2nd Quater Book Report

Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks

By: Lauren Myracle

I read the book Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle.  The main character in this book was named Carly. Carly is the oldest child in her family; she has a younger sister named Anna. Carly is a sophomore at Holy Redeemers High School. Holy Redeemers is a private Christian Preparatory school for boys and girls. Carly sometimes wears her Dashiki a “cute” shirt to school to try and impress Cole (the new guy that all the girls dream to date) and a casual pair of pants.

I think Carly is brave because she dives off the highest diving board at her school. Although it is required for her gym class, some girls are a little hesitant- including her sister. Carly makes it seem like no big deal so her sister will dive off the board. Carly even shows her it is no big deal by showing her how to do over and over again.

I also think Carly is brave for more than one reason and likes to give people chances. I think this because when Carly goes in to get her haircut, she accepts the offer to let the new graduate Jerr, who just completed the stage of, “cutting the hair of the wigs and dolls”, do her hair. This time she doesn’t want any old haircut, she wants it to be like the girl that just walked out of the store- an auburn under layer with a lot of blonde highlights that cover her whole head, sky blue highlights on top and bangs. This new hairstyle is way different from the dark brown long hair she had originally. In the back of her mind, Carly new something bad may turn out of this situation, and it did. The blonde highlights turned out to be a yellow, the auburn underlayer turned out as she had said, “ as bright as a fire engine,” and her bangs turned out way to uneven and she had said they were an entire inch above her eyebrows.

I also think Carly is a little unique because she doesn’t care about what others think about her as most people do care. She went to a camp over the summer and she didn’t care what people thought about her choice of clothing, work habits and how she smelled. She listens to the 60’s and 70’s music which is also different from the others she hangs around. When she picks out clothing, it doesn’t matter what the price tag says, unlike the rest of her elegant, upper-class family. She would rather pay less and have a unique inexpensive design of clothing.

Part 2- Discuss Conflicts and How They are Resolved

In the book Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle, there were many conflicts. One of the first obstacles Carly had faced was her new haircut. In a few days, school was about to start for the year and Carly’s hair was a disaster. With a hair as red as a fire engine and yellow highlights with wacky bangs, she had to do something! The next day she went back to the hair salon to get it fixed back to her original hair style, but since Jerr had put so many chemicals in her hair before, they couldn’t do much about it except lighten the color a little. I’m not so sure I would have let the new graduate do my hair and if I did I probably would have chosen a more simple hair cut. Carly was furious and I would have been too. I thought this was an external conflict.

            Another issue that occurred was when Carly’s parents went out of town and they had a babysitter that wasn’t very responsible. Carly was a little uncertain at first but eventually Anna convinced her to have a party at their house. Carly and her friend Vonzelle are dropped off by the babysitter Tracy at a nail salon but after Tracy gets drunk and falls asleep on Carly’s parents’ bed, and the girls are stuck at the salon. When they finally get home, the girls look at each other in disgrace… all of her parents’ liquor us out and most of the people are drunk. Anna and Carly get angry with each other and Anna knows Carly will get mad if she starts drinking so she does. Carly knows when her parents get home she will be in big trouble. Carly and Vonzelle clean everything up, everyone out of the house and get everything back in its place.  If I was Carly I would have been mad at my sister but I would have tried to stay calm and just clean everything up. I thought this was an internal conflict.

I enjoyed reading this book!

 

           A dashiki

    

  Author Lauren Myracle

Choice Book Report Quarter 1

Cupcake Queen

       The book I read was called the Cupcake Queen. The main character’s name was Penelope but everyone called her Penny. Penny is fourteen years old, a year older than me. Penny had just moved to a small town called Hog’s Hollow from the big New York City. She had to start at a new school. Like anyone, Penny was a little nervous and shy to a start a new year there.

       I think Penny is very talented. When Penny and her mom moved to Hog’s Hollow, they decided to open a bakery. Not just a bakery any bakery… a cupcake bakery. They named to cupcake shop the Cupcake Queen. Penny of course wanted to help out at the cupcake store. They made cupcakes of every color, shape, and size. They made them for birthdays, baby showers, and holidays such as Christmas, Fourth of July, and any other holiday or celebration you could think of. Penny had always said each cupcake would take a while to make because of how much detail she put into each and every cupcake. Penny also said she would have to make designs on the cupcakes that could be very complicated. 

                                                          

       I also think Penny is very responsible because her mom leaves her in charge of the cupcake shop a lot when she has to leave and run errands. Penny’s mom leaves her in charge of making the batter, decorating the cupcakes, and sometimes helping deliver the cupcakes. Most people at the age of fourteen wouldn’t want to or would not be capable of having the responsibility Penny has.

       Another characteristic I think Penny has is that she is very creative. I think Penny is creative because it takes a lot of creativity to put such detail on each cupcake and to think of what kind of detail or image you are going to decorate on each cupcake. Not only is Penny creative when it comes to cupcakes but she was going to enter a contest to design a float for the parade in the Hog’s Hollow annual parade. Unfortunately she didn’t win the contest but she tried and others liked her ideas.

        I thought Penny was a very responsible, creative, talented, etc. girl. She always tried to do her hardest in everything she did and even though not everyone was nice to her, she still tried to be nice to them. She was very successful in school and she was dedicated to her cupcake making. Penny was the Cupcake Queen.

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Part 2

       For my second “Choice” book entry I chose to comment on whether or not I liked or disliked the book the Cupcake Queen. I really enjoyed this book. I really enjoyed the Cupcake Queen because I could relate to the main character and because the author did a really great job at describing each point of the story and the author used excellent describing words. I also enjoyed reading this story because something was always happening whether Penny and her friend Tally were fighting or sometimes Penny would get angry if she knew one of her friends or her parents were hiding something from her. You would wonder when they were ever going to tell Penny what they had to say or if Tally and Penny were going to be friends again. I had a lot of questions throughout the story but they were all answered. The author always had you on the edge of your chair.

       I can relate to Penny in many ways. Some may include, the fact that me and Penny are both teenagers (I’m thirteen and Penny is fourteen) and we both go to a junior high. We also both take a class in school that teaches us a different language. I take Spanish and Penny takes French. Penny likes to bake just like I do. Penny makes cupcakes and I enjoy making not just cupcakes but cookies, brownies, cakes, and other desserts. I am not talented in the way Penny is- by baking cupcakes, but I play two instruments. I play the piano and the violin. I have been playing the piano for seven years now and I am on my fourth year of playing the violin.

         

      I would recommend this book to someone who likes to bake and someone who is around the age Penny is (fourteen). I also would probably recommend this book to girls but that doesn’t mean other people can’t read the Cupcake Queen. I would mainly recommend this book to girls because they talk a lot about baking which girls usually enjoy more than boys. Also it is told from a girl’s point of view. At the end and a little bit in the middle of the book Penny and her friends talk a lot about the Hog’s Hollow Queen contest, a contest a guy would not usually enter in.

       I absolutely enjoyed reading the book the Cupcake Queen!

　

　

 

Memoir 2

             This summer some of my neighbors and my family went to the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed in a hotel called the Wilderness.

             There were about seven water parks, indoors and outdoors that we went to with water slides including an indoor wave pool. I loved all of the water parks but the ones that I enjoyed the most were the wave pool and one of the water rides. Right when I saw it I was so anxious to get in the water and ride the waves. :)  The waves would go for about 5 minutes and then it would stop for 5 minutes and it would keep going. We would sit in an inner tube and it was like the ocean. The waves would come and the waves would be really tall and you could choose to go far out (about six feet deep) or you could wait for the waves to come to "shore". Some people wanted wanted to be brave and go without the inner tube and eventually me and my sister tried that too!  That was really scary at first but after that I never wanted to go back to the inner tube! Another water park had a waters slide called the Black Hole. The line took forever to get through and there weren't even that many people in line! I was really nervous at first. I was scared I would get to dizzy or that I would fall off my tube in the middle of the ride. It turned out to be a really crazy, but exciting ride! It was really dark at first and there would be little drops or turns but then I entered the "black hole". In the black hole, it is very bright and you spin around two or three times and it would suck you into the slide again and it would lead you out.

              The weather was beautiful which made our stay a lot more enjoyable. I would love to go back Wisconsin and explore what I didn't get to see. I will never forget what an amazing time we had in the Wisconsin Dells.

Memoir 1

                It was July 24^th, the day of my sisters birthday and the day of her birthday party. I was about 5 and my sister Jessica was turning 4 years old. We were getting all set up for the party and waiting anxiously for the guests to arrive.

               When they arrived, we played some games and ate pizza and cake, opened presents and were having a good time. It was almost time for our friends to go home but we wanted to play outside on the swing set until they had to leave. Everyone was doing “cool” tricks on the swings like jumping off and spinning. Then it was my turn. I was going to jump off the swing but I somehow I got caught and landed on my hands. I started crying and my mom brought me inside and I had a glass of milk to drink and laid on the couch for a little bit. I continued to cry a little and my mom and dad knew something was wrong.

                My mom brought me to the urgent care clinic where they did some x-rays and determined that I had two broken wrists. The doctor couldn’t believe how brave I was because I hardly cried. A few days later I got a cast on my right arm and a brace on the other. It hurt so bad when they had to move my wrists to get them in the right position before they put the casts on. I was always needing help doing everyday things such as eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom. I had to drink out of a straw most of the time and I needed someone to feed me. I also needed help coloring and doing art projects. Of course it didn’t help that I wrote with my right hand! I had my cast on for about 6 weeks and then need to have a brace on that arm and continue to wear the brace on my other arm. My other sister Megan was only about 6 months old and I loved playing with her and holding her. I was so sad that I wasn’t going to be able to play with Megan or hold her because I had both of my casts on.

Introduction

     My name is Amanda! I have two sisters and one brother. I am the oldest child in my family. I love to play soccer! I am playing this year for North and this will be my fourth year playing soccer. I also run track for North. I like to watch hockey, baseball, and football. In the summer my family likes to go camping! I play two instruments... the violin and piano. I am also in USAT with Erin, Hannah, Kaitlynn. and Hannah!