The Supernatural (Where She Went, Gayle Forman)

Where She Went, by Gayle Forman, is the sequel to the heartbreaking If I Stay. If I Stay is the story of music-crazed Mia who gets into a car accident with her family. She is in a coma for most of the book, trying to decide whether to try to fight death or to let it take her. Where She Went is the continuation of Mia's story, told from the perspective of her now ex-boyfriend. A concept that started in If I Stay was the idea of being able to have an out-of-body experience, like Mia does when in her coma. This was probably just intended for the readers not to get bored with just Mia's thoughts, and this way they can watch the other characters lives and still be reading from Mia's perspective. Ultimately, it led to the event that gave Mia the will to wake up and survive: when Adam, her boyfriend begged her to. This concept continues slightly into the next book, which made me wonder if this was possibly the inspiration for the books themselves.

When having her out-of-body experience, Mia was able to see and hear the things around her, which she should not have been able to do when being in her coma. This idea never really gets confronted or explained within that first book, besides Mia wondering if she is dreaming. The only way that is does get elaborated on within the second book is when she tells Adam about it. Struggling with her losses and angry at him for her pain, she yells at him for asking her to stay alive. This immediately tells him that she somehow miraculously heard him when she was in her coma. She then tells him about how she had once been able to see all of the way outside the hospital where she lay, and that she had watched him struggle with her car accident. Though this whole thing is incredible, they do not contemplate it for too long. The one way in which it affects them is to make Mia open her mind a little bit more to the idea of ghosts.

After losing her family, Mia is thoroughly devastated and traumatized. The one thing that keeps her going is the conversations that she believes to be having with her mom, dad and brother in her mind. When admitting to this, she also says that she knows it sounds crazy and that she is not sure if it it real. I can't help thinking that the author put this in intentionally to make the readers wonder about ghosts and the afterlife. It is not a big plot within the books, in fact is only quickly mentioned,but all the same I think the author thought it was a weighty idea. Maybe she had some sort of personal relation to these ideas and thoughts, or maybe she thought they were just interesting. I truly don't know. I think the idea of ghosts is very controversial and interesting. In the book it definitely comes to me as a comfort to think that her family is still there somehow, because of how attached to them I got as a reader. It is definitely something else entirely to think about in real life, but is surely worth putting some thought into.

Love, Love, Love, (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close SPOILERS)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer is the story of nine-year-old Oskar Schell, who loses his dad during 9/11. He sets out on an adventure across New York to figure out what the key that he finds in a vase in his Dad's closet is for. This book is truly incredible, with countless stories all woven together into one extraordinary book. Mostly, it is the experiences of a sad child who wants to discover why his dad has died.The one theme that carries through the entire book of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is love.

For the main character of the book, Oskar, love is what keeps him searching for meaning in the little things his father left behind. In the key, and the name Black, and the circled words on the back of the newspaper. He believes if he does not continue searching, he does not truly love his deceased dad. Love is what drives his incessant need for answers. Love is what keeps him safe on his journey around New York and the other boroughs, with his caring mother watching over him the entire time. Love is what stripped Oskar's grandfather of his ability to speak, when the weight of all of his loved ones that would never return to him became too much. When the thought of the life that he could have had with Anna destroyed him. Love is what bound him and Anna's little sister together in their times of need, even if they would never truly be in love. And love is what compelled every single person Oskar visited with the last name Black to show him compassion. They all had their own stories full of love and loss, and helping Oskar to find some closure within his life gave every single one of them closure as well.

 There are many other themes to this book. There is tragedy, and loss, and the search for a reason to keep living. There is also hope that lies within every hopeless story. But for me, all of these themes were related to, or somehow always led back to love. I feel as though that theme in this book was what kept it so true to life. It didn't exclude the hopelessness that the characters felt, or the depression. The only driving force that kept this book from being one of tragedy was love. This is where this book is very realistic. I believe that love is the one thing that keeps us all going. It is also the something we all share in common. If we didn't have love, then all we would be left with would be that hopelessness. This all shone through so brightly to me through the love that Oskar shared with his mother, and old Mr.Black, his grandmother, and eventually even his long lost grandfather.

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If you haven't already i 100% recommend you read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Arctic Meltdown

According to the article "Arctic Meltdown" by Justin Gillis, ice currently covers about 24% of the arctic ocean. In 1970 it covered 50%. " The Arctic is Earth's air conditioner," says Walt Meier, research scientist at National Snow and Ice Data Center. " We're losing that." Without the Arctic to keep our earth cool, the ice in the Arctic will melt. The ramifications of this have and will be the gradual extinction of polar bears, local tribes being forced to move and adapt, and according to Justin Gillis, the rising of our sea levels.

How Justin Gillis wants the readers of his article to feel is intimidated. He tells the audience strong and terrifying facts about the arctic, hoping to scare them into taking action. By saying that the results of arctic meltdown will be like a stronger version of Hurricane Sandy, he connects to the reader's personal experience with flooding; he makes them see that this is not an imaginary problem. He continues to throw shocking facts at the reader throughout the article, hoping to make them realize the horrible situation we are in.

I believe that this article is very strong and very helpful. Justin Gillis has found a way of stating facts that people might not want to think about in a very clear and straightforward way. Where other people might not approve of scaring your audience into agreeing with you, I think it was very effective on me, and hope it will be on other readers of "Upfront Magazine". I believe that we should be doing whatever we can to prevent sea levels from rising. As stated in the article, the reason people aren't doing anything to stop these issues is because they haven't seen any bad effects of the melting in the arctic. Well soon enough they will be seeing those bad effects, and I think that Justin Gillis got that across very well in his article.

 Please leave a comment :)

Here's the article: http://home.d47.org/jgwalsh/files/2012/01/Arctic-Meltdown.pdf
 Gillis, Justin. "Arctic Meltdown." Upfront 19 Nov. 2012: 8-11.

The Value of Family (Life As We Knew It)

Life As We Knew It is the story of 16 year old Miranda, who must learn to survive in a post-meteor-hitting-the-moon world. She must learn to survive with food shortages and drastic climate fiascoes. But most importantly, she must learn the importance of family.

At the start of the book, Miranda's family is presented like any other. Her mom helps her with her homework and gets mad when she gets an 80 in history. She likes her younger brother but does not pay him any special attention. Nothing is out of the ordinary with them. But as the book progresses, the reader can see some hints at a greater message. In their world, each family must learn that they can only look out for themselves when it comes to food. Miranda disobeys this ground rule directly. Her mother is furious. The reader still sides with Miranda, seeing as all she was trying to do was help. I believe that though Miranda's mom is going a bit over board, the author in some ways agrees with her. They can only look out for each other. What other reason would the author have for staging a huge fight between Miranda and her mom?

The best moments in the book are when their family is all together and happy. When things start to get really rough with food, the mom pulls out some old board games and they all begin to play poker together. They are all so happy that this is one of the most elating moments of the book. Miranda even says that what she never would have considered a fun night before had now become the highlight of her month. On Christmas they all work really hard to get each other heartfelt gifts. Miranda finds her mom a box of chocolates, and she gets her brothers baseball cards and colored pencils. In return she gets a journal to write in. This is also one of the high points of the book.They are all so touched by their gifts. Miranda compares this night to a Christmas around the time of  her parents divorce. She says that her parents felt so badly that they let the kids get basically anything they wanted. She used to consider that an amazing Christmas.

I believe that through this story, the author is making a comment about how family is these days. We can barely stand to be around each other, and we don't appreciate each other the way we should. Miranda learns the importance of her family so clearly in the hard, hungry months that they struggle through together. And she loves them so much more because of it. It really makes me think about how much my family means to me, and how it would feel if I lost mine, like Miranda almost does countless times.

Surviving (Mockingjay SPOILERS)

In Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins, Katniss must make a decision between which guy she would like to be with. This is not exactly her highest priority, because of the war, but nonetheless, the reader knows  that she is going to end up with one of the two guys in the end. There is Gale, who she's known for a long time and is her best friend, and then there is Peeta, who she got stuck in the Hunger Games with and they bonded. When discussing which of them Peeta and Gale believe she is going to choose, Gale says,"Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't survive without."

I thought this was an interesting way to put that. Katniss herself is shocked at how selfish that makes her sound when she overhears them talking. I actually believe it fits her character perfectly. All throughout the series, that is what she has had to do; survive. She interprets what Gale is saying as saying that she will pick whoever can offer her more or extend her life. In a way this is what he means. But not in a bad way. Katniss has gone through so much. First her dad died, then she got thrown in the Hunger Games and had to fight to stay alive. Then her little sister, the person she cared about more than anyone else in the world, also died. She still made it through all of that. So maybe when saying that there is some one that she cannot survive without, that really does mean a lot.

Katniss comes to the same sort of realization in the end of the book, when she states that she will pick the peace that Peeta offers. That is what she cannot live without. It's not about how she will literally survive. She can do that very well by herself. It is about what will really keep her going and make her want to survive. So in the end, what Gale said could not have been truer.

In a way, this can apply to everyone's life. There are always those things that we do not believe we would be able to survive with out. Maybe it's family or friends. Without these things, we could not survive. If Katniss lost Peeta, she would not have the peace or promise of life that she needs to survive. And those are things we all need.

Possible Interpretations of (The Lorax)

In many books, the theme is hidden, and it can be interesting to work out what it is. However, with The Lorax, it is the complete opposite. This book is about a natural paradise that slowly gets destroyed by the oblivious Once-ler who starts up a detrimental business. In the end, it is left up to a young boy to bring back the paradise that once was. I have always wondered about this theme. It is so obviously pointed at polluting companies in our world, and so obviously reprimanding them. But what about the story line makes it seem so black and white? These companies must be stopped. What makes a person want to single handedly bring back the nature in our world?

For me, this book was an inspiration. I've loved it since the third grade, when I was struck by its flat out honesty. Some of the things that really resonated with me were the incredible paradise Dr. Seuss shows. Then there is the barren wasteland it gets turned into. There is also the way the story is told from the destroyers point of view, and how deeply he regrets his decisions. What I think is extremely effective is the way the reader can relate with the Once-ler. Though we are inevitably going to end up being the little boy that gets handed the seed that could save the world, he's not our protagonist. We get pulled into the world with the paradise, and watch the Once-ler make all of his mistakes. In a way, the Once-ler also represents every single person who isn't doing something to stop the destruction of nature. He is us if we don't start to change. So this book with a straight out message does have a deeper meaning... Maybe the reason it affected me so strongly was because of the realization that though I am not trying to do bad things, like the Once-ler, I am hurting the environment. It is slipping away from all of us.

Another character in the book is the Lorax, the book's namesake. He is the one who warns the Once-ler to stop his business. Something that has always bothered me, is that if the Lorax saw what was happening with the environment and was obviously upset by it, why didn't he stop him. The easy answer would be that he wasn't strong enough, or didn't know how to, but I don't think that's it. One possible interpretation is in league with the idea that the Once-ler represents our factories and businesses. The Lorax could be our society warning to stop, and the Once-ler bad polluters not listening. That could be the reason the Lorax is seemingly flaky at times. Because our society's passion on the subject wavers. My other idea is that the Once-ler and the Lorax represent the greed and the conscience with in every single person. When we litter or drive our cars, we know what is happening, as the Lorax does, but the side of us that wants to do whatever the harmful thing might be, can argue and win over the other side of ourselves. As the Once-ler says: "Business is business and business must grow." Our conscience can't put up much of a fight once the argument is won. But as the Lorax does, it still resurfaces from time to time.

The Evolution of Thomas ( The Scorch Trials)

I recently finished reading The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner. This book is the sequel to The Maze Runner, in which a bunch of adolescents are being put through life-threatening challenges to see which are the best candidates to get the world back to the way it used to be. In The Scorch Trials, I feel that the protagonist, Thomas, has changed very much since the start of the series.
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At the start of The Maze Runner, he was thoroughly confused about what was going on. Therefore he turned on those who were in the same situation as him because he felt so lost. He eventually began to think of at least some of the kids in the maze as friends. I think he evolved in this way because he began to realize that they truly were no different from him, and he began to blame the Creators, the ones who had actually put him in the maze, for all of them being lost and hopeless. In this way he took on the burden that all of them held of not knowing who they were, and he found a new place to channel his anger at.

In the Scorch Trials, because he now shares this bond with those who have been wronged by the Creators, he has something to fire him up and make him keep going. This is the way in which he is so different than he was at the start. Like it says on all of the signs, he is the true leader. He has evolved from a scared little kid, to a guy whom many people depend upon. Also, because Thomas originally had no memory, he has had build new beliefs and relationships. He may have had his original personality at the start, but memories and feelings another thing that make a person. He develops as the series develops, and I have a feeling he is not done becoming who will end up being.