Out of My Mind is a novel by Sharon M. Draper. In this novel, Melody Brooks is an eleven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. Melody's body is stiff and uncooperative, forcing her to use a wheelchair. Her mind works well, but she cannot speak. Melody hates her boring special education classes and the fact that she cannot make her thoughts and opinions known, even to her parents. Hence Melody has to fight to get what she wants. Eventually, Melody is given a computer that helps her speak and communicate in a regular fifth grade class. Melody even gets the opportunity to participate in a trivia competition. Unfortunately, even great success cannot change opinions of those who cannot see beyond the physical. This is a fact Melody is forced to face despite everything she accomplishes. Out of My Mind is a brilliant novel that takes the reader into the world of an amazing eleven year old girl who eventually realizes she is no different from the kids around her despite her body's disabilities. Melody Brooks was born with cerebral palsy. Her parents have done all they can to help her live a normal life, but life is often frustrating for Melody because she cannot speak or communicate her wishes. In fact, Melody was even diagnosed as profoundly retarded when she was five. Despite this, Melody's mother enrolled her in public school to give her the opportunities she needed to succeed.
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This week, our class finished reading chapter ten in Bridge to Terabithia. In chapter ten, Miss Edmunds invites Jess to go to a museum in Washington . Jess was milking Miss Bessie when he hears May Belle calling him. She says that someone is asking for him on the phone. When he goes to the phone, he hears the voice of Miss Edmunds. Miss Edmunds asks Jess if he wanted to go to a museum in Washington. Of course he said yes. He told Momma were he was going and since Momma was still sleeping she said yes. It's not until they're on the road that he could of invited Leslie to come too. Jess is excited to spend the day with Miss Edmunds seeing all the amazing art. When it's lunch time, Jess gets worried because he doesn't have any money, but Miss Edmunds pays for it. After a full day of fun, Miss Edmunds drops Jess off at his house. When h goes inside, everything is silent. He sees Momma, his dad, Brenda, Ellie, and May Belle sitting at the table. When his mom sees him she starts crying and then Brenda tells him that Leslie is dead! This week we finished reading chapter seven in Bridge to Terabithia. We also had a quiz on that chapter. In this chapter Mr. Burke or Bill starts to renovate the old Perkin's place. Leslie gets to help Bill and spends more time with him. Leslie is happy that she gets a chance to get to know her dad better. Jess is jealous that Leslie is spending so much time with Bill. He doesn't understand the relationship between him and his dad and Leslie and Bill. It bother's him how Leslie call her dad Bill instead of dad. Leslie asks him why he doesn't like Bill, but Jess says he does like him. Leslie asks Jess if he wants to help her renovate her house. Jess agrees. Leslie comes out of the bathroom one school day and tells Jess that she heard someone crying in the bathroom. He was surprised that Leslie said that he heard Janice Avery was the one crying. Jess tells her that they need to help her. Leslie is brave enough to go in the bathroom and talks to Janice Avery. When the bell rings everyone goes to class. Jess is anxious to know what happened in the bathroom. Back at Terabithia Leslie tells him that Janice Avery was crying because her dad beats her up like when your in prison. She was very mad with her dad because her dad told her friends and they told the whole school. Leslie comforted Janice Avery by telling her that she had been made fun of too because she didn't have a TV. Leslie made her feel better and Leslie said she had now made one-half friends. This week we finished reading chapter five in Bridge to Terabithia. One day, on the bus May Belle started telling everyone that her dad had brought her Twinkies. Jess told May Belle to be quiet because Janice Avery could steal her Twinkies. May Belle still continued to brag about her Twinkies. Later on through the day, May Belle came up to Jess and Leslie crying because Janice Avery had stolen her Twinkies. Jess wasn't surprised because he had told her to be quiet. May Belle told Jess to kill her into a millions of pieces. Jess didn't want to because she was older and tougher. Leslie told her May Belle that she and Jess would find some way to get Janice Avery back. At Terabithia, Leslie and Jess come up wit an idea to get Janice Avery back. They will write a love letter pretending it's from Willard Hughes, whom Janice Avery has a crush. In the letter it says that Willard Hughes is madly in love with Janice Avery and he wants to meet her behind the school and walk her home. The next day, Leslie and Jess put the letter in Janice Avery's desk. Janice Avery falls for it. She tells the whole school. She misses her bus to go with Willard Hughes and he's not there. The next day Janice Avery gets on the bus furiously. Jess feels a little bad for her but May Belle is thrilled that Leslie and Jess got Janice Avery back. This week we finished reading chapter four in Bridge to Terabithia. We also had a quiz on that chapter. It was Friday, and Miss Edmunds was back. The fifth grade had music right after recess. Jess had passed Miss Edmunds in the hall earlier in the day, and she had stopped him and made a fuss over him. At music class, she's warm and welcoming and invites Leslie in. They sing "Free to be You and Me," and when the song's over Jess smiles at Leslie. He decides to change and be her friend. On the way back to school in the bus, she talks about where she used to live and how she misses her old school. he tells him that she moved because her parents "are reassessing their value structure." They were hooked on money and they bought the farm so they can think what's important. But Leslie had other problems like she didn't have a television. Mrs. Myers read aloud Leslie's composition about her favorite hobby. Mrs. Myer said that Leslie's hobby was unusual for a girl. It was scuba diving. Being Mrs. Myers's pet was "pure poison". After that, she assigned a homework assignment that on Channel 7 at 8pm there is going to be a special about a famous underwater explorer, Jacques Cousteau. but Leslie asks what she should do since she doesn't have a TV. Jess knows that was a big mistake and people are going to make fun of her. Sure enough, at recess he sees a bunch of girls teasing her. She runs off. He waits by the girls' bathroom and tries to console her, but doesn't do a very good job. On the bus ride home that afternoon, Leslie isn't paying attention and sits in a part of the bus that's reserved for seventh graders. Jess tries to get her out in time before the bullies come, but it's too late, and has to face the mean Janice Avery. He distracts Janice by calling her fat and they escape to the front of the bus. This helps them bond, but Janice is going to have it in for Jess. Leslie asks him to hang out when they get off the bus. They put May Belle off by giving her some of Leslie's new paper dolls. This distracts her and she leaves the two of them in peace. On Monday, we watched a ted talk called The Journey Across the High Wire: Philippe Petit. He was a world famous tight-rope walker. He stretched a steel cable without permission between the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. He's a street juggler, writes, draws, performs close-up magic, practices lock-picking and 18th-century timber framing, plays chess, studies French wine, gives lectures and workshops on creativity and motivation, and was recently sighted bullfighting in Peru. He performed in front of a magician and he turned him down. So, he went with juggling. A man sold him juggling pins. He performed in front of a famous juggler and the juggler said that the pins he was juggling were impossible to juggle. So, again for the second time he turned to tight-rope walking. When he first started tight-rope walking, he found two trees, and he got rope and put around the trees until three was n’t anymore rope left. He created the widest tight rope in the world! He got some enorumous shoes and he started getting on the tight rope. In a few days he crossed the ropes once and he cut off a rope. E kept on cutting a rope each time he crossed, until there was one rope left. He never gave up. On Monday we watched a Ted Talk. Ted talks are so informational and fun to watch. This Ted Talk was by Tim Urban and it was about procrastination. I really don't procrastinate much, but sometimes the monkey might take over the wheel. Tim Urban talked about the difference between a procrastinator's brain and a non-procrastinator's brain. The difference is that the Procrastinator's brain has a monkey which tells the driver or the head of the brain to let go of all the important stuff and have fun. I thought this was a good way to explain procrastination and it was really funny. There was also something called a panic monster. The panic monster symbolizes due dates. The Panic monster scares the monkey away whenever it takes hold of the wheel, but the biggest problem is when there are no dead lines. Then the panic monster isn't able to scare off the monkey and you'll wait till the last minute and stay up all night completing your assignment. Tim Urban said were are an advanced civilization! He also said that there were two types of procrastination. He said that he doesn't think that non-procrastinator's exist. Were all procrastinators. We might not be as messed up as some people and we might be really good with dead lines, but the monkey's sneakiest trick is when the dead lines are not there. So watch out for that monkey! Katherine Paterson was born on October 31, 1932 in Huai'an, China. Her parents were George Raymond and Mary Womelsdorf. When she was five, she was forced to leave China during the Japanese invasion. Her family moved thirteen times between 1937-1950 because of her father's work. She went to King College. she won the Newbery Medal twice. She won the about eight awards. She was married to John Paterson. She had one son named David. She is now currently eighty-three years old. Katherine Paterson is the author of more than 30 books, including 16 novels for children and young people. Some of the genres that Katherine writes about is children's and young adult novels. Some story themes are friendship and childhood. Some books that she has written are: A Midnight Clear, A Sense of Wonder, The Angel and the Donkey, Angels & Other Strangers, Bread and Roses Too, Bridge to Terabithia, Brother Sun Sister Moon, Consider the Lilies, The Day of the Pelican, and The Flint Heart. I like the author Katherine Paterson because she wrote so many books. It was more than 30 books. I also like her because she writes her books based on events in her life. This week we finished the excerpt Props for Faith by Ursula Hegi. A girl name Hanna which is the narrator has a best friend named Renate. Unfortunately, Renate has polio which is when one leg is taller and skinnier than the other leg. For Renate her left leg is taller and skinnier. They were very good friends until Renate invited Hanna’s enemy over to her house. Hanna called her a gimp and Renate’s face turned red. Renate’s mom told Hanna never to come back to their house. Hanna felt immediately bad after what she had done. She kept on saying sorry to Renate, but Renate just said she wasn’t allowed to play with her. Hanna thought of things she could give Renate. Then after thinking of many things, she remembered that the thing that Renate might want is her left leg to be healed. Hanna went to the cellar and grabbed an empty vinegar. On Wednesday morning before school, Hanna went to St. Martin’s Church. The church was empty because mass was held in the chapel. Hanna quickly got the vinegar bottle and filled it with holy water. That afternoon Hanna asked Renate to come to her house. After persuading her a lot, she agreed. Hanna told Renate to take off her shoe and sock from her left leg. Renate wasn’t so sure. Hanna spread holy water on her leg. Hanna told Renate to just believe it will work. Then Renate suggested they drink the rest of the holy water. During the next weeks, Hanna watched Renate’s leg for signs of change. Weeks went by and Renate started to hang out with Hanna. Hey went to the blessing of the vehicles. Then in July, they went to the fair. Their friendship started coming back together again. Hanna realized that they holy water hadn’t healed Renate’s leg, but their friendship. When you want a plan to go a certain way and it fails, that doesn’t mean it’s the end. That means God might have a different plan and it is even better. Ursula Hegi was born on May 26, 1946 in West Germany. She is now 69, living in the United States. She moved to the U.S. when she was 18, and she's been writing books from then on. She has written many fictions about Germany and she has written several of reviews for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Not only has she written those, but she has written many other fiction stories with plenty of awards. A perfect example of what she has written is names, Props For Faith. Ursula lived in Germany, and that's where the characters in the book live. She also lived in the exact same place in Germany, Düsseldorf. Ursula has also had 'friend' problems when she was at a younger age. She's learned to fix them as well as the friends in this well-written short story, Props For Faith. Hegi's first books were set in the United States. She set her third, Floating in My Mother's Palm, in the fictional German town of "Burgdorf," using her writing to explore her conflicted feelings about her German heritage. She used the setting for three more books, including her best selling novel Stones from the River, which was chosen for Oprah's Book Club in 1997. Hegi appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 8, and her publisher reprinted 1.5 million hardcover copies and 500,000 paperbacks. She then moved from Spokane to New York. Hegi's many awards include an NEA Fellowship and five PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. She won a book award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association in 1991 for Floating in My Mother's Palm. She has also had two New York Times Notable Book mentions. She has written many book reviews for the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. |
Julia Godinez
I am creative and helpful. I also love to make new friends Archives
June 2016
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