We Were Liars is a book about 4 friends/ cousins who spend their summer on a private island with their family. Throughout the book Cady calls the 4 friends The Liars. They all stick together and try to not let their family get in the way of them always having a great summer. However it seems strange to me that she would call themselves liars. More importantly what were they lying about? Through her Granddad's

eyes Cadence is the future for the Sinclair family. Cadence’s mother is making sure that it stays that way. Throughout the book all of the aunts keep fighting about the beautiful Clairmont house. They all want it but only one can really have it. Granddad loves to see his daughters fighting over what he has because it gives him power that he loves. However all of the children hate it. Their mothers are constantly trying to use their kids to get the house and turn on each other. Cady, Mirren, Johnny, and Gat are all done with it. So they do something that they think at the time will solve it all and fix the family. They burn down the thing that everyone keeps fighting over… The Clairmont house. However things didn’t work out as planned. Mirren, Johnny, and Gat ended up dying in the fire. Ruining the family forever. After finishing the book I felt that they were called The Liars because their mothers constantly asked them to lie for them and lie to get what they want. Their whole lives were based off of lies. So what else would they be called? The Liars is the best name that they could give themselves. Each one of the children had to lie for their mothers. They had to act normal, act like they were strong and brave, act like they were going to be the future for the Sinclair family. After reading lots and lots of reviews no one can really grasp why they were called The Liars. Some people have their ideas but there is no solid evidence. Some people think, “I don't think the book ever said why they were called Liars. Everyone in the book lied though ... Either to themselves, someone else, or both.” Throughout the book you see the 4 kids lie and lie and lie. So maybe the author wanted to portray them as The Liars because of how much they lie. Other people thought more simply, “My guess on why their club is called LIARS is because of their family name: Sinclair. If you witch the 'I' with the 'a' it becomes LIAR. So I guess that's why.” So whether you think it’s just as simple as switching a few letters or it is based on their actions the whole book, no one really knows for sure why they are called The Liars. But I think we can all agree that The Liars is not an inaccurate name for them. The book had an unexpected ending to it. I did not enjoy the book however I will say that the ending blew my mind. Throughout the book the author dropped hints that something big was about to happen but I think most readers did not pick up on the hints. The whole book moved very slowly for me but the ending went by very fast. I was not the only one who thought this, “I didn't see it coming, like I was in love with their relationship that I didn't see all that coming. I had to re-read that one passage where the author stated that her friends were dead.”

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5 Reasons Why Ms. Skeeter Wrote Help

Ms.Skeeter writes a book called Help with the help of 2 other maids who are called the help. Writing this book was a big risk for everyone involved in it. So some people may ask why would you even bother writing the book?

1. Ms. Skeeter was always curious about the help and what their feelings were. 
Throughout the book Ms. Skeeter was always thinking about the help. She saw them cleaning and cooking and she wondered what they thought about everything. She never really understood their perspective, until she started writing the book. Ms. Skeeter was obvious to everything that was going on with race before she started writing Help. For example when Ms. Skeeter first asked Aibileen to help her write the book. She had no idea how dangerous it was because she never had to think about it before.

2. Ms. Skeeter saw how Hilly treated the help.
Hilly was Ms. Skeeter's best friend. However she was also the worst to the help. She treated them with no respect. Hilly did awful things to the help. She treated them like they were filthy animals. The final line that Ms. Skeeter drew was Hilly building bathrooms outside for the help to use because they have "diseases" so it is not safe for them to use the same bathrooms as everyone else. Ms. Skeeter thought that it was not right the way that Hilly treated them. This is another thing that led her to the idea of the book Help.

3. Ms. Skeeter got to know Aibileen and later they became friends.
Ms. Skeeter and Aibileen started getting to know each other because Ms. Skeeter got a job for a newspaper. Women wrote to Ms. Skeeter asking her for cleaning tips. However Ms. Skeeter had no clue how to clean anything. So she turned to Aibileen. Aibileen was very shy around Ms. Skeeter but when they got closer she started to open up and Ms. Skeeter started seeing that the help were ordinary people too.

4. Ms. Skeeter had anger about what happened to Constantine.
Growing up Ms. Skeeter had a maid named Constantine. Constantine practically raised Ms. Skeeter. She was one person that really got Ms. Skeeter and that Ms. Skeeter could always count on. It was hard for Ms. Skeeter to leave to go to college and leave Constantine. However when Ms. Skeeter came home after college Constantine was gone. Her mother told her that she went up to Chicago to be with her family. Later in the book Ms. Skeeter found out that her mother had fired Constantine because her daughter who came out looking very pale talked back to Ms. Skeeter's mom. Constantine died later on. Ms. Skeeter had so much anger inside her that this also fueled her to write Help.

5. Ms. Skeeter always stood up for what was right.
Constantine always told Ms. Skeeter since she was young to do what is right and that is what Ms. Skeeter has done. When her mother was sick she stayed home and took care of her. She wrote Help because she thought it was the right thing to do. She felt that people needed to hear about what the help's life was like. She didn't care about the consequences. Ms. Skeeter even lost her fiancée( even though they were only engaged for about 2 minutes...) because he didn't understand that writing the book was the right thing to do.

blog post #5

I think that there should be a line between non-fiction and fiction. I think that if the author of a book is calling the book a memoir it should be 100% true. I think it is wrong to call it a memoir and for the author to lie about what really happened in he/ she's life. A reader picked up the book expecting it to be 100% true and if it is not I think the reader should know that or the book should go in a different genre. I think the label between non-fiction and fiction is good because that way the reader knows what they are reading. I personally like to know what genre I am reading. I would like to know if the story I am reading actually happened because I think that I connect more with the book if I know that someone actually experienced it. I don't think that just because it is a good story it is okay to lie about the truth. If it is a good story that is not true it should be fiction. However if the author does not recall every detail like what exactly a person said I believe that it is okay to remember it to the author's best memory because they are not purposely meaning to lie about the truth. Author's remember the big things that happened so if they lie about that there really is no excuse. As an example the memoir A Million Little Pieces by James Frey was not totally true. Everyone was reading the book loving it and really connecting with it until they found out that not all of it was true and that he exaggerated very important events in the book, like him going to jail or getting into an accident. It upset many readers including Oprah. I think it upset many readers because they thought that they were reading an 100% true book. So I think people do like the line between fiction and non-fiction because if people are reading a book that they think is true and they find out it is not true they get very upset. That is why I think that there should be a line between non-fiction and fiction.

Gone Girl Post #4

If I was asked to adapt Gone Girl to a movie the three most important decisions to make in order to make it a successful adaptation would be to what is unique about Gone Girl that makes it stand out and keeps it interesting. I think the thing that is unique in the book Gone Girl is the way that Nick acts throughout he whole book. I feel like you can never truly figure him out. He never acts the way you think he would and that makes the whole story more interesting. So if I would adapt this movie I would make sure that I capture Nick's personality and his actions exactly as the book describes him to be. Another important decision to make is what scenes that you keep and what decisions you get rid of. To make this a successful adaptation you want your audience to connect with the movie just like they did with the book. So you have to be careful on what scenes you take out because some scenes may really help you understand the character like in the scene where Nick first finds out that his wife is missing, that is very essential scene that should not be taken out. However the scene where Nick is just sitting there drinking whiskey may not be as important as other scenes that you could put in. Finally another decision that is important to making a successful adaptation is  the soundtrack of the movie. The soundtrack can help you still have the audience connect with the movie like they did with the book because the soundtrack can help you feel a certain mood without the character having to say anything. So even if you cut certain scenes that may have told you how a character felt you can just have a certain song playing in the background that will still give you the same idea.

What is a book?

A book is a journey that you go through with different characters. It allows you to escape reality while you are reading.  A book relaxes you and makes your worries go away. They make you feel alive and take you out of your life. If your life is boring they spice things up. Less and less people are reading now a days but those people who don't read often haven't found that one book. That one book that you can't put down. The book that is all you can think about. Once you find that book then you will always want to find another book to top that book. You will want that same feeling again. Then once you have a wide variety of books that you have read you start comparing them. So one book can change everything for a person. One book can make a person a person who loves to read. A book is that, something that engages you so much with a story and a plot that it makes you not want to put it down and it transforms you as a person.

I think a real book are the physical paper back books. Physical books let you experience everything better i think. It can feel every time you turn the pages and can bend it every which way. You can bend the pages and mark all over it with your favorite pen. With paper back books you can throw it around and let dust collect on it. The book can get passed down to generations of the family. A paperback book is more of a book than an electronic book because you can connect more with it, not just throughout the story but with just holding it and examining the cover of it. That is why paper back books are actually books rather than electronic books.

Go deeper into the world of Eleanor by playing the newest board game Eleanor and Park! This board game will have you wanting to play again and again! During this game you will really feel like you are Eleanor, trying to stay in touch with park while constantly being fearful that Richie might catch you because if he does catch you boy are you in trouble!

Eleanor and Park have a special connection. It took time for them to open up to each other on the bus but once they got to know each other they couldn’t help but to fall madly in love. The bus was Eleanor’s safe place because her home life was bad, thanks to her stepdad Richie. Everybody in Eleanor's house had to walk on eggshells around Richie because one bad thing can set him off. Eleanor's life was a constant juggling act, between her relationship with Park and her family at home. Even though Eleanor didn't have the best background Park still loved everything about her. Park didn’t care that Eleanor stood out from everybody else, actually he loved that she did. Park loved her crazy red hair and how she dressed to her own style, " I like the way you look,". Park made Eleanor feel like she was the most important person in the world, which she never gets from anyone else, " Whenever he saw Eleanor, he couldn't think about pulling away. He couldn't think about anything at all."

Throughout the game you will experience everything that Eleanor went through. You will always be wanting to land on the bus stop because Eleanor could never wait to be on the bus with Park.  You will always have to watch out though because Richie is always watching," 'I know what you're up to,' he said, raising his voice, just as the door closed,".This game will allow you to stay connected with Eleanor and Park even after you finished the book. You will feel more into it than ever!

How to Play:

·         Each player rolls the dice to see how many squares they can travel.

·         Once you land on a square the square will give you instructions on what do to, you can either have to pull a Richie card or pull a Park card.

·         Park cards allow you to do certain activities that Eleanor did throughout the book that made her happy. For example when Park’s mom let them go on a date downtown.

·         Richie cards are bad news. On the card it will tell you what Richie is mad at you for this time. Also it tells you the consequences for getting Richie mad, like being on lockdown in your room and losing a turn.

·         Eleanor always felt safe on the bus because she would be with Park. So if you land on the bus square you get an extra turn!

·         You continue going around the board experiencing everything that Eleanor went through and the first person to make it to Minnesota wins!  Minnesota is where Eleanor ends up after she leaves her family behind for a better life.

Why I Read

I read because it is a comfort zone for me. If I am having a bad day I won't think about my day if I am reading. Reading puts you into a different world. For the amount of time that you are reading you aren't thinking about your life and what is going wrong in your life you are only focused on the story that you are engaged in. Reading can give you things to talk about to your friends and family. It is always exciting when someone recommends a book for you to read. When you read your imagination run wild. You imagine things that cant really happen in the real world but can certainly happen in the book that are you are reading and that improves your imagination. You are always thinking about what will happen next. You are trying to understand that characters and how they think.

Also reading helps you in the world. It informs you of things that you would not have known unless you were reading. Reading can help you get a job because you are more educated after you read.