After Ever After 

I have been reading the second book of drums girls dangerous pies.  It is really good so far.  Jeffrey Alper doesn't have the leukemia anymore he is now in 8th grade middle school.  he met a girl Lindsey and is now dating her.  Jeffrey's older brother Steven is living in Africa learning to play the drums better.  That means Jeffrey has no one to go to in case of advice.  Jeffrey came back to school in the 4th grade, he has been struggling in math a lot lately, and has to try and understand what his father it teaching him.  More importantly Jeffrey has a best friend named Tad.  Tad was also a cancer survivor which is why Tad and Jeffrey are such good friends.  Tad has been helping Jeff in math so he can pass the State Assessment Test.  Tad was keeping a secret from Jeff, his cancer has returned.  The only reason that is, is because Tad really wanted Jeff to pass the test and it would most likely distract him form school work and studying.  That proves that Tad is a very good friend to Jeff and will continue that.     

Memoir

“Niko grab the blue bag!”  My Father exclaimed.  “I’m on it dad!”  I shouted back.  Throughout the entire car ride I was beaming with joy.  My father and I were going to spend days just the two of us.  In the mountains of Pennsylvania.  My Dad was already out of the truck, while I struggled to get my sneakers back on from the long car trip.  I hopped out with my sneakers untied and grabbed the large blue bag.  I lugged the bag to the camp site. The bag felt as if a million bricks were packed into it.  My Dad came arrived a few minutes later with the tent, a cooler and another bag.   I rushed over to the tent bag and Dad immediately stopped me.  “Wait, let me read the instructions first, I don’t want to lose any pieces.”  I was upset that we couldn’t put it up right away but still happy we were even there. 

I decided to pass the time and go on a walk with my brother while Dad was figuring things out.  I yelled “Dad, we’re going for a walk we’ll be back very soon.”  We walked down to the river.  Every campsite had a connecting path down to the river.  As we walked I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.  It appeared fairly small and didn’t move much either.  As I got closer I thought it was some kind of lizard.  I went to reach for it and it leapt into the shallow water.  I was so curious to know exactly was it was that I jumped in after it.  My brother was yelling that I was going to get into trouble.  The water was only knee deep so I thought it wasn’t so bad.   The water was refreshing because the day was very humid.  I stayed in for a while.  The cold water against my hot skin felt awesome.  Then I heard my Dad yelling, “Niko, what are you doing?”   

 

To my surprise my Dad came running over and jumped right into the river.  The water splashed in my eyes, I’m pretty that’s bad for you but it worked out anyway.  We splashed around I slipped a bunch of times on the rocks they were slimy with green moss.  It squashed around on my feet.  I felt like I was going to throw up in the lake.  But my dad was to into having a water fight that it didn’t matter to me anymore. And then my brother jumped in too.  We walked to a small cliff I pushed my brother off and I jumped after.  “MOVE GUYS”!  My dad formed a gigantic cannonball and splashed us both, we were drenched.

This moment was so special to me because it is the first time that I got to spend so much fun time with my Dad.  My Father is a Police Lieutenant and he works a lot.  He spends a lot of time on the phone with work when he’s home too.  There was no cell phone service in the mountains, so I had all his attention.  It was so cool! 

Plus I thought I was in big trouble when I saw him running over to me. The way he jumped in the water was great.  This moment was very memorable, he didn’t have all those distractions and we really got to bond in those few awesome days in the mountains.   

 

HECK

Where the bad kids go.

            So far in this book it seems that kids who are mean and disobedient get sent to HECK.  In this story it takes place inside of a mall at the time of Christmas.  Two children named Milton and Marlo.  Milton the younger brother of older sister Marlo get into some trouble down at the mall.  Every year at the mall in Generica, Kansas the start of the Christmas season is announced by a 16 ft crystal sculpture of a bunch of angels.  Marlo who is 13 years old runs and smashes the work of art with an oar she stole from a sporting goods store.  She is grabbing the hand of Milton and sprinting away.  Milton was never really a big trouble maker, but on the other hand his sister always got into a heap of trouble.  She ruined the sculpture and ran away from the crime.  Milton wanted to go back so he could tell the authorities what had happened.  Marlo just kept on running.  She never got caught and I think Milton is jealous of how she never gets to pay the price for her actions.    

            This I Believe essay                                                              Niko Spezio 708

At the age of 10 or 11 I experienced a tragic moment.  My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer.  Not just any cancer, pancreatic cancer.  Pancreatic cancer was a type of cancer that attacks the pancreas.  I walked down the stairs and overheard my mother crying and mumbling words that I couldn’t make out.  I came down and my mother immediately stopped crying.  I was bewildered as to why she was crying and what had happened to cause it.  In my life I had never seen my mother cry.  I felt in the pit of my stomach that something was wrong.

I believe that with the help and support of others you can overcome any obstacle.  My mother explained it to me and a billion questions immediately filled my brain.  What is that?  Why did he have it?  I had no Idea how terrible it really was.  As I was crying my mother then said the worst words that still haunt me that the cancer my grandfather had was untreatable at the time and that we could only wait. 

I was so depressed and felling down, so were my siblings and parents.  I am so close to my grandfather and my grandmother.  They are the biggest role models for me.  And when I heard about the cancer of my grandfather, it virtually killed me.  I then remembered that I have cousins and they were the grand children too.  My family found out first because he lives in New York and my relatives live in Florida.

People started calling my house to say they were so sorry and they feel what I was going through.  But no one really knew my pain was so bad that I would cry myself every night. We started to get gift and cards and I felt that there is still hope and that my grandfather will beat this terrible cancer that lifted my spirits a lot.

My grandfather is a very strong man and he is now on chemotherapy which is a strong type of medicine.  He is fighting the cancer and doing very well.  My grandfather is great person and he doesn’t deserve to die like that. 

                                               Racing in the Rain

In this great book that I recently finished Enzo the dog is telling his life from the point of view as a dog.  Denny had lost custody of his daughter Zoe.  Zoe's grandparents have custody of her.  Denny had a lawyer named Mark.  Mark was a great lawyer and demanded a high amount of money.  Mark fought with Denny to regain the custody of Zoe.  However Enzo almost everyday would go over to the grandparents house to play with Zoe.  Denny was not allowed to see her most days of the week and also had limited time with her. 

 

Denny at the end of the book was talking to his mother in law about how he loved Eve and he was so heartbroken when she passed.  Denny begged her that Zoe deserved to live with her father and he did nothing wrong.  The only reason that Zoe was taken away from Denny was that he forgot to pick Zoe up from school.  The grandparents sued Denny for child neglect.  I feel thats very unfair.

Revolt of the Evil Fairies essay

 

In the amazingly interesting short story “Revolt of the Evil Fairies”, there are many themes.  The theme that stuck out the most was racism.  Now racism was and still is a horrible, disgusting thing.  In this story racism still goes on in the African American community.  The narrator wants to be the part of Prince Charming but can’t do so.  The reason for that is because the complexion of his skin.  In Booker T. Washington colored grammar school.    There is discrimination based on your skin.  This is terrible because the children with lighter complexion get everything better.

In one part of “Revolt of the Evil Fairies” it had said that even the smartest of children who were completely dark skinned could never get the same part that a “yaller” would.  The “yaller” would be treated better and get the leading roles in school plays.  “Yallers” got casted always as the good fairies and the others would be supporting roles and the evil fairies.  The narrator goes out for the part of Prince Charming, because Sarah Williams, a crush of his, had gotten the role of sleeping beauty.  That means if he were to get the role he would get to kiss her.    But since he is of a darker skin tone he doesn’t get the part.  Leonardius Wright was casted as Prince Charming because he was a “yaller”. 

Later in the story, the narrator “slumped into the shadows” as Leonardius hit him over the head with his sword.  The narrator felt he did it purposely.   And so did I.  Leonardius thought he was better than the narrator because he had a lighter skin tone.  Leonardius was treated better than all of the other kids.  The narrator told Miss LaPrade, the director of the play, that Leonardius had a devilish look in his eyes. And that he intended to hit him.  The narrator never liked Leonardius because he pictured him as a “goody goody”.  Nobody believed the narrator that Leonardius intended to actually hit him over the head in the second act of the play.  That shows how that the “Yallers” thought they were better than everybody else.

The narrator said how all the “Yallers” got the better jobs in their community.  They were the Negro doctors, lawyers and insurance men.  If you were lighter skinned you could get much farther than if you were darker skinned.   This shows that the “yallers” got everything much better and still the narrator could not be Prince Charming.   Still at the audition put all of his heart into the role, and knew it from start to finish.  But Miss LaPrade insisted that he be the evil fairy because that part was much more important that prince charming.    He had played that same part for a long time. Of course he didn’t want to be that part; however the narrator wanted to be the best head evil fairy they have ever seen.

To conclude I believe that racism is a strong theme in this story.  Also if this was real I would make it so the school was equal in every aspect.  So that a kid like the narrator would be able to go out and try and get that leading part in a play and not have to worry that “oh my skin is darker than his he’s definitely getting the part” This was a very intriguing short story and I think Ted Poston really tried to publish a piece that tells the reader that racism is a horrible thing.

 

 

                                     Racing in the Rain

 So far in Racing in the Rain Enzo the Labrador has an interesting life as a dog.  His owner Denny has married Eve.  Zoe is the daughter of them both and Enzo loves her.  Denny is a professional race car driver.  Eve has gotten really sick, it goes from pounding headaches to terrible stomachaches Enzo knows whats wrong with her but without the ability to talk can't tell them.  Eve was experiencing heavy pain so left the house for the hospital leaving Enzo alone in the house for 3 days.  When Denny returned from a race in Europe he saw that Enzo had been at home for a while.

Enzo while at home for 3 days was doing nothing.  Just sleeping and eating the occasional cheerio that Zoe dropped on the floor.  Enzo is a tough dog and smart too.  He listens to Denny and hears what he has to say.  Enzo is awesome