Speak Final Assignment

Task~

1. Theres actually a lot of times when my inner and outer voice disagreed. One time last year around the same time (fall). My step cousins came down from Canada for a visit. My guy friends kept calling me and asking me to come outside because they were near my dads house. I also had to deal with my step sisters because i knew they would tell on me. So me and Celina (my step cousin) came with a plan. We said to the parents that we were going to play manhunt but of course my step sisters wanted to come. So we ended up having me and Celina on one team and my step sisters on another and we told them to go hide as we “count”. We ended running to the end of my street and meeting up with my friends. Celina and i both felt very eerie about the situation and we knew in our gut that something was gonna happen. A few minutes later as i finally listened to Celina and walked back to my house, my dad was standing outside. We weren’t in trouble but i was still mad but i should’ve trusted my inner voice and told him the truth about what we were doing but my outer voice just told him she wanted to talk to someone. But he eventually found out that we were with my friends and he was annoyed. Long story short i shouldn’t of lied to my dad about where we were AND we should’ve told where we wanted to go in the first place.
2. A time when my inner and outer voice were in sync is actually a lot. If i'm sad or mad you’ll know. Like the time i first got my braces..it was the first week i got them on and my teeth were still KILLING. I told my mom to make pasta because i couldn’t eat anything and guess what she makes. CHICKEN. She makes chicken and i couldn’t even chew it. I was so upset on the inside and it showed on the outside. I was so annoyed and angry. Whenever i can’t eat what i want or when i want, i get frustrated. I ate yogurt and ice cream that whole week and i was not happy.
3. B-

          At the end of the book there was a time when Melinda’s outer voice and inner voice was in harmony. When she was in the janitors closet and Andy tried to attack her again. She fought back and that was her gut instinct. She screamed and wouldn’t let it happen again. And it worked. Mostly, i feel, that if you listen and follow your gut instinct its good. If you don’t feel right about something then you shouldn’t do it.        

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Almost like an everyday teen’s diary

What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

The main character is Sophie, she is 15 and in high school. She is a little boy crazy like every girl in high school and finally gets asked out by the boy of her dreams, Dylan. Throughout the relationship though she notices Dylan's weirdness and doesn’t know what to do. She still wants to date him because she does still like him. Until she starts an unexpected relationship with a person from an online chat room. This relationship I can’t say much about but it gives Sophie the confidence to breakup with Dylan. The rest of the book is basically based on the Halloween school dance she goes to. She ends up dancing with a masked man and she tries to find out his identity throughout the rest of the book. When she finds out who this person is, you will definitely be surprised.

“A verse experience that will leave readers sighing with recognition and satisfaction.”

-Kirkus Reviews, on the back of the book.

This book is different from any of the books I’ve read before. The writing style really makes this book unique from the others. Sonya Sones writes each page sort of like how poems are written. There’s line breaks and the lines are shorter than other lines in books. She writes the story in any 15 year old girl’s perspective.  

“Dylan says

when I meet his mother today

I shouldn’t mention

that I’m Jewish.

I say

okay, but can I

tell her about

the HIV positive thing?

He gives me a look.

I give him one back” (74).

I really liked this book. I feel like every girl could relate so some parts of the book at least. Just an average teen girl dealing with the normal drama and boys and grades and what not.

I give What my Mother Doesn’t Know 4 Paws - Pounce on It  

Speak reflective reading quiz

1. Afraid: Shes afraid of the boy who raped her. She doesn’t want it to happen again.
2. Shy: She’s not very loud or outgoing. She keeps to herself more and shes quiet.
3. Hurt: She’s hurt because her friends abandoned her. She thought they were her true friends and they’re obviously not because true friends would stay by your side no matter what.
4. Left Out: She doesn’t really have any friends. She doesn’t have a big group of friends like she did before.
5. Alone: She’s mostly by herself alot. she doesn’t really spend time with anyone besides Heather.

    I think alone is one of the best words to describe Melinda at this point in the book. On page 4 it states, “i am an outcast”. Its actually sad that she even knows she has no friends and that shes alone. She does have Heather but what if Heather isn't at school one day. Melinda will be alone. And maybe Heather is only friends with Melinda because she wasn’t there last year and she doesn’t know about the party.

Melinda’s friends literally hate her as it states on page 5, “...it’s Rachel. My throat burns. Her eyes meet mine for a second. “i hate you,” she mouths silently.” If only Melinda told them what happened they would understand and probably not hate her as much..or at all. Melinda is abandoned. She basically doesn’t have anyone to tell her problems. No one. she is alone.

Author's Notes

1. I would like my reader to enjoy this essay and enjoy reading it. There's just some things that are too good to be true is a message I'm trying to get across.
2. The characters i think work well in this essay. It wasn't easy but it wasn't hard.
3. The part that was hardest to write was the plot twist.
4.  I'd like my classmates to give good feedback back and helpful feedback about my essay.

Junior from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sophie from What My Mother Doesn’t Know

It was a hot summer evening and the sun was setting. Junior was walking to the drugstore to get some snacks as he ran into 3 older boys that go to his school that always pick on him. He quickly noticed them and turned around, hoping they didn't see him. Too bad that they saw him as quickly as he saw them. They started sprinting after Junior and he became terrified. The 3 bullies soon caught up with him and smashed him against the pavement. Took all his money and left him with a few good bruises. As junior looked up he saw Sophie and a bunch of her friends from school. Junior felt such hurt as they all laughed at him and walked away. He couldn't believe how stupid he could’ve been for even trusted that Sophie could’ve been different. But lets go back a couple months ago to December, when Junior first laid eyes on Sophie.

Junior was a skinny Indian who lives on the reservation in town. Glasses, a stutter and a lisp makes him an easy target to get picked on. He has an absolute passion for drawing and making comics and wants to do more in his life. He decided to go to a white high school (Reardan) 22 miles away from his reservation. Even though he goes to a new school he still gets picked on even more at the reservation now that everyone knows he goes to Reardan, even his best friend has left him.

As Junior was leaving his history class one day he noticed something. Someone. Someone he had never seen before. A girl. A very pretty girl, named Sophie.

Sophie had brown wavy hair, blue eyes and tall. She, also, loved to draw and loved to go to the art museum. She wasn’t the most popular girl, but she was popular enough for her to be friends with almost everyone at Reardan.

Junior began to notice Sophie more and more each day as the school year went on. He began to know all of her classes so eventually he walked by them everyday as she walked out of them. She began to notice him too.

A week later half of the semester was over so it was time for all the students arts block to change. Junior was in art class, and so was Sophie. Junior immediately noticed that Sophie was in the same class as him but Sophie didn’t really notice because Junior sat behind her. The day Sophie really noticed that the new boy from the reservation, was in her class, was about the fourth day into art class.

The art teacher asked the art students to sketch someone elses face in the room. The teacher assigned Sophie and Junior together.

Sophie and Junior didn't talk much they just began to sketch. Sophie noticed the loneliness of Junior as she drew. She wanted to get to know him more because there was just something about him that she liked. After she finished her sketch she noticed that he was kind of gorgeous. Behind that stutter and lisp was a gorgeous person. Sophie was confused. She never could actually talk to an Indian in front of anyone at her school. She had to find a way to talk to him so no one would see.

After class Junior went to his locker to get his social studies book as a note fell out of his locker.

Junior, meet me outside in the back of the school at 4pm sharp.

Xo.. Sophie

Junior didn’t know what to think or what to do. He just couldn’t wait for that last bell to ring.

As soon as the last bell of the day rang he ran to the back of Reardan and waited. The kids at Reardan got out of school at 2:30pm. Junior waited at the back of the school until 4pm. Still no show from Sophie. He waited until 5pm, still nothing, no one. He gave up hope that she would even come and started to walk back home.

Junior shoved his hands in his front pockets and found some money. There was a drugstore on his way to the reservation so why not stop by to get some snacks.

Thats when he noticed 3 bullies at his school and quickly turned around. As the 3 bullies smashed him down on the sidewalk, he noticed Sophie. Arm in arm with a couple friends, laughing at him.

Junior felt stupid. How could he even believe that a popular girl could ever want to talk to him. As Sophie and her friends walked away Junior noticed Sophie’s head turn around and she had a look of hurt. Junior was confused.

What they both didn’t know is that Sophie didn’t write the note. Sophie's boyfriend Murphy wrote the note.

Murphy was a big bully, the bully of Reardan. He began to notice Junior noticing his girlfriend, and his girlfriend noticing Junior and didn’t like it. He wrote the note and put it in Juniors locker. He waited for him. Waited for him to walk back to the reservation. Waited to beat him up.

Junior and Sophie never talked again after that day. Every now and then, Sophie will take glances of Junior and Junior would take glances of Sophie. No conversation was ever made between them. Junior and Sophie sometimes have that thought in their heads. The thought of what if..?