I selected Jodi Picoult for my Author Study book because a lot of people have suggested her to me, and plus she wrote My Sister's Keeper which I thought was a fantastic movie, and I thought that I would finally read the book. I'm interested in knowing if why she wrote this book was because she might have known someone who died or maybe her own family member had to go through this, and she wrote this book in honor of her. I like books that I can't put down and that I'm so focused on and she is an author that does that for me.
I like books that are a true story, and books that usually relate to health and this book is both, and Jodi Picoult has a way with her words that made the book interesting from the first paragraph. From this book and my next book, I hope to learn about her life a little. Maybe when I read another book by her I'll see some sort of connection between her books.
In my book, I chose Anna Fitzgerald, the sister of Kate, who is the one with cancer. When Kate was a few years old, that's when she was diagnosed with cancer, and that's when her parents decided that they were going to go to a special doctor to make an exact match for Kate to be able to receive blood and bone marrow transfusions. Anna is now in her mid teens and is starting to become real tired of doing all this. She loves her sister, but she realized that her parents didn't want another child, they just wanted someone to save Kate. She constantly feels neglected and ignored by her parents, and she mentions how there are several pictures throughout the years of Kate, and their brother Jesse, but there is about 2 of Anna. She finally decides that she's had enough and makes a move for herself and goes to a lawyer and asks if she is able to say no to her mom about not wanting to help Kate anymore. Anna's dad is more or so on her side, but her mother is the one who came up with the idea about going to a special doctor, to put her through all these tests by the time she was basically born, and to never ask her how all of this makes her feel. Once a court date is set up, Anna's mother is shocked and wonders where all of this is coming from. She uses excuses like, "Don't you want to help your sister?" and "Don't you love your sister?", but never asks Anna how all of this is affecting her life and feelings. I am still in the middle of the book so I don't know what happened after the court hearing. To me, I really connect with Anna, not by having a sister with cancer and being a donor baby, but I connect with her in the psychological matter. I was an unwanted child, and I was ignored most of my life, and still am. I'm not saying that I'm not loved because I know that I am. I'm not a popular person; the amount of friends I have I can count on one hand, and life is a constant battle of wanting to be happy, but not having anything to to happy about. I feel like this is how Anna feels most of the time. She loves her sister and her family, but she starts to realize that love only goes so far before it isn't love anymore.
ReplyDeleteI had asked Mrs. Byma about changing authors because Jodi Picoult's style just isn't me, and she honestly bored me, so I decided to switch to Nicholas Sparks. The book I decided to read was The Last Song. I saw the movie and I loved it, and I was curious as to what the book would hold. Right now, I have about 8 chapters left until I'm finished and I just can't stop reading it. It is exactly like the movie, so even though I already know what happens, I still try to imagine it all in my head and make my own picture. Right now, Ronnie (Miley Cyrus in the movie) just found out that her dad has abdominal cancer. Now Ronnie and her brother Jonah live in New York and their mother knows about the cancer and thought it would be a good idea to spend the summer with their father in North Carolina before he passes away. He "abandoned" the family so Ronnie likes to say, and the whole summer she was mad at him and just treating him horribly. She started to ease up and get close to him again later in the summer, but now she just feels so horrible for treating him so badly. The only thing in her mind that made her summer a little bit enjoyable was meeting Will. Will was one of the popular guys in town that everyone knew and liked. Her first night there she stumbled onto him and his friends volleyball court and he didn't see her and accidentally spilled soda on her. He tried apologizing profusely, but she just wanted to leave and never look back. After that, all he did was try to get her attention and get to know her. Somehow, later on, they started talking and ended up falling in love, but things are more complicated. Summer is a few days from coming to an end, and he's going to Vanderbilt college, and she's going back to New York. So they're both worried about what's to come.
ReplyDeleteSo yesterday, or Wednesday, I finished The Last Song. The last few chapters I said that I had to finish were just talking about Ronnie's father dying. He was in and out of the hospital, while her, Jonah, and Will took shifts at the hospital and getting sleep. All three of them ended up finishing her dad's stained glass window that he was making for the old church. Luckily, it was finished in time for him to see it, but he died shortly after. When Ronnie was cleaning and packing up the house, she noticed Will out front and wondered what he was doing. He had told her that he likes Vanderbilt, but he doesn't think that it's for him, and that he was thinking about transferring to Columbia in New York to be with her.
ReplyDeleteNow on to my new book...
I just started reading A Walk to Remember. I already saw the movie to this also, but I like reading familiar things. So this book is about a young girl and boy, seniors in high school. Jamie, the girl, is involved int he school play, and she's one of the more unpopular girls, doesn't have any friends because she believes in God and what not, and Landon, he's more of the bad guy, and he messed up in school, and the principle is making him do community service by acting in the play with all the "outcasts". He ends up working with Jamie and starts to like her...
So since I last wrote, I've read a few chapters. A lot was going on with grad project and presenting and what not. But since I last wrote, Landon has accepted the fact that he has to be in this school play and is making the best of it. His father also pushed him to be a part of student council, and when someone is a part of the student council at his school, it is mandatory that they all attend the school dance, but Landon doesn't have a date because every decent looking girl as he says in the school is already taken, so he decides to go to Jamie's house and ask her as a last resort. The night before he asked her out, he was getting so worked up and nervous and kept thinking to himself why he was getting so worked up about Jamie Sullivan. But he went to her house the next day and asked her out to the dance, and she said yes, respectfully with the permission on her father once he got home to approve. That is when she said "you have to promise not to fall in love with" and once I read the next few chapters, you'll find out why she said that.
DeleteFor my author study visual, I plan on creating a trifold, and I believe a trifold will portray my project very well because I will fill it with pictures and information from his own books and from biography websites, and it will really show what his life is like and all of it will best answer my working question. I will research every possible biography website on him, and include the stories from the books by him that I chose to read for the Author Study. I feel as though this trifold will be a success and easy to understand because I will well organize it by his early life, to mid life, to career, to family, and then on to future plans if there is anything documented.
DeleteSo I finished my Author Study visual, and I did a newsletter type paper on microsoft word and I feel as though it turned out pretty nice. I included the books I read and a biography of Nicholas Sparks, and my works cited. I enjoyed reading all the books I chose for this assignment and I, in a way, feel closer to Nicholas Sparks. After researching him, and then reading his books, I feel like I know him a little more personally. i now know why he writes all love stories. his mother was a huge influence on him and she pushed him to write and publish his first novel. Then she passed away and his father was devastated. His parents were married for about 20 or more years, I believe. So after that incident, he started writing love stories, in honor of his parents. reading these few books helped me develop as a reader because, I barely ever read, and after I read 3 books for this class, I feel more confident about reading. Back in middle school, I would get a book and read maybe the first 3 chapters and then return it. I never had the motivation to finish any of them. Now as a senior, and having read and finished a couple of books, I feel more confident in being able to read whatever book I want and actually being able to finish it.
ReplyDeleteReading his books helped me learn more about the author because, i started to understand his style of writing, and what he likes to write about, and plus when we had to research for the author study, I was researching all over about him and reading about him in other books and like I said above, I feel like I know him personally. This author study project has helped me prepare better and understanding and like reading better. Putting the project together has helped me understand how to properly put a project together and understanding an authors life.