COMING OF AGE FINAL READING RESPONSE

My reading response is about the book SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is about a teenage girl named Melinda who is having trouble going through her Freshman year of Highschool. She doesnt have any friends and she still was going through her Freshman Year without any. I thought she matured alot since the beginning of the book.

Melinda had matured a little from the beginning of the book to the middle of the book by her art project. Her art project is about Melinda having to draw a tree, and make it look creative. But while i was reading the book, I realized that the Tree wasnt just an art project, it reflected Melinda's Life. For Example, In the beginning of the book when she first got the assignment of the Tree Project, she thought it was going to be really easy. But then when she works on her project, she finds it hard to make a Tree look creative. She starts carving little trees onto blocks but then when she's finished, they come out looking all messed up and deformed. This is a reflection of how Melinda was feeling about what had happened to her during her summer before High School. But then at the End of the book, when she finally matured and told people about what had happened to her, her tree looked so much better and it was just the way she wanted it to look without it looking deformed and messed up.

In the beginning of the book, I thought Melinda was being ignorant because she could have just told somebody about what Andy Evans had done to her during the summer before High School. But she decided not to tell anyone, and then her Freshman Year became very bad for her without any friends until the end of the year. But then near the End of the book she became Wise and Mature because she finally came out and told her art teacher what had happened to her last summer.

I also thought Melinda Matured during the End of the book because when Andy Evans was going to Rape Melinda again in the Coat Closet where she hangs out in during class, she said no and she got away from him. The part that I thought she matured in was when she had said No to Andy, and had also got away from him. She also matured because the had the guts to break a mirror and get a sharp piece from it and hold it up to Andy's neck.

I thought this text related to me in a way because I've matured alot since when I was younger and also since the beginning of the 8th grade.
I thought the Reader should feel glad for Melinda because she finally became Wise and Mature about telling people what had happened to her and also learn this for in the future to always become wise and make the right decisions.

WRITING PROMPT (QUESTION #12)

How do Family and Friends Influence our Coming of Age?

I thought that Fammily Influences our Coming of Age because Family is always with you from Childhood to Adulthood. When your having a bad day, your Family is always there to cheer you up with a piece of cake or some Ice Cream that is Delicious, and then you forget about how bad your day was and spend the rest of the night with your Family. Also Family Influences our Coming of Age because Family is always with us when we're growing up and they're always there from when we were a kid to when we are adults.

I thought that Friends Influences our Coming of Age because once you have true friend thats always going to be there for you, you wouldnt want any more friends because one true friend is better than having a hundred fake and un-truthful friends that always lie to you. Also I thought Friends Influences our Coming of Age because our true friends are like Family, always there when you need them and they're always there when you need someone to talk to when you cant talk to any of your Family Members.

I also thought that Family and Friends Influences our Coming of Age because both of them have to do with our lives and both Family and Friends are always there for us when we really need them most.

WRITING PROMPT (QUESTION #7)

What are the Main Similarities and Differences betweeen Childhood and Adulthood?

The Main Similarities between Childhood and Adulthood are that your still around people that Love You and Care for You very much. For Example, when your little at the age of 1 Friends and Family Members would come and check you out and say how cute you are and that your so adorable and all that other nice sweet talk. But then once you become an Adult, Life gets harder for you and the same people that were there for you when you were younger are still here for you now, helping you with Life and difficult situations that you would have to make. When your an Adult and when ever you need some advice, you would go and ask someone that really cares for you and not some random stranger on the street who you dont even know.

The Differences between Childhood and Adulthood is that when your a Child you have less responsibilities, but when your an Adult you have more and more responsibilities that you would have to make. For Example, when your a little kid anything you wanted your Mother or Father would do it for you, but then once you get older and become more grown up you start taking matters into your hands and start taking your own responsibilites and doing your own stuff instead of your Mother or Father doing it for you.

READING RESPONSE ON COMING OF AGE BOOK

My Reading Response is about the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is about a teenage girl named Melinda Sordino who is a Freshman at MerryWeather High School. She has been going through alot ever since the year before when she called the cops on a kid at Kyle Rodger's Party, and now everybody hates her especially her ex-bestfriend Rachelle. Ever since High School started for Melinda, she has been an Outcast with no friends and she is trying to deal with it. Now Melinda Sordino is trying to get through the rest of the High School year with everyone hating her, except for a girl named Heather who is Melinda's New and only Friend until Heather becomes popular.

Rachelle is a a teenage girl who also goes to MerryWeather High School. She also used to be Melinda's best friend until the year before when Rachelle found out that Melinda had called the cops on Kyle's Party thinking it was to break up the party. But what Rachelle doesnt know is that the only reason Melinda had called the cops was because something bad had happened to her and would scar her for the rest of her life. A popular Senior named Andy Evans had done something very horrible and very scarring to Melinda , Andy Evans had Raped Melinda at Kyle Roder's Party. I observed that Rachelle doesnt seem like a true friend because Rachelle had stopped being bestfriends with Melinda just because Rachelle thought Melinda had called the Cops on Kyle's Party to break it up. Why would someone stop being friends just because someone else called the cops on a party? That just seemed stupid to me. I thought that Melinda is going to stand up for herself and tell everybody what really happened to her at Kyle's party and she would have all of her respect back, and everybody would start talking to her and she wouldnt be an outcast anymore.

Ever since Melinda had been Raped, that is all she has been thinking about. She has been failing her classes and skipping classes as a result of depression from her self-blame. Every teacher that Melinda has doesnt like her except for one of her teachers. Mr. Freeman is the MerryWeather High School Art Teacher and he thinks that Melinda has potential to express realy good art. When Mr. Freeman gives his class an assignment to do, Melinda gets a Topic that has to do with Trees. She thought the topic would be too easy and she isnt too thrilled with her getting that topic. But then later when she starts to do her project, she finds that the topic is harder than she thought it would be. I observed that Mr. Freeman seems like a very chill and cool teacher because he doesnt care that Melinda is skipping classes because he thinks thinks that she has very good potential. I think that all of the other teachers dont like Melinda because they dont know whats going through her head and also because they dont know what her situation is, and what she has to think and go through everyday ever since last year.

Mostly everyone in MerryWeather High School dislike Melinda, except for one girl who was only her friend until she had become popular. Heather was friends with Melinda in the beginning of the year, until Heather had become Popular and starting hanging with the Popular Kids. At one point of the book Heather gets encouraged to stop being friends with Melinda, but then Heather only came back to Melinda because of her artistic ability. I observed that Heather is just like Rachelle in a kind of way because they both abandoned and stopped being friends with Melinda because they started becoming popular. I also thought that Heather is just like Rachelle because they both were just using her, and also Heather and Rachelle were both close friends with Melinda.

I thought this text relates to me because I know how it feels to lose a very close friend just because they wanted to be in the popular group. Also I can relate to this text because I've known how it feels to have not very good and not have any true friends to hang with or to talk to.

I think the Reader should feel bad not for Melinda, but for the people who are treating Melinda badly and treating her like an outcast because at some point Melinda would become popular and the people who treated Melinda badly would have their karma and they would become the outcast without any friends. Also I think the Reader should feel like this Reading Response had encouraged them enough to read the whole book and have their own opinions on Speak.

FINAL REVISED READING RESPONSE ESSAY

My reading response about the book "Handbook for Boys" by Walter Dean Myers. This book is about the right roads to choose in life, and not to pick the bad choices in life. When I first read this book, I thought this was going to be about a step by step book to take in life for boys. But instead the characters in this book talk about these deep thoughts and opinions on how they feel about the customers lives when the customers talk about their emotions in the barber shop that Duke owns. Duke is a very rich man who is also the person who owns the barbershop and he has his own community mentoring program. He also has alot of opinions on peoples lives and he also seems like he gives very good advice to people who need them and asks for his advice. He has helped alot of people out with their situations and he seems like one of those Guidence Counselors that you would see in a High School for the teenagers with problems on their hands and he would try to help you and give you advice on what you should do. He seems like a Guidence Counselor especially when he helps Jimmy and Kevin get their acts together and help them choose the right roads in life.

Jimmy is a kid who has been given a second chance and not having to go to Jail for assault on another student in his school. His mentor Duke Wilson has given Jimmy another chance by taking him into his own community mentoring program, because he thinks that Jimmy could have a good life and be successful in life. Also Duke thinks that if he helps Jimmy out and take him into his community mentoring program and help him get his act together and teach him the wrongs from the rights, then he would become a good kid , finish highschool, goto college, and have a good degree; When he has his degree the he wouldn't end up living in the streets, and not end up in the court house again to be sentenced to jail for whatever he has done. I observed that Duke is a really nice guy because he’s spending a lot of money from his own pocket on these kids because he thinks they have potential to have a nice life, and not end up in the streets being either dead, in rehab, or in prison. I thought the only reason Duke was helping Jimmy out was because he had probably done bad stuff such as smoke weed, sell weed, rob some guy when he was Jimmy's age and Duke didnt want Jimmy to go down the road that would lead him going to jail. Also i had thought that Duke had fixed his act in time before he had done something really dumb and stupid that would make him end up in jail for a very long time. Even though Jimmy disrespects Duke sometimes, Duke is still trying to mentor Jimmy because he knows he could change him. A Mentor is a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. Even though Duke is mentoring Jimmy and can’t change how Jimmy acts, Duke knows he could change the way Jimmy feels about some stuff like personal issues, fighting, robbing, and everything else that they talk about in the barbershop.
As I had said before, I thought that Duke had a rough child hood of his own because Duke knows the right roads to choose in life and not to choose the wrong roads in life. I only thought he knew to choose the right roads in life now is because he had been through all of the situations that every teenage boy goes through and that he has learned from all of his mistakes and he just wanted to pass it on to someone who he thought could use the help and that is probably going through the same problems he went through when he was a teenager.

Duke has another kid that he has taken into his mentoring program named Kevin. Duke thinks that he has a chance just like Jimmy does. But since Duke has taken both of them into his program, they work at his barber shop. They sweep up the hair and they clean the barbershop, so technically it's like they're doing community service. The Barbershop is a place where all of Dukes friends and people who need advice come to because they know people in the Barbershop would help them out when they need their on their situation. The Barbershop is also where all the men go to talk about how their life is and whats going on with their lives and the people in there give their opinions on it. Both Kevin and Jimmy have to work about 5 days a week, Monday-Friday in the Barbershop because Duke needs the help and because Duke thinks that if Jimmy and Kevin come to the Barbershop and hear all of his customers lives and give their opinons on it, then they would try and change their life from bad to good. When Duke and Jimmy get to the barbershop, they're always men who are there who talk about their lives, like how they deal with their wife, money issues, personal stories, and Duke always has opinons to give them to make things work out. They talk about what their opinions of their life is, such as if it’s good or bad. They also talk like how a kid talks to the kid’s guidance counselors; they talk to them when they have no one else to talk to or to go to.
I observed that Kevin and Jimmy are picking the right roads in life, because they're doing better in school and picking up their grades. But even though Jimmy disrespects Duke and doesn't listen to him sometimes, Jimmy is changing in a way. He is changing in a way where he knows not to do anything bad, and not trying to end up in jail for about 5-10 years. I think that this is because every day when Kevin and Jimmy spend time in the Barbershop, they learn to do the right from the wrong. Like for example, A guy named Lonnie G has just tried to hold up a supermarket but he doesn't get away with it, and when Duke asks what he did wrong Jimmy answers he tried to get money the easy way instead of getting money the way everybody else gets it, work for it.

I thought this text relates to me because sometimes I would have a mentor. The mentor that I have is my sister, and we have our own little talks once in a while about how my school work is doing and if I am having trouble with anything or if I need help with any problems at school. I also have another mentor; I used to go to her once a week when I had Talent as some of you may know. She always helped me feel calm and I could just let out all of my feelings that I had felt. Also I thought this text related to me because, sometimes I try to take the easy way out of things like for example, if had to do a 5 page essay and my teacher didn't tell me what kind of font size I needed to use and I was lazy at the moment and didn’t feel like doing work, I would usually change the font to size 14-16 so that I wouldn't have to write so much. Also so that it would look like I wrote a lot, meanwhile I knew I was suppose to use size 12 font.
I think that the reader should feel and see if they could relate to Jimmy or Kevin in any way, like how I could relate to them. Also I want my reader to know that this book was really good, and to the boys, I think they should give this book a try and read it. Because if you're having a hard time figuring out the right from the wrongs or if you’re going down the wrong path in life, then this book is perfect for you to read.

FINAL READING RESPONSE ESSAY

My reading response is to a book I am reading, and the book is called "Handbook for Boys" by Walter Dean Myers. This book is about the right roads to choose in life, and not to pick the bad choices in life. When I first read this book, I thought this was going to be about a step by step book to take in life for boys. But instead the characters in this book talk about these deep thoughts and opinions on how they feel about the customers lives when the customers talk about their emotions in the barber shop that Duke owns. Duke is a very rich man who is also the person who owns the barbershop and he has his own community mentoring program. A community mentoring program is when a kid is about to be sent to jail and be locked up, but then if Duke thinks that they have a good life ahead of them, and then he would send them to his community mentoring program. So the community mentoring program is basically doing community service, and taking their time off of their jail sentence. He also has taken two kids into his community mentoring program named Jimmy and Kevin. Kevin is older than Jimmy and he is a senior in High School, while Jimmy is probably in his sophomore year.

Jimmy is a kid who has been given a second chance and not having to go to Jail for assault on another student in his school. His Mentor Duke Wilson has given Jimmy another chance by taking him into his own community mentoring program, because he thinks that Jimmy could have a good life and be successful in life. Also Duke thinks that if he helps Jimmy out and take him into his community mentoring program and not go to Jail, then he wouldn't end up living in the streets, and not ending up in the court house again to see if he was guilty or not to be sentenced to jail. But instead Jimmy would have a successful life and have a successful job with a successful wife and family. I observed that Duke is a really nice guy because he’s spending a lot of money from his own pocket on these kids because he thinks they have potential to have a nice life, and not end up in the streets being either dead, in rehab, or in prison. I thought that Duke is helping Jimmy because he didn't want to see good kids like Jimmy go to jail, and because he knows that if he helps Jimmy out, then he probably wouldn't do the stuff that the people in the hood would do such as selling weed, fighting, stealing, etc. Even though Jimmy disrespects Duke sometimes, Duke still is trying to mentor Jimmy because he knows he could change him. Even if he can’t change how he acts, Duke knows he could change the way Jimmy feels about some stuff like personal issues, fighting, robbing, and everything else that they talk about in the barbershop. I also thought that Duke had a rough child hood of his own, and he now knows the right roads to choose and not to choose the wrong roads in life because he probably has been through this stage in his life before, and he just wants to pass on what he knows to kids that he thinks are going through the same problem that he had went through as a child and help them.

Duke has another kid that he has taken into his mentoring program named Kevin. Duke thinks that he has a chance just like Jimmy does. But since Duke has taken both of them into his program, they work at his barber shop. They sweep up the hair and they clean the barbershop, so technically they're doing community service in the barber shop. Both Kevin and Jimmy have to work about 5 days a week, Monday-Friday and they have to go straight to the barber shop when they get out of school. When they get to the barbershop, they always talk about Duke's customer's lives, like how they deal with their wife, money issues, personal stories, and they always have their opinions on them. They talk about what their opinions of their life is, such as if it’s good or bad. They also talk like how a kid talks to the kid’s guidance counselors; they talk to them when they have no one else to talk to or to go to.
I observed that Kevin and Jimmy are picking the right roads in life, because they're doing better in school and picking up their grades. But even though Jimmy disrespects Duke and doesn't listen to him sometimes, Jimmy is changing in a way. He is changing in a way where he knows not to do anything bad, and not trying to end up in jail for about 5-10 years. I think that this is because every day when Kevin and Jimmy spend time in the Barbershop, they learn to do the right from the wrong. Like for example, the part that I am up to in my book (this was from a long time ago, I finished the book already) a guy named Lonnie G has just tried to hold up a supermarket but he doesn't get away with it, and when Duke asks what he did wrong Jimmy answers he tried to get money the easy way instead of getting money the way everybody else gets it, Work for it.

I thought this text relates to me because sometimes I would have a mentor. The mentor that I have is my sister, and we have our own little talks once in a while about how my school work is doing and if I am having trouble with anything or if I need help with any problems at school. I also have another mentor; I used to go to her once a week when I had Talent as some of you may know. She always helped me feel calm and I could just let out all of my feelings that I had felt. Also I thought this text related to me because, sometimes I try to take the easy way out of things like for example, if had to do a 5 page essay and my teacher didn't tell me what kind of font size I needed to use and I was lazy at the moment and didn’t feel like doing work, I would usually change the font to size 14-16 so that I wouldn't have to write so much. Also so that it would look like I wrote a lot, meanwhile I knew I was suppose to use size 12 font.
I think that the reader should feel and see if they could relate to Jimmy or Kevin in any way, like how I could relate to them. Also I want my reader to know that this book was really good, and to the boys, I think they should give this book a try and read it. Because if you're having a hard time figuring out the right from the wrongs or if you’re going down the wrong path in life, then this book is perfect for you to read

Romeo & Juliet "Act 3, Inference, Observations, Interpretations"

Observations- I observed that Tybalt and Mercutio have some issues and problems with each other. I also observed that Tybalt had a fence with Mercutio, and Mercutio had gotten stabbed by Tybalt. I also observe that Romeo and his friends Mercutio, and Benvolio dont really like Tybalt either. I also observe that Romeo stabs Tybalt and Tybalt dies, because Tybalt had killed Mercutio to get back at Romeo, but then to get even with Tybalt, Romeo had killed Tybalt. But then Romeo gets exiled from Verona because he has killed Tybalt, but now Juliet is upset and confused about what she should do because Tybalt was her Family and Romeo had killed him, but Romeo is her True Love and she wants to stay with him. But she would rather be with Romeo and not stay in Verona with her Family, than be alone and not with Romeo and be with her Family.

Inferences- I thought that half of this scene was about Fighting for Love, and fighting for what they believe in. For Example, in a part of Act 3, scene 1, Tybalt and Romeo have a fence with swords. But Tybalt draws and they stop fighting.
I thought that Tybalt only killed Mercutio because Mercutio was friends with Romeo and Romeo and Tybalt are enemies and don’t like each other. Also I thought that Tybalt only killed Mercutio, was because Tybalt wanted to get back at Romeo for talking to Juliet who is a Capulet. So he had killed one of Romeo's friends.
I also think that Juliet would stay with Romeo and move out of Verona because she really loves Romeo and doesn’t want to leave him, but then Juliet's parents and Romeo's parents doesn’t approve of both of them dating each other so they have to leave each other and go their separate ways. But then I think that Romeo would send a messenger to Juliet and send her a message telling her how much he loves her and wants to see her.

Interpretations- I thought this scene was trying to show us that nobody lives forever people always die, no matter if they're personality is good or bad. Also I thought that True Love is when two people can never let go of each other and they can always deal with each other. Also I think that True Love means you would do anything and give up mostly everything for one another because you love and care about them very much. For Example, Juliet is willing to give up her life in Verona and leave Verona with Romeo. So she is giving up her family for Her True Love Romeo.