I am currently reading the heart-wrenching story, A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry. This book is from the perspective of Meg who's telling the story of when her older sister Molly got sick, very sick. Meg looked up to Molly, in her eyes Molly is flawless. Meg, thinks of herself as the opposite of her big sister, ugly. When Meg, Molly and her parents have to move to another house, Meg has trouble fitting in. on the other hand, Molly has two friends, and a week later she has a boyfriend. Later that month, Meg bonds with an elderly man who has the interest of photography, who once had a wife (the love of his life) was named Meg too. One day Molly has a nose bleed, one that's bigger than usual, no one was worried because the doctor said that nose bleeds are common in the winter. Just when Molly thought her nose bleeds were over, she was wrong. Meg woke up one night to see her sister drenched in blood, her white sheets were now red. She ran to go get her parents and Molly ended up saying in the hospital for the next few months. Meg was furious because she thought that it was just a nose bleed, but it was something much more. Symptoms kept arising and the doctors kept Molly in the hospital, Meg was baffled yet mad. Her father soon told meg that her sister has leukemia, and then her hair started to fall out. The story was just beginning...
In this book, Meg is quite young to fully understand her sisters condition. In her mind its all still just a big, stupid nose bleed that everyone is making a huge deal about. Then the news that Meg finally understands changes her life. "I knew then what they hadn't wanted to tell me, and they knew that i knew, that Molly wouldn't be coming home again, that Molly was going to die. Dad sighed. ' It's called Acute Myelogenous leukemia". (lowry,118) In this passage, we now realize what is killing Molly. It's terrible for a family to have to go through this, especially with their daughter, at such a young age. However, they could now put a name to this horrible disease. This was a huge turning point in the book because Meg was no longer Meg, her parents were no longer her parents. They were all different people, trapped in an enviorment enclosed with a wall of fear, their was no escaping the sadness. Towards the end of the book, Molly passes away. Meg's family learns to remember the good times with Molly. This was a really hard time in the book and its shows you how to grieve and the move along, but not forgetting what happened.
A theme that I found that was a major part in this book, was death. This theme is happening in the world everyday, whether its suicidal, accidental, or natural disaster and/or even terrorism. So many people in the world die each day, 151,600. It's tragic and in almost everyone of our lives we experience it. Us as humans must experience this feeling of loss and tragedy and we must learn to cope with it.
All in all, this book taught me to not take things for granted, because they may not be there in the future. I felt a very strong connection and relation to this book, when both of my grandmothers passed away, it was a tough time but it actually just made me stronger. This book also had a few illustrations at the beginning of chapters which made the book. I felt as if I were Meg, the tone of the book was well written and made me think.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Childhood book memory Monday Muses
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
When I was little my mother would read "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown to my older brother and I. All curled up against the fireplace is where you would find us with reading this book almost every night. My brother and I would always try to be the first to find the little mouse on each page. Whenever the books name comes up, memories blur by in my mind. This was an important time in my childhood because over all of the books read to me I adore this one. To this day I continue to read it, to the children I babysit of course. They find it fascinating somehow, and I remember that's how I felt when my mother read that book to me. My childhood was formed around this book, and when I was a baby my brother and I shared the doll of the bunny. Boy, did we fight over that!
Why banned books shouldn't be banned
In class we have recently completed discussing and working on whether books should be banned from school libraries or if they shouldn't be banned. I just finished reading,"13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher which includes various themes that many parents wouldn't allow their children to read. This book talks about death, sex, violence and betrayal. Each of these themes have lessons in the end. Many parents aren't comfortable with allowing their kids to read this content. This book is on the banned book list. Many parents want to ban books like these, because they are "protecting" their children from reality. Parents should not be able to ban books simply because they're not ready or the books contain mature content.
Many parents want to ban books because of the content that are displayed in them. What parents don't realize is that almost every book has a lesson and they teach us very important things. For example in the article "The Banned Books We Have Loved" by Jen Doll she states that books have taught us crucial lessons that we must know in life. "From Bridge to Teribithia, we learned the importance of friendships and being open to those that might not seem 'appropriate.' We learned that death can be sudden and unexpected, and terribly tragic-but that we owe it to ourselves, and those we've loved, to go on." Some books may contain mature themes that shouldn't be read by children, but why ban it for the rest of the world? Another example of books containing lessons is from Jen Doll too, "From Go Ask Alice, we learned that a life can go off rails all too quickly; that drugs should be considered with caution; that a diary can be an important record of our time." I believe that parents shouldn't be able to ban books because every child should read about these themes. They are simply reading about it not doing these actions.
Many parents aren't comfortable with their children reading books that have mature writing and have themes like drugs, sex, violence and abuse. Most people are more likely to read the book if it's on the banned books list. In the article "The Banned Books We've Loved" by Jen Doll, "It is a badge of honor to have people try to ban your books from schools and school libraries, only because it means your books have become popular and are being noticed." The ban books list with attract people to read the list and eventually read the books. I feel that parents are only looking at the fact that the books have those themes in them but they tell the readers that doing those things are awful and don't end well. For example, in the book I currently finished reading , "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher its talks about betrayal and friendship. "Betrayal. It's one of the worst feelings." (3.63) Hannah, the main character, announces this theme early in the novel. The author is saying that betrayal and leaving your friends isn't the right thing to do. Another example of this theme is, "Hannah takes Justin's betrayal so seriously because it affects her life in real ways." This quote shows that when you spread rumors it hurts others and it really affects that person. These themes have various lessons that teach children about how to react to different problems in life. If kids didn't read these in books how else would they learn about them? Parents are too protective of what their children are going to learn about in books, but in the end they have to learn/know about it someday.
All in all, many parents aren't comfortable with allowing their kids to read books that have themes like sex, violence and drugs, but why ban it for everyone else in the world? Parents should be aware that their kids may or may not be ready to read about such mature themes, but parents shouldn't ban books just because their kids aren't ready, other children are and they would want to read the books. Parents should know if their children are ready or not to read a type of book.
Many parents want to ban books because of the content that are displayed in them. What parents don't realize is that almost every book has a lesson and they teach us very important things. For example in the article "The Banned Books We Have Loved" by Jen Doll she states that books have taught us crucial lessons that we must know in life. "From Bridge to Teribithia, we learned the importance of friendships and being open to those that might not seem 'appropriate.' We learned that death can be sudden and unexpected, and terribly tragic-but that we owe it to ourselves, and those we've loved, to go on." Some books may contain mature themes that shouldn't be read by children, but why ban it for the rest of the world? Another example of books containing lessons is from Jen Doll too, "From Go Ask Alice, we learned that a life can go off rails all too quickly; that drugs should be considered with caution; that a diary can be an important record of our time." I believe that parents shouldn't be able to ban books because every child should read about these themes. They are simply reading about it not doing these actions.
Many parents aren't comfortable with their children reading books that have mature writing and have themes like drugs, sex, violence and abuse. Most people are more likely to read the book if it's on the banned books list. In the article "The Banned Books We've Loved" by Jen Doll, "It is a badge of honor to have people try to ban your books from schools and school libraries, only because it means your books have become popular and are being noticed." The ban books list with attract people to read the list and eventually read the books. I feel that parents are only looking at the fact that the books have those themes in them but they tell the readers that doing those things are awful and don't end well. For example, in the book I currently finished reading , "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher its talks about betrayal and friendship. "Betrayal. It's one of the worst feelings." (3.63) Hannah, the main character, announces this theme early in the novel. The author is saying that betrayal and leaving your friends isn't the right thing to do. Another example of this theme is, "Hannah takes Justin's betrayal so seriously because it affects her life in real ways." This quote shows that when you spread rumors it hurts others and it really affects that person. These themes have various lessons that teach children about how to react to different problems in life. If kids didn't read these in books how else would they learn about them? Parents are too protective of what their children are going to learn about in books, but in the end they have to learn/know about it someday.
All in all, many parents aren't comfortable with allowing their kids to read books that have themes like sex, violence and drugs, but why ban it for everyone else in the world? Parents should be aware that their kids may or may not be ready to read about such mature themes, but parents shouldn't ban books just because their kids aren't ready, other children are and they would want to read the books. Parents should know if their children are ready or not to read a type of book.
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