Laurens Blog! :V~ (birdy with a worm)

Anne of Green Gables is a sensational and heartwarming tale about an orphan girls struggles with finding a place in this world. It is a realistic fiction by L.M montgomery, and it is set in a town called Avonlea in Canada in 1908. This book is written in past-tense, and it is in the voice of the third person. It is about a vivacious and melodramatic young girl, named Anne (ALWAYS spelled with an ‘e’ at the end) Shirley, or Cordelia Shirley, a name she prefers much more than Anne, because it is SO romantic.

      Anne is always caught up in her little fantasies, and she sometimes starts to believe her own imagination. Anne Shirley, the young orphan, has been through so much in her life, and she manages to cope with everything by using an exceptionally simple method. When she runs into a problem, she simply imagines it away. She dreams about what life would be without that problem, and in her mind, it disappears. But, she has been living like that for too long. She’s been living a fictional life full of her own fantasies, and when she comes to Green Gables she realizes that she must take what comes, and pretending that its something different can’t make it disappear. So she is adopeted by a Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert of Green Gables, Avonlea. Marilla is Mathews sister, and they are both of old age, and so they need help to keep Green Gables running. they sent word with what they thought was a reliable source to tell a woman named Mrs. Spencer to bring them home a boy of 11 from the asylum. But their is a mistake, and when bashfull Matthew goes to the station to pick up the orphan, he finds no boy, but a tall freckly red haired girl. This girl was wiry with a pale face and big green eyes, that sometimes changed according to her mood. She was wearing a dress that was much to small for her, and had the appearance of neglect, though there was not a hair out of place. Matthew found out, upon further questioning of  the train master and the girl herself, that this girl had indeed been brought from the asylum in Nova Scotia by Mrs. Spencer, and was to be cared for by Marilla and himself. Matthew was never the confrontational type, and decided to leave it to Marilla to tell this orphan to go back to the asylum, that we didn’t want her. But Matthew didn’t want that to happen. This girl, this dreamy wide-eyed girl that was now talking to him about every aspect of her view of the world. He kind of liked her. She was a chatter box for sure, but the things she had to say were lady-like enough. It wasn’t long before Marilla liked her too, or at least she liked her as much as Marilla can like someone. So she decided that having an orphan in the house wouldn’t be bad, even if it was a girl, who wouldn’t really be useful for much. Marilla soon felt sympathy for this  child who had been passed from hand to hand, whos entire life was built around the fact that she was unwanted. But Anne was an optimistic girl, who found beauty in everything, and always told people her thoughts and views. She was so trusting, wearing her heart on her sleeve. So, in Green Gables with shy, loving Matthew and stern, practical Marilla, Anne found a home, and a home like no other. She made friends with the trees and the grass, talked to the flowers, but still she was not complete. ANne had spent her whole life being alone, so when she was small she used to invent friends, imaginary friends. But now she was growing up, and imaginary friends are starting to seem more imaginary than ever. When she sees Diana Barry, they are ‘bosom friends’ from the moment their eyes meet. Diana is a beautiful black haired girl Annes age, who liives just down the lane. They soon become classmates, gossiping about their school masters secret affair with a student, and starting fights with Gilbert Blythe, the most popular boy in class. Meanwhile, Anne can’t go one day without making some terrible mistake, like intoxicating her best friend, or baking a  cake with iodine liniment, and feeding it to her guests. As time goes on, Anne soon starts running out of mistakes to make. SHe turns into a smart girl, top of her class. She is a real daughter to Marilla now, and although she doesn’t know it, Anne has made Green Gables a much better place. Although Anne grows up and encounters a whole lot of new kinds of mistakes, no one will ever forget the quirky adventures of Anne Shirley, the best imagination around.

I recently read a book called ‘The Garbage King’. It was a book about poverty, friendship, love and endurance. This story is set in Ethiopia’s central city, Addis Ababa. It involves two boys, who each have their own problems to deal with, when suddenly, their lives become entangled and they have to rely on each other to survive.

Throughout this story these boys have had to endure many hardships, but i think they brought that fate among themselves. At certain times during the tale they have made some foolish mistakes. For example, at the start of the book, a man came to Mamo (one of the main characters), claiming that he was his uncle, and that he had a job for him. Mamo readily accepted the offer, as this was a hard time for him. His mother had just died, and now him and his older sister were in absolute poverty,not being able to pay for rent, or even a decent meal. So he took the mans offer, and this is where he made his biggest mistake. This man was a complete stranger, with no proof at all that he had even known Mamos mother, let alone been her sister. So Mamo left his shelter with this man, and let him take him away, away from his sister, and away from the only home he had ever known. I think that before discussing his mistake, we must first say a few words in his defense. Mamos mother just died, and while she was alive, she wasn’t really the motherly type, so how would Mamo have found out about his family? For all he knew, he could have twenty uncles that he  had never heard of. And also, Mamo was in a very difficult situation, they had no more money, and even if his sister did get the job that she was currently interviewing for, that would hardly be enough to support them both, and who would want to hire him, a poor beggar? Well, thats what he thought, so without another thought, he left with this man. Now i must say, that even despite the things i have just said in his defense, i feel that Mamo really shouldn’t have made this mistake. This is a stranger, a complete stranger that claims to be his uncle, yet he couldn’t even answer Mamo when he asked the man to confirm his “sisters” name. In spite of all that, Mamo leaves with this man, without thinking about how his sister would contact him, about how she wouldn’t  know where he had gone. Even though he had never got a proper education, he still had no right to be so careless, when he had other peoples happiness at stake. So That was Mamos biggest mistake, he walked right into a slavers hands.

And next I want to discuss Danis first mistake, which i think is a far worse one than Mamos. Dani was rich. Very rich. He lived in Ethiopia, a generally poor country, yet he was still rich. He lived in a fine house, with servants and cooks, with his little sister Meseret, and his sick mother and cruel father. Dani was a rich boy. He was over-weight and dim-witted. He got terrible grades in all his classes (except writing, he was a wonderful story writer) and was made fun of by the other boys. His father was nothing short of ashamed of his kid, and often resorted to cruel mockery of him. So Dani looks to his mother for protection, who alone seems to  be able to control Ato Paulos (Danis father). This all changes when his mothers condition gets worse, and she is transported across the country, to a special hospital for a surgery that might or might not work. Now that she’s gone, Dani has no one to stand between him and his father, so Dani decides to leave home. To make a run for it, and live on the streets. So he leaves the house, and leaves behind all his riches. This is the mistakes that turns his life completely upside-down. He lives the house with only a little bit of money, and a bag of clothes. Him being the rich boy that he is, he  eats lunch at a 4 star hotel, and wastes all his money on his first meal. So now hes on the streets. And my question is, How could he be so ignorant? He has lived in Addis Ababa all his life, he must have grown up watching the homeless sleep right on his doorstep. He knows exactly what it looks like to not have a sufficient food and water source, and how can he want that? He’s just running away from his problems, and he should know that that really doesn’t solve anything, and it often just gives you a whole lot more trouble.

So Dani was out on the street, and Mamo had just successfully run away from his master (the man he was sold to), and got a ride back to Addis Ababa. Now both boys are living on the streets in the same city. Eventually, Dani needs a place to sleep. He decides to sleep in an old graveyard (which personally, would scare me out of my wits!), and settles down for the night. Mamo is running away from two policemen, who were looking at him suspiciously. He also takes refuge in the old graveyard, where he sees Dani. The boys both share their stories, and decide to stick together and help each other out. This, I think, is their wisest choice yet. It is much easier to survive with someone by your side, then alone. After a while a puppy crawls out from a hole, which it had fallen into. They decide to care for this puppy, which they name Suri. Mamo meets an old friend named Getachew, who is also living on the streets. Getachew is part of a Godana (a gang) he takes him to his Joviro (a leader) and asks if Mamo and Dani can join the gang. He says yes, and now Mamo and Dani have more than just each other, they have a family, which they depend on to survive. They each have a role in the gang, and learn to love and trust their new brothers. This story just shows how everyone can make mistakes, but it’ll eventually get better, it might just take time. So never stop thinking optimistically.

This excellent tale, The Garbage King, is written by Elizabeth Laird. It is a realistic fiction, set in Ethiopias central city, Addis Ababa in present time. It is written in third person, in past-tense. The main characters are Mamo and Daniel Paulos.

Lauren

 

Hello!

Here are a couple websites that i think are useful in the process of making a comic.

The first one (click on this link) is to help with the drawing aspect of the procedure, as it can often be the hardest. This website offers step-by-step instructions on creating simple characters. There are about ten or so different characters, and they’re pretty standard, and easy to draw. Once you’ve followed the websites instructions, you can add details and alter the face to make it look the way you want. The faces they offer are great bases; they make it easy for you to add certain characteristics along the way to make them look the way you want them to. Also, if you just want to practice your cartoon drawing, it’s really quite fun to play around with some of the characters!

The second one (click on this link) really covers all the steps of making a comic book. There are eleven steps, plus a couple of tips, and some warnings. After an instruction there is always a detailed description, so that helps us to understand what to do better. Some highlights of this website: In the second step, the instruction is two write the story. i like how it has some helpful sentances and tips on how to decide on your plot. I also like how in step 6, its more of an opinion, not a fact. The person who wrote this was suggesting that we measure the speech bubbles and make room for everything else first, even though this isn’t a crucial step in comic book making.

Lauren

     Okay, so it doesn’t sound so fun, but there is so much scope for imagination with books!!! First of all, there are so many people who have missed out on so much, because of not taking an interest in reading books. They always give such routine excuses!!! “I can’t really get into it” “I’d rather be experiencing it myself” “There just isn’t enough time to read!” Well with my new factory, lets hope all these problems will be solved!

      So let’s solve the first excuse. “I can’t really get into it”. Well i have a solution for that. In my factory, we can have a machine that tests your brain waves, and gives you a simple quiz, to find out your interests. Even though it might be more fun to try out a book and see if it suits you, these people don’t seem to appreciate the mystery and surprise of a new book. So using the answers from our test, experts can chose or create a story that is sure to satisfy the costumer. Who knows, maybe after seeing that books can be very engaging, maybe they’ll get back in the field, and hunt for some books themselves! okay then… Next problem! “I’d rather be there experiencing it myself!” Well there’s no reason that you cant now, is there? In my factory, we would be selling books where you can actually get into the story! If you were reading a story about a pirate fight, then you would be there watching the pirates fight!! You wouldn’t actually disappear and go there, because most of the time the stories are fictitious. As you are reading the words, after about a page of reading, you would be able to see, in your minds eye, the tory going on. Soon you would be able to close your eyes, and you could see feel and hear, as if you were right there! “There just isn’t enough time to read! Okay now this is one i actually cant do anything about. If you cant find time to read, then you need to rearrange your schedule, leave some time to enjoy yourself!

        In addition to alternatives to these popular excuses, we also have many other solutions to your book problems. First of all, We have the candy book! Pages made of crystalized sugar, with an everlasting code so they wont break until after you’ve read it. Once you’ve finished the page, you can eat it! Books with pages that light up so you can read in the dark. Built in bookmarks, no more dog-earring the pages! Think about all your book problems, major or slight, and I’ll have the solution!

Lauren

p.s. This entry is more of a wish, not reality, so don’t let it go to your head!

Hello!

As a class, 6A has created a display answering the question, “What makes Roald Dahl a good writer??” We were given three periods to do it in, and we finished with good time. The challenge of this project however, was that Ms.Clifford was not participating, we had to construct this all on our own!!!!

Did we have fun? Yes. Did we learn something? Yes. Did we work responsibly as a group? Maybe……….

Regardless of how well we worked together, I can honestly say, that each and every one of us fairly contributed to the groups effort, and all of this cooperation, produced very satisfying results. We spent the first period discussing tactics and handing out jobs. There were some listening problems, but we all respected one another, and everyone got a chance to share their input. We all agreed that to get this project done on time, we would have to take a lot of the work home with us. I was kind of worried that somebody might forget their job, but I was absolutely sure that nobody would blow off the task on purpose. The next day, everybody had brought their things for the task, so I was VERy happy. We worked and worked. We didn’t even have to talk about it this time. everybody knew exactly what they needed to do, and got to doing it. We worked hard and productively. With about half an hour left in the lesson, we had all finished printing our work, and we were backing and mounting things. We had a few minor disagreements, but we worked great together. When we finished, we had time left, so we put some extra touches on it. I think we were all impressed with how smoothly this went. It was amazing!

Yours Respectfully,

L.D Hudak

p.s: Do you think that would be a good name if i was to become an author? I think that everyone should have a prepared name, just in case they were to become an author or an actor. I think if i was to become an author, i would use L.D Hudak, if i were an actress, I would use Lola or Lulu or something… 

 

If your feeling bad about yourself, thinking you can’t do anything, just remember that you can. Everybody has their own way of doing things, and thats called your “NESS”. its the way you do things, to make your own name, the name of your style. for example, carl gets home from work, and instead of hanging up his coat, he throws it on the chair nearest him. that’s a perfect display of his carlness. But you cant just start telling everyone you have ‘ness‘ You have to KNOW you have ness. You have to believe in it, and believe in yourself. DONT STOP BELIEVING!!!!!

Laurenness