May IRB

Looking for Alaska

This month I read Looking for Alaska by John Green. It was a great book and I would recommend anyone to read it. It is about a boy named Miles or “Pudge” who leaves his hometown where he is not very popular and doesn’t have many friends to go to a boarding school, Culver Creek. A lot happens to him while he’s there like he drinks alcohol and smokes on a daily basis and before he never did stuff like that. Also a lot of rule breaking. He also meets a girl, Alaska. She’s this mysterious girl who is on an emotional rollercoaster, loves to pull pranks and drink a lot of alcohol oh and she loves her boyfriend Jake. It all started after Thanksgiving break when Pudge stayed at Culver Creek instead of see his family because Alaska didn’t really have a family (long story). They snuck into people's rooms finding out what they hid from the Eagle-the school officer. They found  out a lot about people. Other than that they just spent a lot of time together but nothing ever happened like he wanted it to. The break was over and the big senior prank was coming up they were usually pretty lame pranks, so Alaska was planning to get revenge on them. It started with there group of friends and then setting off twenty or more fireworks, sending out bad progress reports and making people beloved hair blue. It all worked in their favor and they celebrated by drinking lots of alcohol. Later that night Alaska got a call from someone and said she had to go but she never returned…

I noticed that John Green wrote this book in Pudge's point of view and if other characters talked it was in quotations. Green also counted down the days because the book is divided into two different parts before and after. So it counts down from from one hundred thirty-six days to the day of Alaska's disappearance and then in the after it starts from two days after and stops at one hundred thirty-six days later. I think he wrote the book like this because in the before part it kind of is suspenseful when you're trying to find out why he’s counting the days before, and while reading the after he wrote it like that to show how much his emotions and self changed over the same amount of days that he met her.

One thing that surprised me was when I read what happened to Alaska but I can’t tell you or else it will spoil the whole book another thing that surprised me was when Pudge decided to stay home for Thanksgiving break instead of seeing his family because if it were me I would leave in a heartbeat to see my family. I liked this whole book overall because it was very easy to relate to but there were also some things that left me thinking. For once I actually looked forward to reading a book. One thing that I didn’t like about the book is some of the choices that they made and also when the whole book takes a turn it was hard to read on.

This book taught me that  you should never go through battles alone,  find a good group of friends that will support you and be there for you through everything. I also learned that you should appreciate the moments you have, Pudge always talks about “The great perhaps” and he realized after Alaska was gone he was experiencing it and now he misses it all. I think the theme is you should never take something or someone for granted because something could go terribly wrong and you may never see them again

While reading this book I felt happy, sad, grief towards Pudge and surprised. My question that will probably never be answered and so many people are wondering but why did Alaska for what she did in the first place? And who was the call from the night she went missing? There are rumors going around that a movie will be coming out soon from this book and I will definitely go see it. This book was an amazing book I laughed a lot and almost cried a couple of times but  I would recommend it to anyone my age or older. I loved this book!

March IRB

This month I read a book called This Star Won’t Go Out written by Esther Earl herself a few words from John Green, and more from her two parents Lori Earl, and Wayne Earl. What most people don’t know about this book/person but the book and movie The Fault in Our Stars written by John Green was inspired by Esther Earl herself. Esther was diagnosed with metastasized papillary thyroid cancer at the age of 12 which was in 2006. She fought a long and hard battle for about 4 years and she died August 25, 2010. But while she was fighting cancer she wrote in a journal which was later put into this book, it also included pictures of Esther with her family and friends and her feelings towards things that were happening in her life of battle. In the beginning of the book, John Green tells his side of his story. They met at a event for Harry Potter fans and talked for hours. They later found out that they talked on the internet before they met in real life because Esther had a Harry Potter fan account. After that they kept in contact and always met up until she started getting really sick. John really liked having her as a friend and when she passed away he was very sad and one thing he did was write about his feelings which was later turned into one of the best selling books and great box office success movies. This is a great book that will bring many emotions out, and it will inspire you to always look at the positive side when not everything is going alright.

Since there were four different authors of this book, they all wrote differently, but a few things were different. Her parents talked about their love for her and how she changed the way they looked at life. They also talked about their struggles of being a parent of a child who has cancer, but they also talked about all the great things they shared with Esther. John Green wrote about how his whole relationship with Esther started and the impact she left on his life. Esther’s journal was put in this book and she wrote about how she emotionally and physically felt, and also about fun things she got to do but also the not so fun things. Esther also made video diaries which were talked about and many people would tune in and watch them. Her parents also added pictures of Esther throughout her entire life, she was a happy girl, even though she struggled for years. I think the authors wrote like this because they wanted to show that Esther fought a long and hard battle but throughout all of it she stayed positive and inspired others daily. I think they also put the hard and sad things to read in this book because people need to know the truth about fighting cancer.

Esther Earl

Nothing really surprised me while reading this but I was surprised how her body would react to things and how she mentally reacted or wrote about because if I were her I would probably always be crying or depressed or mad, but Esther looked at it different. She made every situation better by how she reacted to them. What I did like about this book was how personal it was with everyones own words and thoughts. I also liked how they included pictures, notes and drawings done by Esther. I also liked just the way Esther handled everything, she was a true fighter. The things I disliked about this book was obviously that she got cancer in the first place and that she passed away. I also didn’t like reading some of the things she wrote because they were sometimes a little disturbing.

This book taught me that life will throw challenges at you, like cancer. But know matter what stay positive through it all and somehow express your feelings because it will help you get through a lot. I think the theme is like what I said about what this book taught be but also always show love towards others even when you are mad at the world. And another thing that I learned was from John Green on his tumblr account. “Esther taught me to Live Life or To Be Grateful or Not To Take Beauty for Granted.” After reading this I can totally agree because this is exactly how Esther looked at life and how she acted towards her life struggle.

While I was reading this book I had many different emotions towards it, sometimes it made me laugh and other times I would tear up but overall it was a very inspirational story. I don’t have any questions because this was a great book with great details about everything you needed to know. This book was made into a movie called The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. There were a couple similarities Esther and Hazel both had thyroid cancer. Esther's parents said they both acted a lot alike. One big difference was Esther  never had a boyfriend but her mom said she would love to have met someone like Gus, which also means all the things that happened with Gus and Hazel never really happened. One thing that was also similar was how strong emotionally and physically Hazel and Esther were. This was a great book and I would recommend it to everyone. It taught me a lot and we will forever miss you Esther Earl.

Hayden Wyrick

Is Cheerleading a Sport?

Is Cheerleading A Sport?

Hayden Wyrick

I feel like almost every american has gone to some type of football or basketball game in their lifetime, everyone is cheering on their team hoping that they win. But do you realize the cheerleaders are the ones leading the crowd, trying to get their energy up getting their team more excited to win. A lot of people think that cheerleaders are on the sidelines doing “nothing”  and that cheerleading isn't a sport. I’m a cheerleader myself, so I strongly disagree with this statement for many reasons.

Varsity, a very well known cheer company says it is a sport. They state the few definitions of a sport which is on their website "Being a Cheerleader - Is Cheerleading a Sport?" Being a Cheerleader - Is Cheerleading a Sport? N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.  The first definition is “contesting” or competing against/with an opponent is required” which cheerleaders do when they are at competitions. Another definition was “It must be governed by rules that explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared” Cheerleaders have a certain time limit when performing, they have to have the correct mat size and also score sheets. The last definition was “Acknowledgement that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants.”  Every year they have a national competition called Worlds held at Disney World that is on ESPN every year. Cheerleading meets all the definitions of a sport but what do the courts say about this?

I made a survey to see what other people thought about this, Wyrick, Hayden. “Is cheerleading a sport?" survey. Google forms 29 January 2015  .The question I asked them was is cheerleading a sport? Four people said no and 24 people said yes. Another question that I asked was why or why not do you think this? Emma W  said ”it isnt a sport because I don't know much about cheerleading but I feel like there is no competitiveness to cheerleading like the NFL they just dance I don't consider that a sport. If it is not in the Olympics besides baseball or football it is not a sport to me.” Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but just because something isn’t in the olympics doesn’t mean its not a sport baseball and football aren’t part of the olympics but they are still considered a sport. Emily H said “I did cheer for a long time and I think that it has everything that is needed to be considered a sport. I would love to see if a football player could do half of the things that a cheerleader can do.” I agree with this person because people honestly don’t realize how hard cheer is! We practice for hours lifting others flipping our bodies, building muscle everyday. Nesta F said “yes because they work very hard at what they do and it takes a lot of practice.” I can definitely agree with this because cheerleaders practice almost everyday of the week for hours.  

I hope that after all of this i can convince you that cheerleading is a sport! Cheerleaders work just as hard as any athlete and were all after the same thing, winning! Cheerleading is a sport to me even though it may not be to you, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just remember the next time says something about cheer not being a sport give them a few of my reasons.

Thirteen Reason Why

This month I was reading a book by Jay Asher called Thirteen Reasons Why. This book is about  a normal teenage girl named Hannah Baker who recently moved to a new town over the summer. She was struggling with fitting in and people at her school weren't making it any better. Sadly she committed suicide but before she did she recorded 13 tapes explaining 13 reason why she committed suicide. The thirteen reasons why were because of people who went to her school and they did things to her that made her feel worthless. This months monthly topic is the minor character and I think that the minor characters would be all the people who were rude to her even though this book is about them it is mainly about what they did to Hannah.

I noticed that the author wrote this book coming from Hannah’s point of view most of the time, which was tapes that her victims listened to, telling why she committed suicide. The author also wrote from other people’s point of view who were listening to the tapes and what they were thinking while this happened. The author also describes the situation the people are in. I think that author wrote this was because they wanted people to know why Hannah committed suicide coming from her own words. This book really is a great book explaining our society, and how much words can hurt people.

A couple things surprised in this book but two things that stood out to me were the reasons she commited suicide because they were so little but they really affected her. Which surprised me because the little things can really hurt people. Another thing that surprised me was some of the things Hannah said, they creeped me out sometimes. One thing I liked about the book was just the constant wondering and questioning in my mind while I was reading of what would happen next to this poor girl. Another thing I liked was just the book overall and the back story. One thing I disliked was that it was about suicide, and I hate talking or thinking about this topic and it always makes me wonder why someone would bring themselves to do that.

The book taught me that you should be nice to people because you don’t know what else is going on in there life. It could be the smallest thing and it can still affect a person. This book really opened my eyes about how little things really can set people off and even if you don’t like this person, as hard as it is, you still should be nice to them because they never did anything to you. I think the theme is basically what I wrote above and that you should care for everyone and don’t make fun of people because you never know how they will take it.

While I was reading this book I was mostly sad because obviously it’s about suicide and I was mad at times  because of what people said to her. There were parts that I was happy about because there were a few good parts when people were nice to her or there for her. This hasn’t been made into a movie but if it were I would definitely want to go see it. This was a really great book and I enjoyed reading it. It wasn’t the happiest book I’ve ever read but it made me realize you should always treat people nicely because you don’t know what else is going on in there life.

December IRB

This month I read a book called “Can’t Look Away” by Donna Cooner. It is about a girl who loves to post videos of herself on youtube until one day she was at the mall with her sisters making a shopping haul video when her sister got hit by a drunk driver. everything changed when this happen. Know one in her family was happy, she stopped youtubing and she moved to Texas, leaving everyone and her best friend behind. One the day of her sister's death she made a video and everyday since then she has had billions of new subscribers and  billions of views. Her life changes so quickly and she doesn’t know how to feel but if you read more then you’ll know about her hard journey.

The author wrote this coming from the point of view of Torrey and a narrator sort of view. I think she wrote like this because she wanted to show what Torrey was thinking in the situation she also wrote like a narrator at times to give detail and little things about her story. I also noticed that Torrey showed a lot of her observations of people in the story, and I think this is because she wanted to give a good image of what the people looked like and how they acted.

One thing that surprised me was that some of this story took place in Boulder, Colorado and also just everything that Torrey had to go through because she struggled through a lot but in the end she was okay just missing a few pieces. One thing that I liked about the book was the story behind it because I love watching youtube and everything that happened was a really good lesson to learn from. The author also added quotes at the beginning of every chapter that I really liked. One thing that I didn’t like was all the sad parts and all the things that her family went through.

This book taught me that know matter what you should always keep your head up even if it’s hard because in the end everything will be okay and you’ll look back and think “wow I actually made it” This book meant to me that in life things happen but you just need to keep going on, even though it may be hard. I think that the theme of this story is like I said before life gets hard at times but you just need to keep your head up.

During this book I felt happy, sad, and sometimes angry because there were many good and funny things that happened. I was sad when her family had lost someone and how they handled it, and I was angry with some of the decisions that she made at times. This is not also a movie but if it were I would definitely go and watch it. This was a really great book and I would recommend it to all of my friends and family. This book really taught me a lot and it was one of my favorite books I’ve read.

Sweet Treats and Secret Chrushes

I read the book called Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes by Lisa Greenwald. This book is about three seventh grade girls who are all best friends named Olivia, who acts like a journalist, Kate who is boy crazy, and Georgia who just goes with the flow.They live in Brooklyn, New York and valentines day was soon approaching them. The night before valentines day they had heard a lot of snow was on the way and they possibly could have a snow day on Valentines Day. This couldn’t happen though they all three had crushes on someone and they were anticipating this day all year long. They woke up the next day and it was a confirmed snow day. Of course they were upset about this but they had to do something. Georgia's family had owned a restaurant on the bottom floor of the apartment complex and they also did a big event on valentines day. They were famous for their fortune cookies since they weren’t like others, they were “magical”. Georgia's mom had decided she would teach them the recipe and they would make fortunes and fortune cookies and go around the building and give them to people for free. Kate was excited for it since she heard that her crush was going to a friends house who happened to live in the same building, Olivia was happy, and Georgia was hiding her emotions, nobody knew who she liked but they knew something was up with her recently. This story is a really good book for a girl in middle school I think and I enjoyed the book. You’ll just gave to read the book to find out how the whole day turns out. I think that the theme of this you shouldn’t worry about other people, and only worry about the people who love you and yourself because weren't adults.

The author wrote in three points of view, Olivia’s, Kate’s and Georgia’s and she usually switched off each chapter. The author also included some letters, text, and some things that Olivia would write in her journal. I think that the author wrote like this because she wanted to show or tell everyones thoughts on what was going on and also I think she wrote like this just to give you more of an image or more of something for you to go off of when you're reading it.

Something that surprised me was in the beginning when Olivia wouldn’t stop talking about her crush, and writing about him in a journal and she would never even talk to him she would just write things like what he was wearing and things like that. Georgia had ripped out a page and it caused a lot of drama. Another thing that surprised me was when they revealed Georgia’s crush. I didn’t like that this book took place over two days because it was a pretty long boof for just one holiday.

This book taught me that you should live your life the way you want to and not how other people want you. You shouldn’t worry about other’s people opinion of you and you should just live your life. I think that the theme is the two things that I said above but also that you shouldn’t let little things like boys separate you from your friends because boys aren’t providing anything for you at this age, just worry about the people that love you and yourself because were too young to live like adults.

My feelings and emotions to this book were good. I was laughing and happy for the majority of the book but other times I was sad and surprised when there was drama or something was revealed/ told. One question that I have is for Georgia and in the beginning I was just confused why she never told anyone her crush and why she was always acting down? This book hasn’t been made into a movie but if it were I would definitely watch it. This is a great book and I would recommend it to a lot of people.

Hayden Wyrick

IRB response

I read the book called Mister Death’s Blue Eyed Girls By Mary Downing Hahn and it is about two teenage girls who are murdered on their last day of junior high school and it gives one of their friends Nora, a complete change in what her life used to be like her friendships, religion etc. Everything she used to care about doesn’t matter anymore. The whole town thinks it’s Buddy, one of the girls ex-boyfriend because he threatened to kill her many times. Nora thinks it is buddy also until later in the story when she finds Buddy innocent, and you’ll just have to read more to find out who actually committed the murder, and why Nora thinks he is innocent.

I noticed that the author got right to the main point of the story, which is the murder. And she also wrote about how it changed the lives of the people who knew them or were involved. She only had about three chapters just describing what was happening during and days before the murder of the two girls. I think the author wrote the story like this because she didn’t want to lose the readers attention, and she wanted to get right to the point. I think she also wrote like this because the murder was the most important point.

One thing that surprised me was obviously the murder and who the murder was because murder is overall a scary thing and how the girls were murdered was definitely unexpected. One thing that I liked about this book was that it was very suspenseful and it left you hanging, it definitely made me want to keep reading. ONe thing that I didn't like about was that it was scary at parts and for a few days I was a little paranoid that something may happen to me but of course nothing did.

This book taught me that you should always be on your guard and even though a lot of people say you should always walk with someone if you're walking a long distance, but obviously that didn’t matter in this story because both of them were murdered. I think that the theme of this story was that in life people go through things and struggle and it’s okay not to be okay but if you apply what happened to you it can really help you change your way of living and looking at life.

I’ve never had an experience like this one but I have had a few little things like people following me or maybe giving me a weird look that makes me feel uncomfortable. My question is if someone actually thought Buddy would go through with what he said, then would they have been more safe and prepared? I really liked this book because it was suspenseful and it made me want to keep reading, I also like scary things like this and it was definitely a book i would recommend if you like scary things like me. This has never been turned into a movie but if it was I think it would be a good one. One last thing about this book is it is a real life event that occurred in 1955 so if you like true stories this is also the book for you.