Politics Can Affect People

       Imagine a society dealing with war and protests. That's exactly what Marjane's country was like in "Persepolis". Marjane is a young girl who was trying to find herself, but that was very hard to do when her country was having problems. Marjane was witnessing many terrible things. This caused Marjane to become very confused and start to act up.
       I feel really bad for Marjane because she experienced what no young girl should experience. She was trying to be strong for a long time, and had to grow up too fast. I really sympathized with her, especially in the first book, because so many bad things were happening around her and she didn't know what to do. The first book was mostly about the political turmoil in Marjane's country, and the second book was mostly about how that turmoil affected her. I think this is because in the first book, Marjane is a young girl living in Iran, and for the majority of the second book, Marjane is a teenager living in Austria because her parents sent her there. In the first book, Marjane seemed much more put together than in the second book, even though she was living in a harder time. This is most likely because being a teenager and trying to figure out yourself can be really hard, so if are living on your own in Austria and have been affected by war, being a teenager must be torturous.
       This book shows a lot about how war can affect a person's life. Mostly, people think about the big impact of war, but Persepolis takes it to a personal level, which I think is very interesting. I'm glad that Marjane was able to tell her story so people would be more aware of what some people are going through.

It's the Same in Every Time Period

             I just finished reading "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly. As the book went on, I realized that Calpurnia faces not only dilemmas about science, but also about family and finding herself. She is growing up in a time period where a lot of things are changing, and she is trying to make sense of her world. Her oldest brother, who was always very protective of her, is now too busy fawning over girls to notice her. Three of her other brothers have crushes on her best friend.  Her mother wants her to be a housewife, even though she really wants to be a scientist. The fact that she is in a household with 6 brothers always makes her feel a little out of place.
            One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is although it is set in a time period where things are very different from how they are now, I could relate a lot to Calpurnia and the storyline. I could definitely imagine Calpurnia, her best friend Lula, and her brothers living in 2013. People today still feel out of place, they still love learning, and they still are trying to figure out themselves in a changing world, just like Calpurnia. The author made this story so it not only paints a picture of what the world was like in 1899, but also relates to 2013.

How to Treat People

         I know I've posted a lot about the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and you're probably getting a little tired of it. But I've been reading a lot of Alice books lately, and I'm going to do one more post about the book I read this week. (Then I will find some other books to blog about.)

          The book I read this week was called “Including Alice”, and it shows a lot about how to treat people. In this book, Alice learns how to be kind to a girl named Amy who just came into the mainstream program at her school from the special education program. Amy isn't like other kids. She says things to acquaintances that are considered socially unacceptable, and she doesn't catch onto jokes very quickly. Amy is an easy target for bullying because of that. At the beginning of the book, Alice makes fun of Amy, but as she gets to know her better, Alice realizes that Amy has a good heart and is nicer to her and helps her fit in. I think that this teaches a very good lesson—just because someone needs extra help learning and fitting in doesn't mean that they don’t deserve respect.

           Alice also learns how to be nice to a girl named Penny. Penny flirted with Alice’s ex-boyfriend, Patrick, when they were still together, and Patrick broke up with Alice to be with Penny. About a year after this happened, Alice is still mad at Penny, even though Penny and Patrick aren't together anymore. However, Penny wants to be friends with Alice, so she asks if Alice will pretend to like her for one week. During that week, Alice realizes that she actually does like Penny, and has been very mean to her. This teaches that you have to really get to know someone before you judge them. 

History

        It must be really hard to write the entire history of the world in one book, but E.H. Gombrich managed to do it. In his book "A Little History of the World", each chapter is a different part of history. This book is really unique because it shows history in a way that both kids can understand and teenagers and adults can learn something from. The book almost seems like a conversation between you and the author. He uses terms like "you" and "we", and really connects with the reader. There is a simple black and white picture at the beginning of each chapter that shows what the chapter is going to be about. The author also seems like he really likes World History. The book presents history in a way that's fun and interesting. I haven't gotten very far in the book yet, but I can already tell that it teaches a lot about important moments in history. It doesn't go too in depth with each topic, but it teaches a lot of interesting facts . All in all, I think that this book teaches history in an interesting way and I look forward to reading more of it.

Science

         A lot of things are available in our modern world that we take for granted. In 1899, when "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly is set, people didn't have the conveniences and rights that we have now. The story is set in the summer, and Calpurnia and her family had a really hard time staying cool because there was no air conditioning. A "wind machine" (which I'm assuming is similar to a fan) seemed like a novelty to Calpurnia, and her family was only able to afford it because they were very wealthy. Calpurnia was expected to be very polite and proper, and did not have the same freedom as her brothers because of her gender. Calpurnia also wanted to be a naturalist and learn about science, but at that time and place, science was not taught in school and was often regarded as lies.

           I think that a lot of people don't take the time to think about how much science has to offer. This book is really unique because you get to see science through the eyes of a girl living in a world that scoffs at science. The book is about a time period when theories about evolution and natural selection were forming in people's minds. Now, evolution is an old theory that has been proven to be true, but back when this book was set, the theory was new and a huge controversy. In a part of this book, Calpurnia goes to a public library and tries to check out "The Origin of Species", Charles Darwin's book on evolution, but she is told that the library does not have that book, and she will have to pay lots of postage to get it from a library far away, as well as give in a letter from her parents saying that it is all right to check out that book. This shows just how controversial "The Origin of Species" and its ideas were. Also, the only person that Calpurnia knows that shares her love of the natural world is her grandfather. The rest of her family believes that Calpurnia should be working on her posture, needlepoint, and cooking. It's hard to imagine that there was ever a time when people valued sewing over science. I think that Calpurnia's life and story is so interesting, and shows just how much we take science and the freedom to observe our natural world for granted. 

Plans

           A lot of times, people will make a plan for the future, but life gets in the way of their plans. This definitely happens in "Alice in the Know" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. In this book, which is part of the "Alice" series, Alice McKinley has a lot of plans. She has lived in a very sheltered world, and in the beginning, she believes that her life is going to stay the same. She plans to work at her dad's  music store, gather at the pool with her closest friends, and get to know her brother Lester's girlfriend Tracy better during the summer before 11th grade. However, all her plans fall through. Her dad decides that she should get a job somewhere else besides the music store so she can have more work experience, and she ends up at a department store, where she has to work hard to keep up with the other employees and to catch shoplifters. Her friends begin to drift apart as her friend Patrick is very focused on academics, while her friends Brian and Mark aren't being so nice to her and are making bad choices. Tracy turns down Lester's marrige proposal and decides not to see him anymore.

         "Alice in the Know" shows a lot about how life is not the way we expect it is going to be. The "Alice" books are about an average girl growing up and facing challenges, and I think that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does a good job of making Alice realistic. 

Popularity is Not Happiness

         In a lot of Young Adult novels the protagonist is unpopular, and the antagonist is popular. However, this is not true in The Clique series. In fact, the main protagonists in this series are popular and can actually be very mean. The premise of the book that I read, called "Bratfest at Tiffany's", is that the 5 girls in a clique called The Pretty Committee swear off boys because they feel that boys make girls act dorky and uncool. However, this ends up in conflict. Also, another school has to take temporary shelter at the school that the Pretty Committee attends, and this leads to some of the school being housed in trailers in the parking lot. This includes almost all of the Pretty Committee.
         On the outside, this book is very shallow and shows just how annoying and self-centered popular girls can be. But if you look at it, the book actually shows that popular girls really aren't perfect. Massie, the leader of the Pretty Committee, works extremely hard to keep her alpha status, and even feels threatened by Alicia, another girl in the Pretty Committee, who is much prettier than she is. She also feels that people won't like her and her clique as much because their school hours are spent in trailers. Alicia feels insecure about her body, and feels torn between her friends and the boy she likes. Claire really misses her old boyfriend and can't stand seeing him with his new girlfriend. You can also tell that she feels a little threatened by Massie, because she is usually a very individual person, but does whatever Massie tells her to do. I think that all the girls follow Massie because they want to feel included, and they act mean to express the emotions that they can't get across. I wouldn't want to be friends with someone that treats people the way Massie does, but I can infer that the Pretty Committee allows the girls to feel like they belong. I also think that they are afraid of Massie, because when Massie doesn't like someone, she completely humiliates them.
          Even though this book doesn't really have a message, it shows what life for girls like Massie, Claire, Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen is really like. The Clique series shows that even if  you are wealthy, popular, and gorgeous, you are not necessarily happy.