Bloomability - Travel Tracer

The action begins in Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, California, and New Mexico. The main character's father loves moving, and moves to a new state any time he dislikes something in the new home. This explains why they have lived in all these states.

The key events happened in New Mexico, and then Lugano, when the protagonist was taken there by her uncle and aunt. Her uncle was going to be the new headmaster, and her aunt would be a teacher at the school the main character would go to.

The end events ended, once again, in Lugano, because the protagonist did not move anywhere, and stayed the entire time for school. 

Bloomability - Sharon Creech | First Post | Illustrator

Pages read 100/273

Time flies by, we already started reading Bloomability by Sharon Creech! This cycle, I chose to be an Illustrator. My job is to draw a picture related to the book I am reading and give a brief summary of the drawing.

I chose to draw a picture representing Dinnie's current life.

Since her dad keeps on finding different jobs, her family is constantly on the move. Dinnie is extremely adaptable, but she is tired of moving. She wants to have a place she can call home. She wants to be settled in somewhere with her family without having to move every couple months, or each year. 

Unfortunately, you cannot see certain parts of the drawing clearly. On the top, you see a map of United States of America - the states colored in are places Dinnie used to live in. (Excuse the enormous lack of precision in drawing the states, the space was smaller than I expected) Dinnie had to move from Kentucky to Virginia to North Carolina to Tennessee to Wisconsin to Ohio to Indiana to Oklahoma to Oregon to Texas to California to New Mexico to Arkansas. Later on, she also moved to Switzerland. Overall, she had to move fourteen times in twelve years. As someone who never moved before, I do not know how this feels like, but I can make an assumption it is really demanding and emotional. Both the USA map and Switzerland resemble the fact Dinnie moves a lot.

To the right of the states drawing, in the corner up, you see a quote from the book. It says; "I was in a box, swaying from side to side. The box was labeled ROBOT and was on wheels and it rushed down tracks which turned into a dinosaur's spine and then into a river." (Chapter 3, page 19) I included this in the drawing to portray Dinnie's feelings while at the Zurich airport and train station. (Her aunt and uncle took her with them to Lugano, Switzerland since they both got a job as teachers in a good school. Dinnie is supposed to live with them and go to the school they teach at.)

To the left of the states, it says "Domenica Santolina Doone" - that is Dinnie's full name.

The drawing in the middle resembles Dinnie in her own little bubble. She says she feels like she is in a smooth bubble clear enough to see through but strong enough to keep her inside.  

In the left bottom corner, there is another quote from the book. "Little Adaptable Robot Dinnie" (Chapter 3, page 18). This is how Dinnie started calling herself  - she moves so often, just following her dad all the time, she started feeling like a robot. 

There is also a drawing of a plane, a suitcase, and passport next to a baby. Under it, it says "opportunity". It means, once again, that Dinnie moved constantly since she was very young. And the word opportunity is written because Dinnie's dad believed that with every new job, there is a new opportunity for a better life.

Also, the circle next to the flowers has her feelings written in it - happy, sad, mad, tired, confused. The words are outlined with "Why can't we stay at the same place?" 

Last but not least, in the bottom right corner, there are smileys mixed with sad faces. This shows that Dinnie has a happy life, but at some points really despises moving around all the time and not having a choice of her own.  

Thank you for your time!

Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli | Final Post | Connector

Pages read 183/183


It's the last cycle before starting a new book!

For this cycle, I chose to be a connector. My job is to pick out a certain section of the book and find connections to the outside world!

In the very beginning of chapter twenty two, a particular page caught my attention.

Page 121

“You collecting stones, or what?”
“It’s my happy wagon,” she said. “Actually, it could just as well be called an unhappy wagon, but I prefer happy.”
“So what’s it all about?”
“It’s about how I feel. When something makes me happy, I put a pebble in the wagon. If I’m unhappy, I take a pebble out. There are twenty pebbles in all.”
 I counted three on the shelf. “So there’re seventeen in the wagon now, right?”
“Right.”
“So that means, what, you’re pretty happy?”
“Right again.”
“What’s the biggest number of pebbles ever in the wagon?”
She gave me a sly smile. “You’re looking at it.” It didn't seem like just a pile of pebbles anymore. “Usually,” she said, “it’s more balanced. It hangs around ten, a couple to one side or the other. Back and forth, back and forth. Like life.”
“How close to empty did the wagon ever get?” I said.
“Oh…” She turned her face to the ceiling, closed her eyes. “Once, down to three.”
I was shocked. “Really? You?”
She stared. “Why not me?”
“You don’t seem the type.”
“What type is that?”
“I don’t know…” I groped for the right words.
“The three-pebble type?” she offered.
I shrugged.
She picked up a pebble from the shelf and, with a grin, dropped it into the wagon. “Well, call me Miss Unpredictable.”


Connection to the outside world 

This page reminded me that most people do not know how we really feel, or who we really are until they dig a little deeper. People we are not as close with will see only what we allow them to, and the parts we want them to see. Stargirl, for example, always seems bright and cheerful - that is how she wants people to think of her. It almost seems like she is unbreakable. But in reality, she is a human too, She has feelings like all of us, too. After Archie asked “How close to empty did the wagon ever get?”, and found out there were once only three pebbles in the wagon, He was shocked. Archie responded with "Really? You?", as if Stargirl was not allowed or able to feel sad. The reason why he felt confused was because Stargirl only shows the happiness and is extremely energetic in school. It is kind of like a shop with colored windows which are decorated in the most beautiful way possible, but when you walk in you may find more of dust and unfinished, dirty, rusty, furniture and floors colored in black, with holes inside and spiders crawling out. What this means is that most people do not know what is really on the inside. You cannot see through the windows of that shop, just like you cannot see through a person. Happiness can be a mask, and a lot of us hide under it. I could also relate this to myself. In school, I may always seem happy and positive, but that might not be what I really feel like. A lot of the time, I am thinking of all the things that make me confused, sad, even happy, mad, and heart-broken. Then they mix altogether and to not show negative emotion, I hide under a happy mask. Sometimes, the mask can break, but you eventually put it back together. (Of course, I am not depressed. Therefore, this does not happen every day. But when it does, almost no one notices) It is difficult to see through a mask, and when you tell a person how you really feel, they will be shocked. But that is what all of us do, is it not?
Stargirl may look super cheerful and energetic, but she has her downs too. You can never see what is really going on inside people's brains, and this page reminded me that we are all human, and we all have our ups and downs. No one is perfect, and no one is for sure always happy.

Literary Luminary- Hannah

"Its hard to change your character overnight, though."

I like how that sentence is worded. Its also true. When ever I read something I always imagine myself in that situation. 

"You were a dot, miles and miles and miles above the state of Oklahoma where you had once lived on a speck of dirt, and you were a dot above the state of Arkansas where you'd even forgotten you'd lived, and you were a dot above Tennessee and Virginia. You little dot." 

I chose this paragraph because i also like to see people looking like a dot. I think that people who are in planes why I'm n the ground people in a plane can see me as a dot. And I find that funny/cool.

"All around us people rushed, calling to each other in German and French and Italian. Mostly it sounded like achtenspit flickenspit and ness-pa siss-pah and 

mumble-mumble-ino giantino mumble-ino."

I find this quite offensive because I am German, and that is not how the Germans, French, or Italian people speak. But I do also find it kind of funny in some way.  

"I said it over and over in my mind: chalets, chalets, chalets. It made me sleepy."

When I read this I also read this over in my mind to see why she liked the word so much, and why she felt like it was such a smooth word.  But in my opinion I find the word Chalets not very smooth but just another word in the dictionary.  

"We climbed into a taxi, which wound its way out of Lugano and up a rolling hill between the mountains and onto the Collina d'Oro, which meant the hill of gold, Uncle Max said, but it wasn't gold."

I am also Spanish and Spanish is close to Italian and Collina d'Oro is in Italian. I understand this and I found it quite cool to have something I understand in a different language other than English.

Bloomability - Discussion Director

What do you think so far about the book?
I think that it is very peculiar, and I don't quite like it so far. The book isn't my kind of book, so I don't have a big interest in it.
Hannah thinks that the book is horrible. She doesn't like how the main character is so dramatic about everything, and how she thinks she is being kidnapped.

Do you think that the main character's life is a good one? Why do you think so?
I think that it is not a good life, because once the girl settles down, her father always decides to move somewhere else. She can never make friends.
Hannah thinks that it is not a good life because Domenica's sister had a child, and many strange things happen.

Who is your least favorite character so far?
My least favorite character is the father. He always wants to move, and this annoys me.
Hannah's least favorite character is Domenica.

If you were to read the next chapter, what do you think would happen next?
I think that the next chapter will be about her new life.
Hannah thinks that the next chapter will be about the girl's new school.

Did anything surprise you?
I was surprised by the child birth of a 16 year old, and how much the father loves to travel around. I don't think he should travel around so much, because he can never get a good job, and when he does, he ends up moving again. This is a waste of money.
Hannah was surprised by the kidnapping fiasco, because the main character thinks she's being kidnapped when she really isn't.

Stargirl - Vocabulary Enricher

Page 119
Paragraph 2
Anasazi-style: Indian style
Earliest phase, of their period is known as the Basket Makers period.
     Ex. I wanted to purchase the ancient Anasazi-style  jar.


Page 139
Paragraph 4
Tentatively
Describe something you are unsure or hesitant about.
     Ex. She tentatively accepted the request to go to the party with her friend.

Page 142
Paragraph 5
Shunning
Persistently avoid, ignore, or reject (someone something)  throughout antipathy or caution.
     Ex. She put out her hand shunning the speaker.

Page 143
Paragraph 4
Palmetto
A fan palm, especially of a number occurring from the southern US to northern south America
     Ex. Running from the dog she nearly tripped over the palmetto.

Page 158
Paragraph 1
Mesmerizing
Capture the complete action of (someone); hypnotize (someone)
     Ex. The chocolate was extremely mesmerizing the two kids.

Page 168
Paragraph 8
Meringue
an item of sweet food  made from a mixture of egg whites and sugar until crisp.

Page 169
Paragraph 7
Regal
Of resembling, or fit for a monarch, especially in being magnificent or dignified

Page 174
Paragraph 4
Stampeding
Rush wildy in a sudden mass panic

Star Girl - Literary Luminary

This week, I was Literary Luminary.

Paragraph #1, page 41: Ironically, as we discovered and distinguished ourselves, a new collective came into being, a vitality, a presence, a spirit that had not been there before. It echoed from the rafters in the gym: "Go, Electrons!" It sparkled in the water fountains. At the holiday assembly, the words of the alma matter had wings.

I picked this paragraph because I really liked the way the author described this part of the book. It shows the change in the student's minds, and how they have a new found love for their sports teams. I really enjoyed watching the students' emotions change throughout this section. At first, they didn't care for sports, and now they adore their sports teams.

Paragraph #2, page 44: "I pledge allegiance to United Turtles of America and to the fruit bats of Borneo, one planet in the milky way, incredible, with justice and black bean burritos for all."

I chose this paragraph because it makes me laugh, and I find it funny. Stargirl is a very interesting character, but this makes her more interesting and shows her silly personality.

Paragraph #3, page 49: You never knew when it would happen. Maybe you were a little ninth-grade nobody named Eddie. As you're walking down the hall you see a candy wrapper on the floor. You pick it up and throw it in the nearest trash can - and suddenly there she is in front of you, pumping her arms, her honey hair and freckles flying, swallowing you whole with those enormous eyes, belting out a cheer she's making up on the spot, something about Eddie, Eddie, and the trash can teaming up to wipe out litter. A mob is gathering, clapping hands in rhythm, more eyes on you than all the previous days in your life combined. You feel foolish, exposed, stupid. You want to follow the candy wrapper into the trash can. It's the most painful thing that's ever happened to you.

I chose this paragraph because I enjoy the way it makes me feel like I'm the person Stargirl is singing to. Though the person who is being sung to may not enjoy it, I would have.

Paragraph #4, page 52: She did not seem to notice. Of all the unusual features of Stargirl, this struck me as the most remarkable. Bad things did not stick to her. Correction: Her bad things did not seem to stick to her. Our bad things stuck very much to her. If we were hurt, if we were unhappy, or otherwise victimized by life, she seemed to know about it, and to care, as soon as we did. But bad things falling on her - unkind words, nasty stares, foot blisters - she seemed unaware of. I never saw her look in a mirror, never heard her complain. All of her feelings, all of her attentions, flowed outward. She had no ego.

I chose this paragraph because it highlights Stargirl's kind intentions. She doesn't care if anyone hurts her, but others being hurt upsets her and she wants to help them.

Paragraph #5, page 72: The next morning at home I found the card. It was in a school notebook that apparently I had not opened for several days. It was a valentine, one of those little cut-out third-grade sorts, showing a blushing little boy and a girl with mary jane shoes and a big red heart between them and the words "I LOVE YOU." And as third graders - and high-schoolers - often do, the sender had signed it in code: ☆ 👧

I chose this paragraph because it reveals how much Stargirl loves Leo, and how Leo may not know it but he loves her too. This part is the start of a new high school romance.