Author: Maria B.

Uglies is a novel written by Scott Westerfield and is the first in a series of four books. The book was published for first time in the United Estates in 2005 and in Spain in 2008. It is set in a retro futuristic society in which everyone has a surgery to be “perfect”. and Telly the main character is exited because in a few weeks she will get her surgery.

“im serious, Tally” Shay said once they were out in the water. “Your nose isn’t ugly. I like your eyes, too.” “My eyes? Now you’re totally crazy. They’re way too close together.” “Who says?” “Biology says.” Shay splashed a handful of water at her. “You don’t believe all that crap, do you-—that there’s only one way to look, and everyone’s programmed to agree on it?” “I’s not about believing, Shay. You just know it. You’ve seen pretties. They look … wonderful.” “They all look the same.” “I used to think that too. But when Peris and I would go into town, wed se a lot of them, and we realized that pretties do look.

This excerpt raises interesting themes about self-acceptance, diversity, and social pressure to meet certain beauty ideals. It also shows how Tally and Shay are willing to challenge and question the established norms in their society.

Stargirl is a novella for young adults by Jerry Spinelli published in 2000. it is about a character named Stargirl Caraway, who arrives at Mica High School and brings a burst of color and sound to the otherwise quiet school. The book explores themes of individuality, conformity, popularity, and first love.

that very night, as if he were playing a scripted role, Kevin called me and said, “So who are you talking to the Ocotillo Ball?”

I dodged. “Who are you talking?”

“Don´t know,” he said.

“I don´t either.”

There was a pause on the other and end of the line. “Not Stargirl?”

“Not necessarily”

“You trying to tell me something?”

“What would I want to tell you?”

“I thought you were a two. I thought there was no question.”

“So why are you asking?” I said, and hung up.

In bed that night, I became more and more uncomfortable as the moonlight crept up my sheet. I did something I had never done before. I pulled down the shade. In my dreams the old man on the mall bench raised a wobbling head ans croaked, “How dare you forgive me.”

The text presents an atmosphere full of mystery and tension, with a conversation between the characters Kevin and the narrator. The lack of clarity in communication between the characters generates a sense of intrigue. besides, the sudden change towards the end of the text, with the reference to the narrator feeling uncomfortable in bed and having a disturbing dream, adds a little of unease . Overall, the text provokes me a feeling of confusion, unease, and mystery, leaving me curious to know more about the relationships between the characters and the meaning of the events that unfold.

 

 

 

Stargirl is a novella for young adults by Jerry Spinelli published in 2000. it is about a character named Stargirl Caraway, who arrives at Mica High School and brings a burst of color and sound to the otherwise quiet school. The book explores themes of individuality, conformity, popularity, and first love.

air and knocked her bare heels together. The cheerleaders gaped from the sidelines. A few people in the stands whis-ted. The rest–they barely outnumbered the band–sat there with What is this? on their faces.

The band stopped playing and marched off the field.

She was twirling down the forty-yard line when the players returned. They did a minute of warm-up exercises. She joined in: jumping jacks, belly whomps. The teams lined up for the second half kickoff. The ball perched on the kicking tee. She was still on the field. The referee blew his whistle, pointed to her. He flapped his hand for her to go away. Instead, she dashed for the ball. She plucked it off the tee and danced with it, spinning and hugging it and hoisting it into the air. The players looked at their coaches.

The coaches looked at the officials. The officials blew their whistles and began converging on her. The sole policeman on duty headed for the field. She punted the ball over the visiting team’s bench and ran from the field and out of the stadium.                                          Everyone cheered: the spectators, the cheerleaders, the band, the players, the officials, the parents running the hot dog stand, the policeman, me. We whistled and stomped our feet on the aluminum bleachers. The cheerleaders stared up in delighted surprise. For the first time, they were hearing something come back from the stands. They did cartwheels and backflips and even a three-tier pyramid.                                                                          Old-timers-or as old as timers got in a city as young as                    Mica- said they had never heard such a racket

I choose this extract of the text because I love how she decides to deal with genre-roles. She showed everyone that even though, she’s a girl, she can play as good as any other guy, or even better.

She didn’t succumbed to the anger and yelling of the ones trying to kick her out of the spotlight. She fought demonstrating that she can make crowds go wild with her sport’s abilities and skills.

The Pearl is a novella written by Jhon Steinbeck and published in 1947. The story is set in a small village in Mexico, the main character is kino a poor fisherman that one day founds a pearl of great value and he thinks that with that pearl he will be able to pay a doctor to his son who has been stung by a scorpion and is in very poor health.

“It will destroy us all” Juana cried. “Even our son”.

“Hush,” said kino. “Do not speak any more. In the morning we will sell the pearl, and then the evil will be gone, and only the good remain. Now hush, my wife” His dark eyes scowled into the little fire, and for the first time he knew that his knife was still on his hands and he raised the blade and looked at it and saw a little line of blood on the steel. For a moment he seemed about to wipe the blade on his trousers but then he plunged the knife into the earth and so cleansed it. (p.39)

I think Kino is affected by the situation in a very negative way because his feelings are also affecting his wife (in my opinion makes a lot of sense of why she feels this way, I imagine it must be very complicated to be losing a son and not only you suffering your pain but your husband is also taking it out on you in some way.) since he yells at him and how kino is described in this part is a little scary because we can see in what person kino is becoming.

The Pearl is a novella written by Jhon Steinbeck and published in 1947. The story is set in a small village in Mexico, the main character is kino a poor fisherman that one day founds a pearl of great value and he thinks that with that pearl he will be able to pay a doctor to his son who has been stung by a scorpion and is in very poor health.

Kinos breath whistled in his nostrils and he opened his mouth to it. and then the startled look was gone from him and the rigidity from his body , in his mind a new song had come , the Song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage secret, dangerous melody, and underneath, the Song of the Family cried plaintively. (p.5)

The way the paragraph is written is very interesting because of the words the author chose. The meaning of the story changes a lot when you add more detail and emotions, because, the reader feels like they’re living in the moment, as if they were part of the story.