review for Rosie Vasen's non-fiction post

       I recently read Rosie's post about a gun violence, Rosie summarizes and discusses an article about a recent political debate, gun control. I read many posts today to find one to review but Rosie seems to be one of the best. 

       She does a lot of things that I like, for starters she is obviously amused by the article. Rosie explains what her stand is on the issue, Rosie believes in what many people believe, gun laws need to change because guns are too easy to buy. another thing that Rosie did is that stayed strictly on what Ms. Rear taught us, Introduce the article, present the authors thoughts and how they showed them, and then her thoughts and reflections.

        I could really see Rosie's effort and to tell the truth she had one of the best blog I saw. Rosie i saw has been getting better and better in her blog posts. Her blogs are getting longer and longer every week, which does not mean they were short to begin with, her early posts were huge. Rosie unlike others is passionate about her posts, she seems to like all her books and believes all her beliefs she states. 

        I also read her "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" post and really liked it, I liked how its a book about 9/11 and she picked an entirely different topic to discuss. The post really made me want to read the book and made me wonder about her questions she left us with. The question was do we think that the key will open something that might hurt him and is it safe for him to go out and search like that.  It was a great and got me hooked. 

picking books

Everyone always has their favorite books, and least favorite books that they could name, but this year during reading I've been trying to think deeper then that. I've learned that I like books with characters that I can relate to easily, with not realistic plots exactly but realistic characters, solutions to problems, and actions made by characters. I thought that this had been a recent interest of mine however recently I've proved my self wrong

I have recently been reading a child hood favorite of mine called "Nicholas And His Gang," My mom mom used to read it to me in elementary school. I thought these stories were absolutely hilarious they are about young kids doing things adults are meant to do. These things include talking in high class formal words, acting like they know everything, and creating rules to life like "glasses make you smarter." The book plays a joke on how kids these days act so much higher then kids in the "olden days." While reading this book I had multiple flash backs to my elementary school reading days. I like "My Side of The Mountain," "winnie the poo" and "the box car children"along with of course Nicholas and the gang. In all of these books i realized a common connection that connected to my current favorite books, they all have realistic characters. Although its hard to relate to a run away boy, talking stuffed animals, and homeless children Its easy to Imagine this and to relate to deeper meanings in the books.

When i realized this I thought of another realization all these things can be "stolen by me in my writing. I promised my self that from now on i wont write about unrealistically made characters but instead write about connectable characters that can be related to other world and personal issues.

Nicholas and The Gang, Matthew gets glasses

     Recently I've been re-reading one of my favorite books, "Nicholas and The Gang." the book is a collection of short stories about an elementary school "gang" from the point of view of Nicholas a member of the gang. When i first read this book I was in 5th grade and although I loved it although it was a bit challenging for me however now reading it i realize the issues and jokes a lot easier then before.
          In the book a main repeating joke is that all these young kids are so mature, they talk perfectly, have a "gang" and they act like they know everything. In the first story a member of the gang gets glasses, when the gang found out they all were super jealous. They all said that it was unfair because now that Matthew he'd be at the top of everything. I found this chapter hilarious because although its stupid that they thought glasses made you smart its relatable. Everyone in their elementary school days thought stuff like this, like all girls had cooties. However the authors had a different approach as well not only did they want to make that joke they wanted to pass a message to the audience. Kids always act superior, like they know it all. From ages 5 to about 14 kids act like they don't need school (this might include me I cant say). In school we are thinking about how we will approach our elementary school students while reading our picture book, from reading "Nicholas and The Gang" I reminded my self that kids always think their perfect, and right so when i read my book to them i will be sure to treat them this way.

oakland avenue short story

Oakland Avenue is a story about 3 characters Mike, Chris, James, and Andrew that look back on their childhood as they attend their missing friend Chris's funereal. In the story it talks about the 4 kids as pranksters. they pulled pranks on neighbors and kept them up all night. However now 30 years later their adults and everything they did then is in the past. 

When I read this story I realized at some time I'm going to be in their places. My friends and I sometimes play pranks and do stupid things but we forget we someday will grow out of all that and become adults. Mike Chris, James and Andrew in the very end leave a shoe filled with flowers on Mrs. Anderson's porch. I thought that was really sad because it was symbolizing both how Chris gave her flowers every weekend and how they all would prank people every friday.

The only problem with the story is that their is no conflict. the kids simply remember when they were 12 while they are at a funeral. (the author) wanted the reader to look back on their child hood however because i have little conflict their is also little relating. However after reading this story the author succeeded by making me wonder how i would feel about my childhood life. Would i be disappointed or ashamed. Sometimes we have to think about this and remember what we really want to be like as a kid and an adult. We do this so we remember not to throw it away by pranking people and doing other things we may think of as "stupid" because someday we will look back and judge our childhood and we in no way would want to make our future self feel ashamed.