How to Tame a Wild Tongue

Question: In this story, the author is describes how a language is being taken away from a group of people. She describes how the Mexican Americans who live down south speak improper or slang Spanish. Many people in society want to get rid of the language and not allow them to speak it in public schools, work, etc. America is supposed to be a country full of many nations, after all we are called the "melting pot". How can society take away a language from a group of people?

Comment: I agree with the author and do not think it is okay to take a language away from someone. By taking away a certain ethnic groups language, you're taking away their identity. People in the world are known for their background and where they come from. Taking away a language is like changing a person from who they are. A language means a lot and many people are proud to be their ethnicity is.

Critique: I really enjoyed this reading because it shows how cruel a society can be. America is a free country and it is not okay to ban someone from speaking a language. These people might have not even wanted to live in the country in the first place but because the border line is getting lower they had no choice but to move. A language represents a person and who they are. It is illegal and unfair to take away someone's identity. The author clearly wrote how her and her family feels about being judged and having who they are being taken away from them.

American Born Chinese

Question: Jin Wang was born in the United States and spoke perfect English. When coming into his new class, the teacher introduced him and said that he was from China. All the kids looked at him different and would make fun of him. Jin was just like the other kids, except he had a Chinese background. Why did the other children bully him around if he said he was from San Francisco?

Comment: I really enjoyed this reading because I can see where Jin is coming from. Being a new student in a class isn't easy especially when other kids take an advantage of the fact that you are new and start to bully you around. At the end when the other new Chinese boy was being introduced to the class, the teacher made the same mistake. At first, Jin didn't really want to be his best friend. Later on, he realizes Wei-Chen like the same things he does. This caused them to be best friends. I really enjoyed this part because t was a little funny how the teachers made mistakes with both of the boys names and backgrounds. That was already one thing they had in common.

Critique: Overall I think this was a very good reading. It shows to other kids how it feels to be a new student and maybe some can even relate to a story. It shows you how stereotypical society is and even though Jin was born in America they considered him to be different only because he was Chinese.

Coraline

Question: Coraline was a very strange story. She kept on going to explore and left the house for a while. When she found these new parents of whom she didn't know of, she stayed in their house. While describing them, she made them sound scary and mean. Why would she stay in a house with two people you don't know who have black button eyes? Another question I would ask is how old Coraline is? I do not know of any parents who don't care about their child and let them go exploring in the woods by themselves at a young age.

Comment: I enjoyed the comic version of the book a lot better than the original. The pictures help out during a reading because they draw the actual setting out for a reader so it is a lot easier to understand the material. In Coraline they described how the house looked on the inside and on the outside. With the help of the pictures I was able to draw the real picture in my head as if I was actually partaking in the reading. Another thing I enjoyed was the whole suspense. Out of everyone I've read in life, these are the most interesting kinds of stories because they make the reader want to keep going until the most dramatic part occurs.

Critique: Overall I considered this reading to be very interesting and it got my attention. The only thing I would have to comment on is that it doesn't give enough detail. I would like to know the reason why Coraline doesn't like when people say Caroline and also how she escapes from her fake parents. The story doesn't give much information just tells you everything that happens without any detail or reasoning for why this certain event is occurring. Her parents sounded very scary I would've liked to find out where they came from and what they wanted from Coraline.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao

Question: Lola, the daughter of Beli and the sister of Oscar, is very disrespectful towards her mother. She has no respect and doesn't treat her mother properly. In the story she tells us readers about her mother's childhood. How Beli was left at birth, adopted, and was mistreated by everyone in her childhood. Beli did everything that she could in order to survive and she moved to America so that her children would have a better childhood then she every dreamed of. Knowing Lola's mother went through events like this in her life, how can she run away from home and do all these things against Beli?

Comment: Lola doesn't know how to treat people the right way. She was very rude to her brother and always made fun of him. it took her a long time to realize that he was always there for her. Lola doesn't have respect for no one but herself. I feel like she wasn't right for ignoring Oscar and pushing him away. If you see your brother is depressed, stop making his life even harder. Instead be a responsible sister and help him. Pressure and a loud voice isn't what it takes to get through to a person. 

Critique: The critique I had was how everyone treated Oscar. The author made him seem like a loser and that no one wanted him nor wanted to be friends with him. He made his life sound like a disaster and in reality I believe not everyone's life is that horrible. Oscar had to have some sort of friends. Writing should have been something his family was proud of. Since they come from a third world country and not many people are so bright, they could've gave Oscar some spotlight since he was writing and doing something he loved. You don't get that very often.