"If Only" Summary

The book that I'm reading is "If Only" by Carole Geithner. The book is about a girl named Corinna who's mom just died the summer before 8th grade. Corinna and her dad have been going through a lot since her death, and it's getting harder and harder each day. She's dealing with a lot of pain, and it doesn't help that she has no one to go through it with. Corinna's best friend Joci, doesn't understand what she's going through, and doesn't know how to help Corinna. That's until she meets a girl named Clare. Clare knows exactly how Corinna feels, because she went through the same thing loosing her dad. Both girls are trying to get through the tough times together, hoping that they'll learn to deal with the pain. Luckily, the school social worker started a support group for all the kids at school who've been dealing with loosing someone close to them. The support group has somewhat helped Corinna and Clare, try to move on. It's getting harder for Corinna to deal throughout 8th grade without her mom. That all changes when Corinna finds some journals that give her memories about her mom, before she died. She starts reading through her mom's old journals, hoping to find something that brings her closer to her.

I think that when Corinna finds out more about what happened when her mom was sick, she'll get more better. She won't always be sad, and she'll try to move on and make the best of it. Hopefully when she finds more about her mom and what she went through, Corinna will be able to be more open with her dad. It's been hard for her to talk about everything that went on with her dad, because he isn't ready to talk about it himself. There is one person who Corinna's the most comfortable talking about her mom and that's her social worker. Even though Corinna doesn't like talking about what she's dealing with, with anyone but Clare, Corinna needs to get some professional help. With some help, Corinna could try to move on faster.

"Backlash" - Sarah Darear Littman

Now that I've read more in the book things have gotten crazier. One minute Christian is flirting with her, and might ask Lara to the dance, next thing you know, he's posting on Lara's wall that no one likes her, and all these mean things. After everything Lara's been through she decides she needs to stop her pain by taking her life. Things don't work out the way Lara wanted to, she tried to overdoes but her younger sister Sydney called the police and and the fire department. She was in the hospital for a couple days, then moved to a rehab center. Everything seems to be getting a little better for Lara, she's taking therapy, being taken care of by her family, and is trying to put the past behind her, but theres a lead in Lara's case. The police found out that there was no "Christian Dewitt" that went to any school near the area he claimed on his Facebook he went to. When the police searched the IP address to find where "Christian Dewitt" was posting all the bad things on Lara's wall, they found that everything Christian posted was coming from the house across the street from Lara's. Meaning, Lara's ex best friend, Bree, was the one playing with Lara the whole time pretending to be "Christian Dewitt".

Everything is starting to get worse for both Bree and Lara's families. Both families are being featured on national news and tv programs, there are many tv reports calling and calling them, and they keep being harassed. Lara thought everything was going to get better for her, she was starting to get more calm, but now that the police told Lara and her family it was her old friend all along, she's taking things much harder. I think that once everything starts to clear up, and people pay for the mistakes they've made, it's going to be easier for Lara and her family to get through everything together.

"Backlash" Contrast & Contradictions

So far in the book, there has been a lot of different changes in Lara's behavior. Before, Lara would always be depressed, and she wasn't ever that happy. Lara was always bullied and picked on for her weight, her best friend abandoned her, and she was really struggling during middle school. Now that she's in high school, things are starting to get better for Lara. She isn't as depressed and lonely as she was before. Lara was starting to branch out and become more social. She tried out for the cheerleading team, and got in, and she also became friends with the head cheerleading captain. She's even starting to talk to a guy that she thinks may like her, Christian. Everything's turning out to be good for Lara, which isn't normal for everyone who knows her. They think of her as the fat, depressed, unsocial, girl. Now, they see her stepping out of all that. In the book, Lara's old friend Bree, starts to notice a change in Lara's behavior. She says, "This isn't like Lara, I've never seen her so... happy.". Lara's little sister Sydney says, "Lara's been getting better, it's kind of creeping me out how good she's been doing.".
I think that Lara's change is making everyone believe in her more, before no one did because she was always so depressed. Now, it's all looking better for her.


I can predict that Lara is going to try to stay happy, but I think that there is going to be something that makes her become depressed again. I think that when she does get depressed again, it wouldn't be like the same way before. If something goes wrong, it's going to effect her more since she's been doing so good. It's going to be harder to take on, and even harder to try and let go, but Lara has her family to help her get through it if she becomes depressed again. For now, I know that things are getting better for Lara, and she's finally happy again. Hopefully the more I read, the more I'll get to find out if Lara will be okay.

"Backlash" - Sarah Darer Littman

The book I've started to read is "Backlash"by Sarah Darer Littman. It's about a girl named Lara Kelley, Lara started off as "Lardo" the "fat and ugly" girl that no one liked at school. She wasn't alone though, she had her best friend Bree Connors by her side, helping her through the tough times. But things start to change, Bree isn't Lara's best friend anymore. She left Lara all alone to deal with her problems herself, and it worked out just fine without Bree, Lara is now back in shape and isn't teased anymore, she even made her high school junior varsity cheerleading team. Lara finally feels like she escaped her depression, and all those deep moments in her life, but she was wrong. Lara thought everything was going fine, until she met Christian. He was a sweet guy who Lara had met online and it seemed like he liked her a lot, but she was wrong. Everything started to stumble back on Lara, she's dealing with depression & social anxiety, and a boy if writing a bunch of terrible things on her FaceBook wall, it's a lot to take for one girl. Everything is just too much for Lara to handle, no one knew she would take it that hard.


So far, I'm really liking the book. It talks about what a lot of young kids are going through, bullying. The book shows how much people go through, and how far people take it. I think when people read the book, they'll have something to relate to while reading. Everything that Lara goes through is what so many kids around the world go through, and it''s a really bad thing. The book shows that you shouldn't trust anyone you meet online, or even people that you used to be so close with, because anyone is capable of anything. The book kind of touches your heart at the same time, you feel a lot of hate towards everyone who did harm to Lara, and you feel love to everyone that supports her. I really recommend this book to anyone, because it can really make a difference and have people start thinking differently.

"Along for The Ride" End of Book Summary

The book I just finished reading was "Along for The Ride" by Sarah Dessen. The book was about a girl named Auden West, who goes to spend the summer with her dad, stepmom, and new stepsister. Auden never really had a childhood like any of the other kids she knew. Her parents would always take her to special events, meetings, and a lot of adult parties and stuff. Auden always spent her time on her education, and focusing on school work. She never went to sleepovers, had playdates, hung out with her friends, or even learned to ride a bike. Now that she's in Colby for the summer, Auden can finally get away from all the stress, and pressure her mom has been putting on her for college. Now, Auden can have some time to take a break and just relax. Her stepmom, Heidi, offered her a paying job at her store to help the other girls her age working there. That's when Auden really starts getting to know what a normal childhood and young adulthood is like. The girls she work with become closer friends with Auden, and let her in on their secrets, and everything that happened with one boy, Eli.
After the horrible accident Eli went through, he doesn't really let people into his life much, he keeps it private and away from people. That all changes when Auden comes in, they start to have this connection that Eli doesn't have with most people.

I think other people should read this book because everyone can relate to something that's going on. The things that go on in Auden and the rest of her friends go through, are some of the same things that most kids our age go through. Either it's friendships lost, boy problems, your parents divorce, or just stress, I think a lot of people can understand what they all go through. Auden also gives a lot of advice to her friends and family, that could probably help readers going through the same things they are. Overall, I think that this book, could catch a lot of peoples attention, and maybe they'll like the book and they'll like it.

Native American Post

The Native Americans were pushed back, and marginalized by society in many different ways. They were taken away from their families and homes at young ages to be changed into people they weren't. The officers would give them new clothes, haircuts, make them eat new food, learn everything from the officers' cultures. They basically made sure that the kids didn't remember anything that their culture taught them. When the kids were taken away, these officers were taking away their culture, their pride, and everything that they believed in. The Native American kids were being shaped into other people, and were expected to do everything that was against what they normally did. The officers didn't want the kids to grow up with their cultures because they didn't want them to be Native Americans. They did as much as possible to turn them into white kids. The Native American families were tricked into becoming people they weren't. In the text it says that, "He also planned to civilize them - to strip them of their traditions and ways of life." Meaning, the officers wanted to turn them against their cultures, and families, to be different people. 

I think the reason why Shanice Britton wrote her essay was to show people that just because she was a different race, and had different cultures, didn't mean she was as different from any other teenage girls. She talked about the things she did at home, what TV shows she watched, her interests, and they were basically the same as any other college teenage girl. Shanice probably wanted to inform the readers about her culture, and what they do today, different from what they did back then. Everyone thinks that if you're a different race, you don't do exactly everything that they were stereotyped for. Shanice does point out some of the things that are still the same. She talks about the traditional foods, and what she does with her family that she most Native Americans have always done. She also mentions that in her college, there isn't a high population of Native Americans. Overall, I think that the Native Americans have changed over the years, they don't normally don't do exactly everything the same as before, but they keep their traditions.

Tolerance

Tolerance: the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

There are a lot of ways that people can be tolerant towards others. If you don't believe or agree with something that someone does, says, believes, or even who they are, yet you're still okay with it, that's tolerance. Sometimes people think that just because they don't believe or agree with whatever someone does, they can't get along with that person, but really, if you're tolerant, you can get along with that person, it's just you won't agree on the same thing but you're fine with that. It's almost like "agreeing to disagree". I think that being tolerant, is something you should always do. I think of it as being a sign of respect towards others' decisions, even if you don't agree with it.