Paige’s Inventory

1. Babymouse: Our Hero by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm

The book Babymouse: Our Hero was the second comic book of the series that I read in the third grade. Before Babymouse, I did not read many books; however, my eyes opened up when I read the first Babymouse book called Babymouse: Queen of the World. I read it repeatedly, which my English Special-Ed teacher noticed and bought me the second book. When I saw it was the number one seller in New York, I thought she bought it in New York, but it at the Deptford. 

So, BM: Our Hero was about a young girl named Babymouse, and the characters in the series are animals. The plot for that story was about Babymouse overcoming the fear of dodgeball and gym by she defeated the other team, where her enemy, Felicia Furrypaws, knocked down her best friend. The comic book gave me the desire to read and write, for I was interested in drawing illustrations, but after reading Babymouse, I was interested in reading. The book was mimetic by how it showed realistic and relatable scenes with a fictional character, and I read it for the experience. 

Babymouse: Our Hero showed me as a reader that books can be relatable, while as a writer, I can do both fiction and realistic scenarios. Which is still what I look for in my readings. It was a challenge to be interested in reading and writing, yet I try to write the way the realistic scenes with fictional style.

2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The book Speak was about a girl named Melinda Sordino, who enters high school with no friends after she called the police on a summer party. However, no one knows she called the police after being sexually assaulted by a senior. Over the year, Melinda recovered her strength to speak up about what happened to her. It connected with the controlling idea by the question of it what if a senior assaulted a girl? 

Which happened with Melinda at a party. The premise of the book was about the power of the truth, for will it help to speak up? And it was helpful with the counter idea being Melinda revealing the truth, for her ex-best friend was dating her attacker, and everyone knows the truth about why Melinda called the police. 

Although I read books about serious topics, Speak was different by how it was relatable for the character being in high school. I read Speak in my freshman year of high school, and it opened my eyes to new ways of writing styles. The writing style made me challenge myself to write in different styles, POVs, and genres as well. Also, I was keen on writing in a poetic form from how the author, Anderson, did with Speak. When I read now, I search for books with realistic scenarios, and that is relatable too, which guides me to write. The book Speak is mimetic because I read for the experience, and the characters may be fictional, but they go through genuine issues that the author herself had gone through. Thanks to Speak, I find that I enjoy writing young adult fiction by how that is the book’s genre. 

3. All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein

All But My Life was the Memoir, and the plot sinner plot was about the author, Gerda, surviving the Holocaust. The book ended with her meeting her husband that was an American soldier, and they moved to America and got married. I read All But My Life for summer reading, and it was the first summer reading I enjoyed and the first book to make me tear up. The story was mimetic by I read for the experience and how the character went through real issues in her life.

It made me want to write something that would bring people to tear, so my challenge was to strengthen how I write with emotion. I want to do it better, so I tried to describe the characters’ feelings by symbolism, talking to themselves, metaphors, and analogy. But before I read stories, I skim them to see how the emotions are composed. 

4. Lord of The Flies by William Golding

While Lord of The Flies is a classic novel, I did not enjoy it. The plot set during WWII with a group of boys plane crashed onto an island, that symbolized the Garden of Eden. The plot revolved around the notion that it is evil within people. The book is thematic, for I read it to know the meaning of what it was about, and the book genres are adult young adult fiction and psychological. 

The description throughout the novel made it hard for me to enjoy the book. It confused about what was happening, what were the characters were, and how the characters were thinking and feeling. It was the writer’s fault that I don’t like it, but it’s just my preference for reading, which was why my challenge. I had a problem describing too much, so I tried to die down the description in my stories. I established this into my reading by I skim through books to examine it. 

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Another classic that I read was The Great Gatsby I, however, enjoyed this one. I loved the meaning, and symbolism like the symbolism of the green light and social statuses were in conflict.

The plot revolved around the love affair of Gatsby and Daisy, who were reunited by her cousin Nick while addressing the conflict within social classes. The Great Gatsby is historical fiction, and mimetic by I read for the experience of the novel. 

This book challenged me by I wanted to incorporate meaningful passages and symbolism. Before, I did have meaning in my stories, but I saw the validation of having them. I tried to did this with books by skimming them. For symbolism, however, it feels like there is not much symbolism anymore, but a good old school rating now.