"A Child Called It" By Susana Rojas

   Link to Susana's Blog Post: http://susanarojas808.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-child-called-it-by-dave-pelzer.html

    I have decided to review Susana's review on the book "A Child Called It," because I thought it was well written in the way that she truly showed off her ideas. She starts off the post talking about the author and main character of the book, Dave Pelzer, and his situation. She described some of the ways his mother used to torture him, and about how he was so confused about his mother's sudden change in her attitude towards him.
     I like how Susana sort of shows her sympathy for the author and the ordeals he had to go through. I also like how she states her opinion on the dad. How she thinks that the dad was the sort of man who cared for his son the most.  That he cared for his son and did all he could for Dave. That he ended up having no choice.
      But this opinion is also the reason why I wanted to write this blogpost. I felt like this was one blogpost I could share my opinions that differ as I have already read the book and realized how sad it was. I have to disagree with Susana's idea that the father truly cared for the son and was a good father but simply had no choice in the whole thing. I feel like she is putting him (the dad) in a very sympathetic light which I can't help but completely disagree with.
    I agree with Susana that the father does sort of seem like the good guy, but that image doesn't really last long for me. I mean, I feel bad for the dad as he obviously never realized what was going to happen with his marriage, or else I think he would of married someone else. I think it was a very valiant deed he did, staying with his wife for so long even though he knew how she was, and trying to protect Dave, but at the same time I find him a very cowardly person.
   If I remember correctly, I think Dave pretty much feels betrayed when his father leaves. I think that's when I started to strongly dislike the dad, when he left the family, but didn't take Dave with him. It was the thing that enraged me the most. He knew how his son was treated, yet he didn't save him! Why not? What kind of father is he?!
   This is the point where many would argue that the father was also suffering. But here's where I explain more. You can tell a lot about a person by their actions. By simply his actions, I can tell that the father is cowardly, weak willed, and probably blamed his son for his ruined marriage.
   Why is the dad so weak willed? Well, his wife has been bossing him around. I think in a healthy relationship, the partners have to think of each other as equals, meaning no one bossing the other. He let her boss him around, but he could have been more aggressive. Not hitting aggressive, but less passive, as in sticking up for himself and not letting his wife mistreat him and his son! We usually hear about Wives getting abused by their husbands, but this is one of those cases where the husband is pretty much getting pushed around by the wife. Now, in concerns to physical strength, I think the Dad would be able to take on the mom, as men are built to be stronger, and the mom wasn't really fit. But that doesn't mean he should abuse her, just not to let her push him around, especially when it came to the well-being of his family.
   I think the Father is a coward because he doesn't ever tell anyone about what his wife is doing, or tell his wife off for mistreating her child. I mean, he could have gotten his wife in jail and had to raise the kids, but he could also worry about the way they would be affected having their mother gone. But may kids don't have mothers and turn out fine. I think he might have been scared of having to take care of so many kids (which is why he should have stopped having kids with the woman!) and didn't even think about how his kids could be negatively affected by having their mother abuse one of their brothers.
   If anything, I'm still annoyed he never took Dave with him. I think he does blame the arguments with his wife on Dave, as he was usually the one who caused the fights (his treatment). But if anything, I think I dislike him because he chose himself over a child, his own child. I find that the biggest act of cowardice and it disgusts me. To abandon the child who hopes you will save him. It disgusts me, and shows a lot about a person.
    Over all, I think Susana had a very nice blogpost which I could easily talk back to and share opinions with, and if anything I think she can add a bit more content by putting in more of her thoughts about the text.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice
by: Jane Austen
Terri Thampan 804

   I have recently read the book "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. It's one of the classics, and I only read it because I heard it was one of the best romances ever, and since young females such as myself are pretty much "fangirling" over famous, not well written romances, ahem Twilight, I decided to read a supposedly well written romance.
   I absolutely love this book! The main character is a girl, well woman, name Elizabeth Bennet, and she is of the age where getting married should soon happen before she becomes a "old maid", so like, in her early twenties. She is a very smart, witty, polite, and humorous woman. The book itself is about how she and Mr. Darcy fall in love. I think the romance in the book was very well written as right from the beginning Elizabeth sort of hates Mr. Darcy, but over time and the course of the book learns to love and respect him. This really does show off love to me as most of the time, isn't love kind of unexpected? Love doesn't happen so quickly like what happens it today's romance novels, and it takes time to be a strong bond. Most books today are very fast paced, and the events usually happen very quickly, but in this book it went like how time usually can go, it goes by quickly yet slowly, and not everything has to do with the love interest. This passage of time made the love grow more gradual, and seem very, very realistic.
   I also liked the character of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth''s father. He is the one whom Elizabeth takes after in personality. I think this is why she (Elizabeth) is his favorite daughter. I found his character amusing, as I think he's the type of man who thinks of others as purely something for entertainment. He is entertained by them, and so he doesn't truly care about anything else. But that also makes me think of his marriage. It was said in the book that the mother's idiocy was what caused the little sense of affection he had for her (the mother) to disappear early in their marriage. I think he really sort of stayed with the mother as she made him amused with her stupidity, and maybe he liked her beauty. I think that the marriage was really bad, both to Mr. Bennet and his daughters. At one point, Elizabeth is pretty much humiliated at the fact that her Father just lets her mother and 3 other sisters besides her oldest sister, Jane, run amok and not really discipline them in the ways to behave, thus reflecting badly on her (Elizabeth) and her family.
   

The Tail of Emily Windsnap

The Tail of Emily Windsnap
By: Liz Kessler
Terri Thampan 804

   I have recently read the book "The Tail of Emily Windsnap". It's about a girl, Emily, who finds out that she can become a mermaid when she is submerged in water. The rest of the story is all about her great adventure in finding out about her father, and her being a mermaid, and the mermaid society.
   I think, as this is a children's book, it's not the best, but it's okay. It's a pretty simple plot, and the only thing that kept me going was that it was written in such a simple way, it just didn't let you go, but if anything, I usually can get through simple books, even if the plot is not bad. I just am going to say this: besides it being a bit of a boring cliche, with an easy plot, it wasn't constantly dull enough to get me to put it down.
   I find Emily's personality sort of like Tess' in the book about Algebra and stuff. She's really plain, and if anything, was made that way so that girls or whoever read the book could fit in with the character (so basically girls, as the character is a female herself). I find the main character quite, to say it politely, I found the main character as a not bright person. She's not really good at being stealthy, I mean she literally gave it away to her little nemesis that she was doing something she wasn't supposed to, which caused her to get caught. Also, I'd like to think that if an a creepy man, who is somehow giving your mother drugs, gave her donuts every week, would cause normal kids to think he's drugged the donuts. If anything, I find that man's character so... Cliched it's not even funny. Creepy, old, "lonely" dude, who visits your mom for company. He gives you the creeps, he's obviously a suspicious character. I mean, that's the type of guy most kids would not feel comfortable around, or feel comfortable having their mother around. At sixth grade, or whatever grade she's in that is in middle school, I would probably think this man creepy and warn my mom. I think, if to make him less suspicious, make it so that she grew used to him because her mom has always seen this man, and he has attempted to be friendly and she has seen him as a confidant. I think that would make his whole "revealing" part seem a lot more tragic, as this was someone she trusted, and not some creepy old guy who stalked her at times.
   I find so many disappointing things done to the old creepy guy, who I will now refer to his as his name, Mr Beeston. I think, it would be so much better if the author worked with his character. I think it would be amazing if he actually was Emily's father who somehow found a way to watch over his wife and daughter even though he couldn't. I think that the fact that he wasn't handsome, but in fact was a really creepy looking old guy would show so much about how a loving, kind person can be found within the hearts of a person whose outward features don't show off their heart's true beauty. I also think, that if it was going to stay the original way, to improve his acting, like I said before, and make him seem like a trustworthy guy. Though I do think that if he was going after someone in a murderous rage, he wouldn't suddenly be all touchy-feely back-story on them about his own childhood. It makes him seem like a desperate character, which may have been the intention, but it seems not so thought out as well. If you like simple stories though, here's a good one!

There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom

There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom
By: Louis Sachar
Terri Thampan 804

  I read this book in 6th grade (as a read aloud) and I thought it was wonderful. But reading it yourself gives a better experiencing somehow. As I read it, I realized how well developed the characters are. I also loved how well Mr. Sachar used the terms "show not tell".
  In the book, you can tell Bradley has a problem. I love how you realize how alone Bradley is. He's so alone that the only friends he has are the plastic figurine animals that live in his bedroom. When I realized that, I felt so bad for Bradley. If anything, the whole fact that he was in the third grade made it even more sad for me as it was something that was close to me personally.
   I used to get bullied in the third grade and felt so terribly lonely. To read about Bradley's loneliness made me empathize with him so much. It also shows how much Bradley cares for his figurines. They were his only friends, the things that helped him out. They told him he was right when everyone else said he was wrong.
   I love how you can see Carla cares for Bradley. She gets tears in her eyes when she finds out why he "can't" do his homework, and seems to genuinely like him. It's she who gives him a chance. And I love how realistically Bradley depends on her so much, because in reality, if we were to meet someone who finally treated you nicely and then good things started to happen, you would think it's all because of them. You would have a dependence on them.
  I think this is an amazingly well written story, and I love it so very much. I have always like stories written by Louis Sachar because his amazing works and I hope others read this book as well.