It's Kind of a Funny Story

This blog is about :
Close reading of a few chapters of "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini


       Ned Vizzini suffered from depression. He wrote books about it, talked about, sought help about it, but depression is a disease, not unlike cancer, or malaria. It can't be cured, only treated, and controlled. "It's Kind of a Funny Story" is a book based off of Vizzini's five days in Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he started his story.

      The protagonist of "It's Kind of a Funny Story" is Craig. Craig is a 15 year old high school student, that just wants to succeed in life. He has a good family, a great education, but a troubled mind. I noticed that Craig thinks he will never make it in life. He gets 93's in school, and thinks because of it, he is average, and will get nowhere. I think his brain is wired to think that every tiny mistake he makes will end up in his life failing. I am now going to separate how I think Ned Vizzini's brain works from Craig's, so that I don't get confused.

    Many people have power in "It's Kind of a Funny Story." Firstly, Craig has power to check himself into the hospital when he is feeling suicidal. He has the power to save his own life, to make himself happier, and to save everyone he knows pain. His "best" friend Aaron has a lot of power as well. I think that Aaron is a symbol for what Craig thinks of himself. Craig is always worried about what others think about him, including his best friend. I think that his best friend is all of his worries wrapped up into one, because Craig thinks Aaron will succeed at life, while he will fail. Aaron has a girlfriend, Craig does not. Aaron didn't study to get into their top school, Craig studied for the whole summer. Aaron is happy and relaxed, while Craig is uptight and depressed. And it goes on and on and on.

   There was one particular word that stood out to me in "It's Kind of a Funny Story," and that word was "shift." I think shift perfectly sums up and describes Craig's condition. Shift means to move, but not by much. To just move over a bit one way or the other. Craig is shifting as well. He isn't recovering from depression, because that is impossible, he is simply shifting in the right direction, to become happier.

     The book is bittersweet, we know that he doesn't jump off the bridge, but we also know he isn't completely healed, and he won't ever be. We know he is happy now but we also know that he will have to take pill the rest of his life to keep him feeling that way. In conclusion,  there are many more things in "It's Kind of a Funny Story" that I did not cover, as I couldn't closely read the whole book. However the parts I did read were extremely inspiring and powerful in every way.

The Stolen Party

           The Stolen Party by Liliana Heker is a story about a young girl learning a lesson the hard way. In The Stolen Party,  the protagonist Rosaura is determined to attend her friend Luciana's birthday party. However her mother disagrees with Rosaura, saying that it is a party for the risk. This comes from her skeptic of the rich, as she works as a maid for Luciana's family. However she lets her go, and lets her learn a lesson as well.
           I focused on part two of The Stolen Party. I saw that multiple people had power, power to change the situation they were in at the current time or for the future. At the beginning of part two, Rosaura's mother has the power to stop Rosaura from attending the party. She also has the power to make Rosaura beautiful for a party she doesn't even want her daughter attending. However she exercises her power in a certain way, and she lets Rosaura attend the party, and starches her dress, and makes her hair shiny, which shows that Rosaura's mother cares about her daughter.
           Taking one step forward, Rosaura has the power to show the people at the party that she is confident of herself, by taking a "firm step" and showing off with "a slight toss" of her shiny skirt.
That is one example of word choice in section two, but elaborating on that would take me completely off topic, and I don't like to ramble.
           In the last paragraph of part two of The Stolen Party, the author states that Luciana puts on a "secretive look" to tell Rosaura about the monkey in the kitchen. This shows that Luciana has the power to determine the friendship between her and Rosaura, she completely in control, and Rosaura doesn't even know it. She is friends with Luciana, but it may be only based on the secrets they share with each other. I think that Rosaura may have a small piece of control over the friendship, but Luciana may not be able to see it. Rosaura has her confidence, which makes her powerful and strong.
            Finally, word choice. In The Stolen Party, the first word that stood out to me was "admired". Rosaura admiring herself in the mirror shows that she likes, or even loves ho she is, that even though her mother may be ashamed for Rosaura, Rosaura doesn't see that. That, or maybe it shows how naive she is. It could also mean she admires her own self confidence. The phrase "Terribly Pretty" could symbolize her mother's feelings, that Rosaura's beauty was being wasted on a party where it would not be appreciated. She is beautiful, but it is a terrible beauty, and is not being used for a good reason, a waste.
            The Stolen Party is also about a class system. Rosaura is the maid's daughter, and her mother's employers, her "friend" are one or more classes above. A person in the real world can see this everywhere. Just look at the news once in a while and you will her talk about the 99% and the 1%. I watched Mandela recently, and the class system there was all too clear, obvious is a large understatement. In conclusion, The Stolen Party  has many connections to the real world, current and past issues, some everyone can relate to.

The Book Theif: Best Book of 2013

The best book I read in 2013 was the book theif. I am guilty, I did see the movie first, and after reading the book I regret it, because it's easier to have read the book and critique the movie than it is to  read the book and question if it happened in the movie. The Book Theif is about a young girl living in Nazi Germany. Leisel, the girl, is abandoned by her mother, a communist, attempting to get away from the Nazis. She is left with her foster parents, Rosa, a woman with a harsh temper, but a kind heart, and a lazy but loving man named Hans. There she becomes, well, a book theif.

While it may not be apparent to some at first ,  Death, is the narrator. In the movie, you hear death speak every 20-25 minutes or so, but in the book it is quite more frequent.  You see death takes a peticular interest in Leisel, and maybe too close of an interest, as Death got too close, and her brother ended up dead. Death gives you insight, in the book to what will happen next, and in the beginning leads you on to give you a peaceful view of Nazi Germany, where everyone is fine. As the book  goes on, Death decides to show the reader the other side of  Germany with a cold Jew  hiding in a train waiting for the possibility of safety.

In the beginning of the book, Leisel appears as a dumb child who can't read to the children around her, but the reader can see the courage in the young girl from the beginning starting from when she beats up a boy at school, to when she steals her second book from a Nazi book burning. She soon learns to bead with her Papa,  who left school in fourth grade, and they buy, and steal books together to read. Books were precious then, and hidden, as Nazis liked to burn books by authors they didn't find acceptable. She keeps a wall of words in her basement, to study, to read and to learn, however she doesn't know that her reading, and her willingness to learn keeps her alive in the end.

The Book Theif is about a young girl with the courage to disobey the rules, the cruel rules that were set into place by awful people.  It is narrated by Death, who was fascinated with Leisel, and let her live her full 93 years. It was a brilliant book and I recommend it to all.

Equality books and life blog post

            Have you ever felt inadequate? Like someone is trying to push themselves up by pushing the rest of us down. The answer to that question is her, we have all felt that way at one point or another in our lives, and I you told me you hadn't, you must be the one shoving everyone around. I am writing a picture book about equality. In my picture book I use jungle animals to portray an inequivalent civilization. The tigers are the biggest animals, and they push every one around, and tell them what to do because they are bigger, stronger, and therefore better- and the other animals are helpless. I think that my picture book, even if it is (to be) made of  silly pictures of tigers birds and monkeys,  has something everything can relate to in a way, or give someone a reason to reflect on themselves. Picture books are truly fascinating. A child reading them only sees the story, the characters, ad the plot. But not really right? Children will have emotions and feelings toward characters and scenes. If they see someone being pushed around or bullied in a picture book they know that is wrong., and I think that's the hardest part if writing a picture book, getting the correct message across and making the  reader feel the write things about your writing.

           I am in the middle of reading  a book called Skinny, and recently finished Thirteen Reasons Why.  Thirteen Reasons Why is about a sixteen year old girl that commits suicide and leaves thirteen tapes behind, each holding her voice, telling one persons story each tape, and how they played a role in her death.I must say, equality was not one of the top themes/issues in this book. Many come before it. But if you search really hard, really dig through all the words you can find it, as usual. In Thirteen Reasons Why, the character faces bullying, rape, harassment, and of course, and unfortunately, suicide. Hannah, the main character never really was treated like an equal. She had friends but had no  true friends, no one she could turn to if she was ever having problems. Everyone either treated her like someone they could use for her gossip, or because everyone said she was so slutty. Guys harassed her because she was voted "Best ass in freshman class" on a stupid list a "friend" made. Nearly anyone treated her equally, andirons you read the book now, or again it becomes very clear.

       In conclusion, everyone should be treated fairly. I'm talking about race, gender, age, skin color, income, but most of all, the people you know. Some people may  take something you say as a joke, the way you intended it, but in Thirteen Reasons Why all these "jokes" lead to the death of a girl.  I don't think I really have to tell you what the moral of this story is.

Social justice in "I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education"

              Sexism and gender inequality has been a problem since humans have existed. We still haven't figured out the solution to this problem today. In "I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education," racial inequality is a major part of life, in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, where the Taliban nearly killed Malala for saying what she believed in. She went to school, took off her headscarf, and had a father that spoke out against the Taliban. She thought they wouldn't come for a girl, but she was wrong. It's hard to stop these things from happening. I personally find it very brave of Malala and her family to believe what they believe in considering where they live, and the many people that detest those ideas and want to silence them. I admire Malala because she wants to go back to her country after being shot in the face, and wants to keep protesting, and speaking out for what she believes in.

             I notice there is a lot of social injustice in the world, and just in my book, as well, more tan just one issue. I see that not much is being done to prevent or stop it. In one chapter of my book, Malala shares a story about a time she stole jewelery from a younger girl. She said that while she felt awful after, she knew that other people in her position would have kept stealing and saying that it was "no big deal" and that it was "just a small thing" until those small things became bigger and bigger things. She also says that she doesn't know how people can "live with their consciences" when they see people starving, or in poverty, or children without education because they have to work in order to survive. She says that politicians only care about money, and let everyone else do the dirty work for them, and she is right. As for the first issue, our world produces enough food to feed every single human being in the world, yet many are still hungry. Americans, on a whole throw away 90 billion pounds of food a year, or 45 million tons  of food. But we don't care. Not enough action is taken to help other people that are in need, when we have ample resources at out fingertips. Not enough people stop to think.

          In conclusion, there are many social justice issues stuffed into books, some harder to find than others. Especially in "I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education," she sees more things in the world than most, the good and the bad, and this makes her fight for her beliefs even more. Sexism may be the most apparent issue in this book, but if you really search, you can find many more. Malala is extremely bright, and observant, and sees what is going on around her, and doesn't ignore the problems she has to face, like many of us do.

Non fiction blog

          Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, and Fallout, wrote a controversial article called, "Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto." Ellen Hopkins writes some very controversial books, often having to do with subjects such as drugs, violence, abuse, and other subjects, that can cause readers, especially parents, some alarm. This caused Hopkins to write this article, talking about the people who ban her books. 
          In the article, Hopkins mentions how book banners almost never read the books that they ban and only skim the pages for "dirty words and sexual content." I, personally, find this unfair to Hopkins, or any author that has had a book banned. Books like Hopkins' can be beneficial to students facing the same issues as the characters in her books. Unfortunately, a lot of the book banners or "gatekeepers" are parents. Ellen Hopkins says that she has had situations where she was scheduled too speak at a school about poetry, but a parent read about the content in Hopkins' books and told the superintendent not to let her speak at any school in the district, and that all of her books should be taken from the shelves of every school in that same district. Unfortunately, the superintendent agreed, even though both had never read the books. But this wasn't the first time Hopkins was dis-invited from speaking at a school. A librarian became concerned after hearing two parents complain, and after reading about Hopkins' books on a website that rates books for content. Again, they hadn't read any of her books.
         After sharing the story of her two dis-invitations, Hopkins went on to state, "If you don't want to child to read a book, take it away. But you do not have the right to decide "appropriateness" for everyone." I agree with this statement because if I wasn't allowed to read a book, or hear an author speak just because someone else's parent wasn't okay with it, I know I would be pretty annoyed. I also agree with Hopkins' next two statements, " What's perhaps not right for one child is necessary for another."and "Those whose lives are touched by the issues I write about deserve to know they're not alone. I agree with Ellen Hopkins because you never know who can benefit from books like hers. And book banners should know that they don't have the right to decide what's best for everybody, and that those people need to decide fro themselves.

Shine by Lauren Myracle

I recently finished Shine by Lauren Myracle. Shine is about teenagers living in an intolerant town in the South. In the beginning of the book, the reader is shown an article in a newspaper about a hate crime against a gay boy, who was beaten and left for dead outside of a gas station with a gas pump nozzle shoved down his throat, and a hateful message scrawled across his chest. The protagonist in Shine is a lonely, former friend of the boy,  Patrick. This girl, had shut everyone out of her life, including her family and her best friend. So when Patrick was nearly killed, she felt lonelier than ever.

In Shine, I can't help but notice how different this town is, and the protagonist's school is from mine. For  example, at my school, topics such as gay marriage are openly discussed, and I would say nearly everyone is respectful of  others sexuality. However in the protagonist 's school and community, gay people are treated and talked about like aliens. Such as when the protagonist overheard  two women  gossiping at church about how Patrick shouldn't be in the children's wing of the  hospital because he would try to make  them gay.  I found this odd for a few different reasons. The first being that these women were extremely ignorant, and the second, even if Patrick was a serial killer, HE WAS IN A COMA!!!!!!So compared to my city, and community., this town seems really  ignorant and  perhaps scared. Scared, maybe because there is something that they don't know, and are not used to, which can be  scary for some people. But on the other hand, I find these people, well, stupid. Like I-want-to-smack-you-in-the-face-because-you're-being- so-stupid. But unfortunately I can't because you are in. a book. But that doesn't mean there aren't people like that in the world. So I guess I want to smack those people too.  But you can't go around smacking people in the face, so you just sit on your couch at home and watch them talk about how gay marriage will lead to marriage with animals, and the. You yell at the TV and I''m off topic.

 What I'm trying to say is, Shine is a work of fiction,  but  it isn't unrealistic. It is a  perfect example of all the ignorance and stupidity in our country and in the world. Shine has a plot that pulls you into the book while also making you think about your own community, and comparing it to the one in Shine. I have found that I am very happy to live in a city that is very open, and full of people who just don't care.