"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. 

"Along for The Ride" Contrast & Contradictions

Now that I've read more in the book, I've noticed a change in Auden's feelings about her stepmom Heidi. Before, Auden used to think that Heidi was just a over perky annoying girly girl, but Auden is suddenly realizing that Heidi isn't as crazy as she seems. Auden starts getting to know who Heidi really is on the inside, and not the "annoying little girl" on the outside. She notices that Heidi has a lot more in common with her, then her dad. Auden thought that her stepmom was the one who ruined her family, when in reality it was her dad that killed it. Usually, Auden and Heidi were never close, they weren't they didn't have that close "stepmom-stepdaughter" kind of relationship, they stayed in their own personal business, but one day everything changed when Heidi opened up to Auden. In the book, Auden heard Heidi calling Thisbe (her stepsister) "Caroline" instead of her name. When Auden walked by, Heidi was surprised and embarrassed that Auden had heard everything. When Heidi said, "I don't like the name! I wanted to name her Isabel. It's the name of one of my best friends here in Colby, and I've always loved it." At that point, Auden knew that Heidi was getting more comfortable with Auden, and she kind of enjoyed it. They started to talk about what Heidi really wanted, and they got closer from there.

I can predict that more on in the book, Auden will start to open up to Heidi about more things in her life. She's starting to have a better connection with her stepmom, then her birth mom. Heidi and Auden have started to open up more to each other about how they really feel about everything going on in their lives. Not only is Auden getting closer to her stepmom, but she's warming up to some of her coworkers at Heidi's store she works at. Auden was never a girly girl growing up, so now that she is working with the top girly girls she's ever met, she's starting to become closer friends with them. In the book, Auden and her new friend Maggie,

"Along for the Ride" Predictions

So far in the book, there have been a lot of things going on with Auden. She's becoming more familiar with her dad's new life. Auden's a big help to her stepmom Heidi. Since the new baby was born, Heidi's schedule was crazy. She's had to take care of the baby, work, manage the stores income, and just be at home with her new family. When Auden offers to help out at Heidi's store so she can have more time with the baby, Heidi couldn't be more relived that someone stood in for her. Auden isn't really happy right now in the book. She's upset because she hasn't spent that much time with her father, and when they do see each other, it's only for a little time. Auden's dad is a writer working on his new book, and he's always in his office writing. He hardly comes out just to have some time alone with Heidi and the baby, and now that Auden's visiting for the summer, she thinks he doesn't even care. Auden isn't the only one who feels that way, Heidi feels like everything doesn't matter to Auden's dad anymore. That all he's focused on is his work, and not their new family.

I think that more further in the book, Auden will try to bring her new family more closer with each other. Since Auden's dad is always in his office working, Heidi's busy with the baby, and Auden is helping Heidi out at her store, everyone doesn't spend that much time with each other. I think that Auden is going to try to tear everyone away just so they can have some time with each other. In the book Auden says that her dad's new life seems so "distant". She thinks that her dad doesn't usually have time for his family, and she wants him to realize that. She says, "his work takes up to much of his time, that he doesn't even notice what's going on with his family anymore."

"Along for The Ride" Sarah Dessen

The book that I started to read is called, "Along for The Ride" by Sarah Dessen. It's about a girl named Auden who goes to visit her dad, her stepmom, and their new baby for the summer. Her stepmom is having a hard time adjusting to having a newborn in the house, and needs a little help from anyone she can get. The whole point of Auden's trip to visit her dad once more before she goes off to college, but her visit doesn't go as she plans. She meets two guys that she doesn't know which one she really likes, her stepmom get's her a job at her store, her dad never seems to be around anymore, and she's starting to learn what being a real teenage girl feels like. Growing up, Auden wasn't raised like a kid. She would go to a lot of museums, plays, and adult parties, with her parents. She wouldn't play with barbies, have playdates, ride bikes, it just wasn't something Auden was raised to do. Auden was raised almost like a young adult. Now that she's working at her stepmom's new store, she starts learning all the secrets to being a teenage girl, and starts having her own secrets.


I think that Auden is going to fall in love with her dad's new family. She has a little stepsister named Thisbe that she only seems to know how to calm down. I feel like she's going to start to become more used to everything and want to stay longer, maybe even find a college closer to them. I can already tell that Auden is getting used to the people, her job, and everything. She starts becoming more known with the girls that work with her at the store, and get's to know them better. Auden isn't the type to open up about everything she's been through in her life, but maybe she'll find a friend she can really trust to give in and let everything out. For Auden, it takes time for her to trust someone. She's not really the person to just meet some body and tell them everything about her. She has to get to know them a little better, and I think that by being that way, she's going to meet someone really special to her.

Ellen DeGeneres - Upstander

For my up stander project, I've been doing my research on one of the biggest up standers I know, Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen is a famous talk show host and comedian, but all the money that she makes goes to so many different organizations that she donates to. She helps with many organizations for helping animals. Not only does she donate to these animal sanctuaries, she co-owns "Halo Pet Food", a pet food company of all natural pet foods that donates over 100 million pet foods to different animal shelters across America. Along with that, she's a proud advocate and member of LGBT community. Ellen had trouble when she first came out on national television, but later took a stand for herself and all the people out in the world going through the same thing she did. She showed people that hiding who you are inside, doesn't make everything better, it just makes it worse. She keeps her head high and inspires people to take a stand for what they believed in.

Ellen DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958 in Metairie, Louisiana. She lived with her parents Betty DeGeneres & Elliot DeGeneres, along with her brother Vance. DeGeneres really didn't know what she wanted to become when she grew up. She worked many different jobs before she started using comedy for something more than just helping her and her mother get by tough times. When Ellen started to realize that her comedy made people smile, she wanted to make sure that her talent kept people smiling. In 2003 when she had her hit talk show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" all attention was on her. She had one so many awards for being an outstanding comedian, and all her work with donating to many foundations. Ellen DeGeneres is one of the many well known up standers known around the world.

"Frosting & Friendships"

I've been reading a lot in my book so far and I've learned more about my character and the theme of the book. Lily has gone through a lot of different conflicts so far. Now that she's getting closer to the day of her friend Sophie's surprise birthday party. Lily has been facing even more conflicts through out the book now. She has to help her band write a song and dance for their audition for the "Spring Fling". She has to put her baking skills to the test by baking "the most perfect" dessert for the surpass party. There's just one problem, Lily isn't the best when it comes to baking. She has to put in her all to make this dessert the best any of her friends ever tasted. I think that I can relate to Lily very much. She always has to try to make everything the way she expects it to be in her mind, but then when she tries to accomplish whatever she's trying to achieve, it goes the completely different way. She's so focused on

"Frosting and Friendships"

The book I've started to read is called "Frosting and Friendships" by Lisa Schroeder. It's about a 13 year old girl named Lily.. Lily is in a "baking book club" with some other girls. The problem is, all the other girls in "The Baking Bookworms" are masters at baking any desert. Little do they know, Lily is the last person to be a baker. When it comes down to baking anything, Lily isn't the best at that. Now that Lily is reunited with her old friend Sophie, Lily tries to give her all to baking just so she can impress Sophie. But it all goes wrong, when Lily's struggle to become a baking perfectionist, gets in the way of her girl band, and their friendships. What will Lily choose? The Baking Bookworms, or her group of true friends? I think a lot of people can relate to Lily's situation. Everyone probably had a time when they really wanted to impress someone, and prove to them that they could do the same thing. Maybe it wasn't a friend but someone will always want to prove that they can do something.

Now that I'm getting more ahead in my book, I've gotten to more of Lily's other conflicts that built up over other conflicts. Lily is currently going through a lot of self consciousness when it comes down to her baking. Lily has a week to find the perfect deserts for Sophie's surprise party, and she has to practice her baking skills. On top of that, she has to write a song, along with a matching dance and another song for her bands audition.  Lily has so much on her plate, she's not sure that she'd going to get everything she needs to get done in time. Everything starts going wrong, once she's all on her own without the help of the people around her. It's all up to Lily herself, she might regret some of her choices.

"Frosting & Friendship" Lisa Schroeder

The book that I'm now reading is called "Frosting and Friendship" by Lisa Schroeder. The book is about a girl named Lily. She's part of a girls only baking book club. Lily's good at reading, but she's not the best at baking. She wants to do everything she can to empress the other baking bookworms in her club. She especially wants to win back her old friend from summer camp, Sophie, and wants to empress Sophie's new best friend Isabel. Problems start to happen when Lily is given a task to bake the best dessert for a very special event. Lily runs into other conflicts when it comes down to her girl band. Lily has a limited amount of time to write a a dance to go along with a song for her bands audition.Will Lily have enough time to bake an amazing dessert and have time to make a unique song and dance? I'll just have to find out.

 So far reading this book, I can predict that Lily will go through a lot of conflicts throughout the book. Even at the beginning of the book, there are many different conflicts with Lily's baking skills, and band skills. I can already tell that Lily is going to go through a lot, but will eventually take on her problems head on and defeat them. I've been learning a lot about Lily and how she is as a character. I can relate to her in many different ways. She's sometimes insecure about herself and her abilities, but always has something to keep herself motivated. She's determined to do better then her mistakes and make the best out of nothing. Lily isn't really the most "popular" girl at their school. Her and her friends aren't the perfect match either. One of Lily's bandmates is one of the prettiest girls in Lily's point of view, and her other band mate, is a shy girl who doesn't really like the spotlight. I think that Lily and her friends are the perfect mis matched pair of friends. 

Contrast & Contradictions "The Pregnancy Project" Gaby Rodriguez

Now that I'm getting more ahead in my book, I've gotten to know how Gaby really dealt with her situation. I noticed so far Gaby has had a lot of contrast and contradictions. One of the first questions I asked myself was, why. I personally thought that what Gaby did wasn't a good idea. She would have to go through so much trouble, over something that she didn't even do. Having to deal with all the pressure, must've been the biggest problem for Gaby and her family to go through. Then again, with everything Gaby put herself through, she taught a lot of people the importance of how a teen mother will effect you life. She also showed how strong she is, with all the courage she had to start something that would impact on her life. I think that what Gaby did wasn't really something that she would normally do. Would you just go on and fake a pregnancy for a school project? Knowing about all the conflicts? It takes courage and bravery to be able to take on such a big experiment. I think that what Gaby did wasn't like herself. She didn't like to be the center of attention, especially if all eyes were on her about something bad.

In my opinion, I think that Gaby wanted to take on this role for many reasons. She wanted to teach people what all her siblings went through. Either it was becoming a teen mother, or a teen father, she wanted to teach her peers what reality was and how it goes. Now that I've reached the end of the book, I felt somewhat bad for Gaby and everything she went through. At the same time what Gaby did got her known all over the world for her project. She was wanted to be interviewed by Ellen DeGeneres, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and many other TV networks. Gaby had a lot of experience doing this project, but I think she made a lot of impacts on people lives. Gaby says in the book that one girl had came up to her and thanked her for doing the project. The girl was pregnant herself but didn't want anyone to know and she was really inspired to take a stand for herself. This made an impact on that girl's life. She was afraid of what everyone would say about her, but Gaby's project made her want to stand up for herself. I really enjoyed reading this book and learning about Gaby. Hopefully she talks more about everything in a second book.

Gaby Rodriguez "The Pregnancy Project"

While reading "The Pregnancy Project" I've learned a lot of new things about the characters and their backgrounds. I've especially learned a lot more about Gaby's perspectives on things. One of the things I've learned about Gaby is her strength. She's they type of girl to not let people get in her way of what she wants to accomplish. She was raised to not let people's words or actions get to her. Her mother was a very strong woman having to deal with a lot of people, she raised her daughter the way she learned to deal with it on her own. When the school board sat down Gaby to talk about the effects of letting everyone think she was pregnant, she stood strong and let them know how she was raised. Most people would be nervous about all the talking people would do, but not Gaby. I think what Gaby did was a very brave thing to do. She taught a lot of students the ways of being a teen mother. I think that what she did was a smart way to teach teens about what it's like to go through that certain situation. Gaby chose one of the smartest ways to educate others about a problem that's so highly known around the world.


I think that from the project Gaby did, she learned a lot of new things. When she talks about having to go through the process of learning how to "be pregnant", she learns a lot about what most woman deal with. Having to go through all the weight issues, eating limits, and many other procedures that go along when a woman is pregnant. Not only did she learn about all the problems that effect most pregnant woman, but she learned that people can be so quick to judge you without even knowing your full story. I think that Gaby handled everything she went through pretty well and I hope that if I ever get myself in a sort of situation, I hope that I can handle it the way she did.

"The Pregnancy Project" Conflicts

One of the main conflicts in my book is how the main character, Gaby, deals with all the aftermath that came from her decision. The book is a true story about a girl who faked her pregnancy as a school project to see how people would treat her differently. She learned that becoming a teen mother was hard when it came down to what everyone thought about her. She dealt with a lot of different conflicts with herself, her friends, family, and community. Gaby learns that becoming a teen mother is a lot of work and takes you through a lot. Gaby grew up surrounded by teen moms, and her mother thought that was how Gaby was going to end up just like all her siblings. Gaby grew up living a difficult life with her mom, but with that bug conflict in her life, she learned a lot. The first conflict that Gaby ran into when it came to faking her pregnancy, was getting the permission from the school board to go along with her experiment. Gaby was really nervous that the school board wasn't going to give her the permission, and she thought that she wasn't going to pass for her senior project. I think one of the main conflicts she went through through out the entire story was facing everyone around her. All her peers at school treated her differently, she was talked about behind her back. She learned the responsibilities of becoming a teen mother and all the hard work it is to be a mother, especially at such a young age.