V.’s Comments (group member since May 21, 2014)

V.’s comments from the Reading Rams Summer I, 2014 group.

It has been a while since I watched the movie P.S. I Love You, but towards the end of the novel, I began thinking about this movie. They both deal with death from cancer and moving on with your life. The person who dies has written something for the love of their life to get after they die. Hazel and Augustus travel to Amsterdam, and I think the wife in P.S. I Love You goes to, Wales, maybe, the place of her husband's youth.

Rochelle wrote: "I loved every minute of reading this book. The characters were very real to me. I knew the story was not going to end with some miracle but as I was reading I couldn't stop myself from hoping for t..."

In regards to An Imperial Affliction and Peter Van Houten . . . I wonder if that is why he couldn't write what happened to the characters after Anna's death. . .There really was no continuation of his own life after the death of his daughter.

This was a great story! I'll have to read more of John Green's books. Sometimes real life is rated R and the characters in this novel, from all the protagonists to Peter Van Houten, show us so many different ways of handling it. Augustus, Hazel, and Isaac are so clever. Augustus and Hazel walk with Isaac through his disappointment and support him. The eulogy before Augustus dies allows Hazel and Isaac a time to use honesty that they won't be able to use at the real funeral so as not to shock the mourners. I am looking forward to seeing the movie.

As we have been reading novels, I have begun to wonder about the process of writing one. Does an author have a rough draft of a novel and then as he or his editor reread it, they figure out places to work in foreshadowing or clues that don't obviously give the story away, but later on in the story allow the reader to figure things out. And the sunken ships. I wondered why in the world Emma was taking Jacob to the area where the ships were and why were they going below the water into them? Those ships are needed to be where they are later in the story.

Marshall wrote: "Tricia wrote: "I admit, I was getting the tiniest bit tired of realistic fiction, and I found this book a welcome change. It was just what I needed. Nothing wrong with our other books, but this one..."

I thought there was a lot of higher level vocabulary in this story, but not so much that made it too difficult to stick with the story. (I looked up several words I wasn't familiar with.)

Jennifer wrote: "When I first picked up the book, I wonder what peculiar children could possibly mean. I had a hard time reading the first part. It moved so slowly. When Jacob's grandfather was killed, I figured..."
Using the photographs to stake a story around is an unusual idea, but it certainly worked in this case. I also wondered about these kids. What could make them so different from everyone else? And, other than the fact that being peculiar skipped generations, I don't know how Abe could have known for certain that Jacob was a peculiar, too. Perhaps Abe felt he didn't give Jacob enough information just in case he needed it in the future. If Jacob himself didn't turn out to be a peculiar, his children or grandchildren very well might be.

This is usually not the type of book I read, but I did enjoy it. It took a lot of brain organization for me to remember who everyone was and what they could do - wights, hollows, ymbrynes, peculiars. This is where I will usually take out a pen and paper and begin drawing some type of graphic organizer in case I need to refresh my memory of something as I'm reading, but in a typical book, I'm usually drawing a family tree, not a list of who is what creature and what their characteristics are. On page 156, we get a list of all the names of the ymbrynes: Gannett, Nightjar, Avocet, Bunting, Treecreeper, Finch, Peregrine. I read a few more pages before I realized those are all the names of types of birds. I probably wouldn't try to do anything with this novel in a class. I might not even have it in my classroom. There are two lines that are sexual in nature and inappropriate, well, for almost anybody, but especially young teens. I found them offensive, and the mom in me doesn't want to censor, but I do think as an adult I need to be responsible and knowledgeable about what I'm giving other people's children to read. In cases like this, I have asked our school librarian if a book is part of our library's circulation. I can then refer a student to the library if they want to read something I don't feel comfortable having in my classroom. That's too bad, too, because it's only two lines out of the entire book.

Sdg22 wrote: "Shanay wrote: "The watson’s go to Birmingham

I remember my 4th grade teacher reading this story to us as a read aloud. I remember reading it once someone had given me the book back in middle scho..."

I don't think I noticed he was looking in the mirror again, but I did notice his attitude was the same. I am so glad he matured into the older, caring brother he became.

Strong relationships are built over time. Nothing earth shattering has to happen, but the more experiences you have with someone, the better you know them. The reader does spend a lot of time with the Watson family before they embark upon their trip to Birmingham. We see how Daniel, the father, uses humor to connect the family and keep it a joyful place to be. We know the parents want their children to mature into responsible adults who have deep character. We see the parents committed to each other in their marriage. By the time they leave on their journey, we know them pretty well. I don't think I realized how much I liked them until we think Joey is among the victims of the bombing. My heart was almost wrenched out because I felt I knew this little girl and I had come to adore the family. This story puts me in a place of empathy. Stories like this about almost any issue nudge readers to become firmer in their position on the issue and be more vocal among their family and peers and in their voting.

Mandy wrote: "This book was wonderful. The family was very awesome and I loved them all. Kenny telling the story and exaggerating everything was hilarious. Dad had to be my favorite of them all. The way he was p..."

This comment is about the picture in the shoe. If you type in "Buster Brown shoe logo," you will see several logos used by this shoe company. Some, if not all of the shoes, have a logo imprinted on the sole. Before the bombing, Kenny describes Joey's shoes. Later as he describes the shoe he is pulling away from Wool Pooh after the bombing, it matches the earlier description. That, and the white socks lead the reader to believe that Joey was involved.

Rochelle wrote: "The introduction of this book reminded me of my hometown. If I were to write a book about Azle, I would start it with the same beginning sentences. Nothing ever happens in Azle, Texas. I could even..."

Several of us have talked about all the subplots in this story and how that made it hard for us to focus. I am wondering if it might have been written that way on purpose as a contrast to the first line, "Nothing ever happens in Antler, Texas." No, they don't have any professional sports teams around, a race track, or the American Airline Center, but a lot of important stuff is going on beneath the surface, and it is keeping everyone pretty busy.

In response to a few of Dr. Dryden's questions:
Why do you think Zachary tells these stories about his life? Do you believe them? Are they true or not?
Zachary does everything we want our students to do. He is very well read. I suppose vicariously he has visited the places he talks about. He is so large, he can't go anywhere without becoming the center of everyone's rude comments and attention. I can understand why he doesn't go out, yet he has intelligence that he engages with staying up on the news and by reading. Even if he hasn't been to these places, he probably possesses more knowledge about them than anyone he is talking to.

Why do you think Toby spends so much time thinking about Cal's brother, Wayne?
I wondered about this when Toby marks the days off the calendar knowing exactly how many more days it will be before Wayne returns home. I finally decided he admires Wayne as Cal's big brother since he himself doesn't have any siblings. We tend to take our own family members for granted. Toby told Cal he should write Wayne, but Cal never did. I'm sure Cal was dealing with inward feelings that Toby wasn't aware of, too.

I liked this story from the beginning because it has all the stereotypical things we think of about small town life in Texas. I enjoyed how new characters were introduced. I would ask myself, “Now, who is that?” And a few lines later, the author would let me know. I like every character in the story. I’m sorry Opalina left Toby and his dad, but I feel for her, too. As a female, I want her to excel, accomplish her goals, and make her dreams come true. It was heart-warming how everyone in town did what they could to help care for Zachary while Paulie Rankin was away. Each person saw a need they could fill, and they stepped up to the plate without it being a big deal. I had thoughts of “A Greater Tuna Christmas” when Toby describes the friendly decorating competition between Miss Myrtie Mae and Miss Gladys Toodle, if you can call a $10,000 payment to a professional decorator friendly. Cal realized Zachary’s desire to be baptized as a way to better honor his memory of his mother. I like how they all pulled together to make it happen. I’m so sorry Wayne didn’t come back from the Vietnam War. I’m glad Toby wrote him and was so very surprised when he signed Cal’s name to the letter, but that was probably a foreshadowing that I didn’t catch on to. I’ll be interested to read and see what comments are made about the ladybugs. What do they symbolize?

Sdg22 wrote: "I enjoyed reading this heartfelt story. As the book began, I thought I would be annoyed by the sarcasm of Moose, but his character surprised me as he matured into a thoughtful older brother. The a..."

The note that Moose found in his shirt was a great way to end the story. Even though the kids bypassed every one else who read the mail to get the note to Al, I wondered if it did actually get read by the warden or his wife. On the other hand, it takes financial backing to begin a new school and I suppose Al would have been the only one who could offer it. Isn't it interesting that people can commit a crime and do something completely altruistic almost simultaneously? We are a peculiar species.

Sarah wrote: "A very good story! The 1930's was such an hard time in history. The family was very protective of Natalie and I feel Moose really did want to protect her from others. It's sad that they had to send..."

How interesting that you toured Alcatraz!

Of all the wonderful novels I have read this year, this is the one that almost brought me to tears. Not much was known about Autism in the years for the setting of this story, but even without research, the family has found ways to live with Natalie and respect her differences. I drew connections with it to My Sister’s Keeper because the mothers are committed to helping the one child they have that has a need almost to the point of sacrificing the other children. Moose knows how to follow Piper’s lead at school and work the crowd with tales about living on Alcatraz. I’m so glad for Moose that Annie knows how to play baseball. I really dislike Piper, but in the end, I think she is the one who is actually responsible for everyone facing up to the truth about Natalie. She is a young woman and should be treated as such. And who really did pull the strings that made a chance at life possible for her? Was it Warden Williams, Al Capone, Onion 105? I haven’t decided, but I am glad Moose had the courage to “go ahead and play the game.”

Mandy wrote: "I had not read this book before and really liked it. I also have not seen the movie so now I want to. I really thought how they built up the characters was interesting. Opal met most of the charact..."

I forgot about Winn-Dixie looking like he is smiling, but I'm sure we have all thought that about a few of our pets, especially a dog when he is wagging his tail. So joyful.

Sdg22 wrote: "Excellent! I truly enjoyed reading this book. I loved the language. It was amusing to see Maniac's reaction to Mars Bar as he claims how bad he is. However, Maniac does not quite understand his ..."

Great comparisons of characters on each side of the city showing that they truly are alike.

Shanay wrote: "This story somewhat started out a little slow for me so I quickly became disengaged in the reading. However towards the middle it became a little more interesting. Maniac was a carefree boy somewha..."

I forgot that Amanda had to get all over Mars Bar for tearing her book. I guess that is why he enlisted her help at the end. He knew of the three of them, she truly was the "baddest!"

Rochelle wrote: "This book was not my favorite to read but I do see how it would be great in the classroom. I thought there were a lot of great things in this book that could be discussed in the classroom. However,..."

Rochelle, my mind wandered a lot as I read this book, too. I'm not sure why.