Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a good book. It is written in poetic structure, wich has its ups and downs. In the book there is a lot of complicated emotion, between Kristina and her other personality Bree.
The poetic structure in Crank is intresting. At first it reads a little choppy, but than you can get settled in and it starts to be a advantage. Ellen Hopkins makes many creative shapes with her poetic structure. There is also a recurring poetic structure theme in the book. Where there is a line of text and than a word at the end of it. Like this:
"there was a
whole lot
more
to the story,
of course.
But I'd never
told her
secrets," page 234
She has this structure so much because what she is doing is isolating that one word and making it stand out more than the others. This must be the poetic structure in 30% of the book. It's used so much because it has a simple purpose, (to isolate on word and make it stand out), and it has simple poetic structure, which is what Hopkins does for most of the book. There are also lots of shapes of text throughout the book, but this theme is more important because it is so popular in the book.
Kristina, or Bree have a lot of inner conflicts in the book. She struggles with drug addiction (the monster), boy problems, family problems, normal teenage problems, and most importantly her second personality: Bree. The two most important are her drug addiction, and Bree. They go hand in hand, the drugs fuel Bree, and Bree fuels the drugs. They are a endless circle of death. When Kristina went to her dads house, she showed Bree to Adam. Bree had always been there, but she had never emerged. At the beginning of the trip Kristina and Bree were the same person, but sense Bree was the one with Adam, she was the one who got hooked on drugs. This made Bree spiral out of control, and become much worse than Kristina. Once Bree was hooked on drugs, Kristina got hooked on Bree.
One of the main conflicts with this book as a book is, in some places it has gotten banned. The book got banned because it has some heavy topics that authority figures may have a problem with their kids reading.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
coa post: tom sawyer and Imagination
Tom Sawyer is a great book, but I heard a lot of people (most of them girls) say they don't like it. It's a great read and any boy from 8 to 18 should read it, and try to learn from it. This book has some great morals, that apply to everyday life, and are not just for teen boys but everyone of all ages who choses to appreciate the book.
This book is great because it depicts that classic growing up boy experience. As society gets more and more urban, it's harder for kids to spend their days outside, playing tricks on people and having fun. For people who can't have this experience, it's fun for them to imagine what it would be like by reading this book. It encourages people to stop playing video games and get outside. This is important because as America gets bigger and bigger (weight wise), kids should learn to get outside and enjoy the world around them, and not a virtual one, that only exists on a computer screen. This point does not only have to do with being outside, or getting exercise, but also doing productive things like writing, crafts, hobbies, or ever running a business. Having your brain active is as important or more than having your body active and healthy.
Tom is a very sneaky kid, he is very good at tricking people. Reading this book can teach the advantages, and disadvantages, of manipulating people. When Tom uses people for his own good or when he tries to get them to think what he wants, it either goes two ways: nobody suspects anything wrong or suspicious and everything goes Tom's way, or people figure out that tom is trying to manipulate them and he is figured out and punished. One example of this is when he is tricking people into whitewashing that fence, no one is really at their loss, they are giving Tom something they don't care much about in exchange to do something that isn't in their normal everyday routine. But in a situation where Tom is trying to trick/convince the father of the girl he likes that he is a good hearted and religious kid, he is found out and the father gets mad at him. this situation is different because he is doing something where he is trying to be something he is not, or something that might offend people, which allows for more opportunity of getting caught or hurting other people's feelings. Messing with people, or pulling pranks on people is fine, but when you get into deeper situations, it gets messy and there is where people need to stop this type of thing.
Living in the city myself, it's hard to leave the house and go have genuine boy experiences that I feel I would enjoy. Although I grew up in the city, I enjoy things like camping, hiking, etc. Unlike most boys, I've read through the dangerous book for boys and enjoyed it. What I am trying to say here is that sense I have not grown up in the right time/place to have adventures like Tom, and doing things like reading this book or imagining my own adventures will help me stay sane and feed my brain of memories that are not my own. This is the topic I am doing my COA project on, and I feel that having adventures in your mind is important to not just be focused on what is happening now at hand, but also what you can imagine. This is also why I feel connected to the character "Abed" on Community, because we appreciate not what is just happing now in the world, but what the world has imagined hence, movies, tv, and our own imaginations. This all connects back to Tom Sawyer because he has time to do what he wants, outdoors, and in his own imagination. The morals in this book are to live by, not only to keep on track, but to have a happy, imaginative, and fulfilled life.
This book is great because it depicts that classic growing up boy experience. As society gets more and more urban, it's harder for kids to spend their days outside, playing tricks on people and having fun. For people who can't have this experience, it's fun for them to imagine what it would be like by reading this book. It encourages people to stop playing video games and get outside. This is important because as America gets bigger and bigger (weight wise), kids should learn to get outside and enjoy the world around them, and not a virtual one, that only exists on a computer screen. This point does not only have to do with being outside, or getting exercise, but also doing productive things like writing, crafts, hobbies, or ever running a business. Having your brain active is as important or more than having your body active and healthy.
Tom is a very sneaky kid, he is very good at tricking people. Reading this book can teach the advantages, and disadvantages, of manipulating people. When Tom uses people for his own good or when he tries to get them to think what he wants, it either goes two ways: nobody suspects anything wrong or suspicious and everything goes Tom's way, or people figure out that tom is trying to manipulate them and he is figured out and punished. One example of this is when he is tricking people into whitewashing that fence, no one is really at their loss, they are giving Tom something they don't care much about in exchange to do something that isn't in their normal everyday routine. But in a situation where Tom is trying to trick/convince the father of the girl he likes that he is a good hearted and religious kid, he is found out and the father gets mad at him. this situation is different because he is doing something where he is trying to be something he is not, or something that might offend people, which allows for more opportunity of getting caught or hurting other people's feelings. Messing with people, or pulling pranks on people is fine, but when you get into deeper situations, it gets messy and there is where people need to stop this type of thing.
Living in the city myself, it's hard to leave the house and go have genuine boy experiences that I feel I would enjoy. Although I grew up in the city, I enjoy things like camping, hiking, etc. Unlike most boys, I've read through the dangerous book for boys and enjoyed it. What I am trying to say here is that sense I have not grown up in the right time/place to have adventures like Tom, and doing things like reading this book or imagining my own adventures will help me stay sane and feed my brain of memories that are not my own. This is the topic I am doing my COA project on, and I feel that having adventures in your mind is important to not just be focused on what is happening now at hand, but also what you can imagine. This is also why I feel connected to the character "Abed" on Community, because we appreciate not what is just happing now in the world, but what the world has imagined hence, movies, tv, and our own imaginations. This all connects back to Tom Sawyer because he has time to do what he wants, outdoors, and in his own imagination. The morals in this book are to live by, not only to keep on track, but to have a happy, imaginative, and fulfilled life.
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