Lies we tell ourselves By:Robin Talley

    Imagine walking to school on a bright, sunny day  and all of a sudden you hear a certain chant and as you get closer and closer to the school it gets a louder and it's like someone threw a bucket full of ice cold water at you. They're chanting, "N*****! N*****!N*****!". In the distance you can the police standing at the side but you know that no matter what happens they won't defend you. If it wasn't for the shiny badge sitting smugly on their chest they would be right there joining the chant with the other white kids. Imagine being in class , saying the pledge, but having someone digging a pencil into your lower back the whole time and whispering threats as you say that you are all one nation under god yet the nation seems to live for the segregation of whites and blacks. Imagine having to survive violence everyday just to get an education. But Sarah, Ennis , and Chuck  can't imagine. Why? because they know exactly what it's like. They go endure this pain everyday.

    On page 15 it states," -but Ennis is faster. He dodges through a gap between the boys-he doesn't shove them; we're not allowed to touch any of them, no matter what they do to us." This text states shows that Ennis is intelligent  and he knows his limits , he knows that his job as the eldest is to defend them but he knows his "place" as well. On the same page it also states," Ennis is back in front, pushing through the crowd with Chuck." He knows that since he is tall and broad that he can push through the crowd and the people behind him won't have to get hit as much.

 

Tolerance

Tolerance: the ability or willingness to allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of something in particular the existence of  opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.


     From my perspective , tolerance means to put up with something, to be in control, because you are the only person who controls your own emotions. Tolerance means to recognize. Recognize, because not everyone has the same beliefs that we do. We have to recognize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. A fact that everyone should have engraved in their mind is that no matter how many times they tell someone to repeat contrary to their beliefs, in their heart they will always have their own opinion and beliefs.

I AM NUMBER FOUR By: Pittacus Lore

          I am currently reading "I AM NUMBER FOUR" by Pittacus Lore. This major motion picture is about a group of 9 kids that come from the extraterrestrial world named Lorien that was wiped out by the Mogadorians. The 9 children came to earth to seek safety and they each came to Earth with what they call a "Cêpan" , the  Cêpan's are basically teachers who are supposed to make sure that the Garde's (the nine kids) know what to do when their legacies appear. Legacies are the powers that they are able to obtain because they are made to defend their race. There are only two types of races in Lorien, there are the Cêpan's and the Garde's. The Mogadorians have moved to Earth to be able to hunt down the nine kids, before the nine kids left Lorien however, an elder put a charm on these nine kids , you can only kill them in order otherwise you will die the same way that you are trying to kill them. Their original names are Numbers one , two , three , three , four , five , six , seven ,eight , nine. Each time one of them dies they get a scar on their right ankle telling them that one more has died. The story begins with Number four whose Cêpan is named Henri , currently they are traveling through America and they are residing in Ohio. But what they didn't count on is the humans knowing that the Mogadorians even exist as more and more secrets unravel and more scars appear every body is on edge wondering when the Mogodarians are going to attack.

        Words of the wiser is shown throughout the book Henri is always warning Number four about the things he needs to do in case of an emergency and always giving him advice on how to survive in case he was alone. Above any other advice though he always says ,"Be prepared, always on guard." Lorien was attacked when Lorien dropped their guard so to Henri it is very important for Number four to abide by his rules.

The Quirky Tale of April Hale By: demonicblackcat

           April Hale suffers from Aspergers Syndrome so she has an inability to detect any sort of emotion and it is difficult for her to communicate with other people. So when  Ryder Black  starts to talk to her , she starts to imitate Yoda. What this means is that Ryder makes it difficult for her to speak. She is unaware of the growing feelings he has for her and he is unaware of the fact that she suffers from Aspergers. As they both get to know each other more and more their feelings increase for each other but April begins to push him away because she says that he causes,"Flesh-eating monsters" in her stomach. In reality she is just afraid that he makes her feel this way. However, Ryder has never had to deal with a girl saying no. Even though he flirts with her, even though he practically lives in her room , he still thinks that April doesn't like him. When Ryder becomes aware of the syndrome that April has  he suddenly understands and when April explains that he makes her feel as if there "is a hippo sitting on her throat " every time they talk or how the flesh-eating monsters begin their job every time his hand makes contact with her hand.
         Due to the events that have occurred in the book i can infer that April is a very caring person because in the beginning of the book she has an admirer but again she is completely unaware of Andrew's feelings towards her so when Andrew manages to ask her if she likes him and she responds with , "Of course i like you you're my buddy as long you are  my brother's buddy even though we don't sit together in lunch."She is completely unaware that she just friend-zoned him so when everybody starts to say things like ,"You killed him!" "The poor guy" "He must be dying" or "Harsh, man".
She falls into hysterics she cries because she doesn't know what she did wrong and to make it up she asks him to sit with her in lunch and he denies her because Quinn , April's brother explained April's condition to him.

The Testing By Joelle Charbonneau

              This book is a trilogy written by Joelle Charbonneau which is a book about a world that has suffered the consequences of seven stages of war. It is up the next generation to fix the damages . But it is not the entire generation which fixes the damages you have to be in an elite group to have the privilege to fix the the damages that the seven stages of war have left over. This elite group is the only group of kids that will have a chance at college and a rewarding career. A girl is chosen to be part of the elite group her name is Cia Vale. Cia is excited to prove herself to the colleges , but when she is on the verge of leaving her father is telling her to be careful and to trust no one. Cia is becoming doubtful but with Tomas by her side she feels more confident.
           Cia is loyal. Ever since she was little all she wanted to do was follow her fathers footsteps and go to the same college as he did because even as she was growing up she showed many characteristics as her father so when she is chosen for the elite group she is completely and utterly ecstatic. When the testing begins her father tells her to be careful she does just that but when the testing begins pushing her endurance and her emotional state, she begins to struggle but in the end she come through.