Synthesis Page

Time Line/ Synthesis Page for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:

Oskar's Father Dies:
• His Mom starts to shape-shift. Before she was a quiet person and now once she stated dating she changed. I think this is because she was in grief from the Dad's death.

Oskar Describes the Hunting Game:
• His father becomes the herald. He started these games that he and Oskar play which in a way is the journey of the book.

• As we learn more about his father we find that he is more the mother figure and the mentor. This is shown when he gave comfort to Oskar before he went to bed. He is the mentor because he is really one of the only people who taught him simple things.

Oskar Breaks the Vase and Finds the Key:
• Oskar becomes the wide eyed innocent hero. This is because when he does this he is naive yet has the courage to continue or start this journey.

• His father fulfills the herald position. This is true because without the father putting the vase and the key there he would have never started the journey.



Oskar: Wide eyed innocent hero.
Father: Herald, Father Figure, Mentor.
Mother: Shape-shifter.

            The book Monument 14: Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne is the sequel in the series, Monument 14.  The book is about a bus of high schoolers and a bus of grade schoolers that, in the middle of a hailstorm, crash into a supermarket.  They soon learned, as they take refuge in the supermarket, that the hailstorm was caused by a volcano eruption.  Throughout the first half of the story the main character, Dean,  just follow instructions and let everybody tell him what to do and how to do things,  by the end he is shown as a leader and respected by all.

           The first example of Dean changing is one Caroline gets infected by a rat bite.  Dean would normally just stand around and continue helping everyone else, then really pay attention to the main problem.  The second he knows it's infected he runs to the pharmacy to get to get antibiotics. He continued to look over her as a father figure and as a mentor. This shows that Dean in almost any problem to know what to do and how to do it. This also shows that he is very prepared for anything that comes his way.

           I'm not so heartwarming example is when a man tried to plow through the wall the store with a tractor to get food.  As this happens he is exposed to toxins in the air which, depending on your blood type, turn him into a bloodthirsty savage.  With some weapons on hand Dean, under the influence of the toxins, goes out and kills the man.  Surprisingly, this shows that Dean  was taking the leader figure.  It shows this because he was willing to kill a man for several children and a girl he loved even though she might kill them after under the influence of the toxins. This information proves he slowly taking the leadership position because he's really willing to do anything for the people he loves and cares about.

           Another not so heartwarming example is when the air force cadets break into the store. In an attempt to knock them out and save everyone else,  who hid the one they heard them coming in, Dean put sleeping pills in their drinks.  when he did this he was risking getting beaten to a pulp and Angie life for they would kill him or seriously injured and if they found out.  He also put it in juice which not many of them might drink only a few. This shows that Dean is willing to sacrifice his life and or his health for everyone else once again.

           By the end of the book, as you can see, Dean has fully developed from someone who is merely a follower into a leader that almost everyone respects.  From simply treating a wound to sacrificing his life Dean has it all covered.

Summer Reading Reflection

          Before I read the Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline, I never really knew anything about orphans or the system. The book is about a young girl named Niamh  who came from Ireland to New York in 1929. When their house in New York burns down killing most of her family and leaving her mom unstable to take care of her, she ends up getting put on one of the orphan trains that ran around the country from 1845 to 1929. At one of the meetings she’s picked by woman who has no care for her but only to work.  She made several nice people but in the end the woman is unstable to take care of her when the economy crashes. She is sent to  another house which doesn't work out for her and the she finally finds a resting place with a middle aged couple that needs help with their store. But this is only half of the story. In 2011 seventeen year old, Molly, who has been in the foster care system for many years was caught stealing something and has to do 50 hours of community service instead of juvenile detention. Her boyfriend helps her out and find her a job helping a old lady clean out her attic. When she gets there she finds out that Vivian, the old lady, Has an orphan story to tell herself.

          What I learned from this book was that being an orphan has really changed from the 1900s to now. For example when Niamh goes to  her second home the house is destroyed. There’s no plumbing or electricity, all the kids sleep in one room with mattresses just lying on the floor and the house is slowly decaying. In Molly’s home she has a nice room to herself, a bookshelf, a bed and lots of other necessities that most people have. This shows the most foster care systems now pick very wisely and make sure that the people taking in the foster children have a steady income, a decent living space and will treat the children they’re taking in as their own children. It also shows that people don’t adopt children for work but to help them if they need it.

           When I was reading this book I also put myself in the place of the characters, and I was very shocked what I found myself thinking and doing. When I put myself in the place of Niamh, in 1929,  I realize I want to enable to take it and I would've been shocked by the way people treated me. I also realized how privileged every day people are to have a nice house that has running water and electricity.  I know I also wouldn't have been able to pull myself together and be able to live on life as I knew it.  if I put my place in Molly's I'm pretty sure I wouldn't put up with my foster parents and told the foster care system about how they were treating me and that I wanted to be moved.  In the end I would've definitely gone and told someone, and done something about the horrible situation I was in.

            After reading this book it definitely change my perspective and taught me a lot about how the foster care system worked and  the differences from the old-day system and the current system.  This book was very interesting and I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy, yet very interesting read.