Non Fiction Blog Post

Caitlin Hondorp                                                                                                          December 21, 2015
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     In the article "George Stinney was Executed at 14" in Upfront magazine is about a criminal who really wasn't. George Stinney was innocent but sentenced to death. Now his family is trying to prove that his execution wasn't necessary. It might be a little bit late for proving his innocence. It's been over 70 after his death.
     Stinney was arrested on March 24th, 1944 on the course of two dead white girls who were beaten to death in a ditch, that he was blamed on with murder. When he was brought to court, his trial was only for three hours. This was disrespectful. Give him more time to explain! Did he even have time to speak for himself? It took the jury 10 minutes to sentence him to die. I'm speechless. This is just so wrong and rude. On the day of the murder, he was with his family, not killing two kids!
     In conclusion, this was wasn't right. He should've had an equal trial not a three hour length of time. This was a life that was lost. The family is still trying to prove that George Stinney was in fact innocent.  I pay all of my respects to the Stinney family for this tragic event.

The Giver

In the book "The Giver" is about a utopian society that turns out to be a creepy dystopian society full of secrets. Jonas turns out to be the Receiver of Memory. So the Giver shows him what the world actually is. Jonas tries to show it to his friends but that just makes things a little chaotic. The society tries to hunt him down but he makes it to the barrier to restore the memory.

In the book there are a lot of connections to the real world. One of them are that some places are dystopian of utopian society. Another is that that the rules can be very strict and the consequences can be deadly.

If we burn, you burn with us!

Caitlin Hondorp                                                                                                         December 13, 2014
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Mockingjay the Movie

In the movie, Mockingjay in from the trilogy The Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen is the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion against the Capitol. But the Capitol has kidnapped Peeta Mellark, the Capitol's weapon. Their home, District 12, was bombed by the Capitol to warn Katniss that war was upon them. There are somethings that annoyed me that the directors did or didn't do.

In the first movie, Peeta's leg was supposed to be chopped off, but with both legs in the movie, people thought that Peeta was whiny, weak and useless. Peeta is supposed to be strong and brave. Another thing is that Finnick was way too serious. He was suppose to say in his hospital clothing, "Do you find this distracting?" He also wished everyone was dead. Finally, for a views they should've just left it at Peeta choking Katniss. TEAM PEETA!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Caitlin Hondorp                                                                                                         November 25, 2014
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 MOCKINGJAY

      In the book, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is about girl named Katniss Everdeen. She is seventeen years old. Her home is District 12. She was in the Hunger Games. She escaped. The Capitol hates her. Peeta was taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely he is dead. It is probably best if he is dead (Let that sink in for who ever read it...). There are tons upon tons of strong power in people in this book. Katniss and Peeta are the strongest people in this. And there are multiple reasons.

      Katniss, the main character, is the most awesome character I've ever read about. One of the examples why I think this way is, "President Snow says he's sending a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us, and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that? Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!" This shows power because in a life-death situation she is sending a message directly to the Capitol. Also she's wanted the revenge on the Capitol for so long now, it's been building up on inside her, and one day it's just going to burst out in rage. Peeta, the secondary character, is one of the bravest in this book. Firstly, in the book it has him saying, "Friend. Victor. Enemy. Fiancee. Target. Mutt. Neighbor. Hunter. Tribute. Ally. I'll add it to the list of words I use to figure you out." He's putting words together to find out who Katniss is to him. He's trying to fight the brainwash.

    

Is it Really Darkness Too Visible?

Caitlin Hondorp                                                                                                             October 23, 2014
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Is it Really Darkness Too Visible?

                  Just imagine, the best young adult book you've ever read, but then someone tells you that the book is inappropriate so they have to ban or challenge it and you don't know what they're talking about. Don't you feel enraged? I know how you feel. In the article, "Darkness Too Visible" by Megan C. Gurdon from the Wall Street Journal is about how young adult books are too vivid for teens. Well, I'm here to tell you that I completely disagree.

                  Gurdon used some craft. Some of the craft were loaded words. One of them was dark. She used dark to describe her point and try to persuade people to join her side. Another one is just how she describes it. She describes it with so much detail. It's just awesome how she wants other people to understand the stress it is to just find a normal book for your child. Final reason is she's making it sound so much more dramatic then it is. She's saying it's so dark but for some it's completely normal.

                  This article was very democratic. What I mean by that is that this started a huge argument everywhere. I'm going to have to disagree because people should read stuff that they are ready for. Also teens should be able to vote which books should be appropriate for us because the parents shouldn't be speaking for us, we should speak for us. So I hop you guys agree with my opinion and if you don't that's fine too.

A Reading Response That is Out of This World!

Caitlin Hondorp                                                                                                             October 19, 2014
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Reading Response

              "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you"- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In the book, Who-ology by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright it tells you about the insane story of a madman with a box. This madman is the Doctor and his box is actually a time machine called the Tardis. They travel and save galaxies and civilizations at every part of time and space. In this story, there are symbols that represent how the Doctor is insulated and running away from his true self.

                One of the symbols that show how alone and secluded the Doctor feels from everything is the Tardis. The Tardis symbolizes how insulated he is in his box even though its bigger on the inside. When the Doctor has no companion, he only has the Tardis to comfort him. In the book, it's stated, "Reasons for Leaving the Doctor." This makes him feel this way because some of his companions left for a chance to go home just to leave, so the Doctor felt alone.

             Another symbol is his family tree. He has probably been running from this his whole life because some family members died, been missing or just plain forgotten. It's stated in the story, "The Doctor's personal relationships are a mysterious and muddled affair, spread out across time and space." Besides he's regenerating for years so he might have forgot his relatives. He's probably forgot most of his family since he's over 900 years old.

            The final symbol is his stories that tells about his past. The Doctor has been through so much, you can't even believe it. It says, "There was a war. A time war. The Last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends even the sky." The Doctor has been running away from this his whole 900 year old life. He never wants to speak of it.

           In conclusion, I can relate to the Doctor because I can feel insulated and afraid at times. You just want to go solo because somethings are just too big to handle. You feel there's nothing you can do to to fix it even though you try to fix it and makes it worse. But one day you will need a companion to get you through it. "I know my head isn't screwed on straight. I want to leave, transfer, warp into another galaxy."- Speak

Blog Post #1: The Book Thief!

September 11, 2014

The Book Thief

              The book The Book Thief  written by Markus Zusak is about a curious girl named Leizel who has been going through a lot. It's also about the Holocaust, a horrible time in human history. This book was worth telling the tale because of the intensity of the book and the connection to the characters.
            This book is so intense. The first part of the book that I thought had a lot of impact on me was the scene when they were on the train and Leizel found out when her brother was dead or taken by Death (the narrator). That part almost made me cry. Another part of the book that I thought was crazy was when everyone went to the bonfire to burn the books. That was a very memorable part of the book and history, and not a good one. It was so detailed and how they described it. The last part is about most intense part of the whole book, it's when their neighborhood gets bombed in the war and everyone in Leizel new family dies and Rudy. I was balling my eyes out!
            When you read amazing books you become fond of the characters. Here are some characters that I was very fond of. Firstly, Leizel is my favorite character. I'm usually the one who hates the primary characters like Harry Potter, but Leizel touched my heart. She was brave, strong, smart, and just a one of a kind person. She is like no other main character. Another character was Leizel's father Hans. He was one of the characters that you just had to love! Last person would have to be Rudy. He was a great secondary character. He was a perky, flirty, and adventurous lemon haired boy.
           This book really inspired me. It inspired me to read more about the Holocaust and see how bad people had it. Even though it doesn't make sense that Hitler was all Jewish, this book really stole my heart.