i am currently reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It is a really fantastic book and it is set in the 1960's. It tells the story of a fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens. I am not that far into the book but so far its mostly about how Lily's mom died when she was four years old. Her and her dad have a tough relationship and the mom's death has been extremely rough on the whole family.

Lily has a lot of questions with things like growing up and things that she can only ask her mom. That is where her “step in mother” Rosaleen comes in. This story sets place where there were slaves and black people were treated awful and Rosaleen was black. But she is like a mother to Lily.

I think the author chose to write in first person of Lily’s perspective for a reason. The author chose to leave out other really important people in the story for a reason. Someone’s perspective who is missing is the dad’s. the author makes it seem like the dad is a really bad guy but the dad is also hurting a lot from the Mom’s death just like Lily. The dad is really harsh on Lily and I think they author didn’t put him in the story because it shows how hard Lily’s life is. If the readers knew also how the dad felt they wouldn’t feel as bad for Lily and I think the author wants people to feel bad for her. 

Perfect by Natasha Friend

Over the break i read a really great book called "Perfect" by Natasha Friend. Natasha Friend was also the author of the book "Lush" which was also a really great book and i did a post on.
Perfect is about a girl named Isabelle and she has an eating disorder called bulimia which is a very serious disorder. You throw up on purpose to be skinnier.
Isabelle is only thirteen years old and already she has been through so much. Her dad died and everything turned upside down for her. She started throwing up and it wasn't even supposed to mean something the first time. She was in the bathroom and it just happened. But then she starts doing it more and more and it becomes an addiction and a huge problem.
Isabelles mom makes her go to therapy and everything to make her better but it doesn't exactly work.

Bulimia is really scary and it can damage your body and it can be so bad as it can kill you. Throwing up all the time is not safe and it has side effects like your teeth yellowing.
I think that Isabelle really just needed her dad. she was hurting and she just got all caught up with being skinny and once you are in such a dark place like that we all know that it is extremely hard to get out. When Isabelle was in therapy she met a friend named Ashley that had the same problem and they even ended up doing it together. A lot of people think its stupid and of course you can control yourself but thats not the case at all, it is a serious eating disorder.
When people are bulimic sometimes what they do is eat a lot, like  an abnormal amount of food and then throw it all up.

One line that really stands out for me is, “When you believe in something, stand up for it, even if everyone is sitting.” i think that this line really means a lot like isabelle needs to believe in herself so she can stop throwing up even if she has to do it alone. 

Non Fiction Post March

I just read a very interesting article from national geographic. It is about the digestive system. The digestive system is a lot of tube like structures and organs that help you digest your food. In all there is about 30 feet long of all different pipes and tubes. The job of the digestive system is to break down food, sort is and reprocess it. The reason you chew your food is because your body needs it to be mashed up so it could go down through your body.

There are different parts of the digestive system. It all starts when you chew your food. You chew it mechanically when you are just straight out chewing up your food but once saliva mixes with the food it becomes chemical. Then once you swallow it, it goes down a large skinny tube called your esophagus. Then from there it goes to your stomach then small intestine and then large intestine.

After reading this article i think a lot more of the digestive system. I did learn about it this year in science and i just think that it such an interesting thing. It's crazy to think all of those organs are so long and can fit inside you. I also just thought before that once you swallow your food its all digested. But that is not the case. In fact it takes at least half an hour to tell if you are full or not.

I still have so many questions about the digestive system. Like what do other organs do? also how come the small intestine is actually bigger then the large intestine?
Overall, the digestive system is a really important and interesting topic!

The link to the article: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/digestive-system-article.html

The Help

I am currently reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I am not very far into is but so far i think its an amazing book. It is set in the time where there wasn't slavery but there were maids. they were called "the help". It is set in the south and it makes the book so much more interesting because when you read it you can imagine the way they talk with their accents.

Every chapter in the book is in a different point of view in different books. So far there has been about three different perspectives, Aibileen, mini, and Ms Skeeter. Ms Skeeter is not the help. She is white and she lives with her Mom and Dad at home but she is in her twenty's. Ms Skeeter really stood out for me for some reasons. She is not at all like her friends. Her friends are rude and snotty and they barley pay attention to the help. They even make them go in different bathrooms. But Ms Skeeter is different, she has different views on the help and she doesn't treat them like trash.

The first time i noticed that Ms. Skeeter was not as rude as her friends was when they were at Elizabeths house and they were having tea. After all the rest the people left Ms Skeeter came up to Aibileen and asked her if she would want to change things. No one ever asks the help things, especially such a big question like if they would want to change something.

Ms. Skeeter is also taller and more awkward then others. I think Ms. Skeeter is sad that she is different then other people then her but i don't think that is a bad thing. I think its a good thing to be different but Ms. Skeeter doesn't realize that. She doesn't want to be different but i think that we should all find a lesson here and know that its ok to be different and we should all know and embrace that.

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.