The Giver

This book is about a very interesting boy named Jonas. In Jonas's community, there are no feelings, no hunger, no inequalities, and no pain. Everything is created to be equal. Every family unit is uniform and ordered according to the community leaders. Each member of the community is given their profession when they turn twelve. Jonas is selected to become the receiver of memory. As he trains with the Giver, he realizes the truth of the community he lives in. The people of the community do not get to feel love, true happiness, or any of the god qualities of life. On the other hand, they do not feel any of the negative aspects either. They live in a colorless society. Those who do not live up to the standards of this Utopian society are quickly "released". Jonas later finds out that this release process is equivalent to that of death. He decides that it is up to him to return what has been taken from the members of the community. With the help of the Giver, Jonas escapes from the community which will result in the release of all memories to the community. I liked this book because it expressed the true feelings of people. I used the techniques of visualization and determining the importance. This book was written by Lois Lowry.

'The Gold Cadillac

One day as Lois and her sister Wilma are playing outside, they see their father driving an all gold Cadillac. Such a car was considered for only rich people and they were filled with excitement as he drove into the driveway. When their father opened the door he shouted, " Go get your mother and I will tell you all about it"
Lois and her sister couldn’t have run faster, they went into the house and through the kitchen where their mother was. When they told her about the new car she had an astonished look on her face and refused to come out. Lois and Wilma were really surprised why their mom wouldn’t come to see the car, but they were too eager to see it for themselves that they ran outside without anymore questions.
The whole block came outside to see the car, and standing next to it looking very proud was their dad. Immediately Lois and Wilma went for a ride, the car had such a smooth ride and great look. Finally when they returned home, their mom was standing outside with an angry look on her face.
"What is wrong" said our father " It’s brand new"
"What was the problem with our old car, it was working fine." said our mother
"We both agreed that the money would be used to buy a home in a better neighborhood she said.
She then went inside the house looking angrier than before. My father had puzzled look on his face but went inside to talk to his wife. Lois was very confused and couldn’t understand why their mother did not enjoy the car as much as they did.
The next day all the uncle’s and aunts came and visited them. When they saw the Cadillac and heard that mother would not ride in it, they were all shocked. Father did not seem that happy anymore about his new car and decided to take it down south to visit his parents. The whole family was shocked to hear him say that, they all new that when the white people down south see a colored person driving an expensive car, he will end up in big trouble. They all tried too talk him out of it but he already had his mind sat. It was his car and he felt he could drive it wherever he pleased. Mama decided that she had no choice but accompany her husband, even if it means driving in the new Cadillac. On there way down there, they got stopped by the police twice and were accused of stealing the car. When they finally made it to their grandparents house, their father decided it was best to sell the car, get the mercury back, and save up for a new house. With this decision, everybody was happy, and even though Lois missed the Cadillac, now they can be a closer family

Looser

The main character is Donald Zinkoff. He prefers to be called Zinkoff. Zinkoff starts out as a little 6 year old, starting his first year of grade school. He tries the best he can. Zinkoff even walks to school all by himself; a hour before school even starts. He loves school so much. Zinkoff raises his hand at every question, even though he knows he is going to get it wrong. His first grade teacher doesn't see anything wrong in Zinkoff. Although he is a bit unusual. He laughs at silly word, such as Jabip, of course every young kid would, except Zinkoff doesn't stop laughing. All the kids at school knows him as the boy who laughs a lot.Ask he grows older, he acts different then the rest of the kids. He doesn't seem to notice that he still acts like a 6 year old, but the other kids do. They tease him a lot and whisper behind his back. But still, Zinkoff takes no notice, he actually thinks its fun! School gets harder for Zinkoff. The kids are mean, and so are the teachers. The teachers aren't as nice to him as his kindergarten teacher was, Zinkoff wonders why. When field day comes along, Zinkoff doesn't do as well as the other kids on his team, causing his team to lose. They start calling him a loser and telling him he's slow. He friend Andrew (who he met when he was younger) moves away. But when Zinkoff is in 6th grade he meets up with Andrew again, but Andrew doesn't want to be friends. Zinkoff face the same problems again, like bullying and being called names.Zinkoff wants to change all this by helping to find a lost girl. He spend more than 5 hours looking for her out in the freezing cold. He is terribly cold, but he keeps going. A snow plow-er finally finds him and brings him home. As it turns out, the little girl was found a little while after she was lost and all the searchers that were looking for the little girl, were looking for him.Zinkoff is six in the beginig of the book. He is a happy go-lucky kid. He enjoys school very much. He loves his kindergarten teacher and the kids there. As he gets older during the book he acts the same as a six year old. He is oblivious to the teasing the other kids give him. When he is around 8 or 9 he finally realizes that he is a loser. But in the end, Zinkoff over comes all the teasing as kids start to accept him as who he is.I loved this book because it made you feel sad at times, but happy at others. The author described the way Zinkoff was feeling throughout the book. He explained what Zinkoff was thinking. I love details and descriptions so I loved this book. Although it was not my favorite book, I loved the way Jerry Spinelli wrote it.The strategy I used was visualizing. I use this strategy because it lets you picture the plot and story the way you want it to look like. I love to visualize the way the character look and the scenery looks.

Where the Red Fern Grows.

In Where the Red Fern Grows, Billy, the main character grew up in the Ozark Mountains on a little farm with his parents and three younger sisters. What Billy wants most in this world is a pair of coonhound dogs. He asks his parents for a pair of hunting hounds, but since the family is poor, all his father can offer him is a farm Collie from next door's Farm. Billy than becomes sick because he wants the dogs so bad. Then he decides to earn the dogs himself after finding a magazine with a section that advertised dogs for sale. The magazine was left behind by fisherman. On the bank where they fish, Billy makes a prayer to got to help him get his dogs. Billy does odd jobs and sells food and bait to the fishermen to earn money. After two years, he earns enough, and his grandfather orders the dogs. After traveling all the way to Tahlequah, Billy manages to get his pups and names them Old Dan and Little Ann after the two names he saw carved in a nearby tree.When hunting season comes, Billy is very excited and immediately starts out. His dogs rustle up a "coon", or raccoon and manage to chase it up the tallest tree in the forest, a sycamore. He knows that if he doesn't get the coon out of the tree his dogs won't trust him any more. He sets to work chopping down the tree. After a couple of days, the tree still hasn't fallen, and he is ready to give up. Billy then prays to God to help him bring down the tree. After this prayer, a strange wind blows the tree down without even rustling the branches of other nearby trees. His dogs get the raccoon and Billy decides that the wind was an act of God.
Billy goes out hunting almost every night. That winter, the price of coon skins is high due to a surge in popularity of their fur in the use of coats. He brings the skins to his Grandfather's store to be sold. Together, he and Old Dan and Little Ann perform some amazing feats hunting coons in the Ozarks and earn local fame. Then Grandpa enters Billy into a championship raccoon hunt, pitting Billy against grown men and the finest hounds in all the country. When they go hunting the first time, the pair of hounds tree three coons, qualifying them for the final round. During the final round, the pair tree one coon before a blizzard comes up. Billy, his father, Grandpa, and the judge lose track of the dogs. Finally, after half the night, they find them circling a tree in a hurry. Billy's father chops down the tree and three coons come running out. The dogs dispatch two of them, but the third gets away. They need one more coon to win the championship, but since the blizzard is still going on Billy does not want his dogs to chase the coon for fear of them freezing. However, against his wishes, the dogs chase the coon. Billy and the rest of the company wait out the blizzard . In the morning, the hunters discover the two dogs covered with ice unceasingly running around a tree. All the hunters help Billy melt the ice off his dogs. Then they watch as the trio take care of the last coon. Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann win the hunt and receive the championship gold cup as well as a jackpot. With the money that Billy's hounds have earned, his parents have saved up enough for Billy's family to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma. This has been his mother's dream for a long time, since she wants the children to have a proper edjucation . He takes his hounds out one evening and encounters a mountain lion , which the hounds fight to protect Billy. Billy helps them by swinging his axe at the cat. Old Dan receives a gash across the stomach among other wounds. Old Dan dies from the severe injuries and loss of blood at their home. With her companion gone, Little Ann loses her will to live and she dies lying by his grave. Billy visits their grave one last time before he is about to go. When he sees the grave a sacred red fern grows over both their graves. It was said that only an angel could plant the seed of a red fern. The whole family is in awe of this rare and unique plant, and they carry the memory of the red fern with them to town. Billy never returns to the Ozarks but in his memories, he will always be with his dogs.

The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield, the main character in my book , had no idea where his life was going. After getting kicked out of Pencey, a boys prep school, Holden decides it is time to go back to the city where he had once grew up. Being that Pencey is the Fifth school Holden has been kicked out of, he chose he will wait until Wednesday to tell his parents about the news. In the city, Holden is able to see life for what it really is. While analyzing the city raging about him, Holden's attention is captured by a child walking in the street "singing and humming." Realizing that the child is singing the familiar tune, "If a body meet a body, comin' through the rye," Holden then says that he feels "not so depressed.". During the 24 hour time period in the city Holden realizes that his life so far has been full of phonies. He is able to see that all people of accomplished in this world is creating a better image of themselves, and refuses to live that way. Basically his sister Phoebe is who he cares about most, to him she is one of the few people who is able to see the real Holden inside him. Phoebe once questioned him regarding what he would like to do when he gets older, Holden replies, "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going. I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." I really wonder what Holden means by this, but somehow I think it must guide him down the line in life.

The Orphan Of Ellis Island

Dominic Cantori has spent most of his life in foster care. When a guide asks Dominic's fifth-grade class to talk about their families during a field trip to Ellis Island, the boy is embarrassed because he has no heritage to discuss, and hides in a storage closet where he promptly falls asleep. Waking after the museum is closed, he panics until the prerecorded voice of one of the exhibits soothes him back to sleep. When he wakes again, he finds himself in Italy in 1908. He is befriended by three orphan brothers who are waiting for sponsors to pay their passage to America. Dominic becomes part of their adventures and gains a new sense of family. When one of the brothers dies tragically, Dominic accompanies the other two to America and discovers that the boys may actually be related to him in more than just spirit. It turns out that they are really are his anscestors and now Dominic knows where he came from.

Pink and Say

Fifteen-year-old Sheldon Curtis has been left for dead on a civil war battlefield somewhere in Georgia. He's got a bullet in his leg, but he's still alive. Pinkus Aylee, A black soldier, also about fifteen, who has been separated from his unit, comes across Sheldon and carries, coaxes and drags him home, where Pinkus' mother, Moe Moe Bay, nurses him back to health. During his stay with Pink and his mother, Sheldon, who is called Say for short, confesses that he was deserting when he was shot and Pink talks him into rejoining the war when he heals. Pink has no choice, because the war is about his freedom. Also during his recovery, Say is surprised to see that Pink can read. He cannot, but he tells Pink and Moe Moe Bay that he once shook hands with Abe Lincoln and in a brilliant piece of artwork, Ms. Polacco shows us the two African Americans touching the had that once touched the hand of Abe Lincoln. Say recovers, but just before they're about to leave to rejoin the war, Mauraders come. Moe Moe Bay hides the two boys in her root celler, telling them that they won't want anything to do with an old black woman, then she leads them away from the cabin. Sadly then kill her. After burying her, Pink and Say start out to find their units, but are captured by the Confederates. They are sent to Andersonville, a horrid prison built to house ten thousand, but which held thirty thousand. Pink and Say are separated after they're imprisoned and in a touching drawing Ms. Polacco shows us Pink touching the hand that touched the hand of Abe Lincoln one last time. When Sheldon is released several months later he weighs only 78 pounds. Pinkus was hanged and his body thrown into a lime pit. Sheldon lived to die an old man, as Moe Moe Bay said he would.