The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

The book I am currently reading by Jessica Sorenson is, "The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden". In the book, Callie is a social outcast. Ever since one of her birthday parties, she hasn't had any friends. She cut her hair and made herself look as unattractive as possible. The author has yet to reveal what happened that one night, but I can only assume it was horrific. Now in the present, she goes to a party to pick up her brother. She was forced to go into the house and retrieve her brother. As she's looking around for him she sees two figures fighting in the backyard. She recognizes them as one of her father’s football players, and the players dad. The dad starts yelling and punching the son. The kid falls onto the ground bruised badly. Callie runs over and asks if everything is alright. The dad says "Yeah, just a misunderstanding", and goes into the house to get even drunker than he already is. Callie runs over to Kayden and bandages him up. He won't tell her anything about what happened so she leaves him. It's the first day of college and Kayden sees her: Callie. The girl who saved his life and she didn't even know. I predict that Kayden will go up to her and try to befriend her. She most likely will ignore him and say anyone would have saved him. She hasn't liked attention since that night at her party. She probably hates that one of the most popular kids has taken an interest in her. I also predict that her father or brother had done something abusive to her at her party. They refer to the person as "him". She probably tries to look ugly so they won't want to do it to her again. This relates to the world because, "More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way." This is why it could be someone in her family. This also relates to the book "Lovely Bones", because in that the girl is sexually abused by her neighbor and then killed. I am lucky that I haven't had to deal with any of these experiences. I have read lots of books where the main character is trying to move on and forget about it. I think that's what Callie is trying to do.

http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics

Book Recommendations

I recomommend a book by Jennifer Smith, The Statistics of Love at First Sight. It was a 7/10. This book is for anyone who likes shortand sappy books about love and romance. It's very short in length so it's considered a short story. It won't take you longer than a couple hours or less to read. I like it because the girl in the book, Hadley, was described as a strong girl who didn't like her dad for leaving the family. So when her mom forces her on a plane to London to atttend his wedding she gets angry; furious even. This man doesn't deserve her love or any part in her life. But once she's at the airport a kind young gentlmen around her age is there. He helps carry her bags and sits next to her on the plane. Through this time they get to know one another, and almost kiss; but still only strangers. Will Hadley forgive her dad before she returns home? Will the wedding go okay? Is the young gentlemen named Oliver going to fall in love with her or forget her? Read this book to find out more in The Statistics of Love at First Sight.

Book Recommendations

I would rate the book Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks a 9/10. This book is so unpredictable you're on the edge of your seat. Take the journey of a married woman trying to escape her abusive husband. It wouldn't be that hard for some, but since he is a cop, he's all the more determined to find her. Once she finds a safe place to live she meets a single dad with 2 little kids. Will this family accept her? Or leave her to hide in misery and fear all of her life? Will the husband find his ungrateful wife? Or will he give up the search? Read this book to find out what happens to Katie and if she survives the fight or not. The theme of this book is, "Giving up or giving in to another person may ruin oneself's confidence."

Characters

     "Tripping Me Up" has a girl named Hadley who is what she calls "invisible". She used to be popular until her friend used her and dumped her to climb the social ladder. She only has one friend and she is outspoken and doesn't take insults from anyone. Hadley wishes she could stand up for herself like her friend but she doesn't want to be bullied by them anymore. When Tripp starts to find interest in her she is surprised and skeptical. He was the perfect friend for her until at school he totally ignores her around his friends and treats her the same as everyone else. She stands up for herself to him and tells him how she feels. He decides he shouldn't be like that with her anymore and loses his friends. He begins to date her and go against his dad. Hadley has changed. She isn't the loser anymore she has him and other friends that make her feel much better about herself. She starts to feel accepted and now just ignores the bullies. She's changed for the better.

Book Recommendations

     The book Tripping Me Up is a 7/10. It's kind of cliché because it has to do with the nerdy girl liking the jock and the jock ends up liking her. In this book it's different because in the past she used to be popular until her friends ditched her and made her invisible. She has one friend and they are both what you would call the outcasts in high school. Since forever, she's always had a crush on a kid named Tripp. He was the popular guy who was good at football and had tons of friends. But what people didn't know was that he is abused by his father. People may think that his dad is just extremely strict and rude but they don't see the scars peeking out from behind Tripp's clothes. They don't know that he fears coming home every day because then he will have to face his father. They don't know that his dad makes the decisions for him including who he dates, what sports he does, and that he isn't pursing his artistic career. But Hadley sees him as someone who gets whatever he wants, including popularity, money, athletic ability, etc. This book has many surprises and many twists. Read it to see if Tripp chooses to let Hadley in, or if he chooses to hide behind his dads commands.

Character: Final

The character Jennifer has changed this whole book. Before she was some loser who just wanted friends. Everyone pitied her, and she felt she deserved it. I mean who wouldn't considering she was ugliest for four years in a row. Her so called "friends" try to get her to win homecoming queen. Jennifer is ecstatic about it, this would be the time she would shine. She goes to a party with them and is feeling desperate. People around her feel bad that she's trying so hard to have friends. She ends up kissing an intoxicated guy since she wanted her first kiss: to feel normal instead of the ugly fat girl. When homecoming comes around and the principal tells her she didn't win. She thought her whole entire plan had failed. She deserved peoples pity, but she didn't get enough. She was the mastermind behind everything. She thought that since she was ugliest she deserved pity and people to feel bad for her, she felt what she did was right. She hadn't learn anything from her experience. She just went along believing that everyone hated her and what she did was right. This character's view on herself was forever ugly.

Theme & Summary

    The theme of The List, is, "Even though something may be believed to be a good or bad thing, it could possibly change ones viewpoint on themselves or life." It develops over text partly because the reader gets to hear what the character is thinking and how they are reacting to the list. We also get background information on it. For example one character named Bridget thought, "And in a flash, the guilt, the sadness, and the depression she'd felt the whole way to school vanish and is replaced with warmth." This is when Bridget first found out she was put as the prettiest junior. During her summer she was starving herself so she could fit into a smaller bathing suit. Soon she realized it was a terrible idea. But once she sees that she was put on the list she thought she should keep it up because it seemed to improve her look to others. She felt amazing, but her sister makes her feel bad about it in the middle of the text. Her sister confronts her and tells her she needs to start eating. Bridget says," I'm telling you. After the homecoming dance, I'll eat. I'll be back to normal again. I swear. You know how you keep talking about the list, wanting to be on it someday? Well, just think about things from my perspective. It's a lot of pressure." This is where she starts to realize maybe it's not a good thing to be known as prettiest. But towards the end she knows it wasn't good. She says, "I wish I wasn't on the list. The list has been nothing but trouble for me." This shows that she starts to wish she hadn't made the list because then she wouldn't have thought that starving herself was a good thing. The list actually ruined her viewpoint on herself.

This picture shows how Bridget felt. She felt fat compared to other people in the world when in reality she was skinny. Once you start to feel a certain way it takes a lot to change old habits.

Book Recommendations

     I have recently read the Uglies series. I'd rate it an 8/10. This book is about a girl who lives in a world where at a young age everyone is ugly; having unsymmetrical or boring features. But when they come of a certain age they get an operation that changes them. They get perfect faces, perfect white teeth, perfect bodies, and amazing facial features. Tally Youngblood has been waiting for this day forever.  Before the operation she runs into a girl named Shay. Shay teaches Tally how to hover board and shares that she wants to go against the operation. Tally ignores it until she finds a note with information on how to find her. The day of her operation the Special Circumstances (law enforcers who have extra strengths) call her in. They say she has had connections from outside the cities limits. She has a decision to make, either give up her best friend’s secret location in the Smoke, or not get the operation. Which will she choose? This book is filled with quirks and twists you wouldn't expect to be possible.  Read the book Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and find out what happens with the adventure of Tally Youngblood.

Character

     One of the characters in The List is Jennifer. She was put on the list as the ugliest. She has been the ugliest all four years of high school for being overweight. Before high school started she only had one true friend and that true friend was Margo. Margo was elected as the prettiest girl in senior class as Jennifer was voted ugliest. Margo stopped hanging out with Jennifer because she was too needy for her liking and didn't fit in with any of her friends. Jennifer was left all alone with no one to hang out with. She was voted the ugliest freshman year and she had a major break down. For example the book states, "Jennifer had sunk to the floor in front of her locker and bawled unabashedly until her entire face was shellacked with the mixture of tears, snot, and sweat. The list, damp and twisted in her fists, was reduced to soggy pulp. Blood vessels burst in her cheeks and in the whites of her eyes. She'd barely survived the worst summer of her life, and now this? The freshman collectively backed up and gawked in horror, the way one might upon seeing a dead body. Except Jeniifer was very much alive. A gasp for breath turned into a choke, and then she vommited on herself." Throughout the years she starts to get over it. The student body was surprised when she started cheering and jumping up and down when she was nominated for the fourth year in a row. Something has changed with Margo's best friends this time though. Them being the popular girls in school, they talk to Jennifer and invite her to hang out with them. Jennifer obviously accepts quickly so they don't change their minds. Margo is frustrated that her friends invited her to go to homecoming so she makes an excuse to cancel it. Little did she know Jennifer told them she could drive and Margo was left in the dust. Jennifer has changed because now she is willing to make friends with any one and she's not afraid to talk to Margo anymore. Jennifer advances the plot because now Margo will try to get her friends back without Jennifer being a part of her group. If she fails then Margo won't have friends since she's being a bully.
  http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/childhood-obesity-resource-articles/bullying-bullycide-and-childhood-obesity

     This article relates to Jennifer's teasing because of weight. It most commonly occurs during high school for girls and that's exactly what has happened to her. In middle school she was also rejected by Margo because she was overweight and uncool. Many people have the same story as Jennifer does.

Book Recommendations

I recommend the book Thirteen Reasons Why. This book was depressing to be honest, but there was an underlying meaning that is a very good life lesson. Even though you think what your doing isn't hurting other people, repercussions will be made. The girl in the book, Hannah Baker, gets put on a paper saying she has the best butt in freshman class. Seemingly harmless to the creator, he passes it around and shows everyone. That one little decision changed Hannah's whole entire life. I believe this book is crawling with suspense. You're always wondering why this person was brought into the story and how they contributed to Hannah's decision. Every chapter I was pulled into the story even more than I was before. I would rate this book a 9/10.

Reading skills

     The book I'm currently reading is The List, by Siobhan Vivian. In my story 8 girls in high school are put on a list. One girl from each grade is picked as the ugliest. Another person from each grade is picked as the prettiest. The principal would like the girls to come together and find out who made the list and tries to encourage them to ignore the list and go against it. I predict that the girls voted as the prettiest won't try to help find the mastermind because they got an extra confidence boost. That person made them popular also making them feel special. I also predict that some of the girls who were voted the ugliest won't help either so they don't get even more hate.  They are most likely pretending that the list doesn't bother them, when it in fact does. I hope that at least half of the girls start to help track down the list maker and take them down. I am curious if the maker is on the list. The whole story would be turned around and surprise would be evident for the readers if it were. This story relates to the book Thirteen Reasons Why, because in that book the quandary that started it all was a paper that said Hannah Baker had the nicest butt in freshman class. That one paper changed her life forever and had major consequences just like how people started treating the ugly and pretty girls differently. This book relates to my life because one little thing a person does changes my outlook on them. If they do something very strange or disgusting I will have the urge to judge them. This relates to the world by everyone having certain points in their life where they feel major confidence or major sadness. Being labeled as "ugly" or "pretty" is a major issue that is still happening all around the world. If people start to believe these things they could change their whole life for the better or for the worse depending on the situation.

The Fault In Our Stars

     I would rank The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, an 7. I think it was an amazing book with twists and turns that would have you reading for hours. Hazel Lancaster is a cancer patient who isn't going to live that long of a life, she avoids many people because she doesnt want to be a burden to them. That soon changes when she meets Augustus Waters. He won't let her be shut off, soon they become close: thats when their story unfolds. The major theme is struggles will not overcome love.