revised blog post

NEW AND IMPROVED VERSIONS OF: “The Fault in our Stars” by John Green blog post By Nubia Phillips 805

            I think that the author, John Green was really trying to use setting as a big part of the story. For example, when they had dinner in Amsterdam, when they were in Anne Frank’s house, and finally, all the days when  Gus was dying. This really shows John Green was using setting to shows  how nothing else mattered because Gus and Hazel were so in love.

            The first place I think the author used setting to show Gus and Hazel’s love is when they were eating dinner in Amsterdam. For example, although they were in a public, outdoor restaurant they were still in a very much in a privet environment. (Green 94) For example, they gave many examples such as “cyclist pedaled fast, well dressed men and women on their way home from work…”(Green 100) they described the surroundings, but not very well. They were also doing things that may seem like they are very pritvate such as sharing secrets and things like that. This shows that the setting is not very important. Only Gus is important in Hazel’s eyes, and the other way around. If the setting really was so important, it would have been elaborated more, or Gus and Hazel would have talked about it more. 

            The second place I think the author used setting to demonstrate the lack of importance in anything else other than Gus to Hazel is when they were in Anne Frank’s house.(Green 102) This is because they kissed. This was a museum and there were many other people there. The text says that “My hand let go of the oxygen cart and reached up for his neck…” (Green 103)Hazel’s oxygen cart is very important to her. It is essentially what keeps her alive. She just dropped it in a minute for Gus. Also, other people in the museum were looking at them, but they didn't care. This is also really importnat becuase Hazel is kind of shy and difinitley doesn't like drawing attention to herself. Doing something like this that could easily draw attention to herself shows that she doesn't care about anything or anybody else  becuase Gus is what is really important to her. 

            The final example of John Green using setting to show how intimate Gus and Hazel’s love is and nothing around them  can hinder that, is when Gus was dying. When this was happening, Hazel would come over to Gus’ house everyday and just keep him company.(Green 215) This shows love becuase Gus didn't do much of anything when he was dying. Yet, Hazel still enjoyed his company and the other way around. The text says “When I got his face so nose-touchingly close so that I could only see his eyes, I couldn’t tell he was sick” (green 223) this shows that even if he was sick, it didn’t matter because she loved him so much. It didn’t matter that the location wasn’t as romantic as it was in Amsterdam because they were in Gus' basement,  but all that Hazel cared about at that moment, was Gus.

            I think that John Green did this in a lot of scenes because setting can be important anywhere if you are with the person you love. Even if you aren’t in the best conditions, it doesn’t matter. Hazel and Gus weren’t always somewhere where it was like in Amsterdam, but they always enjoyed there time together no matter what, and nothing or nobody makes a difference about that. It is basically the same if you are with the right person.

link to first one: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5078032428573056279#editor/target=post;postID=682588086806330850;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=7;src=postname

An Abundance of Kathrines YA book blog post

Why Colin and Lindsey Should Date

                Colin Singleton has been dating (and getting dumped by) only Kathrines all his life. It has made him a very sad person. So when Colin goes on a road trip and meets a girl named Lindsey he may like, them dating might make him happier, Lindsey happier, and his best friend along with Lindsey’s mother a lot happier as well. Colin and Lindsey should date because it will make a lot of people happy.

                One reason Colin and Lindsey should date is because it would make Colin happy. He might be able to stop his dating theorem and not stress him out. Also, if he keeps doing the theorem, they could do it together and then he would be happy. Colin dating someone who’s name is not Kathrine might help him not be so weird so that more people will like him and that will make him feel better about himself. It would also take Kathrine 19 out of his head, therefore making him not depressed anymore. Also, Hassan wouldn’t be mad at Colin and Hassan is Colin’s only friend, therefore making Colin happy.

                Another reason Colin and Lindsey should date is because it would make Lindsey. Lindsey has had a hard childhood with trying to find herself. Now she is a fake popular person. She should date Colin because she is herself around him. For example, she bites her thumb, which is a privet habit. Also, she lets out her secret love for science and math around him. She even took him to her special spot and almost kissed him. She hasn’t even taken her boyfriend there! This shows that she has a stronger connection with Colin than she does with her boyfriend.

                Colin and Lindsey should also date because it would make Hassan, Colin’s BFF happy and Hollis, Lindsey’s mom happy. It would make Hassan happy because they would both have girlfriends for once and then Hassan wouldn’t have to feel left out whenever Colin finds another Kathrine. Also, Colin would stop complaining about not having a girlfriend and Kathrine 19. This would make Hassan happy because he feels that Colin is selfish and only talks about himself. This would make Colin talk about himself more, therefore making Hassan happy. It would also make Hollis happy because she doesn’t like Lindsey’s current boyfriend. Colin is smart and that might encourage Lindsey to leave Gutshot and do something with her life. This would even make everybody surrounding the protagonist happy.

                There are many reasons why Colin and Lindsey should date, but it would mostly just everybody around them including themselves a lot more happy. And that is very important. 

blog review

f yoBlog Review

                I read Megan’s blog and it was good. I think this because she used many intriguing quotes that really convince the reader of her point. For example she uses quotes that are surprising and will really brainwash the reader into thinking she is right. For example “there are nights where I go to bed and I’m starving” this quote is very convincing because nobody wants to be starving. Also, the word starving  makes it seem like the person who said that is going to die or something, making it seem more extreme.

                Megan also uses her own opinion at the end which makes it seem more convincing. This is so because it shows that this is a real person’s opinion. This can really effect the reader’s thinking because it shows a real person just like you. Also , Megan really sounded professional when she stated her opinion. This makes the reader want to trust her more because she sounds smart.

                I think I learned from this that being professional when stating your opinion is important. Before, I didn’t really realize how important it was to sound important as long as you just have the right facts. But, I learned that it is most important that you sound like you know what you’re talking about, because that in itself could convince somebody our point.

critical analysis

Nubia’s Fabulous Critical Analysis for non-fiction book

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            I think the author wants the reader to know that youth homelessness is a problem that can only be solved by the kids themselves, and that most kids choose to live on the streets. The main idea of the text is that most homeless kids don’t want to be felt bad for because they choose to live on the streets and live a dangerous lifestyle despite the other safer options there are for them. For example, people often get attacked by a loved one on the street because the loved one blacks out. This is when someone gets so drunk, that they don’t remember anything at all and they don’t know what they are doing. This shows that they are choosing to lie a dangerous lifestyle and stay with these people who are hurting them because of petty issues such as being too drunk. Another example of this is jewel, who “…used the blackout excuse for her boyfriend’s attack on her..” jewel was attacked so hard that she had a seizure. Her boyfriend was afraid he would get in trouble for hurting her, so he just left her there having a seizer for a whole day. Jewel stayed with her boyfriend after that. This shows that even though he was a danger to her life, she stayed with him. Also, many kids who have the  option to go live in a homeless shelter don’t because they think they have too many rules and they want to be free. One teen even said straight up that he chose the street lifestyle for a reason and that he doesn’t want to live in a shelter.

            I think the author wants us to not feel bad for homeless youth because they clearly chose that lifestyle and are very happy with it. One way the author does this is by making it seem like the kids know a lot of things. For example, when she goes to the squat, the kids tell her not to go in because it is dangerous, and she takes their advice, showing that the street kids  know best. Another way the author does this is by including quotes from the street kids. This is really helpful because it shows directly what the kids say. Another way the author makes us not want to feel bad for homeless youth is by showing how they refer to themselves as: “travelers”  calling themselves this, makes it look like they like being homeless because most people like traveling. She could have just called them homeless. But, she called them travelers, making their lifestyle sound more appealing.

            I think that the author wanted us to not feel bad about homeless youth because they don’t feel bad for themselves. I used to think that homeless youth were living horrible, loathsome lives that they hated, but now, I think that they are completely ok with the lives they are living, and choose not to go anywhere safer than the streets. I would like to learn about what the kids in homeless shelters think about their situation.

YA Book Blog Post

YA Book Blog Post

                In the book “Ali’s Pretty Little Lies” by Sara Shepard, Courtney pretends to be Ali for a year. Throughout the book, we learn that she has been deprived of a normal life. Her twin started torturing her in third grade and it ended with her in a mental house. She came back to visit her family one day and ended up switching places with her twin. I think she did this because she missed her old life.

                One reason I think she misses her life is because when she goes on her dates with Nick. On her dates, there is always something that reminds her of her old life. For example, when they are on the merry go round, the text says “Ali’s heart beat along with the bass drum that accompanied the carousel’s old timey song.” When it says old timey, this shows that it reminds her of old times. Also before that, it says that she used to go on the carousels with her sister, before things went wrong. Also, Nick reminds her of old times because he used to know Ali, and this is a direct connection with her once loved sister. This shows that she could have admitted to being somebody else for a year, but she loved her life in Rosewood so much that she decided to stay.

                Another reason she switched places with Ali because she misses her life is because all the things that happened to her when she was as the preserve and Radley. For example, when she was talking to Nick, she said that at Radley, she had a pet hamster. She said that he was her only friend. When things her normal with her and her sister, her sister was her best friend. She wanted to feel like she had a friend again. Also, in the prologue the text says “Off Courtney went, away from her family, away from everything she knew.” I think that when she came back to Rosewood to be Ali because she missed her family, and the only way she was able to be with them was being somebody else. For her it was worth it because she missed them so much and long for a normal life. Being somebody else, was the closest thing to it. She was not used to being locked up and her parents never visited her.

                The final reason I think “Ali” switched places with Ali because she missed her life is because she was depressed in Radley and the preserve. For example, the text says that the first few months she was in Radley, she just sat in bed and didn’t do anything. It said that the workers at Radley tried to get her to participate in activities with the other kids, but she didn’t. This shows that she didn’t want to do anything. That she instead of trying to do something that might make her happy, she decided to stay sad. Also, I think “Ali” was depressed at Radley because she got a pet hamster. Although this is a good thing, and the text says that she was one of the most behaved kids at Radley, there had to be another reason for her to get a pet. I think the workers at Radley gave her a pet because they felt bad for her. I think this because you don’t just give someone a pet. They probably gave her the hamster because they thought she needed a friend.

                Poor “Ali” had been deprived of her family for years, and didn’t have a normal one since she was in third grade. Her only option was to switch places with her perfect twin when she had the chance. She only had a year to live the perfect life she dreamed for years until she dies. If you were longing for a perfect or even just normal life, would you do something so horrible?

argument essay about ya fiction

Why Young Adult Fiction Should have warnings

“…It was all… suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff” says Amy Freeman, a highly

concerned mother of three in the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Megan Cox Gurdon. In young

 adult

 fiction these days, extreme violence such as rape, murder, and other awful things are normal. This is concern for many parents, and to others, not so much. This is why teens should not be limited to YA fiction, but there should be an age rating or a warning of some kind for sensitive readers.

                One reason YA fiction should have age ratings is because past suffering kids might want to divert themselves from dark YA fiction to avoid getting apprehensive about frightening topics covered in these novels. For example, in the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Megan Cox Gurdon, it says that a library in Kentucky challenged a gruesome book called “Scars”, because it could cause a previous self-mutilator to harm themselves again. An age rating could help solve this problem, because a person who cut themselves before would know not to read this tempting book because they would get sensitive. Also, not everybody would have to suffer. Comparatively, another example of age ratings working for this cause would be in the previous article, it says “books focusing on pathologies help normalize them and, in the case of self-harm, may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people.” This shows that not only kids with previous problems, just kids in general can be affected by these scarring novels. For example, characters in book that found joy or relief in hurting themselves, might encourage kids or give them new ways to commit self-harm.

                Not only kids, but also parents should be considered in the decision of why shady YA fiction should have age ratings is because if kids want to read it, but their parents are uneasy about letting them, the parents can decide what is admissible for them to read. Also, since some parents are a little looser about what their kids read, they will have a different standard. Take relaxed author of the article “Has Young Adult Fiction Become Too Dark?” and mother, Mary Elizabeth Williams, takes her kids to the library very frequently and has yet to find a book she wouldn’t let them read. This shows a kind of parent that would ignore ratings. And then there’s the concerned Amy Freeman. A poor mother of three who couldn’t find a seemly book for her daughter. “Nothing, not a thing I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires, suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff.” She says in the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Megan Cox Gurdon. This shows a parent that would probably need an age rating on books to know what is tolerable for her kid to read. These two very different parents show two very different types of child situations as well. It could be possible, that a kid wants to read something, but the parent knows what is right for them to read and what is not. In another example from, “Darkness Too Visible” it says “’We like to have the adult perspective, but we try to target teens because that’s who’s reading it’ the book stayed on the shelves.” This is a bad idea because they are basically putting a less experienced child’s opinion first instead of an adult, who is responsible for the child in the first place. This could result in many dreadful things for the child such as self-harm or grotesque images in the child’s mind imprinted forever.

                Although many people say an age rating will not cover all the topics and reasons why parents would not let their kids read a book. They may say that an age rating is only going to determine what is appropriate for kids. This is counterfactual. Like a movie, an age rating would include why this book is challenged or rated the way it is. Parents or even kids have many different reasons why they would like a book to be banned. For example, the video “Book Under Fire” which took place in Conrow, Texas, told the story of a girl named Diana who was upset a book she had to read for school. The main reason she was upset was it degraded christians. This is an example of only someone from this religion getting upset. If someone from this religion sees a warning, they will know to ignore it because it won’t offend them. Correspondingly, like the library in Kentucky from the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Megan Cox Gurdon, banning the novel “Scars” might only benefit the people who self-harmers. And for the readers who never self-harmed, nor have ever thought of it, would only be deprived of a novel that they might have wanted to read. That wouldn’t be fair. An age rating would help fix this problem because someone who used to self-harm and thinks that this book might cause them to relapse, wouldn’t read this book based on the rating. Someone who know that it won’t affect them negatively, would ignore the rating.

                Overall, a warning of any kind would help people who have a problem with some books and people who don’t. It will help people that do, because they will know what and what not to read. Age ratings will make it fair for everyone. Taking a book away from a small group that has a problem with it isn’t fair to the people who wanted to read it. YA fiction can teach lessons, and taking those lessons away from the people who want read these books, won’t get to connect to characters, and learn about life. Yes, people think they are too young and should save their innocence, but they need to find out what it’s like in a book, before it happens to them in person so they can prepare for life. And if they feel that they  don’t want to read this book, then they don’t have to based on the rating. But it is not fair to take it away from everybody else by just strait up banning it.

Non fiction critical analysis

Non-Fiction critical analysis

                In the article “Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings?” by Husna Haq, Haq wants us to know that G.P. Taylor and Patrick Ness had an idea to not ban books, but to make them have age ratings. In Haq’s eyes, this is a great idea because books will not be limited to kids, but they can make the decision for themselves whether or not they wanted to read these books or not based on the age rating. One example Haq uses is the quote “This is the most frightening thing that has ever been written for kids.” By G.P. Taylor. To show that even an author can write scary things for kids unknowingly and that is why books should be rated by an expert. She also tells the story of how Disney channel is supposed to be for kids, but it shows kids disrespecting their parents, whereas YA fiction teaches lessons. Some, some parents might not approve of. She also compares the internet, which does not have ratings and has a lot more worse things than YA fiction, to YA fiction, which with age ratings, is a lot better than the internet.

                Haq hopes to persuade readers that if YA fiction had age ratings, everybody would be happy. The people who don’t want their children reading this kind of literature will not read the books that are for their age and the people who just don’t care, their kids can just read anything. One way she does this is by using quotes from real writers that are a little bit exaggerated as well. This helps her argument because to most people, authors are a reliable source. This is because they are the ones who write the books, being the experts. She uses the quote: “This is the most frightening thing that has ever been written for kids.” This is probably not the most frightening thing for kids, but this language helps scare the readers into believing her claim. She also says in the article that Taylor went to scholastic to propose the idea of age ratings on YA fiction after that she says “Given the less-than-warm response…” this shows that scholastic was less than warm to giving age ratings and that shows a negative rate to scholastic.

                At first, I thought that age ratings on YA fiction was a stupid idea because kids would ignor them, but now I think that they would be good because it depends on what kind of kid is reading the book. For example, when Taylor says “This is the most frightening thing that has ever been written for children” that was his opinion. Another child may have this opinion as well. Whereas another kid might have a completely different opinion. That is where age ratings come in. if a child sees an age rating that they don’t think will affect them, then they will just go along and read the book. But, if someone who thinks that this book will scare them or affect them in a negative way.