The central idea of the book “My Mother the Cheerleader” by Robert Sharenow is that we are all human. In the story the girl Louise Collins is pulled out of her school, William Frantz Elementary school, because the school is being integrated by a little African American girl named Ruby. The author develops that idea through the story by having a man called Morgan Miller show up at Louise’s mothers boarding house. Morgan Miller is a Communist, and Jewish. He see’s the little girl Ruby for what she really is, just an innocent little girl. Everybody else doesn’t even see her as a human being just because of her skin color. In the story Morgan Miller argues with Louise’s mother, Pauline, that Ruby should go to the same school as Louise and she should get an equal education because she is a person too. Louise’s mother dismisses his idea and she supports the segregation because she thinks its the right thing, and believes that African Americans and Jewish people are just trying to take over everything. She said in the story, “Most of them are barely human.” Pauline is saying in this quote that the African Americans aren’t human, because they are not the same skin color as she is. Louise doesn’t know if she believes integration is right or not, until the end of the story. At the end of the story Louise realizes that Ruby is a human being like her, and just an innocent girl trying to gain equality. Louise’s mother realizes that too, and they find their courage to walk away from the hateful segregated crowd.

Book Project #2 Independent Reading Analysis and Response

List the KEY EVENTS in the story and describe their effects on the main character(s). Use a chart for these notes.

Key Events	Effects on Character
Charity gets kidnapped. Albert is “killed”. Albert is the “kidnapper”. Her Dad is “killed”. She escapes and Dessi helps her. Her Dad is the kidnapper and offers her a new life.	Charity is scared but calm when she’s kidnapped. Charity is upset and depressed when she thinks Albert is dead. Charity is horrified when she watches her father “die”. Charity is scared but determined when she escapes and tries to run. Dessi helps her and Charity is thankful. Charity is betrayed and confused when her Dad is revealed as the real kidnapper and offers her a new life and new look.

    In the fiction “Taken” by Edward Bloor we learn that you need to live your life.  In the story the main character, Charity was living a life with no meaning. Then Charity’s father offers her a new way of life, to actually have a chance to actually live, and she takes it. “Then, for the rest of that bright and sunny afternoon, under the watchful eyes of my father at one end and Victoria at the other, I started living my life.” (page 247).  Before Charity had been  locked up in the Highlands. A safe place, but a place with no meaning for anything. “Yes. A princess  locked in a tower. And that wasn’t going to change, ever. Except maybe change for the worse. You wouldn’t be the princess going to the ball, would you? You’d be the princess going to the guillotine.” (page 211.) This shows in Charity’s old life as Charity, she wasn’t living her life to the fullest. In her new life as Caridad she lives and enjoys her life. There are good and bad characters in the story. There are those characters that are selfish and have no meaning in life and those who want more. The author shows in his story that there are people who are ignorant and selfish and there are people who are good and content with life. Though even the people who are free to live life can still be bad. “Poor doesn’t equal good,  believe me.” (page 220).  The story “Taken” also shows that you can control your life. Charity’s father did that by becoming Dr. Reyes. This shows that life is full of opportunities, you just have to take them. “You get as many chances as want, as many as you dare to make for yourself.” (page 216). Society can hurt people in this story. The people in the Highlands were locked up and protected, just spending their money and becoming more self obsessed. And the people in Mangrove were poor and not getting much help. Charity’s dad become some person he wasn’t and slowly became more selfish. He hated the Highland society for it. Thats why he wanted to escape and he wanted to escape with Charity because he couldn’t leave her behind. The society is flawed because even though it is protected it is a selfish society with people who only care about money and silly things like that. Charity has a tough decision in the end. She thinks about living with her dad the way they used to again, or going back to a life with her stepmother in the Highlands.  However, in the end she makes the right choice. She chooses to live her life and be free with her father instead of being locked up in the Highlands. We learn through Charity in the book “Taken” you need to live your life.

Red Riding Hoodie

I was lost and I knew it. Dry leaves crackled under my feet with each step. The  moon was a giant yellow flashlight in the sky. Grandma was sick, so I found myself navigating my way home on my own two feet instead of in a car. I had foolishly taken a shortcut through the woods, and when it became obvious I was lost, it was too late to turn back. I tugged at the frayed ends of my old red hoodie and fingered my long-dead phone.

“Going somewhere?” A stranger growled.

Now, it had been drilled into my head by my parents the number one rule: don’t talk to strangers. But I was lost, and maybe, just maybe, this person could help me. So I ignored my parents advice and turned around.

I was surprised to see a rather small, skinny wolf instead of a man. I wondered for a second if I had imagined hearing voices. The wolf looked at me questionably and asked, “I said, going somewhere?”

“Y-you can talk?” I sputtered out. My eyes were wide and my heart was pounding.

“Yes I can talk. Now where are you headed too, little girl?”

I stiffened. “I am NOT a little girl. I’m almost fourteen. I’m on my way to my Grandmas house, if you must know.”

“Interesting.” The wolf took a step closer and  I noticed how very sharp his teeth were.

I knew I was losing it. Animals don’t talk. But since I was already insane, would it really hurt to ask for help?

“I’m lost actually,” I confessed.

The wolves eyes gleamed in the darkness with unnatural intelligence. “I’ll make a path for you, when you hear me howling you will know I found the house, then follow my prints.”

“Okay.”

Then the wolf took off running in the same direction I had been walking for hours and hours.

When I was alone, I started thinking about how much of my sanity I had left. Was I in reality at a hospital right now getting treated? That would explain the talking animals. Or was I dreaming?

I shivered and wished I had worn a warmer jacket, it was cold.

A piercing howl tore through the woods, and I thought oh, what the heck. I’ll just follow the tracks. Who cares if i’m dreaming or not?

And without a second thought, I took off into the woods. Following a wolfs prints.

After some time I started to slow down. There was mud on my cheek, a hole in my jeans, but at least I was warm. I could see Grandmas house in the distance. The lights twinkled cheerfully like a welcome home sign. The prints lead right up to the front porch of the house. “Grandma! Grandma!” I called out, dashing through the door.

“Yes dearest?” Called Grandma in a raspy voice upstairs.

“I’m home! I’m home!” I bounced up the stairs.

“I’m glad. I was getting worried about you.” She said gravely.

She sounded strange. Not at all like herself. I paused outside her door.

“Are you feeling okay, Grandma?”

“Oh no dear, I have a terrible sore throat.”

“Oh.”

I walked inside her room. I started coughing because the room smelled strongly of Vix Vaper rub and cough drops.

“Come closer, dear.”

‘Why Grandma?”

“The better to see you with my dear.”

For some reason that triggered an old story in the back of my mind. Something about a little girl in the woods....

I came closer and saw how different Grandma looked. The blankets were pulled up so far that all I could see were her shiny, shiny eyes. She wore a cap on her head.

“Why Grandma, what big ears you have.” I said when I came close.

“The better to hear you with, my dear.” Grandma said in a high sweet voice.

“What big eyes you have Grandma.” I whispered, slowly backing away. I was suddenly scared and I had no idea why.

“Like I said before, all the better to see you with my dear.” Then she gave a terrible smile, and I knew  why my heart was pounding and my legs were shaking.

“What big teeth you have Grandma!” My eyes were as wide and innocent as a lambs.

“The better to eat you with my dear!” And the wolf cackled as he sprang out from the bed, dressed in Grandma’s clothes.

In the poem "The Names" by Billy Collins the text is structured in chronological order as he lists all the names (A-Z) of those who were victims of 9/11. The author used chronological order so that he could name those who were killed by the alphabet. "I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened," The authors purpose was to remember those who were harmed during 9/11 and he could do so by writing them in chronological order. "Names written in the air." This showed he author was reminded of those who lost their lives regardless of where he was. The tone was sad as he remembered that awful thing that had happened to all those victims, all those names. "So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart." The tone connects to the authors purpose because its sad remembering all those victims of 9/11 and what happened to them.

In the poem "We Breathed You In" by Patti Tana the text structure is description because the author is describing what had happened to the people and how they must have been afraid and how everybody feels sorrow for them. The author used description so that she could describe how it must have been that day for the victims and for those who were bystanders. "the day you burned you fell you flew through new york air." The author is describing what had happened. The text structure connects with the authors purpose because the authors purpose is that everybody feels the pain of those who lost everything on 9/11 and by describing what had happened to the victims it reminds people of the pain. "your love your life became our life" The tone is sad, again, because its hard thinking about what had happened to hundreds of people that day. The tone connects to the text purpose because the tone is sad while its describing the sadness and pain of 9/11.

In the article "Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon" by Serge  Schmemann the text structure is chronological sequence because it is describing the events that had happened on 9/11 in order. The author chose this structure because his purpose is to inform the readers what had happened and chronological structure described what had happened in order. "Hijackers rammed jetliners into each of New York's World Trade towers yesterday, toppling both in a hellish storm of  ash, glass, smoke and leaping victims, while a third jetliner crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia." This is informing what had happened but still explaining it in order. The tone is upsetting in this article because it uses words such as "hellish." The tone connects with the text purpose because the text purpose is describing what had happened in order and the tone is upsetting and so is what is being said in the structure of the text.