Blog For Week 3/8/16 - Is It Night Or Day by Fern Schumer Chapman

      The book that I just finished was Is It Night or Day by Fern Schumer Chapman. It is the story of Edith Westerfeld, a 12 year old girl from Germany who is forced to travel across the ocean to Chicago, without her parents, and move in with her aunt and uncle. 

List at least three problems the characters faced? Explain

      One of the problems that Edith faced was having to abandon her family while she was moving to a country that seemed as far away as the moon to her. Her family could not come with her when she was moving to Chicago. They stayed in Germany because of a few reasons. One was that Edith's grandmother refused to leave. Her family had lived in that house for almost 200 years, and she was not about to give it up. Another reason was that her parents could not get all of the papers in order to leave. 

      Another problem that she faced was that she didn't know any English. She didn't know any English, so it was really hard to communicate with people and let them know who she was, what she wanted, where she was coming from, etc. This was especially hard in school. People bullied her because since she didn't know any English, she had to be put into first grade. She learned fast and skipped grades a lot, they still made fun of her because of her accent and how she looked.

      And another problem that she faced was living with her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was nice, but her aunt treated her like a servant. Every week, she had to meet her aunt at the grocery store so that she could carry the groceries home. All of them. Her aunt didn't carry a thing. She had to wash the floors, clean her and her cousin's rooms, clean the kitchen, etc, etc, etc. She was yelled at for speaking German, even when she first got there and didn't know any English, accused of stealing food, and kicked out during her cousin's birthday party, which she was also forced to clean the apartment for.

Who is your least favorite character? Why?

My least favorite character in this book is Edith's aunt. She just seems like she would be really unpleasant to be around, from the way that she treats Edith. She is always yelling or scolding at Edith and treating her like a servant. She yells at her for speaking German, even when she barely knows any English, and even banned her from going over to friend's houses or having friends over. She just seems like she wouldn't be a very nice person to be around/live with.

List the events, in order, that have happened so far in what you’ve been reading.

• Edith starts her trip to America
• The ship lands in New York City where she then takes the train down to Chicago
• Moves in with her aunt and uncle (and cousin)
• Starts school and is soon moved up to 7th grade where she belongs
• She sees her first baseball game, with a Jewish player 
• Edith finds out where her family is and that they might not be able to make it to America

"The Princess and the Witch" Nonsense Poem

"Why Your Dreams Are Gone" AOW Nonfiction Poem

"Why Your Dreams Are Gone"

I’m sorry.

I am the reason you can’t live your dream

I am the reason you can’t be a Marine.

“Let your smile change the world.

But never let the world change you,”

I like to say.

But that won’t help.

Now, it forces your dreams to decay

I’m sorry.

You know it’s not my fault.

I know that’s what you say

But now your dreams are starting to run away.

Chellie tried to complain,

but they just did nothing.

Even just responding,

would’ve meant something.

I’m sorry

I am with you from night until dawn.

But because of that uniform

Bam! Your dreams are gone.

You put on a smile

You put on a show

But, I’m the only one

Who knows.

You are not happy,

I know what you say,

but putting on a smile

will not drive anger and disappointment away.

Engraved on your skin,

I am with you forever.

Wherever you go,

But I did not  want this to happen

I just want you to know.

Poem Inspired by: "This Woman Might Not Get Into the Marines Because of a Discriminatory Tattoo Policy" by The Huffington Post

Bio Poem - Is is Night or Day? (Edith Westerfeld)

Edith Westerfeld. 
Kind, smart, caring, and brave. 
A character in Fern Chapman's story. 
Lover of baseball, Arno, who is her stuffed bear from home, her star of David necklacke, the only thing left of her mother, and Stockstadt, the town that her family lived for over 200 years. 
Who notices that not everyone is accepting in America. 
Who feels unloved by her Aunt and Uncle, unwanted by her mother and father, and scared about the future. 
Who learns that the world can be a terrible place sometimes. 
Who used to think that life was going to be perfect, but now knows that nothing is. 
Major character in Is it Night or Day? 
A book that proves that life is not perfect, and bad things will happen, but everything is going to be okay.

Blog for Week 2/22/15 - Bronx Masquerade Character Development

      In the book Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes, some of the characters changed almost completely. Take, for example, Janelle. In the beginning of the book, she was really shy to share her poems with the class and was extremely self-conscience about her weight. She always put herself down and said that she was ugly. She knew that she was smart, and she knew that she was a good person, but she hated the way she looked. But, by the end of the book, when she was reading her poem, she realized that her classmates were actually listening and enjoying her poem, not focusing on how she looked. She really began to accept herself and became more confident in sharing her poems. In the beginning of the book, she says, "Face it. Devon is Denzel Washington, and you are Thighs R Us. " She keeps telling herself that she is ugly and she will never be good enough to please Devon, the person who she has a crush on. But towards the end of the book, she says, "I'm glad somebody finds me beautiful, even if he is just eight years old! But maybe he's not the only one, though. Not anymore. The kids in Mr. Ward's class sure look at me differently these days.... and nobody cared about the size of my body. Not even me." She is noticing that the kids are starting to accept her, which leads to her finally accepting herself.

      Another character that changed was Diondra. In the beginning, she was really jealous of Raul because he was so confident in sharing his art. No one except Tanisha and her parents knew that she was good at drawing. And her dad really didn't approve. He always said that he wished that she was born a boy and that her height was wasted on her because she didn't play basketball. But, towards the end of the book, she started to become more confident with sharing her artwork and her poems. She even hung some of her art up on the wall in her class like Raul did. She also wrote a poem telling her dad that she was going to follow her dream instead of his. In the beginning, it says, "He's not too wild about my art. Mostly, he's disappointed, first off that I wasn't born a boy, and second that I don't play ball like one." And near that end in her poem she says, "It's time, Dad. Time you stop telling me who to be, how to live. This is my portrait. You choose your canvas. Let me choose mine."

        In the book, setting plays a huge part in what the characters are like. For example, Tyrone. He is always scared that he is going to die, since they don't really live in a good neighborhood. And he focuses so much on when he is going to die, that he doesn't really care about school or do his school work. The setting also affects characters like Steve and Leslie. Everyone in the book feels like they don't fit in, but Steve and Leslie especially because they are white people living in a black neighborhood. People don't really like them too much because they are white. For example, when Steve tried to join Wesley and Tyrone to do a cipher for Open Mike Friday, Tyrone laughed at him. ""Boy," I said. "Sit your white butt back down before you hurt yo'self."" They aren't really taken seriously in their own neighborhood.

Found Poem

My tears have stopped.

No way out.

I just stand there.

What were you thinking?

I stay silent. 

What if I haden't been there to drag you away.

You got caught. 

They have ways.

I'd do anything to get back at them.

What do  you mean?

I shrug.

Everything inside is shifting.

No  way back.

      There are two people having a conversation. One person got caught by a mysterious group of people. The other person saved her, but is scolding her for ever going on the adventure. She wants to get back at the people, but the person she is talking to is hesitant. 

      I think that the theme is adventure. The girl wants to go on an adventure, but she knows that it is dangerous. She knows that once she decides, she can never go back. 

Spine Poem

   

The Girl Who Could FLy

Crossed

A Corner of the Universe

The Lost WOrld

Dancing on the Edge

Waiting For Rain

Hope Was Here

Almost Home

 So, the girl who could fly is a kind of metaphor for trying to reach your dreams, in my eyes. I think that this is about a girl who is trying to reach her dreams and is taking all sorts of paths to reach them. And the part about hope being there becuase she is almost home, is when she will reach her goals. "Home" = reaching her goals.