Reading Responses to The Book Thief and Studying the Torah

Reading Responses to The Book Thief and Studying the Torah

            I am still reading The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. I have also started my own literacy narrative, Studying the Torah, which is based on the 2 years I spent studying for my bar mitzvah. The following paragraph shows my reading/working log.

            9/17. 20 min. 9/18. 30 min. 9/19. 20 min. 9/20. 20 min. 9/21. 60 min. By the end of the week, I reached page 180 and started draft 2 of my literacy narrative.

            In The Book Thief, Lisel’s foster father has found out about her stealing of books. He promises not to tell Lisel’s foster mother as long as she does not steal any more books. In my literacy narrative, I explain the different methods of studying for my bar mitzvah. It also explains my speech and the story of Nadab and Abihu. Plus, I am currently typing this post, my cat Hester is laying on my keyboard, and he is the cutest thing ever.

Reading Response to The Book Thief

Reading Response to The Book Thief

            I am currently reading The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. This book is really sad because it takes place in World War II, and thus describes millions of deaths. The following paragraph shows my reading log.

9/12. 20 minutes. 9/13. 20 minutes. 9/14. 60 minutes. 9/15. 20 minutes. 9/16. 20 minutes. By the end of the week I reached page 101.

            This book is about an orphaned girl named Liesel who is stealing books that are supposed to be burned by the Nazis during World War II, hiding them under her mattress, and using them to learn how to read. Doing so, she is saving the books from being burned. Therefore, in my opinion, Liesel is not actually a thief. This story explains how in World War II, not only Jews were persecuted, but communists and several others were also persecuted. To make matters worse, Liesel’s foster father is communist and he mysteriously disappears. Nobody should have had to experience the events of World War II, but these events were very real.

            It is hard to understand why anybody would destroy books and ideas written by others. Disrespectful! Could this possibly happen today? I hope not. But my dad tells me things like that are still happening due to those people who want to intimidate others and force them to change their beliefs. Yikes! How do we stop this sort of thing? This question is basically impossible to answer, but I have 4 words for everyone: Fight for your beliefs.

My Literacy Narrative

            Although I have enjoyed writing for many years, I have never been a fan of literacy narratives. For some reason, I get terrible writer’s block, much worse than with creative writing. However, since Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) begins tonight, I thought I would explain my experience with the stories of the Torah, which consists of the Old Testament, which Jews follow and our religious foundation.

            The Torah has been around for thousands of years and passed down by generations of Jews. Each section of the Torah contains a story about biblical characters from a certain time. The Torah portion I studied for my bar mitzvah was about the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. I wrote a speech explaining their story. While writing this speech, I learned that many scholars created different interpretations of the narrative. My interpretation from what I saw was unique.            

            I think it is interesting that Jews have debated this and other stories from the Torah for thousands of years. I wonder how much modern interpretations differ from older ones? It seems these opinions must be an important part of why Judaism has been around for so long and continues today.

Response Post In Defense of Creative Writing

Response Post

In Defense of Creative Writing

            On August 26, I posted a blog called In Defense of Creative Writing. Eventually, I found a comment labeled, “I like this post and I agree that creative writing is important. Why do you think it needs defending though?” Today, I will answer that question precisely.

            There are many reasons why creative writing needs to be defended. Some people might think creative writing shouldn't exist because of the facts of reality. However that is not true. In fact, almost every popular book on the globe uses creative writing. Plus, people need to understand that creativity leads to wonderful ideas. Creative writing is highly important and you nobody should forget that.

Reading Response to Cherub: The Killing Part 3

Reading Response to Cherub: The Killing

Part 3

            I have just finished Cherub: The Killing, by Robert Muchamore after reading another 150 min. Last time, I explained how this book relates to bullying. Now, I will explain how it relates to horrible tempers and there consequences.

           

            In this book, short-tempered police officer, Michael Patel, faces several problems with aggression. He has lost his temper multiple times, hurting and sometimes killing other people in the process. In one part of this book, Patel hit the main protagonist’s head against the wall of his own car during one of his temper tantrums. At the end it is also revealed that he was responsible for throwing a reclusive 18-year-old boy off a rooftop 13 months earlier after completely losing control of himself. For this reason, Patel is now in a cell for the rest of his life. This is why people need to control themselves. Especially when they are adults because completely lose control of yourself may cause you to commit serious crimes and end up like poor old Patel.

           

Reading Response to "Cherub: The Killing" Part 2

Reading response to “Cherub: The Killing”

Part 2

I am still reading Cherub: The Killing by Robert Muchamore. Now, I have spent a total of 12 hours reading it. Last time, I explained how this book relates to labels. However, now I'm explaining how it relates to bullying.

In this book, the Cherub Organization’s head trainer, Mr. Large, is an extremely tough drill sergeant. A drill sergeant’s job is to push his or her cadets extremely hard and toughen them up, in order to put them in shape. However, their job does not involve bullying the cadets. Mr. Large crossed this line multiple times and punished cadets for the fun of it. However, this ended after a training exercise, when he crossed the line again, by bullying a cadet and her group. Because of this, Mr. Large has been demoted to an ordinary training instructor. Bullying affects everyone at one time or another. It is important to stand up to bullies and it is good to see bullies face consequences.

           

           

            

How Hurricane Isaac’s Impact Affected My Dad's Office

How Hurricane Isaac’s Impact Affected My Dad's Office

My father runs a company called Starmount Life Insurance with more than 150 employees. I have been to the old and new buildings multiple times. Sometimes I even work there. Usually, the business is crowded with employees, working to help customers all over the country.

            However, on August 30, 2012, due to Hurricane Isaac's impact, every other business on the street, lost electricity. But thanks to the generators in the building, our electricity, Internet, and customer service still worked.  There were fewer people working than normal and so the office was pretty quiet, but the people who were there were working really hard. Plus, in most areas, including my dad's office, the air conditioning was not working which means it was incredibly hot. Therefore our employees, many who also did not have power at home, came to work anyway in a very hot and sweaty office. The employees came to work because their families needed money, they had customers all over the country, and they took their jobs very seriously.  It would have been easy for these people to stay at home and just not go to work. I was really impressed with their dedication and hard work.