Fallen Angles by Walter Dean Myers Page 1-70

The book Fallen angles is a very interesting book. By the end of the first 70 pages it leaves us on a great cliffhanger that was not expected at all. The characters start to question what they are doing in Nam. It is clear that all of them are not prepared and are afraid even though they want to join for different reasons. So far the book talks about them more then the war. They main character is called Perry and he has a sad story. Like most of the people in the army he is a fallen angle. A fallen angle is the term discussed in the book as "children" who can’t vote but are old enough to join the army. Everybody has a different reason why they want to join the army. Perry wanted to do something in his life. His parents were divorced when he was small and he has a little brother. His mother was talking care of them and Perry’s little bother looked up to Perry. Perry finished high school and then didn’t go to college but signed up for the army. I feel very bad for him since I don’t think that he should go so young. I think that he should have the ability to live life a bit before going to war. War is very gruesome and anything can happen. Perry writes back to his family every so often to talk about the war. The author stressed out how dangerous war is when he kills off Jenkins because of a bomb in their base. So far in the story they haven’t needed to fire their weapons once but I think that this is where it starts getting interesting.

The Streak Blog

The streak is a short story by Walter Dean Myers. The short story shows how luck is just a state of mind. They start off talking about all of the bad things that have happened to Jamie Farrell within the past 2 days. He is not happy about what has happened and shortly after he started turning around his life. He was able to according to his friend have as much good luck as bad. He decided that he could have 7 good things since that was the amount of bad things. it seems as if it was working his luck but then as it runs out he realizes that it is not only him but that everything happened during his good luck streak was coincidence.

I think that the story is very interesting. They start out by making you think that they are saying that there is such thing as a streak of luck. In the end when Jamie gets the girl he wanted for the date she told him how it seemed to be her lucky streak. That showed him that everybody has luck and that it was not just him. It was a life lesson to him that life has its ups and downs.  Everybody will have what they call bad times and also good times. I think that anything bad or good is your own opinion and you decide what is good and what is bad. Something you find bad might not be bad for somebody else and instead it might be the best thing that has happened to them.

The message of the short story is that there is no such thing as luck. Jamie Farrell thinks that there is such thing as bad and good luck because he kept getting "bad" luck.  After seven things that he considered as his bad luck, he finally has some good luck. He thought that he could do seven things as he wanted them to happen. In the end he realized that is isn’t like that and what happened to him that he called good luck were just coincidences.

Hidden Talents by David Lubar Blog #2 Pages 36-116

It is remarkable, the author finally explains the reason behind his title but how far does it run? Is it only a coincidence that these few children have these "hidden talents" or is it everybody including martin? Could they all be part of an experiment as hinted by Mr. Briggs that the school has not discovered an answer to yet or it a joke. I think that the author’s story finally begins in these pages to tell the plot of the story. It is very interesting and if Martin’s experiments prove true then the school could be like a magnet of all children who have these "hidden talents." So far we don’t know if or if not they want to experiment on them or not and if it is for good science or bad. By studying them if they can find out now they are able to have these talents so they can try to make anybody have them. That could be good or bad depending on their intentions. I want to know how this book ends.

Hidden Talents by David Lubar Blog #1 Pages 1-36

This book so far seems to be good and promising. It talks about Martin Anderson who is known to “mouth" and he has been kicked out of school because of it. i sympathize for him but at the same time I don’t. It is his fault for doing so many bad things but I think he doesn’t deserve to be in a "school" with some people who are out of their original state of minds. It is sort of a juvenile detention facility since they all live there and everything is over looked by people and the bells. I feel that because of his father’s harsh judgment, he was sent here. His father’s harsh judgment was caused by his fathers who use to be strict to him. I feel that alone the mother would not have enough courage to send his son there unless it was absolutely necessarily, which would be like if all schools in the area rejected him. I think that he is better than that and can change but at the same time he needs to know how great his life was and how much worse it is now. 

RRQ Wensday January 07, 2008 Page 44-61

#18 If you could change one thing in the book, what would it be? Why would you change it?

There are many things in this book I wish that I could change since it is very tragic. I feel that if I had to choose what to change I would change the thing that started the falling of the dominos. By taking Adolf Hitler out of the picture then Germany wouldn’t have started gaining so much power and the entire World War II could have been averted. Millions of people’s lives could have been saved by killing or not letting Hitler come to power in Germany. If he hadn’t then everything in the book might have not happened at all. 

RRQ Tuesday January 06, 2008

# 19 What has surprised you in the book? Why?

In today’s reading I am surprised by the power of the Germans. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel the main character is a Jew and he is living in the time of Hitler and World War II. I feel bad for him since he worries that he will be captured in war and killed. I think that when the Germans came in to their town and lived in their houses they were acting like spies, trying to learn more about their community. I was surprised that the Germans would capture them and make them workers even though they were so nice to them. I thought that they would just leave but then they took over and took everything from them and made them prisoners.