Mockingjay

Author's Note: Probably most people love this book, I know I do and we all know Katniss, the one who will protect her sister and her friends at any cost and that she has some very great qualities and it was hard to pick one for my theme.

The Mockingjay series is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were chosen to be a tribute and fight in the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games to become a victor for district twelve. Peeta falls in love with Katniss but she’s not sure if she feels the same way. In the end they both win but the Hunger Games is just starting in their lives. Katniss and Peeta survive the seventy-fith Hunger Games but Peeta gets captured by the Capital while Katniss is reunited with her family, joined the rebels in district thirteen and is helping to show the capital that the Mockingjay (Katniss) is ready to fight for everyone's freedom. There really isn’t just one thing that is good about Katniss because as she is growing up she has to take on a lot more responsibility especially when her dad died and she had to take care of her mother and sister.

For Katniss she goes through a ton of tough things that takes a lot to accept what has all just happened to her. One thing is when Katniss is in the middle of the capital she finds her sister and out of nowhere the whole area just starts on fire and Katniss watched her sister burn to death and become a human torch. Now if I knew Katniss I think that there is no doubt that she is very brave. Katniss had to have her arm ripped open to get a tracker out of her so she could get to district thirteen.

Sacrificing herself  for thirteen districs something that sure takes some strength. She doesn’t fight just for her family, no she also fights for anyone who is on their side which is most of the other districts. I’m sure Rue is also one of the people she fights for and Katniss will go to extremes doing so. During the story Katniss would go to the burning remains of  district twelve and the camera crew would take tapes of her to show the capital and anybody who wants to be free of the capitol that Katniss Everdeen is now the Mockingjay and is going to do anything to destroy the capital and stop the Hunger Games forever. One time she was in district four and the rebels were fighting against the capital that remains in the district and they flew Katniss in and videotaped her using her bow against some airships to show just how much strength she still had.

We all know that in the beginning Katniss was not a trusting person at all. Katniss didn’t want anything to do with anybody at all. Only she would let Gale get close to her by hunting with her but it took a long time for her to get used to it. It’s the same for Peeta because he got hijacked and any memory of Katniss was turned into a nightmare. For Katniss she can’t trust being around Peeta without him being watched or handcuffed because given the chance Peeta would strike and try to kill Katniss. Trusting has gotten Katniss so far with trusting Cinna to help her by making the most amazing life threatening costumes and then getting executed. Putting her life in other peoples hands is the only way for her to survive and keep her family safe.

I think that Katniss is like a role model for me and for other people who will do whatever it takes for freedom. In a way she is like George Washington because they both fought for people’s rights and freedom. They are also both very good leaders and love their family. I hope I can be just like Katniss one day.

Family In War

Author's Note: My Brother Sam is Dead was the perfect choice for a retelling since not many things happened in the story so it was easy to retell it.

In the book My Brother Sam Is Dead, there is a boy named Tim who has a mother, father, and a brother Sam. He goes off into war to fight with the patriots, his father is not happy with it at all. Tim’s father takes him to go collect cattle when his father gets kidnapped by cowboys and later dies on a British ship. After his fathers death Tim learns to take responsibility and after a few months Sam comes back because his leader is taking a rest with his soldiers including Sam in Redding, his home and Sam gets accused of stealing his own cattle when he was trying to save his cattle but gets caught by the thief's and they turned him in. After a few weeks Sam gets sentenced to death and gets shot with Tim watching him fall to the ground never seeing him again, wishing there was some other way for this war to turn out.

Buried Treasure 3:15

Author's Note: This piece is based on the story 3:15 and what I did was I wrote what I thought the ending was going to be. I decided not to do a horror ending but it does have some scariness in it.

Cody Miller was just about to melt the gold when he saw a shadow right in the corner of his eye. Cody turns, but sees nothing nor no one. Once again he hears the voice of the old man saying "You better not take my gold treasure boy". Cody was starting to feel a little guilty about taking the old mans treasure but decided to do so anyway. He picks up the hook and he sees there is words on it spelling do what is right boy. Feeling a little creeped out Cody gets some water and washes his face, hoping that he is not going crazy because he does not believe in ghosts. Then he starts to think about how he would hate it if someone took his treasure when he passed. Cody looks at the golden ring, admiring it's beauty and decides that maybe he can keep the ring and give back the hook.

Thinking of a way to give back the hook he decides if he can find a family member of the old man he could give it to them and possibly get a reward. As he is walking into town he heard some fella's talking about the old man. "Can you believe that the guy with the golden hook finally died"? says a man. "Yeah, if I was young and crazy again I would probably steal it since he sadly has no family member to look after it and he was probably buried with it". Cody felt stupid that it was obvious that any man would rather have a family member look after it than the ground. Feeling doubtful Cody decides that maybe he should just sell the hook and go on with his life, then the voice trails off in his mind for what the old man said to him. He sees a shadow once again but it looks like an old man and is trying to gesture him to follow. Cody decides to not get the spirit angry and follow him. After about ten minutes Cody realizes that he is back where the old man was buried. The shadow then walks on top of the grave and disappears. Then Cody realizes that the ghost will not leave him alone unless he puts the hook back with it's rightful owner. An hour past and he dug all the way down back to the wooden coffin. He uses the back of the hammer to get the nails off and finally put the hook back on the old man. When he reburied the hook he started walking home when he sees the shadow but now its look exactly like the old man and he said "I knew you would do the right thing boy". He never again saw the spirit.

I choose this ending because I don't think that the old man is a bad guy so he didn't exactly haunt him. In the story the old man wasn't too much of a push over so I that is why I thought he was a nice guy. Of course I was wrong and in the real ending the old man Kills Cody so the he wasn't as nice of a guy as i thought.

Katniss Everdeen

Author’s Note: This short story is for my character analyzation piece. It is about how Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games changes throughout the book because she is doesn’t let anyone get personal with her and she just wants to do things on her own the way she does it, but then she starts to realize that is not true.

In the beginning of the story Katniss doesn’t want anyone to try and help her because she has always been the boss of her family, catching game and trading it to peacekeepers. The only one who she hunts with is Gale and they work together to try and feed their family. Other people want to help Katniss but she refuses to let them because she thinks that she can do everything on her own and not show that she is weak and needs help. Gale is pretty much the only person she talks to personally. This started when her father died in a mining accident and before that he took her out in the woods and taught her to hunt by using a bow and arrows, and taught her to make traps. Same thing happened to Gale’s father so he has to hunt to feed his family. After Katniss got chosen to be a tribute everything started to change.

Halfway into the story Katniss is starting to learn that everything she knew about growing up was a not what she thought, and what she thought was that she doesn’t need anybody’s help. When Katniss was training she still didn’t partner up with anyone or work with anyone but she started to realize that maybe some other tributes needed her help or that some tributes could be of some worth to work with as an ally in the arena. With the help of Haymitch her mentor, she realized that she needed sponsors to help her survive. During the games when she did stuff that Haymitch wanted her to do she got rewarded with gifts like food or medicine. For instance, Katniss did not want to partner up with Peeta but she had to do so that she would get presents to help her survive. There was one thing that Katniss didn’t like almost at all which was kissing Peeta so that people will root for their love and have a higher chance for their survival. Katniss realized by now that helping people and working with them is not such a bad thing. In the beginning she was very personal, and shy with strangers but now she is more comfortable with having to work with others that having people help her is not such a bad thing.

Thank you, Ma'am

Author's Note: In this short response I am writing about a how a boy changes from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

In the beginning of the story Roger tried to steal an old woman's purse. This was probably because he listened to the song “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley, or because he saw an ad about them, or he saw some other kids wearing them so he wanted them too. Since no one was home he had no money to try buy the shoes. Rogers only option was to try and steal someone purse or wallet for money and buy the shoes. He was probably waiting for an old woman or someone that wasn’t a threat and steal their purse. Roger then saw this old woman and tried to steal her purse but he underestimated her and she caught him.

Another part in the story was at the end when the old woman gave Roger ten dollars and told him to buy himself a pair of blue suede shoes. Roger wanted to thank her but she closed the door right behind her and he never saw her again. I think Roger wanted to thank her because the woman did not harm him and did not take him to jail as he expected. He wanted her to trust him since nobody else did. Also that the woman fed him and made him wash his face. Basically she treated him like he was her own son which made him feel bad that he treated her so poorly by trying to steal her purse. Roger wanted to say “Thank you, Ma’am” but didn’t have the chance but since she was so kind to him he will hopefully never try and steal a purse or anything from anyone again.

What Would I Tell America's Founding Fathers?

Author's Note: Few people might think that when the Declaration of Independence was written it was just a few men writing what they feel is right but no, it was in a room where a whole group of men where arguing and talking and deciding what to write to thing king but there where a few men that stood out.

The Founding fathers where John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. What would I tell America’s founding fathers? Would they ask what the country is like today? Not many people know who the founding fathers are or what they did to help this country. I think that everybody who lives in America and is an American should know about them.

Now each father had a big part in the in the U.S. Confederation, Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independance was serving as ambassador to France at the time of the convention. John Adams wrote “Defense of the Constitution of the Government of the United States of America.” The founding fathers were many different types of people like soldiers, diplomats, politicians, or any ordinary citizen. The most importants types where Signers and Framers. They all took part in winning American independence and creating the United States of America. If I could ask a question to the founding fathers I would ask if it was really true if regular ordinary citizens helped create and form America. I know it’s because of the citizens that there is still an America today but I mean was there people actually being able to maybe suggest to write something down on the Declaration of Independance like how did it exactly work?

Now the most important founding father was obviously George Washington the first president but what did he do for this country? George Washington was a Commander in Chief of the colonial forces in the American Revolution. Many soldiers gave up but George was determined to free America and fought on. After they had won the war against the British George washington was elected to be the first president of the United States of America. Washington served his country with honor, pride, and dignity. John Adams was known to be the next president. If I had to pick a favorite founding father it would be George Washington without a doubt. I’m sure most everybody would choose the same but he is like a role model to me like he is for the rest of the presidents. If I could talk to George Washington I would tell him that I want to be just like him, a leader who never gives up and always fights for what he loves and what is right.

I know I didn’t have much to say to the rest of the founding fathers so I’m going to say something as if I was truly talking to them. I would say thank you for all the love and support you put into our country and it is a true honor to meet my heroes. I’m not sure if the United States today is the United States you dreamed of but if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t have such a great country. Free, safe, and well taken care of because of you. Thank you for everything.

Cause and Effect

Author's Note: This is The Hunger Games transformed in my cause and effect piece.

In the Hunger games at the end of the book Katniss a girl who volunteered to be a tribute for her sister pulled out some death berries when the gamemakers changed the rule for if there could be two victors. Katniss wanted to show them that they didn’t own them so when she pulled out the berries the government took it as an insult. After she did this Katniss was forced to love Peeta and be with him for the rest of their lives. The story would be a lot different if Katniss didn’t pull out those berries and took out Peeta and she could be free for the rest of her life or she could have let either the gamemakers kill her or Peeta but most likely not Peeta because he loves her.