Thursday, September 23, 2010

Small Moments


We have been talking about how even "small moments" can make entertaining ideas to write about for short writing pieces. They can also be important to add balance to a longer work. So, as your read your book, look for some "small moments" that the author incorporates into his/her writing. Answer the following questions:
1. List some of the specific "small moments" the author writes about.
2. Why do you think the author chose these moments to use?
3. What would happen if the author left all of these moments out of their writing?

51 comments:

  1. The Liar Society by Lisa Roecker. The author talks about a conversation between classes that the girls had; it was small talk. She also brings up how the boy would always sit in his tree house. I think the author mentions these moments as a way of giving background information or more perspective on the characters. If the author didn't mention the small moments I don't think the book would be as captivating as it is. In fact, it would be extremely boring.

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  2. Promise Me by Harlan Coben

    Some small moments the author puts in this book are when Myron is looking for Aimee and he keeps thinking about all the stuff that she used to be like and how she acted when she was younger, like the time when she was 3 and loved playing on the teeter totter at the playground.
    I think the author chose these moments because he wanted to put a feel to the book and make it have a little more feeling because they were looking for a lost child.
    If the author left out some of the small moments then I don't think the reasoning for Myron wanting to find Aimee would be as emotional as it was. I think it would probably be less dramatic for Myron if he didn't have all those little pictures running through his head.

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  3. My book is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. One small moment in the book is when Katniss and Gale stand on top of a hill together before the reaping starts. I think the author chose to show this moment because it helps show how much they liked being together. If the author left this moment out, you wouldn't be able to tell how close the two of them were.

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  4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling
    1. J.K. Rowling writes small moments in the story including different parts when Harry and Ron find different clues leading to the Chamber of secrets
    2. She chose them because they were the basic steps to finding out what the Chamber of secrets was really about
    3. The person reading the story would be lost and not understand what exactly was going on

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  5. I am reading Danger Zone.

    He talks about his games and practices. Also talks about his girlfriend, and how he goes over to her house to eat once and awhile. I the author chose these because they relate to to how he plays basketball, and about his life when hes not on the courts. If the author left out this small moments the story would be simple. It would be boring cause it wouldn't talk about how he got to where he is now.

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  6. The Assist
    Neil Swidey
    The author talks about a small passage in the book about Coach O'Brian taking two ball players to visit a college basketball coaches. This was a good small moment to kind of give the reader an idea about where the ball players future will be. If the author left this small moment out, readers would not get an idea about the ball players futures.

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  7. Saving Private Ryan
    Max Allan Collins
    1. when the sergeant's hand is shaking thinking about the war.
    2. when the book describes what some of the soldiers are like.
    3. when the medic is trying save his friend but it doesn't work
    The author used these moments to help give the characters personality and make the reader more familiar with them. If the author would have left them out the reader might not feel like he knows any of the soldiers

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  8. Gary Paulsen
    The hatchet
    1. In his story he talked about the making of his bow and arrows, and when the skunk came and hibernated with him. Then he also talked about the heart attack of the pilot.
    2. It adds great detail to a book, makes it more interesting. The points he puts in are to make a book pass faster and it lengthens a book out.
    3. It would be slow read and boring and less focus in the book. Those point keep a reader attached and keep reading. Otherwise the big points would have to be closer together.

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  9. Crash by Jerry Spinelli.
    One small moment in this story that stands out to me is when John or "Crash" goes to his new friend Penn Webb's house for dinner. I think the author added this moment into the story to show how Crash met Penn's family, and how they got to know each other. If the author left this moment, or all the other small moments with Penn out of this story, the story wouldn't be as complete in telling about this young boy's childhood.

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  10. The House of the Scorpion
    by: Nancy Farmer

    In The House of the Scorpion Nancy explains how Matt keeps food under his beding so he can watch different kind of critters come. She also explains how a dove flew in his window and left a feather, he believes this feather had came from the Virgin and meant that Celia would be watching over him. I think Nancy choose this moments to express how Matt still had hope to be rescued.

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  11. A Season On The Mat- Nolan Zavoral
    One of the small moments that the author gave a lot of detail to, but wasn't really important is when they were out to eat before one of their meets the next day. They were outside, messing around in the snow, having a snowball fight. The author would go by one by one and stop at each character as they were throwing a snowball, almost as he had paused a movie, and then told the reader about that wrestler. That was a small space in time, but in the telling of the story it was very important. And the next day when they were out to eat, Dan Gable told a story about one of his wrestlers that got into a fight and died. That was a small part in the story, but in real life that was a very big event.
    I think the author used those as small times that were not very important, but he used up a lot of time telling about things in that space.
    If the Author left all of these small spaces out, we wouldn't find out anything about the wrestlers, and we wouldn't learn much about what the story may lead to.

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  12. I am reading A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard.

    1. Some of the small moments that Jaycee writes about include playing hide-and-go-seek with her childhood friends, kissing her mom goodnight every night when she was young, going to the store to get groceries with her kidnapper's wife, and teaching her daughters how to read from the computer.
    2. I think she chose to include the small moments before she was kidnapped to show that all of the little things had changed in her life after she was kidnapped. I think she included the little moments after she was kidnapped to show that she went on life as normal and still had little moments even though she wasn't home with her family.
    3. If the author had left these moments out, it would be hard to get a full sense of how much things changed for her after she was kidnapped. There would be no way to string the big events together like the day she was kidnapped, having her daughters, and being rescued if it weren't for the small moments that connected them together.

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  13. Leaving these moments out would have changed how the reader understood Matt's bordum and isolation.

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  14. Isle of the Blessed- Nancy Farmer

    1. Some small moments are when Jack thinks that Thorgil is dead after the storm rips the town apart but she was in the woods eating mushrooms.

    2. I think she chose these moments because they make you think if one of the main characters is dead or alive.

    3. If she left these moments out the writing would be very boring and not capture the readers interest by making them think of what might have happened.

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  15. After
    By Amy Efaw

    1. Some small moments are when Karma harasses Devon and nicknames her Devil. Another small moment is when Devon listens to all the good things everyone has to say about her in court even after they've heard what she did to her baby.
    2. I think the author chose moments like these to use because it really adds to the story. The small moments allow room from the character to change and grow before another monumental event happens. In After, the small moments permit Devon to become the person she was before.
    3. If everything was a big moment, then nothing would be. The author makes the big moments stand out more by not having as many and adding small moments as a transition between them. If there were no small moments, the book would probably be very short.

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  16. Soldier X by Don Wulffson

    it about a boy that is in a secret apartment that deal with people that go under cover as other people. So he is trapped behind enemy lines and they are after him. As he is behind enemy line he get in some trouble and he needs to survive the war. If any body finds out about him he would be killed.

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  17. - Marina’s dad abandoned them because he doesn’t believe that the worlds ending.
    - How Jed broke his arm in 5th grade.
    - Digging trenches for their houses.
    I think the author is foreshadowing when she mentions that Marina’s dad abandoned them. I am guessing later in the story her dad will show up just in time to save someone. The author describes how Jed broke his leg because it was so painful, and he is comparing that pain to the mental pain Jed is experiencing at the time. Jane Yolen has to describe how they built houses on the mountaintop because people would not just find a free house that would protect them at the top of a mountain. That’s why she describes digging trenches. If the author did not have small things in their writing and just giant events, then the reader would never know what was going on and the story would be confusing.

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  18. on my side of the mountain

    On my side of the mountain is about a kid who runs away from home to live in the woods. Some of the small moments in the book was when the kid woke up in the morning to find that there was a baby fawn at his camp site. If the author left things like that out of the book it would have not made the book any good.Things like that make a book really good and interesting

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  19. Glass
    By: Ellen Hopkins
    Ashley G.

    Specific moments in my book are, when Kristina is out getting high and thinks that she is is in a world unknown. In a world where only the monster and Robyn her best friend re found agains boyfriend (Trey) turns her on. Kristina has yet another side to herself, she is (Bree). Bree teaches Kristina how to lie get out of things that are not that bad, and helps her get to stockton by persuading her ma about a campus fair down in Sacramento. The way Kristina holds little hunter (her baby) and feeds him and swaddles him with care like a mother bear protecting her cub from harm. When she gets mexican meth instead of doing lines of cocaine up the nose. Her mother and her mothers husband Scott are so lenient on her its rediculous.
    I think that the author put these things in to make it seem like Kristina is no only bad but in need of bad help majorly.If she had left these moments out the readers would have no idea where her life was heading, it would have been too little information. So she did a good job with the descriptions.

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  20. Cloaked By: Alex Flinn

    There are three good examples of small moments in Cloaked. The first is when Jack shows Meg his shoe designs and she absolutely loves them. The second is when Meg gives Jack her grandmother’s ring. And the third is when Jack gets trapped inside a bed and breakfast. The author chose these moments to use because without them the rest of the story would not make sense. It also would not play out the same way. For example, the author chose the moment when Meg loves Jacks shoe drawings because it shows that she believes in him and would support him though anything. If the author left out the small moment where Meg gave Jack her grandmothers ring then when Jack was trapped in a dungeon Meg would have never been able to get to him. In addition, if Jack had never been trapped in the bed and breakfast he wouldn’t of known that the evil witch was after him. Overall, if the author leaves out minor details it can affect the big picture of the story. Plus, if there were only big events in writing it would be extremely boring to read.

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  21. A Dance for Three by Louise Plummer
    Some specific small moments the author writes about is when Hannah first meets Milo, the love of her life and when she steals roses from the neighbors. I think the author chose these moments because they show her character and how she acts. If the author left these moments out of the writing, the readers wouldn't fully know Hannah the way we do when reading about the small moments.

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  22. Vanishing Acts by: Jodi Picoult

    1) In Vanishing Acts there are a lot of "small moments" because as Delia starts to remember her past she has a lot of flashbacks. These include when she was in the hospital she remembered her mother's boyfriend coming to see her. Her father, Andrew, also remembers the small moment when he was driving across the country and he would reach back to give Delia a high five just to remember that she was there.

    2) The small moments in this book are very important because they give the reader more inside about this specific time. I think that the author chose these moments because they help to describe the character's personalities.

    3) If the author left out these moments I think that it would be harder to get a sense of the confusion, love and every other feeling that the character was having.

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  23. Wicked: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard

    1.) The author writes about the feelings of each of the characters specifically before each big event in the book. She also describes their small daily routines.

    2.)I believe she wants to put the reader in the character's shoes to understand why these big moments are so important to them specifically. Daily routines and feelings about certain things help a reader feel like he or she is in the story.

    3.)The book would be less connected to the reader if the author left the moments of feeling and routine out. The dramatic, bigger moments wouldn't seem as significant if she didn't make the reader feel very simliar to what the character is going through.

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  24. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
    The author writes about Ed's friend Marv on occasion. He brings many small moments to the book. Once, Marv called Ed only to be hung up on. He calls back almost instantly only to be hung up on again. Ed's dog, The Doorman is a stinky old hound. A small moment with him is when Ed feeds him coffee for the first time and he loves it. There are many small moments with The Doorman, including conversations Ed has with him every so often. I think the author chose these moments to bring humor into the book. The dog and Marv are both hilarious characters. Without those moments the book would be quite boring. The small moments are often the funniest and the most entertaining, in this case at least.

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  25. dead before dark by Charlaine Harris


    1) When she talks about her drives to work, or she describes how she makes her meals when it does not do anything for the story.
    2) To pass the time between the big moments, and because they are things that everybody does.
    3)The book would be really short because only the major things would happen and nothing would lead up to it.

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  26. Words By Heart
    By Ouida Sebestyen

    In my book small moments make the entire book. Small moments are all that the main character can be happy with. Living in a racial state and town where her house gets vandalized and her family is harassed she doesn't really have any friends and since her siblings are babies she has close to nothing. She loves her cat and when the cat has kittens is the best part of life so far in this book. The author chose to put these feelings in because they really help you understand how hard life is. If the author left these out the book you would not feel so sorry for the girl and know how bad racism was during the early 1900's

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  27. Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes
    1. Mrs. Loupe starts making a box in the front of the classroom on the floor and nobody understands what she is doing. She keeps acting things out, but nothing is making sense to the children.
    2. Everyday in school she will walk to the taped box and do something different that ends up being very significant in the children's and Bo's life.
    3. If the author left all of these moments out of the book you wouldn't understand why Bo is starting to do wel in school. His father told him that he must do well.

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  28. Their Finest Hour by Winston Churchill
    1. One of the small moments is when he talks about hearing the cannons in the distant when he is trying to sleep. He mentions the burning of papers in the Pairs town square before the Germans arrive to the city.

    2. He wanted the reader to have a sense of being there, in Pairs in 1940.

    3. the readers would not think as much of that part of the story.

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  29. Crash by Jerry Spinelli

    Some small things the author talks about are how crash has a friend that carries a turtle in a wagon all the time. Also how crash likes to pick on people a lot.

    I think he used these to show how crash is and how his friends are. It shows the weirdness of each of them and how they are different.

    I wouldn't understand how the character acts and what his friends are like, because it would give you no background on the characters. If only the major things were told in the book it would be a terrible and boring book to read, because there aren't any of those small funny moments.

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  30. Heat By: Mike Lupica

    1) When Mike catches a ball at the Yankee Stadium.
    2) Because he tells how excited Mike is to catch a ball and not to many people catch a ball.
    3) The book would be short, also it would be very boring because you would read and all that would happen was big things, the little things is what makes a person's life better.

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  31. Woods Runner: Gary Paulson
    1. When Sam missed the deer, when Sam met the old man in the village, When Sam crossed the creek, and when Sam caught a fish.
    2. Thy show the difficulties of surviving along with the problems that he already has finding his parents, and keeping away from the Indians and British
    3.The reader would think that Sams only problems are getting to his parents, but he still has to survive.

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  32. A Stolen Life by: Jaycee Dugard

    1- A specific small moment in Jaycee Dugard's life was when Philip and Nancy kept giving her animals once every month.
    2- I think the author chose this event as a small moment because it happened so often to Jaycee that she couldn't remember all the animals that she had while she was held captive.
    3- If the author left out these small moments the story would be shorter and the people reading the story wouldn't know how she managed to get through all the days that she was held captive.

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  33. I am not very far in the book and there haven't been any small moments, but a small moment from a different book (Anvil Gate) was when one of the main characters saw a woman that looked similar to his dead wife (long and sad story about that) but when he saw the woman he just stopped and stared at her, and he was about to cry when she asked him why he was staring at her. Then he told her why and she felt bad for him and walked away.

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  34. The Last Song By: Nicholas Sparks

    1. Some small moments in the book The Last Song are Ronnie saving the turtles, going to the carnival the first night she got to her dads, sitting at the bonfire with marcus, Blaze's boyfriend.

    2.The author chose these events to make the story more interesting and to cause the characters to either become close or to cause the characters to fight and not become friends.

    3. If the author left those moments out the story would be different. If she hadn't gone to the carnival the first night she wouldn't have gotten her drink spilled on her and wouldn't have met Will. While saving the turtles she called the Aquarium to help save the turtles and Will was a volunteer so he cam and helped and they spent more time together and later went on a date to the Aquarium. Also if Ronnie wouldn't have sat at the fire with marcus, Blaze wouldn't have thought that she was trying to get with her boyfriend which later led to Blaze pushing CDs into Ronnies purse and Ronnie getting caught for stealing.

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  35. Sacred Acre by Mark Tabb

    1. The author often tells about when Ed Thomas would try to reach out to Mark Becker. Whenever he would see him he would ask him how he is doing, what is going good in his life, what is going bad. Ed really tried to help Mark through difficult times in his life. The author also tells about the times Ed and his sons would go golfing. They would talk back and forth about who was the better golfer and then try to prove it on the course.
    2. I think these moments were used because they gave a better understanding of who Ed Thomas really was. He was kind to everyone just like he was to Mark, but he also loved spending time with his family.
    3. If the author left these out, the readers view of Ed Thomas would be different. The reader wouldn't have a full understanding of who he really was. He would just be a football coach in the readers mind, but he was much more than that.

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  36. Carly L.
    Breaking Dawn By Stephenie Meyer

    1. He frequently writes about Edward's characteristics from Bella's point of view, such as his smell, taste, and texture. She emphasizes the little things about Edward that only Bella notices.
    2. Bella frequently talks about how much she loves Edward and talking about the small moments shows it in a different way then her just talking about it.
    3. I don't think the readers when get the full affect of Bella's passion toward Edward. It would seem like she looked at him the same as everyone else and she doesn't.

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  37. Brian's Winter by: Gary Paulsen

    1. A cool breeze on on Brian's cheek.

    2. Because they express a lot but say a little, a cool breeze expresses the change in season.

    3. The story wouldn't come together like it does and it just wouldn't be the same, the small things are just as important as the big things in the story.

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  38. The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    1) Everyday Meriem cries because she misses Korak. I think the author chose this moment because even though Meriem has been forced to move on with her life, the possibilities that Korak may return or has been killed never leaves her mind. I think this is foreshadowing towards his return though it seems unlikely. If these moments were left out, a reader would think Korak and Meriem had gone their seperate ways, (not by choice) but I think they will meet again.
    Korak always has to hunt for food and take time out of the day to do it. This is important because it reminds readers that he is still out in the jungle living the life of a savage, though the story may make it seem as though his live is regular. If this was left out, it would just be the same old story of searching for someone you've lost.
    Meriem thinks about her past life and her family every once in a while. The author put this in to remind readers that Meriem has gone through several different lives in the jungle, but she is still has the appearance of a normal girl. If this was left out, the way readers imagine Meriem would be much different. They would see her as a surprisingly normal animal of the wild rather than the other way around.

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  39. The Sacred Acre by Mark Tabb

    I think most of the small moments are described right in the titles of the chapters in the book. I think Tabb chose these to make them the titles because they are the most important. The story wouldn't make sense without the "small moments."

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  40. I am reading Hatchet By Gary paulsen.
    The main character in my book Brian,has A lot of small moments, the one he can get out of his is his parents divorcing. This divorce has got Brian into A lot of trouble.

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  41. Pirate Latitudes- By: Michael Crichton
    Some small moments are how he explains different crew members torture, how his short time in prison felt like, and how Sanson hide in the sloop. He choose these moments as filler to the main idea or the climax he was writing towards. This kept his readers interested, and so a lot of their questions where answered. If he didn't have these small moments, the book would jump around, making no sense, and make the readers have to many unanswered questions.

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  42. Whirlwind
    By: David Klass

    Jack has many major moments, but the small ones like him and the natives in the fire, or the hours stuck in prison. These moments were used to build anger in the reader and Jack towards the Colonel. These moments made me really think about native people and how they were treated. If these moments were taken away the story would have gone on, but it would not have had near the impact.

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  43. Hunger Games By: Suzanne Collins

    -Katniss waking up and seeing her mother and sister.
    -Katniss being quiet i the woods to make sure the Capital doesn't hear her.
    -Haymitch giving Effie Trinket a hug.

    To help the reader understand what it is like where Katniss lives and how cruel it can be if you get caught doing the smallest crime and adding humor when Haymitch gives Effie a drunken hug messing up her wig.

    It wouldn't give us a sense of what is happening in the story or a sense of what some of the characters are like.

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  44. I am reading Divergent by Veronica Roth. Veronica Roth writes about a few specific small moments of Beatrice's life. These moments include Beatrice’s mother brushing her hair one morning before going to school, being scolded by her brother as a little kid for not sharing, and riding the bus to school on a broken down road one morning. I think the author chose these specific moments because they show how much her family means to her and how her family values being selfless. If Veronica had left out these moments I think that we would know less about the characters. These small moments and what the characters did show how the family acted when no one was there to see them. These small moments made the characters more relatable. I also think these moments help the reader understand the decisions the characters make later on and what they really value in their life.

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  45. 1. The author writes about shooting a fish in the water from a canoe.
    2. He chose these moments because it makes the book more interesting.
    3. The book would be very boring and short.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Change of Heart by: Jodi Picoult

    The author talks about the small moments that occur during the time when Shay Bourne is in jail. It discusses the events that occur while he is in jail even though they are not very important. Without these moments in the book we wouldn't know what happened to Shay between the murder and when we was sentenced to death. Without these small moments the book would not provide the reader with much detail.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Fallout By: Ellen Hopkins

    1. Some of the small moments the author describes are when Autumn has a panic attack, when Hunter gets high off of drugs, or when Summer gets into a fight with one of her roommates at the place she is staying.
    2. These small moments are important because they emphasize the point that Kristina's downhill lifestyle affected each of her children.
    3. If the author had left all of these moments out, we wouldn't have a clear view of who each one of them or the lifestyles they live. They all have to live the consequences that their mother failed to acknowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  48. How to kill a Mockingbird By: Harper Lee

    He writes about how there father is going into court and how curious they are about it. They want to know whats going to happen to Tom Robinson. I think that he did it to make it more interesting. It wouldn't be as good of a book as it is detailed.

    ReplyDelete
  49. The Nine Lives Of Chloe King By: Liz Braswell

    1. When Alyec taunts Amy at the fall formal committee. When Amy assures Chloe that Alyec is "exceptional" even though she is dating Paul.
    2. I think she includes these small moments so the reader has an idea as to who the future pairings will be.
    3. Otherwise the reader might feel bad for the main characters because they all go through changes as the book goes on and the initial pairings no longer work.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Brians Hunt: Gary Paulson

    1) Gary talks about all the hunting trips Brian takes, all the thoughts that he has before he shoots, and all the thoughts he has after he has killed and animal.
    2) To show what Brian is going through every time he does it.
    3) We would not understand what Brian was feeling towards the food that he needs for his survival.

    ReplyDelete
  51. How to Kill a Mockingbird.

    The author writes about the children's childhood and how they grew up without there mother. To explain how the children were raised, and to show that there father did the best that he could with his children to make them good people. It wouldn't be very interesting to read and they would leave a lot out in the book so it would be confusing.

    ReplyDelete

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