Blog Review - Sofia Keaveny

http://skkeaveny.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-listen.html

I thought Sofia's blog post was really great. I have also read this book and i agree to what she was talking about. I think she pointed out a lot of interesting parts of the book that i hadn't even thought of. Like when she said "The book is called Just Listen meaning just listen to others, but I think the title really has a deeper meaning" when i read a book i don't think much of the title but i think its interesting how she really elaborated. I also think it was smart of her to talk about how it relates to her and her life. Sofia was talking about how the book effected her and i think thats important to think about and also not what a lot of people think about. 

This blog post makes me think of a few questions. Like if i didn't read the book, how does Annabel deal with all this pressure? Her mom pressures her into being something she doesn't want to be and her sister has an eating disorder, it must be a lot. 

Another thing that Sofia brought up that i thought was interesting is that she talked about how in her point in the story you were just getting to know the character Annabel. You really start to understand her and sofia says that she is a good listener. When i read that i thought about how earlier in the blog post Sofia was talking about the title having a little but more meaning then what it just says. I wonder if annabel being a good lister has anything to do with that. 

Overall, i thought that Sofia's blog post really stood out for many reasons. One is that it was really engaging when i first started to read it, it pulled me in. Also i have read the book and i thought it would be interesting to read what someone else thought about it. 

February Non Fiction: Reading Disabilities

I just read an article about reading disabilities. Reading disabilities are a lot more common than people think. A lot of kids have them and don’t even know they do. One of the most common and more popular disability is dyslexia. It is when people mix up letters and it’s really hard for them to read, this does not apply strictly to kids because you can be an adult and still not know you have it. To find out if you do have a disability you have to get tested and that costs money.

I personally don’t have a reading disability but this article about reading disabilities relates to my life. My mom is a reading teacher and she works with kids that need extra help with reading and that does affect my life. She shares stories with the family that really helps me understand and learn a lot more about things like dyslexia. My mom really helps kids and I think that is interesting and really cool. Dyslexia is a huge and very complicated topic. There are a bunch of levels and types.

In the article it talks about how it is estimated that 10 million children have difficulties with reading. Mostly kids get tested at a young age and find out sooner than later. That is a good thing so they can get the proper help they need like a tutor or extra time. About 90 to 95 percent of kids catch it early and get the proper help they need which is good. The key to catching the reading disability early on is to pay close attention to the child. If they have a hard time paying attention or its hard for them to do tests, or participate in class it’s a sign that you should pay extra close attention.

I think this article is very interesting. It tells me a lot about reading disabilities and after reading it I think teachers and parents should pay close attention to their kids.

"Stay" (spolier)

The book “Stay” by Deb Caletti is a really good, complex book. It’s about a girl named Clara. Clara is like any other teenage girl. She thinks of herself as normal and she feels pretty much normal.

But then Clara finds true love and her life turns into a complete crazy mess in good and bad ways. At first Christian seemed perfectly harmless and normal. They meet each other and it was love at first sight. They are harmless and just two cute people who spend all their time together.

But then Christian gets more and more obsessive and it gets worse. Clara can’t even have dinner without him being there. It gets so bad that he starts stalking her and Clara gets scared.

I were Clara I would be really scared. I mean it would be so scary to be stalked. Even if it is your boyfriend. They didn’t even know each other for that long and that’s really creepy. Clara tries to break up with him but he doesn’t leave her a long. Eventually they even have to go as far as tell her dad and call the police.

This story makes me think a lot about how intense that must be for a family. Clara’s mom died in the story. You don’t find out until the end that she drowned and that it was the dads fault. It was a really intense scene and really scary. Especially since after that, Clara almost drowned.

In this book a few perspectives are missing. I think that the Dad is definitely a big part of the story and the author didn’t put him in the story un purpose. It would make a much bigger difference if the dad wasn’t part of the story. The author is trying to show how hard it is especially for just Clara and the dad is part of it but if they put what he was thinking in the story it wouldn’t be as powerful and emotional.