Journal Three: Reading Response: Keeley Weaver

     My active reading is going great so far if I don’t know a word I underline it and write it at the bottom of the page, if I find anything interesting in the passage I highlight it and put why I find it interesting or give my opinion on the topic of the book. The only thing I’m really struggling with is remembering to put the characters on top of the page and putting what role they have in the story.

     Each book as a lot of strengths I believe, “The House On Mango Street” uses great metaphors for comparison of things to help really understand what Esperanza is trying to get at and it has a very good concept to the book In “A Long Way Gone” Beah is very detailed with everything going on so you can read and can picture what’s going on in your head. I don’t really think the books have a weakness other than in “The House On Mango Street “ I don’t like how short the chapters are, I think she could go more into depth on details of what’s going on and I believe that the chapters are kind of all over the place. The book I prefer out of the two would have to be “A Long Way Gone” because I appreciate how in-depth everything is in that book and you can really get a feel of scared and concerned is in the book and pretty much experienced everything that the 11-year-old boy goes through as well.

     One of the themes I found in “A Long Way Gone” was fear. Everyone in the story is pretty much on their toes and very careful with each and every one of their moves so they don’t get caught by the rebels. It is important to understand this because all the boys in their group aren’t even adults yet and they have to live in constant fear because they don’t know where their family is and if they are even alive. A direct quote I found to represent the theme was in chapter 5, “I couldn’t hear their word as because all I could think about was death.”