is the Republic's little prodigy and 15 year old Day, who is the Republic's most wanted criminal. Though Day seems like a very dangerous person his personality and actions aren;t as malicious as they seem. When June's brother Metias is murdered, the top suspect is Day, and it is June's mission to capture Day and make him pay for his crimes. From different worlds June and Day fight for revenge, honor, freedom and each other. Throughout the book, death appears many times in Legend and we can learn a lot of values from them and should realize that there's always hope in the end.

                A troubling issue that appears in Legend a lot is death. For instance, Day's top weakness is his family. When Day refuses to expose himself, a commander who is called Commander Jameson, orders to kill Day's mother. The death of this innocent civilian is very disturbing. This was very shocking to me because Day's mother was very close to his heart. As a reader when I read it, it made me feel like I lost my own mom. Day's mother's death brought tears in my eyes. The death of a mother now makes me want to hug my mom everyday and try to always keep her happy. When Commander Jameson orders to kill Day's mother Day says, "The moment the Captain shot my mother plays over over in my head like a movie stuck on the same scene." (Page 165) This quote is meaningful, because it shows how much the death of his mother affected him. The quote also shows how devastated Day must have been at the moment to see his mother's death right in front of his eyes. The mood expressed in the quote is remorseful, vulnerable and powerless, because the death of Day's mother somehow makes him feel guilty that it was because of him that his mother died. It make me feel very devastated, because it reminds me of the death of my great-grandmother. She was very close to me. I loved her and always took care of her when she came to visit. At a young age losing my great-grandmother affected me in many ways. I cried until my eyes were dry and at first I refused to accept her death, On her funeral, I saw her as a beautiful woman lying down on the bed. That day it seemed like her face gave off this beautiful glow and lit up the room. I imagined her sleeping peacefully. I was angry that people were crying and disturbing her sleep. When I had realized that my great-grandmother had gone into a deep sleep and would never wake up, I was crying too and there was an ache in my heart as if someone was ripping me apart. As you can see, everyone can relate to a death loss, at least once in their life, to how Day felt when his mother had died. All in all, death is one of the troubling issues in Legend.

                Although there are many troubling issues in Legend, we can learn a lot from them. For example, we can learn to make sacrifices for our siblings. One of the many examples of how Day's brother, John, made a sacrifice for his brother is the execution of John. In this scene Day was suppose to be executed for the several crimes he has committed. However, John decides to sacrifice himself and be executed instead. When John, Day and June try to escape, the text says, "You need more time," John says, "They want an execution, they'll get one." He starts running away from us. Back down the hall. Back towards the firing squad yard." (Page 293) This quote is really meaningful, because it shows that just to get Day more time to escape, John sacrifices himself in order to save Day. The quote also shows how much John loves and cares for his brother. It shows that just for his brother, John would be glad to take Day's place in the execution. In reality not many people make sacrifices for his or her brothers or sisters. John is included in those few that do make a sacrifice for their siblings. Though dying for your siblings is an example of making sacrifices, it is not the only way you can make sacrifices. For instance, if you have a piece of cake and it's the last piece, you can make a sacrifice and give all of it to your sibling (s). Also if your siblings really want something from you, you can make a sacrifice by giving them what they want. All in all, John's sacrifice for his brother teaches us that one should be valiant to sacrifice for his or her siblings even if it means to die for them.

                As the book continues, the author shows although life throws you a lot of obstacles, you can always overcome them day by day. Also by facing life troubles, people should realize that there's always hope in the end and that nothing is impossible. When June asks Day why he chose to call himself Day, he answers, "Each day means a new 24 hours. Each day means everything is possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time." (Page 304) This quote is meaningful, because it shows how a day goes. There are so many things that could happen in a day. You could be born or you could die. You could accomplish something and feel like you're on top of the worlds or you could fail at something and feel like you're nothing at all. Even after facing many obstacles, there's hope and a new day to face your fears. As someone once said, "Every cloud has a silver lining"-Unknown meaning that you should be hopeful because difficult times always lead to better days. Overall, the quote made me realize that although the characters face many troubles in the book, there's always hope in the end.

                The book Legend by Marie Lu has taught me a lot of things. I learned that dealing with grief could be very difficult to face when someone truly experience a horrible situation themselves. I also learned that we should always try to make sacrifices for our younger siblings even if the situation seems too difficult or scary to face. You never know when something might happen to them. Lastly, I learned that each day could bring a new possibility or change to the world. Each day could be a new beginning . Other readers can connect to this book, because at least once in their life they lose someone they dearly loved and cared for. They also faced grief and had difficulty facing it. There are times when people lose hope and just give up on life. Legend shows how one of the main character, Day faces his own grief of his mother and brother's death. This can help people overcome their grief and still have hope. Though Legend has a lot of troubling issues, we can learn many important things and never give up on hope.

Book Response: Divergent by Veronica Roth

           

          Divergent by Veronica Roth is an amazing book about a 16 year old girl named Beatrice Prior (Tris). In the book, there are 5 factions that each has a quality they represent. The factions are Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, Dauntless and Amity. Abnegation are the selfless people, Erudite are the intelligent ones, Candor the truthful ones, Dauntless the brave people and the Amity people are the kind and generous. Tris was raised by an Abnegation family but admired the courage of the Dauntless people. In her world, when a child turns 16 years old they take an aptitude test to determine their faction. However in Tris's aptitude test the result is Divergent meaning she has qualities of more than one faction. Being Divergent is very dangerous and if anyone found out it could result in death. 

          Throughout the book, Tris hides the fact that she is Divergent and also at the same time trains hard to become a member of Dauntless. In the book, Tris meets Four and they both fall in love. However by the end, more problems starts to occur such as the war between the Abnegation people and the Erudite. The Erudite starts killing innocent Abnegation people with weapons and help from the Dauntless and their manipulated armies. With all these problems to handle, Tris faces them one by one and proves that she's dauntless.

          One of Tris's goal in the Dauntless faction is to become a member. To become a member of the Dauntless, Tris goes through many obstacles on her way but at the same time she loves being Dauntless. She loves the freedom of the Dauntless ones. The Dauntless ones has to do a lot of dangerous stuff like jumping off the train, a building and even fighting each other until one knocks the other unconscious. Tris completes all of this. She even faces her worst fears. At the same time she has fun doing dauntless things. All of this point to the fact that Tris is very strong, brave and courageous. 

          In conclusion, throughout the book, Tris not only proves that she is dauntless but also that she is indeed divergent. She faces so many problems and on the way she loses many of her loved ones. It's all up to her. This book made me realize that everyone has their own qualities that most describes them but sometimes there are some special people that has a lot of qualities at the same time that stands out. Even those should be treated equal. By reading about Tris's bravery and courage, I feel more motivated to be dauntless. All in all, Divergent is a fantastic book and I highly recommend this book.