Summer Reading Entry 4

“The Eagle walked up to the podium and said, “Is everyone here?”

‘No,” I said to him. “Alaska isn’t here.”

The Eagle looked down. “Is everyone else here?”

“Alaska isn’t here!”

“Okay Miles. Thank you.”

“We can’t start without Alaska.”

The eagle looked at me. Je was crying, noiselessly. Tears just rolled from his eyes to his chin and the fell onto his corduroy pants. He stared at me, but it was not the Look of Doom. His eyes blinking the tears down his face, the Eagle looked, for all the world, sorry.

“Please, sir,” I said. “Can we please wait for Alaska?” I felt all of them staring at us, trying to understand what I now know, but didn’t quite believe.” (Green, 119)

In this quote all the students at Clear Creek Boarding School are ordered to the gym early in the morning on a school day. This is not a normal occasion and all the students know that something has happened. The night before Alaska left the campus not telling anyone why or where. Miles knows that Alaska left the campus the night before but had expected her to come back. That is why he wants to wait for Alaska. I choose this quote because it makes the reader want to know what happens next to Alaska and what The Eagle has to tell them. I know at this point in the book I did not want to stop reading and I hope this makes you want to find out too!

Summer Reading Entry 3

“The Eagle walked up to the podium and said, “Is everyone here?”

‘No,” I said to him. “Alaska isn’t here.”

The Eagle looked down. “Is everyone else here?”

“Alaska isn’t here!”

“Okay Miles. Thank you.”

“We can’t start without Alaska.”

The eagle looked at me. Je was crying, noiselessly. Tears just rolled from his eyes to his chin and the fell onto his corduroy pants. He stared at me, but it was not the Look of Doom. His eyes blinking the tears down his face, the Eagle looked, for all the world, sorry.

“Please, sir,” I said. “Can we please wait for Alaska?” I felt all of them staring at us, trying to understand what I now know, but didn’t quite believe.” (Green, 119)

In this quote all the students at Clear Creek Boarding School are ordered to the gym early in the morning on a school day. This is not a normal occasion and all the students know that something has happened. The night before Alaska left the campus not telling anyone why or where. Miles knows that Alaska left the campus the night before but had expected her to come back. That is why he wants to wait for Alaska. I choose this quote because it makes the reader want to know what happens next to Alaska and what The Eagle has to tell them. I know at this point in the book I did not want to stop reading and I hope this makes you want to find out too!

Summer Reading Entry 2

Miles is a new kid at Culver Creek Boarding School all his friends call him “Pudge”, Pudge likes to memorize peoples last words and he can determine what kind of person someone is by there last words. Pudge desperately wants to fit in somewhere and with someone. He keeps his expectations low because he knows that he won’t get hurt that way. For example his family threw a going away party for him and only two of his classmates came. He was not disappointed because of extremely low expectations. His roommate, The Colonial, puts up an act as the tough guy but really he is an accepting guy who sticks up for his friends. He accepts Pudge right away and takes him in. He also sticks up for Pudge when he gets thrown into the lake and wants to get revenge on Kevin (the guy who threw him in). Alaska is the girl that all the guys like, and she know show how to use that to her advantage. She is very moody and is very reserved; you never know what she’s going to do next. The theme that I am beginning to see is friendship. IT shows how all the characters are coming together and becoming fiends. For example The Colonial gives Pudge his nickname, which is like accepting him into his group.  This book has two chapters total. One called the “Before” and the other called “After”. I’m not sure what the significance of these two chapters are yet but I am excited to find out. 

Summer Reading Entry 1

I am reading the book Looking for Alaska by John Green. In this book there are four main characters. The first being Miles but all his friends call him “Pudge”, because of his apparent skinniness. Pudge has a thing about remembering people’s last words and can recite many famous peoples last words. His roommate, Chip, but goes by “The Colonial” because of his well-thought-out mischievous plans. The Colonial’s friend, named Alaska, is a very attractive girl that all the guys rave over, especially Pudge. She is The Colonial’s partner in crime and loves to live on the dangerous side. Next is Kevin, he is despised by these three because of the choice to duck tape Pudge up and throw him in the lake on his first night. The books major setting is ”Culver Creek Boarding School”. At Culver Creek there are dorm rooms that are unair-conditioned and very small. Many events occur at the lake in the middle of the campus. This is where the kids talk, hang out, and occasionally get thrown into. One of the major conflicts so far is the conflict between Kevin and Pudge and the rest of their friends. Mainly this problem has occurred because of Kevin’s decision to throw Pudge into the lake, where he could have died and that he peed in The Colonial’s shoes in the process. I predict that later in the book Pudge and Alaska will fall in love, even though Alaska says she’s in love with her boyfriend. You can see that she does like Pudge by her continual flirting with him. This book reminds me of another book by John Green called The Fault in Our Stars. The writing style is very similar and if you liked that book I suggest this book to you. 

Why the book was written

I believe that Todd Burpo wrote this book to motivate and encourage others. In reviews and news about the book people say that he wrote it to get famous and for self benefit. But in the book it shows the real life struggles of a family and the amazing experience that they went through. The book was meant to inspire and make others believe in something. Based off of how Todd describes himself in the book, and in his actions that he describes in it he seems like the guy who would just let everyone interpret for himself what the books meaning is. He is a selfless man who is just trying to share his story to inspire others,

Real life issues

In Heaven is for Real there are a ton of real life problems that the author describes in the text. For example, one of the major problems was how close to death Colton was. It shows the pureness of the text and how real it is. The author shows in the text that you need to stay faithful and keep a positive outcome. Also in the book it shows people being judgmental of the family based off of what they believe their son is saying. And even though everyone doesn't believe them they believe what they want to believe no matter what anyone thinks about them. This shows the reader to always do that to always stay true to their beliefs aginst all challenges that come with it.

Final Blogging Assessment in English 1B

Most Important Quote:

The most important quote so far comes from chapter 5, “Shadow of Death”. In chapter 5 it says, “Again, Colton was unresponsive, almost lifeless.”(Burpo,36) This quote is showing how close to death Colton is. It explains the title of the chapter, and it ties into the rest of the chapters. Before chapter 5, the chapters were all about how sick Colton was and the events leading up to him going to the hospital. Once you hit chapter 5 and this quote, you realize just how sick he really is. It also leads into the next couple chapters too. In the next chapters it is all about Colton in the hospital and all the doctors trying to help him. This quote is important to the overall plot of the book because as far as I can see it is the turning point in the book. It is when the family finally figures out what is wrong with him, it is when he starts to get better, and it changes the rest of the plot. When Colton is this close to death he goes through an out of body experience where he visits heaven. (Hints the name Heaven is For Real.) This is what the whole end of the story is about. How his family and his friends try and figure out what heaven looks like, who's there, and why this happened to him. Below is a picture from the movie that was created based off of the book. It shows Colton in his hospital bed who looks miserable, pitiful, and (as the title of the chapter says) near-death-looking. I believe the picture shows you how bad it really was for Colton and gives a visual to keep in your head.