Banned Books Argument Essay Draft

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, 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, “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 things. For example, one scene that shows strong emotion over leadership is a quote from when the main character, Ralph, and Jack are arguing. “Ralph, he isn’t a chief, he ain’t a prefect. He’s a coward. He’s like Piggy. All of this talk-“.(Jack, Lord of the Flies).

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.” (Meade 4). Also, one author said “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” (Stine 4).

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 v=by a fringe of exquisite bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellation, Simon’s dead body moved toward the open sea” 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- Childhood

This is one day in my life I think I'll remember as long as I live.

It all started one Sunday afternoon, when I was pretty young, about 5 or 6 years old. I had gotten permission to go to my neighbors house. Her name was Wendy, a young woman who lived right next door to us with her husband, Dale. I met them when I was about 4, and she's been my friend ever since. I walk over to her front porch, where an assortment of different plants were placed in pots of all sorts. I walked up to the door, and pressed the doorbell. After a few seconds, Wendy came out the door and smiled.

"Come in." She said, beckoning me inside.

I'd always admired Wendy's house. Paintings lined the walls, following a tall staircase that led upstairs. In the living room a glass table sat on the carpet, surrounded by couches and dressers that lined up along the wall. Near the corner, a bird cage sat on a large stool. Inside were bird toys of all colors and sorts, and sitting on one of them was one of the sources of my enjoyment of coming to Wendy's house. A small bird named Pepe, covered in white and blue feathers sat relaxed near the corner of the cage.

I raced over to the cage with a smile on my face, but then noticed something was wrong. Usually Pepe would be jumping all about the page tweeting about, but instead, he was propped up on one of his toy branches and wasn't moving.

I turned to Wendy. "Whats wrong with Pepe?"

Wendy frowned." He's been a bit sick this week. I'm planning on taking him to the doctor today."

"Oh. So I won't be able to play with him?" Wendy shock her head and I turned my head back to the cage.

Wendy put her hand on my shoulder." I think you should go."

I nodded and Wendy led me out of the house. Later that night, Wendy called my house. When my mom hung up, I asked curiously. "What happened?"

Mom turned around. "Pepe's dead".

I stared at her for a second then tears started running down my face. I ran over to the bad and starting sobbing. Why did this have to happen? I thought while sobbing.

Pepe dieing I felt was the first "loss" I had in my life. I 'd always viewed Pepe has a lovable pet, and even as of he was my own. I feel that him dieing was a big cornerstone in my life, and one of the few things I'll always remember.    

Robopocalypse Reading Responce: Theme

In the book Robopocalypse, the book focuses on more than 13 people and their stories of surviving and getting through the robot apocalypse.  A lot of theses stories show how people can get through tough situations, with or without help.
               One example is a story where Spc. Paul Banton is in a prison. All of a sudden, weaponry inside the prison starts to haywire. Tanks start shooting at human soldiers, and sentry and drones are doing the same. The situation seems hopeless, until Paul meets Jabar, a young soldier from the prison. Together, Paul and Jabar make it out of the prison alive, and are able to escape the malfunctioning weaponry.
            Another example is from Marcus Johnson. Marcus is a normal man living in an apartment with his wife, when he hears a commotion outside. He looks and sees people dieing and being hunted down, by their own cars and machinery. After the commotion is over, Marcus looks again and sees that their wasn't, a soul left on the street, and it looked perfectly normal, with cars parked in their respective lots. Marcus, after thinking a bit, realizes he has to make it hard for the robots and cars to get around in order to survive. Together with the help his wife, Dawn, Marcus turns his neighborhood into a battleground. With this, people who were hiding in their houses emerge, and after a few months Marcus and Dawn form the NYC resistance, which played a big role in the war.
            Overall, these examples show the struggles people went through and overcame during the "Robopocalypse". With the examples of the stories of Paul Blanton, and Marcus Johnson, it visible to see that people over came a lot of challages through out the war, and managed to over come them as they had.  

              In the book "Robopocalypse", every character has their own story of struggling through crises, and these crises bind them together. Almost 13 characters play their role in their own story, from the time robots start to malfunction, to when there's a full out war with them. It's also interesting to each characters reactions to certain situations, instead of just one main character.
                The story starts off in the future with Cormac Wallace, a leader of a squad of troops, when the war is already over. While scouting an area, he finds a black, mechanic box, with records from when the war started, to when it ended. The story then continues with the story's and interviews of people all over the world, and their suffering throughout the apocalypse. Though a few stood out among the many, especially recurring characters.
                 One character that stood out was Lonnie Wayne, of the Osage Nation of Indians. The Osage were everyday people, until the robot up;rising forces them to get out of their everyday lives into "warriors". At first, the Osage are against taking people in until Lonnie gets through to them that they have to stick together, Osage or not because the robots"Weren't picking favorites" according to him. After a while he finally gets through to them, and according to Cormac's notes after each story "The Osage Nation never turned away a single human survivor during the New War". IKt shows the coming together during times of Crisis.
                  Another example is a story from Spc. Paul Blantor, who was a prisoner in a military camp. After the Tanks and Artillery start killing human soldiers. This forces him to team up with one of the soldiers holding him captive to escape out o the prison alive. The soldier is against it, but finally decides to team up with him. The to escape the camp alive. This is another example of people coming together in the war, and change in character during a time of crisis.
                    So over all, the stories and mulitple character of "Robopocalypse" play huge role in the book. It shows, through the examples, that war makes people go through huge changes in times of crisis.

                  
                


                 

A Million Dollar Throw Reading Response

                "A Million Dollar Throw" by Mike Lupica, in my opinion, was a sappy yet touching book at the same time. It starts off with main character Nate Brodie, nicknamed Brady, a football quarterback on his team. One day, he gets a chance to win a million dollars by throwing a pass through a target in a football game. Nate's excited, but also starts feeling pressure build on him, as his parents go through money problems and his best friend Abby is slowly going blind.
                  To be honest this story kind of touched me in a way, as throughout the story Nate feels the pressure on his shoulders build. I felt connected to Nate, as throughout the story starts slowly losing confidence in himself, when he starts playing bad enough that he has to sit out for some games. The ending in way shocked me, but really didn't, as he makes the throw in the target, but spends the money for surgery on his friend Abby's eyes. He uses the rest of the money to stop his parents from selling the house due to money problems. This is the part of the book, in my opinion was a bit sappy, but touching at the same time.
         Overall, A Million Dollar Throw was a good book overall, with its hard to deal with and touching parts as Nate deals with one crisis over another, with everyday problems that could happen to anybody in a way, and I was glad to have read it for the summer.