Reading Responce: Godless- Critical Thinking Question

      In the book "Godless", by Pete Hautman, Jason Book isn't really dedicated to being Catholic. Due to this, he decides to make his own religion, based on worshiping "The Ten Legged One", which was basically a water tower, and have a whole religion circling around the basis that water is life. In his region, he has his friends Shin, Henry, Magda, and Dan join, but after a while things start to go wrong, and the religion starts to break apart. During this problem for Jason, I can kind of relate my own problems of dedication of religion.

     When Jason makes his religion, every thing goes fine at first, but then things start to haywire when Henry starts forcing in his own ideas, and after the group gets in trouble from one of Henry's ideas, the religion starts to fall apart. During this Jason is once again at a loss of his dedication, this time in anything. I can relate, because even thought I want to follow through with my faith of being Catholic, but at the same time I'm starting to question certain things, and its sort of getting me confused the same way Jason was.
   
       While Jason is going through this, his father is trying to get Jason to believe in God and be a Catholic. After the group brakes up due to Henry's idea, Jason's father hears of Jason's made up religion, and gives Jason a bunch of books on the subject of Catholicism, and tells Jason to tell him what he thinks after he's read them. This is a bit the same as what my mother id doing with me, as she insists me to stick to Catholicism, even though I'm having trouble staying committed.

     Though in the end, Jason's father understands Jason's problem, and tells him he had a long road ahead of him if he wants to be conflicted with religion. Thorough this, Jason decides until he can find a deity he can believe in he's sticking to worshiping water towers. This kind of gets me thinking on my own issue of being Catholic, and if I should stay dedicated or not. Though for now, I think I'm going to stick with my belief of Catholicism.        

       

2nd Draft:Banned Books Argunment Essay

Certain book being banned in school and public libraries has been a debate in our society for man y years. Lots of classic books get criticized for their “questionable content that overprotective parents have been complaining about. But classics like my book, Lord of The Flies,  by William Golding, should not be banned from school libraries because they can teach us many things and the younger public deserve to read them.

Classics are an important addition to school libraries. They focus on difficult to cope with and understand subjects, like loss and death. For example, from an article focusing on the subject of banned books stated, “Not only were these books ones we read intently, and over and over again, they were books that taught us important things.”(Doll 2). Lord of the Flies, like these classics, focuses on the issues of proper leadership and organization, and the consequences for young people in certain situations when you don’t have these traits. For example, one scene that shows strong emotion over leadership is a quote from when the main character, Ralph, and Jack are arguing.

“[Ralph] isn’t a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives order and expects people to obey for nothing…”

(Golding 130).

Furthermore, banning book like Lord of the Flies would just make them more appealing to the Public. People find a book more appealing to read when it been shut out by normal ways of obtaining them, making them more worthwhile to read. One librarian once stated “ ‘ I don’t think banning a book ruins its reputation or makes children afraid to read it. If anything, the opposite will happen. Young people are still going to read the series, it’s still going to be hugely popular, and-guess what!-it’s still going to get kids to read who might not have otherwise…’ ” (Doll 4). Also, one author stated his opinion when his book was called to be banned. “ ‘It’s a badge of honor to have your book banned from schools and libraries, only because it means your books have become popular and are being noticed. Unpopular books seldom get banned. I’ve never noticed any kind of sales decrease because of censorship campaigns. Usually they prove to be good publicity’ ” (Doll 2).

Yet despite all this, people still head toward banning books due to their belief that most books are “inappropriate” for the younger ages. But most books are mostly falsely or vaguely accused. In Lord of The Flies, one of the books for banning, there’s not really any hint of killing. One quote, “ Softly, surrounded by a fringe of exquisite bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellation, Simon’s dead body moved toward the open sea” (Golding 157), Doesn’t have any hint of the death and mostly presents itself in a vague manner.

The idea of banning books, especially classic, is a horrible idea. Unless the book is absolutely offensive and kids shouldn’t really be in contact with it, then a book should be banned. But in this case scenario, books really shouldn’t be banned. 

Monday Muses - Special Picture Book

   One picture book I'll always have close to my heart is "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown. Its a book I always used to read as a kid, and still remember to this very day. I've known and remembered  the book as long as I can remember, though I barely its contents, as it recently went missing. I do remember, though, that each page had a separate text saying "good night" to something. I can't remember what the book contents was, but I've always remembered the pictures of that book .
                                   
The picture were really simple, but manged to capture me in a way. I remember staring at the green room, the picture of the the cow jumping over the moon, and looking at the window with the stars and moon outside with the dark blue sky. I also remember looking for the hidden mouse in the pages, and spotting the mouse just added to the fun of reading the book. I also was enthralled with the red and green curtains and how they match the green room so well. All of these little features managed to catch my heart with the book.
   
     I also will always remember the page that was just blank that said "Goodnight nobody" always made me crack a smile. This book will also always remind me of the house I grew up in, and had to move from. I remember it always being on that same , dusty bookshelf that I read book from. I never saw the book again after I moved, but I hope to find it again, as it is a book I used to read, and one I keep close to my heart, as always. I've read other books when I was little that I really enjoyed, but in a way, I'll never feel the same way I feel about them as I do "Goodnight Moon".