the secret life of bees

I've started reading it and it's really intersting. So far, Lily (the main character) has set off on a journey with Rosaleen, her house maid. The big difference is that Lily is white...and Rosaleen is black. Shocked by her father telling her that Lily's mother ran away and abandoned her, she forces herself to believe that its a lie and runs away with Rosaleen. Who was just in jail for spilling snuff spit on three white men because they had made fun of her for who she was. They have now found refuge in August's house who makes honey for living. In the book, there was a part that stuck to my head. This is the song they sing when something happy happens. It goes like this:

Place a beehive on my grave

and let the honey soak it through.

When I'm dead and gone,

that's what I want from you.

The streets of heaven are gold and sunny,

but I'll stick with my plot and a pot of honey.

Place a beehive on my grave

and let the honey soak through.

the secret life of bees

I've decided to read a new book! It's called The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd. My sister just finished it a week ago and actually recommended it to me. A short story about a girl that lives a life of abuse, accidentally kills her mother, and runs away to another city, under the refuge of african american women. This book is fast paced and is a 2002 best selling novel. It suprised me that my sister recommended a book to me because this rarely happens. She just discovered her love for reading a year ago. So, I'm taking this chance and decided to read it ! All i have to do is pick up the book and start reading . Until then !

a tree grows in brooklyn-final

I've finally finished A tree grows in Brooklyn ! I dont really know why I read this book so slowly, but i've finally finished it. So, what was this book about ? (Excluding the entries down there.) This book describes the life of a young girl, Francie, while she grows up. A hard life filled with poverty, a drunk father, a strong mother, and a loving brother. Her family is filled with heartaches, confusion, and understanding. During her life, you'll read about her first love, her ambition to go college, the death of her father, the love of her mother, and a memorable childhood filled with laughter and joy. Francie and her brother always find light in the dark during their childhood and when they look back, they've never regretted it. There's been times when Francie felt burdened by her family, ashamed of her family, or when she just loves them. Reading this book, you understand the life of one more different person. It was really good and I recommend it!

a tree grows in brooklyn.

In the book, Francie and her little brother, Neeley were talking about their father's death. They both couldn't understand why he died and what caused his death, only sure that he was really gone. Their conversation was really .. something.
"Neeley, why did papa have to die?"
"I guess GOd wanted him to die."
"Why?"
"Maybe to punish him."
"Punish him for what?"
"I dont know," said Neeley miserably.
"Do you believe that God put Papa on this world?"
"Yes."
"Then he wanted him to live, didn't he?"
"I guess so."
"Then why did He make him die so quick?"
"Maybe to punish him," repeated Neeley not knowing what else to answer.
"If that's true, what good is it? Papa's dead and he dont know that he's punished. God made Papa the way he was and then said to Himself, Idare you to do anything about it. I just bet he said that."

and it goes on talking about how Francie doesn't believe in God anymore while Neeley becomes scared. This conversation lead me to think about how we always question, but never get answers. I remember whenever I asked questions, I never got a straight answer, so I had to think of the answer by myself.

The joy lucky club.

Hey guys!

I'm waiting at the airport for the plane to shanghai.

Did you know that out of all the cities I know, Shanghai is the only that didn't get its name changed ? I was pretty suprised. Canton is now called Guangzhou.

The picture on the left it where I stayed at...Amazing, isn't it ? And it was only $34 per room.

Anyways, the day before, I met my aunt.

Oh, how happy father was when he met her ! They clasped each others hands, and talked over and over again about how old they've become.

I then became introduced to her family.

I met Aiyi's (my aunt) oldest son and his wife, four other people around my age, and a Lili, a little girl who's around ten. Also know as Aiyi's great granddaughter.

It has been a really enjoyable time and I'm kind of nervous to meet my twin half-sisters tomorrow, you know ?

I keep imagining that they'll run away from me when I tell then..you know, that mom has died. Well, I'll keep in touch and wish my luck !

-June.

a tree grows in brooklyn.

This book is taking me a while to finish but every single page is a precious one. RIght now, I'm reading about how Francie just started school. Her mom held her back form going to school one year so she can go to school with her younger brother, Neeley, because she wanted them to support each other and look out for each other just in case one of them gets bullied around. Francie loves school even though there's bullying, teachers that are unjust, and no friends that hangs out with her. She experiences a very lonely, but happy school year. What she notices though is that in he classroom, everyone is dirty and and they all nhave immigrant parents. I should be more like Francie. I should be really thankful for being able to go to school with friends and teachers that aren't unjust.

a tree grows in brooklyn

I've read more than 100 pages in A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Francie is a young girl that struggles to thrive in Brooklyn, her hometown. So far, the book is about Francie's family. Its amazing how each one fo them have a brilliant story behind them. Most of them are really sad, but each of them have found a light of hope and continues to fight. For example, Francie's mom "stole" her best friend's boyfriend, Johnny Nolan. He was the man that she wanted and spoke to him everyday after work. And after a while, they both confessed their love to each other. Unfortunately, her best friend never spoke to her again. Also, there was a part in the book tha brought my attention. Francie's mom put 5 cents into a tin can every day. By doing this, she could save a lot of money. But because of one reason or another, there was always someone taking money out. For food, clothes, or medicine. Anyways, I've decided to do this also. From now on, I'm going to put 50 cents in a piggy bank every week and see how much I can save up !

Symbolic Figure.

Today, Ms. Faughey was talking about finding symbolic figures in our independent reading books. Our assignment was to find a symbol in our books that represnets something and to post it up on our blog. so here it is. In my independent reading book, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, there are a lot of symbols. But, I tink this is the most important one. Like in the title, it's the tree that sprouts and grows disgarding the fact of the hard cement floor and the harsh living conditions. I think the tree represent the main character of the book. Growing in brooklyn with a father that was always drunk, amother that scrubbed other people's floors, a brother that didn't let her tag along, and always having a hungry stomach, was like the cements for her. She had to struggle and reach for the sky. In the book, it said," Born into this world of sorrow; born for suffering and hardship." (pg.81, Smith.) This shows how many predicted her future and knew how hard it would be.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I've decided to read a new book called A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I like fantasy books, but I also enjoy reading books that are sweet and changing. I've only read on chapter to this story, but I find it intersting. In the first chapter, it talked about how a tree grows out of cement and "struggles to reach the sky." After the tree grew in a place, suprisingly, that section would become a tenement distirct. The author described the tree like this. "That was the kind of tree it was. It liked poor people." She also called it the tree of heaven. Such a nice name :)

Howl's Moving Castle (End).

It's only been a short while since I've started Howl's moving castle, but I've finished it. It's a real page turner and I couldn't stop reading! I think seeing the movie first helped me visualize the characters better. Although the beginning of the movie and the book were the same, the ending was completely different. The only same thing was the happy ending :) This story is about a old woman in search of a new life after being put under a spell by the wicked witch of the waste. She sets off because she's tired of her old life and afriad that her family wouldn't recognize her. She expects her life to be peaceful and dull not that sh's old, but what she finds instead is love, courage, and a new life with the most amazing people she's ever met. I would really recommend this to everyone because whether they like fantasy books or not, it's truly a book that will warm your heart and make your imagination come alive again.

Howl's Moving castle.

I've decided to read
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones.
A book about a young girl living in a world full of magic with witches and wizards. Since I was young, I've always been interested in fantasy books so this book intrigued me greatly. I've also seen the movie and I really enjoyed watching it. The author, Diana Wynne Jones is also known to surpass J.K Rowlings analyzation of characters and plots. Since I've always enjoyed reading the Harry potter series, knowing that this author writes better, i'm greatly anticipating on reading this.