Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Ida B


In the beginning of Ida B, Ida B was sweet, and thought that her job and goal in life was to take care of nature. Ida B loved to talk to trees, the brook, and the wind. Ida B gave every tree in her family's apple orchard a name. Ida B said that Viola was the kindest, and Paulie T was the worst. Then one day none of the trees would talk to her, and that is when Ida B knew that something was up. A while later, Ida B finally got Viola to talk to her. Viola said it was nothing, and the wind was spreading bad rumors about her. Then Paulie T shouted out that the wind had said that trouble was coming.
Ida B did not take it to mind that the tree named Paulie T said that, because he wasn't on her favorite list. Then, Ida B started to think, she kept thinking about what Paulie T had said, and went to the old, wise tree. When Ida B got there, she asked the tree if Paulie T was lying, and the tree said that he wasn't, and to watch out.
A couple of weeks later, Ida B found out that her mom had a lump, but this lump was not just any lump, it was cancer. Ida B really didn't mind that her mom had cancer, Ida B thought that the cancer would just go away, but it didn't. After Ida B's mom's hair started to fall out, and she started having to make daily trips to the hospital, Ida B started to worry. Then to top it all off, Ida B's dad told her that they would have to sell some of the orchard to pay the hospital bills. Ida B was mortified. To make it even worse... She had to go back to school. You see, Ida B was being home-schooled, because she HATED elementary school, and since her parents hated it to, they started to home school her. Ida B LOVED being home schooled, and that was all about to change. That is when it happened. Ida B's heart turned into solid stone. She was just so overwhelmed with all of these changes. She decided to never show any sort of emoting again. Ida B stopped talking to trees, and taking care of the Earth. She felt horrible, (even though she did not show it) about selling the land... They cut down tons of trees! That is also when Ida B stared to give up. At school Ida B pretended to hate everyone. To be honest, she actually liked it there, that is when she stared to read.




After Ida b read he first book in front of the class, she stopped being mean. The book that she read was the key to defrosting her solid cold heart. All after that, everything started to get better again, she stared to start talking to trees again, and start showing some emotion. Her mom recovered from her cancer, and everything was perfect again. Ida B was given her own mini orchard, she loved life just as much as she did in the beginning.



I would say that Ida B is the main character of this book because the book is being seen through her eyes. Ida B is mostly and normally a high-spirited, bubbly little girl. Ida B is also very smart and does well in home-school. In another part of the book Ida B is an I-hate-my-life, depressed little girl. She is like two different characters.



I like the was that Ida B is so friendly to people in the first part of the book. She seems really polite, and a never-talk-out of-turn kind of girl. Ida B is like the perfect child. She always wants to play outside, and obey her parents. That is something that I really like about her in the book.
One thing that I don't like in this book is when she is mean and unfriendly to everyone in the book. I would at least be nice to the people in my class, so I could have some friends. It just bothers me how she is mean to everyone that is trying to be very nice to her.



A strategy that I used while I was reading during this book was visualization. I can picture in my head Ida B running through the orchard happy and care-free. That picture makes me want to be just like her. Another strategy that I used was a book to life connection. I thought about how I would do what she did when I was younger. Things like climb trees and always being outside.



Katherine Hannigan was the author of Ida B and it was the only book she has ever written and published. I personally think that she should write more because she is an excellent writer and I love this book.

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