What's 811 Reading? discussion

What have you found most interesting in your text so far? Did you learn something or were surprised by a person's choice or event?

Make sure your topic sentence includes not only the title/author/genre but also the ANSWER to your question.

Topic sentence example: In Walter Dean Myers's memoir Bad Boy, I was most surprised to learn that Walter's father was illiterate.

Please consult your rubric and models to ensure that you are doing your best work!

For a “4”: Did I….
• Write a topic sentence that provided the title, author, and genre of my text?
• Provide context of what is happening in the text, so my reader understands what I’m talking about?
• Find a direct quote from the text that proves my idea?
• Thoroughly explain the significance of my quote/how it proves my idea?
• Check for correct punctuation and spelling?

In my non-fiction book, A Nation Divided by Mark Thomas, I was surprised to find out that they mention Abraham Lincoln in the story. I am surprised by this because I just thought the book was going to talk about the civil war and what happened and what caused it. I always wanted to know what Mr. Lincoln did during the war. "Lincoln cared deeply about the united states as a whole"(12). This quote shows that Mr. Lincoln cares about his country and will protect it in any way he can. Mr. Lincoln will never let his country down in time of need.

In Joan Lowery Nixon"s Non-fiction novel The making of a writer, What I found interesting was when the author of the story was so fascinated by poetry and he kept reading and rereading a poem or a line from a poem repeatedly. "This line is amazing absolutely en-riveting I can't get enough!" This quote shows that the kid was in love with some poem he was reading. He wanted to get some more poetry from that Author.

In Chris Gethard's nonfiction novel, A Bad Idea I'm About To Do I learned that Chris has a really bad temper. He gets really mad. In the novel, he is constantly yelling or wanting to fight. One time he gets mad because 30 people messaged him at the same time and he got annoyed, then wanting to fight him. His roommate,Nick, in his 2nd year of college, got him mad because he ate his donuts, insulted his friends, target him for the amusement of others,and tell him he's not funny, Chris went crazy. He then threatened him fight him but the other guy went into his room and cried. Another time was in a basketball game he was yelling about the shot clock and the ref wouldn't listen so he cursed. He stated, "The ref blew his whistle. I am the only player in the history of our charity sports league to be given a technical foul while on the bench." As a result he was mad. He overreacted when the ref didn't pay attention to the shot clock. You didn't have to curse to the ref but just go up to him and say something.I think what Chris did was right, the ref wasn't listening so he had to do something about it. I would do the same, if the ref wasn't listening then I would walk up to him and do something about it.

Leaving Home: Stories

In Hazel Rochman and Darlene Z. McCampbell's nonfiction novel Levaing home, that I found most interesting in the text so far is the author's experience. They experience things when they were young and trying to teach us readers. Here was one from Amy Tan. "Higher and higher, above the alley, over the tops of tiled roofs, where I was gathered up by the wind and pushed up toward the night sky until everything below me disappeared and I was alone. I closed my eyes and pondered my next move." This quote shows that Amy Tan had experience the alley was a place to be and was alone and experience being alone is not a bad thing. Being alone is ok as long you have each other in their hearts. I learned that being alone means your not alone, you have someone in your heart tht you love. Therefore, in this book one author's experience was that being alone means your not alone.

In Mike Tanner's nonfiction fiction book Flat out Rock what I found interesting in my book is when i read the passage about the Beetles. I found out that the Beetles could not return to the united states until the governments gives their approval. When I read that paragraph I was shocked because I dont't know the Beetles that much but I know the Beetles couldn't do anything that bad for the government to not let the Beetles return in the u.s. I belive the government probally over reacting or he was just jelous of the Beetles. lots of Beetle fans were very depressed and ferious some fans went on a protest to let the government let the Beetles return to the u.s.

In my nonfiction, That Moment When, by George K. Jordan, what I found interesting in the text was that Damon Harvey said to his son that he may have to leave just to help out his family. Some what parts of the story was when Damon told his son a story that he made up about a king who was him and a prince who was his son, an what troubled him was that his son didn't wanted him to leave. "Sometimes daddies have to do hard things to make their families happy"(78).This shows that Damon wants what is best for his family and to show that hehas to much work to be done in his life.

In Mark Pfetzer's memoir,My Everest Story I was most surprised to learn that Mark's parents didnt have money for him to go to Mt. Everest. His parents didnt believe him and thought it was a dream for him to climb the mountain. He had to get people to help him pay for the trip."Ok. If you come up with the money you can go to nepal. Now go to bed"{17}. I think this proves that his family wasn't rich and couldnt' pay for him. He wrote letters to everyone and money began coming in. Everyday he got checks until he got $4000 in total. Therefore, I was most surprised to learn that Mark's parents didnt have money for him to go to Mt. Everest

In Eric Schlosser's non fiction book, "Fast Food Nation," what I found interesting in my book is when they reveal when McDonalds was made and how they upgrade their company. When I read this, I was surprised because I thought McDonalds was made in the 1960s but it was made in the 1930s. Carl (fast food guy) wanted to be a big company and not let other companies in his way. Carl became a fast food guy because he bought a lot of hot dog stands and he sell hotdogs really good, and he had enough money to open up a restaurant. But other fast food company stepped in and made Carl's business slow. Carl States, "McDOnalds might make more money than me, I got to see their secret so I can get back on top." This quote shows how he wants more people in his fast food restaurant.

The Privilege of Youth: A Teenager's Story
In Dave Pelzer's nonfiction novel, The privilege of youth, an interesting fact i learned in the text was that your foster parents have to let their foster kids go at age 18. I also learned that Dave was the main character in the book. He has a wife and son, and was just released from foster care and he's on the road almost everyday because he has many jobs. As a kid, Dave was abused by his own mother, and bullied at school. As Dave got older, he gets married and have kids, and lives a happy life.

In the non- fiction book Harriet Tubman Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petery it's interesting how a narrator is telling the story of HArriet Tubman since she was born. The narrator stated " Before six- year-old Harriet knew what happening, she was seated in the wagon, beside this strange white woman who was now her mistress. She had been "hired out" by the master, Edward Brodas" (31). This quote was interesting to me because I never knew that Harriet got sold to another person when she was younger and I als didn't know that after she got sold, she got really sink and went back to her original owner with her family. This is one interesting thing I learned in the book.

In Nick Hasted's non fiction biography, The Dark Story Of Eminem, what I have found to be most interesting in the text so far is how Eminem managed to get 8 Mile, the "border" that seperates black people from white people in the poverty stricken areas of Detroit. Eminem was raised by his mother and father but with all the fighting and disagreements between the two, they divorced. Eminem, like most families in the 8 mile region of Detroit, couldn't pay the rent and was constantly moving from place to place switching schools almost every month. He stated from his experience, "It was a tough time for me. I didn't have any friends and I was constantly getting beat up for being white." This quote proves this specific text is interesting because after years of getting beat up, people were finally showing him respect. Rapping had practically saved his life and he got along with both black and white people from then. Therefore I think this is the most interesting part in the text so far.

In the non fiction novel The Wright Brothers At Kitty Hawk by Donald J Sobol, the protagonists the Wright brothers are interesting people. They own a bike shop together and they are trying to make, and fly a plane without an engine. When Wilbur Wright says "you can't learn how to fly by just reading a book." I found that very interesting because when I first read it I didn't understand it. Then I realized to learn how to fly, you have to actually fly even without knowing.

In Phillip Hoose's nonfiction novel Moonbird, I was surprised to learn how far B95 traveled in his lifetime. In the novel, B95 is a shore bird that has survived through a lot of dangerous things. Humans have caused a lot of problems for shore birds. One thing humans have done is reducing the amount of food that shore birds can eat. While B95 travels south, he has to stop many times to eat or else he will have no energy to keep flying. However, humans are killing a lot of food that the shorebirds eat, so it's harder for them to find food. The author states, "Scientists call him Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime, this robin-sized shorebird has flown the distance to the moon-and halfway back!"(1). This quote surprised me because I didn't know that birds can travel that far in their lifetime.

In the non fiction novel Creatures that Kill You by Marie Noble I think I was surprised when I found out that there was a spider that could diszove flesh and make a crator in your skin if it bites you.In the ovel you can see alot of amazing creatures and dangorous animals when the facts are clear it is horrifying and groosome story.Creatues that Kill is a great book talking about peoples life stories.In the book it states that when you are biten by a brown recluse spider a crator will form cause it will eat away at your skin.(?)This fits with my quote cause I think that the spider and many other creatures in the book affect alot of humans but as I look back their habbitats are being detroyed so it kinda is balanced.

In Jay Asher's realistic fiction novel Thirteen Reasons Why, I was suprised when I discovered the reason why my protagonist Clay was mentioned in his crushes cassette tapes. Clay's crush Hannah Baker committed suicide for 13 different reasons.But before she dies she makes cassette tapes stating how each person affected her and how it came to the point where she wanted to take her own life. In cassette 1 she tells Clay to keep listening because in one of the tapes is where he's mentioned. At first I thought Clay did something really horrible to Hannah but when I find out the reason why I was shocked.In the text Hannah says "Clay I wish I would have told you what was going through my head at the party. Maybe if I did I would be with you now." (201?)Throughout the story the author makes it seem like something really bad happened at that party that Clay and Hannah went too but at the end thats not what it turns out to be.Hannah didn't have anyone because she couldnt trust anyone anymore, everyone took advantage of her.But when she finally talked to Clay for the 1st time at the party she felt like she could trust him with anything.So if she told Clay what was on her mind he would have been able to stop her from making that decision.