Independent Reading - In Class Writing Response

Choice 1 -
My magical powers sparkle and shimmer around me as I feel myself disintegrating into the ink of the book.

I awake to the sound of waves crashing onto the rocky shoreline. I open my eyes and am blinded by the brilliant blue sky above me. Standing up, I look around and find myself on a sandy spit of beach. A sheer cliff hung with moss towers above and I can make out the top of a lighthouse. A set of rickety wooden steps hangs onto the side of the cliff. Finding no where else to go, I carefully start making my up those steps. At the top I find myself on a rocky path leading to the old, white-washed lighthouse. Soft green green grass surrounds the tower and as I walk along the path I begin to recognize my surroundings. I realize that I am actually in my book, Elsewhere. I race my way to the tower and rush into the elevator. It seems like hours until I get to the top, and I burst out of the elevator, racing past Esther and to Binoculars #15. Sitting on the metal stool I see a girl with short blond hair wearing stained and dirty white PJs. "Liz!" I call. The girl does not look up from the binoculars in front of her. I race to her and shake her shoulders. She looks up at me. Her eyes are sunk into her skull and seem empty. "Who are you?" she asks, but her voice seems uninterested. "Liz", I say, "You can't be at the ODs anymore. Do you know how much you could be doing with your life?" She glares at me. "But this is death. There is no point of living if it is death". "No Liz, you don't understand! You can't be wasting away your time at the ODs! I know you want to go down to the Well, but you don't understand that if you do, you are no worse than the cabbie!!!" "How do you know what I am going to do?!" I pause. "Well, if I were to say I were from the future, I would be lying, and it would sound cheezy. But I do know you are going to do, and I have to get you to stop!" She stares at me with empty eyes. "I actually believe you. What do I have to do?" I smile. "First of all, come with me back to Betty's house."

As we walk back to her grandmother's house, I tell Liz where I had came from. "You see", I said, "I have magical sparkly powers which can transport me into a book. You are in a book, and I really good one, actually." "That's so wierd. I can't believe it, but I do. If that makes any sense." "It doesn't", I say, smiling. Then my face become serious. "But you have to do what I say." She looks at me with understanding, nodding. "First, no more ODs. I know a lot have people have told you to stop, and as I said before, they don't do any good. Next, buy some clothes. Those old PJs are yucky." She frowns, and I give an apologetic smile. Then, you should really get that Avocation. You know how much you like dogs, and you will really enjoy it. Trust me, I know", I say, thinking about what I had read. "You should really let people in too. Thandi, Betty, Curtis. They all want to help you and be your friend, but you don't let them." She nods, then nods again. I can tell that she will do what I had said, even if she doesn't know why. "Promise me you will", I say, just to make sure. "I promise." There is bittersweet feeling, and I am sad to leave. "I have to go now", I say, "but if you do even one of these things I know you will feel better."I wave goodbye as the air around me shimmers again. The last thing I see is Liz waving back at me. "Oh ya!", I shout, "One last thing. Remember your dad's sweater, and don't shout!!!" I know she will not know what I am talking about right now but when she comes to the time she will.

I appear on my bed, the book lying open besides me. I watch the black text slowly switch and I smile to myself.

Independent Reading - Blog Post Two

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Name: Alli

Date: February 1

Time: Two Hours

Pages: 1 - 159

Total Pages: 159

Question 1: What do you think about a particular character's actions? Was he/she right or wrong to do that?

Response: As I said in my last post, Liz was depressed and obsessed with watching her former life on Earth, never attempting to start fresh in Elsewhere. As she watches her family and friends through the binoculars on the Observation Decks, she tries to find the cab that hit her and caused her death. When she finds out the name of the cabbie, she wants to tell her family who it was so that they have to go to jail. "They should pay", she had said. To tell her family, she has to make Contact with them, which is strictly forbidden in Elsewhere. I thought that these were both bad decisions. The man who had hit Liz probably had a good reason for not stopping. From what Liz had learned from watching him, the cab driver seemed like a good man who wouldn't have hit Liz and not come back, without a good reason. But But before Liz tries to make Contact with her family, she watches the man once more. She sees him with his son who had gotten sick at school. He then offers to drive his son home, putting his family before his job. Liz then realizes that she could never turn him in. I think that this is the best decision she makes in the book, and leads to even better outcomes. From this Liz stops being depressed by getting an Avocation, making friends and getting a dog.

Question 2: What was one of your favorite lines (or sentences) in what you read today? Copy it down and tell why you liked it.

Response: In the park, Liz meets a dog who gives her some advise. "'My advise to you is to stop being lonely and stop hating it here. That always works for me," says the dog. "Oh, and be happy! It's easier to be happy happy than to be sad. Being sad takes a lot of hard work. It's exhausting."'

I especially liked this line because although this dog's message sounded cute, there is a much bigger importance to what it had said. I thought this was important but simple message for Liz. She is being depressed, and although I am sympathetic to her, she can decide whether or not she is happy or sad. No one is making her be depressed besides herself. Liz said she was lonely, but id she became closer to Betty, Curtis, Thandi, and everyone else who had tried to help her and be her friend, she would be lonely. She also said that she hated it in Elsewhere, but no one made her hate Elsewhere. If she had a better outlook on life and took this dog's advise, she wouldn't be depressed and lonely. It is all up to her if she wants to change, and in my opinion she should. It would make her feel better and benefit her in many ways.

Independent Reading - Blog Post One

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Name: Alli

Date: January 27

Time: Two Hours

Pages: 1 - 159

Total Pages: 159

Question One: What does this book make you wonder about? Why?

Responce: The book that I am reading is called Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin. In this book Liz, the main character, dies in a bicycle accident and finds herself in a parallel world known to its inhabitants as Elsewhere. Elsewhere is where a person goes when they die, so most of the residents are old. Liz, who was fifteen when she died, becomes cut off from her family and friends back on Earth and not allowed to make Contact with them. Now she must age backwards until she is a baby and can be sent back to Earth. But Liz will never turn sixteen, never get her driver's license, never go to prom or get married and will never be able to see her family again.

This book makes me wonder about what will happen after death. Elsewhere gives us a hint to what could happen, but there are still many possibilities. Unlike Liz, I wouldn't mind dying and coming to Elsewhere, as long as I wasn't young like her. It seems like a second life where there is no work or school and you could possibly see your family and friends again (if they die as well). This book also makes me wonder if I would act the same way Liz does in Elsewhere. Throughout the beginning of the novel Liz is depressed and does not interact with others. Although at some points Liz seems unreasonable, when I really think about it and out myself in her position, I realize I would have acted the same way.

Question Two: What advice would you give to a particular character?

Responce: Liz's grandmother, Betty, is also going through some difficult times with Liz. Becuase she is the only dead relative Liz has, Betty willingly toook Liz in to care and provide for her Betty trys to help Liz out of depression but does not succeed at first. If I were to give Betty some advise, I would tell her not to worry, but not to worry but to keep a close eye on Liz in case she were to do something recklees. I would tell her tell her to get Liz involved in other activities so that she does not become too focused and unhealthily obsesse with her past life. I would finally tell Betty that nothing is her fault and that she is doing the best that she can to help Liz.

The Book I Would Like to Read

Book: Elsewhere

Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Why I Would Like to Read This Book:

I would like to read this book because I have read a book by this author before and enjoyed it very much. I hope that I will enjoy Elsewhere just as much. I also want to read this book because when I read the summary of the book it caught my attention and wasn't like any other books I have read. My friend recommended it to me and said it was very good, too.

LOTF - Chapter Twelve

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 12 – Cry of the Hunters
“The End of Painted Faces”
Perspective: Ralph

The water dances and sparkles beneath my as I hang over the head of the naval officer’s ship. I cannot recall the last time I felt so at ease, though the other boys seem more shocked than relaxed, and some of them even seem disappointed. Whenever I pass by one of them, I feel their eyes boring holes in my back and it makes my heart speed up. I feel anxious being three feet away from someone who wanted to kill me.
At night I dream about the island. Once again I find myself hiding in the dense thicket by Castle Rock. A boulder crashes through the bushes from above, sending twigs and leaves flying everywhere. I cough as thick smoke burns my throat and I shove my way through the bushes. I catch a glimpse of painted faces as I sprint towards the shady trees and keep on running, branches whipping and scraping my arms and legs. My heart pumps and I feel like it is in my throat, choking me. I can even feel the piece of meat Sam gave me churn in my stomach. I hear an ululation close behind and the image of Roger with a spear pointed at both ends infiltrates my mind and find myself looking into his black eyes, blackness that spread until it blinds me and I see Piggy and Simon, mangled and dead.
I wake up in cold, hard sweat and check my surrounding to make sure that I am not on the dreadful island. I am so thankful for the naval officer I had knocked into, right as the group of savages came out of the island with spears gripped tight in their hands and prepared to run me through. I know he was disappointed, though. I saw the astonishment in his eyes when I told him about Simon and Piggy. I told him that I was the leader, and the first impression that he had about me was that I let two people die. I will never let myself forget about Piggy and Simon, the smartest and kindest people I knew.
Both Piggy and Simon died while we were on this island, and even after Sam and Eric were tortured to join Jack’s tribe they still risked themselves to warn me. This island was the most horrible thing I could wish upon anybody, and I hope that it will cease into nonexistence so that no one will ever have to live through the same thing that Piggy, Simon, Sam, Eric, and I did.