Book Report 3

Tiger Eyes

Davey Wexler is the main character in the book Tiger Eyes. She is a 15 year old girl. She has light brown eyes and wavy brown hair.  She has a laid back and "go with the flow" type of personality.  Davey helps keep things running smoothly in her house.

Davey's mother is Gwen and her father is Adam. Davey has a younger brother Jason and  a boyfriend named Hugh . Along with her family members,  Davey has a cat named Minka. Davey and her family live in the town of Atlantic City on the southeast coast of the United States. Her house is located above the grocery store which her family owns.

One day her father was shot in a robbery at their grocery store. At the time of the shooting, her mother was out with Jason. Davey and her boyfriend were the only ones home. Unfortunately, Davey's father's injuries were fatal and he died in her arms. Ever since her father's death, Davey has become a paranoid person who cannot get over the flashback images of her father's tragic death.  She even wishes her family could move out of her home to escape the memories.

One day Davey's Aunt Bitsy and Uncle Walter approach her mother and insist that she and her family come to live with them in New Mexico.  Davey's mom decides that that would be the best thing for her family,  so they go to live with her aunt and uncle. But, Davey becomes more uptight, demanding, and less relaxed around her family. She never wants to do anything with them, always has to have things her way, and it seems as though everything is changing for the bad. So, Davey spends more and more time by herself and likes to go to the canyon to think.

One day while at the canyon, Davey meets a guy who introduces himself as Wolf. He addresses her with the name "Tiger" because she has the eyes of a tiger. wolf and Davey get to know each other as they begin to meet routinely at the canyon. Wolf understands Davey and her feelings because he is going through most of the same experiences with his dad who is dying of cancer. They become friends and Davey learns to trust someone again.

 After some time passes, Davey is also willing to listen to her uncle's advice. He tells her that it might be helpful for her to deal with her father's death by volunteering to work at the Los Alamos Medical Center. Davey decides to give it a try and applies to be a  volunteer. Because her uncle is an employee of the hospital, she gets a job as a volunteer. She begins volunteering on a regular basis, and then, one day she meets a patient named Mr. Ortiz who is dying of cancer. Davey and Mr. Ortiz seem to have some kind of connection, so she visits him every day. While volunteering she discovers that Wolf is Mr. Ortiz's son. Between the development of her relationships with Mr. Ortiz and Wolf, Davey begins to relax, and returns to her original personality. Davey starts to laugh more, have a better outlook on life, and begins to open up to others more. Everything seems to be going great until the day she comes to visit Mr. Ortiz and his room is empty. Not only does she learn that Mr. Ortiz has died, but that her best friend, Wolf, will soon be leaving. Wolf explains to Davey that before his dad became ill, he had been away at school. Now that his father was no longer in need of his assistance and support, he would need to return to college to finish his education. Davey is devastated.

Through Davey's feelings of loss and devastation, she is reminded of the expression that her father used to say to her. He would tell her to always remember that "once one door closes another one is opened."  So the door is opened and Davey's life takes a new turn, she is able to let go of her pain and return with her family to their hometown. They move into a new apartment with a beautiful ocean view.  As the days pass back in Atlantic City, Davey returns to her normal self.  She finds her old  "happy, go lucky" personality and begins spending time again with her boyfriend, Hugh.

I absolutely loved the book Tiger Eyes! I really got into this story because it was about a teenage girl around my age.  I found it easy to relate to because I could see myself as the main character at times. I could feel happy when she was happy and sad when she was sad. I could understand the book very easily because the author used very descriptive words and I thought it was written at a good level for me. I enjoyed the book because the plot line was fast paced. It only stays on a subject long enough to get the point across then it moves on to the next section.

My favorite part in this book was when Davey learned that Mr. Ortiz was Wolf’s father. In the story I learned that these two characters were related, and it was a surprise to me.  I was not expecting those two characters to be related so, I thought it added some interest and excitement to the book. I also liked this section of the book because it's the turning point in the main character's personality development. I also liked this part because it has a happy ending.

I would strongly recommend the book Tiger Eyes to any teenage girl that likes fictional stories about relationships, personal problems, inner feelings, and thoughts. In this book the main character is a young teenage girl named Davey who is dealing with these types of issues. Her problems are moving away from her hometown, her dad dying, and her best friend moving away. Davey’s feelings move from one extreme to the other. At times, she is a really joyful, excited, happy, caring, and loving person and at other times she is scared, mad, paranoid, and even a nasty person. Her thoughts and feelings move and change by  what’s happening to her family and by what road blocks life brings to her on the way. She also struggles with why it seems as though everything is going wrong only in her life. These are the things that make the character interesting and the story eventful.

Even though there are teenage boys and adult males in this story, I would not recommend this book to most of the guys my age because it focuses so much on a girls perspective.

Book Report 2

Last Song

      The main character in the story is Veronica Miller, but everybody calls her Ronnie. Ronnie is a 17 year old girl with long brown hair and a purple streak. She has brown eyes and a petite, lean body. Most of the time, she is described wearing jeans and casual clothes. She is also a vegetarian because of her love for animals.

            In the beginning of the book The Last Song, the author, Nicholas Sparks, describes Ronnie as a talented musician.  Then he explains how she has played piano at Carnegie Hall and been invited to attend school at Juilliard. He also writes how she refuses to play or let anyone know of her talent. Ronnie is living with her mother and her brother Jonah in Manhattan, New York, but her mom decides it would be best for them to go live with their dad for the summer. Ronnie's dad is Steve, a musician who also plays piano. He currently lives in Wrightsville, North Carolina where he writes music and works in the church he grew up in.        

             In the book The Last Song, Ronnie's personality changes greatly. She goes from being an angry and self absorbed person to a loving, caring, and an admirable individual. In the beginning of the story, Ronnie is basically pissed at the world and everyone in it. She is mad because her parents divorced and her father moved away. Ronnie acts out and becomes a bit of a trouble maker. She is difficult for her mom to handle because she acts disrespectful towards her and she often lies about where she is.  She begins to skip school and her grades start dropping.  Ronnie begins to wear dark clothes and heavy makeup, and she starts hanging out with, as her mom describes, "the wrong crowd."

            When Ronnie's mom takes her to live with her dad, she doesn't want to talk to him or be near him. She doesn't want to listen to anything he has to say to her, and she doesn't like anything he tries to do for her.  She doesn't really want to spend time with either of her parents. Really, the only person she is somewhat nice to is her younger brother, Jonah.

            Ronnie's personality starts to change when she meets and begins to fall in love with a guy named Will Blakelee. Although at first their relationship has its ups and downs, Ronnie learns to care about someone other than herself. Will makes Ronnie happy and at ease with the world. Together Ronnie and Will even protect a sea turtle nest from raccoons so that the sea turtle babies can survive. As Ronnie's world begins to improve, she begins to forgive her father and is able to talk and reconnect with him.

             After Ronnie and her dad have made amends, Ronnie finds out that her dad has stomach and pancreatic cancer and will not live much longer. So Ronnie puts her relationship with Will and her personal struggles aside to spend most of her time with her dad and Jonah. Then she dedicates herself to taking care of her father, and in the process, is able to rebuild her bond with her mother. While Ronnie's time is spent caring for her dad, she encourages Jonah and Will to finish the stain glass window that her father and Jonah had been working on all summer. In her pain and in her healing process, Ronnie also finishes the song that her dad had been struggling to finish. This becomes the real turning point in Ronnie's character which leads to more life changing experiences.

            To find out what becomes of Ronnie, you have to read The Last Song.

             The Last Song is a heart wrenching story of how a young girl's life experiences with family relationships, peer relationships, and tragedy change how she views people.

            Because Ronnie is angry about the break up of her parents, in the beginning of the story, she tends to see people for how they appear on the outside and by her first impression of them. But what she experiences over the period of 3 short months changes how she sees them.

            At the beginning of the summer of her seventeenth year, Ronnie moves to a new home with her father and meets several new people her own age. The first person Ronnie meets is a girl named Galadriel, but most people know her as Blaze. When Blaze and Ronnie first met Blaze was wearing all black and had many body piercings. Her hair was raggedy and uncombed. Blaze had dark heavy make up which made her look gothic. Despite Blaze’s hardened look, Ronnie seemed to relate to her individualism, and as a result they became friends. Both Ronnie and Blaze seemed to be happy as loners. Ronnie soon learns Blaze isn’t a loner; she clings to her boyfriend Marcus. She will do anything to impress him and keep him interested in her. Blaze will even lie and steel for him. For example, one day while Blaze and Ronnie are shopping together, Blaze sneaks a bracelet into Ronnie’s purse to make it look like she shoplifts because Blaze believes that Marcuse likes Ronnie more. As a result, Blaze’s and Ronnie’s friendship falls apart. Later Blaze is severely burned and hospitalized. Marcus is not there for her and Ronnie feels bad. This tragic event and the fact that Ronnie felt bad for Blaze, causes Blaze to apologize and confess to the shoplifting incident. Ronnie Gains a new understanding for Blaze’s need for acceptance, love, and friendship.

            Through the relationship between Blaze and Ronnie, Ronnie is introduced to Marcus. Marcus first appears to be cool, talented, and confident. But, the more time Ronnie spends with Marcus she discovers he is unkind, manipulative, and controlling. Marcus turns out to be a bad influence on Blaze, and he has no conscious; he can trick people into doing anything for him.

            Not only is Ronnie introduced to Marcus, but she also meets a guy named Will. Ronnie first runs into Will at a beach volleyball game. Will is playing volleyball and Ronnie runs into him. She is angered by his careless action and thinks he is a cocky and self-centered jock. She is quick to judge him by his looks and the popular group he’s surrounded by. As the story goes on Ronnie learns Will as a caring, kind, and loveable human being. Will helps her take care of her brother, renews her relationship with her dad, and helps her let go of her anger.

            Ronnie’s perception of others is not only changed by her peers it is also influenced by her father. When Ronnie first comes to live with her father she is angry, resentful, and unwilling to get to know him. But her father is unfortunately dying because he is suffering with cancer. As they begin to renew their family relationship Ronnie learns that her father was diagnosed with cancer and with holding this information from her because he didn’t want her to just feel sorry for him. Ronnie then sees him for who he is, a loving and caring father who would do anything for his children.

            These are some of the example of how Ronnie’s interpretation of others was misguided.

Book Report 1

That Summer

Haven is a 15 year old girl. She has long wavy brown hair. Haven is 5 feet 11 inches tall and very skinny. She describes herself to be "boney and have acute angles, like a jigsaw puzzle." She always wishes to be shorter and have curves to her body like her sister Ashley. She is very self-conscious about her looks. She is so self-conscious that she sometimes even dreams about growing to be the size of a giant and towering over her home city. Haven will also slouch or fine ways to adjust her body stance to make herself appear shorter.

Haven lives at home with her mother and her sister. She blames both her mother and sister for making her feel nervous. They are both good at overreacting and making a big production out the littlest things. Haven’s sister’s name is Ashley. Ashley is the eldest of the two girls. Unlike Haven, in high school Ashley was known as the “popular girl.” She dated the captain of the football team, had lots of friends, and was a varsity cheerleader.  Currently Ashley is planning her upcoming wedding and spends endless hours on the details. She is so preoccupied with the wedding that she leaves little time for her sister and Haven doesn’t feel comfortable confiding in her. However Haven will share some of her thoughts and feelings with her mother. Her mother tries to make Haven feel loved and important because she is concerned with how her recent divorce may have affected Haven.

After the divorce, Haven’s father, Mac McPhail moved out of their home and has recently remarried. He is a sports anchor for Channel Five and married one of his co-workers. She reports the weather and Haven’s dad refers to her as his “Weather Pet” which Haven thinks is obnoxious. Haven’s dad picks her up every Saturday and takes her out to eat to catch up on the week and what’s new in her life. For the most part Haven seems to enjoy the outings with her father. So far, Haven spends little time with her step mom.

Besides her family, she’s spends time with her neighborhood friend named Casey Melvin. Casey is an outgoing carefree kind of girl ever since she went to summer camp. She is a good friend to Haven.   

I think this is what all makes Haven different from the other characters in the story because everybody is short compared to her, she doesn’t have that many friends, and she only has one other person that listens to her problems.

The conflicts in the book That Summer are about how Haven, the main character, struggles with her physical looks and family problems.

 Haven struggles with the way she looks like how tall she is and how skinny she is. She tries to find ways to make herself appear shorter. Personally I love being taller and I embrace being tall. Instead of trying to hide the fact that I am tall, I’m comfortable wearing high heels. Haven struggles with this conflict because her personality type is being very shy, self-conscious, and not being comfortable speaking her mind. Haven struggles with her feelings of self-consciousness throughout most of the story, but in the end she realizes she is not the only tall young women in her city which help her feel better about her self-esteem.

Haven also deals with a few problems involving the members of her family. To begin with, Haven has to deal with the fact that her mom and dad are divorced and her father has remarried.  She also has to deal with her older sister getting married and moving out soon. And finally she has to deal with not always getting along with her mother. Haven doesn’t do anything about these family issues because she feels like her mother, father, and sister don’t listen to what she has to say. I would deal with family issues like hers differently. Like if I found out that my parents were getting a divorce, I would try to stop them, and if I was not getting along with my mother, I would try to talk it out with her. Plus, if my sister was getting married, I would be so happy for her and would want to support her. I would try hard to express how I feel about their differences until I know they heard it. I think that Haven handled her family problems the only way she knew how to because of her personality type- the fact that like I said before she doesn’t speak her mind.

The last conflict in the book involves Haven trying to figure out why her sister Ashley decided to break up with her previous boyfriend, Sumner. Haven does not understand why Ashley broke up with Sumner because she seemed so much happier when they were together. When Ashley was dating Sumner, she seemed so much more laid back, kind and excited about things. Now she seems to be preoccupied and on the edge. Haven decided to deal with this dilemma, once she started hanging around Sumner more. Haven could tell that Sumner really liked her sister and she knew that Ashley really liked Sumner, so she tried hard to get him to explain why they had split up. But, Sumner just wasn’t very comfortable about sharing his feelings.

If I were Haven, I would have confronted Ashley first. I think she should have told her sister how she felt about Lewis and about how she thought that her personality had changed when she was around him. I think she should have told Ashley that she acted differently around Lewis, and that she didn’t seem as happy as she was when she was with Sumner.

As the story gets closer to the end, Haven does finally confront Ashley about her wanting to marry Lewis and the end gets kind of interesting. Read the book That Summer to find out.

Memoir 2

The time I went to Atlantis, I went with my family and two other families.We left at the crack of dawn from the St.Cloud Airport.We had to stop at the Minneapolis Airport. The lay over was boring, I sat around staring at the clock just watching the minutes tic by dreadfully slow. When the time finally came we boarded the plane and took off for Paradise Island, Atlantis, Bahamas. The plane ride went on forever, even though it was only like three and a half to four hours long.

When we arrived our families got checked in. We stayed at the beautiful and perfectly clean Coral Reef Hotel. What I mean by perfectly clean is there was maids going in and out of the public areas cleaning after every person had used that facility.

After we had gotten settled in, us kids were running around just itching to do everything right away. We wanted to go explore the resort, relax in the sun, go enjoy the teal blue water and the white sugary sand, and also go to the water park. After seeing everything we could do there we had a feeling that this would be the best vacation ever!

Memoir

      In the years before I became a dancer, I would stand and stare at my sister dancing wishing I could be her. I would watch her through the classroom windows and try to copy everything she would do. I remember having my dad lift me up on stage at the end of one of my sister's recitals, so I could experience what it would be like to be on the "big" stage. My mom always told me that at any kind of dance performance, I would have my eyes glued to the dancers, taking in every little step they made. Every time I heard a catchy beat, I just couldn't sit still. I wanted to get up and dance.

      When I turned three, the age you needed to be to start dance, I finally got the chance, to take my first lesson. It was what I had been waiting for. I was so excited. I remember trying on my sisters old dance shoes and begging my mom to take me to dance early. I smiled and giggled and asked lots of questions all the way to the studio. At dance I met many new friends and some of them are my best friends today!

     The first type of dance I learned was tap and we were taught how to shuffle and flap. These steps came pretty easy for me because I love to do everything that is fast. I was so happy I ran out and gave my mom a big hug after class. I was so excited I went home to show my sister what I had learned.
     
     I will never forget the first time I preformed on the "big" stage. It was at the Ritche Auditorium on the campus of St.Cloud State University. I danced to the song "Happy Tapping with Elmo." I wore a pink dress. I wore an itchy curly wig and had a bow for my hair. I wore shiny black tap shoes and pink tights. I got to dance in the front row, and my mom said you couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

     One year of dance classes and one dance recital, just wasn't enough for me, I  have continued to take dance for over ten years now. I have danced in many competitions, high school shows, and on professional stages in the cities. I can dance tap, jazz, lyrical, ballet, open, hip hop, and I am starting pointe. I guess you could say it was more then a just a memory, I was born to dance.

INTRODUCTION

Hi,
Im nikki! I am a  dancer, a soccer player, and a golfer. I have been dancing for St.Cloud School of Dance for 10 years. I began soccer when I was 6. I now play soccer for a St.Cloud travel team in the summer. I also golf on the Apollo golf team and at the St.Cloud Country Club. I love to hang out with friends and family!!