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.