Holes

Started Holes, got about half way through so far. It is a very fun novel to read because of the language Louis Sachar uses. I also enjoy it because I saw the movie a few times and it was always very amusing to me.  What I really like is how Sachar really embodies his characters. It is very funny that Stanley's name is just his last named spelled backwards. I can't imagine that or else my name might be...Retieb. Stanley works for him though. I love the song that the Grandfather teaches Stanley, it goes as follows:
"If only, If only," the woodpecker sighs,
The bark on the tree was just a little bit softer."
While the Wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,
He cries to the moo-oo-oon,
"If only, if only."
This, I noticed is different from the one they state in the film. In the film version (which I have memorized) the second line is changed, in which it is says: "The bark on the tree was  as soft as the skies," so it actually rhymes with the first line. I kind of like the film version better, just because it flows a little better.  What I also find hysterical about this novel is all of the juvenile's nicknames.  If I had to go to Camp Green Lake, I wonder what my nickname might be...

Too busy, but I finished.

I've been too busy to blog and keep up, so my next few posts will be in depth about a few novels. This entry however, is about Stargirl. I finally finished Love, Stargirl. Well a few weeks ago but here I am.  The ending was surprising, but enjoyable.  It was very nice to see Archie back in the picture, as well as having a final response to Leo. It was weird to me seeing so much doubt within Stargirl's character in this novel because in the first one Spinelli made her shine and she never stopped. In this novel we see the more human side of her, we see that even an uppity girl who has a happy wagon can be dragged down by love, and other emotions. Spinelli is fantastic, creating an ending that leaves us open to the question of will Leo and Stargirl end up together? We find out that one day again they will meet and that, my friend, sounds like good news. I was also very happy that Mary Lou finally came out of her house, as well as Stargirl's decision to send her letter to Leo. Made me smile a little bit.

Found Poetry

Passage: "Me, cleaning my mother's blood off the wall, represented the 'tornado' breaking and destroying her face (I liked to call my mother's boyfriend the 'tornado'.) After he would hit, everything would look like it had been caught in a whirlwind--our apartment, our sanity, and my mother's face. I was cleaning up after the tornado hit my house and diminished everything. Washing my mom's blood, which was shed from time to time; a sacrifice to make him happy. He lived for blood-her blood, enjoying every fist that hit her flesh and every scream that took place. While he broke televisions, stereos, VCRs and the dining room table, it didn't compare to the breaking of her mind. My mom was never the same, and neither was I..."

Words: Mother'sX, bloodX, tornadoX, breakingX, destroyingX, hitX, sanityX, cleaningX, diminishedX, everythingX, shedX, sacrificeX, himX, happyX, livedX, bloodX, enjoyingX, fist, hit, fleshX, screamX, brokeX, breakingX, mindX, neverX, theX, sameX, IX.


Poem:
Tornado breaking everything.
Mother's sanity diminished.
Blood shed.
Sacrifice.
Destroying flesh,
enjoying scream,
hit broke, breaking mind.
Him cleaning blood.
I lived happy, never the same.

Stargirl, Endings.

I'm still not done, but this is what I want for characters in the novel.
There is a character in the novel, Betty-Lou. She doesn't ever leave her house. I hope she leaves.
Alvina is a very bitter, jaded young adult who hates and has an anger problem. I hope she finds her happiness.
I'd like for Stargirl to have a lot more pebbles in her happy wagon.
Perry- a confused boy who steals and is very outspoken. I want him to stop stealing and be happy with what he has.

Blogging about my blogging

First of all, I really enjoy the blogging. It helps me realize more details about the book that I might not pull away form the text right away. It is helpful to have response too! I enjoy that Dr. Cole finds the time to carefully read and react to each blog post and challenges us to read more into the story, and author, and challenges us on how we feel about whatever we may be reading.
The one thing I do not know if I am doing right is the length of each blog post. They are not too lengthy, and I feel almost self-conscious over. I am not sure if we do have a length/word limit that we have to reach but after every blog post I am sure that I've said pretty much all I had to say and achieved what I wanted to say.  Hopefully I will get some feedback on that, and I won't feel as worried. 
The fun of blogging is getting our feelings out to the world, without having to directly show everyone, "Hey, this is how I feel about this book and these characters and this author." I'm not directly showing anyone, but everyone can find it if they tried hard enough.

Okay, I was wrong/Language

Spinelli, you helped me turn my depressing blue-monday into a powder blue-sun day. Yes, sun day.  Let me show you what Spinelli does to cheer me up just like that through the use of Stargirl.  Stargirl takes Dootsie her newest yet youngest bestfriend to her enchanted place to watch the sun come up. He uses word play within the characters to say little things that make my heart grow a few sizes bigger. Let me show you, I will set up the scene.  They are in the barren land, watching the sun come up on the Summer Solstice at 4:30 in the morning.  Dootsie says: "Stargirl?"
"Yes?"
"That was better than TV."
"It was."
"Stargirl?"
"Yes?"
"Does the sun do that every day?
"Yes."
"Stargirl?"
"Yes?"
"Every day is sun day."

Spinelli, you've got me.  This simple language yet fun word play remembers why I fell in love with the Stargirl novels in the first place.  Okay, so it might not be a 10/10 like the original was, but so far Love, Stargirl is shaping up to be a 9 or a 9.5/10 and for a sequel I'd say that was pretty good. I'm still hoping for a happy ending though.

Love, Stargirl

Don't get me wrong I love it, and I hate being cliche here, but....its not as good as the original. Are the sequels ever as good? The Toy Story sequel--not as good. The Peter Pan, Jungle Book, Transformers, the list of sequels in every genre of entertainment just are not as good. Okay I'll admit I'm being harsh here and on occasion a sequel can still be good, but does not live up to the original.  Maybe its because I'm not spending enough time with Love, Stargirl as I did with Stargirl. Maybe I just can't come to terms with Leo and Stargirl not being together. In all honesty, its breaking my heart. I neeeeeeed (can't stresh the e's enough) this to have a happy ending and I'm hoping that Stargirl will tell us in her "world's longest letter," that they find each other and get back together. So far, seems very unlikely.  Its a monday, and happy endings just don't seem all that probable. I look outside and see rain, even though the sun is shining.  Maybe because today is just a rotten day that I feel this way about the book, maybe my expectations were just too high. Don't get me wrong, the more Stargirl the better, but I just need some happy, a glass full of sunshine in an enchanted place.  Not a breakup story where lovers do not reunite. Help me out here, Spinelli.