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Thursday, March 5, 2020

Author's Craft Literary Essays - 3rd Hour

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Author's Craft Essay

Post your essay here.  Then take some time to read at least two other essays.  Comment on something positive that you see the author using from the lessons we had in class.

13 comments:

  1. The last craft move was acceptance the things that were found in the book were in chapter 40 Florida and Tiller were having a conversation about how Florida and her brother got their names Tiller was very nice about it also very understanding he as well asked appropriate questions and accepted that that’s how they got their names. Another example of acceptance in this book is when Dallas told Sairy about the experiences that happened to him and Florida at their old foster homes Sairy asked Dallas she said “tell me about those scary toothless lunatics you and Florida keep referring to. Was he really toothless? Really a lunatic?” then Dallas told her it was true then Sairy wanted more detail about it Dallas told her he dint like to talk about it Sairy told him to pretend he was talking to his sister. Then Sairy didn't want to be rude so she asked what his name was then they kept talking and Dallas told her what happened to them Dallas told her about Mr. Drepp what was his name and how he used to lock them in the basement and there were rats and it was damp and gross and they had to sleep down there and all their timeouts would be down there. Sairy didn't know what to say back she hesitated then finally told him what a terrible thing that is she felt so bad for what happened to them. She accepted them for who they were and what they went through.

    This is why in this book it shows that your family is always there you can choose who is family to you. Something learned in this book is trusting family is a good thing and family is always there through anything. Sometimes you and choose your family just because they’re not related by blood doesn’t mean they can't be just like family.
    part 2

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  2. It is Important to treat everyone the same no matter what their skin tone is. In “All American Boys” Rashad is treated very differently by a cop named Paul just because of his skin tone and how he dresses. Rashad was at a gas station where the cashier thought he was stealing when he bent down to get his phone out of his bag and a lady tripped over him. The police officer ran to arrest Rashad and beat him up because supposedly he was resisting the arrest and ended up injured very badly. In “All American Boy” Jason Reynolds makes me think about how things are still not equal between all races.
    Jason Reynolds used multiple points of view in All American Boys to show the different perspectives of what people and feeling and seeing. There are multiple stories that would be very confusing to try and figure out who was telling it if the author didn't have multiple narrators. The two characters that tell the story are Rashad and Quinn, Rashad is the main character that the story revolves around and Quinn is the brother of Paul, the police officer.
    Jason also used build a mood to make you feel a connection or just a feeling about what happens in the book. This book made me feel disappointed about how people treat each other because of their skin tone. It also made me sad because Rashad didn't have any control over how he was being treated. I was very confused that the police officer didn't let him explain before he hit him in the face to make him be quiet.
    I feel empathy towards Rashad because I've had that problem where you get in trouble for not even doing anything wrong and the person you're getting in trouble by doesn't let you explain. I feel bad that Rashad couldn't do anything about getting beat up because if he did try and do something he would get more hurt. I think it's very wrong that the cop just assumed that he was stealing instead of letting him tell his side of the story.
    In “All American Boys” Rashad is very mistreated and all the bystanders that saw him getting beat up did nothing except record it. That's part of the problem no one cared enough to stop what was happening because everyone just assumes that he did something really bad to deserve what was happening to him. There is a problem these days that everyone is just worried about posting on social media that everyone just stands around and does nothing. African Americans are still mistreated to this day, police think just because someone is wearing baggy clothes that their doing something wrong, but a white person could be wearing the same exact thing and police wouldn't even think about what that persons doing. This book gives a good realization that things aren't equal.

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  3. The book #murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil is about a 17-year-old girl who is framed for murdering her stepsister and is sent to a prison that is aired on TV as a reality show with 50 million watchers. I think the effect the author wanted the book to have on the readers was to never give up. The author shows this by creating characters, figurative language, and even the setting.

    One thing the author does to make the readers feel more empathy towards Dee and how she never gives up is how she portrayed some of the characters in the story. The painiacs are the main murders on the island that go around killing all the inmates. With all the paniacs following her around all the time she thinks of a new way to overcome her obstacles and never gives up. For example, when she's going through the maze filled with paniacs Dee tricks DIYnona to fall into her own tripwire or when Dee sets off the explosive frisbee on Barbaric Barista. She finds ways to make the negative odd a positive upper hand

    Another way the author points out the effect is using figurative language on pg 89 "Her body twitched once, her eyes wide and dilated, and then went limp as her head severed at the neck and catapulted through the air like a popped champagne cork"This where Dee is forced to watch one of her new friends die. The way the author describes Blairs death including every little brutal detail it really delivers reality to Dee showing her how messed up Alcatraz 2.0 really is. It gives Dee a reason to grasp what type of shady stuff is going down on Alcatraz 2.0 so she can get herself and all the other innocent people out of there. At this point she has realized how demented her new reality is but she is not going to give up till she gets the heck out of there.

    The main thing that really sets up the effect is the setting in the book. So the setting is a prison that is on a suburban island in the San Francisco Bay. However, the author put in a twist everything that happens in that prison is aired live on TV. Every murder, accident fight, conversation, and even the prisoners taking showers is viewed by 50 million people. The author doing this sets a lot of pressure on Dee. It stresses her out about her childhood kidnapper see her and coming after. It pushes her towards the edge. Yet that just makes her try even harder to get out of there.

    So, all in all, I know the effect the author wanted the book to have on is to never give up. She using setting, characters, and figurative language to do so. How the author makes Dee and her background story make Dee seem real and the readers usually end up rooting for Dee to not give up.



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  4. Everyone in life needs to realize the importance of empathy because without it everyone would be selfish and uncaring. “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo, Xiomora can’t live up to her mother’s expectations. Xiomora wants to live a normal life, but her mother is extremely strict and won’t let her be an ordinary teenager. To create a sense of empathy for Xiomora, Acevedo used verse format, inner thoughts, and dialogue.


    One of the most obvious author’s craft techniques in the book would be verse format. The author of The Poet X wrote the story in poem format to express different emotions in different situations. One situation is when Xiomora writes a poem that she never wants her mom to read. The author wrote the poem in Spanish but then translated it into English. One section of the poem that stood out to me also said a lot about how Xiomora feels. “My mouth cannot write you a white flag, it will never be a Bible verse. My mouth cannot be shaped into the apology you say both you and God deserve.” This means Xiomora feels like she can’t live up to her mom’s expectations. And how the “white flag” means surrender and how her mom wants her to surrender to God.


    A craft technique that the author used that took a bit more work to undercover was inner thoughts. Inner thoughts help the author explain what the character is going through word for word. Xiomora is worried, Aman will discover all the things she isn’t allowed to do. Some things she doesn’t want to tell Aman is, “I can’t date, I can’t have a boy call my cell phone, I can’t go to his house and he can’t come to mine”, and much more. Xiomora is also avoiding making plans with Aman because she doesn’t want him to find out all the things she can’t do with him, so she tries to live in the moment. The most important one that Aman can’t find out about is “ I can’t fall in love”. She is so stressed out about this because of her Mami, and what would happen is Mami found out.


    A final craft move that Elizabeth Acevedo used to show empathy towards Xiomora is dialogue. Even though Xiomora’s Mami is very very religious that doesn’t stop her from hanging out with Aman at the smoke park after school. Sooner than later Mami finds them hanging out after school and punishes her. Mami takes her the living room and makes Xoimora look at a painting and say, “Look the Virgin Mary in the eye, girl. Ask for forgiveness. Look at her, Muchacha MÍirala!” It seems like the author used this to show how Xiomoras mother wants her to be, but It’s the exact opposite of what she wants to do.


    In “The Poet X”, Xiomora writes the poem about how she feels toward her mother’s rules. The poem includes Xiomora not being able to live up to Mami’s expectations, and not being the perfect religious daughter she wanted. Inner thoughts help the reader understand the character more. Just like when Xiomora is thinking of the things she can’t do and how she wants to live in the moment. Dialogue expresses what the character is going through at that moment. Mami is furious at Xiomora for what she did so the author used dialogue to express that. I used to think empathy wasn’t that important but I realized why it is so important, and why our world needs more of it.

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  5. Everyone in life needs to know not to take things for granted. They live in a community where books are forbidden and Madrid wants to figure out why. In the book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses first person narration to cause us to think about how we take things for granted.

    Madrid is the main character and the author uses the first person to explain how Madrid feels and what he has to go through. He lives in a community where if they find a book they have to burn it and sometimes, they burn the person that had it too. Madrid is a firefighter so he has to watch people get burned because they believe that books are so important. So he takes a whole adventure to try to figure out why the books are so important and why people are willing to get burned for them.

    In the book Madrid says, “ While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning”, He watches all the books go up in flames and he described it like you were right there with him and he also says, “ the only thing I positively knew was all the books I burned in the last ten or twelve years”, which kinda makes it seem like he felt bad for every time he ever burned a book.

    In this book, you really have to think about what we have and what they had. Most kids these days hate reading and they don’t find it enjoyable. But how would we know how to read to communicate with people we have to read to understand. But if they get caught reading a book they get burned. We take this for granted too much. It's how we learn about our history or science or about other states and countries but that's why they have the books banned because they don’t want them to know about any of that stuff.

    Madrid had to go through a lot because he wanted to read a book. Him and his wife wanted to read it together but then one day one of Madrid’s co-workers came to there house hie wife answered and the co-worker saw the book insight. He later went and told someone and they cam back to their house. Madrid wasn't home when it happened so his wife got burned to death. He comes home and realizes and this big hunt happens and he has to run. He meets a group of people that were like him running. He had the whole book memorized in his head. They later find a place but they leave it hanging wondering if he survives or if they find him. But the thing he’s trying to teach us is that we don’t have to run away because we have read a book. They do we also don’t get burned alive for when we read books or have a book in our possession. Life for them is very complicated we have life super easy or at least most of us do there’s also the chance that we could have life that. We take those things for granted every day.


    In conclusion in Fahrenheit 451 the main effect that the author wants you to learn is that we shouldn’t be taking things for granted. We could be living in a community where books are banned. Another one could be where cell phones are forbidden or maybe they just don’t exist. We use our phones so much we take them for granted where there's is people that don’t have cell phones. We all need to learn to not take things for granted.

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    1. I like yout ending

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    2. Good job with your quotes. And good job on your conclusion.

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  6. In life everyone has suspense, suspense teaches you to be prepared for what comes next in life it could be good or bad you just had to be ready. In The darkest hour, by Carolin tung Richmond the story takes place in Germany WWII. The main character signs up to an under cover ops and has to try and help defeat Hitler and the Nazi’s. The character has no idea what is coming throughout the whole story. In The Darkest Hour, Caroline tung Richmond uses inner thoughts to create suspense. What will she do to get prepared?

    The first half of the book, the darkest hour, has a lot of inner thoughts that create suspense when the reader reads the story. One example of inner thoughts would be, “the brits aren't here,” this inner thought shows suspense by if they are not there will they get ambushed or hurt or what will happen to them because the brits aren’t there at the time she arrives. It also shows suspense by, what do they need the brits for, or do they need them for a serum or an antidote to save the world or maybe save one person? Another example of inner thoughts that creates suspense is when the story says, “I want him to feel a sliver of pain.” Why does the main character want this man to feel the pain? In this instance you might be able to tell that they are fighting, but what are they fighting about? does someone other than the nazi’s want to capture her? This part of the story creates a lot of suspense. The last instance of inner thoughts in the first half of the story is when the story says, “I am running down the cramped streets.” This can create suspense because why is she running and not walking? Is the main character getting chased or just running for fun to go somewhere to hang out? The suspense makes the reader think a lot of questions to themselves like what is the deeper meaning of this story. Although there are a lot of inner thoughts in the first half of the story there is a lot more in the second half of the story.

    In the second half of the story the inner thoughts create a lot of suspense and the reader has to think a lot about what is really happening deeper down in the story and what might actually happen next. The last half of the book is about the suspense of staying alive when the main character gets captured and you do not know if she will stay alive or die. An example of this is, “I have to stay alive.” Which means that she might die but you can't tell in that very instance because this part of the story is all the author gives you. Another example is, “Some way somehow I need to escape,” this part again says she might be in trouble but you don’t know how she got there or why she is in trouble or if she might be getting chased by a crazy family member. The last inner thought that helps create suspense is when the story says, “I Sew together my last shreds of sanity.” The reader has no idea what is happening or going to happen in the next part of the story if she will die or stay alive and fight another day. In the story you could argue the theme is staying alive, but it is clearly suspense because the whole story is about what will happen next , and you don't know what will happen next throughout the whole story.

    In The Darkest Hour, Caroline tung Richmond used inner thoughts to create suspense so the reader did not know what was coming next. At the end of the story the main character finally reveals her name, her name is Lucie. She helps the other countries defeat the Nazi’s and a very sad ending. Lucie shoots a bottle up in the sky “safe travels” she says “for a little while”.

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    1. Nice job describing inner thoughts.

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    2. Good Word Choice.

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  7. In life it's important to learn from mistakes. If one doesn't learn from their mistakes they are bound to make them again. In “Iron Gold” by Pierce Brown the characters make a lot of mistakes. The mistakes sometimes have unexpected consequences. If characters don’t learn from their mistakes they repeat them just like in real life. The book emphasizes this by saying, “Death begets death begets death.” The character that says this famous quote in the book is 145 years old. He has made big long lasting mistakes. Pierce Brown uses multiple points of view to show the overall ripple effect of the main characters mistakes

    Darrow is the first out of the four main characters. He starts off making a big mistake that cost a lot of lives in the war that is going on in the story. One life was really important to another main character. Darrow also makes the mistake of killing a beloved character that angers a lot of his side of the army. It angers his side much that he gets a warrant for arrest. Of course he doesn't just let them take him away. That would be to esey instead he goes on a long quest to kill the enemy leader while being chased by his own comrades. He has only but a small part of his team that goes with him to kill the enemy, but even then some lose faith in him at the end

    Second, the character is Ephraim. He is a robber. That right there is one of the many mistakes that he has made in his life, but why is his mistake rill important? Well he steals the most valuable thing in the solar system. He steals Darrow's son. That effect led to Darrow's friend leaving him at the end of the book. It also led to Ephraim losing two of his coworkers, his new friend Lyria, and his old friend Holiday.

    The third character is Lyria, and she makes lots of little mistakes throughout the whole story. One of those mistakes is trusting Ephraim, but then Ephraim uses her to get to Dorrows son. She even makes the mistake of saying that Borrows is useless to his face. Which is surprising because she can be killed for saying that. She also thinks that the sovereign, which is Darrow's wife, is useless because she never helped her when she was in need.

    The Fourth of the four characters is Lysander. He makes the mistake of helping out someone he doesn’t know. She ends up being the daughter of the enemy and he is held captive. Then when his best friend tries to save him, he is caught and then is killed. That breaks Lysander. Which then allows the enemy to brainwash him into thinking it was all Darrow's fault. This could be interpreted as faliler but it clearly means mistakes because Lysander fixes the mistakes in the end of the book. Instead of keeping the hatred for Darrow

    The book shows us the mistakes of the characters to make us aware of the importance of the mistake we make in our lives, and what to do if they happen to you. It tells a story of mistakes, and how to fix them. Pierce Brown has a strong effect of mistakes in Iron Gold, and he makes that effect with multiple points of view.

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  8. Many people, maybe including you, have experienced a time where they wanted revenge. Some of these people actually follow through with their plan but sometimes people regret what they do. In “Daughter of Deep Silence” by Carrie Ryan, Frances the main character (who later changes her name to Libby, but we will get into that later) is put through a terrible situation. This situation was life scarring, and it had to do with a shooting on a boat she boarded called the Persephone. After what happened, she shows a lot of motivation and creates a plan to get back at the man she believes was involved. In Daughter of Deep Silence, Carrie Ryan uses character actions, Inner thoughts and flashbacks to get the reader to think if revenge is even worth the effort and time.

    To get some backstory, (otherwise nothing would make sense, this also includes flashbacks because she repeatedly thinks of these moments.) towards the beginning of the book, Frances is on a boat with her new friend Libby that she just met. They get along very well and decide to spend all of their time together when they are on the Persephone. They meet a nice guy named Grey that also hung out with them. Now this is when things start to go downhill, there is a shooting on the Persephone and the only people to make it out are Grey, his father Senator Wells, Frances and Libby. Frances and Libby are stuck on this life raft (seperate from Senator Wells and his son Grey) for about a week and when they are found and saved, Libby already died on the raft an hour earlier. Libby's father convinces Frances to take Libby's identity because if she didn't, she would have to be put up for adoption because her family was killed in the attack.

    Frances uses Inner thoughts to show the reader of the book how she feels at the moment. This happens almost constantly throughout the book in an effort to get the reader more hooked on the subject at the moment. (Didn't have time to finish)

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  9. Everyone wants to stand up for bullying, but they are afraid they will get bullied in return. We all don’t want to be bullied or called names. The book BackLash by Sarah Darer Littman, the book is about bullying and the effects bullying has. In this book there is a girl named Lara and she tries to kill herself because of bullying. This story is told from multiple perspectives. Each chapter there is a new person Bree, Liam, Lara, Sydney are the main characters and they alternate from chapter to chapter. In this story the author used “BackLash” as a way to show us how bullying can affect people's lives and that no one should bully anyone because there are consequences. Bullying is a lesson because you can hurt someone just the way you treat them and what you say to them. In BackLash the author uses multiple perspectives, and character actions to show how the theme is important.
    One of the obvious author’s craft moves in the story was alternating narrators every chapter. The author from BackLash used multiple perspectives to show what was going on in that person's life and how they are all connected. Bree and Liam are siblings and live right across from Lara and Sidney. Lara and Sidney are siblings as well and the author switches the chapters to show what they are doing. Alternating narrators is an important technique because it helps us to see each person's perspective. Because of alternating narrators the readers can understand how other characters are feeling and their thoughts.
    In the story Backlash ,it states that bullying is harmful to others and what the impact is about bullying. The story showed us some background. In the beginning of the story it shows us a page and how the world would be a better place without Lara. This book gives us a lot of background and what is happening in the story and why it is happening. In the beginning Lara tries to kill herself because of this guy named Christian they meet on facebook and start chatting right away. She thinks that he likes her when really it is someone else behind a screen that she knows.After a while of talking he brings up at dance at his school. He said “So, hypothetically, if you were there at the dance with someone like me would you go?” he got her hopes up and she started to look for dresses. Later in the story they slowly started to stop talking after a while he became angry with her and slowly started to hate her. One day Laras friend asked if she had been on facebook and she said no she told her to look at her page, so she did she saw what Christian wrote on her page he said “I would not be caught dead at a school dance, with you the world would be a better place without you in it too”. After Lara read that she felt so empty and sad asking herself all the time what did I do wrong? I thought he liked me or did I get that wrong too.
    This story is important to readers because it teaches them about bullying and how bullying can affect others.When the authors used multiple narrators it helped us see how power bullying can be. Bullying is sadly a common thing that happens in our world and with the book BackLash we are able to see how harmful bullying really is.

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