John Adams #3

In the beginning John told Abagail that he had to go to Paris and Abigail got mad. She didn't want him to go because the family needed him. John won the fight and went to Paris, but he had to bring his son John Quincy Adams with him. On the boat ride there, John got sick and there was also a battle between his ship and a British ship. John's ship won but the captain's leg got blown off by a backfired cannon. John Adams picked him up and brought him down to the bottom of the ship to the surgeon. The surgeon saw the captain's leg off and it was really gross, I couldn't look. Then when John Quincy Adams and John Adams got to France they meet Benjamin Franklin, then Franklin told john Adams that he all ready made the treaty. John Adams was really mad at Benjamin Franklin for making the treaty with out him, he took john Quincy and went to his room. That night there was a dinner party and John Adams was a huge hit. The next day Ben Franklin and John Adams met with someone about the treaty and greatly disrespected him. Ben Franklin then mailed a letter to Congress saying what happened and they kicked John Adams out and sent him to the Netherlands. John Adams got money from them and became very sick. Then he sent his 14 year old son to Russia to be this man's secretary. In the end, John Adams became so sick he was seeing double and was dizzy.


The main character of this series is john Adams. John Adams seems like a very up-tight man who is very strict. I don't think that I would like him if he was alive in this time period. he is the protagonist of the story and the antagonist is the British and anyone that doesn't believe what he believes. Some other characters are, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, the rest of his children, Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.


I really like this TV series, I think that this is an interesting show and it is educational. I really like how all of the show is "historically accurate." I dislike how sometimes I do not understand what is going on or where they are. I also get confused by how they speak. other than that i really like this series.

The writer of this series, Kirk Ellis also has written Untitled Jakie Robinson Project, Into the West, Anne Frank: The Whole Story, The Three Stooges, The Beach Boys: An American Family, The Grass Harp, The Naked Truth, Hired to Kill, and Nightmare at Noon. The only show that I have seen of his is John Adams, but I am looking forward to see the rest.

A stragegy that I used while reading this book was that I made a prediction that Ben Franklin would stay in France. I was right about my prediction. I also made a connection to my life because once, my mom, dad and sisters went to Montaulk and forgot me at my cousins house. I had to stay there for the weekend. This episode reminds me of that.

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

In the beginning of this book, Ruby was depressed and in denial. She was upset because her mother had died. Her mother and she were very close; they knew almost everything about each other. One of the only tings that Ruby didn’t know about her mom was about her marriage to her movie star father. Ruby wouldn’t have even known about her father if her aunt didn’t take Ruby to the movies every time one of his came out. Ruby’s mother did not know about these trips to the movie theater because she didn’t want Ruby to know anything about her dad. Her mother never fully healed from when her husband left her. Ruby was so upset when her mother died and she had to go and move in with her father in Los Angles. When Ruby got to L.A., she spotted her father right away, (a huge group of people were all crowded around something or someone in the middle of the airport.) Then Ruby’s dad, Whip Logan, spotted her he walked over to her with one of his “movie star smiles.” He said that she must be Ruby and he walked her over to the limo. Ruby showed no interest in anything because she said that he never showed any interest in her. When they got home, Ruby walked in and was amazed, even though she did not show it. When Whip Logan showed her to her room, she thought that was even better then the foyer. It was her dream room, she said that she had once written a story about her dream room and it won a writing contest. She was so exited, but she still didn’t show it. When she went to school the next day her dad insisted on driving her. Ruby did not want everyone to see her dad and treat her different, but when she saw his cars she couldn’t say no. All of his cars were classics, and those were her favorite kind. When she got to school and the teachers found out that Whip Logan was her dad they started treating her special. They got her and escort and she soon became Ruby’s new best friend. Their parents co-stared in a movie together so they called each other “sis.” Ruby signed up for a dream interpretation elective, Colette was in that class too! The only problem was, Ruby hadn’t been having any dreams. The next day the class found out that one of the students got into a car accident the night before. Everyone knew him and they were all very upset so school got cancelled for the rest of the day. When Ruby got home no one was there so she let herself in, and the alarm went off. The police came and they were about to arrest her because they didn’t know that Whip Logan had a daughter, then Whip came home and cleared things up. That night Ruby had a strange dream, the phone was ringing. When Ruby picked up it was her mom and she said, “Ruby, how’s your father doing? Get out of the house Ruby, get out!” Then Ruby woke up and got out of bed, she walked to the place that the boy got killed and started crying, Whip flowed her and then there was an earthquake! When Ruby got back home she went into her room and saw the huge bookshelf next to her bed smashed right on top of her bed. If she was still sleeping she would have been dead. That was when her father told Ruby why he left her mother…because he was gay. Then everyone became happy and they all loved each other.

The main character of my book is Ruby. Ruby had red hair, freckles and she was depressed. Ruby had a best friend and a boyfriend. Her boyfriend was named Ray and she really liked him, well in the beginning. Lizzie was Ruby's best friend, in the beginning too, before the incident of Ray cheating on Ruby with Lizzie. In the end Ruby stopped being depressed and started liking L.A. and her dad.

One thing that I liked about this book was the format that it was written. I like how they were kind of like diary entries, but it was in present tense. I like how there are a lot of teenage issues in this book, even though some of her problems are things that I have never heard anyone in our school talk about...thank god. I dislike how Ruby is so young and she is doing and thinking about some really inappropriate things. I also like how through out the book she is sort of depressed.

Two reading strategies that I used in this book were visualising and I made connections. I made a connection to the book What My Mother Doesn't Know. I think that I made this connection because the books are very similar, they are even by the same author. The format is the same too. I visualized Ruby when she was being described, tall. red hair and freckles. Those where the reading strategies that I used while reading this book.

The author of my book, Sonya Sones has also written What my Girlfriend Doesn't Know, What My Mother Doesn't Know, Stop Pretending-what happened when my big sister went crazy, Sixteen:stories of the sweet but bitter birthday, Necessary Noise, Love and Sex.

What My Mother Doesn't Know

In the beginning of this book, Sophie was “in love” with a boy named Lou. When Lou broke up with her on the last day of eighth grade she was really upset. Then on the way home from a party Sophie met Dylan. Sophie really liked Dylan so they started to date. Then they kissed, a lot, which I didn’t enjoy very much. Sophie and Dylan went out on lots of dates, and then they didn’t really like each other very much anymore. When Grace started telling Sophie and Rachel about her new boyfriend, Sophie then realized how that she didn’t even really like Dylan. So she broke up with him the next chance that she had. Then Sophie went to the Halloween dance, her mother wanted her to buy this very frilly dress, but Sophie had other plans. She wanted to get this slim fitting black sparkly dress; she said that she wanted to look good, not funny. So with her mom she bought the pink dress, but after babysitting for one week, she went back to buy the black one. Sophie’s plan was to wear the pink dress to her best friend Rachel’s house, and when she got there she changed into the black dress. While Sophie was at the party, she danced with this guy that she immediately fell in love with. Unfortunately, she didn’t know who he was because she couldn’t see his face. He was dressed as something with a mask so the only thing that Sophie remembered about him when he left was his forearms. When the last song had played, Sophie left thinking about this person in the mask, she was so caught up in her thoughts, and she forgot to change back into the ugly pink frilly dress! When her mom saw the dress, she went crazy and didn’t speak to Sophie for about a week. Finally, her mother accepted her apology, and they started acting like a family again. Then, since it was the December break, everyone was on vacation. Sophie was board being home alone, and since her parents could never afford to go on vacation Sophie thought that she would act like she was a tourist and see all the sites. When she was at the art museum, she saw the geekiest boy in her whole school, Murphy. He came over and they started talking, then somehow, they were ice skating together on a pond. Sophie couldn’t believe that she did that but she really liked it, so they went out every weekend. Then one day she heard his mom call him Robin, so then she told all of her friends that she was dating Robin, not Murphy. When Sophie’s friends came back, she didn’t tell anyone that she was dating Murphy, she also prevented Rachel and Grace from “meeting Robin”. So when they went back to school, Sophie walked into the lunch room and saw Robin waving at her, then she saw Rachel and Grace waving at her…she had to choose. Then she had an idea, she waved to Rachel and Grace to follow her as she sat a Murphy/Robin’s table. Then, Sophie introduced Grace and Rachel to Robin…they were disgusted. For once, Sophie didn’t worry about what everyone else thought, she liked Robin and that was all that mattered.

The protagonist of this story was Sophie. Sophie didn't really care about her mom or family. Her family was poor and they got into a lot of fights. I think that is why Sophie was so boy crazy, because she had to get away and get her mind off of her family. I do not really agree with the way that Sophie spent her time. I think that she should have been spending more time with her family, it might have brought them closer. I didn't really like Sophie as a person, so if she went to our school, I probably would not be her friend.

Something that I really liked about this book is the way that it is written. I like how they are like poems in a non-poetic form. I also like how this book was all about what kids do and do not tell their parents. I do not like how the author made everyone do all of these things that 9th graders should not be doing. All around I liked this book, even though not everything in it I approved of.

Two reading strategies that I used while reading this book were visualization and I made a connection. I made a connection to the book One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, the thing that I found similar was how they were both written in a poetic style, but they both weren't exactly poems. I visualized Sophie's mother sitting in a bed, eating chocolate kisses and crying with the glow of the TV being the only light source of the entire basement.

The author of this book, Sonya Sones has also written What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, Stop Pretending:What happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy, Sixteen:Stories of the Sweet and Bitter Birthday, Necessary Noise, and Love and Sex.