The Face On The Milk Carton

In the book, The Face On The Milk Carton, Janie attends school like any other day, she gets nervous in her English class because she had to present her essay to the class, but the lunch bell saved her. So she decides she has 27 minutes to write a much better essay. In lunch, Janie and her friends turn over the milk carton to see who had been kidnapped. When Janie turns over the carton, she sees a little girl in a dress with a narrow white collar and tiny dark polka dots,  and with her hair in tight ponytails. Janie soon realizes the little girl in the milk carton is her. After school, it’s pouring rain. Her guy friend,  Reeve, offers to take Janie for ice cream, even though lactose intolerant. Janie was feeling dizzy because of what had happened earlier, so Reeve decided to take her home. Once she gets home, she discovers nobody is home, irritated, she runs over to Reeve’s house. “The silence of the house was suddenly unbearable. She leaped from the bed, pounded down the stairs, flung open the side door, and ran over to the Shieldses’ house.” Once there, Janie sees Mrs. Shields is watching Lassie. 
More to come.. 

Theme-

I think the theme of this book so far is mystery because I think Janie will spend her time through the book searching for her real parents, and answers. Also, in the book it states that, “Or is she my mother? Is she daddy’s second wife? Or is it daddy who is somebody else?” I think though out the book Janie will try and figure out these questions. 

Tolerance

Tolerance- the ability or willingness to allow the existence occurrence, or practice of something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

One time I experienced intolerance was when I seen someone bullying another kid in my old school's hallway. This affected me because I felt bad for the person that was getting bullied so I decided to back them up.

Tolerance to me is to accept things just as long as it doesn't harm/or have a negative effect on you in any way.

A Child Called It- David Pelzer

Summary:
Six year old David got beaten until he was 11 years old. From warnings like yelling, to being forced to lie down on a hot stove.  From discipline to punishments. David's mother was once a caring, loving mother who cared for her children just like any other mom. David's dad was always away working. As a result of this, David's mother became addicted to alcohol and began beating David for being a "bad boy" even though he did nothing wrong. David got angry and started disobeying her. David later regretted being disobedient to his mom because the outcome was tragic. Since he was being disobedient, his mother decided she would stop feeding him. First 3 days without food, then later 10 ten days without food, to him just having to steal food from the stores and his school cafeteria. In the story it says that David would fall asleep fantasizing about food. Also from his peers lunches. One day his mother had a knife in one hand and David's baby brother, Russell, in the other. As she was yelling at David, she lost control and the knife went flying to David's chest. While he was there bleeding severely, his mom quickly went into action. She treated the wound with cloths. David wasn't shocked because he knew his mother wouldn't just let him bleed to death, no matter how evil she was.  The author says, "Mother was still on her knees wrapping a cloth around my lower chest."Weeks later David's mom started treating him like a normal child. At first he couldn't believe what was happening. As the days went by, things became clearer. The reason she had started acting all nice and sweet was because an agent from Child Services came to speak to David about his mother. Just as soon David said the wrong thing, his mother's smile faded. You can guess what happened after the agent left. David was called down into the nurses office and was instructed to take off his clothes so they can inspect his bruises. Once the nurse saw the beating scars, she called the police officer into the office. He then inspected his body, instructed him to put his clothes back on. The police officer called David's mother and told her she had just lost custody of David then hung up the phone. The text says, "Mrs. Pelzer, this is Officer Smith from the Daly City Police Department. Your son David will not be coming home today. He will be in the custody of the San Mateo Juvenile Department. If you have any questions, you call them." David and the cop took the police car and went to the orphanage where David would live freely until he was adopted.


Character Analysis: David is a sweet, loving little boy. Just as soon as his mother stops feeding him of course. He's not so sweet. In the text it says that David would take up weeks of planning on how to steal food from the stores and from lunch boxes in the classroom. He was very obedient to his teachers and would respect his classmates. In the story it says that David would get along with his teacher and his peers. He would play very well with the kids at recess time when he wouldn't be planning on stealing food.

Summary/Character Analysis- Life as We Knew It

Summary: 

Something surprising happens, but we already saw it coming. November 25: Thanksgiving Celebration. Each person was allowed one leg and two bites of thigh off a chicken. November 26: Miranda’s mom asks her kids if they have done any of their schoolwork yet. The text states,” Have any of you done a bit of schoolwork all fall?” She then asks them to pick one subject and to work on that. Miranda chose history, Jon picked algebra, and Matt decided on philosophy. December 1: The temperature was above zero so Miranda took  her mom’s skates and decided out to the pond. No one was there, so she enjoyed her time alone. 

Character Analysis: 

Brandon is an ice skater from their hometown who is training for the Olympics. He is loved by fans worldwide. As in the text it said that Brandon has his own fan-site (website) dedicated to him. He gets along with Miranda very well, maybe because they both connect to ice skating in their lives. 

Life as We Knew It/ Character Analysis

Summary: 

Trouble has struck for Miranda’s family.  Miranda’s water and stopped working just as she was washing her mother’s bedpan. Miranda told Matt who was mad that Miranda hadn’t told him immediately. Matt said,  “You should have told me right away! If the pipes are frozen I might have been able to do something.” Only the pipes weren’t frozen. The well ran out of water they could've used. Matt suggested since the well had run of water, they should just conserve the oil and move into the sunroom with their mother. Miranda didn’t feel very supportive of that. The author wrote, “No! I won’t!” Her mother, (Laura) came to a compromise and said, “Tomorrow morning, we’ll bring the mattresses in then.” 

Character Analysis

Mrs. Nesbitt is an caring, old woman. When she calls Miranda over to discuss something, she ends up telling Miranda that when she dies, whenever that may be, that Miranda should not be scared to come and take stuff that she needs from her house.  “Now after I’m gone, go through the house and take everything you can possibly use.” She says. She also tells Miranda to take two paintings for Matt and Jonny. She says,” Matt’s to have the painting of the sailboats because he always liked that when he was little, and Jonny should have the landscape in the dining room.”