Perks of Being a Wallflower-Charlie is a dynamic character

I just finished reading the book Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Charlie is considered a dynamic character because he changes a lot throughout the story.   The book is mainly about a high school freshman, Charlie, who is considered an outcast by his peers and didn't have friends in the beginning.  On page 18 he wrote about when he went to the school football game, "I went alone because Michael is gone, and Susan hangs around different boys now..." (Chbosky,18).

Evenutally Charlie became friends with 2 seniors and they introduced him to other people.  Charlie became much more social and even went to lots of parties and hung out with friends.  On page 197 Charlie wrote, "Every night, we would all get together after Sam had just said goodbye to some uncle or had another lunch with her mom or done more shopping for school things."  Charlie became really good friends with Sam and her brother Patrick.

I also noticed that Charlie seemed very depressed in the beginning of the book because he was really sad that his best friend Michael committed suicide.  But once he found new friends and became more social, he was talking less of sad things and more of happy things.

Perks of Being a Wallflower setting

Right now I'm reading the book Perks of Being a Wallflower.  The main character, Charlie, is a freshman in highschool and he is considered a misfit among the other students.  So far this book mainly takes place during 1991 at school and some school football games.  Charlie used to go to the school football games with his only friend, Michael.  But Michael committed suicide so Charlie is left with no friends.  Charlie continued to go to the football games but he went alone, until he met two seniors, Sam and Patrick.  Sam and Patrick, were very friendly and befriend him and let him join their group of friends. The football game is a very important setting in this book because it began Charlie's friendship with Sam and Patrick.  Sam and Patrick take Charlie to many parties where there are lots of drugs and alcohol.  Most of Sam and Patrick's friends are very nice to Charlie but they are a bad influence on Charlie, they offer him drugs and alcohol and sometimes Charlie agrees to try some.  When Charliewent to his first party with Patrick and Sam he described it as, "The party was in the basement of this house.  The room was quite smokey, and the kids were much older.  There were two girls showing each other their tattoos and belly button rings.  Seniors, I think." (page 34, paragraph 1).

The Thief Lord text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections

Right now I'm reading the book The Thief Lord.  This book is about A boy named Prosper who runs away with his little brother, Bo, to Venice to get away from their aunt and uncle.  Prosper and Bo's parents died so their aunt and uncle adopted them.  But Their Aunt Esther plans on giving Prosper up for adoption and keeping Bo.  The boys don't want to be separated from eachother so the run away to Venice.  When they run away, Prosper has to take the role as a father and take care of Bo.  I can relate a lot to prosper because I have two little sisters and a lot of times I have to take care of them.  

The Thief Lord reminds me a lot of another book I read called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.  This book is from the point of view of the second oldest child, Jeannette Walls.  This true story is about a poor family where the father is an alchoholic and the mother doesn't want the responsibility of taking care of a family and wants to paint all day.  The four children basicly have to raise themselves, much like the way Prosper and Bo have to live on their own without their parents.

Prosper and Bo eventually find three other run away kids, Riccio, Mosca and Hornet.  They take Prosper and Bo in and they all decide to live together in an abandoned movie theater.  Towards the end all the run away kids get adopted.  This relates to the world because there are lots of kids in orphanages and on the streets.  There should be much more people that decide to adopt so they can help the children that need a family and a place to call home.

Prosper in The Thief Lord

In this book Prosper has to take care of his younger brother, Bo.  Prosper has to take the role of a parent after they run away to Venice, Italy.  Prosper changes a lot throughout the story because he has to learn to live on his own and take care of his brother.  In the beginning Prosper is laid back and happy that he and his brother have ascaped from their aunt and uncle, but when they find out that their aunt hired a detective to find them, Prosper becomes more cautious and protective of Bo.  When they find Victor the detective following them around the city, Prosper becomes very afraid that his aunt will find Bo and Prosper will never be able to be with his brother again.  When Bo decides that he wants to become a thief like their leader, Scipio, Prosper becomes very worried because he doesn't want Bo to steal. Towards the end of the book, Prosper goes with Scipio and sneaks onto someones property.  They get caught but the owners of the house let them ride on a magical merry go round which turns Scipio  into a grownup.

Jeannette in The Glass Castle

Jeannette is one of four children in the Walls family.  The Walls family was very poor and moved from place to place.  The Glass Castle was a true story all about the family's life from the point of view of Jeannette, the second oldest child.  Jeannette is her fathers favorite child and tends to hang out with her younger brother, Brian, the most.  She doesn't connect well with her older sister, Lori, because Jeannette liked to explore and play while Lori would rather read, paint, or draw.

In the beginning of the book Jeannette if carefree, has lots of friends and explores the desert.  But as she grows older she has to take on the role of earning money for the family.  She also finds that when she begins high school that she has no friends.  But she soon becomes busy at her job at a jewelry store and staying after school writing for the newspaper.

As Jeannette grows more aware of how bad her family's financial situation there is more conflict between her and her mom, her mother does not want the responsibility of taking care of a family. Jeannette has to drag her mother out of bed and make her go to work as a teacher.

Theif Lord by Cornelia Funke, Reading skills

Right now I’m reading the Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.  This book is about a group of orphans who live together in an abandoned movie theater that they call The Star Palace.  Their leader, Scipio, didn’t live with them but he helped them by sneaking into houses and stealing valuable things.  The children would then go to a pawn shop and sell the things they stole to the shop owner, Barbarosa.  But one day they got an offer, Scipio would break into a house to steal a wooden wing for a old man known as the Conte.  In reward they would get a large reward, five million lire. I wonder why the Conte would pay so much for a wooden wing.  They found out that the wing belonged to an old magical merry go round.  The merry go round made children into adults and adults into children. 

I predict that Scipio and the kids will go try to find the merry go round, I also predict that Scipio will want to ride it and become an adult because he always tries to act grown up.

Scipio in The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

This book is about a group of kids who live in an abandoned movie theater in Venice, Italy.  Their leader is Scipio, who calls himself the Thief Lord.  He breaks into fancy houses and steals valuable things and then sells them to Barbarosa, the owner of a pawn shop. All the money he earns go to food, clothing and other things for the kids who live in the movie theater, Prosper, Bo, Mosca, Riccio, and Hornet.

The five children don't know where Scipio lives, how he breaks into houses, or anything about his past.  They are just grateful that he takes care of them.  Scipio is very secretive and sneaky.  Bo, the youngest one, sees Scipio as a hero, someone who he aspires to be. But towards the end, the children find out that everything Scipio has told them is a lie.  They find out that Scipio was not a runaway from the orphanage, he lived in a large mansion.  Everything he stole was just things he had taken from his own house.

When the other children find out that Scipio was lying the whole time, a lot of conflict is created.  Riccio even decides that he won't talk to Scipio.

In the beginning Scipio is considered a generous hero who is taking care of 5 run away kids.  But later, he is considered a liar.  Scipio's characterization changed a lot throughout the story.