Tharp,+Brett

Entry one:

Blog entry #1: Due Friday, August 26.

 * Name of author you will be studying
 * Name of novel you will be reading
 * Your prediction of what will happen in your novel.

The author i will be studying is John Steinbeck. The book is __The Grapes of Wrath__. I predict this book will be about moving across the country for opportunity. I chose this book because I knew who Jon Steinbeck was. I read __Of Mice and Men__ in middle school for independent reading and we read it in class last year.

i didn't read that much this summer but i read __Gym Candy__ on my way to Philadelphia. it s about a football player who does steroids and ruins his life. He eventually tries to kill himself and he has a muscle spasm and shoots part of his head off and now he is worse off than before. I cant remember who it was by but it was a good book.

Blog entry #2: Due Friday, Sept 2.

 * State the number of pages you've read so far
 * Describe and analyze a major character from this piece
 * Predict what may happen to this character OR what this character will do

My dad was an english teacher and wanted me to read an easier book. So now I am reading __The Red Badge of Courage__ b Stephen Crane. I am on page 12 and it was hard to figure out the main characters name because it is only said once in a dream he had. His name is Henry and he is in the army as a Union soldier. He seems brave but I know he ditches his squad and hides for a while. i think he will end up coming back to his squad though. Thats all I know about the main character because it spent all the time describing the camp.

= **BLOG ENTRY #3: DUE FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 ** = September ninth, I have read to page 52 this week. I like when it talks about how he has a moment of braveness and takes the first shot and how he feels like part of the army. I like it because he was always doubting if he would __stay and fight in a battle. He ends up running away later though. He feels really embarrassed though.__
 * Date your entry and state the number of pages you've read so far.
 * Find a favorite line/quote (or a significant one) from the story and share it with your blogosphere
 * Explain who says this and when it is said (this is the context for it)
 * Explain why this is your favorite line/why it is significant
 * Any other info about your reading you'd like to share

=__ **BLOG ENTRY #4: DUE SATURDAY, SEPT. 17 AT MIDNIGHT ** __= __September__ sixteenth. I am now on page 87. I never stated any predictions about this book because I changed books. But i did make some predictions in my head. I knew it was about the civil war and I didn't think that Henry would stay for one battle. I was wrong about that. I also thought he would be the first person to run away. He only runs when other people have before him. He know feels depressed and really bad. He hates that he ran away and is ashamed of himself. It is a whole new side to him. I am happy that i choose this book. It is very interesting and I just like it overall. It is a good book.
 * __Date your entry and state the number of pages you've read so far.__
 * __Comment on the predictions you made earlier. Were you right? Do you know yet if you right?__
 * __Comment on your character. What new qualities have you noticed in the character since your first analysis?__
 * __Are you happy with your choice of books? Explain why or why not__

Blogging content for Blog #5: FINAL BLOG. Due Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 @ midnight. ===‍‍ This blog should have a heading for each bullet listed below. ===
 * List the major and minor characters (at least 4) and write a paragraph describing them. Included any relevant literary terms, such as protagonist and antagonist. Header will be __characters.__
 * List a summary of the plot, but do not give away the ending. Heading will be __summary__.
 * Give the book a rating (1 is poor; 5 is amazingly awesome) and explain your rating. Heading will be __rating__..
 * Comment on what you think of using this Wiki as a place to discuss your independent reading. Is this a good idea? Not a good idea? Explain as best you can. Heading will be __Wiki Reflections__

4 major characters in the book __The Red Badge of Courage__ by Stephen Crane are Wilson, Jim, Henry, and the tattered man. The main character is Henry. He is nicknamed the youth in this book. He is called this because he is young. For the first part of the book he is always worrying that he will flee from battle. He ends up runnimg away and then comes back disgraced. Later he proves himself and is considered one of the companies best fighters. The person who at first is Henry's "best friend" is Jim Conklin. He is nicknamed the tall soldier. He is obviously tall and he is quiet. He gets shot in the first battle and ends up dying. The picture Stephen Crane paints of him dyin is extemly gruesome and lifelike. Wilson is nicknamed the loud soldier. He is loud and brags alot. He always talks about how brave he is and how no one will ever catch him running away. I expected him to but he doesn't and he is the other person that the captain says is the best fighter. The tattered man is never given a real name but he is important because he asks Henry where he is hurt when Henry runs away. He led Henry to Jim before Jim dies and Hernry sees Jim die and gets a "fire" burning inside of him towords the enemy. The plot is alot of the army moving around at first and getting a sense of army life. Aftert that is alot of fighting and Henry runs away. He comes back, sees Jim die and wants to fight hard. He becomes one of the companies best fighters and only has one battle left... I would rate the book a 3 because of how it is written. The language is so different i was lost on page one. I wanted to give up on the book alot and had no motivation to read it what-so-ever because of the languge style. I know I would like the book so much more if it was written in modern languge. I liked using wikispaces. It was overall easy to use and you can see what is going on with everyone. It's easy to look at other people's blogs and comment. It is a good easy sight to use.