Outside Reading Week 3 - Post B

Dear Sara Gruen,

I'm just writing to tell you that I absolutely LOVE your book! It's so good that I can never put it down and I lose track of time reading it! There are so many unexpected twists, so I'm never able to predict what's coming next. For instance, I never saw it coming when August blew up at Jacob and Marlena after the first show with Rosie and accuses them of being lovers and cheating on him.

The way you write and tell the story it is almost like you were there, or like you're writing from past experience. I also love the pictures you put at the beginning of each of the chapters. They make the book fun to read and help to put some characters with faces.

I'm so excited to keep reading and find out what happens with August and Marlena after she tells him that she is breaking up with him. I think he might go crazy and get really mad at Jacob, even though Jacob had nothing to do with Marlena. I hope that this incident won't lead to Jacob being red lighted or losing his job as the vet to the circus animals. I'm also curious about what will happen with Jacob in the present. The circus is coming to town and he is really excited. However, I have the feeling that something might happen between Jacob and the other resident living at the nursing home.

Outside Reading Week 3 - Post A

Vocab:

1. minimally (201): barely adequate or the least possible
2. menagerie(212): a collection of wild or unusual animals

Figurative Language:

1. "Although the wait is killing Uncle Al..."(218) This is an example of personification. Waiting is being given the human characteristic of killing. 
2. "I break down in the confessional and sob like a baby..."(230) This is a simile. Jacob is comparing his crying to a baby's using 'like'.
3. "He kicked and struggled like a mad man!" (223) This is also a simile. August is being compared to a mad man using 'like'.

Quote:

"I kneel in front of her, searching her face for a signal to stay. After an agonizing wait, I realize I'm not going to find one. I kiss her on the forehead and leave. " (222) Jacob leaves Marlena and swears to himself that he'll leave her for good. I find this very hard to believe since he's in love with her. I don't he will be able to get over her just like that. This is a good idea if Jacob will actually be able to stick to his plan. He needs to get over her asap before he gets into more trouble with August. 

Theme:

The theme of looking out for yourself is defiantly still emerging, and the theme of greed is too.

Outside Reading Week 2 - Post B

Since my last blogging, a lot of stuff has happened! Jacob becomes the circus's vet to all the animals, Uncle Al(the ring master) bought an elephant, and Jacob has gotten himself into a whole lot of trouble! Jacob is really starting to bug me. He finally has his life back on track, or as well is it could be living in the circus, then he does things to screw it up! He kisses Marlena, this giant guy named August's wife, he tells everyone that the Ringling circus(their biggest competitor) is better then them, which is like a major sin, and he gets totally tanked with a ton of the roustabouts. He just doesn't think about his actions! Jacob seems like a nice kid, and I hope he will learn to get his act together before Uncle Al redlights him(throws him off of the train while its moving! Scary!!).

I am also now learning about Jacob's present life at his nursing home. (The novel flashes back and forward a lot) There he gets in fights with one of the other residents about the stories he tells. The man tells everyone that when he was younger he would bring water for elephants at circus. This really upsets Jacob. He calls the man a lier and refuses to speak to him no matter how hard all the nurses try to get him to. I don't get Jacob. I don't know if its because he's old or something, but why does he have all these sudden outbursts? I'm anxious to find out the reason for Jacobs accusations and what will happen next..

Outside Reading Week 2 - Post A

Vocab: 

1. vehemently (124) : zealous; ardent; impassioned
2. roustabouts (141) : a laborer employed for temporary or unskilled jobs

Figurative Language:

1. "Crack! I turned around just in time to see the top of the tent come crashing down." (136) Crack is an onomatopoeia because its mimicking the sound of the tent breaking and falling down.
2. "I push my porridge aside and open my vanity mirror. I should know better by now, but somehow I still expect to see myself. Instead, I find an Appalachian apple doll, withered and spotty, with dewlaps and bags and long floppy ears." (111) This is a metaphor. Jacob is comparing his old self to an Appalachian doll, without using 'like' or 'as'.
3. "Within minutes the bloody stench and piercing shrieks send me lying back to the goat room to press my nose against the mildewed blanket - anything to replace the smell of death." (145) This passage is using imagery. Jacob is describing the sense of the bad smell so well that you can almost picture what it would be like. 

Quote:

"I frown. This is not part of the normal Jacob/nurse repertoire. 'He may be wrong in the details, but he's not lying.' she says. 'He really believes that he carried water for the elephants. He does.' I don't answer." (176) Here again the title is stated. Jacob is flashing forward to present time where he is an old man at a nursing home. He is refusing to eat with another man because he tells stories about how he carried water for elephants. Jacob freaks out saying that he's lying. Why does Jacob care so much? I think that this is foreshadowing something important that has to do with Jacob and Rosie(the elephant).

Theme:

The theme of greed/looking out for number one is still emerging. 

Outside Reading Week 1 - Post B

In the first few pages, a TON of stuff happens! First, Jacob's parents die in a tragic car accident, just before his final test at college to become a vet. Second, Jacob walks out on his final at college because he is too depressed about his parents to finish. After he leaves the classroom, Jacob walks until he doesn't know where he is anymore. It is then when he discovers and jumps a random moving train. There he is greeted by rough looking men who inform him that he has just joined the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

I can't believe Jacob! He walks out of an Ivy League school during his final test in becoming his dream job and goes a jumps a train? What the heck?? Sure, I would be extremely depressed if my parents died, but come on. Couldn't he just ask his professor for an extension or something? Also throwing yourself on to a moving train? Umm... are you crazy?! It amazes me that he then agrees to joining the circus after seeing the unsanitary and rough life the men live.

Although, Jacob is offered a job as being the circus's vet, so maybe all of his hard work at school won't go to waste. So far he is only looking after the show's horses. Are they going to get elephants, or when do they come into play? Oh, and won't people be looking for him back at home? I really hope that Jacob will be alright. He's a good kid, and I hope that by joining the Benzini Brothers, he isn't throwing his life away.

Outside Reading Quarter 2 Week 1 - Post A

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Vocab:

1. Fetlock (74) : the projection of the leg of a horse behind the joint between the cannon bone and great pastern bone, bearing a tuft of hair
2. Decrepit (77) : weakened by old age; feeble; infirm

Figurative Language:

1. "Canvas tents have popped up like mushrooms..." (34) This is a simile. I can tell because the tents are being compared to mushrooms using the word 'like'.
2. "Laughter ripples through the crowd." (41) This is personification. Laughter, which is inanimate, is being given the characteristic of rippling. 
3. '"You're as strong as a horse!"' (65) This is also a simile. Jacob's strength is being compared to a horse's using the word 'as'.

Quote:

'"You want to carry water for elephants I suppose?' Earl's brow creases, 'But sir we don't have any-' 'Shut up!' shrieks Uncle Al..." (58) This is significant because already in the book, the title has been stated. When Al suggests the job of being water to elephants, Earl objects. Al then freaks out and tells Earl to shut up. Why did he do this? Is Al tricking Jacob?

Theme:

I think that the theme of greed maybe be beginning to emerge. 

Outside Reading - Week 5 Post B

Dear Evelina Chao,

It's me again! I just finished reading your novel, Yeh Yeh's House, and all I can say is wow! Your novel was extremely entertaining and hard to put down.

Your trip to China sounded amazing! I think it would be awesome to go there and see all sights that you did. (Like the Great Wall of China, and taking a boat ride down the Yangtze River) However, I think I'll pass on eating the special cooked turtle dish!

I was really happy to see that you finally made it to your Yeh Yeh's house. For awhile I was doubting that you would ever make it to Beijing. I was also really excited that you and your mother finally worked out your differences. Like you said before, sometimes it takes great lengths like going to the other side of the world, to bring two people together. Have you still stayed close since the trip? 

I'm sorry to hear about your Yeh Yeh's house being torn down, but at least you were able to stay it before it happened. I'm sure he would have wanted you to see it. Also, I think that it's very cute that you planted the same flowers you Yeh Yeh at home, to remind you of China.

I have several questions for you after finishing your novel:

1. Have you ever returned to China?
2. Have you stayed in contact with the relatives you met there?
3. Did you ever choose a scroll from Yeh Yeh's house?

Again your novel was amazing!!

Sincerely, 

Paige