"The Pregnancy Project" Summary

The book that I've been reading this past winter break has been, "The Pregnancy Project" by Gaby Rodriguez. This book is based on a true story of the author herself. In the first chapters, Gaby explains everything about her family before she was born. Her family went through so many conflicts before Gaby was born. It was almost like a journey for her family. You can really feel everything that's going on in Gaby's life. Sooner on in the story, Gaby starts talking about her life when she was about eight years old. She had to go through a lot of conflicts with herself and her siblings. All of Gaby's siblings became parents at young ages. Some in college some in high school. Since this had run in the family, Gaby was expected to do the same as her siblings. But Gaby wants to be different. She wants to have an education, a future. Gaby wanted to know how she would be treated if she actually did become a teen mother. So, she faked her own pregnancy as a school project, to see how her peers, teachers, friends, family, and her community would react it her sudden behavior. Going through the whole experiment was tough for Gaby. She finds out what people say about her and she finds out who's really been by her side. By writing this book and telling everyone her story, she can teach a lot of young girls how tough it is to go through something like that.

"The Pretenders" End of Book Summary

The book that I've finished reading is "The Pretenders" by Lisi Harrison. I really enjoyed this book for many different reasons, for one I could relate to many of the different conflicts going on between the five characters. Andrew goes through some difficulty dealing with his personal goals, and money. I've gone through issues with myself, my goals, and my money, many times before. Sheridan is outgoing. She's a very dramatic type of girl. She loves acting and making herself the center of attention. I can relate to her conflicts in the story very much because, she goes through friendship troubles, dealing with loosing her best friend. I've, personally, gone through this myself in fifth grade. It went through stages of sadness, then anger, just like Sheridan went through when loosing her best friend Audri. Lily, however, I feel she has more of my traits. She starts to like a boy who doesn't even notice her. I've been through the same situation and I know how she felt and tried to deal with it. I can't really relate that much to Vanessa though, she's more of a laid back all about her studies girl. Last but not least, there's Jagger. Jagger went through a lot of stages in the book that changed his perspective. You'll learn a lot of surprising facts about Jagger's life, that will mind blow you! I really recommend this book to most kids because it has a lot of things most kids can relate to. I really enjoyed reading this book and hopefully you'll get a chance to!

"The Dairy of Anne Frank" End of book Reflection

The book that I currently just finished reading is "The Dairy of Anne Frank" with my lit circle group. The book was about a young Jewish girl living during the Holocaust. She goes through a tough time with her family, by having to hide out in an attic with her family and another one. I really enjoyed reading this book, because I got to learn a lot of new things about life for Jews during the Holocaust. I've always heard about "The Dairy of Anne Frank" but I never really gotten a chance to until my Lit circle group. I'm glad that I got the opportunity to read this book and learn about Anne Frank's life. My number one thought about this book was how real it was. Whenever I read the book I felt as if I was really in the story with Anne. She made everything so descriptive and relatable you could feel everything she felt. Anne Frank had always had "memory moments" in her dairy. Sometimes she would remember her life before the Holocaust and how much she misses her old life. She talks about what she used to do differently then how her life was then. She always mentions what she thinks would have happened differently if they had never encountered the Nazi's.

"Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" Summary and Reflection

The book that I've been reading for my Lit Circle group, is "The Dairy of Anne Frank". So far I've been really enjoying this book. It's a true story based on a young girl named Anne Frank living as a Jew during the Holocaust. She writes about her life in her dairy and how she feels during the time period. I have so many predictions and thoughts about this book I don't know where to begin! One of my main questions about this book is, how did she really feel? You can't really put all your feelings down on paper, so what if she had more emotions? So far in the book, Anne and her family have moved into the attic where they are hiding with the Van Daans. There have been so many different conflicts in her story that I can tell she and her family were struggling a lot. I think I can relate to Anne in many different ways. For one, we both have the sort of same attitude. She can see the positive sides of things but can also see the negatives.

Holocaust Response

In my personal opinion I think most people just stood by and watched for many different personal reasons. For one, I think that some people didn't want to help out, knowing the consequences of helping Jews, or even talking to some. If anyone was to be caught talking, helping, hiding, or standing up for Jews they would be severely punished, tortured, or even killed. People probably didn't stand up so they wouldn't have to go through the punishments. I think that along with this, it had to do with their personal lives and families. Not only would you be the one to suffer but so would your entire family. I think that some people wanted to take a stand to the Nazis because they couldn't sit back and just let everything happen right before their eyes. I know if I were one of the people back then to take a stand I would do it because I couldn't resist seeing destruction going on. I think I would have tried to hide some people in big buildings or garages that provided heat, food, water, warmth and many other items to help them survive.

"Pretenders" By: Lisi Harrison Summary

The book that I've been reading is called "Pretenders" by Lisi Harrison. I've been reading this book for some time now and I've really enjoyed it. Sheridan Spencer, Andrew Duffy, Lily Bader Huffman, Vanessa Riley, and Jagger have been given the assignment to journal all about anything that they want to express. Sheridan is all about theater and drama. Andrew is one of the star players on the basketball team. Lily is the new girl at public schools. Vanessa is the brains. And Jagger is the outcast. All five kids are super different from each other but have one thing in common. The book takes you through separate journeys for each characters' lives. Sheridan has her best friend Aduri, but when Audri's old best friend starts to tear them apart Sheridan starts to panic. How is she going to get her best friend back? When Andrew's parents announce to him that they're in bankrupt, Andrew needs to find a way to raise $200 to play on the basketball team fast. He has to go to extreme measures to get there, hopefully he finds his way! Now that Lily is finally starting her first year in real school, instead of being homeschooled, Lily has found the love of her life, Andrew! Will she find her true love? Vanessa is the girl who's never really had a best friend because she's always so focused on her academics, but when she meets Lily everything changes. Suddenly Vanessa is excited that she's finally found someone who she could just have a good time with. Lastly there's Jagger. Jagger isn't one of the most known kids at Noble. His parents died and he had no where to go. But maybe when he finds the girl of his dreams everything will change.

Sweatshop Assessment Blog

The argument of this article is the challenges that the workers for Coca Cola industries in Columbia are being mistreated. They have death squads threatening, harassing, and torturing, their workers. According to the article there have been 128 union workers assassinated.  "Coca-Cola Company, its Colombian subsidiary and business affiliates of using paramilitary death squads to murder, torture, kidnap and threaten union leaders at the multinational soft drink manufacturer’s Colombian bottling plants." This was one of the statements that talked about the workers of the companies. In my personal opinion I think that this is completely unacceptable. First of all, there are so many human rights being violated. Second, I think that they are approaching this situation the wrong way. They shouldn't be threatening to physically and mentally harm their workers. One of the most surprising thing about the article was that they could have used so many other ways to get under their workers skins' but they chose the most harmful ways. 


In the poem that we were the argument was about a woman who was stuck working in the SweatShops and she felt as if she was the machine and she talked about all the tough work she goes through. In the poem she described herself working as if she was a machine. The two articles were very different between each other. The Coca Cola atricle talked about their workers physically harassing and putting their workers through pain, and the poem talks about putting the lady through mental harassing. 

"Invasion of The Boy Snatchers" By: Lisi Harrison

The book that I have just finished reading is called "Invasion of the Boy Snatchers" by Lisi Harrison. The fourth book in "The Clique" series was about all five girls, Alicia, Massie, Dylan, Kristen, and Claire, taking on a whole different girl power challenge. When Alicia's 13 year old cousin Nina, visits from Spain, all eyes are on Nina. She's tall, gorgeous, and knows each and everything there is to know about boys. Every girl and guy loves her! Except Massie! Massie doesn't see Nina as the "it" girl at her school. Massie sees her as a threat. When Nina threatnes to take Massie's top lead spot, AND her crush, things start to get real

"Someone Like You" Summary and Reflection

The book that I'm currently reading is "Someone Like You"Sarah Dessen. This book is about two best friends Halley and Scarlett. They've been best friends since they were little girls. Halley's always been the quite one out of the best friends, and Scarlett the more brave and outgoing. But one summer changes everything. Scarlett's boyfriend Michael gets into a motorcycle accident, killing him on the scene. The worst part. Scarlett finds out she's carrying Michael's baby. Halley knows that she has to be there for Scarlett and she knows it won't be easy.

This book, in my opinion, is realistic fiction. I think this because any conflict in the book can happen in real life. So far I really like this book. I feel that it has a lot of different conflicts and personal issues that I can relate to. I think that I can relate to both characters Halley and Scarlett. I feel that Halley and I have the same sort issues to deal with. Halley has to be really strong for Scarlett, I've been in Halley's position many times before. I had to be strong for one of my friends when her cousin passed away. I also feel like I can relate to Scarlett, because I know how it feels to loose someone that was very important to me. When I lost my Grandma it was a really bad time for everyone. There is one thing that I kind of don't like about my book. I feel like this book is just going to talk about Scarlett's grief and it's really not going to have any other conflicts or turning points. I don't know for sure yet but I will have to keep reading!

"Dial L for Loser" Summary and Reflection

The book that I have just finished reading was a great book that made me want to read it twice! Again this book was part of "The Clique" series. As you can probably already tell I love reading that series! This book was following all only 3 girls, Alicia, Massie, and Claire. The three take a trip to Hollywood to audition for a leading role in the newest move "Dial L for Loser"! The girls couldn't be more excited, I mean who wouldn't!? A part in a leading new hit movie?! Of course it's a huge deal! But theres one little problem... only one girl can make it. Luckily for Claire, the small town, not so popular girl snags the role. Leaving Massie and Alicia in a rage. The girls are so frustrated that it started a mini rivalry between all three of them leaving Claire humiliated by all of Hollywood! Want to know more? Just start reading "The Clique" series. The faster you start reading the faster you'll get to join in on all the latest Pretty Committee gossip.

One of the main conflicts that went on in this book was the rivalry between the girls. Alicia and Massie were so angry with Claire for making it big in Hollywood that they decided it was right to embarrass Claire in front of the most watched morning TV show. The worst part, is that Claire is loosing the love of her life due to all the horrible things going on with the movie and the actors! In my personal opinion I think this book's theme is to always have your friends side no matter what. Because in the end they're the only ones that are going to be there for you.

"Call of Duty" Reflection

When I first read this story I felt connected to Jose. I know how it feels to have a best friend as a dog and have that amazing connection with your pet. When I first lost my bulldog Rocco I felt exactly the same as Jose did. I was mad, jealous, depressed, and just beyond horrified. I think that this story was a nice way to show people that war can bring people together. I really thought that this story was going to be boring and I was just going to pretend to follow along but then I got really interested and I began to read ahead! So, the story was about a marine solider who was given the most dangerous task to search for IED bombs hidden. He was working with his dog partner Zenit. Zenit and Jose were really close and they had a bond no other dog handler and solider had ever had. Jose accidentally activated one of the bombs and he was hit by one. When he was hit Zenit stayed by Jose's side until the rescue helicopter had come for Jose. Zenit and Jose were apart for so long and Jose was feeling really unlike himself with Zenit. So finally when Jose adopted Zenit for good it was the best reunion any dog owner could ever have with their pets.

"Invasion of The Boy Snatchers" End of Book Summary

The book that I just finished "Invasion of The Boy Snatchers" by Lisi Harrison, this is the fourth book in "The Clique" series. This book is about five girls, Kristen, Dylan, Alicia, Claire, and their ring leader, Massie. When Alicia 13 year old cousin Nina visits from Spain for the semester everyone couldn't be more in awe. Nina is a tall latin beauty who knows each and everything there is to know about boys and fashion. At first the girls love her. Then everything changes. When Nina tries going after all the girls crushes and taking the boys hearts one buy one the girls go nuts. The girls team up and try to take Nina down. The girls begin to investigate in Nina's behavior and find shocking things that can bring Nina to the bottom of the popularity chain. Well I can't spoil that for you. You just need to find out on your own.

In my book the point of view was mainly from the main characters' views Massie Block and Claire Lyons. The author rotated each chapter into each Massie then Claire's point of view. One chapter you'll read what's going on in Massie's mind and how she feels, and the next you hear Claire's thoughts and actions. I know this because in one of the sentences from my book it was in the perspective of Massie, "I can't believe it. There is no way that's the same Nina in the pictures! Where are the zits, and thick glasses? This is not happening to me right now." Massie was thinking this when she first saw Alicia's cousin Nina and didn't recognize her. Then in Claire's point of view of Nina, "Who does Nina think she is? Flying in from Spain and snatching Cam away from me? Now I'll never get my first kiss from Cam!" I like books where the chapters switch off into different points of views, but not where it's too much to the point where I don't know who's mind I'm going into.

I really enjoyed reading this book because some of my favorite books are "The Clique" series books. I like reading about girly stuff and books that talk about teen girl problems. This book had a lot of problems that most kids our age go through all the time. I really like reading "The Clique" series and I hope they make more.

"The Treasure of Lemon Brown"

When I first started to read "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" I thought this was just a regular old book with no meaning to it. Soon along when the book started to get more interesting I found out that this book tied to our lesson on homelessness. Lemon Brown is a man who is homeless and is living in an old abandoned apartment building. The boy Greg, goes into one of the abandoned homes just to sit and think, until he has an encounter with Lemon Brown. Greg learns a lot of things about Lemon Brown, about his history, and his present. Greg is surprised because all of this was so new to him. I think this story ties to our topic about homelessness in many different ways. The story shows us that some homeless people aren't entirely homeless. Take Lemon Brown, he may not have a lot of money or enough food, but he still has a place to stay and keep warm at night. The people that are fully homeless have to sleep on the street, have no money at all, and have nothing to eat. I think that some people should start up a group that helps the homeless. Just like people go to Africa and other places to build houses, people should make more homeless shelters in Chicago. They could provide free beds and food for anyone that comes in daily. They won't have to pay, and they can come back anytime and stay as long as they like. Through the end of the end of the story Greg started to realize that not everyone had everything he had and he needed to be grateful of everything that he actually had.

"Invasion of The Boy Snatchers" Summary

The book that I'm reading is "Invasion of the Boy Snatchers" By Lisi Harrison. This is the fourth book in the book series "The Clique". "The Clique" books are about four best friends, Alicia Rivera, Dylan Marvil, Kristen Gregory, and their ring leader, Massie Block, and the new girl Clair Lyons. Who moves into Massie's guest house for a year. The four best friends start off rough with Claire, playing pranks on her, excluding her, and just being downright mean to her. Now in "Invasion of the Boy Snatchers", all the five girls are have never been better friends until now! All five girls have gotten over everything from the past and now they are inseparable! But each girl has their own problems stirring up. Massie has new competition, Alicia has a huge choice to make. Dylan gained some weight over break. Kristen looks like a boy thanks to her new haircut. And Clair just might leave WestChester. For good. Tune in for more juicy details!

Massie Block is the kind of girl everyone likes, but secretly hates. I mean what's not to like, her incredible sense of style? Her ability to get whatever and whenever she wants? Or maybe it's her way that she makes you feel when she compliments your new hair cut? But all that still makes you want her to disappear forever. Massie Block comes from a rich family, is an only child, and has each and everything every girl wants. She's smart, witty, flawless, and fierce.

Alicia Riviera is a full blown girly diva. I would compare myself to Alicia the most, she's a latin diva, drama queen, and she's confident. Alicia doesn't let anything get into her way, and she keeps moving forward. She doesn't let anyone stop her from being herself. Just watch out, because Alicia has some tricks up her sleeve.

Everyone knows that one girl who constantly puts themselves down and they have to have some self confidence. Well that's Dylan Marvil. She may be feisty and funny, but she's a little insecure about herself. She's still the life of the party!

Claire Lyons is not only the new girl, but she's the lovable, sweetheart, outgoing girl in the group! Claire knows her weakness and she's best friends with one of her former enemies!

Last but not least Ms.Kristen Gregory! Kristin is the sporty, risky, girl! She takes as many risky chances she gets and doesn't let anything stop her from what she's passionate about.

"Unbelievable" Summary

The book that I'm currently reading is "Unbelievable" by Sara Shepard. The book is about a group of four girls, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer, who's best friend Ali mysteriously disappeared 3 years ago. Now 3 years later cops find Ali's body dug up in her backyard. After finding Ali's body, the four girls start getting mysterious texts from someone named "A" that, somehow, nows each and every little thing about the girls. The texts start getting worse and worse, leaving one of the girls in the hospital. Follow the girls in the fourth book in the "Pretty Little Lairs" series.