Letter for literacy

Dear Mr. Oppel,

I have recently read your book “Half Brother”. First off let me say that the book is really easy to follow and kept me entertained throughout. Your book was very easy to connect to because of the fact it has to do with family. Especially since some of it has to do with conflict in a family. I can think of multiple times where I have gotten into arguments with my parents and gotten fairly mad. This made me into the person I am today by making me stand up for what I believe in.  My parents have always taught me that when I think something is wrong or unfair to question it. While this sometimes can get me into trouble can also teach me something I did not know. I connect to Ben really well in this story because of these facts. He is trying to stand up for what he believes in and doesn’t want to take no for an answer. I think the book connects to all children well too because just about every kid has gotten mad at their parents like Ben has. Most kids sit there and think that their parents are stupid for what they are doing and they want to run away. I know this because I have felt the same way about my parents only over stupider things then Ben is fighting for. I get that to make the read more entertaining there had to be someone that Ben had to argue with and struggle with to make the book enjoyable to read but his father almost made me mad. I did not like how stubborn and blind Ben’s father was. Probably the thing that made me the maddest when I was arguing with my parents is when I would say something and they would immediately shut me down or act like they didn’t care a lot like Ben’s dad would. That’s what made me the angriest about Ben’s dad. Before I read this book let’s just say I was less than enthusiastic about reading due to the fact that the middle school I went to made us read for a grade which made it more of a chore than something I enjoyed.  I can’t remember the last time I would start reading something and couldn’t take my eyes off of it because I wanted to see what happened next. Your book though, Mr. Oppel, brought this enthusiasm back to me. I think because of how you wrote a book that connected to my life so well, not in the fact that I have a monkey, but how you brought issues that just about every kid has to deal with, with their parents. I could even imagine in my head certain things me and my parents would argue about which made me smile. The way you wrote a book that can connect to such a broad spectrum of audiences is the reason why I think I liked it so much and will defiantly be reading your other work too.

Sincerely,

Zachary Tripp

Animoto 2

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Sparknotes is evil

Spark-note  it or actually read. Most people like to read but do not do it all the time. When we become to lazy or  just don't feel like reading an assignment we turn to Spark-notes. Sure it is a great source to find a summary in last  nights reading assignment so you can get those 5 points in class the next day but it is also a bad thing. Especially if your teacher knows you only read Spark-notes. Spark-notes is a general summary of a chapter and is very vague. It doesn't give you any meaning full attachment to a character or to what is happening. So sure you might get what happens in a chapter right but you won't get what the characters where feeling when this happens and that can cost you those 5 or ten points that you were trying so desperately to get anyway. Another thing Spark-notes leaves out is the pure joy of reading a book. There is no setting when you read the summary so you can not imagine it in your head as well. It also leaves out the great things in a book like the humor and the adventure to a book that lets your mind wander and gets you lost in the book you're reading. Personally I would read the book every time but I too also get lazy or do not feel like reading so I turn to Spark-notes, my grades do show for it the next day though. Spark-notes can be helpful though, especially when you are reading a complicated book like Tale of Two Cities. It can be helpful in the sense that after you read through a part of the book and don't understand it then you can turn to Spark-notes to help you understand it. All together, Spark-notes is not a good thing to constantly turn to and is not in any means a substitute to actually reading a book.

picture story

 Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

 is about a family

 That adopts a baby chimp named Zan

 As part of a science experiment 

 To teach him American Sign Language

 Zan becomes almost like a little brother to Ben

and they are practically best friends

 But when the grant gets denied

 Because they think Zan isn't learning

Then Ben has to fight 

For his little chimp brother.

does he win or lose?

you will have to read it to find out.

 how to sign Family in asl

Zan's favorite drink

vlog

Comments

To Jackson Bates... Hey whats up Jackson. I liked your picture story. I haven't read the book that you made this about but just from this I can sorta tell what it is about. I'm guessing that it is about a kid who's parents are lawyers on a hard case. Then the kid uses his knowledge to solve the case. If I'm right then your picture story is pretty good. One thing I think you should add is some humor though. You're a funny guy so I know some humor can be put into it. It's pretty good though. To Michael Crouse Michael, I like your picture blog. I am currently reading this book as my second quarter book and I can relate to most of the pictures on here and the other parts I haven't gotten to yet. I know your humor and know you can be alot funnier and more creative with some of your pictures though. All together it's a good blog post though. To Walker Upton This picture blog incorporates some of the major points in the book. I don't know if there was a loading problem but it wasn't completely done on my screen. You're also very funny and i know that if you put in the effort you could of made this better and funnier. 

My Awesome Grade

First of all, I want to say that I loved my first quarter grade of 95. Because of this grade the list of what I did wrong will be very brief. I was told that my blog was very well organized and I showed the clear ideas of what i was trying to accomplish. My content and ideas were pretty good too besides my links. My pictures, music, and video related to my novel really well and was interesting to listen and look at. My conventions and usage were definitely my worst parts. I had little grammar mistakes but my sentence structure would sometimes be hard to follow or understand so I need to work on that. Altogether though I did really well and kinda like blogging now.

Now I like blogging but I can not say the same for the beginning of the year. I was skeptical of this blog when it was first proposed but it was better than writing papers. At first I didn't know how I would do the assignments in the time we were giving because I am normally a procrastinator. But after a while I got into the groove of doing them and didn't complain as much. Now, starting the second quarter, I am looking forward to doing the blog. I will probably incorporate a lot of the first quarter blog prompts but slightly tweaked to make it different and entertaining. I am for sure doing the Animoto again because of the way it turned out and I've always enjoyed doing movie type things like that. I have some ideas about some different things for this quarter but I haven't decided on them yet or I would tell them. I'm looking forward to this quarter and my new book though.

My new book is Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel. This book is about a kid named Ben. His father was a renowned behavioral scientist that adopts a chimpanzee named Zan. Ben's father is trying to see if Zan can learn a  more intelligent language such as sign language. Soon after they get Zan, Ben becomes his favorite. His father tells him to not get too attached to Zan because he is just and experiment but Ben doesn't want to believe his dad and tries to protect Zan from an unimaginable fate. It's a story about families, humanity, and choices. It seems really interesting but I mainly chose it because it had a monkey in it and monkeys make me happy. I can see a lot of humor coming from this book too so I think the blogs will be easier and more fun to make. I am kinda excited to start this quarter's blogs.

Around the World in 30 Seconds

http://animoto.com/play/HAMrllAfmufdyI4GtpvKHw

Vlog

This is just a brief description of what I think of the book. It also promotes the book somewhat and I don't give away much so you'll have to read the book to see what I mean.

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days

Here is a link about a general summary of the book. It gives some background about the author and the characters. Tells you what the book is about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne

Here is the author, Jules Verne. This link tells you what other type of books he has wrote and what kind of writer he was. It also tells you about his life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phileas_Fogg

This URL tells you about the main character, Phileas Fogg. This gives background information on Fogg. Helps to know him better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passepartout_(character)

This link tells you about Fogg's manservant, Jean Passepartout. It gives background information on him. It also helps you get to know him too.

http://aroundtheworld.phileas-fogg.net/aroundtheworld/80days-chapter6.html

This is a URL of a part of the book. It sort of introduces Detective Fix who is kinda the bad guy in the book. So it helps you get to know the bad guy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327437/

I put this one in here because they made the book into a movie. Of course the movie isn't completely accurate but it's got Jackie Chan. So if you don't really feel like reading the whole book then you can just watch the movie but it's not very good.

http://www.ourwardfamily.com/1800's_britain.htm

This URL is about Britain in the 1800's. Mr. Fogg's adventure takes place in the 1800's and England is where it started. Alot of historical information is given about Britain in this time.

http://www.life.com/gallery/55271/image/3091323/early-photos-egypt-in-the-1800s#index/0

Mr. Fogg went from London from Egypt. This URL gives great images of what early Egypt was like. These also might of been some of the things Fogg saw on his travels.

http://history1800s.about.com/od/thebritishempire/tp/indiatimeline01.htm

This URL is about India in the mid-1800's. Even though Mr. Fogg went through in the later 1800's the stuff in this page describes what happened recently before Fogg went through. Good discription of early India though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hong_Kong_(1800s%E2%80%931930s)

Another URL covering histories of a country. This country is China, in particular Hong Kong. One of Mr.Foggs last stops before entering the U.S.

http://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/timeline_1800.html

Educational link of Japan in the mid to late 1800's. This is about the time Mr. Fogg would of been there. Japan was the last stop before entering the U.S.

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/history/1800.htm

This link gives many dates and events of the late 1800's in the U.S. These events shaped the country for when Fogg arrived. Another Historical site.

http://www.yourirish.com/history/19th-century/

After the boat gets messed up they end up in Ireland. This is a historical background about what was going on in the 1800's in Ireland. Gives you an imagine on what Fogg might of seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_United_States#1851.E2.80.931900

Because Fogg had to travel through America by train. I decided to put this link that has to do about train travel in this time. It also shows the dangers of this travel too.

http://northwesthistoryexpress.com/timeline/transportation1800.php

Because Fogg's main type of transportation is train. I decided to post a URL that covered trains in general in the 1800's. Really good train history.

http://www.bytown.net/steamer.htm

Although Mr. Fogg did not actually travel the Ottawa River. This link gives a good description on what traveling on a steam powered boat was like. Because that is Fogg's other main source of travel.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4894_play-bridge.html

One of Fogg's favorite games is bridge. So this link tells you how to play bridge. So you can enjoy Bridge too.

http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-20%2C000-pounds-in-1800%27s-worth-today

Mr. Fogg makes a bet of 20,000 pounds. So this link tells you how much 20,000 thousands pounds is worth today. Fogg was a baller.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Britain.27s_imperial_century_.281815.E2.80.931914.29

Mr. Fogg is constantly being chased by Fix. An English detective. So to show where Fix can arrest Fogg at here is this link.

http://www.enotes.com/drugs-substances-encyclopedia/opium/effects-body

Passepartout misses the ship to Yokohama because Fix tricks him into smoking opium. So to show the effects  of opium on the body here is this link. Now i understand why he missed it.

Comments

Stevie Daily's picture story:


Stevie, you can't tell from this picture story what the title of the book is or the plot of the story. I'm also going to agree with Kippy when saying I can't really connect with it. I like your pictures and how they fit your captions. I think your a little short on pictures but good job


To Brandon Blewett's picture story:

Brandon, I love your picture story. I actually lol'ed when I looked at it. Some people may not get most of your pictures but I am a man of the internet and I laughed hard. My favorite picture was the "Challenge Accepted" picture. It was my favorite because that is exactly what I pictured when he accepted the bet. Thank you for this work of art.

To Cody Zamora's picture story:

Cody, I am currently reading the same book as you. Even though this picture story isn't completely done I get what each picture was trying to say. I'm sure that when you are done with the story it will be quite entertaining and insightful. Your pictures are well enough represented that even without captions I know what is going on. I'm sure it will be good when you are done.

Music Connect

http://www.classicalconnect.com/music/790


            I chose Dance of the Goblins by Antonio Bazzini to represent the tone and mood of my book right now. I think it is a great representation of the story because the tempo and all the instruments fit what is going on. The tempo is a little bit faster than most classical music which i like because it reminds me of cat and mouse. It reminds of the cartoons where the evil villian is chasing around the main character and they just go from room to room, much like Scooby Doo. This is kind of happening to Mr. Fogg. He is being chased by detectives around the world and they have to travel quite fastly to avoid the detectives.
           Another reason I like it is because it is a violin piece. I was expecting for almost all classical music to go with the book because the book takes place in old England when classical music was still kinda popular. But the violin represents the book a lot better that just regular classical music. I think that the violin is a good example of the travel part, which is a major part of the book. Whenever I hear the violin I think of old western times and there travel back then. Mr. Fogg's travel is much like that of the pioneers so that's why there is a good connection. Overall I think this song was possibly the best choice for my book.        

Picture Story

The Book Cover

The author Jules Verne

Main Character, Mr.Phileas Fogg

He like to play cards

He has alot of money

Jean Passepartout

Jean is Mr.Fogg's manservant

Mr. Fogg makes a bet to go around the world

He is accused of robbing a bank

So there are detectives after him

They travel by train

By foot

By boat

And even on elephant

There are many dangers

Such as Indians

And crazy tribes

There are many obstacles

But Mr. Fogg is always on time

So of course he wins the bet

Its about me

Hello, my name is Zach Tripp, or Zachary if you please. I am currently a Junior at Carbondale Community High School in Illinois. I am interested in many different things most of them being outside of school. I love to play baseball, fish, hunt, and do just about anything outdoors. I also like to play video games and hang out with my friends as much as possible. Although this blog is going to be about a book I'm reading I am not very fond of reading in general. In middle school the teachers made us read for a grade and there were consequences is you did not make the goal. Thus making reading more of something I had to do not something I wanted to do and took all the joy out of reading. Because of this i probably have read about 2 books outside of school in the last 2 years. But with this blog I am hoping to put the joy back into reading. The book I am blogging about is Around The World In 80 Days by Jules Verne.

Around The World In 80 Days by Jules Verne is about a wealthy Englishman and his butler in 1873. This book is filled with comedy and places that are real in the world and give you a slight idea of what those places were like in 1873. The Englishman and his French manservant take a bet that they can travel around the world in 80 days and it is a pretty major bet. Nowadays we think that is nothing. People can go around the world in probably a day or 2 in a plane. But this is in 1873 where one of the main transports were trains and very early cars (they were really slow). Not only was transportation slow but it was dangerous. In the Midwest there were still Indians and cowboys robbing trains as they went by and transportation in general wasn't very safe or dependable. Plus the Englishman is being chased by the police for being accused of robbing a bank. In the end the Englishman and his French servant prevail and win the money.

I believe that this blog could be interesting and fun to do. Instead of writing what happened I could make a slide show sort of thing that would represent what happened in the book in pictures. Or i could make a song or poem to represent what happens. Another idea is just put my blog in a storybook type layout where each time you have to turn a page to read each different post. I could also video tape myself talking about the book and then post it to the blog. A lot of gadgets too would help me get my attention to the blog. These are all ideas of mine to keep the blog fun and interesting.