The Secret Life Of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd

S.P.E.C.S.
Significance
Perspective
Evidence
Connection
Supposition


Significance
This book is about a white girl named lily. Her mother died when she was very young. Her father, T. Ray, told lily that she killed her own mother. T. Ray never treated Lily well in the first place, so Lily decided to run away with her housekeeper, Rosaleen. (Rosaleen is a colored woman.) This is an important book because it sort of teaches a lesson abou racism. It also shows that people should not shape their lives around what they hear from other people. A reader could take a thing or two from reading this book. Those that I just mentioned, and that they should also "never judge a book by it's cover."

Perspactive
This book, The Secret Life Of Bees, was written by Sue Monk Kidd. It was written pretty recent times. This book was told first person. The author is a female, but I don't think that her gender would have effected her work. I mean I guess of the author was a male, then maybe the main character would have been a boy or something. If the person reading this book was a black person, then they may feel differently about the way the book is written because there is alot about white people being against black people. So if a black person were reading this, they may feel offended by the book.

Evidence
It seems like the author's argument is more on the side of not being so against black people. There are facts in this book that support her argument. For example; on their journey, there are people who are completely against Rosaleen, but Lily stays by her side the whole time. And then there is the fact that the people that Lily and Rosaleen stayed with were colored people as well, but they accepted Lily whether she was black or white.

Connection
This seemed to be a very common event around the time of colored people's slavery. This event still effects us today because there are still many poeple who are racist to not only black people, but all kinds of ethnicities. I fortunatly don't know anybody who can relate to this situation, and neither can I. In my opinion, just because you have different colored skin than everybody else, doesn't mean you shouldn't have the same rights as white people. I think people should be treated with equality and respect, no matter what you ethnicity is.

Supposition
The world, in this case, would be a completely different place if Martin Luther King Junior never came around. The world might still be a world against colored people White people might still be in power over other colored people in America. If this took place in the 1500's, then the circumstances would be alot different. Instead of the police officers who took Rosaleen to jail, there would be nights in shining armor taking her away on their valiant steeds, and she would probably be beheaded.

Vampire Kisses - Ellen Schreiber

S.P.E.C.S.
Significance
Perspective
Evidence
Connection
Supposition


Significance
This is an important book because it sort of teaches a lesson having to do with the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover." This is because it is about this girl who lives on a small town she calls Dullsville. Her name is Raven. In this town, everybody is the same, you're either one of the 'hundred dollar haircut girls,' or a farmer girl who grows all of their own crops. As for the boys, you're either normal, a nobody, or a soccer snob. Raven isn't like any other girl in town. She wears all black clothes, black make-up, and black combat boots. Nobody excepts her besides one girl named Becky. Becky is a farmer girl. The town remained the same until an unknown family moves into the haunted mansion on the corner. The boy that moves in (Alexander) is Raven's age, and he's gothic. They fall in love and basically, People start to except Raven and Alexander for who they really are. I chose this book as my October reading book becuase I love books about vampires and mysteries. This is relevant because if there is anyone out there who feels like Raven, or anyone who knows somebody like Raven; just know that even if they are not accepted right now, that things will probably get better.

Perspective
This book, Vampire Kisses, was written by Ellen Schreiber. If I had to explain this book to a third grader, I would try to say something like this: "This book is about a girl who doesn't have that many friends. She dresses in all black, and only wears black make-up. One day a family moves into a house that everybody thinks is huanted. Everyone also thinks that the new people that live in the haunted house are vampires! In the end gothic girl and the boy, who just moved in, fall in love. Then they make alot more friends because people arefinally understanding them." In the story, the way Raven overcomes alot of her problems is by starting fights. That is one thing I would not take as advice from this book.

Evidence
I this story, it seems like the author is trying to make the argument that even though Raven (and Alexander) are different than everybody else, people should still treat them with respect. The author supports her argument by writing small examples in the story of how badly people are treating her, and how Raven is always trying to defend herself. I feel that the author is presenting factual information, because in the story, a few of the main events are not unrealistic. They seem to be normal situations that any normal person would go through. In my opinion, I agree with the author on her choice of argument.

Connection
This book doesn't really relate to my life at all because there is nobody that is left out all the time, or has no friends or anything. For the same reason I cannot relate this to anybody that I know. This book inspires me to read the next two books in the series, and maybe after that, i should read more books written by Ellen Schreiber.

Supposition
I predict that in the next book, Raven will go look for Alexander, but while she is searching, she will find another dream boy for her. Then, she will find Alexander and have to choose between the two loves of her life. If this took place in the 1800's, than the situation would be much different. For example; Instead of hitting her enemy on the hand with a tennis rcket, it probably wouild have just a plank of wood. Then they would've gotten into a huge fight- even bigger than the ones that they got into in the book.

Julep O'Toole: Miss Independent - Trudi Trueit

S.P.E.C.S.
Significance
Perspective
Evidence
Connection
Supposition


Significance
This is an important book because it is an example of what happens to every girl around the age of 11. That is how this book easily relates to the real world. This was the inspiration for the writing of this book. This book contains some very good advice about being a tween, that would possibly come in handy to a parent.

Perspective
The author of this book is Trudi Trueit. This book was written recently, in 2006. Trudi Trueit wrote this book in third person, that way you could view all of Julep's actions coming from different perspectives. I think that her experiences working with media, news reporting, and being a journalist has helped her with writing this book. This is because being a media specialist gives you the opportunity to go behind the scenes and find what it's really like to be a teen these days. The author doesn't express how she feels about this book; whether she agrees with it or not. Julep seems to have a bias about her parents; they are uncool, unfair, and they don't give her any freedom. I know I have had times like Julep has where I am completely flabbergasted by the way my parents treated me, but I also feel that Julep was totally overreacting about this whole situation. At some points I was looking at it from Julep's point of view because I could easily relate to her. There was only one point of view in this story, which happened to be the narrator's point of view. If a parent were the one reading this book, then the way this book would be categorized is probably as the type of book that is helpful. If I was explainting this to a third grader, I would probably say something simple, like "This book is about an 11 year old girl who has been having some arguments with her mother. She thinks she is all grown up- grown up enough to choose her own clothes, have a cell phone, wear make-up, and make her own decisions. The main problem is Julep believes she is growing up into a teenager and she has the right to do things the way she wants, although her mother just isn't ready for that to happen. The information to solve the problem isn't anything to do with the problem, it just comes along in a completely seperate part of the story. All I knew about the problem was whatw I just explained in these last few sentences. All of this information will help me solve the problem. There is another way for me to approach this problem. I could try approaching it from Julep's mother's point of view- this could possibly help me solve the problem.

Evidence
In the story, Julep has a perfect older sister- she's beautiful, smart, athletic, and perfect. An she was a cheerleader. Her name is Harmony, and she is fourteen years old. To julep, it seems that Harmony gets away with anything she wants! Like one time; Julep came downstairs wearing a T-shirt that said HOT GIRL on it, but no way would her mother let her be seen in school wearing that! A minute later Harmony came down the stairs weqaring three layers of sizzle red lipstick, a tank-top, and a white denim skirt so tight that a barbie doll would have trouble fitting into it! But did her mother say anything to Harmony? No- of course not! My point is, the argumant Trudi Trueit is tryingto make is that Julep doesn't realize that Harmony had gone through the same stage as she had. Just like every other girl on the planet.

Connection
This book applies to me because I was 11 years old not too long ago, and I went through the same thing as Julep, except a little bit different situations. The way my opinion of this book could effect other people is that if you wanted to read this book, you would would probably like an opinion before you went out and bought it. Just like when you go to rent a movie; you dont buy it without reading reviews and ratings on line first.

Supposition
I predict that once this book gets more popular, parents will have more of an understanding of what they have to go throught to get along with there tween or teenage daughter. If the situtation in this story was about a father and his teenage son, then the situations would be totally different. What also would have made a difference is if the family in the story was in a different politcial situation. Well, sort of. Because if they were the whitehouse family, then thhey would probably be all over the news, which would make these situationis and/or problems worse.