Reading Response 6: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

          At the beginning of this book, it's a little hard to follow. It is basically an insight to the main character, Annabel's, life. She is a gorgeous blonde hair, blue eyed girl who is also a model. She had done a commercial awhile back and she saw it on television multiple times. The director had told her to act like a girl that had everything, and from how she describes herself, you can tell she is the complete opposite. When Annabel is watching her commercial she describes it as it progresses. “Make your new year the best one yet,” she said, and I felt my breath catch, anticipating the next line, the last line, the one that only this time was finally true. “It’s time to go back to school.” This shows how much Annabel doesn't want to go back to school. We later find out part of the reason why.
          Annabel had met a girl by the name of Sophie a few years back in the neighborhood pool. Sophie was mean to Annabel at first, but when Annabel took the stuff Sophie had left at the pool to her house, Sophie began being nice to her. They became friends instantly and grew to have a wonderful friendship. Then one summer Sophie and Annabell got in a huge fight and stopped being friends. When the next school year rolled around, Annabel was worried about seeing Sophie for the first time. When she did see Sophie, she called Annabel a vulgar name and then walked away without looking back. Annabel was devastated.
          I'm curious to find out what the fight was about. I'm hoping I'll find out soon!

Academic Article Topic Proposal: Media and how it effects children

I have decided to do my analysis essay on the effect of child celebrities "going bad" and how the media presents this information. If you think back to the recent news on celebrities, you've heard about Miley Cyrus twerking in a  concert, but have you heard about Dakota Fanning's charity work or about how Carrie Underwood donated one million dollars to the Red Cross from earning on her tour. You didn't hear about topics like that on the news or radio. Today's media chooses what they think will make them more money and they broadcast that. Unfortunately today, negative news sells better, but that's because the media has always shown the negative stories, not the positive ones. Think about the news. You hear all sorts of stories about murders that have happened, shootings, stabbings, robberies, and failure. Do you ever hear about the people making it in life and earning what they receive? No. The media has a huge effect on what children read and see. Young children need a powerful role model and when all they see is negative stars on the news and television, that's what they have to look up to and reenact. Then you see on the news how today's generation are so terribly behaved. I wonder why...

Reading Response 5: Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

          Caitlin and Rogerson's relationship becomes even more physical. Rogerson introduces Caitlin to drugs and a couple in their mid-twenties, Dave and Corinna. Caitlin and Corinna become best friends and begin to smoke pot a lot together. Caitlin begins skipping school to smoke with Corinna and Rogerson has to help her even more with her homework to keep her from failing.

          Caitlin saw her sister, Cass, on the tv show her boyfriend worked at and when she showed her mom, her mom gained a new addiction. Every time the show was on, her mother would watch it hoping to even get a little glance of Cass. This gave Caitlin even more to work with when it came to Rogerson and lying to her parents.

          Rogerson's beatings become more and more frequent along with harder every time. He begins doing it places that are harder for Caitlin to hide, like her face and arms. Then on Christmas Eve Caitlin gives in to him and has sex with him. She later says when she is having sex with him is the only time she feels safe.

          One day, Caitlin had taken a picture of Rogerson for her photography class and when Matthew, a boy in her class, analyzes the photo he tells Caitlin he looks like "you know him a little better than he'd like you to." As Caitlin agrees with this analysis, Rogerson drives up and sees her talking with Matthew and immediately gets furious. When she gets in his car he hits her hard across the face with a fist. When she tries to object to this, he slaps her across the face. He tells her "The violence isn't my fault. You caused this." Rogerson tells Caitlin this stuff and she believes it. Even though she shouldn't believe it because no one deserves what she is putting up with, she does. “She was just a shell of her former self, functioning and talking but hardly alive.” This quote describes how Caitlin is so caught up in pleasing Rogerson that she forgot about making herself happy.

          “Now I felt like I was drifting, sucked down by an undertow, and too far out to swim back to the shore.” Caitlin thinks this about herself. She is too far gone in her relationship with Rogerson to get herself out, no matter how bad she wants to. On New Years Eve, Caitlin's parents threw a party like they had every year. When Rina made Caitlin late by making her stay at her lake house, Rogerson was furious. Caitlin ended up walking away from Rina's house to go home and when she gets there Rogerson is parked outside of her house. She gets in his car and he begins abusing her until she is pushed from the car. Rogerson gets out and continues beating her until her mother rushes out and pushes him away. One of the neighbors calls the cops and the police arrest him. “I was worn out, broken: He had taken almost everything. But he'd been all I'd had, all this time. And when the police led him away, I pulled out of the hands of all these loved ones, sobbing, screaming, everything hurting, to try and make him stay.” Caitlin loved Rogerson, even though he had abused her. She didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

          Caitlin was then sent to a facility to get over her addiction to marijuana. There, Cass came to see her along with her friends and family. Caitlin hated it there, but she knew she had to be there to get help. “After everything that happened, how could I miss him? But I did, I did... I wondered if he ever thought of me, and hated the pang I felt when I told myself he didn't.” Caitlin still thought about Rogerson even after months of being in the facility away from him.

          Caitlin works on bettering herself and with help and support of her friends and family was released at the end of the book.

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing throbbing moment."

This quote isn't from the book, but it is a quote by Sarah Dessen, the author and I think it relates directly to this book. Caitlin didn't choose to love Rogerson, it just happened.