Child of the Jungle

Mike deprofio

Block 3

The book I’m reading is called Child of the Jungle it is a memoir. The author is Sabine Kuegler. This book takes place in a jungle (danau bira) in Germany. The main characters are Sabine, Judith and Christian. This book takes place in the 1980’s Christian, Sabine and Judith are all siblings. Every chapter is a new event that happens in their life. Sabine is the main character and is brave, courageous, fun and is always looking for an adventure. In one chapter Sabine and Christian go deep into the forest and pretend they are related to Tarzan and swing on vines but after a while they got caught and got punished.

            I liked how these are kids who try to adapt to the tribes way of life. I dislike how some people would die and they would mourn for days or even months. My favorite part is when they go on a big journey to each different tribe to make peace with them.

            I recommend this book to people who like to read adventure books. I rate this a 4 out of 5 because I liked most parts.

A Child called "IT"

Francheska Chour

1/14/13

Reading writing workshop

Book Review #1

The book A Child called “it” by Dave Pelzer is a tragic story about a boy who gets physically abused by his mother. The little boys name is Dave; he has three other brothers and lives with both his parents. In the beginning, Dave’s mom used to love him but it quickly started to change. She called him a bad boy and punished him harshly. She starved him, made him her own personal maid, locked him in the bathroom with the smell of Clorox and other deadly chemicals, she even made him eat poop, vomit, and left over crumbs from breakfast or dinner as his meal. His brothers and father didn’t do anything, at first they watched sadly but after some time they didn’t even show any affection towards him. I liked reading this book because it talked about every incident briefly. My favorite part was when they went to a family trip and Dave’s mom was forcing him to eat his brother’s poop. I liked it because he was really descriptive and showed a lot of emotion in the chapter. My least favorite part was when she made him throw up and eat it again and his father just watched without doing anything. I recommend this book for anyone that likes memoirs because it keeps you awake and won’t let you put the book down. I believe this book should be for teens ranging from 14-17 years old because it has a lot of curses and its very violent. I would rate this book a four out of four stars because it was really good and it actually teaches you a lot about abuse and about what others around you might be going through without you thinking about it and not judging people because you never know what happens when they are home.

child called IT

Juan Zabalu

1/14/13

Mrs. Hardy

          The book I read was  A child called IT  by David Pelzer. This book is a true story about a little boy named David who is physically and verbally abused by his mother. At first things seem perfect. They talked all the time, they went to the park, and he cherished all the good things in life. All of a sudden things changed. She became evil; she began drinking and fighting with David. David and his father were really close. But after his mom changed his father moved out. He was sick of her and could not take it anymore. David was devastated. His father was the only good thing in his life after his mother’s change. The abuse began and David just tried to survive this awful life. One awful thing that happens to him is when his mother tried making David lay down on a burning stove.

 I liked many things about this book, what I liked the most was how specific the author was when he described what abusive things his mother was doing to him. I recommend this book for anyone who likes suspense and cliff hangers. This book can at times make you get very emotional and mad. Overall this is a very good book and i give it four out of four stars. It is very detailed and it has a way at getting at your emotions. I recommend this book to everyone.

Sample Post: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Taken from Nanci Atwell's blog "You Gotta Read This"

I loved The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is a beautifully written yet harsh memoir about her childhood. She grew up with parents who couldn’t properly take care of her, her sister, and her brother. They moved constantly, from one horrible place to another, because her father was always running away, both from the police and his responsibilities to his children.

The lead brings a reader right in. Walls starts her story in the present, and we get a brief vision of her glamorous life today. Then she flashes back, and the rest of the narrative connects in subtle ways. Walls shows us tidbits of her life, but she succeeds in not giving anything away, because she has crafted the narrative so the conclusion reveals everything.

I rate The Glass Castle a definite ten. Walls creates detailed visuals and amazing dialogue that made these memoies come alive in my mind, perhaps as much as it was in hers. I felt like I was there with her the whole time because of all the thoughts and feelings she weaves into her story. She reflects on everything.
The Glass Castle is much like a series of vignettes from Jeannette Walls’s horrific past, crafted to connect the little stories. It is a quick read—I finished it in only a couple of nights.

Walls brings out so many themes in this book, including the importance of family, but also the need to create an independent identity, and how to forgive. She shows how she looked out for herself and her brother, even as a young girl. And she doesn’t blame her parents or express bitterness, although she has every right to.
I would recommend The Glass Castle to anyone who wants to read a true story about family values. This memoir continues to haunt me.
Maura (student)
Publisher: Scribner, 288 pages