Sunday, April 19, 2015

Closed For The Season Alex's Book Summary

Closed For The Season
By Mary Downing Hahn

Closed For The Season is a Horror type of book because of how it's mood is being set. It starts off when a family moves into a new house. Logan is one of the main characters and his family moves into a new home, what didn't know about the house was that the owner of the house was murdered in that house. Arthur is another main character and he is the neighbor next door to the house. Logan doesn't really talk to Arthur because of how "weird" he is. There is also an amusement park nearby which is where most of some creepy things happen. When I say creepy things I mean that a lot of murders happen in that park and no one goes in there. Arthur tells Logan these stories and they both go and try to follow them and solve them.
       What I mostly think about the book is that if you like horror or mystery then this is the book for you. I say it's the book for you because Logan tries and solve mysteries and some interesting stuff happens down the way. Something that nobody has told Logan and his family that in there new house, they have a wall that's full of money hidden inside. This book is such a mystery and horrifying in it's way that why I like it, I like many books with different genres. I like new things and this book is me trying something new and if you like new things then definitely read this book. 

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Native Americans Being Marginalized? Alex's Response

Shanice talks about in her essay that how will people find out that she is Native American. She talks about how many people are in her tribe and even outside of other tribes. Shanice Britton grew up in the indian reservation center in Covelo, California. She tells the reader about what tribes you can be involved in so she is in five tribes named Wailaki, Yuki, Pomo, Concow and Nomalaki. The meaning of her essay that she wrote is that she isn't different from any other teenager besides her being Native American. Since she is in five tribes she has a lot of traditions and clothing that they wear on one of her special days. In her community in where Shanice lives is really "comfortable" because everybody knows everybody which makes her feel that type of way instead of other cities where they make you feel like a stranger. She also talks about how she can keep the tribes running because her tribe died and now she doesn't know the language they spoke, anyway she still goes to ceremonies and figures it out there.
  Now that Shanice is seventeen she now has entered a college and the percentage of Native Americans that go there is .07%. Not many Native Americans around in school areas so when Shanice attends her college people always ask her questions about her culture on how she celebrates it. Shanice doesn't mind the questions because since there is only such a small majority of Native Americans it doesn't offend her. She doesn't always care about others, she cares about herself too because she is just like any other person there at the school by trying new things and trying on new clothes and even eating new foods. After reading this story it makes me and other readers think about how anyone can become successful by just following your dreams and also by trying new things because since she is Native American nobody is going to judge you on who you are, nobody is going to judge you on the way you wear your type of clothes or even on how you speak. It makes me think about you just being yourself the person that you are.

Question = What is the purpose of Shanice Britton’s essay? What does she want the readers to know about her and Native Americans living today?