"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

In Ray Bradbury’s “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh”, a boy named Joby runs off from home, and ends up in the midsts of an upcoming war, and becomes a soldier. I think that the message the author is trying to send, is that you should face life with most courage you have and to always consider reality even when it’s most difficult. 

One way the author shows that this is an important lesson is when Joby agrees to being the drummer boy in the general’s army. I think that this shows that he's contributing to the war as much as he can. This shows that he as the courage and that he faces problems head on. I think that when he agreed to be the drummer boy, he told himself that he was brave, and that gave himself a better vision of his self-esteem. Also at the beginning of the story, Joby was not ready to go to war, and did not want to go to war. The author showed this by using his drum as a symbol. At the beginning of the story the drum was on it's side, showing he wasn't mentally prepared to be in the war. At the end of the book he put his drum up showing the he had prepared and was ready to go into that war. 

Another example of when the message of facing life head on, is when Joby tell himself that he is going to die in the war. All of the other men in the army don’t think they are going to die, but it seems only Joby knows that they will all die. The men and boys who are going to be fighting don’t know what happen in a normal war. Joby does and he prepares himself by convincing himself that he is going to die. I personally don’t like that he wasn’t being positive, but I respect that he is taking control of the situation and not having any high standards so that he would never be disappointed in what the outcome should ever be. 

In conclusion, Joby faced this situation of going out into war with faith and courage and that was amazing. After the general asked him to be the drummer boy in the war, he looked at the war with a new pair of eyes. Even if his faith was a little discouraged he has the strength and bravery that would hopefully help him lead the war beside the General, and hopefully get him out of it safely. I think Ray Bradbury shows this lesson very clearly to the readers so that it shows everyone how important this life lesson really is. 

Catching Fire

The book I just recently read is called Catching Fire by, Suzanne Collins is the second book in the series of  "The Hunger Games Trilogy". This book is about Katniss, the main character who's time is set in the future where they have a whole whole new world. They have a central government who rules capitol them harshly. Every year the capital hosts The Hunger Games, where from each district (city) has to bring forth 2 tributes (a boy and a girl both under the age of 17) to fight to death in an arena for the entertainment of the people of the capitol. Katniss had been in the drawing of being in the Hunger Games once already and had won, alongside her "lover" Peeta. They get reelected back into The Hunger Games and this whole book is about the experience that this journey came with. 

I think that Katniss is very brave. Since the book is told from her point of view (first person), you don't get the sense that she's THAT brave, until almost the end of the first book and leading onto he second book. You don't realize it because she's such a selfless person that she never sees herself but somebody helping others. I think that the moral of this book is that even if your in a game for yourself, you should always look around you, and ask yourself if being so selfish is really necessary. Katniss performs this deed by helping the other tributes in the arena. Also other tributes helped her in return. I think all in all that being fair and being aware is a key life lesson you have to learn. 

Extra Credit:

 One hot and sticky summer day,
 Sam went to an art museum with his mom.

Sources of Light

One of the books I read this summer is called Sources of Light by, Margret MuCullen. It is about a light skinned girl named Sam, who is living in the era when the races of blacks and whites are being discussed (pre-Civil War). She just moved to Jackson, Mississippi so her and her mother could start a new life because her father had just gotten killed in the Vietnam war. At her school she meets all different kinds of people with all different kinds of opinions.

 Then Perry, her soon to be mothers new boyfriend shows up. She shows her how to see the world through a camera and how to capture moments that could never be forgotten in the hard times that they lived in. He taught her how to develop film and even gave her a camera of her own when she became good enough. After Perry was taken from his house one night and beaten to death because he was taking photographs of a riot about if blacks could vote or not, everything changed. Sam and her mother moved again and again hoping that they would end up in a place where all people all races, would be treated equal.

This was a very interesting book for me. I have never read about a book about race and it was very inspiring to me. I think that Sam was a very outgoing girl that had her aspirations set strait for her. For example instead of going and trying to be friends with the most popular girl in school, she decided to be friends with a boy named Ears who nobody is really friends with. She also chose to be in a riot and go and take pictures of the scene even though she knew it was dangerous, but wanted to document it.

Throughout this book I could see this person evolve before my eyes. At first when she moved to Jackson, she was still mourning over her dad dying. Bye the end of the book she accepted that he was dead and that she would find many more amazing people in life like her dad and Perry. I saw her make mistakes like date a girls brother who I knew would never stay with her for long. Overall I think that she ended up in the book a fully matured grown woman, even though the book was only over a course of a half a year. I think that she changed because her surroundings changed and she had experiences that had broken her heart, and experiences that would scare her forever.