Call Of Duty (Scholastic Scope)

So the article is about a soldier that steps on a bomb along side his dog. When he gets home he fights for the right to adopt the Zenit (the dog) as his own. Fortunately that wish is granted. The topic I want to talk about is whether or not the armed forces and or the executive branch should let veterans to get the chance of adopting the dogs that they once worked with. I get that sometimes veterans can develop things like depression and PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder something that has to do with anxiety. The symptoms may be flash backs so realistic that can accrue over and over again. I'v e read many things in which these people aren't able to take care of themselves, much less someone else. I feel like these vets could use a companion that would help them through the tuff times. Someone that with take care of them and if the dog was malnourished or something someone else could help out with the dogs none the less the dog could help them with emotional problem just like with situations with other people with different problems. So yes I think that these vet should have the chance to keep their companions.

The Fault In Our Stars

The book I just finished is called "The Fault In Our Stars",  its a book of great love and love lost. Its about living your life surrounded with people that love you and excepting that sometimes the most perfect things can be imperfect. See Hazel the main character/narrater lives with cancer. She can't become cancer free because of the kind of lung cancer she has but she can take medication that will keep the tumors small and ineffective. In the beginning of the story Hazel is really depressed, she says she's not but really she is but then one day during a Support Group Meeting she meets Augustus Waters. They fall in love and try to live at their fullest. I think Hazel is really strong and confident but not because she is constantly dealing with her cancer but because she stays along side Augustus when everything is falling apart and because she thinks about her cancer as the worst thing but still lives on.

The conflict wasn't exactly surprising or anything just because I could sense that what the author was trying to teach was not that life is perfect but that life is imperfect and that dyeing is just one part of life. The conflict wasn't that both of them ended up having cancer because cancer isn't evil, its a part of you and its made of you but also that the only thing its trying to do is live. It wasn't that Augustus dies at the end. The real conflict was that people need to realize that death happens and that people need to realize that life isn't over for them even if it hurts like hell. The conflict was person to self because even though Agustus died, Hazel's struggle was trying to live without the "love of her life".

The Impossible Knife Of Memory

The book I'm currently reading is called "The Impossible Knife Of Memory" , this book is mind blowing.  So in the beginning the main character or narrator, Hayley Kincain is really someone you wouldn't want to hang out with but she's like this for a reason. Hayley has gone through major things in life, one of those things being having to deal with the kind of father she has. Her father is a vet from both Afghanistan and Iraq who has problems with both alcohol and drugs. He often wakes up screaming numerous times a night and he's abusive which used to be only for other people but though out the story he seemed to be loosing that control and almost hit Hayley numerous times. Afterwards Hayley starts to really enjoy the move back to their original house but her dad's condition seems to be getting worse. Then towards the end of the story Hayley's stepmom or ex-stepmom comes back into there life which causes Hayley to start to blame her for what is happening to her father, saying that because she's here her father is getting worse. In the story there is both an external and internal conflict. The external being having to deal with her father but the internal which seems to always be worse is that Hayley had to become an adult and take care for both her father and herself meaning that she feels as if she can't pay attention to her own internal problems which only causes them to get bigger and bigger over time. Although the whole story is amazing the end is completely mind-blowing and crazy. I really don't want to ruin the ending and be a spoiler but I feel like the needing really helps everyone out. Hayley and her father start to have that connection they used to have before the war and Hayley is able to become her own age again and a lot of the unnecessary responsibilities are lifted from her shoulders.

The story is written in first person point of view. Hayley is the narrator as well as the main character so she uses words such as I, me and my. Just like the book "Imperfect Spiral" the book could have been written in third person so that the reader could now more about the other smaller characters that have hidden stories. Although the third person could have helped I feel like the author was really trying to have the reader try to understand that when something happens such as the aftermath of the experiences of soldiers don't just effect the soldier himself but also his family and friends. Hayley really had to step up her game to be able to help or try to help her father, some one that no longer had any hopes in life. She also had to become an adult when she was just starting to become a teen which caused many problems by the time she became a seiner in high school, the time when everything seemed to be falling apart for her.

Summary Of Imperfect Spiral

Summary:

The book I just finished reading was called "Imperfect Spiral". This book was so good. It was really deep and had a lot of bigger insights. So the book is about this girl called Danielle but everyone calls her Danny, anyway Danny was babysitting the Danker's 5 years old boy during the summer instead of going to camp and becoming a CIT. Danny falls in love with Humphrey By the end of the summer going to the park with Danny to practice throwing a perfect spiral is natural to Humphrey but one day while walking home the football falls from Danny's arms and Humphrey goes running into the street to get it. By the time he realizes that he has made a mistake there is a speeding car coming done the street. Humphrey runs to the opposite side, into traffic and is hit by a minivan. Humphrey is rushed to the hospital were doctors  try and save his life but Humphrey dies. Through out the story Danny blames herself for what happened. Also people from the neighborhood make it there life purpose to try and improve the safety of Curry Road but the bigger problem is that people start to complain about illegal immigrants in the United States making the accident about something completely different.

Character Analysis:

The main characters are Danny and Humphrey

Humphrey is someone that is really smart and uses words like personification just because he likes to learn about "p" words. Humphrey would rather play with an artistic doll house with its many small details than play fight with a bunch of action figures. One time Humphrey got ran over by a kid on a bike and ran into a wall causing him to go to the emergency room and didn't cry but he did cry when he thought Danny had gone home without saying a proper goodnight. Although Humphrey dies at the beginning of the story his presence in the story is major so really he is one of the main characters.

Danny is a sophomore now were she goes to school with a friend she doesn't really know if she really is her "best friend". In fact throughout the story she has trouble disci ding on weather or not to take of the quotation marks off of "best friend".  Danny wants to becomes a lawyer but not just a lawyer she wants to be "the" lawyer but she has an incredible fear for public speaking which holds her back from doing the things she really enjoys doing. By the end of the story Danny uses the love she had with Humphrey to overcome her fears and step up for the illegal immigrants and the safety on Curry Road in front of the whole town, over 3,000 people.

The story is written in first person point of view. In the book the narrator, Danny is the one telling the story. She uses words like I and me which are huge clues telling the reader that it is written in first person. I think that the story being first person was a bonus because the story is about the experiences that Danny went through and it really helped to now exactly who she was and what she was thinking. What would be even better would be that the story was a part of a series because there are smaller characters in the story that aren't really important but the author kind of foreshadows that there is a greater story to their life.

Lemon Brown

Last week I read a story called "Lemon Brown" in which a boy meets a homeless man in order to learn a very valuable lesson in life. In the story the boy runs into a broken down building when it starts to rain only to meet a man by the name of Lemon Brown. During there encounter they get into trouble with a few guys, then Lemon Brown teaches him that one mans garbage is another mans treasure. Lemon Brown tells about his life and how he lost both his wife and his son. His son was killed in war in which he carried newspapers about the days Lemon Brown used to sing the blues and broken down harmonica. The lesson is that the things your parents do now might seem annoying or irrelevant at times but at the end you will know that they are just trying to protect you and hope that you will have a better life than they ever lived.

Summary Of "The Darkest Path"

Summary:

The book I just finished reading is about a 15 year old boy named Cal that was captured along side his brother, James, by a religious group called The Glorious Path. Six years in the past Cal and James were visiting their aunt and uncle when The Glorious Path released an attack on that state, killing anyone that fought back. When the brothers were captured they were given The Choice, join or die. Six years later Cal is told to requite a stray dog called Bear from the streets so that it can be converted into a fighting dog. When Cal meets her they become instant friends but when the dog couch arrives and threatens to kill both Cal and Bear, Cal shoots the trainer. Cal know has to flee to the north to save his own life, with challenges from The Glorious Path, which is set on concurring all of The United States. This book was so good. I usually drop books really quickly because I can predict what will happen next. Its like books are being made over and over again but with The Darkest Path I was in so much suspense. I would think Cal was going to do something and then he'd the exact opposite. Not that the choices he made didn't make sense, they actually made the story fit better. Leaving me thinking that if I was Cal, I would have gotten arrest or worse given The Choice.

Character Analysis:

The main characters is Cal. There was some more people in the story but they either died or they weren't included for a long time. Cal is from New York and has been trying to become a citizen in The Glorious Path to make his brother's (James) and his self's lives better even if it means staying with the Glorious Path. The camp leader tells Cal that if completes a bunch of missions with the soldiers that requite people into the camp he will grant Cal and his brother James citizenship. After having to get his arm broken with a bat, Cal gets back from the mission only to be told that because of James condition with asthma and Cal's ability to complete the mission they will not be getting citizenship but Cal will become a soldier and James a kitchen boy. Afterward Cal has to save his life and the dog he has now befriended. During throughout the story life hands Cal extremely bad luck and huge challenges while trying to show Cal that there is more to life then being alone. Cal needs to become stronger and stronger to get everyone in his life out of the grip of the Glorious Path even if it means confronting the very person the started the Glorious Path, Nathan Hill. Cal is like a hurt puppy. Like you know when you meet this really cute puppy but its scared to death and it will bite if you get to close well that was basically Cal in the beginning. Cal is a really strong person, when everything fell apart he was the one leading everyone and helping them get up off the ground. The problem was that he didn't trust anyone and it toke him a lot of work to make friends,  I mean the only reason he was able to kiss Nat was because Nat speaks her mind but by the end Cal was able to become more open and because of that he was able to become closer to his brother.