My Teen Novel

If I had the opportunity to write a teen novel I would try to add every aspect of adolescents. It would probably be a long book but I think it would be relevant because that how life for most teenagers is hectic, teens have many things to deal with and the list grows each day. My novel would deal with sex and all the consequences of it including pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. My novel would talk about forms of birth control and why it’s important to use them. With the part about teenage pregnancy it would have a positive look on it: the teenage parents in the book would finish high school and go on to college while raising their family. In the novel the teens would have a loving and supportive family who played a key role in their lives. The setting of the book would be in a suburban neighborhood. The teens would live in poverty because I think it is important for there to be books on every subject. The teenagers would attend a public school. The most important part of my book would the message it send to readers. It would send a positive message like a sky is the limit type of message just in case a teen who was in the very situation in the book could feel like there is hope for them. In the back of the book would be websites and other resources that would give teenagers and parents information on any issue discussed in my book.

Response to Red

Red was not like any book we read this semester but I think it opened my eyes to a whole different type of literature. My favorite part of the book was the sections about body image and relationships with your loved ones. I think the book is important to teenage literature because it allows teens to realize that they have a voice and it matters. Too often teens are told to “be quiet” or “nobody cares how you feel or what you have to say” and this book allows their voices to be heard. I really admire the girls who wrote the essays in the book because at that age I would not have been able to do what they did. Also the book is important because during the teenage years a girl’s body goes through so many changes that are difficult to understand and it causes them to look for someone to talk to; and this book is that it says almost everything a teenage girl has thought or felt. The book made me think about my teenage years (that was not too long ago) it made me wonder what I would do if I could repeat that part of my life again and would I talk to an adult about what I was feeling. I think the book was in some ways a psychiatrist for millions of young girls and I think that there should be many more like it. I think the book should not have been edited I know it say it was not but you can tell it was because these teenage girls are writing like college students. But maybe society is not ready for that much “raw” yet.

BLOG 8

I really enjoyed Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I have never read any books about or written by Native Americans. It was refreshing to read something new. The most enjoyable part of the book was the format it was written in. It really sounded like it was written by freshmen in high school. The pictures really added a nice element to the book because it helped to lighten up the parts that were sad like when Eugene and Grandmother Spirit died. If I were to read the book without knowing who wrote it I would actually think that it was written by a teenage boy! Another key part of the book is that Alexie wrote from the point of view of poverty and I don’t know of many books written in that manner. It was nice to see light shown upon a big issue all over the world. The chapter about why Arnold loved chicken lightened up the issue of poverty and it really made me laugh because I happen to really LOVE chicken!!! My favorite characters were Grandmother Spirit and Rowdy. Grandmother Spirit because she was so “real” she was honest about anything and she was genuine. I enjoyed Rowdy because he was a really good friend to Arnold and I liked how he tried to be so soft but it turned out that he was really sensitive (when he was crying in the woods). Alexie ended the book perfectly with Arnold and Rowdy climbing the tree because the tree was the biggest and they made it up the tree and he had in a sense “climbed a really big tree” by making it through his first freshmen year even with all the hardships he had to face that school year.

Response to Betsey Brown

I REALLY ENJOYED READING BETSEY BROWN!!! After reading Huck Finn I thought we would read another novel with another “weird dialect”. For me Betsey was familiar because my grandparents (whom I was with a lot as a child) were from down south so I could really relate. For that matter my grandmother was a lot like Vida, she always preached to us about how things were when she was younger and scolded us when we did things “our way”. I enjoyed how the book was a “coming of age” book I viewed that way because in a sense every member of the Brown family grew up in some way. In the beginning of the novel Charlie was getting in trouble by the police and playing jokes on his cousins then at the end he is helping clean up and making sure the other kids are doing their part around the house. All the kids grew up because in the beginning they were messing up the house then at the end they are cleaning up. I enjoyed Betsey’s character because she was a young girl and she was naïve. She viewed the world the way a child should, innocently. She was just a little girl trying to figure out the world the best way she knew how. Another key character to me was Carrie. She came and turned the Brown house around. She really got the children together while Jane was gone. But I could not understand why or how it took a stranger to get Jane’s house in order. I mean a mother should be able to control her own children. I did not like Jane’s character she was so weak and she overexaracted EVERYTHING! All she thought about was “getting some loving in the afternoon”.

Essay Outline (ROUGH DRAFT)

Thesis: What's the big deal about teenage pregnancy?... I'm not condoning it.. But if it happens its not the end of the teenager(s) life! (or something along those line)
1) Hook and or introduction ( some way to grab readers attention)
2) Statics and facts about teenage pregnancy
3) Reflection on my own teenage pregnancy
4) Why teenage pregnancy is such a big deal
5) Why teenage pregnancy is not the end of the teenager(s) life
6) How and why society frown on teenage pregnancy
7) Books that I have read that deal with teenage pregnancy(will include brief description of books)
8) My opinion on teenage pregnancy
9) Conclusion

Charlotte Temple: THE REMIx (Chapter XXI)

This was Clarissa's second week at Greenville and she still had not made any friends. Without her knowing she was being watched by Bernice. Bernice Braxton was the most popular and well liked girls in all the school. She was the president of almost every club and had been on the principals honor roll list every year. One day Bernice was eating lunch with her friends when she noticed Clarissa eating lunch alone. She decides to go over and introduce herself. "Hey my name is Bernice what's yours?" "Hey my name is Clarissa." Bernice says you should come and try out for out school's dance team, I'm the captain and we are looking for new members. Clarissa says okay I'll be there! After joining the dance team Clarissa and Bernice instantly become best friends, they spend all their time together. One night they went to a party that one of their teammates was having. While at the party Clarissa is introduced to the captain of the varsity basketball team, Jonathan Williams. After, the party Jonathan and Clarissa begin to date. Clarissa falls head over heels for him. Jonathan starts to pressure Clarissa about having sex. He says if you really love me you will show me by "really" making love to me. Clarissa says I do really love you but I am not ready to give myself to you that way. Over the course of three months Jonathan continues to pressure her and she finals gives in. A month later Clarissa finds out that she is pregnant. She does not know how she is going to tell her parents. She asks Bernice how should she tells her parents and Bernice says you should write them a letter........

Huck Finn

I found Huck Finn to be a hard read for me for some reason. I really did not like the tone or language it was wrote in. In my opinion it is very important book in teen adolesence though. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY TOM SAWYER SHOWED UP IN THE END. He seems to be very immature and that he kept Huck down. I kind of teared up at the part about the funeral. The most enjoyable part of the whole book was Mark Twain's humor. Even during uncomfortable situations and tough moments the next pge would be a joke. One of the most important parts of the book was when Huck began to grow up and mature. I also like when he told Sally that the slve family would reunite because that showed alot of growth. Really she was hurting and he had sympathy for hr and looked for a wy to make her feel better.