free reading log

"The Hunger Games" Pages: 103 Minutes: 150

"Call Me Maybe" by, Carly Rae Jepsen

      I chose “Call Me Maybe” by, Carly Rae Jepsen for my song annotation. I listened to this song multiple times this weekend at a gymnastics meet with my teammates, but I never really knew why it was so catchy. After looking at the song more closely, I found that it is filled with end rhyming, like in most songs, but the pattern of this end rhyming is one factor to the song having a catchy sound. In each stanza of the song, the first three lines all rhyme, but the forth line of every stanza ends with the word way, maybe, or baby. One example of this is at the very beginning of the song.

I threw a wish in the well,

Don't ask me, I'll never tell

I looked to you as it fell,

and now you're in my way

     Another thing that adds to Call Me Maybe’s catchiness is the syllables in each stanza. Every line in each stanza contains the same amount of syllables, which gives the song an easy beat to follow. Also, every time the chorus of the song is arising, the song changes its flow. There are words that end with “in’” and short pauses in-between little phrases. Each phrase is sung louder and louder, building it to the chorus, sung the loudest.

Your stare was holdin', Ripped jeans, skin was showin'

Hot night, wind was blowin'

Where you think you're going, baby?

[chorus]

      Even though the song is extremely repetitive, it is filled with many elements that make it almost impossible for someone not to be able to memorize all of the lyrics.

What Makes Me Like "The Hunger Games"?

      During spring break, I continued to read “The Hunger Games” for my free reading. I am about half way through the book and I absolutely love it! On Easter, my sister and I were talking about our favorite parts of the book and comparing it to the movie. My parents had no clue what the series was about, so we began to explain. Right away my mom asked, “Why do y’all enjoyed reading a book and watching a movie about children killing each other?” My sister and I looked at each other. We weren’t really sure why the violence and deaths of “The Hunger Games” was so entertaining for us.

      Usually, I cannot stand even hearing about violence. I don’t like watching any kind of gruesome movies, or reading, in detail, about a murder. Even though most of the stories are made up, it makes me sick to think about it. I guess since in “The Hunger Games” the government controls the people; it makes it less disturbing, because I know it wouldn’t happen today. But it is also based in the future, which means it actually could have a possibility of happening. Maybe it’s the love story hidden in the war throughout the story. The truth is, I am not exactly sure why I enjoy “The Hunger Games”. What do you think about it? 

Minutes: 150   Pages:74

"The Hunger Games"

I love how every weekend is beginning to be sunny, as summer gets closer. Sunday, I was able to layout and read my free reading book “The Hunger Games”. I know most of you have already read the series and the movie has already come out, but I am finally starting to read them. When the books first came out, I had no interest in reading them. I was eleven at the time, and I couldn’t even understand why people around my age would want to read a book about children killing each other. After seeing the movie, I decided that I had to read the book, especially since I have heard so many good reviews on it.
            Although I have only read a few chapters, the movie goes very closely to the book, and I now know why boy and girls of all ages enjoy this book. The action keeps the boys interested, while the love story keeps the girls reading with emotion, falling in love with the boy themselves. Having a female narrator definitely makes the book a lot more appealing for me. I can’t wait to finish reading it, and get to compare it to the movie completely. This time, I hope to read the next book of the series, “Catching Fire” before the movie comes out.

120 minutes (30 for poem) 67 pages

"My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke

I chose to read “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke for my poem. Sometimes, the title of a piece of writing can have some hidden meaning, but in this poem, the title plainly states what this poem is about. It was easy to discover the rhyme scheme. Each word at the end of every line rhymes in pairs. I recognized it the first time I read the poem, but that made it harder for me to find other characteristics. I had to re-read the poem multiple times, aloud and in my head, to finally notice other elements hidden in the writing.

After looking at the poem closely, I found that there are multiple words ending in “ed” such as “romped”, “battered”, “missed”, “scraped”, and “waltzed”, making the poem written in past tense. By counting the amount of syllables in each line, I found that the first and third stanzas contain the same pattern of syllables in a line, but they are opposite. In the first stanza, the pattern of syllables is 7,6,7,6, and in the third stanza it is 6,7,6,7. By doing this, I also found that every line in the poem begin with a one syllable word. The poem contains one simile “But I hung on like death”, but it is filled with descriptive phases that I can relate to, which makes it really easy for me to paint a picture of the events in my head. 

Spring Fever

I cannot wait for spring break! Seeing stores put out their spring cloths, and all of the spring things on Pinterest isn’t helping my spring fever. I’m ready to be out of school and head to the beach. Last spring break, the cool thing to do was get a feather in your hair. I know it might sound weird, but this year I really want to die the ends of my hair.

            I keep seeing pictures of girls with colorful hair ends, and I think it is so cool! I would love to do it during spring break. Nothing permanent of course, but maybe die the ends of my hair like a fade of pink and blue with washable hair die. There is also a way to die your hair with pastels. Supposedly, it is really easy to do and wash out. One of my friends have messed with their hair during school, and highlighted a section of her hair to mimic what we want to do, and it turned out really cool. We both want to do it together when we hang out over the break. I will let you guys know how it turns out!

Friends: Sugar and Spice by Lauren Conrad

            It was so beautiful outside this weekend. I spent all day Sunday laying out and reading my free reading book. I managed to finish the rest of “Sugar and Spice” by Lauren Conrad, and began to read “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. The end of “Sugar and Spice” was pretty surprising to me. Jane and Scarlett, best friends since high school, both quite being on L.A. Candy, television’s hottest reality show. They took completely different paths. Scarlett moved to New York to go to Columbia with her boyfriend, and Jane stayed in L.A. to work for a new event planner. It seems like it would be really difficult to leave your best friend after being so close for so long.

            Although I have been to many different schools, I have kept one really good friend throughout the years, Julia. Julia and I have known each other since we were 3, just like Jane and Scarlett. Anytime I need someone to talk to, I can always count on her to be there for me. We are pretty much like sisters, which means we fight like sisters too. But no matter how bad the fight is, we always make up in the end. Unfortunately like Jane and Scarlett, after high school, Julia and I have different paths we want to take. Most likely we are not going to go to the same collage, but I know that no matter how far away we are from each other, we will always be best friends!

150 minutes

95 pages