My Short Story Plot

exposition: The main character, whose name I have not chosen yet, and her best friend, Catherine, are living their normal, teenage lives. They go to a regular high school, where nothing interesting ever happens.
rising action: Catherine starts acting strange, and creepy things start happening. The main character is trying to figure out what is going on.
climax: Catherine goes missing, and the main character is trying to find clues as to where she is and why. Also, will she be next????
falling action: The main character starts to piece together what has happened and what is about to happen.
resolution: I am not going to elaborate on this because I don't want to give too much away, but basically the main character finds out the truth about what has been going on in this small, quiet high school.

Pros and Cons of Class-Reading

     Typically, I do not like to be assigned a specific book to read, and to read with a class. I usually like to read a book that I want to read at my own pace, without having to constantly stop and annotate. Personally, I feel that this takes away from the story. Although these are my typical personal opinions on this matter, I do feel that reading these short stories as a group is helping my comprehension of particular aspects in a short story. Even though it is frustrating to have to annotate, it does help to have a solid topic to focus on, instead of "just reading".
    I find it very useful for us to focus on one aspect of a short story at a time, instead of all at once. Annotating each individual short story while looking for specific things, helps me to concentrate and not get distracted. Also, this tactic helps me to understand each aspect of a short story with more depth. This, I think, will help later on in school when I need to write, in detail, a paper about short stories.

Reading Log:

Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore
9/27 - 60 min.
9/28 - 20 min.
9/29 - 45 min.
9/30 - 60 min.
total: 185 min.

Character Thoughts

     What happened to Catherine today? It is almost like she just vanished! She was in English with me, but when I went to history class she wasn't there. I grabbed my phone off of my bedside table frantically looking through our texts from the night before. She was stressed out about exams coming up soon, and I had been thinking of ways for us to get together and prepare. "Hey" I texted, just to try to see if she has her phone with her, wherever that may be. Thirty minutes later...still no reply. I shouldn't overreact, it is 11:30 at night, typically no one would respond to a text this late. She is probably sleeping. I set my phone back down as I tried to block my feelings of doubt from entering my brain. Last night she texted me at 1:30. STOP. Why wouldn't she text me now? Cut it out! Fine then, I will just try to get some sleep tonight, and see if she is at school tomorrow. I close my eyes and rest my heavy head on my pillow, and try not to think about the unthinkable.

     I look at my phone the next night, and notice the date...Friday the 13th. My heart drops to my stomach as I think about how Catherine wasn't at school AGAIN today. Wasn't she supposed to come over to my house tonight so we could study for exams? I check my texts, and realize with horror that, yes, she was. She didn't even call, or try to contact me in some way to let me know that she was not coming over. There must be something wrong. The clock in my bedroom struck midnight, and then the lights went out.

Bitterblue Review Part 3

     I am a little over halfway done with Bitterblue, currently, and there is a lot of drama occurring at this point in the novel. Bitterblue and Saf kissed, then she left because she suddenly realized that she had been lying to him all this time, and was concerned about what would happen if he found out the truth, after he trusted her. The next day, he was framed for a murder, and was taken to Bitterblue's court to be persecuted...of course, this would happen... When he recognized her, he was furious, and hid his emotions of betrayal by stealing and selling her crown. Currently, Bitterblue is talking to Saf, who has no idea where the crown is now, trying to figure out how to get it back. Normally it wouldn't be that big of a deal to Bitterblue, except that stealing the crown is considered an act of treason, which is punishable by death, so Bitterblue is in quite the dilemma, and Saf is too busy being amused with his act to care about the punishment. Luckily, there is still another half of the book to read, so I know that this is not how the story ends.
     Since this is the last book of the series, I will need another book/series to read soon. I need suggestions please! Also, if I read the book that you suggest, I will give you a shout-out in my next reading response post!


Reading Log:

Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore
9/18 - 45 min.
9/20 - 135 min.
Total: 180 min.

Enhancements to Goosebumps Obsession

• Some images of a few of my favorite Goosebumps books, including the one that I indirectly mentioned in my paper, Night of the Living Dummy, would enhance the writing of my paper, helping the readers to visualize what I was reading.

• Since an MLA formatting is not required for the e-book version of our literacy narratives, I think that it would be interesting to set up mine as a journal, and maybe fill the edges with doodles, to make it look like a 3rd grade writing entry.

• I am probably going to create a list of as many Goosebumps books as I can remember reading in the 3rd grade, and that could be a link from my literacy narrative.

Bitterblue Review Part 2

    I am a little under halfway through Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore, already, despite my recent lack of free time. Already I can see how certain key points in Fire are going to be relevant in this novel, and am extremely excited to see how everything is going to play out. Bitterblue has met Saf, a Graceling she is not quite sure what to think of, but I can already see a huge problem occurring. (Bitterblue has kept her identity a secret from him, because he wouldn't trust her if he knew that she was the queen). Bitterblue is finally going to gain Saf's trust, and when he discovers who she really is, he is going to be devastated about her lack of honesty, and this will, I am assuming, become a major issue in the pages to come.
    Hopefully, this is not how Kristin Cashore will continue her infamous streak of making you feel really connected to a particular character, then have an ending where something terrible happens to that character. I am really hoping that Kristin is not going to let Bitterblue and Saf's relationship blossom, then go down in flames when he discovers who she is, and if that is what happens, then -PLEASE KRISTIN CASHORE- do not let the series end that way! Hopefully Kristin will have found a way to let her regain his trust, and for them to be friends again. Bitterblue is discovering the true meaning of friendship currently, because most people that want to hang out with her only want to become king, and since Saf doesn't even know that she is the queen, he obviously likes her for who she is as a person.



Reading Log:
Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore
9/10 - 30 min.
9/15 - 45 min.
9/16 - 45 min.
Total: 120 min.

Bitterblue

     I am finally getting to the end of the Graceling series, and I am very excited to see how Kristin Cashore ties all of the seemingly random facts together. In my last reading post, Fire, I was upset about the devastating ending, so hopefully this will not happen again. I am pretty much still in the introduction stage of the book, which is very long, so I can't really say exactly what Bitterblue is about. So far, it is about King Leck's daughter, Bitterblue, the new ruler of Monsea, and her quest to undo the mental damage that Leck's reign has caused the people of Monsea. Bitterblue is now 18, approximately 9 years after Katsa and Po rescued her from Leck and his brainwashed army. So far, I do partially see how Kristin Cashore is going to make the books in the series relate to each other, and Kristin has already filled in most of the gaps about King Leck's past, including what he did to make Bitterblue and her mother try to escape.
     To answer your questions, Emelia,  it was interesting to get to learn more about the characters' backgrounds, but yes, I would have preferred for it to have been done in a different manner. It seemed too random, like she was required to give the information, but didn't know where to put it. It almost seemed like she decided to put a fact about a different character in every other sentence, and not relate it to anything immediately. Kristin Cashore has already, within the first few pages of Bitterblue, tied together some facts, so I am anxious to see how the rest will fit in. Also, the original characters of the series, Katsa and Po, are back in the book, but not as the main characters. (They work together to help Bitterblue rule Monsea properly.) I am glad that some of my questions have been answered, but I am excited to read on and see how the characters in Fire play a role in this book, Bitterblue.

Reading Log:

Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore
9/8 - 120 min.
9/9 - 40 min.
Total: 160 min.

Birthday Party Drama

Marissa was walking to class when her best friend, Taylor, walked up. "What's up?" Taylor asked.
"Nothing much", Marissa replied.
"Are you going to that snob, Hannah,'s Birthday Party?"
"I didn't know her birthday was coming up!"
"What, did you not get an invitation?"
"No, I can not believe that she didn't even bother to invite me!"
"Well, do you even know when her birthday is?"
"No... I guess I don't know her that well anyway."
"Why don't you ride with me, and I say that I brought you as a guest?"
"Sure, thanks. I can't wait to see the look on Hannah's face when she sees me there!"



*These characters are not based on real people*

"This is Water" Review

    "This is Water" really put me in my place momentarily. It made me realize and frown upon all of the times that I have let myself be judgmental of others, without even thinking that maybe that person has had a bad day. Maybe that person with their splotchy face and messed-up hair isn't weird, maybe their parent or someone important to them died. Maybe they didn't have the time in the morning to fix their hair because they were in a wreck and couldn't deal with making themselves look "presentable". "This is Water" really made me think, and be grateful for all that I have. I live in a happy family environment, I live in a great neighborhood, I have nice friends, and I go to a great school.
    Obviously I am not saying that I am such an amazing person and only think positive things about others. I cannot promise anyone, or even myself, that I will never be judgmental again. I can try my hardest, though, to look on the bright side of things every now and then. I can find some ray of sunshine in a tornado of bad events. I can swim through the murky parts of life to get to the clear patches, where I see the big picture, how I live my life now.

Fire

     Fire, the second book in the Graceling series, disappointed me. I was really looking forward to reading about Katsa and Po again, as most series would do, but instead, Kristin Cashore practically created a whole new story. Technically, it still mentions Katsa and Po's world, but only briefly, and the characters, Katsa and Po, are not even in this story! Also, the entire book is sort of like a flashback, which was interesting but did irk me, because I was expecting a book series where events would occur in chronological order. *SPOILER ALERT* In Graceling, Katsa killed King Leck, and in the next book, Fire, Leck is in almost the entire story, but as a child. I thought that this was going to be an interesting way to give the background information, but it wasn't really cool, it was just annoying. Also, I did not like the endings for either book, Graceling or Fire, because of the terrible endings in each. I personally think that Kristin Cashore finds it amusing to make the reader fall in love with the characters, then, at the end, make them suffer through their favorite character's slow, painful death.:(
     Ok, I am glad to get that out of my system...sorry for ranting, guys. Despite my dislike for the order of events and some of the events themselves in Graceling and Fire, I did enjoy each book individually, (obviously besides the endings) but they just did not seem to go well together. Against my better judgment, I am going to start reading the final book in the series, Bitterblue, which will hopefully tie the stories together and help me to make some sense out of the chaotic order of events. Hopefully Kristin Cashore does not stick to her pattern of tragic endings.



Reading Log:

Fire, Kristin Cashore
8/28 - 150 min.
8/29 - 90 min.