I am now beginning to read A Child Called "It," by David Pelzer. I am reading this book for my non fiction novel which Ellee Allison recommended to me. She told me it as a heart wrenching story about a boy named David, who got abused by his mother for many years of his childhood, until 5th grade. I have only read the first chapter so far, but I can already tell that I will like it! I think this true-story novel will help give people who might be battling something hard, perspective in life.

In the first chapter of A Child Called "It," it talks about Dave's rescue. I personally don't like how the author did this because then it doesn't give the reader as much suspense throughout the story. I think the author should've put the rescue at the end. Although, I did think this beginning made the book unique. Anyways, the book starts off as Dave getting smacked by his mother. She
has no pity whatsoever for him. She has starved him, beaten him, burned him, stabbed him, and so much more he did not mention. After Mother finishes beating him, he drives her to school and tells David to make up an excuse if someone asks him what the bruise on his head is from.

Dave walks in and the nurse immediately questions him, but he does not have her fooled. The nurse has known Dave for quite awhile and has an idea that he is being abused at home. She tells him to take off his clothes so she can examine his body for scars and injuries. She tells the principle of her findings, who tells a police officer. The police officer forces Dave to tell him if he is abused or not. When Dave finally gives in, the officer takes him to a police station where he calls home and tells Mother that Dave will not be coming home. The officer then takes David to a juvenile department. On page 14 the officer says, "The officer smiles with relief, as we leave the city limits. 'David Pelzer,' he says, 'you're free.'"

I finally finished Looking For Alaska!!! John Green is such an amazing author. He does such a great job bringing me into the text and making it all seem so real. He puts so much detail and thought into his books, sometimes it is hard to comprehend! This book was his best one by far! SPOILER ALERT! So Alaska just died in a car accident. Miles and Chip just let her go. They felt horrible and wants to figure out how she died. They discover many clues (like mentioned in my last post) and the come to the conclusion that it might have been an accident, or it might have been suicide. They do not know.

In Alaska's honor, the school decides to build a playground. Chip, Miles, Takumi, and Lara all agree that this a stupid idea. Alaska would've wanted different. So, Chip brings up the idea of pulling the greatest prank in Culver's Creek in her honor. On Speaker's day, Pudge aka Miles, and all of his friends find an actor named Maxx to speak in front of the whole school. Mr. Starnes thinks that Maxx is a professor who studies adolescent sexuality. Instead, Maxx ends up stripping in front of the whole school all the way down to his boxers. Alaska would've been proud.

At the end of the semester Dr. Hyde tells his class to write a paper on Alaska's well know question, "How will you get out of this labyrinth of suffering?" In Miles paper, he wrote about how you will never get out of the labyrinth. He talks about how everyone and everything is energy so nothing can truly die or get destroyed. Miles used to believe that the afterlife was just "something we made up to ease the pain of loss" (page 220). But at the very end of his paper he writes, "Thomas Edison's last words were: 'It's very beautiful over there.' I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful."

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I am almost finished with Looking For Alaska, by John Green. It is still probably my favorite book I have ever read! So far in my book (like I mentioned in my last post), Alaska has just died in a car crash. Pudge and The Colonel have no idea why. All they know is that the night before, Miles (Pudge), hooked up with Alaska, when she was highly drunk. The next morning they get a phone call (from Jake), which Alaska picks up, and all of a sudden Alaska starts to freak out and begs Pudge and Chip to distract The Eagle, while she leaves campus. The boys agree even though she is very drunk still and in a miserable state. Later on that morning, they get news... apparently Alaska dies in a car crash. She was headed towards Jake's house with white flowers in her trunk.

Chip and Pudge are very determined to find out how she died. Was it suicide or an accident? They think it might be suicide because when she crashed, she didn't swerve her car out of the way of the truck. The cops said that she headed right into it. Alaska might've also committed suicide because she was guilty for cheating on her boyfriend, Jake. Something that Pudge finds suspicious is that written on a wall next to the phone where Alaska picked up the phone was a doodle of a flower. He thinks that when Alaska was talking to Jake, she was drawing that flower which made her remember something, and causes she to freak out.

One day, Miles was sorting through Alaska's books in her room and found a book called, The General in His Labyrinth. In this book Pudge found a page where it talked about "how to get out of the labyrinth of suffering. Alaska always asked this question to Pudge, and he never knew the answer. In the margin, next to that page Alaska wrote, "Straight and fast." On page 156 The Colonel says to Miles, "So drunk? So drunk? The cop car would've had its lights on... straight and fast. Out of the labyrinth."

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I cannot believe I am almost finished with Looking for Alaska. John Green did quite a good job writing this book! It might be one of my most favorite books I have ever read! It never gets boring to read because something interesting is always happening! I would highly, highly recommend this book. Throughout the book Green does an AMAZING job of creating suspension. For example, in the first half of the novel, instead of having chapters, it just says "117 days before," and then maybe the next chapter it says "94 days before," which all leading up to the big climax! I have just finished reading the climax, and I have to say, it even made me cry a little!

In the rising action, after the Colonel (Chip), Pudge (Miles), Alaska, Lara, and Takumi finish pulling their prank on the Week-day Warriors, they spend the night at an abandoned barn. At the barn, Lara and Miles officially become boyfriend and girlfriend. The only problem is that he has feelings for Alaska still. A few days later The Colonel, Pudge, and Alaska all had a small party in Alaska's basement. The Colonel, and Alaska were drinking alcohol, but Miles just decided to munch on a few pretzels instead that night...

Later on that they were all talking and somehow got on the topic of the game, Truth or Dare. On page 131 it says, "Alaska started. 'Truth or Dare, Pudge.' 'Dare.' 'Hook up with me.' So I did." Alaska already has a boyfriend... but she was so drunk, she didn't know exactly what she was doing. Miles was not drunk, but he hooked up with her anyways. They kissed and slept on the couch together. In the morning, Miles woke up to Alaska's sobs. Alaska begged Miles and Chip to help her escape the school, with the super intendant noticing. Miles and Chip were so confused but they agreed and let her go anyways, even though they knew that Alaska was drunk and in a miserably state. Later on that day... Miles and Chip hear word that Alaska... died in a car accident that morning. Alaska is dead. At first, Miles thinks it is just one of her silly pranks, but it is not. She is dead.

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Right now in Looking For Alaska by John Green, I am midway through the book. I am really enjoying it so far! I like how it shows the rougher side of town. I think this gives me a lot of perspective about what the world can be like. On a scale of one to ten, I would give this book a nine! This is because John Green uses figurative language, imagery, theme, characterization, conflict... and much, much more to enhance his writing. He is a very good writer but the only thing I do not like about his novels is that, sometimes he gets off topic. But in a way, it adds dimension to the story.

Alaska invites Pudge to spend thanksgiving at Culver's Creek with only her. Pudge hopes that something will happen between them, but nothing does because Alaska is very loyal to her boyfriend, Jake. Alaska is trying to set Pudge up with her friend, Lara. Lara is a cute little Romanian girl with a strong accent. She really likes Miles (aka Pudge), and he likes her too... just not as much as he likes Alaska.

When everyone comes back to Culver's Creek Alaska and Chip start planning a prank to pull on the Week-day Warriors, who are the rich kids. They want to get revenge on them because of what they did to Miles. They threw him into a lake, and nearly drowned him! Chip and  Alaska spend lots of one on one time planning for this prank; they have everything sketched out to the second. When the day finally comes... the prank is to break into to the Week-day Warrior's dorms  and rig their hair gel for it to dye their hair blue (because everyone knows how much rich kids love their hair)! When they finish their prank, Takumi, Lara, Miles, Chip, and Alaska all spend the night at a barn. They all get a little drunk when Alaska makes up a game where they all share their worst and best day of their life. Alaska opens up, and tells the group that when she was little, one day she was alone at her house with her mom. Then all of a sudden Alaska heard her mom screaming and then saw her jerking frantically! Alaska screamed and was so terrified that she didn't even call 911. She blamed her mom's death on her. On page 119, Alaska says, "...trying to give her CPR, but by then she was plenty dead. Aneurysm. Worst day. I win."

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I have just started reading Looking For Alaska by John Green for my choice pleasure book. I have read three books by him, and I think that this one will be my favorite. John Green does a really good job of describing the characters. Miles Halter, the main character, is very life-like. He seems like your average teenager so I can really relate to him. I would definitely recommend this book to teens of all sorts! I would also recommend this book to teens who like to read a little bit of a challenging text.

So far in Looking for Alaska, Miles Halter is moving to Culvers Creek Preparatory School for his sophomore year of high school. He is a scrawny boy with not that many friends. He is ready to leave his parents and start a new life of his own! When he gets to Culvers Creek, he meets his roommate, Chip, nicknamed "The Colonel." The Colonel is rough; he smokes drinks, curses, and goes to wild parties, and he nicknames Miles,"Pudge." Miles instantly get influenced by Chip and he starts smoking too, just to "fit in."

Chip introduces Pudge to his friends, Takumi, Lara (Who had a crush on Miles), and... Alaska Young. On page 14 Pudge thought, "but I barely heard him because the hottest girl in all of human history was standing before me in cutoff jeans and a peach tank top." They all became like a squad. They always smoked with each other. One day though, "The Eagle" (the dean of the school) catches them smoking but Alaska totally takes the blame! Pudge later finds out that she took the blame because she ratted out Myra and Paul (who were caught in bed together after curfew), and Alaska feels really bad about that so she feels she has to make up for it. Nobody dares telling The Colonel about what Alaska did, because basically his motto is, "Don't rat." But who knows? Will someone tell Chip the truth?

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I just finished reading Papertowns, by John Green. I liked it overall but the middle of he book got a little boring, but I forced myself to keep reading. I am glad that I stuck with it though... because the ending was very touching, and sad, but definitely worth the read. If you have not yet read Papertowns, then I would suggest that you do not keep reading this post (SPOILER ALERT)!

If u did not read my earlier posts about Papertowns, I will catch you up:) So basically, there is this boy named, Quentin who is in love with a girl named Margo. He has been ever since they were little. Margo is a very mysterious and unpredictable girl, so it is not surprising when she completely disappears off the face of this earth. But, Margo does leave behind clues... and Quentin thinks that she left them just for him. So he thinks it is his responsibility to find her. On page 285 Margo says to Quentin, "'How the heck did you even find me' ... 'Song Of Myself,' I say. 'Guthrie took me to Whitman. Whitman took me to the door. The door took me to the minimall. We figured out how to read the painted-over graffiti. I didn't understand paper towns; it can also mean subdivisions that never got built, and so I thought you had gone to one and were never coming back... So I went to a bunch of them, looking for you. But then I matched the map in the gift shop to the thumbtack holes. I started reading the poem more closely... I found Agloe from the map, saw your comment on the talk page of Omnictionary, skipped graduation, and drove here.'"

Quentin loved Margo so much that he drove twenty-one straight hours, with his friends to be with her, and to make sure she was alive. When he finally found her, Margo was a little upset. Margo did not want anyone to find her. But then, when Quentin started talking to her, she realized how much she missed him and wanted Quentin to run away with her too. Quentin declined tough, no matter how much he loved her. He had a life back in Florida.

I think the theme of this story was to sometimes let go of what you love. Sometimes life does not always give you what you want... and sometimes you just have to be okay with that.  On page 305 it says, "The physical space between us evaporates. We play our broken strings of our instruments one last time."

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