Hurtful, Thoughtless Actions

The book Weird Girl and What's His Name, by Meagan Brothers can relate to teenagers because many teens go through emotional struggles and don't think about other peoples feelings. All the characters in this story make mistakes that hurt friends and family members. For example, the two main characters Lula and Rory break rules that they have created within their friendship, and both friends break the most important rule involving trust. After they break this key promise they don't know how to start over.

Lula acts without considering others' feelings. Lula doesn't think of Rory when she runs away. Obviously she was hurt when Rory lashed out about her being all up in his business. Still, she should have known better than to go to her teacher's house and try to kiss her and then run away. She should have known that running away wasn't going to make anything better with anyone else and it most definitely wasn't going to help herself.  Lula wants Rory to want her even though she knows he is gay, and by running away she thinks the impossible will happen. She is so caught up in her own confusion she doesn't think how she is hurting Rory and her family by disappearing. Eventually she realizes she made a mistake but she can't undo it.


Rory also doesn't think of Lula's feelings when he resents her for running away, even though he knows that she loves him. After reading her journal when she runs away, he realizes how she has always felt about him. After knowing this he should contemplate how she feels and be a little more kind and understanding of why she did what she did. The least that Rory could do was show a sign of forgiveness towards her because he knew she felt horrible already for putting everyone through such a scare. Rory is under pressure because of his problems with Andy and holds a grudge against Lula for no particular reason. He acts thoughtlessly and hurts the feelings of his friend.


Another example of a hurtful action is made by Rory's ex-boyfriend, Andy. Andy knows that he cannot continue his relationship with Rory yet he continues to show him affection. Andy doesn't know how much Rory loves and cares for him, even though Rory makes it clear through his actions. Andy is satisfying himself after his divorce without considering Rory's feelings at all. When Andy finally decides that he has to stop seeing Rory he ends the relationship harshly without worrying about Rory's feelings. This shows that adults, not only teenagers can take the wrong action when they go through emotional struggle with friends and family. Although Andy is not a teenager he is acting like one.

In conclusion, when teenagers and adults are going through emotional struggles they often make decisions without thinking like Rory, Lula and Andy do. It is not only characters in books that make thoughtless decisions, everybody makes mistakes. Some that can be forgiven and others that cannot.

Mistakes and Losses

Teenagers can relate to, “Love Letters to the Dead” by Ava Delleria because all teenagers make mistakes that end up either hurting themselves or hurting others. In this story Laurel, the main character, makes mistakes that hurt, her boyfriend, her two best friends, her sister, and most importantly herself. Teens always make bad decisions that come back and bite them in the behind.

For example Laurel and her sister May go to the movies and are supposed to see Aladdin but May leaves Laurel with a stranger to take care or her while her sister goes to a party with her boyfriend. One big mistake on May’s part which leads to so much suffering. Instead of bringing Laurel to the movies this man takes her into his car and “touches her”. Laurel decides not to tell May about what has happened in the car. This is one of the mistakes that Laurel makes trying to consider May’s feelings just like half the other teens in the world would do. After this occurs many times Laurel finally decides to tell May about what has been happening when she leaves. This is yet another mistake that leads to May jumping off the bridge. Teenagers think in this frame of mind a lot, thinking that they are doing the kind thing and making sure other people’s feelings don’t get hurt but instead causing suffering.


In addition teenagers make other mistakes like making bad decisions which end up with them almost losing close friends, or not telling someone who cares for you why you are feeling down or upset. Laurel makes these same mistakes hurting her boyfriend, and her two best friends, Natalie and Hannah. Laurel loses Sky (her boyfriend) because she would always start to cry or become upset in front of him and never tell him what is going on so he can help her. Sky then feels helpless and decides he can’t be in a relationship where he has to watch the person he loves suffer and not be able to do anything about it. This mistake Laurel makes results in her losing her beloved boyfriend. The most popular mistake teens make is making bad decisions which results to upset parents, and friends. In the book, Laurel takes a pill without thinking just to impress the boys and other teens. This pill then makes her sick and causes her to open the door to the bathroom on her best friends revealing their secret to the world. Her friends then become mad at Laurel for being inconsiderate and making the wrong decision.

In conclusion teens make mistakes everyone does, it is what teaches us how to not make the same ones we have already made, but some can be avoided. Such as the wrong decisions the main character Laurel makes but then learns from. All in all teenagers can relate to this book because Laurel makes the most common mistakes ever, which teens can learn from.

Teenaged Rebels

In the book, " This Song Will Save Your Life" the main character Elise does not particularly enjoy her life. Her parents are divorced and she consistently feels down in the dumps. During her time of sadness she makes the decision to cut her arm to try to kill herself. She ends up backing out when a classmate calls the police. When Elise stays at her mother's house she begins to go on walks in the middle of the night alone to get away from her life. One night Elise bumps into two strangers on her midnight walk and strolls into a nightclub with them. As Elise begins to go more and more to the club she starts to DJ there.  At the end of the story Elise's parents find out about her nightclub and while still mad at her they are more annoyed at each other's parenting style. After their bickering they finally decide to allow Elise to continue to DJ as long as one of them accompanies her.

I think that many teenagers could relate to this book, because all teens complain and most of them do not do anything but rebel to express their feelings. Some teenagers become moody and negative just like the main character Elise becomes annoyed and pessimistic at her parents. In addition while teens are in this process they hurt their loved ones. For example, Elise hurts her father by giving him the wrong impression that she hates him when she says she would like to stay at her mother's house instead of his. But really the reason behind her wanting to stay at another house is because her mother's house is in a more convenient location to get to the night club.

Teenagers also rebel by disobeying rules and by doing this they scare their parents into thinking that they have run away or hurt themselves. In the story this exact scenario occurs. Elise begins to go to a night club to go as far away as possible from her problems. Since she has already scared her parents by attempting to commit suicide, sneaking out to this club has the potential to terrify them. Teenagers often do things like this without thinking about what will happen later and who it will hurt.

A lot of the time teenagers do not think before they act and do something stupid and think that they have the right to do this or act this way. Elise thinks the same way. Almost all the teenagers in the world act like Elise when they make a not so smart decision like walking into a strange night club, when you are underage with two strangers you have never met before. By doing this Elise puts her parents trust in her at risk by deliberately breaking rules. Elise does this after the incident of her cutting her arm which makes it an even worse decision because her parents are already frightened. In addition, Elise is also putting the little trust that her divorced parents have for each other at risk because if she leaves to go to the nightclub while she is at her mother's house then her father will blame her mother and vice versa.

In conclusion, teenagers have many different ways of rebelling and expressing their feelings. Some of these scenarios end up hurting family and valuable friends who not only love you but could help you get through these tough times. This is what family and friends are for, to help you and care for you. Elise is a perfect example of a rebelling teen because she does careless things without thinking that end up hurting her friends and family.

Egg and Spoon, The Story of a Peasant Girl

Welcome everyone, today I am here to talk about the book Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire. This story can relate to teenagers in so many meaningful ways. This book is a must read for teens whom have hurt or betrayed a loved one, Egg and Spoon projects a feeling of hatred, love, forgiveness and friendship. Every person that reads this book will leave with another sense of well being and love for whom ever they have hurt. Gregory Maguire narrates this story with kindness that then transfer from him to his reader. The main character, Elena begins her journey with only what she believes is love for her mother and brothers and finishes her story with a new perspective to her situation. This book will leave all readers with another view on many issues, not only do teens with prior knowledge relating friendship and trust leave with a new sense of awareness but all children with different backgrounds leave with some lesson from Egg and Spoon.

This book is valuable because teenagers can relate to Egg and Spoon because all teens have experienced hatred, love, forgiveness, and friendship. I am realizing that all teens deny that they have ever felt these feelings for loved ones just to seem mature and "manly". I just noticed that by saying this, kids are proving that they are immature. I was surprised when the main character Elena leaves her mother alone in her time of need, and leaves her with a very inexperienced doctor whom she does not know very well. The surprising thing is that Elena thinks that she is helping her family by leaving her sick mother when she is really doing the opposite. One time Elena says that she helps her family in as many ways as possible, but I think she is doing the exact opposite. I also thinks that teens at Elena's age will think they are doing the right thing in their mind but in reality they are doing something else entirely.

 The main characters friends' great aunt Sophia is on the edge about Elena because on one hand Elena treated Sophia with kindness and love even though they do not have any relationship. Teens feel this way frequently. On the other hand Elena did betray Sophia's beloved grand daughter and never turned back for her. Madame Sophia makes the choice that benefits her grand daughter. After this decision I thought that Sophia cared for her grand daughter with all her heart. My jaw dropped when Madame Sophia slaps Cat ( her grand daughter) because she is very self conscious and scared to stand up for her self. Cat is so relatable to so many teens going through similar situations.

In conclusion so many teens in the world deal with these feelings and situations whether they want to admit it or not. Just like the characters in Egg and Spoon teenagers all have feelings such as love, hatred, friendship, and forgiveness and these feelings do not particularly come in the forms in which they come in Egg and Spoon.

My Summer Reading

 Hi, my name is Juliana. I love to read and mark up my book with post-its. I love to have my book marked up and messy. I usually read at night in bed. In my book there are a lot of key ideas and quotes that apply to everyone. At the moment I am reading the book called Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire. This book is about a girl with 2 brothers and the 2 brothers disappear. The girl named Elena is left all alone with her sick mother and she has to take care of her with a drunk crazy doctor that does not really help there family. One brother goes to earn some money far away, and the oldest brother has been taken away by soldiers.

Over the summer I have read five books. The one that I loved the most was Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
   

I liked  this book a lot because several of teenagers can relate to this story about a friend that is totally different then you are and a girl that you have known for  your whole life that all of a sudden has cancer. Of course your mom makes you hang out with her and then you fall in love with this girl. This book is hilarious and makes you appreciate everything that you have and cherish.

Another book that I read over the summer is The Diviners by Libba Bray. This book is mysterious and spooky and it is also funny and interesting and draws you in and continues to get better throughout the book.

   

One book that I attempted to read called The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson I got about 50-60 pages in and then decided that this book was not for me. I kept on reading  thinking and telling myself that it would get better and more interesting later on in the book. I was inspired to read this book when I went to Chicago and saw the book for sale. I asked my parents what is was about and they said that they had read it before and that we had it at home. I thought that I would like because it was about a serial killer that gathered its victims at a very famous fair held in Chicago. This story is based on a true tale and true facts although it may by hard to believe it is true. This book had very small type and big complex high level words that led me to the decision that this was not my kind of book.

I also read the Fault in our Stars which I did not totally like. It was to sad for me and depressing. There were some funny and cool parts that I enjoyed but there were more sad parts then funny and happy parts. Overall my summer reading was very enjoyable and it gave me a very clear idea of what kind of books I like and what books I don't like.