Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristin Levine, is about a girl named Marlee who is afraid to speak. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. When Liz, the new girl, becomes her friend and works with her on a presentation, Liz decides they should do it orally and she helps Marlee overcome her fear. But the day of the presentation her teacher tells her that Liz will not be coming to school anymore. Marlee does her presentation but at lunch, she finds out Liz is African American. At home Marlee's sister, Judy has to leave because schools are shutting down. Once Judy leaves Marlee decides to try and talk to Liz and so she gives the Pastor of the colored (African American) church a note for her about magic squares book Liz had promised Marlee. Marlee and Liz meet at the zoo and Liz gives Marlee her number. When Marlee calls Liz can not meet her because she has to take her brother to the movies at the colored theater but Marlee decides to go too. At the movie, they decide to meet at the old quarry in town. One day while Liz and Marlee are there a boy from Marlee's school, J.T, and his brother, Red come and see Marlee. She walks away but trips over dynamite that Red decides to put in the back of his car.  Marlee and Liz can not meet anymore but the bump into each other at the zoo and they see reds car and the keys to the trunk. Marlee gets in and gets it out but when she realises she left some and she goes back but gets trapped in the trunk. She gets out with a letter opener and gets her brother to pick her up. Marlee proves to the police that Red did have dynamite and he gets in trouble. Liz and Marlee meet once more but they know they will still be friends, even if the can't see each other.

I think the theme of Lions of Little Rock is that skin color shouldn't determine friendship.  This is proved when Marlee's mother is talking about how Liz lied to everyone, "'A nice girl?" Mother interrupted.  "She lied to Marlee and everyone else in the school'"(71).  Also, when her father is talking with Marlee about how she and Liz can't be friends anymore, he says "'Marlee you can't still be friends with Liz'" (73).  Last of all, when Marlee is thinking about if she wants Liz as her friend,  "If you had asked me last summer if I wanted a negro for a friend, I would have said no thank you"(92). This is why the main theme of Lions of Little Rock is skin color should not determine friendship.  

The setting of Little Rock is important to the story because it takes place down south where most segregation occurred and where people didn't like African Americans. This is supported in the book when Marlee's father tells her, "'Do you remember when I invited that colored minister, Pastor George, to come speak at our church?' I nodded. 'The next day there was a note tucked in with our paper. It said, let your youngest walk to school tomorrow, she won't make it. And it was signed KKK'"(73). Also, the lions at the zoo show that Marlee was brave. This was proved when Marlee's mom was telling her dad, "Marlee listens to lions"(279).The school is important to the story because it is where everything started. When Little Rock schools close rather than desegregate, Marlee's older sister, her closest companion, leaves to attend school elsewhere. Marlee is left needing a friend and so becomes friends with Liz. This is why the setting is important.   

I would definitely recommend this book for seventh graders because it shows how being African American in the South was difficult.  It also has a good plot and never gets boring.  Levine does a great job portraying Marlee and Liz.  I think this book is one any could enjoy.   

A Lesson for Mina and I

A Lesson For Mina and I

The car pulled into the parking lot and drove to a parking spot next to the P.A.C. Mina and I walked across the pavement. Mina pulled the Performers Entrance door open as we stepped up to it. I heard the trumpet play a note and then the trumpet continued with a song. I listened to the sound of the trumpet as we set our French horns against the wall. I jumped nervously from foot to foot. Finally the trumpet player came out of the room and we grabbed up our horns and music. I ran my hand on the rough wall.  The door opened. Emily was standing there, around the single stand in the center of the room. Two chairs where around the stand and I ran and grabbed a third chair for me. We sat down in the chairs with Emily.

“Let’s warm up with a scale,” Emily said as she situated the stand.

“What scale?” Mina asked.

“Whichever one you want.” she replied.

“How about Bb concert,” I clarified.

“What is that?” She asked smiling.

“Um… F concert?” I said, hoping that was right. I looked at her for confirmation.

“Not concert,” She corrected. Shaking her head. She scooted in her chair.

‘Ok just F,” I complied.

We played the scale and then we played another. Finally we moved on from our warm up and she pulled out the book of chorales. She opened it up a placed it on the stand.

“Now let’s play a choral. Tava you play bottom, Mina middle, and I’ll do top,” She said, pointing at the parts as she said them.

We all played the first not and then she instructed us to continue with the song.

“Tava start on low c and go up chromatically,” she grabbed a fingering chart from the table.

“Okay,” I began to play.

I finished the scale and she thought for a moment.

“Okay play F up to A,” she finally said.

I played what she wanted me to.

“Again,” She really wanted me to play low notes, “Yes, play G to A.”

“Great,” I went along with her.

“Okay, your low embouchure starts on Ab and continues down!” she concluded.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It when your embouchure changes to play a lower note,” she said.

“That’s so  cool,” I replied.

“Now play the choral again.” Now that that was finished we went back to the choral.

“Wow that sounds better,” I mused after we played.

“Yeah, now keep working on going to that low D to regular Eb,” she continued.

She ran my part with me and then she seemed happy.

“Mina play yours,” she said, moving on.

Mina played and Emily did too.

“That sounds good,” I smiled.

“Now all together,” she said.

We played the choral yet again.

“Tava keep working on the three F’s in a row,” She pointed out.

“Okay,” I replied.

We played more stuff that day but soon our time was up. I packed up my horn and we walked out the door we had come in. Outside Mina’s dad’s black truck parked and the door swung open. We walked, our french horns bumping against our legs, and put our french horns in the back. We hopped up to the seats and started driving. He dropped us off at my house and we stayed there until dinner when we all went out to dinner. I still remember that day every time I play a really low part with my horn. It has affected the way I think of the horn and now I actually like playing low horn.

Bristol Bay Summer Book Review

Annie Boochever's book, Bristol Bay Summer, is about a girl named Zoey who doesn't want to move to Bristol Bay, Alaska for the summer. After her mom and dad divorced, her mom, her brother, and Zoey moved to Anchorage and now, her mom's boyfriend, Patrick wanted them to move to Bristol bay to work fish. A few days after they arrived Eliot, her little brother, got sick. Thomas, the son of the woman they came to work for skiffed them to the nearest hospital. When Eliot got better, they went home and started working for Thomas's mom and uncle. Zoey's job was to pick the fish out of the net with Thomas. Patrick transported the fish by plane to Dillingham. One day while he and her mom were away, a Japanese Typhoon with winds to 70 mph blew their camp away.  Zoey tried to get Eliot to Thomas's house but they lost their way.  Instead, they ended up at the old boat beached in the sand they found on their first day in Bristol Bay. When the storm died down, Zoey's mom decided that they should go back to Anchorage but Zoey decides to stay with Patrick. She wants to use the money she got to go back and visit her dad in Colorado. But on the way back from dropping off Zoey's mom and brother, the plane crashes! Zoey has to save Patrick from the wreck and call " mayday" on the radio because he was badly injured and had passed out. She was also upset because she had called her dad and found out that he was already remarried and his new wife was pregnant. But once Patrick was better and they went back to Anchorage, she can't wait to go back to Bristol Bay next summer.

One of the largest themes in Bristol Bay Summer is that sometimes, things you think are going to be terrible don't turn out to be so bad.  This theme is supported when Zoey is thinking about how she really doesn't want to go.  "Every time the Bristol Bay idea had come up she was very clear 'I am not going'"(15). When Zoey decides she doesn't want to go home,  she says "When everyone was seated Eliot said, 'Zoey, aren't you happy? Mom, says we get to go home now?'  Zoey finished chewing, 'Not really'"(197).  Last of all,  Zoey says, " I never thought in a million years, I would want to come back here but now I hope I do"(240). This statement proves that even though in the beginning of the summer she didn't want to come now she is looking forward to coming back.  

I would definitely recommend this book, especially for people enjoy the outdoors.  This book gives you a good taste of fish work in Bristol Bay and pull you into Zoey's adventures.  Annie Boochever ties Zoey's family and her mom's boyfriend in so that everything really fits.  I think that almost anyone could enjoy this book.

Practice Book Review: The Veldt

The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury, is a story of a family in the future, who become very dependent on the technology in their house.They have a nursery that is controlled by the minds of the people using it. Lydia, the mom, decides that something is wrong with the nursery. When they go down there the room is a veldt, or a African savanna, and they hear a scream. Then the lions charge them and Lydia gets scared and runs out of the room. She thinks the rooms is to real. Lydia decides that they should lock up the nursery for a few days. They do and right after the door trembles as if something terrible jumped against it from other side. George Hadley, the dad, waits a while and then goes back in. He tries to to change the scene around him but can not. He thinks the that their son, Peter, might have tampered with the machine and set it to remain as the veldt. When Peter and his sister, Wendy, come home they lie that the room is not a veldt and Wendy goes to check but finds it as a forest.When they go back to the nursery later they find George's wallet and Lydia's scarf both covered in blood. Later that night, they wake to the roars of lions and two familiar screams. They think that peter and Wendy had broken into the nursery. In the morning George decides to lock up the nursery and Peter gets so angry he threatens him. A psychologist comes and says that the nursery must be turned off. The kids through a tantrum and demand one more minute. He gives in but this time when they hear peter and Wendy calling for them they go down. The kids lock them in the nursery for the loins.

One of the main themes of The Veldt is that spoiling your children can have a very bad effect. My first example of this theme is when they agree that the nursery is very fancy but that it was not too good for Peter and Wendy. They say, "but nothing is to good for our children." Second of all, when they start suspecting Peter and Wendy to have changed the nursery and deciding that the nursery should stay closed they say"We've given the children every thing they ever wanted. is this our reward-secrecy, disobedience." Lastly, Peter says " that would be dreadful! Would I have to tie my shoes instead of letting the shoe tier do it? This proves that he is very spoiled with all of the technology. Thees are three examples of why this is one of the main themes in The Veldt.

I would definitely recommend this story to people who like good twists and really awesome technology. This story is short but is very interesting and full of action. It is a must read.