Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney

In this book a girl named Remy is a strait "A" student on the varsity basketball team who has it all going for her in life. Morgan is the rich son of a politician who also has no worries about the future .They both meet in drivers ed class, fall in love, and run a christmas pageant together for the whole city. While out with their friends taking a joy ride at night, they all decide to steal street signs as suveniers of the perfect night. Remy and Morgan decide to steal a stop sign as their reminder. Later that night a woman with a young child and new husband waiting for her at home dies because of the missing stop sign.They both hold the secret until their guilt causes them to give in and admit to the lady's family what really happened.

"Do they let killers run pageants? Thought Morgan The thing is not to think about it. If I think about it, somebody might see it in my eyes. Be able to tell what I did. So I won't think about it." p. 75

In this quote Morgan is thinking of himself as a killer and murderer. In a way he is, but not directly. In the quote he is almost being a little bit sarcastic, which made me wonder if he fully understands what he did.

Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Hesser 1-150

Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser is about a teenage girl that slowly develops O.C.D, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.She is "driven to Hail Mary every time she hears a cuss word", and she has to "touch the doorknob and then push her fingers to her lips 33 times before she can leave the house." This book is funny yet still serious as you get to follow and understand how the disorder slowly takes over the main character; Tara.

At this part of the book (actually the opening paragraphs) Tara is hearing the childhood rhyme "step on a crack and you break your mother's back!" This is what first triggers her OCD.

"Step on a crack, break your mother's back! The first time I heard
that stupid rhyme was when I was eleven years old and still in possession of my
own thoughts.
At first I thought the rhyme was stupid. Step on a crack, break your
mother's back! When I couldn't get it out of my head, I thought it
was annoying.Step on a crack, break your mother's back! Finally I
thought it was scary. But no matter what I thought about it, I couldn't stop
thinking it. Actually, it was more as if I couldn't stop hearing it in my head
over and over again."pg.1

This passage made me remember the guilt and sorrow it caused me every time I stepped on a crack when I was 8 years old; I couldn't help but think that it could possibly happen, and the fact that I would do it deliberately would fill me with guilt. But I also find the actual placement of the phrase in the paragraphs. It made it seem like she was actually involuntarily thinking about the phrase as she was telling the story as her problem caused her to do.

The Music of The Dolphins 1-181

"The Music of The Dolphins" by Karen Hesse is a fictional book about a young teen who is found living among a pod of dolphins off the shores of Cuba . When the coast guards find her, they take her to an institution to teach her about learning and music. The whole book is in first person as we get to read Mila's thoughts that she can not express to the teachers at the institution. As the book goes on, her thoughts become more sophisticated and intellectual and she is able to express her ideas more evenly with the teachers. In this part of the book, the teachers at the institution have put Mila in a room alone and are showing her the video of her rescue.

In that television I see a girl with long, long hair. She is not wearing
any clothes. She is on a beach. I am interested to see a girl on the beach. I
watch. Then she is not on the beach.She is in a new place, wrapped up in a
blanked. A hand offers the girl a drink. The girl sees the water in a cup, but
she is not certain what to do . First her finger dips in the water. Then her
finger goes to her mouth. The girl decides the water is good to drink, and she
makes a cup with her hands. She does not know how to drink from a paper cup. She
drinks water poured form the cup into her hands. The girl is very short. Her
ears are very big.

Then I see Doctor Beck and Sandy inside the television. They are with
the little big-ear girl. They are trapped in the television with her. I run to
the television to help Sandy and Dr.Beck get out. I beat the television with my
shoulder. I cannot make the wall to come down. I take my chair. I throw my chair
at the television. Lights flash everywhere. I jump away. Little lights snapping
and popping. Then the lights are gone. But Dr.Beck and Sandy are gone too.

I think that this passage almost relates to EL&IC because in many ways she is still young and can not let go of being a child- or in this case a dolphin. Also, it is weird to see how fast she can loose the information she was taught, and how she feels strongest as a dolphin rather than a human. It hurts me to see that she learned so much, but in some ways she interpereted it the wrong way . That is what lead her to not understanding.

"Soul Surfer" by Bethany Hamilton

"Soul Surfer" is Bethany Hamilton's early autobiography. It is the story of her life up until a little after her shark attack incident. Bethany was a professional surfer even before her run-in with a 15 foot tiger shark. Her life story is inspirational and uplifting as she describes her road to recovery. In this part of the book she is describing the day that the incident happened.

"We had only been surfing a half hour and the waves were nothing spectacular. We were waiting for the next decent one to roll in, and Alana was floating no more that fifteen feet from me; her brother, Byron, and Dad, Holt, not much farther away. I was bringing up near the rear, and all of us were looking out to sea. I had a tiny, light blue Rip Curl watch on my left hand that i was dangling in the water. I sometimes wonder if the reflection of that watch in the clear water is what attracted the shark. That's when I was suddenly aware of a large gray object closing in on my left side. He was slow and silent;he really crept up on me. . . Luckily, all I saw was a blur. . . I felt pressure and kind of a jiggle-jiggle tug, which I know now was the teeth. . . It was over in a few seconds. I remember seeing the water around me turn bright red with my blood. Then i saw that my arm had been bitten off almost to the shoulder. There was just a three- or four-inch stub where my limb had once been. My reaction as Alana told me, was amazingly matter-of-fact and in control. I just said in a kind of loud yet not panicked voice 'I just got attacked by a shark," and started to paddle away with one arm. I knew the shore was a very long quarter of a mile, but one thought kept repeating in my head: "Get to the beach. Get to the beach"

This part of the book is amazing to me because I believe that her faith in God mentioned earlier in the book and her physical strength kept her alive. By the look of the pictures in the book (also above), that shark could have swallowed her whole. In a way, that day for her was miracle after miracle as she endured such a traumatic event that would have hurt others forever when she had the power to live through it and learn to accept it.

"Bloodstream" by Tess Gerritsen 0-325

The most recent book I have read is "Bloodstream" by Tess Gerritsen. It is a medical mystery that really got my blood pumping! Her book formats are all the same starting out with about 3-7 small stories that go back and forth that finaly in the last chapter combine and the mystery is solved. Sometimes it is a little confusing though because of all of the main characters names and who is who.Basically in the book is about a widdowed wife (Claire Elliot) and her son (Noah)that move to a small town to escape the memories of their lives in chicago. When teens start becoming violent and a school shooting takes place, the town realizes that history is repeating its self as the same problems occured 50 years earlier. Bioluminecent earthworms, brain tumors, seizures and snot all become major factors in solving the case to make sure it never happens again. J.D is a boy who's younger sister likes Noah.In this excert ,J.D is yelling at his sister for giving Noah a peck on the cheek at school . J.D has lived with violence in his life so much that now he believes it is okay to hit and hurt others as in the excert below.

“J.D was jeering at her through her bedroom door calling her a slut, a cheap
lay, a whore. Amelia sat on the bed with her hands clapped over her ears, trying
to shut out her step brothers voice, knowing that if she yelled back at him, it
would only make things worse. J.D was mad at everyone these days , looking to
pick a fight with whoever was in reach.”

This makes me feel sad that such a nice girl would have to grow up in such a horrible enviroment, but at the same time it makes me pause and be thankful for my life I have been given.

Burning Up by Caroline B. Cooney (pg. 50- 230)

In my next excert from the book "Burning Up" by Caroline B. Cooney, Macy (the protagonist) is recieving a call from Reverend Warren a few months after the fire that Macy was involved in. She had sent the church packs of Crayola Crayons because she remembered how much they meant to her as a kid, and how much they would mean to all of the poor children in the gettho town that are not even safe at the church.

When the phone rang, she hoped it was Austin.But it was Reverend
Warren."Macy," he said. His voice was very full, as if she were an entire
congregation and needed strengthening.She was so pleased to hear from him."The
children in afternoon church care are enjoying the boxes of crayons you sent
them, Macy."She'd spent her untouched birthday money on new crayons, worrying
whether to buy the boxes with eight crayons or the boxes with twenty-four. She
could afford more boxes of 8, but then that left out the really good colors.
Finally she bought some of each. "

I liked how much the story of the 9 year old boy who was stabbed to death at that Sunday school (see previous blog entry) impacted her life, not only at the moment when she saw her burnt hair, but also later on in life when she could have forgotten about that incident. I also liked how she described Reverend Warrens voice as being "full" as if he were speaking to a whole congregation.Once again, Caroline B. Cooney sets the reader in a situation where the reader realizes how little some problems really are when they are compaired to other peoples lives.

Burning Up by Caroline B. Cooney

I have just finished the book "Burning Up" by Caroline B. Cooney and I thought it was great! Caroline B.Cooney is by far my favorite author, and every book of hers has a new adventure, romance, mystery and comedy.
In my excert from the book , eight teenagers had just been volunteering to fix up a old church in a bad neighborhood. When an arson set the church on fire, the eight teens were trapped in the church while it was burning down. They were trying to escape throught the back bulkhead doors, but they were chained shut from the out side. The protagonist , Macey, has just had her long brown hair burnt off durring the fire, but she was saved by her crush, Austin. I couldn't imagine what that must feel like! I used to have hair down to my butt before I cut it, and to imagine it being on fire then not there. .Whoa!

"'. . .If we're sure that everyone is just shaken up and not hurt, I'm going to
send you on home' [Reverend Warren] said to Grace, 'You are right. Chaining the
bulkhead doors was stupid.But somebody broke in a few months ago when we had the
children here, and he stabbed a nine-year-old. The property committee was more
scared of who could break in than they were of fire.' Macey
forgot her hair. What was hair? A
nine-year-old stabbed in a Sunday school room.An arsonist who had hit two other
churches and a temple. Hell itself breathes out Contagion to this
world. Venita walked Macey a few feet away from the
others.'Don't cry,' she said.'Your hair will grow back.' Venita tilted her head
and gave Macey a mischievous grin.'And one nice
thing.' 'Oh, sure,' said Macey. 'Texas
is real proud of saving you,' said Venita. 'He's your man,
whether him and you want it or not.'

I like this excert because she realizes that her hair is nothing compaired to a 9 year old being stabbed to death in Sunday school.I also like how they quote Shakespeare's Hamelet. I think Caroline B. Cooney wants the reader to put themselves in Macey's shoes and see how small some problems in our lifes are.

Cooney,Caroline. Burning Up.New York:Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc., 1999

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