Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I currently finished a book by the publisher as my last reader’s journal. I read Rani In The Mermaid Lagoon by Lisa Papademtriou. My favorite part of this was on page 78 “The mermaids laughed even harder. They chucked. They howled. Roni frowned.” I found this interesting because it in most movies mermaids are so nice and in this book they sounded mean and then they were nice later on.

Before reading this book I looked at the cover and noticed many things that it is blue, natural and has a sad looking girl. I thought it looked interesting so I went to my next before reading strategy, which was skimming, and scanning for text features I found quotes, pictures, and vitalized words.

My first during reading strategy was rethinking what the main idea was after every chapter. That helped by letting me comprehend what I read. I also made a prediction on what would happen next.

My after reading strategies were rereading what I did not understand that helped by helping me understand all the parts and details. Then my last staring was writing this readers journal to show that I comprehended the book.

The genre of this book is fantasy. I know that because there are mermaids and fairies and they don’t exist. Also because it is impossible to breath underwater without equipment.

The characters in this book are Oola, Mother Dove, Vidia, Tinker Bell, and of course Rani. The foils are fairies and mermaids. The setting is pixie hallow and mermaid lagoon. The economy is steady. The weather is fine but there is no time period in this book.

The main idea of this book is Rani doesn’t fit in with the others and she takes a long journey to find herself. The conflict is man vs. self because she has low self esteem because she has no wings.

The tone in this book is sad and the mood is depressing and sorrow. The theme in this book is to achieve your goal. The moral of this book is running away is not the answer.

In this book the P.O.V is first person and P.O.O is chronological order. The author’s purpose is to entertain. The author’s perspective is bias and subjective.  This book had lots of figurative langue like similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, and exateration.

I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because it was detailed and very interesting. I would recommend this book to all girls.

Love,

Gabriella Goldstein

Readers Journal #13

  

Gabriella Goldstein

November 14, 2011

702

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I have currently finished reading is VIDIA AND THE GREAT FAIRY CROWN by Laura Driscoll. May favorite passage in this book was on page99 "Vidia reached for anther crown in an unsorted pile. By now the task was automatic. Reach for a crown, place on head, say words, toss." I liked that passage because I can relate to it because when I do something repetitive then I say and do with no thinking needed.

Before reading this book I looked at the cover and I saw it contained the colors of purple, green, gold, and blue sparkles. I also skimmed and scanned for text features and I saw pictures, italicized words, and quotes for talking.

During reading I summarized every chapter, which helped me understand this book better. I also asked questions that helped me make sure I understand what I am reading.

After reading this book I went back and reread what I did not understand. I also wrote this readers journal about the book I have read.

The genre in this book is memoir and fantasy because it is an experience of a fairy. The characters in this book are Vidia (main), Queen Clarion (crown owner), Prilla (friend), Adian (fairy), and the foil is just other fairy.

The exposition was Pixie hollow with all the fairies, the crown went missing, they blame Vidia because she is self-fish, she finds the crown, last the crown goes back to the queen and Vidia is not vanished.

The setting in this book is Pixie Hallow a mythological place, its normal weather like 70s not too cold or too hot.

The conflict in this book is man vs. society and it is internal because Vidia is fighting with her emotions that she was accused and she got insulted that they thought it was she and when she said it wasn’t her only Pnilla believed it was not she. It is also external because everyone (except Pnilla) was being mean to her and they were fighting and wanted her to be vanished from Pixie Hallow.

The tone in this book is mysterious and the mood intervening. The theme is trust. The motif is Vidia wants to clear her name. The moral of this book is to believe in you. The P.O.V is first person and the P.O.O is chronological order. The author perspective is unbiased and objective.

In this book the figurative langue in this book is simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and onomonopia.

I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 because it was interesting. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Love,

Gabi

Readers Journal #12

Gabriella Goldstein

November 14, 2011

702

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

         I have just started reading a book by an author I have not read before. It is called Moose. It is by Stephanie Klein. A passage I want to quote is on page 39 "  "BETH" was stenciled on it in glitter, in signatures weaved between the strings-a bat-mitzvah sign in board I later learned that Beth was Frans Thin daughter who sometimes attends our meetings ". I choose this passage because I can relate to this because I had a bat-mitzvah just like Beth.
Before reading this book i looked at the cover it seemed interesting because it was a fat person and it was called Moose so I thought that was interesting and rude so it caught my attention. Then I noticed a subtitle that read " a memoir of fat camp" that was cool to me. I also asked my friends if they read this and Melinda said she read it and liked it. 
During reading this book I checked for unfamiliar words. I found the word adolescence which apparently means a kid growing up. Also, reading slow so I understand what I am reading. 
After reading I wrote this readers journal about what I have read. I also rechecked for text features to make sure I didn't miss any. 
The genre of this book is memoir I know that because it is first person and talks about their experience they had in their life. Also because it says on the cove " a memoir".  The topics of this book is self-esteem.
The main idea in this book is about an eighth grade girl that is fat and wants to go to ninth grade skinny so she can be popular. This is implied not stated. Anther name I would give for this book would be No one likes fat girls because it is short and is one thin her dad told her in the book. 
The essential message is most likely not good because it tells you if you don't like your body not to accept it but change it.  The cause in this book is that she eats too much so the effect is she is fat and unhappy with her body. 
In this book some text features I found were quotes, bold, italicized, letters and a picture. The P.O.O in this book is parts because it has part one, two, and ect. The authors purpose was to inform, the P.O.V was first person, and the perspective was bias because it only talked about how the larger person felt. The theme was fat and motif of the main character was weight because she wanted to be skinny. 
I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 because I liked it but got lost a few times and bored. I would recommend this book to a female adult because it was very mature and not great book for younger kids.


Love,
Gabi :)

Current Event #2

Date: 11-11-11

Name: Gabi

Title: A legacy of service: Three generations of Pines family have served in military

Author: PERRY STEIN

Source: Miami Herald

The topic of the article is war.

The main idea of the article is (stated) “A legacy of service: Three generations of Pines family have served in military”

The author’s purpose for writing this article is to inform about a man who fought for our country.

The author’s perspective in this article is objective/subjective (biased) because objective because he doesn’t take a side in the article.

The pattern of organization of the article is flashback because it starts in today’s time and go back to his time.

The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is because this story happened in the past.

The text features included in the article are a video that helps by giving some info on the military guy, quotes that help by showing more into feeling, and last a caption that helps by knowing what is going on in the photo.

This article is about a person called Bolivar Perez-Rios and his experience in the military and inspired his family to join the military.

Current Events Journal

The significance (importance) of this article is how one man loved the military so much and even got his family to join.

What I learned from this article that if you go to the army you must be able to get ready fast.

What I liked about this article that it included a quote from his wife because it was very nice.

Everyone should read this article because it has so much meaning to it that a man loves the military so much and fighting for our country.  

This article reminds me of (text-to-self) how I saw a guy in the airport that was coming home from fighting in the army. (text-to-text) I never read an article or book about army related things. (text-to-world) The army is real and there are many great men and woman who fight for our country everyday.

New vocabulary I learned

Word	Context Clues	Meaning
Spanning	“spanning 70 years from World War II to Iraq.”	a distance, amount, piece, etc., of this length or of some small extent
Indoctrinated	“I was indoctrinated to love and respect our nation from a young age.”	to teach or inculcate.
Recognition	“recognition is being named the Grand Marshall of the 32nd Annual Miami Lakes Veterans Day Parade, which kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.”	an act of recognizing or the state of being recognized.

Readers Journal #11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I currently just finished a book called The Boyfriend List* by Michael L. Printz who is actually an honor winner it says on the book cover. Which I actually found interesting that made me like this book in the beginning. My favor passage in this book was located on page 135, "Everyone sat in a circle. In the middle was an empty plastic pop bottle, resting on a big atlas someone had borrowed from the camp's small library of nature-related books. A boy would spin the bottle, and when it came to rest, it would be pointing to a girl. If it pointed to a boy, he got a redo. Sometimes, if he didn't want the girl he got, he'd claim it was pointing to a boy sitting next to her, and redo. Or the bottle would skid off the atlas, and he'd redo. Or, he wouldn't get a good spin, and he'd redo. Or, the girl he got would claim there was some kind of technicality that made his spin invalid (because she didn't want to kiss him), and he'd have to redo." I found that passage hilarious because there is so many ways to get out of kissing in spin the bottle in her game.

My first strategy I used before reading was making a prediction on what this book would be about boys and her having lots of past boyfriends. I was correct but I didn't think there would be a therapist in the book. I also used looking at the cover I noticed a girl and a subtitle under the title it read "*15 guys, 11 shrink appointments, 4 ceramic frogs, and me Ruby Oliver". I also saw that it was a ruby Oliver novel, which made me, interested that it is a series and if I like this book I can read the series.

My during reading strategy I used first was thinking after every chapter. I thought the same thing that was easy to manipulate by boys. I also used made a prediction before every chapter I read on what I think it would be about like "1. Adam (but he doesn't really count)” I thought that it would be about a boy named Adam that didn't mean much to her like a short relationship.

My after reading strategy was fist writing this readers journal to explain the book and show that I comprehend what I read. I also reread what I read that I didn't understand. I did this because I got confused often. These strategies did help me.

The genre of this book is realistic fiction because it could happen in real life but it didn't. I knew that because in this book it says" For my dear old high school friends, who were (and still are) excellent and hilarious-and who never did anything like the bad stuff people do in this book".

The main character in this book was Ruby who's conflict was man vs. self which is because she is over coming her obstacles in her past with relationships she had. There were boys as foil that she dated, her mom, Kim BFFL since kindergarten, and Doctor Z.  In this book there was NO protagonist.

This book was in Seattle, Washington. The weather is usually very nice, not too cold and not too hot and a little humid at times. I think that she was in higher class because she went to a private school.  The time was in her life.

In this book the issue was as I wrote internal and man vs. self. The tone and mood in this book is happy because she is talking about times in the past. The theme of this book is boys and her motif is boys to.

I think she has low self esteem that she feels like when someone wants her it will only happen once which is untrue. The moral of this story is don't change yourself for a guy.

The P.O.V in this book is first person and the P.O.O is chronological order. The author’s purpose is to entertain and the author’s perspective is bias and subjective because it only talks about how she feels about the guys not how they both feel. They are the guys.  I this book I only saw a metaphor.

I would rate this book a 5 out of 10 because I got confused often and it was not age appropriate for me maybe adults would like this I would NOT recommend this book to the kids in my class.

Love,

Gabriella Goldstein <3