Reading Response on "Bliss" by Lauren Myracle

The book Bliss, by Lauren Myracle, tells one girls experience of moving from a commune with her hippie parents to a prestigious southern town with her wealthy grandmother.  Bliss has never gone to school, she has never had friends her own age and she also never exposed to anything bad or frightening.  Her previous experiences left Bliss naïve and when it came time for her to enter into 9th grade at Crestview Academy, her only goal was to make friends and be normal.  Soon after school started, Bliss had made plenty of friends, including a girl named Sandy who sits alone at lunch and is basically shunned by the rest of the school.  Throughout this novel Bliss develops a lot as a character because of the influence of others.

The character that helped Bliss most get out of her naïvety was Sandy.  Sandy helped Bliss realize that you really can’t judge a book from its cover, and you can’t judge a person from just one experience.  For example, the whole reason Bliss ever wanted to be friends with Sandy was because she thought that Sandy had a good heart and meant well.  She thought that Sandy was horribly mistreated by the other girls in her grade and thought that she had done nothing wrong to anyone.  Bliss thought that Sandy looked nice and befriended her.  Bliss was totally wrong about this.  Sandy exploited Bliss and became friends with her only so she could use Bliss as her human sacrifice, in her “blood magic”.  Sandy’s only goal was to become powerful and had no interest in Bliss.  Because of Sandy, Bliss learned how to make good friends, because of her terrible friendship experience with Sandy.

Another character that helped Bliss become less naïve is Mitchell.  Mitchell is Bliss’s crush at the beginning of the book, but by the end they are dating.  My first thought about Mitchell was that he was kind of a pointless character, but I realized that he actually played a major role in both the development of the book and the development of Bliss.  One example is that he was the one who convinced Bliss to continue to be friends with Sandy after she began to creep Bliss out a little bit.  If Bliss had never stayed friends with Sandy, then Sandy wouldn’t have been able to blackmail her into being her human sacrifice for “blood magic” and her goals to be almighty.  Even though that staying friends with Sandy wasn’t the best thing, Mitchell just wanted Bliss to be happy.  Additionally, Mitchell helped Bliss realize what it was like to have a real friend, someone who doesn’t trap you inside of them and force you to do anything.  Mitchell was really helpful towards Bliss through everything that happened with Sandy and without him, she may not have been able to get through the beginning of the year without his love and support.

In conclusion, Bliss was very naïve and expected everyone to be kind.  Mitchell, Sandy, and other characters helped Bliss realize that not everyone is going to be anti-war. Not everyone is going to be against murders.  And also, not everyone is who you think they are.  Bliss learned more from 6 months at high school than she did the whole rest of her life, not because of her schoolwork, but because of other people helping her figure out what the world is.

Reading Response on "Frindle" by Andrew Clements

The book “Frindle” by Andrew Clements is a book about a Fifth grade boy named Nick Allen.  Nick doesn’t really like to follow directions because he is very much of a leader, and thus prefers to lead as opposed to follow. Nick is extremely creative, and after learning about the origins of words in his 5th grade science class, he makes up his own word for pen, “frindle”.  He wants to not be told what to do and have some control over what happens in his life and in the world generally.  There are so many things that Nick wants, from people and he does a really good job at getting them.

Nick really likes being the center of attention and a lot of his behaviors are actions in order to get attention.  For example, if Nick didn’t want attention he would have never put on a huge scene the first day he used the word “frindle” when he was asking for a pen from a friend.  It wasn’t subtle at all and he obviously went farther than he could have.  Nick could have just asked for a “frindle” and then moved on but no.  He continued talking about it and just wanted the eyes to be on him.  Another example of how Nick obviously wanted attention was when in class, Nick kept making high pitched screeches.  Everyone in the class knew it was him, except the teacher, and since all the other kids in his class were laughing at what he was doing, he kept on going because he just wanted all the eyes to be on him.  Nick is very smart, but sometimes he takes things a little too far when he is trying to get attention.

Nick is really funny and usually very kind, so it’s understandable why he would have so many friends and followers, but I think that he takes a lot of his friends for granted.   Nick doesn’t really do anything especially thoughtful or kind for his friends, he kind of just expects that they will be there for him no matter what happens.  For example, when Nick first started to use the word “frindle”   in stationary store, he basically just told his friends to come with him.  He didn’t say please or thanks.  He just told them to come help him because they were going to help him get this word big.  Nick wasn’t the only one that made up this word, his friends made it up with him, but Nick was the only one that got credit for making it up.  When the reporter came to their school to talk to Nick about the word “frindle”, Nick continued to take all the credit for this word.  His friends didn’t even correct anyone when Nick got all the credit and they were hardly even aware of it because they were so awed with how “amazing” and “funny” nick is.  Because of how people idolized Nick because of how he was so outgoing, he got away with so many things many people wouldn’t be able to get away with.

Nick is not a bad person, but because he has had it so easy all his life, with everyone on his side, he has become arrogant and expectant of the people who followed him around everywhere.  If everything changed for Nick and people started to dislike him or realize how he was the only one getting credit for making up the word “frindle”, he wouldn’t really have anyone there for him except his parents.  He doesn’t realize yet that his actions can hurt others and lead other people into feeling like they aren’t worth anything because sometimes he can act and think that he is the only one who matters.

disclaimer: I am rereading this book for like the a millionth time, and this is NOT a just right book. It is just an old favorite! :)