Reading Response on "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

            “The Secret Life of Bees,” by Sue Monk Kidd is a book that focuses on a white, 14 year old girl, Lily, who runs away from home with her black house-keeper, Rosaleen, in a time where racial segregation was still thriving. When Lily was as little as 5, she was standing in a room with her mother and father and holding her fathers gun while he was distracted by her mother. She fired the gun, killing her mother. She was left with her father who didn’t let her read and abused her physically and mentally. She felt trapped and the only person that looked out for her and cared about her was Rosaleen. To find out more about her mother and her mystery, Rosaleen and Lily fled to Tiburon, South Carolina, a place where Lily had found her mother had been. They randomly knocked on the door of August, May, and June Boatwright, black sisters who welcomed them into their lives as long as they worked for their honey business, tending to bees. Lily and Rosaleen have a different perspective on the world than the boatwright sisters because of their different lifetime experiences.
The lifetime experiences that Lily and Rosaleen share make them more naive than the boatwright sisters. One example of Lily and Rosaleen naivety is that they had hardly ever encountered racial segregation to an extreme level. When they got to the “Calendar sisters” house for the first time, they weren’t expecting someone to be unkind to a white person but, June was really uncomfortable with a white person staying in their house, therefore she was really unhappy and unkind to Lily especially. This was surprising to Lily because her race had never before made her the minority. She was used to being surrounded by white people so when she was treated differently because of her race, she felt guilty and also sympathized more with black people. Rosaleen was familiar with Racial segregation, but she wasn’t used to black people being superior. She took advantage of this by instead of taking care of Lily, she started to take care of May, the most troubled boatwright sister. Lily and Rosaleen were new to this way of getting treated, and this was changing the way that they looked at the world.
The Boatwright sisters are very different from Lily and Rosaleen, because they all have so many life experiences, and so much knowledge about the world and what is going on around them. The sisters aren’t resilient people, and not recovering from their many losses have given each of them the ability to comfort other people and make them feel like they are worth something. When they were little, May’s twin sister, April, committed suicide. Ever since, May has been having tantrums daily, and feeling the weight of the worlds problems. June and August have routinely made her feel better and calmed her down. Doing this has made August and June more sensitive people, and more capable of helping others emotionally. They have been through it all, none of them healing, but all of them working together to try to heal each other.
The Boatwright sisters knowledge of the world, and Lily and Rosaleen’s knowledge of the world made their time together different for all of them. Lily and Rosaleen were learning of a new culture and what really went on in the world. The Boatwright sisters knowledge and impulse to help others was important to Lily and Rosaleen, because it gave them an opportunity to both be informed of what was happening in America at that time, and do so in a safe environment where their presence was becoming more wanted every day. The different perspectives the Boatwright sisters and Lily and Rosaleen have on the world teach each group the lesson of kindness.

Reading Response on "Reconstructing Amelia" by Kimberly McCreight

          The book Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight is a frighteningly realistic book about a girl who deals with many societal issues.  The book is written logically, but out of order, going between Amelias perspective when she is still alive and her mother, Kates,  perspective once Amelia is dead.  Nobody knows if Amelia jumped of the roof of her school to kill herself or if someone pushed her.  By going through Amelias texts, emails, room, interviewing classmates and hiring a detective, Kate, unravels Amelia's life and what was truly going on inside her head.   Amelia deals with a crazy amount of societal issues everyday that are eating at her.

          One issue that Amelia is dealing with is bullying.  Amelia is bullied by many people including a club at her school that call themselves “the maggies”.  The maggies send her anonymous text messages saying terrible and mean things to her about her sexual preference and her family situation. .  Another example of Amelia being bullied is one of the maggies, Zadie, snuck into Amelias house and filmed her sleeping with Amelias girlfriend and sent it to the whole school.  This is an example of bullying because it ruined Amelias social status immediately.  This one person had a vulnerable moment on tape and sent it to the whole school in order to make Amelia feel upset.  People were giving Amelia looks and making Amelia feel unaccepted.

          Another societal issue that Amelia deals with is peer pressure.  The maggies are basically just a group that peer pressures girls into objectifying themselves and doing things that they would otherwise never do.  An example of something the maggies do to peer pressure people is they make people in the group post half naked pictures of themselves online.  No one has a choice and the maggies actually make it into a game.  Whoever gets the most likes on their picture wins.  This is an example of peer pressure because these girls are getting forced to put themselves on the internet and if they don't, their social status is ruined.  It is really terrible that in order to be cool at Amelias school, you have to reveal parts of yourself that may be uncomfortable to reveal.  When Amelia was chosen to join the maggies, although she didn't want to post these pictures online, she felt pressured to do it because she didn't know what was going to happen if she didnt.

          All in all, Amelia deals with many issues on an everyday basis that are making her feel uncomfortable and like she doesn’t belong.  Most teenagers also deal with issues like this, making them societal issues.  It has to do with our society and what makes our society so difficult for teens to live in.  These issues ruin many peoples lives, including Amelias.  Bullying and peer pressure can lead to depression and suicide.  Amelia died in this book due to the competition and bullying she faced and I can’t help to wonder how much better our society would be if everyone stopped adding to these issues, but not bullying and being nice.  I know that will never happen, but I think that societal issues are hurting kids more than some people may think.

YA Fiction Argument Essay

             What teenager wants to read about a land of cotton candy, kittens, and rainbows?  Many teenagers would not chose to read a book that speaks to this immature and superficial audience.  Instead, adolescents would rather read about the topics that they encounter on a day to day basis.  These topics include mental health, substance use, and relationships. As a result of the mature subject's being discussed, Young Adult (YA) books are a topic of great debate.  The authors are choosing to make their novels realistic and consistent with the lives of the individuals who are reading their books.  Many parents believe that if their children read these more intense books, their teens may feel inspired to act out in their lives what they are reading in the books. However, teens have a different idea about YA literature.  YA books of all kinds shouldn’t be limited or filtered in any way because they may actually help teens through the struggle of life.

            YA fiction has an enormous impact on teens because it makes them feel inspired and part of a community.  In the provoking article “Why the Best Kid’s Books are Written in Blood”  by Sherman Alexie, Alexie talks about a ceremony he talked at for kids in Seattle who had dealt with depression, abuse, homelessness, and self harm.  He says, “After the ceremony, many of the graduates shook my hand, hugged me, took photos with me, and asked me questions about my book or my life.  Other students hovered over the edges and eyed me with suspicion and/or shyness.”  This shows what a big affect Sherman Alexie’s story had on these children who had all dealt with very difficult issues in the past. He served as a role model for these students.  His book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” also obviously had such a big impact on these teens because of the way that they were behaving around Alexie.  They were extremely interested in Alexie and they looked up to him so much that some were even too shy to to talk to him. It is clear that many students felt that reading his book provided companionship and hope.  In another article, “Teen fiction plots are darker and starker”  by William Porter, Porter quotes a college literature teacher, Jill Adams, “The genre has the ability to change with the times and it always seems to have a pulse on the teen heartbeat.  It reflects whatever’s going on in their lives.”  Jill Adams obviously understands that maturing teens have hard lives and that literature can help them deal with their struggles in the real world.  This genre has so many types of stories and subgenres that it can reflect everyone’s life.  According to Alexie, YA books “taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.”  YA books leave a lasting mark on children.  Why would you take one of the only things that teens hold dear to them?

            Adolescents are exposed to mature subjects through many channels such as TV, internet, and movies.  Limiting YA books will not shield students from these topics because they are already witnessing them in their everyday lives.  In “Why the Best Kid’s Books are Written in Blood,” Alexie talks about how naive some adults are about kids’ actual experience.  He tells about how many of the grownups around were clueless.   He says, “They wanted to protect me from sex when I had already been raped.  They wanted to protect me from evil when a future serial killer had already abused me.  They wanted me to profess my love for God without considering that I was the grandchild of men and women who’d been sexually and physically abused by generations of clergy.  What was my immature, childish response to those would be saviors? ‘Wow, you are way, way too late.’”   Alexie’s experience shows that even without YA literature, he had already encountered many hardships. Many parents believe that they are simply protecting their kids when they are restricting their teens access to YA fiction, but they are just making their child’s life scarier.  Most parents don't know everything that is going on in their child's life or head, and books provide a safe space for children to learn about these topics and talk about them in their classrooms with teachers. Additionally, in the same article, Alexie talks about a 17 year old boy who wanted to be a writer, but his father wanted him to be a soldier, “He was seventeen and destined to join the military.  Yes, he was old enough to die and kill for his country.  And old enough to experience the infinite horrors of war.  But according to Ms. Gurdon, he might be too young to read a YA novel that vividly portrays those very same horrors.”  The boy that Alexie is talking about is the son of a millionaire.  This lets the reader know that no matter what your background or demographic is, everyone faces horrors that are almost too severe to picture. YA books are not contributing to children losing their innocence because it is already happening in their lives. Restricting access to YA books does not protect anyone, instead it may make them feel more lonely. YA books deal with normal issues that many teens have to deal with on a daily basis.  YA books with more horrific details and storylines won't damage kids and teens because they already deal with these injustices.

            In contrast to the many benefits of YA literature, some research points to the potential negative impact of YA books. This is the material that many parents cite and dwell on when speaking about YA novels. For example, in the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that reading YA fiction will harm adolescents’ natural wholesome state of mind.  Gurdon says, “It has to do with a child’s happiness, moral development and tenderness of heart.  Entertainment does not merely gratify taste, after all, but it creates it.”  Gurdon is trying to get the point across that if teens and children read YA fiction, they will turn into mean, bitter, and unhappy people.  She’s suggesting that children are better off if they’re happy.  But isn’t knowledge more important than happiness?  If you’re knowledgeable, than you have a more real foundation for happiness.  People need to have knowledge in order to have a purposeful life experience.  Reading about the experiences of others can give you knowledge and a more sophisticated view on the world.  If someone did not have YA books to read about others lives and experiences, they could be trapped in the naive bubble of only what they have seen.

            In conclusion, YA fiction is imperative to the healthy development of teens.  Although some parents object to the darker themes in this genre, without YA fiction, teens would feel like they are the only person in the world that is gay, cuts, or is depressed.  Additionally, they wouldn't know as much about the world.  Kids go through a ridiculous amount of disappointments, dramas, and struggles, and YA fiction can act as an escape.  Most importantly, young people come away from books feeling better about themselves and determined to read more.  I do not know one teen who hasn’t been through something heartwrenching, so where would they be without YA fiction there for them?

Reading Response on "11 Birthdays" by Wendy Mass

          The book 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass is about a girl named Amanda, a boy named Leo, their birthday and their friendship.  They aren't brother and sister, but because of the birthday they share, they have become so close that they have almost always thought of each other that way.  They had shared birthday parties year after year, but on their tenth birthday, they got into a fight, and became estranged.  By the time their eleventh birthday came along, they hadn't talked for a year and it was going to be the first birthday they spent apart from each other.  When they woke up the day after their birthday was over, it was their birthday all over again!  Amanda and Leo’s repeating eleventh birthday teaches them that friendship and love is more important than anyone would imagine.

          One way that their repeating birthdays teach Amanda and Leo about the importance of their friendship is that it smashes them together and makes them think as a team.  Since Leo and Amanda are the only ones that are experiencing this day over and over again, they basically have no choice but to join together in friendship.  They have to think together as a team in order to try to get their birthday to stop repeating itself.  For example, when they just become friends again and after they find out about the feud that their grandparents had with each other, they thought together and they came up with the plan to go to the Willow Falls Historical Society to find out if what ended their grandparents feud is a day repeating over and over again.  That was extremely smart because Leo’s their grandfathers journal was there, and so that led them to find out why the day was repeating and what they could do to make it stop.  Without their combined knowledge, neither of them would have thought to go to the Willow Falls Historical Society, which led them to a very important clue of how to get out of the day.

          Another way that Leo and Amanda’s birthdays teach them of the importance of friendship is that it makes them realize how hard it is to make lasting friendships and how easy it is to make them die.  What makes them realize this is the plant that they both had made together at their 5th birthday party.  They didn't know that the plant was keeping them safe from a spell that was in their families, that said that if Leo and Amanda didn't talk for a year, a year later the day would repeat over and over again, exactly what had happened to their grandparents.  When Leo and Amanda got into their fight, Amanda threw the plant out the window, and it shattered to pieces.  This symbolized how precious their friendship was and how easy precious friendships are to break, just like the plant.

          In conclusion,  throughout the course of this book, Amanda and Leo are forced to make up from their fight, and while  they are doing this, they realize the most important thing.   They realize just how important close friendships are, not only to the close friends themselves but it also affects the people around them.  By the time that Amanda and Leo realize this important information, they take it to heart and they rethink what they are doing with their lives and they learn how to be themselves.  This tells us that being with the right people and having love in our hearts is the key to having a happy and healthy life.

Critical Analysis on "Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood" by Sherman Alexie

           In the article “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood” by Sherman Alexie, the author talks about how YA fiction, and darker books can help teens fight off the troubles and monsters in their own lives, so therefore YA books shouldn’t be banned or filtered in any way.  One example that Alexie gives is of a promotion ceremony he gave for a Seattle alternative high school.  There were 60 students who had all come from different and yet all difficult childhoods.  After reading Alexie’s autobiography, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, this book meant so much to each of the students.  I had inspired them to find a better life for themselves.  Sherman Alexie then talks about how no matter what the demographic of the schools that he visits is, there is always students that have very difficult lives, and have been inspired by his book, and other pieces of YA fiction.  These examples show that kids always need inspiration, and without inspiration from books that include similar situations that they have been in, teens can’t fight off the monsters in their own life.

           Alexie is trying to tell adults that they have already done enough wrong to the teen community and the least they can do is let them read YA fiction that will help them along in life as well as persuading them not to limit the access of YA books.  He is trying to make them feel guilty and like what they are doing to their children by limiting their access to books is a terrible thing to do.  One way Alexie does this is by inserting an example of a millionaire’s son.  At first, he thought “What kind of pain could a millionaires child be suffering?”.  The teen then said that he wanted to be a writer but his father wanted him to be a soldier just like he was.  Then Alexie goes on to say that “he was old enough to die and kill for his country and old enough to experience the infinite horrors of war.  But according to Ms. Gurdon, he might to be young to read a YA novel that portrays those very same horrors”.  This makes the reader feel revolted.  You can’t protect someone from something they already have to deal with.  This makes adults feel guilty and teens feel heard.

           Alexie made some really good points in his article, that made me feel heard and understood.  Although all of my friends and I have grown up in a good and healthy environment for kids, I don’t know one person who hasn’t been through something rough or terrible.  I agree with Alexie in every way that YA novels shouldn’t be limited.  They have helped many of my friends and myself through difficult situations, and they have the ability of doing much more than adults.  When someone is going through something tough, adults say that they are there to talk, but YA fiction can do much more than talk, it can inspire and make kids feel like they are not alone.  This shows that books make people feel heard and understood, and the least adults can do is to not limit teens access to inspiration.

Reading Response on "Speak" By Laurie Halse Anderson

                  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book about a 9th grade girl, Melinda, who gets bullied and harassed by people that don’t know her story.  Melinda was previously popular and surrounded by friends, but everything changed one night.  Melinda gets raped by an older guy named Andy Evans, calls the police and then gets blamed for calling the police because of the alcohol at the party.  She never tells anyone about how she got raped, her friends stop talking to her and she goes into high school friendless and depressed, and she stopped caring about her schoolwork.  I think that the many symbols in this story represent the overall theme of fear everyone faces as a teenager.

                   One symbol in this book is trees.  In art class, Melinda is instructed to make trees out of anything as long it was art.  I think that all of the trees in this book represented Melinda.  One day when Melinda is in art class she gets really into what she is making.  She attached a bald barbie doll onto a linoleum square, put tape over its mouth and attached branches to the arms and body of the barbie.  This shows Melindas inability to speak and her pain.  She feels as if all her hair has been ripped out and too many things all over her and consumed inside of her that it almost covers her completely.  She’s too scared to even admit it to herself.  Another example of how trees represent Melinda’s feelings is when Melindas dad cuts down the infected tree in their front yard at the end of the story.  When Melinda finally decides to clean herself up a bit, she decides to clean the front yard of her house.  She wakes up early and rakes her yard for hours.  Her dad sees how committed she is and decides to help.  Him cutting down the infected tree in their yard was a sign of Melinda trying to fix everything that had gone wrong or got “infected” in her life.  Since the infection wasn't there anymore, it couldn't get worse.

                  Another symbol portrayed in this book is Melinda playing tennis at school.  Melinda playing tennis at school symbolizes how that even though more things keep coming at her, with more intensity than the last, she is passionate and and at least trying to hit back in the other direction to protect herself.  In gym class, when Melinda is forced to play tennis she feels really passionate about doing it right.  She wants to show that she isn’t as weak and as incapable as many people think she is.  When each ball comes flying towards her she feels more passionate and excited about hitting it back in the other direction.  She longs to do that in her everyday life and she wishes that she could just tell everyone about how she was raped, but she doesn't because she is too afraid that people won't believe her.  I think that this shows fear in Melinda, although she wishes she could be brave and strong.  I think that she resents herself for not being able to tell anyone .

                   The last symbol that I will talk about that was portrayed in this book is Melinda’s jeans.  Melinda’s jeans symbolize how although Melinda doesn’t think she cares about anything, she does.  It is obvious from everything that Melinda does that she doesn't care about her appearance anymore.  She bites her lips until they are scabby and bloody and she starts to gain weight and wear old, baggy and comfortable jeans.  Her mom gives her money to go to the cheapest store, Efferts, and buy new jeans that actually fit.  Although she thinks she wants to buy more disgusting jeans, deep down she is embarrassed about being in the store, even though she doesn’t realize why at the time.  Everytime she talks about her jeans, she makes sure to say that they are from Efferts, and that symbolizes that she does care.  This is because if she actually doesn't care, she wouldn't have to feel embarrassed about shopping from Efferts.  Because she is such a wreck, Melinda is too terrified to admit that she cares.

                   In conclusion, these many symbols portrayed in this book show that Melinda is too scared to admit anything to herself or anyone else.  She is afraid she won't be taken seriously, she is afraid she will be laughed at, and she is also too afraid to admit that she is afraid.  I think that this is a problem that many teenagers have.  They are too panicked and emotional that they just let people take advantage of them and ignore them like they are garbage.  This is book puts a really important message out to teenage girls who are scared and unaware of it. Let your your guard down and people will respect the real you.

   

Synthesis Page on "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Argument Essay "I was Homeless"

               According to the article “I was Homeless” by Alessandra Potenza in Upfront Magazine, in the United States alone there are about 2 million homeless children from kindergarten to 12th grade.  Many are hungry and struggling for life all by themselves.  Some kids are kicked out of their house because they come out as gay and others have “run away from poverty, abuse, violence or alcohol or drug problems.”  Once these children are kicked out of their initial houses, they are often too embarrassed or scared to get help.  This is a major issue in the United States because young children shouldn’t have to deal with starving, freezing and keeping themselves alive in harsh conditions without a guardian.  Although many children hide their situation, it is police and government duty to help homeless youth as much as they can and try to make this issue disappear as a whole.

                To start with, it is the governments job to provide bedding for the homeless youth.  Many children are too young to live and survive on their own.  According to this article, “There are only 4,000 shelter beds for unaccompanied homeless youth across the U.S.”  I find this unacceptable.  If there is only 4,000 beds available and 2 million people in need of beds, it is obvious that the government can do better.  This has to do with morality.  Picture a kindergartener living all alone in a park starving and unable to get food or a nice place to rest.  This is both dangerous and inhumane.  Five year olds cannot take care of themselves and the government should spend the money to add bedding for these children.  This would be money well spent because these homeless children are the United State’s future just as much as I am.  They deserve more than being starving and freezing all the time.  Children need beds and warmth.  If the government is going to make them find their own food, they can go for it, but making them sleep in a place that is dangerous or unsafe is terrible.  The least the government could do is to add more youth bedding all around the U.S. so that at least more people will have the capability of sleeping in a bed.

               Additionally, the police and government have to be aware of the issues that these children face and that they aren’t “bad”.  Children that are homeless often deal with things that many people haven't experienced.  The article says, “their lives are very complicated, they’re full of trauma.”  These kids deal with, “malnutrition,abuse, addiction, and depression.  Every day, they have the incredible stress of finding food and shelter for the night.”  I know that a lot of people think that homeless kids are homeless because they are bad or they deserve or it was their choice because they ran away, but that is completely inaccurate.  These children are often victims of bad situations and cruelty.  Something that the government and police could do to help these children, is to simply understand, be kind and generous to them.  It is despicable for a police officer to be cruel to a child who already has many stresses and difficulties in their everyday life.

               Although in 2010 the Obama administration created a plan to end homelessness within youth by 2020 by donating 5 billion dollars, just having the money to be able to help this issue decrease will not end youth homelessness as a whole.  Just having the money to do this doesn’t mean that they know how to.  According to the article, many homeless youth are, “hiding their situation from others.”  The government doesn’t realize that many people won't say that they are homeless.  They won’t get help and youth homelessness will not end without real support and kindness from the government.

               In conclusion, there are very many homeless youth in the United States and some of them are barely 6 years old.  They deal with more things than I can imagine and their lives are very difficult.  They struggle everyday to stay alive.  This issue has been mentioned and talked about, but the government has made no progress whatsoever with demolishing youth homelessness all together.  The government is trying to help and they are not trying to be sympathetic and that is the only thing that will help.  These children need sympathy and understanding from the government to be able to come out of their shell, but the government is doing the opposite and they will continue to get nowhere in trying to get rid of homelessness within youth.

"Faithful Elephants" by Yukio Tsuchiya Reading Response

         “Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiya is a story that takes place during World War II in Tokyo.  Bombs are dropping frequently everywhere and the military and the zookeepers of the Ueno Zoo started to worry about what would happen if a bomb landed on the zoo.  The army orders for each of the animals of the zoo to be killed so that if a bomb drops they won’t escape and become a danger to the people of Tokyo.  “Faithful Elephants” is a story of love death and loyalty that shows no matter how much you want to hold onto something, sometimes the best thing to do is accept when you can’t.

         First of all, the zookeeper’s acceptance of what they have to do is directly a result of how much love they feel towards the elephants.  In the story, the zookeepers and the elephants love each other to the end.  Everything the zookeepers do is basically out of love.  They want to send the animals away out of love, but they decide to keep them out of love.  According to the story, “the elephants trainer loved them as if they were his own children.”  When the elephants die, the elephant trainer “buried his head and cried, beating the desktop with his fist.”  The story adds that everyone in the zoo “burst into tears, then stroked the elephants legs and trunks in sorrow.”  Even though they don’t want to kill the elephants, they knew they had to, and they went through with it all the way till the elephants die.  Their acceptance of the elephants’ death is brought on from love of the elephants.

         Second, although it is hard for the zookeepers to accept the death of the elephants, they let the elephants die, believing it’s out of love for the elephants.  The story takes place during World War II, and the zookeepers of the Ueno Zoo have to kill the animals by command of the army.  The zookeepers accept that all the animals in the zoo have to be killed, and so “all of the lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and big snakes were poisoned to death.”  The zookeepers had clearly accepted that all these animals had to die for the safety of Tokyo.  If the animals escape, they could be a safety hazard to the citizens.  They now have to kill the elephants, who they love so dearly.  The elephants are described as “sweet and gentle-hearted.”  They try to kill John quickly by poison, but it doesn’t work, and they “reluctantly” feel that the only option is to starve him to death.  Even though they don’t want to do it, they know they have to, and they go through with it all the way till the elephant dies.  The zookeepers love Tonky and Wanly even more than they love John.  They thought about sending these elephants to another zoo, but they are worried that bombs could also fall on the other zoo.  The zookeepers feel they have no choice.  The story says, “Tonky and Wanly, too, were doomed to be killed at the Ueno Zoo.”  Even though they don’t want to, the zookeepers stop feeding the elephants.  They hate it, but they feel they have to.  It’s very painful for them.  The story says that the elephants’ trainer “could only pace in front of their cage and moan, ‘You poor, poor pitiful elephants.’”  He’s so painfully trying not to feed the elephants, and even though he does give them food at one point, he and everyone else starve the animals to death.  This shows that even though it is hard for some people to accept the death of these elephants and the love and loyalty these zookeepers felt lead them to the pain of the death.  The only thing they can do is accept that the elephants will be gone, and it will probably be better for everyone.

         Finally, the zookeepers in the story act out of loyalty to their country, and this means they have to accept that they must kill the elephants.  It’s very hard for the zookeepers to let these animals go, but they are so devoted to their country that they feel it’s imperative to do whatever they are commanded to do.  Following the orders of the country’s leaders leads to their forced acceptance of the elephants’ death.  The zookeepers do the right thing for the safety of the people of Tokyo and for their country.  If they kept the animals alive and bombs did hit the zoo, then the animals could get released and people could be harmed.  They can’t hold on to the elephants, and they can’t even send the elephants somewhere else without feeling the elephants could be dangerous.  The zookeepers are not sticking by the elephants side.  They are slowly killing them, but it does take acceptance.  It was not at all an act of loyalty to kill the elephants but the zookeepers felt as if they had no choice.  The death of these loving creatures, or loyalty to the army.

         I feel what the zookeepers do is very loyal to their country, and maybe to the zoo, but it isn’t loyal to the elephants.  The zookeepers actually torture the elephants to death by starving them slowly over several weeks, making them suffer.  “Their small, loving eyes began to look like round rubber balls in their drooping, shrunken faces.”  After the elephants are unable to stand, and they’re lying on the ground, the zookeepers can’t stand it any longer and stay away from the elephants’ cage for two weeks, until they die.  This is nothing like loyal, since the zookeepers stay away from what’s happening and away from their problems by not even looking at the elephants.   This story caused me to think about what acceptance really means.  The zookeepers of the Ueno zoo love the elephants a lot.  The death of the elephants is painful for them but they realize that it is loving the elephants or being loyal to the country.  The zookeepers accept that the elephants have to go.  They hate it but by the end of the story, the zookeepers hastily discover that no matter where the elephants are, if they are dead or alive, they will always be loved and never forgotten.

Summer Reading Response

          Over the summer I finished the book "Every Day" by David Levithan.  This book was about something that woke up in a different body every single day.  “A” was never one person with a specific body, but “A” was more like just a brain and thoughts.  “A” fell in love with a girl named Rhiannon when they were in the body of a boy named Jason.  In a different body every day, “A” drove how ever long they had to drive to get to Rhiannon. This book brought up a lot of important issues, for example like how people look affect the way that they are treated and the way that people think of them.

          I think this book is really important because it brings up the issue of how the way people look affect the way they are treated.  Since “A” eventually told Rhiannon about their strange life, on different days when Rhiannon and “A” saw each other, Rhiannon definitely treated “A” differently.  When “A” was a girl, Rhiannon would talk politely but she usually wouldn’t hold hands or kiss.  When “A” was once a very overweight boy, Rhiannon could hardly look at “A” without grimacing.  After a while and once Rhiannon starts to get to know “A” very well Rhiannon becomes more comfortable with the idea of different looking people.  This shows how this book makes readers realize how looks really don’t matter as much as personality.

          This book also deals with teenagers trying to find who they are.  For many people this is a difficult part of growing up and this book shows that being persistent and being honest with yourself is the best way to figure out who you are.  “A” was always their own person but they’re also always someone else so it was difficult for “A” to really know who they were.  “A” found Rhiannon, and Rhiannon loving “A” helped “A” realize that in their lifetime, “A” would never have a real relationship with anyone because of the complications.  Realizing this and admitting this helped “A” realize that what they were doing might not be the best thing for Rhiannon.

          In conclusion, this book deals with many struggles that teenagers face in their life every day.  I think that this is really important because it informs readers about society and how it can really affect the way people act around each other every day.  It is hard to be a teenager in today’s society because of some of the issues that this book presents, but reading this book really opens peoples eyes to what is really going on in the world.