Room 227’s Blog

The book starts off as two builders discussing about instructions to escape out of the city after 200 years. They kept the instructions inside a box with a timed lock. The first mayor of Ember was given the box and after she dies it was passed onto the next mayor in charge and the next. Not one of them knew what was inside except the builders. One of the mayor in the other hand, stole the box from its hiding place hoping it would be something that could cure his coughing disease. He tried to open it but he was unsuccessful. Too bad he died before he was able to return it back to its hiding place. The box ended up stuck inside his closet year after year, forgotten forever. When 200 years came, the box secretly unlocked itself.

Why was the instructions kept as a secret? Why 200 years? Why was the instructions so important? I had a feeling something bad would happen to the city if no one discovers the instructions sooner or later. The prologue makes me want to find out more.

It was year 241. You can see, it was already past 200 years. As I continued to read, I discovered Ember was a city that was always pitch black even during the day. Only lamps around the city were able to brighten Ember a bit. The city was so old, even they would start flickering or shut down all of a sudden, and Ember would be filled with darkness.

I cannot imagine how frightening it would be not to be able to see in the dark especially when you’re outside on the streets. Of course I can’t since I never lived in a city like theirs. Why isn’t the mayor of Ember doing anything about it? He is suppose to be in charge of making the city a better place for the citizens of Ember. So far no one seems to protest about it.

The main character in the story are Lina and Doon. They are both 12 year old students assigned for jobs. Lina wanted to be messenger but instead she drew out pipe working. Doon draws out messenger and they both asked to switch jobs! In reality, I don’t think its suitable to have a job when you’re just 12. Wouldn’t that be child abuse when you have to work on pipe working?

It was assignment day, and the mayor payed a visit to their classroom to assign the students in the class jobs. He had a bag where students would draw out a paper inside and read what was written on the paper and that was their job. When Doon got messenger he was furious! He crumpled the piece of paper up and thew it on the ground. That is when I learned that Doon can’t control his temper very well. Neither was the mayor.

“Disgraceful,” he said, glaring at Doon. ” A childish display of temper! Students should be glad to work for their city. Ember will prosper of all…..citizens do their best.”

Suddenly Doon spoke up. “But Ember isn’t prospering!” he cried. “Everything is getting worse and worse! The blackouts!”

I agree with Doon. He is speaking for himself. I don’t like what the mayor said though. I don’t understand why we should be glad for our job when we don’t have the freedom to pick what we want to do. Why do we even have to work for the city? I don’t think its fair. These things are suppose to be for the mayor to handle. I think he is so lazy!

The reason why Doon wanted to do pipe working was because he wanted to find a way to save Ember before it runs out of electricity. He even sneaked into the generator room bu he had no idea how it works or how to repair it.

Poppy, Lina’s little sister, discovers an old box in the closet in Lina and her grandmother’s apartment. By the time Lina could grab it out of Poppy, there was already chewed up pieces of paper torn apart.

This must be the instructions out of Ember I thought. How is Lina going to decipher the message when its all messed up? Why was the box in the closet? Her ancestor might use to be one of the mayor that stole the box a long time ago.

She tried asking some of her friends but they didn’t seem to care or know. Together Doon and Lina tried to work the message out. Before they could share their news to Ember, the mayor tries to ruin their plan and put them for prison. Doon and Lina have no choice but to escape out of the city with the instructions since the guards were after them. Before they left, Lina took Poppy with her.

I knew the mayor was a bad person! I can tell by his personality.

Lina, Poppy and Doon escaped from the mayor and the city in a small boat using the informations from the instructions to guide them out. They finally escaped above the ground. It was so different from Ember! There were actually lights coming from the sky!

They never knew that Ember was actually below them, underground. They wrote the instuctions and hoped Mrs. Murdo will find it. The ending was a cliffhanger.

The social issue in this story might be something concerning the environment, loss (since Lina’s grandmother died, leaving Mrs. Murdo to take care of Poppy and Lina.) and freedom. This makes me want to read the 2 sequel of the book.

The View from Saturday

When I first looked at the picture in front cover, I had no idea what it had to do with the blurb on the back side of the book. I was wondering why there where four tea cups in a house. I continued reading the book hoping to find a clue.

This book talks about four 6^th graders who were chosen to do an academic bowl contest vs. against the 7^th graders. Their names were Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian. Each chapter talks about each of the individual students and what social issues they each were facing. Some how, each of their story has a little piece of how they became friends.

The person who I really think had a social issue was Nadia. In the second chapter it talks about her. When Noah’s grandparents got married, at the same time, Nadia’s dad was divorced with her mom. Her mom moved them to the up state of New York. That meant that they were separated from each other. I didn’t like how Nadia’s dad was not spending time with her instead he leaves for work everyday leaving her all alone with her grandparents and Ethan. I don’t think it’s even fair how her parents got divorced. Isn’t her dad supposed to spend even more time together so they can improve on their relationship? I would feel sad if both of my parents stayed away from each other. I wouldn’t get to see them everyday.

Later Nadia, Noah and Ethan were invited to a tea party by Julian, the new student of the school.

Before they went to the tea party, Ethan decided to buy a gift for him for thanking him for the invitation. He went to search for the puzzle area in a department store. He picked one and asked the salesman to rap it up. Unfortunately, it was all out. Ethan picked another one but that one was sold out and he tried again, but again he was unfortunate. That left him to pick the pink heart puzzle. With much disgust, he ended up buying it for him. I was wondering whether Julian would mind getting a pink heart puzzle. It seems so wrong for a boy! You wouldn’t give a heart to a boy if you yourself, were a boy. Even on Valentine’s day it was still very strange.

When they were together they had tea and enjoyed their time. Their relationship together seemed to bond very well. At the end, Julian didn’t mind having a pink heart puzzle from Ethan for his present(HAHAHAHAHA!) I guess its the thought that counts. Later Nadia suggested that they should make a group name. And they were now called THE SOULS. I had a second thought this could have something to do with the cover. The picture had four cups. It might represent the four of them, Nadia, Noah, Ethan and Julian in the house. This book has also something to do with friendship and bonds I think. They share their knowledge and work as a team in order to win. Without friendship, they would have never won the Academic bowl contest against the 7th graders. Later they ended up beating the 8th graders.

It makes me think that the author is trying to say that friendship is important. Working together can make a big difference.

Saturday 11/2009

I woke up at 12:00 in the afternoon by the sound of someone speaking in thai in a microphone outside my room. It lasted for more then an hour…….it was starting to get really annoying, I felt like screaming at them to shut up! Of course I didn’t do such a thing. I was still in my bed when I heard clapping noises coming out of the window. Something came through my mind. “It might had been the red shirt protesters” I thought. I was nervous by the sound of the person speaking. He sounded so angry! I tried to look out of my window to see what was going on. And then I saw them! It was really them! The red shirt protesters! I could see them from the other end of the street. It sounded like he was shouting Abhisit’s name, the recent PM of Thailand. Of course I thought! Abhisit lives close to our apartment, right across from my favorite Italian restaurant. No wonder why…………..I was pretty scared by then. I was worried that they would come barging into our room and steal our things. My mom was also mad at them since they were being really annoying. She went to the belcony and shouted to them to shut up! I just hope they didn’t here that! My mom tried to go out of the apartment to see what was going on but the guard outside didn’t let her out. We watched the news to see how bad the situation was. After a few hours, we didn’t hear anymore yelling from the protesters. I went to my belcony and saw huge ARMY TRUCKS! It was so awesome! It seemed like the protesters were all gone……….I wonder where their next location will be to take over. I was still worried that they will come back and rob our apartment while we were going to Japan for the Songkran holiday. I even brought all my money to the trip just in case. You never know whether it might happen.

Sunday 12/09

I was now in the plane. I looked over the TV guide checking what good movies they had for our short term flight to Fuokoka. Nothing took my interest so I listened to music. Later the air hostess provided lunch for us. Surprisingly, the food wasn’t as bad as a thought. I had omelet rice and some fruit. It was pretty good! I usually hated the food they gave out.

Sunday 12/09 (Midnight)

We finally arrived to our destination. Wow! It was midnight already. I basically spent the whole day in the plane. The international airport looked like a ghost airport. Their were so little people around. We took a taxi to my grandparent’s house where we were going to stay for a few days. The taxi was so delux! The driver wears a suit and the door opens its self. When we arrived to my grandparent’s house in the country side, I felt so relaxed. The air was sooooo fresh compared to Thailand! As I looked at the front of the house, it still looked the same. It still looked so traditional after four years not visiting them. “It’s been a while” I thought. When I saw my grandparents, they were still active as ever. Especially my 80 year old grandfather! It was a miracle he survived at this age. They were so glad to see us! Each of us got money from them as a gift so we could spend it. When I looked inside, I was so amazed how much they had given me! 50,000 yen! That was too much!

Monday 13/09

Today we were ready to explore Fukuoka. We went to a shrine where we got to pray there and get an amulet. They sell them in a mini store. They come in different sizes, design, and color. Some amulets mean different things, too! For example, you can choose the get one that means for protection, becoming smarter, or having a good boyfriend (I DID NOT GET THIS ONE OBVIOUSLY!) etc. After that, outside the shrine they have many stores selling variety of  things. I got to buy a money cat keychain and the traditional Japanese toy doll called Daruma. After a long day in the shrine, we met at this restaurant with our grandparents. I had never eaten this much before in my life! My grandma kept giving me food on my plate. I couldn’t refuse her so I kept eating. I think I increased my weight my 2 kg that night.

Tuesday 14/09

Today we were out exploring shopping malls. I couldn’t wait to see them cause I always wanted to see the stationary store. Everything in the malls are so cute! I bought tons of stickers and mechanical pencils. In Thailand you can rarely find any cute mechanical pencils. There was this store where you can buy these cute pendents and make your own necklace. Japan isn’t that expensive as I thought………..even the things I bought was reasonable to me. The more I shop, the more I feel like I’m a shopholic. >.<
While we were shopping, we even got to see people shooting a movie. How cool is that? In the end, I still had A LOT of money left. I need to spend it fast I keep telling myself.

Wednesday 15/09

Today we were going to go to Tenjin (part of Fuokoka). In Tenjin, they have a RAMEN STADIUM! I was so excited to go there since I get to eat ramen of course. My favorite japanese food is ramen (I am not a fan of sushi). As you can see, my old writing workshop book is infested with ramen pictures.

Thursday 16/09

It was the last day of staying in Japan. It was only a few days but I still felt so sad. I didn’t want to leave! After staying in Japan our next stop was going to be in Hong kong. In our last day, we had a fair well dinner with our grandparents.

Friday 17/09

I was in the International airport now. Since we still had time before we boarded into the plane, I did a little bit of shopping. I bought a keychain watch, a kitty doll keychain and a lunch box set of erasers that look like food.

In the plane, I was looking over my new gifts when suddenly an air host man gave me this goody bag and I was confused. Isn’t this suppose to be for little kids? OH MY GOD. When I read the label on the goody bag’s plastic bag, I was so insulted!!!!!!!!! The label said:

FROM AGES 3-8

I can’t believe he thought I was an 8 year old!!!!!! TT-TT

Friday 18/09 (evening)

We finally arrived at Hong Kong. We were only going to stay there for 1day and 1 night. There wasn’t much to do in Hong Kong really. On our last night in Hong Kong, we were walking on the street looking at shops when suddenly we hard a man shouting ” HELP HELP HELP! CATCH THAT THEIF!” Everyone was startled as we saw this guy running away. He must be the crook! I couldn’t believe we saw a crime scene! It was even more startling then the time when the protesters invaded our street. My mom was scared that if he was running he would turn to our direction and hold a hostage. I was kind of nervous after what happened. I didn’t feel so safe shopping around here. I was glad it was my last day here.

The SOS Titanic Reflection

This book is about a boy named Barry (first class passenger). He lives with his grandparents in Scotland. Unfortunately, he had to travel on the Titanic to go to New York to see his long lost parents he hadn’t seen for a long time. Before he left Scotland for good, his grandfather gave him a pair of wool gloves to remember them forever. Barry didn’t seem enthusiastic to see his parents, instead he felt so sad that he wouldn’t be able to see his grandparents anymore.

I wonder how it would feel to not know your parents. It must be hard leaving his grandma and grandpa since they had been taking care of him since he was little. They were like his parents to him.

When he was on the deck of the ship, he met a cheerful lady with a cherry hat. The lady’s husband predicted that something bad was going to happen to the Titanic. He said that there was once a ship called the “Titan”. The most wonderful ship every built and she was on her maiden voyage when she hit an ice berg and sank.

That was scary! That’s exactly what happened to both of the ships! The “Titan” name sounds very familiar to the Titanic, too!

There was a time when Barry dropped his glove down into the poop deck, on top of a cake. He had to go down there and get it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get it back since the deck was crowded with people. Later he was attacked by one of his rivals, Jonnie Fylnn. Jonnie Fylnn punched him on the head for no reason! Soon they got in trouble from Captain. He saw Pegeen (third class passenger), Jonnie’s sister, take the gloves away.

In his cabin, he received a letter from Pegeen. It said to meet her on the promenade deck at 10.

To Barry, I think the gloves are very precious to him since it was from his grandpa. He would do anything to get the gloves back. I would cry if I lost something very important to me.

When he met her on the promenade deck, she gave the pair of gloves back to him. She talked about how she saw his grandpa giving him the gloves. It made her cry as she thought about her silver brooch her mother gave her.

She was so nice to Barry! Her character is so different from her brother. She is so kind and calm but Jonnie is rough and always gets in trouble. Pegeen doesn’t seem to hate him. I think she likes Barry!

Barry had gone to the souvenir shop and bought himself a pocket knife just in case Jonnie attacks him again. I think it will be very useful when he is in great danger.

Watley, the steward of the first class deck, always says strange things. He can predict the future. He knows that the Titanic is going to sink so he told that passengers to carry a life jacket just in case. Barry was the first person to be told that the Titanic was going to be hit by an iceberg so he went to search for Pegeen to warn her about it.

Barry has feelings for Pegeen. If he didn’t, why would he be searching for her? In the beginning all he cared about was the wool gloves his grandpa gave to him. He was worried that Pegeen might be in danger.

When the ice berg racked the ship, icicles formed on the ship’s wall. The Titanic came to a sudden stop. One of the passengers said as he scooped up the ice, “Hey, I‘d like to take this home for a souvenir. Do you think it will melt?”

Why would you keep ice for a souvenir? Don’t the passengers feel alert that the ship came to a sudden stop? They have no clue that the Titanic is going to sink. Everybody thinks the Titanic is unsinkable.

Watley had sensed the Titanic was going to sink. Barry still couldn’t find Pegeen. Watley told Barry to go on the life boat so he would be safe but Barry kept on searching for her.

Hahahaa! Now he totally forgot all about his gloves. All he thinks about is Pegeen.

When he finally found her, she had been locked up with the other third class passengers by the crew man.

During those times, third class passengers were left to die in the Titanic but the first and second got to stay in the life boats. I think that’s really unfair. Even third class children had to die just because they weren’t as wealthy as the first class passengers! Men were left to die too even if they are in first, second or third class.

There were 2 children, a small baby and their mother as they boarded onto the life boat leaving the dad. “Wave good-bye to papa” she told them, and they waved and blew kisses. “We’ll be back soon.”

The mom and the kids don’t know that the dad won’t be coming back. As I said, men were left to die in the Titanic.

It was too late. Barry and Pegeen weren’t able to go on the life boats. As the Titanic was sinking FAST, they hold on to a pole. As they landed in the ocean, they found each other by whistling. They were able to find a life boat of the passengers. They pulled them on board.

Luckily they survived! Too bad Watley died and so did the lady with the cherry hat! Jonnie died, too. He kind of deserved that. Barry and Pegeen promised to meet each other again. I think that was very romantic! I sure hope they will meet again!

I chose this book since many hilarious and weird things happen in the story. The characters in the book are Kenny, Byron, Joetta and Mrs. and Mr. Watsons.

The book starts of in a very, very cold Saturday. Everything that was moist would freeze up. That day, Byron, Kenny and Joetta were cleaning the car. Byron was washing the outside mirror, admiring himself, blowing kisses to his reflection. As he kissed the mirror, his lips got stuck! It made me laugh so hard! Later his mom had to pull his head so his lip could get out of the mirror! It sounded like his lip ripped apart!

One day at school, Kenny meets this new boy named Rufus Fry. Rufus Fry? I was wondering what kind of name was that. He was wearing a jacket with holes in the sleeves and a pair of raggedy tennis shoes and tore-up blue jeans. Who wears that to school? This made me think he was poor and couldn’t afford good clothes. The way he talks makes me think he lives in the south. When Kenny lent him his apple, he ate the part where Kenny had bitten into it! That was just disgusting!

When Kenny lost his special gloves stolen from Larry, the bully, he didn’t stand up for himself. Instead of asking him to give it back, Kenny just cried. Luckily Byron, his elder brother got it back. Even though his brother can be really mean to Kenny sometimes, he still cares for him a lot. Byron really taught Larry a lesson though! He punched him till his nose bleed! I think that was too much. He could just take the gloves away. I think Kenny shouldn’t depend on other people to solve his problems.

There was also a time when Kenny went by the lake. Byron told him a story about Winnie the Pooh’s evil twin brother, the Wool Pooh, living in the lake. When I read about Winnie the Pooh’s evil twin brother, the Wool Pooh, I thought it was sounded really funny since I never really thought Winnie the Pooh would actually have an evil twin brother. Of course Kenny didn’t believe the story so he went swimming in it. Suddenly something was pulling his leg down into the water. Kenny was struggling to swim back to the shore. He thought it was the Wool Pooh pulling him down. Kenny fainted under the water after struggling so much, but Byron came to his rescue. Byron carried him back to the shore and he started crying and kissing his forehead since he thought Kenny was dead. That was disgusting! That totally doesn’t sound like a juvenile delinquent!

Byron thinks he is a juvenile delinquent who is the only person who’s tougher and older than Larry. He always tries to act cool to get attention from other people.

One time Byron was eating Swedish crème Cookies, when suddenly he threw one of the cookies into the sky and hit a dove! He started crying when he found out the dove was dead. A Juvenile Delinquent crying!? He must have feelings for animals.

One time he was playing with his little toy soldiers in the bathroom. He put them on fire as they parachuted down the toilet. When his mom found out what he was doing, she was so MAD! She dragged him to the living room and pinned him down to the floor. She lit the match as she slowly drew it closer to Byron’s fingers. He cried like a wimp! Luckily Joetta came rushing to them and blew the match right when it was going to burn his fingers. Joetta was begging her mom not to hurt him. Byron’s mom kept lighting the match but Joetta kept blowing them away. Finally she gave up having slob all over her hand.

His mom is scary! Isn’t that cruel? How can you light your own child’s fingers?!! My mom would probably ground me. If she did that nowadays, she would be in jail. That would be called child abuse.

Joetta is Kenny’s little sister. She always cries whenever Byron gets in trouble. She was almost killed in the church when some white men bombed the place. He ran away since he saw the Wool Pooh where the church had been bombed. Kenny was so emotional after the bomb attack. He was so ashamed how he ran away, scared that the Wool Pooh might have got his sister and was going to get him again like it almost got Joetta. He was so sad how the some of the girls in the church died. He didn’t have the mood to do anything. Even Byron felt worried. Byron talked to Kenny in the bathroom as he cried. “Man, no one’s gonna hurt you here, Kenny.” During this whole chapter I felt like crying since Byron was being so nice comforting Kenny and telling him that everything will be ok and that the Wool Pooh won’t get him. Byron sounded like his dad. Even though Byron is a juvenile delinquent, he really cares about his brother, Kenny. Kenny finally understands that everything will be ok.

We had seen many different social issue organizations. It was very interesting! I never knew they had natural lime perfumes! I was impressed on how many activities they placed out in display. By having many activities or displays you can be able to attract many people.

One of the organizations I saw that I thought was very enjoyable was called Plant a Tree Today. They had an activity where we had 2 buckets full of soil and we got to plant a seed into each of them. They explained how natural disasters had destroyed many trees for example wild fires and how trees are being planted again after chopping them down. I can’t imagine trees going extinct. On the table were many merchandises they were selling to support there organization like pencils made out of newspapers, shirts, hats etc. For more information about this organization, go here.

My favorite one I saw was about building natural bricks for the homes of the poverty. It was very interesting how they use clay/mud and wheat products to make bricks. It seems very convient, too. They showed pictures of high school ISB students volunteer helping out create the bricks. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. Just in case you are wondering, they make roofs on top of the bricks so they don’t create a messy in the end. By making these bricks, its more eco friendly to the world and its much cheaper than the bricks we use to build our houses. I hope there won’t be any tsunamis happening there in the future! For more information about this organization, go here.

Whenever I watch you,

My heart pumps fast.

Whenever you are in my mind,

I can’t help but turn

Bright red,

Like

Red roses

Whenever our eyes meet,

You give me a great big smile

A smile

That burns up my spirit

With joy and delight!

Whenever you help me,

You support me,

You encourage me,

You bring out the best in me.

It makes me feel safe with you.

Whenever we talk,

I try to tell you how I feel

But somehow,

It never slips out of my

Mouth

But today is different.

Today is Valentine’s Day.

Today I think I am ready.

Ready to tell how I feel

About you.

So………………

“Will you be my Valentine?”

I got this idea from the time when I went to Pattaya. It was very WINDY!:

I laid against the rails,

My shiny hair

Black as coal

Comfortably swooshing side to side

Like the waves of the ocean,

Listening to the wind

Sing her mournful

Song.

She glided past me,

Invisible to my eyes

Her cold touch

Shivering my spine,

Giving me Goosebumps

As she danced in the dark lonely night

Leaving cold traces of air

Whispering

Past me.

WHOOSHHHHH!

Olivia and I ( Kayo) were reading The Story of Ruby Bridges: by Robert Coles and illustrated by George Ford together. We are trying this new technique about inferring and using the text and pictures to give us clues so that we can relate and compare that to our own life experiences.

This book starts off with a black girl named Ruby, and her family living in a small cabin. They were very poor. Her father works for getting crops, but then machines started to take over his job. That was why they moved into the city hoping to find another job. In the city, her father worked as a janitor and her mom worked in the bank, scrubbing the floor. We thought that this was the time when factories were being built everywhere.

By looking at the pictures of the book, ladies wore fancy clothing. This made us think that the timeline was during the 50’s. In our experience, we never seen anybody wore such things.

This book talks about the time when segregation was happening very seriously and how Ruby was so brave to be sent to an all white school. When she was walking to the school entrance, many white people were surrounding around her, protesting “NO BLACK PEOPLE IN OUR SCHOOL.” Even some of the white policemen didn’t want to protect her. That was why the president had to send marshals to protect her from the large group of white people. We think segregation was unfair. Even though Ruby is black, she is the kindest girl in the book, since she prayed for the white people to god for forgiveness even if they had treated her badly. One time, Olivia and her mom went to a hotel and wanted to have breakfast. When they went to the restaurant, they were only a loud to order omelet, but the people from the other table was able to have fish’ rice and squid. So we checked out of the hotel. We had enough of this racist!

But times have changed now. Surprisingly, we have a black American president, Obama to lead America now. But forty years ago, if you talked about ever having a black president they would laugh at you. SO TIMES REALLY CHANGE!