Independent Reading 3

The theme of the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is that even the small things build up to a point if pushed too far. Seventeen year old, Hannah Baker is pushed too far. She commits suicide and leaves 13 tapes behind, her thirteen reasons. One of them being Clay. Clay gets sent the tapes anonymously and starts listening to them. On his journey through listening to them, he finds that Hannah has been put through a lot. Nothing amazingly terrible has happened to her, just all these little, unavoidable things. These little things are building up though, and Hannah feels like it's too much to deal with. First it was rumors that were spread by someone she thought was a decent person, then it was the people taking her reputation and making false assumptions about her and then it was the lack of support that she felt people had for her. It was too much to handle for her. Hannah even says in her first tape, "And sometimes, a rumor based on a kiss has a snowball effect."  I think this book is kind of a message for people to think about how big of an impact something could have, not how much of an impact they think it does. Could their words or actions be a deciding factor for someone's life? In Hannah's case, somebody's were. She felt lost because nobody was going her advice and when he actually sought it, all that was given was to "move on". Your words can mean a lot.

Independent Reading: Paper Towns by John Green 2

The theme of Paper Towns by John Green is that if dedication and love meet, extraordinary things can be accomplished. This is clearly shown throughout the novel by describing Margo and Quentins' past together. Then it is present and the now popular, wild Margo and the calm, collected Quentin hang out one night. Quentin is fascinated by Margo and her views of everything and can't wait to be friends again...until she doesn't show up for school the next day, or the next day, or the day after that. She has disappeared and left Quentin clues to find her. Quentin is certain that he loves Margo and he sets off in every place he can get his hands on that have even the slightest connection to Margo. It seems to all be going downhill when there isn't really any more clues to figure out or places to go, until Quentin finds another clue, but this one is bigger than the rest. He then skips graduation and sets out to drive almost a full day to New York in order to find her. He skips graduation for this sense of hope and the feeling of love he has for Margo, if that's not dedication, I don't know what is. He doesn't know if he'll find her, he doesn't know if she's dead or alive. He just has hope. He has this dedicated love for her after such a short reconnection in that one night. He devotes his entire rest of the school year to find her. That is dedication.

Independent Reading: Paper Towns by John Green

Margo is wild, she's the girl that everyone loves. She's a leader. She's ran away before, but not like this. One night she sneaks into Quentin's room and they go on adventure. They get revenge, break the law, and just do things for their own enjoyment. But the next day Margo doesn't come to school. Quentin then quests out to find her. She leaves clues for him in the most peculiar ways and he traces them down. He is a very determined individual and him and Margo have a past that no one could forget. He can't just forget about her. The usually collected Quentin spends hours, day, trying to find Margo and gets no where. Throughout his expedition, Quentin stands true to himself. Though he figures  he does love Margo, he doesn't loose sight of who he is because that's just who he is. He stays loyal to his friends, or more like they stay loyal to him. Radar and Ben are there helping Quentin every step of the way to find Margo. While Margo is spunky, Quentin is focused and simple. And he won't give up.Will Quentin's drive to find Margo be enough to find her dead or alive?