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