Improved Response

Ned Vizzini made a powerful book about depression and drugs and how it can affect us. In It's Kind of A Funny Story. It showed many people what can happen if you go the wrong direction and how lucky I am to be fine. I never knew how many people are depressed and how many lost their ways by taking drugs. It taught me everything you fought for and dreamed of doing, you will lose it by going the wrong way. Everything you prepared for is shattered and you go into a different world of being alone and lost. They have no job, no money, but all they have is an addiction or a problem.

Craig had everything he wanted. Friends, a home, and being in the top high schools of the nation. Everything he did he thought was because he was lucky. He studied the whole year and then he gave up on it. His friend Aaron made him do drugs. He was losing focus on school. He was very busy with homework that he had no time to relax. He couldn't handle it anymore. He was afraid if he told someone he was depressed and taking medication, people would think he is crazy. He was starting to feel alone. Never in my life have I felt that way before. I would sometimes think it, but never that lost nor alone.

When he was in the hospital, he met different types of people. People who cut themselves, did drugs, homeless people. It made him look like he was normal compared to the other patients. When Smity told Craig about his best friend Humble, Smitty said" He takes a lot of medication. Zorloft, vaccines you name it he takes it." It showed Craig that even how normal people might seem, you don't know their story. He liked Nia and found out she is depressed too. Craig wanted to do something to help them and show them the right direction. He wants to be on the right track, not going to the bad one.

Though Craig wanted to be with someone who is like him, he still thanks someone he doesn't know to not be "bad" or "messed up." All he wants is to live his life and not waste his life studying. Some don't realize people aren't as "normal" as they seem. They sometimes have to thank themselves for not being in the wrong direction. This is what it taught me.

Reading Response for independent reading book

In Power of Six by Pittacus Lore, John who is number four and the ones the Mogadorians are trying to hunt and the other 6 Lorien people, is confused and lost about evrything. He doesn't know what to do without Henri or where to go and find the other people who needs to unite with. He doesn't know what is the best of him when he is alone or trying to survive on his own and looks for places he has never been in.

When he went back to Paradise, Ohio, he went back with Sarah when he was supposed to help Six and find his chest then leave with the sundial Sam said about. All he wanted to do was come back to the place he had real friends with the place he actually called home. "I wanted to be in the place I made my first friend, the place I called home, the place I had  my first Legacies, but met my first Mogadorians." Everything was being just right and was hoping he can stay there forever, but with the mistakes he did, and what he did o expose himself he couldn't come back. Paradise is a distraction to him and it led him to trouble.

John wanted to be in one place because he didn't want to keep moving from one place to another. He lost it when he lost Henri. He found his way back when he knew he can't trust no one anymore or people he wants to be with them. He got his way back when he said he was going to get his and Six's chest back to them. On the other hand he was going to die because it was the headquarters of the Mogadorians and knew Bernie Kosar can't come with Sam and him or Six too.

Even though John lost his friend Sam, and couldn't find Six's chest found number nine who is as strong as John. Everyone has their legacies now and are stronger meaning they can beat the Mogadorians. John lost everything, but he has most of the numbers to save the world and though the charm is broken that means everyone can get killed now; the have their powers.

Final Draft of Drummer Boy of Shiloh

In the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh" there is a boy named Joby who is in the Civil War and is startled by what he hears, and sees. He sees the general and he talked to Joby about what the war really is, and how it will affect all of them and the country. If they lose then they will most likely die and if they win they still might die. Joby learned that he should be proud of who he is and what he is doing. A boy who is nine to thirteen is in the war? He must a brave boy. This is what the general wants to show Joby. How many boys are willing to risk their life in the war? No one which is what makes Joby special.

The general told him that he cried because he was afraid he wasn't going to come back home to see his friends and family. He wanted to show Joby that it is okay to be afraid because everyone deep inside that he or the people he meets he will not see again. He wanted Joby to also know that there are people like him who are young and are in the war, but are dead. "I fear it will be full of boys agian , just floating at sundown tomorrow, not caring where the current takes them." He wants Joby to show that he is smarter than all of them because he leads them like he is also the general. If he does it right then they will win because of him. Joby is the key to this battle.

The general wanted to show that even veterans are like him. They will always be afraid that they will cry for the possibility of them dying. If Joby is willing to take the risk of leading the general's men then Joby wil be remembered for what he has done in the Battle of Shiloh. Everyone will respect him for doing what no one could have done and that is to lead an army on a young age. On the other hand Joby could be a hero, but he will lose his life. He won't have the chance to live on and see him get a reward of being the bravest soldier in the war.

Joby is a special boy that he should be proud of himself. He is the only boy willing to take risks, and he might have left home for the war. No boy would do this. If I were in his time, I would be proud to meet this brave boy.