Book Review 2: The Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristen Levine is about 1957/1958 in Little Rock, Arkansas, when there is a battle between the people who want to keep schools segregated and the people who want integration, and equal education for all races. The story begins with the life of Marlee, a quiet 12-year-old girl. Her biggest relationships are with her wonderfully kind and understanding older sister, Judy, her often rude and stuck-up "friend" Sally, and with the lions at the zoo, who comfort her. Then Liz comes. She becomes fast friends with Marlee and inspires her to talk more and show others what she is thinking. Then one day, Liz isn't at school, and the teacher tells Marlee Liz is sick and won't be coming back. The truth is that Liz has been caught "passing" as white. Marlee was about to retreat back into her "shell", but after she spoke to her Sunday school teacher, her father who was for integration and the family's black maid, Betty Jean, she starts to think about the injustices Liz and other black people face. She continues to see Liz in private, despite the dangers it could bring to their families and she also starts to work with organizations working for integration. One day when Liz and Marlee are meeting at the "rock crusher", an old quarry. JT, a boy from Marlee's grade and his brother Red, who come from a family against integration and colored people find Marlee climbing down a tree she was in with Liz. Liz was still in the tree and so Red and JT didn't know she was there. As Marlee starts to leave she stumbles on what she thinks is a rock, but that is actually a box of dynamite from the old quarry days. Red bullies JT into helping him take the dynamite home. Marlee tells her parents, and they call the police, the police search JT and Red's house but they don't find the dynamite. A few days later when Marlee and her parents and Liz and her parents are at Betty Jean and her husband, Pastor George's house, Red drives by and throws a brick with lit dynamite on it inside the house. Marlee gets everyone out quickly and no one is hurt, but Liz's parents decide they don't want Liz and Marlee to be friends anymore. When Marlee sees Liz for the last time, Liz gives her the digits of her new phone number. The story ends with a new chapter of Liz and Marlee's friendship.

I think the theme in this book is to fight for your friendship. My first piece of evidence is when Marlee's dad is driving her to school and Marlee asks, "Can you find her for me? Maybe get her phone number?"(73). Another piece of evidence is when Liz and Marlee are seeing each other at the zoo and Liz says, "'Give me the book for a minute.' I handed the book to her. Liz pulled a pen out of her coat pocket and began to write on the front leaf of the book. When she was done, she handed it back to me"(96). Liz hands the book to Liz with what's called a magic square and says, "The first two and the last two digits are the year,' said Liz. I looked: 1958. "The other five are my phone number'"(96). My last piece of evidence is when Liz got in trouble and she said, "'It'll be Halloween before I'm let out again,' said Liz. 'Sorry,' I said. 'I don't know what I was thinking.' 'You were thinking like a true friend,' said Liz"(290).

The setting in this book is 1957/1958 in Little, Rock Arkansas. In the beginning of the book Marlee is happy and at peace with her family. One piece of evidence of that is, "My sister and brother and Daddy are the only ones I feel really comfortable talking to,"(5). In the middle towards the end of the book Marlee is scared because the violence is increasing towards her family and colored people, Liz and her family in particular. A piece of evidence for that is when Liz gets a phone call and she answers it, "It was a man's voice. ' Is this Richard Nisbett's daughter?' 'Yes,' I said politely. 'Little nigger lover,' he snapped. 'You'd better watch yourself, because-'"(138). At the end of the book Marlee is happy because Liz gives her phone number indicating that she still wants to be friends. My piece of evidence for that is, "On the seat where she'd been sitting, was another three-by-three magic square. The first two and last two digits were the year, 1959. And the other five numbers, well, they were her new phone number."(290).

I would totally recommend this book to other 7th grade readers. Ms. Levine makes you feel like this story is happening right in front of you eyes. You can feel the hurt when Liz leaves without a goodbye. You can feel the rage when Red is treating colored people like scum. Also, this book seems really important now, in the midst of these shootings of young black people by white place officers and the officers getting away with it. It really made me realize that even though our schools aren't segregated anymore, that we can go to the same bathrooms, use the water fountains and ride in the same part of the bus now, does not mean that colored people today are treated fairly, and we need to fight for their rights as much as we fight for ours.

Tie a Tie

I was early for the play. Well, actually, it was the dress rehearsal, but anyway, I was early. I ran my fingers along the costume rack, feeling the different textures. I smelled that delicious smell of Odess Theater, soon to be tainted by the smell of  hairspray and makeup. I heard some of the boys coming in and I decided to put on my makeup before I got my costume on. When I was done, I got on my pants and tucked in my white button up shirt in. I stared blankly at the awful red plaid tie I was supposed to wear.

Olivia Wilcox walked in and I asked, “Olivia! Do you know how to tie a tie? Because I really need some help!”

“Sure,” she said. “Once I get dressed.”

“Phew! Because no one else was here yet and I have no idea what to do!”

She got dressed pretty quickly.

“It’s okay, calm down, I can’t tie it if you’re jumping around!” she told me.

“Can you just do it for me and then I can try it tomorrow?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said.

“First you wrap it around, and then again, and then you bring through, and slip it through,” she muttered as she was doing it.

“Whoah!” I said, amazed.

We then went outside the dressing room to look for Mary Boose, our head costumer, to see if the tie would be sufficient.

“I wonder where she is,” said Olivia.

“Right there,” I said, pointing.

Mary was over by the boys’ dressing room talking to Zeke, our director. We ran up to her and Olivia asked,

“Is this tie alright?”

“Yes, it’s very nice,” she said in her quiet, calm voice.

“Awesome! Thanks!” I said to her.

“Thanks,” echoed Olivia.

“Oh my goodness, thank you so, so, so much!” I exclaimed as we walked away.

“Your welcome,” she said.

“ I figuratively would have died if it wasn’t for you!” I exclaimed, over exaggerating, as usual.

“I would have saved you anyway,” she said in a fake heroic voice.

“My knight in shining armor!” I said, and we collapsed into giggles.

Composing herself, she said, “Of course, my lady,” she bowed.

Then Zeke came out and asked (jokingly), “What is all this noise?”

We started laughing again.

“I just tied her tie for her,” Olivia answered.

“Oh, great! Could you spread the word around that we’re going to do warm-ups in fifteen to twenty minutes?”

“Sure,” we replied.

I think this not only a fun skill to have, but also kind of important. I love acting and am often cast as roles of the opposite gender, so tying a tie might come in handy some day. Yeah, yeah it may not be as important, as say, driving a car, but like I said, it’s fun. The play went well, and we all had fun. There was a cast party afterward and we had fun. I had a great time during The Merry Wives of Windsor!

Book Review 1: Brotherband: The Outcasts

Hal's boat, Heron

Brotherband: The Outcasts, by John Flanagan, is about a Skandian boy named Hal Mikkelson. Hal lives in a country that values physical strength over intelligence. Hal is often bullied at school because his dead father was a strong Skandian warrior, but he doesn't use his physical strength. On top of that, his mother used to be a slave until his father set her free. The story starts off with Hal testing the new boat he designed, that had a triangular sail instead of a square one like all the other Skandian ships. He named the boat Heron because of the way it sailed like a bird. He had to put his ship away for a while because Brotherband training would soon be underway. When the choosing of the Brotherbands started, Hal and seven other boys were rejected from the other leaders' teams.  Tursgud, one of the team leaders, had been Hal's main bully at school. They soon formed a Brotherband called the Herons, after Hal's boat. The first assessment was the Mountain Run, and even though Rollond and Tursgud came in before the Heron team, the Herons won it anyways because it was a team assessment, not individual. Soon Hal knew what it was like to be the "skirl" (captain) of his team. Hal made sure he utilized his whole team, not just doing all the assessments himself, like Rollond and Tursgud. The second to last assessment was the night attack, a bit like capture the flag in nighttime. To make it possible for the Herons to win the Brotherband training, they would have to tie in this assessment. They did. The last assessment was the navigation test and the Herons were doing very well, but then, Tursgud's ship was right behind them and it became a crazy race to get back, but the Herons crossed the finish line first. The Herons won the Brotherband training! As a reward, the Herons got to guard the Andomal, Skandia's most prized object, for a night. But everything went wrong and the Andomal was stolen, and the Herons had to go on a mission to get the Andomal back and prove that they were rightful Skandians. 

I think the theme in this book is to always stick together. My first example of this is when the Brotherbands have the test of mountain running, and the Herons decide to run together. "'We're all running, sir. We'll do it as a team'" (229). My second example of this is when the Herons are trying to complete the obstacle course and Ingvar is falling behind but the Herons all stick with him to help. "'We've got to, Stig. It's the only way. And every team member has to complete every obstacle'" (287). My third and final example of this is when the Herons are getting ready to go steal the Andomal back and Ingvar says, "'Put it this way, Edvin. We never had any chance of beating the Wolves and the Sharks. But we did. Because we're the Heron Brotherband. And we can do anything we set our minds to'" (426). So those are my reasons for why I think that the theme of this book is that you always have to stick together. 

I would totally recommend this book to other 7th grade readers! It gives a wonderful sense of adventure with each page you turn.  I really like how Mr. Flanagan makes you want to read more, and to want to finish the book. Also, I like how the book is set in a fictional place, Skandia, which is based off of a real place, Scandinavia. Overall this was a great book.

Practice Book Review: The Veldt

The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury is about a family in the future that becomes too dependent on technology. This family, the Hadleys, have bought a house that does everything for them, it clothes and feeds them, ties their shoes, and bathes them, and everything else you could think of. The Hadleys have a "nursery" that becomes whatever you imagine it to be for their children, Wendy and Peter. The story starts off with Lydia, the mother, asking George, the father to take a look at the possibly malfunctioning nursery. When Lydia and George go into the nursery it is a hot African veldt. They see lions eating something that they can't see, and then they hear a sccream. The lions start advancing on George and Lydia and when the lions get too close, George and Lydia run from the room. They leave, and as they are standing talking about the nursery the lions jump against the door and Lydia gets worried about the lions coming out and they decide to lock the door. Later, George goes back to the room and finds a bloody wallet of his. When the kids get home their parents ask them about Africa, but they lie and they say that they don't know anything about Africa. Later, they go to bed and then they hear screams in the middle of the night, they found out that the kids had broken into the nursery. In the morning, the psychologist came and said that George and Lydia should turn off the nursery. When George and Lydia turn off the nursery,   Peter and Wendy beg for one last minute, the parents agree reluctantly. But when they hear screams they run into the nursery and suddenly, the door slams shut behind them and the lions start advancing. They get eaten.

One theme in this book is that spoiling your children can have disastrous consequences. One example of this is that George and Lydia didn't think that anything was good enough for their children. "But nothing's too good for our children" (pg.9) My second example of this is that that the kids become too controlling of their parents. "They're insufferable, let's admit it. They come and go as they like; they treat us like we're offspring. They're spoiled and were spoiled" (18). My third and final example is that even the psychologist thinks that the kids are spoiled. "I sensed you had spoiled your children more than most" (22). These are my examples of how spoiling your children can have negative consequences.

I would definitely recommend this book to other 7th grade readers because of the technology that Ray Bradbury envisioned, such as a table that produces food from inside, a shoe tier, and a tube that sucks you up too your bedroom. I think that because of this technology, other 7th graders would enjoy it.