Sample Poem

Instructions:
Write a 10+ line poem about a myth you know. Remember, a "myth is a story that matters."
Include three literary devices. Rhyme and rhythm do not count toward your three, though you may use them in your poem.
Draw a picture to illustrate the poem, if you want.



An unlikely hero
shot an arrow from his
unskilled shepherd's hands
as interfering gods watched

a sharpened stone,
a piece of twig, some feathers,
pierced and destroyed
a son of a goddess

it haunts battle grounds
stained crimson from the unprotected
ankle, a weapon
so simple, yet so strategically aimed.

Sample RJ Journal

Dear Diary -- 8 June

So – my life had been just another typical Renaissance dream: daughter of one of the most prominent men in Verona, with parents always on the brink of separation, with an overly bawdy nanny reminding me of my lusty love-life yet to come. But of course, Daddy’s beef he has with the Montagues got the best of him again– well – let’s say his temper isn’t one of his redeeming qualities. Not like Mom’s a whole lot better, either. I mean, she’s not exactly known for her people skills. She called Daddy an old fart this morning. But enough about the awesome family values we openly display in public. Back to Daddy’s beef with the Montagues. Apparently Daddy’s daddy’s daddy’s somebody – (long time ago stuff) had a beef with a similar relative of the Montagues. Not even really sure what it’s about. Anyway – Daddy met Montague out in the street and was about to cause some damage when the Prince showed up. Anyway – long story short – Daddy’s in deep doodoo if he’s caught shakin’ it up in the street again. Way to let ‘em know who’s boss, Daddy-poo.

As if my life wasn’t already complicated enough, Mom called me in for “the talk” today. You know what I’m talking about. But Mom realized she isn’t exactly up for Mother-of-the-Century award and had Nurse supervise the conversation. I’m not sure who’s worse: Nurse gets all reminiscent about stuff and re-emphasizes my already too-obvious non-existent bond I have with my mother – and then Mom asks me what I think about getting married. Hello?! I’m like, thirteen years old, but then Mom brings up the fact that she was already my mother when she was my age. Great. Mom and dad – thirteen years ago…Good thoughts in – bad thoughts out. Anyway, apparently Paris, the Prince’s relative, asked Daddy if he could marry me. And I’m like, who the heck is Paris. Nurse says he’s cute. Nurse thinks any man that can walk remotely upright on two legs is cute. But Mom cut the conversation short and said that he’s rich and from a good family, and he actually wants to marry me. Which made me think: by the way she talked, am I really that undesirable that she should emphasize: “he actually wants to marry you.” Whatever. That’s all that I have to say – whatever, Mother. I told her what she wanted to hear – that I’d look at the nincompoop – but I would “never marry without parental consent.” If I can even find some man to marry me since I’m so unworthy. Nurse told me to have a good time at Daddy’s party tonight anyways. I hate these parties. It’s not like anyone will dance with me anyway. I’m so depressed now. My life sucks. I’m thirteen and my life sucks. I’m destined to end up just like my mother – married to an older man I hate, stuck in a house with nothing to do but be a trophy for my too-gorgeous-for-me-to-deserve husband, with children that I can never build a bond with because I’m still a child too. I don’t want to grow up yet. I don’t ever want to grow up.

* * *

So Daddy’s party wasn’t a total bust after all. Daddy “crushed a cup” with a few old pals and was way more mellow than usual. He even told Tybalt to cool it – and I thought they were about tied for the “Personality Princess” award. I always thought Tybalt was wound just a little too tight. Ever since he went to that French school and learned fencing, he’s always looking for a reason to show off his skills. He needs a girlfriend to tie him down and make him miserable. That’s exactly what he needs. What he needs is someone like my mother.

So anyway, I met this guy at the party. Not Paris – some other guy. He pulled me aside and said this super-romantical stuff to me and held my hand. Like, no guy has ever held my hand before. Ever. He made me feel really special. And then – you’re not going to believe this – he kissed me. Twice. I was totally walking on air. A real-live guy – MY AGE – who likes me. Or at least, he acts like he does. But then the Nurse had to find us and ruin it. She told me Mom wanted to talk to me, and when I came back, he was leaving. But here’s the part you’re never going to believe. I felt something for him. It was a totally new feeling for me. I mean, come on, I don’t exactly have an overly exciting social life. But what I felt for this guy was so different – I know it must be something special. Maybe even love. There’s isn’t exactly a whole lotta love floating around our household for me to recognize if that’s what it is. But, I think it is. I can’t write down his real name cause if Mom or Daddy finds this, they’ll have a fit. I -so- don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. I’m way too excited. I can’t believe this is happening to me. Me – Juliet Capulet – in love. Who would have thought? Thank you, lucky stars.

With all my heart,
Juliet

Sample RJ Persuasive essay

Orange = attention getter (intro) / tie up loose ends (conclusion)
Blue = background information
Red = argument (beginning) of thesis
Teal = first reason / proof for thesis
Green = second reason / proof for thesis
Purple = third reason / proof for thesis
Brown = quotes and citations

Nothing compares to the loss of a child or loved one. Families attempt to cope, sometimes separate, and leave behind a mere shell of what previously existed. However, in some cases, families may unite under the circumstances. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet tells a tragic story of pain, hatred, and death. It began with a grudge, one that the two families could neither understand nor remedy, and this grudge ended only after their two children committed suicide out of love for one another. The children fell in love before knowing each other’s parentage, and thus sought to keep their relationship hidden from their families. In the end, one may suggest no one forced Romeo or Juliet to end their own lives. Romeo made a conscious decision to buy poison, break into Juliet’s tomb, and willingly take his life, just as Juliet readily snatched the dagger from Romeo’s cold body and replied “This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (RJ 5.3.170) ending her own life as well. However, a powerful man of the church clouded the judgment of two highly influential, naïve children and inadvertently led them to their dooms. The responsibility of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths rests on Friar Lawrence because of his selfishness, his unreliability, and his unlawful behaviors.

The audience witnessed Friar Lawrence’s selfish behavior since Act II. When Romeo approached the Friar after his late-night meeting with Juliet, he never suspected Romeo fell in love with an enemy. “God pardon sin!” he says to Romeo when he discovered he never went home the night prior. “Wast thou with Rosaline?” (RJ 2.3.44). Romeo explained his newfound love with Capulet’s daughter and expressed his wish to be married that day. Friar Lawrence responded angrily, claiming Romeo merely liked Juliet because of her looks, not because he truly loved her. Yet later, Friar Lawrence agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet, because he saw a possible ramification of his actions: “To turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (RJ 2.3.92). He refused to offer help when Romeo requested it until he realized what glory he might receive through his efforts to unite the families. However, his future actions proved he never retained this initial desire to end the feuding.

Friar Lawrence remained one of the most unreliable characters in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo questioned the friar’s ability, or lack thereof to provide careful advice toward the young lovers. “Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel. / Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, / An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,...Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair” (RJ 3.3.64-67). Yet Friar Lawrence managed to retain Romeo’s trust and promised that which he could never ensure: “…thou shalt live till we can find a time / to blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends, beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back, with twenty hundred thousand times more joy / than thou went’st forth in lamentation” (RJ 3.3.150-154). He also made a promise to Juliet he could not keep. “Romeo by my letters [will] know our drift, / and hither shall he come, an’ he and I / will watch thy waking, and that very night / shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua” (RJ 4.1.114-117). He promised Juliet he would notify Romeo, and his plan failed horrendously and his initial intent—to unite the families—no longer existed at this point. Friar John later arrived, revealing his failure to deliver the message to Romeo. Friar Lawrence faced an opportunity to apologize and tell the families of his mistakes, but he continued to believe he could make Romeo and Juliet’s doomed relationship work. So, his deceit and dishonesty spread beyond Romeo and Juliet. He arrived at the Capulet residence happy and full-aware of Juliet’s death-like condition after taking the potion. However, he continued his fraud toward the mourning parents and bridegroom. “Come, is the bride ready to go to church?” (RJ 4.5.33). He lectured the Capulets why they should not mourn the loss of their young daughter, and instead, encouraged them to dry their tears and move on. He could not empathize with their loss because he knew Juliet merely took a potion—a potion he provided.

Friar Lawrence’s unlawful behavior included marrying Romeo and Juliet, knowledge of botanical potions, and fleeing the scene of a crime. Even as a man of the church, and confidentiality remaining of utmost importance to his Congregationalists, the secrets he sought to keep involved mere children. He warned Romeo before the wedding “love moderately: long love doth so” (RJ 2.6.14), perhaps realizing the negative consequences of the union. Even as he agreed to marry in order to unite the families, he never encouraged Romeo or Juliet to reveal the marriage to their parents. He performed the ceremony in his cell—a closed area, without witnesses, and without parental consent – all laws in effect during the setting of the play. Also, ironically, he introduced his knowledge of plants and their powers in a rambling speech concerning the damage they might do when placed in the wrong hands: “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied” (RJ 2.3.21). He never heeded his own warning. When Juliet approached him after Romeo’s banishment, she realized he must hold the key to this predicament which he enabled. Capulet decided to allow Paris to marry Juliet, and instead of encouraging Juliet to confess her current marriage to Romeo, Friar Lawrence devised a plan of further deceit toward the two families. Juliet’s threat of suicide caused the Friar to think this plan not outrageous or too much a risk for Juliet. It involved a powerful potion allowing its partaker to slip into a deathlike state for forty-two hours. He encouraged further lies by telling Juliet to return home to her parents: “Go home, be merry, give consent / to marry Paris” (RJ 4.1.89). Later, the apothecary revealed the punishment of death for any man with such “mortal drugs” (RJ 5.1.66). Why does the Friar, a man of the church, know of such recipes for poison enabling a death-like state? Yet his knowledge of poisons and lies toward the Montagues and Capulets cannot match his last, selfish, unlawful deed. After he arrived at the Capulet tomb, he found both Paris and Romeo dead and Juliet starting to wake. Bad news never settles well with anyone just after awakening. However, he quickly confessed the results of his plan gone awry. “A greater power than we can contradict / hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. / Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead; / and Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee / among a sisterhood of holy nuns. / Stay not to question, for the watch is coming. / Come go, good Juliet, I dare no longer stay” (RJ 5.3.153-159). Juliet, or any reasonable human, would stay to question the death of a spouse – especially an unexpected death. Friar Lawrence fled the scene, and only returned later because a watchman apprehended him. His reactions (trembling, sighing, weeping) showed he regretted his actions, although this regret could not change Romeo’s death and Juliet’s approaching death.

Although many characters made rash or poor decisions throughout the play, one character stands out as a major influence on the two youths. Friar Lawrence’s actions illustrate his selfish, deceitful behavior not only toward Romeo and Juliet, but toward their parents and the city of Verona as well. Despite his confession in Act 5, scene 3, he still remained unable to change the very real deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence met his very selfish goal of uniting the families in his behalf, even though it cost the lives of their young, innocent children.

1283 words

Sample Prince Escalus Letter

Prince Escalus
The Castle
Royalty Boulevard
Verona, Italy 98765
812 / 987 - 6543
October 31, 2006



Mr. and Mrs. Capulet
456 Capel Road
Verona, Italy 98765

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Capulet:

This is the first sentence of my first paragraph. The first paragraph should tell why I am upset with the Capulets and the Montagues. I don’t need to discuss the punishment yet because I’ll do that in the next paragraph. I shouldn’t be redundant with my ideas yet sure I explain thoroughly and completely why I am upset, as Prince Escalus. I am not writing this as a student.

This is the first sentence of my second paragraph. In this paragraph, I’ll explain what I’ve decided to do if the fighting continues, again, as Prince Escalus. I’m not writing this as a student. Also, I can’t make up any punishment I want because if I read the book carefully enough, I'd know what the Prince really decided. I understand I will be docked points if my punishment doesn’t match what the Prince clearly said in his speech.

My closing will go here. I simply need to thank the reader for considering these suggestions, thank them for their time, etc. One or two sentences is enough to receive full credit for this section.

Sincerely,






Prince Escalus

PE/MF

Sample Outline--Compare & Contrast essay

Student Name

Mrs. Feller

English 9H

18 October 2006

Outline for Compare/Contrast Essay --

Climaxes in Frederick Douglass and Night

I. Introduction

A. Attention getter: In the pinnacle moment when one looks inwardly

and discovers the true self, one may find strength while others discover a

shell encasing disregarded and abandoned opportunity.


B. Background information (Frederick Douglass): After facing the daily

oppression of slave life, frequent changes in ownership, and deaths of

family and acquaintances, Frederick Douglass leaves Master Thomas to

work as a hired slave for Edward Covey. Although active in the church,

Covey lashes out against Frederick and the other slaves, maintaining his

reputation as a “slave-breaker” (Douglass 58). The climax in Douglass’

autobiography occurs after Covey nearly beats Frederick to death, and

Frederick appeals to Master Thomas for help. Master Thomas sends him

back to Covey, and a couple days later, Covey attempts to whip

Frederick once more. However, Frederick “resolve[s] to fight,” “seize[s]

Covey hard by the throat,” and thus creates a hopeful turning-point for

him in his long journey toward freedom (Douglass 69).


C. Background information (Night): A. Wiesel, too, struggles toward

freedom from his bondage. Throughout his memoir, Wiesel depicts

horrendous acts of genocide he observes during the Holocaust, including

the slaughter of innocent youths, senseless murder of invalids, and

other, unpredictable executions. After surviving numerous selections

and a long death march, Elie and his father arrive at Buchenwald. Soon

after, Elie’s father suffers from dysentery and dies. Three months later,

the Americans rescue the survivors left at Buchenwald, including Elie.

The climax of his autobiography occurs at the end, when Elie finally

views himself in a mirror – the first time since he left the ghetto. Yet Elie

does not discover hope as he peers into the eyes of the reflection. “From

the depths of the mirror, a corpse gaze[s] back” (Wiesel 77).


D. Thesis statement: The climaxes represent change in the narrators of

Frederick Douglass and Night; however, Elie realizes his lack of self-

knowledge whereas Frederick’s idea of self comes to fruition.


II. Compare


A. Topic sentence: The climaxes of Frederick Douglass and Night both

signify a culmination of their times as victims of injustices.


B. Supporting details: both characters start naïve


C. Supporting details: both characters experience a realization


D. Supporting details: both use their own strength when the climax

occurs


III. Contrast


A. Topic sentence: The climaxes of Frederick Douglass and Night

represent moments of realization for the two narrators; Frederick finds

strength, and Elie sees his frailty.


B. Supporting details: climax of Frederick Douglass occurs midway

through autobiography; climax of Night occurs at the end


i. Frederick Douglass contains chapters reflecting the effect of the

climax; Frederick’s life positively affected by the climax


ii. Night ends with the climax signifying limitations / no where else

to go; his life is the Holocaust and its events; Holocaust consumes his life

and himself


C. Supporting details: hopeful/positive climax of Frederick Douglass;

gloomy/negative climax of Night


IV. Conclusion


A. Restate/reword thesis: Although both narrators seek and discover

the “self” in the climaxes of Frederick Douglass and Night, their findings

differ greatly.

Daily Agenda 10/3

Today, we accomplished...

• Started reading Chapter 4 -- read the rest of chapter 4 for homework
• Last day to loan out additional copies of Night is TODAY -- bring your own copies
• turned in vocabulary lessons 13-14 (p. 53 & 57)
• pick out passage to use for response
• will receive autobiographies Wednesday
• will start presentations over autobiographies Monday-Wednesday of next week
• start reading the rest of Night
• visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and print out a page for discussion / highlight the page with important parts
• look at requirements for response to literature
• look at sample responses

Sample Night response (incorrect)

“A Change”

Student Name
Feller
7th period
October, 9 2006

“I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid. I had looked on and said nothing. Yesterday, I should have sunk my nails into the criminal’s flesh. Had I changed so much, then? So quickly? Now remorse began to gnaw at me.” (Chapter 3)

I think this quote is sad. It’s about Elie and his father when his father got hit bya gypsy. Elie didn’t do anything when his father got hit. He thinks that hehas changed because of the Holocaust. I think he has changed ALOT. If my father was hit, I mean, I would not just stand by and do nothing. I would hit the man back who hit my father! I mean, this whole book is sad. Like later on in the book Elie talks about the time when his father was beat up and he got mad at him because he didn’t know how to make the kapo not get mad at him and beat him. That’s stupid. Words that stand out in the quote are struck, flesh, remorse, and gnaw. Struck because it means to hit, flesh because they could of used a different word for flesh, remorse because that’s sadness and gnaw cause that means to bite. This book is like the most saddest book ever! 170 words

Elie is alot like Frederick Douglass. Even though Fred didn’t live during the holocaust. He lived during slavery times. But you probably knew that, didn’t you? Of course you did! Fred and Elie are alike because they both suffered alot during their hardships. Fred didn’t like slaveyr and elie didn’t like the holocaust. Fred lost people he liked and Elie did to. Both are supersad books written by people who shouldn’t have had to go through what they did. But sometimes that’s what happens to good people. bad things happen to them. I guess that’s the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 97 words

Sample Night response (correct)

A Change


Student Name
Mrs. Feller
English 9H
09 October 2006



“I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid. I had looked on and said nothing. Yesterday, I should have sunk my nails into the criminal’s flesh. Had I changed so much, then? So quickly? Now remorse began to gnaw at me.” (Chapter 3)

This passage, taken from chapter 3 of Night, signifies yet another change occuring within Elie, the book’s narrator. Wiesel’s use of sentence variety (complete and incomplete, longer and shorter sentences) helps to add variety and further establish the rhythm of the narrator’s speech and thoughts. Wiesel also repeats ideas (e.g. “My father had been struck…I had not flickered an eyelid…I had looked on and said nothing…”) which not only reinforce Elie’s ambivalence and feelings of conflict about the violence perpetrated toward his father, but also the sheer feeling of helplessness all Jews most likely felt during the Holocaust. The words “struck,” “sunk,” “flesh,” “remorse,” and “gnaw” all evoke strong emotions of sadness and vulnerability. (114 words)

Like Frederick Douglass, Elie experiences high points and low points. Douglass sees the horrors of slavery when he first sees his aunt beaten for trivial faults, and Elie sees piles of bodies burned in a mass grave when he first arrives at the concentration camps. Douglass also finds kindness in Sophia, the woman who first teaches him the alphabet. Yet later, he sees how slavery spoils a person’s morality when Sophia’s husband urges her to stop teaching and increase her brutality toward Douglass. Elie, too, sees the Pole Franek as a gentle, kind person, until the evils of the Holocaust cause Franek to become greedy and threaten Elie for his gold crown. Sometimes tragedies which effect large groups of people can cause even the gentlest of people to become harsh and unkind. (132 words)

Sample Autobiography

No one really remembers what it was like the day of my birth. Mid-December, the frost daily kissed the windows of the hospital and left snow crystals as decorations for a bare room. I would imagine on that day the sky wept with my mother, only it was beautiful, because the sky’s tears turned to snowflakes. Despite the fact I was born in winter, something about it bothered me as a child – even as an infant – and left me feeling cold, abandoned, needing extra blankets. Even today, I prefer the warm comfort of the summer to the indifference of winter because no one likes to feel alone. My first words expressed this state of mind as well – words calling out to mama and dada – wanting so much more than their attention. As a child, I never wanted to leave their side – or they leave mine – for I was comforted by their presence as a headache is calmed by medicine; they were my medicine, and they helped me learn to appreciate life – not necessarily just mine, but more importantly, that of others.

My parents taught me much over the years, like the important stuff not learned in textbooks or from teachers. At three, when Cocoa, our dog, finished his eighteen years, my parents explained the concept of “death.” My parents taught me a stoical strength I called upon during many trying moments of my life. For our next pet, we enjoyed another eighteen long years with her; but at the end, I had to drive my tearful mother to the vet to hand over the decrepit and suffering dog and that took courage – a strength my father admitted he couldn’t find because he couldn’t stand to watch my mother so upset. Thus, during such a trying time, Fate called upon me to be the strong one; Fate dubbed me an adult – a title four or five years earlier, I would have welcomed. But it’s after becoming an adult that the realization sets in about everything our parents ever said about “life” and it not always being what we want or what we expect. Yes, it’s great to be an adult, but it’s even greater to be a child, because the realism of life hasn’t set in yet.

I still can’t imagine being so small. The little chairs, brightly painted reds and blues and yellows, still comfort the little children at the elementary school. Even though I played school for years with my cousins, I couldn’t picture what was in store for me. Yards and yards of construction paper embellished by fat crayons – thematic decorations hung from the ceiling with paper clips – and my teacher, with her laugh and the special feel of her hugs before running out the door to mom and dad. They both picked me up that first day, and I think now they may have been slightly disappointed that I did not miss them more or like school less, because that meant their little girl was one step closer to growing up. Of course, there are some parts of me that will never grow old – just like my father. I still hold a passion for the original Nintendo, which blasted its way into the world when I entered into kindergarten. I still like the original Zelda and Mario3, which seem so simple compared to what video games do today. I guess everything was simpler then but not in an inferior way. Life, itself, evolved into something much more complicated when I reached high school, because it was the time when I grew the most.

In high school, I attended my first concert, went to Florida without my parents for the first time, and experienced a first kiss from a young man I’d eventually marry. I remember going to Prom in a red dress and feeling special, really special, because the person I went with equally wanted to be there with me.

People always say that high school years are the best years of one’s life. I believe them. I feel as if I lived a lifetime in those four years and find my most vivid memories housed in that era. Even though not all the memories are the greatest, I find more opportunity to learn from those experiences I wish I could change. I wish I hadn’t lost my grandparents during those years, but now I appreciate life to a greater extent. And I owe that awareness to my parents, to whom I am always eternally grateful.

Flowers for Algernon (sample extra credit entry)

Synopsis:
It all began with a mouse--a small, white mouse with pink eyes whose intelligence appeared to drastically improve after an experimental brain surgery. Algernon's successes--improved speed and agility and problem solving techniques--inspired Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss to take their research one step further.

At a local school for mentally disabled adults, Charlie Gordon works with Alice Kinnian, learning how to read and write. With an IQ under 70, Charlie would never move beyond his custodial job at a local bakery. There, his co-workers tease and abuse him, although he fails to see their laughter and jokes as offensive. Alice recommends Charlie as a human specimen for the experimental brain surgery, stating that his initiative and determination will assist him in this challenging and dangerous journey. After Charlie undergoes the surgery, results come slow at first, but then rapidly drive his intelligence onto outstanding levels. Charlie surpasses his teacher and friend Alice, as well as the professor and doctor working directly with him on the experiment. Charlie struggles to understand his relationships with previous acquaintances, including his co-workers, Alice, and the family who neglected him. He finds himself co-existing as two Charlies--the emotionally underdeveloped child within and the genius who remembers and understands everything he reads. Charlie eventually discovers Algernon's slow mental deterioration as the effects of the surgery wear off. Charlie understands at this point he must reconcile his differences with his abusive mother and intolerable sister, mend his relationship with Alice, and make arrangements for himself when he reverts back to his level before the surgery. -- 262 words, 10 sentences

Commentary:
Charlie tells his own story in the form of journal entries, as required by the doctors in the lab. Thus, the narrator litters the first few weeks (and the last few days) with misspellings, grammatical errors, and strange syntax to show his mental deficiencies. At times, I found myself paying more attention to the errors than to the story itself, and I sought to notice the subtle changes as his intelligence improved (or deteriorated, in the end). Yet I also struggled, at the height of Charlie's academic abilities, to understand the complex topics he discussed with leading doctors and scientists from various universities. The author probably wanted this to occur as readers experienced Charlie's changes with him. Still, I cannot attest as to the accuracy of this novel--as a science fiction novel it requires a bit of suspension of disbelief--and because of my limited experience with people with mental disabilities. I do not believe this story seeks to give hope of a "cure" somewhere looming behind doors of labs, but instead tries to find a way to educate people without disabilities tolerance for those who do. -- 188 words, 7 sentences

Total 450 words, 17 sentences

Summer of My German Soldier (sample extra credit entry)

Synopsis:
Although Greene published this novel over 30 years ago, she tells of a classic love story of forbidden lovers torn apart by the unforgiving hatred of the world around them. Patty Bergen, a 12-year old girl from a small Arkansas town, experiences a life of verbal and physical abuse from her parents. Her lackluster appearance falls short of the perfection her parents see and love in her younger sister, Sharon. Ruth, the housekeeper/nanny, sympathizes with Patty, although she cannot sway Patty’s parents to treat their daughter with the respect she deserves as a human being. In the midst of her turmoil, Patty befriends a German prisoner of war and manages to help the escaped prisoner hide in her parents’ garage dorm. While Anton, the POW, realizes he cannot stay, he manages to show Patty that he values her friendship and finds her worthy of love. He leaves the dorm, and while this is the last Patty sees him, she thinks of him often and treasures the gold ring he gives her as a token of his friendship. -- 175 words

(Spoiler Warning)
Commentary:
I understand that young love happens, but Patty, a twelve year old girl falling head-over-heals in love with Anton, a 20-something year old man? Let me just say this: if this happened in today’s world, we’d see Anton on Dateline’s To Catch a Criminal for his interest in a minor. Although the on-screen hook-up never occurred like I expected (and dreaded), the book does somewhat glamorize the fact that Patty really thought she (a Jew) had a chance of making it work with a German POW. Really. I get that authors try to reinvent the whole Romeo and Juliet concept--and that’s really great--a truly hopeless and yet classic love story--but the whole time reading this novel I failed to "believe" Patty and Anton's relationship. Worse yet, after Anton's brisk departure, the book provided nothing but dejection (as if the book didn’t have enough of that). Patty blabs about Anton's ring to a store clerk, and eventually the whole story comes out (very painfully). Patty ends up at a girl reform school. All the stereotypical "Disney" moments we've come to expect never occur (the heartwarming reunion with her rotten parents; her dad's admission of his unrelenting evilness and his quest for forgiveness from his eldest daughter; the "just kidding" moment of Anton’s death.) The book ends as hopelessly hopeless as it begins. -- 225 words

Total = 400 words

Format of Daily Writings / Assignments

Use a Heading
For daily assignments, use a simple heading for your assignments, in the top, left hand corner of the paper (starting on the first line).

Your Name
My Name
Class Name
Date (i.e., 31 August 2006)

This heading will 1) require you to put your name on your paper and 2) get you in the habit of using an MLA heading for assignments (see MLA blog for more info on that).

Spelling and Grammar Always Matter
In the immortalized words of my graduate professor, Dr. Michael Slavkin, “Always spell check a document – Stupid is as stupid does, and nothing says stupid more than somoeneone thut cant spull wright.”

Handwriting, Anyone?
One simple rule exists: if I can’t read it, I won’t grade it. I don’t have age to blame for eyesight problems, but my eyes were never that great for starters. If your handwriting is really that atrocious, you have my permission to type your assignments, or at least skip every other line.