Chasing Redbird

Plot Summary- The book Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech is about a 12-yr old girl named Zinnia(Zinny). One day Zinny finds a trail that nobody knows about except for her uncle and aunt. So everyday Zinny went up to the trail to clear it out, the trail was more than 40 miles long. Zinny is very different from the rest of her siblings. Jake Boone, a boy that May(one of Zinny's sisters) likes is always getting jealous that Jake always gives presents to Zinny and not to her. One day Jake gives Zinny a very cute dog, then when Zinny goes to a store and sees a sign that says a dog is missing and she sees the picture and it looks exactly like the one Jake gave her, so Zinny gives the dog back to the owner, she gets mad because she thinks that Jake stole the puppy. One day Zinny finds a medallion and it has initials on it so she digs a hole a buries it in the ground. When she goes back to the trail it is missing. A lot of things change when her aunt Jessie dies.

Character- The main character in the book Chasing Redbird is Zinny. Zinny is a very brave, she has a lot of courage, because she went to the trail alone to sleep there for ten days because she doesn't want anybody to be in there because she says that it is hers since she found it and she is the only one that is cleaning it up. Zinny never gave up she didn't just stop working on the trail she just kept on going even if it was getting late she always set goals for the next day until she finished clearing it up. Zinny is also a very responsible girl she always planned ahead of what the the things she was going to do.

Thoughts about the book- I thought that this was the best book i have ever read, it was funny, interesting and overall,great!!!!! The character Zinny is amazing, I liked the book because it wasn't boring like a lot of other book i read since the beginning of the year. I thought that this book was sad because her favorite aunt,Jessie died and so did her daughter and then after she dies her husband(uncle Nate) also starts to at weird and starts to get sick a lot.

Reading Strategies used- The reading strategies i used was mental image- i liked using mental image because i could get a good picture in my head of what was going on like when Zinny went to sleep on the trail for ten days and i could see her getting scared for every noise that she heard. I also used connection, i made connections from the book to my real life. These wer the best strategies i used for this book.

Author Information- Sharon Creech is a 1995 Newbery Medal winner for the book "Walk two moons" and also "Absolutely Normal Chaos",( which is her first novel) and many other more books. She was born on July 29, 1945, in Cleveland, OH.

Keeper of The Night

Plot Summary- The book Keeper Of The Night by Kimberly Willis Holt is about a girl named Isabel who is a native from Guam. Isabel is the oldest of her two siblings, in this book through short chapters she writes how she deals after her mother dies. In the book Isabel says"My mother died praying on her knees. Her rosary beads were still in her hands when we found her. She left no note, said no good-byes, gave no last hugs or kisses. Only the empty bottle of sleeping pills that had rolled under her bed proved that she'd meant to leave". After her mother dies Isabels family goes to live with there aunt for a while because their dad couldnt stand looking at the door and seeing their mothers ghost. Every night since her mother died her little sister (Olivia) starts to wet her bed and her brother(Frank) starts to writes "I hate you" all over his room. Since Isabel is the oldest, every morning she has to wake up and take the wet bed sheets and towels for her aunt to wash them, so that Olivia wouldnt find out. In the middle of the book Isabel becomes friends with Mary Kelly who is a white girl. When Isabel goes over Mary Kellys house, Mary Kelly's mother is the one who sees her pain and starts to help Isabel and her family. In the end they where in a middle of a party they were having when all of a sudden one of her aunt calls her dad to come quick, when they all go into Franks room they see him on the floor, blood dripping everywhere from his arms and the words " I hat" carved on his arms with no "e" or "you". Isabel thinks that maybe he had died, but he didnt he was just badly hurt.


Characters- Isabel: Isabel is a very responsible and mature girl. She was the one who took care of her siblings, and everybody would say she was just like her mother, but she didn’t think she was anything like her mother. When her mom died she took the responsibility of her younger siblings, she woke them up in the morning, fed them, took them showers and did a lot of good things, I don"t think she was very close to her dad because she never really spoke about him and they called him "Tata" not "dad".



Thought about the book- I didn't really like the ending because the author didn't say what happened to Frank at the end, if Frank came back from the hospital or not. Overall I thought this book was amazing, it was very easy to understand because it had short, very detailed chapters.



Stratergies Used- While I was reading I used Mental Image. Mental Image always helps me when I am reading to understand the point or the lesson of the book. While I read I also made alot of predictions and wrote them down on Post-its and them went back to it if i ever found out the answer to what i was predicting like on one post-it i wrote "i wonder why Frank is always mad and cutting himself" but then i found out that he was mad at Tata because he said that it was his fault for his mothers death.



Author Information- Kimberly Willis Holt is also famous for writing the books MY LOUISIANA SKY and WHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN. She was born in 1960, in Pensacola, Florida. Her dad was as a chef for the U.S. Navy, and her mother was a teacher. I think tha Kimberly Willis Holt is a very great author.

Call Me Maria

Plot Summary-The book Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer is about a girl name Maria. She was born in Puerto Rico, she lived there with her mother, father, and grandma. Her dad used to live in a basement apartment in New York City. Her mother was a teacher in Puerto Rico. Maria really liked it in Puerto Rico but her dad got home sick, so she had to move with her dad leaving her mother behind. Through letters and poetry she talks to her mom. Her father always got drunk and came home late everyday. Her father gets mad when he finds out that her mom has a boyfriend that she met in the school.

Character- Maria is very lonely in the Barrio, she loves poetry. She talks to her mom by letters and poetry. Until she meets Whoopee. Whoopee and her become best friends. She had trouble learning English but in the end she finally learns and she is happy that she learned and that she is friends with Whoopee.

Reading Starergies- The reading stratergie I used was my imagination, while I was reading I could see Maria happy in Puerto Rico with her family and then I could see her alone in the Barrio for almost the whole day because her father always came home late. I could see how happy she got when her grandmother came to visit the Barrio and Maria wasn't lonley until she went back to Puerto Rico.

Thoughts About The Book- I thought that this was a very good book. It was sad because she was alone with her father for a long time and she could really only talk to her mother by phone, I thought that it was really sad. It was also good that she learned English.

Author Information- Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico On Febuary 24 1952. She loves poetry. She is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is a bilingual teacher at a public school. I think that she is a vey good author because in the book she wrote in English and in Spanish

Just Ask Iris

Plot Summary- The book "Just As Iris" by Lucy Frank is about a girl named Iris. Iris's family are new to the apartment building and they haven’t met anybody yet. Iris decides to go up the fire escape stairs. She meets a lot of different people like Will, who is handicapped and is in a wheel chair, she meets the “Cat Lady” who has like 20 cats, and she meets other people like the super of the building. Iris is going through puberty and she needs to buy some things but she does not have money and her mom had not had started working yet. She thinks of ideas to get money, she comes up with a flyer that says “Just Ask Iris” she hands it out to the people in the building, if they need help or they need her to baby-sit they “Just Ask Iris”. They pay her at a price that they think is good. When she had enough money to buy what she needed, her brother took her to the store and she bought what she needed. In the building the elevator doesn’t work and some other things. Some things don’t work because the Cat Lady flushes the cats’ wastes down the toilet and clogs up a pipe that is in the basement. Through out the whole book she helps people in the building.

Thought about the book- I thought this book was good. It wasn't the best book I have ever read, but I still recommend it to girls. I liked it because it wasn’t sad and it was easy to understand what was going on in the book, but I still thought it was a good book at some parts it was funny. I think that the author is a very good writer because the book was very descriptive, it was easy to understand.

Character- The main character in this book was Iris. Iris is very friendly, responsible, and also nice. She helped people out in the building like baby- sitting for them, going down to the Bodega to buy them stuff, walking dogs, and many other things. Many people did not like the cat lady because they thought she was mean but she became friends with her. She was a very helpful person.

Reading Stratergies used- While I was reading this book a stratergie I used was Prediction. I predicted what would happen next or why it happened. This helped me a lot because I could understand better what was happening in the book. I also used my imagination; I could see Iris walking up the fire stairs and everybody telling her to get down because she could get hurt.

Author Information- Lucy Frank is the author of Just Ask Iris. She was born on March 22 1947. She writes a lot of Young Adult books. I am an Artichoke, Lucky Stars are some of the books she has written, but there are many other Young Adult books she has written. I think she is a very good writer.

Call Me Hope

Plot Summary- The book Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson is about a girl named Hope. She is verbally abused by her mother. Her mom calls her mean, nasty things. At a second hand store called Next to New she sees a pair of really nice hiking boots that she need for a five day trip. She works at the store to pay off the boots. Her mom had said to her that she couldn’t go on the trip. One day a counselor came to her house and talked to her mom, in front of her mom and the counselor Hope starts to cry and tells her mom that she always did everything to stay out of her way and that she knew that she didn't like her and that she never admitted it, and that at times she thought or running away. After a long talk her mom decided to let her go. When Hope came back from the trip she was surprised to see the her mother hadn’t forgotten about her.

Character- Hope Marie Elliot is a strong and brave girl. When she knew that her mother was mad she wouldn’t talk to her or do anything to annoy her more. She is brave because she dealed with her mother for a really long time until she became nice. I think that she has a very nice personality, she was always nice to her classmates. She always tried her best to be nice especially to her mom and to other people. She cared about other people.

Thoughts about the book- I thought that this was the best book I have ever read. I felt bad for Hope because her mom was mean to her. Her mother punished her for no reason so hope would get mad and sometimes she would talk back to her. Hope tried her best not to talk back, but it was very hard fo her, because she didn't like to do everything her mom tells her to do. It was a good that Hope didn't run away. Overall I think it was a FANTASTIC book.

Reading Statergie used- The reading stratergie I used was Mental Image. When I read I could see Hope's mother yelling at her for no reason.Hope always tried to tell her mom it was an accident or something but her mom ju st ignored her or punished her because she said never to talk back to her. I also used Inferance, based on what I read I could guess what would happen next in the book. I think that these two staratergies helped me understand the book.

So B. It

Plot Summary-The book "So B. It" by Sarah Weeks is about a girl named Heidi. Heidi has a mother who is mentally disabled they live in Reno, Nevada. Their neighbor Bernadette (Dette, Bernie) who has agoraphobia takes care of Heidi and her mom. Heidi's mom says the word "Soof" a lot, nobody knows what it means. She says her name is So B. It. One day Heidi finds an old camera in the kitchen drawer, all of the pictures were taken at a Christmas party, most of the people were handicapped. In one of the pictures it shows a middle aged woman with a red sweatshirt, under a wooden porch that say " Hilltop Home, Liberty, New York. Heidi thinks its her mom. Later on in the book Heidi tells Bernie that she is going to Liberty, New York to find out if her mother really lived at the Hilltop Home.




Character- Heidi- I think Heidi is a really smart and brave 12 year old. She never gives up in any thing. She is brave because she manages to take care of Bernie and her mom since they are both sick.


Thoughts about the book- I thought that this was a very good book. It was also sad because at the end Heidi's mom dies and Heidi was not there when she died. I liked the way the author for each chapter she used the words mama said throughout the book, I thought that was very a smart thing to do. If there was a sequel to the book I wonder who Heidi would live with. I hope they make a sequel to SO B. It because it was a great/sad book, I really enjoyed it. This is a book I would definitely recommend.


Reading Strategies used- The reading strategie I used was the Mental Image. In the book Heidi described a picture she had found and I could see the picture it as if it really showed it in the book because she described it really good like the hair color, age, and what they were wearing. I also used Inferance, this was a really good reading stratergie to use.


Author Information- The author of the book So b. It is Sarah Weeks. Sarah Weeks has written a lot of young adult books. She has also written a middle- grade Guy Series. I think that Sarah Weeks is very good author because she is very descriptive.