Friday, December 21, 2007

Week 5. Post B.

This section begins with Jenny, Alexa, and Tate at a mini golf course. You can see that Jenny is starting to get annoyed with her “new” half sister Alexa. In Jenny’s mind, Tate is her guy and she doesn’t like that Alexa keeps flirting with him. Jenny’s parents give her money to treat everyone for ice cream after they play mini golf. Alexa tries to get Jenny to go to her work and create some art she had been thinking about. Jenny tells her that it is closed and she might get in a lot of trouble for going there. Jenny thinks that Alexa is trying to get rid of her to spend some alone time with Tate. She is very jealous because she already thinks that her family likes Alexa better than her and now Tate might too. In the end, they all go down to Jenny’s work and sneak in. Alexa and Tate leave Jenny there to do her artwork and they go off and have ice cream with all of his friends. The next day Jenny and Alexa bond at the beach but all Alexa seems to talk about is Tate. Jenny’s dad really doesn’t seem to like Alexa at all. They were taking their annual family picture where everyone is wearing the same thing. Alexa tied Jenny’s up so it would fit her better. And the whole time Jenny’s dad was complaining about it and refused to take the picture just because Alexa did it and said that it looked good. I think Jenny is going to start to get annoyed with Alexa and want her to go home. I think it will have something to do with Tate.

Week 5. Post A.

Vocabulary:
awry (149)- away from appropriate, planned, or expected course.

rivulets (157)- a very small stream

Figurative Language:
"He's been dragging equipment down the stairs at all hours of the day and night, sweat running in rivulets from his hairline."
-This is a metaphor because sweat isn't actually running down like actually rivulets. The author is just comparing using figurative language.

"The whole world seems contained in the square blanket we're sitting on."
-I would consider this personification because the world can't really be contained on the blanket the girls are sitting on.

"In my head I talk to Faye as if she were here, but she's not-and besides, it's always hard for me to explain my churning feelings."
-This is a metaphor because she is talking about her feelings churning. Her feelings can't really churn inside her body, therefore it is a metaphor.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Week 4. Post B.

This section starts with Jenny and her family sitting down to dinner. Her twin sisters announce that they are having their important dance recital on the same night as Jenny’s art fair. Jenny knew that her parents were going to choose her sisters over her. She started to freak out and for the first time told her parents about how she felt about everything. She told them that she felt like she doesn’t fit in and that no one supports her and ever asks to see her artwork. During all of this, Tate walks into the house and asks if they heard Jenny’s good news. Jenny hadn’t told them yet and they all started asking millions of questions and Jenny finally told them that she has a half sister and that she was coming to visit. Her sisters and brother feel so rejected. Her dad is furious and starts yelling at her and saying that she had to cancel. While her mom is trying to be supportive. They all think that Jenny shouldn’t have kept this a secret from them. For days Jenny puts off calling Alexa to cancel. She doesn’t want to hurt her feelings. The day before Alexa is supposed to come she finally gets up the nerve to call her. She is in her room on the phone with her when her family is yelling at her to come to the door. When she gets to the front door a girl is standing in the driveway and she realizes it is Alexa. Her dad is furious at Jenny and yells at her right in front of Alexa. The family isn’t very welcoming to her at all. Jenny even starts to feel a little threatened by her. I think that this would be a hard thing to do. Jenny wanted to obey her dad and she didn’t know that Alexa was going to come early. I think if I met my half sister and she was a lot better than me in many ways, I would start to feel threatened too. I think that this is going to be hard for Jenny.

Week 4. Post A.

Vocabulary:
euphemism (152)- an indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

infatuated (153)- be inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for.

Significant Quote:
"When I look in the same direction, I see a girl standing in front of a red taxi, holding a cell phone. I swallow hard and then my hands start shaking. "Alexa?" I say into the phone. The girl in the driveway looks at me and nods (126)."
-This quote is important because it shows how Alexa showed up unexpectedly right when Jenny was trying to call her to cancel. Jenny got in tons of trouble from her dad for this because he thinks she disobeyed him.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Week 3. Post B.

In this section, Jenny goes over to Tate’s house. Jenny finds out that he does really like her when he kisses her unexpectedly. She starts to feel so comfortable with him and she feels like she can talk to him about anything. He takes her downstairs to his computer room and she logs onto the sibling registry website. She signs in and looks for matches that sound like they could be her father. She comes to a girl who she starts to think could be her half-sister. Tate leaves her alone to see what the match is all about. The girl was from the same hospital and was born in the same year. She sends her an email asking if she had the same donor. Jenny doesn’t tell her family about what she was soon to find out because she thought it would hurt their feelings. One night Jenny is sitting at her computer when an IM pops up. It is a girl named Alexa. The girl from the website. She gets excited as they instantly started talking. They find out that they are a match! And that Alexa had a donor father because she has two moms. Alexa and Jenny start talking all the time. They would stay up all night talking on the phone or spend hours on the computer. It got to the point where Alexa really wanted to meet her. Jenny was afraid of this and she would always avoid the subject when it came up. She thought that if she met Alexa she would realize that they didn’t like each other or that it would be awkward. Everyday Alexa would ask for Jenny to come visit and she would turn her down. I think I would want to meet someone that was related to me but it would also be a very scary thing to do. It would be very nerve-racking.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Week 3. Post A.

Vocabulary:
coyly (75)- reluctant to give details about something regarded as sensitive.

paltry (93)- (of an amount) small or meager: petty.

Figurative Language:
"I'm not ready to jump into our shared gene pool and meet her."
-This is a metaphor because the character can't literally jump into her gene pool. It just symbolizes what she feels without using like or as.

""Finding the words to express how you feel about someone is so easy at night, alone in your bed with only the slim blue light from the summer sky as witness."
-This is personification because it is giving human characteristics to something nonhuman. The sky can't actually be a witness.

"As soon as the words are out of his mouth, hovering in the air like monarch butterflies with their vibrant orange-and-black wings, I know he's right."
-This is a simile because it's a comparison of two things using the word like. It's not literal.