Old Freak the Mighty Blog Posts

Instead of just reading ONE blog post i decided that i wanted to read what other people thought about a book that i have already read. So i looked through old posts and found a few different posts all about the book Freak the Mighty. I read many posts but i decided to write about posts from Yaroslav and Dia. Dia was in my reading group so I already knew her opinions on some of the issues but Yaroslav was in a different Freak the Mighty group so it was interesting to read what he thought about the book as well. Because I have already read this book it was interesting to compare my opinions to other peoples. For example i know this book is about friendship but i never examined it as closely as Dia did in her very first post. I never noticed that it is really a special "zing" that makes these two totally different people have a friendship that is so close. Yaroslav also mentions how not many people get to see the good side of Max. I think this is so true and because Freak and Max are so close is the reason Freak gets to see the good side of him. It is almost like the good side of both Freak and Max IS that extra "zing" that makes their friendship work.

One interesting point that Yaroslav brought up is when he mentions that Max has stage fright. I really think this is interesting and reminds me of a point that Nat brought up in his post about Freak the Mighty.
In the last sentence he says that people sometimes single Max out and make him feel as though he did something wrong. I think these two observations go hand in hand. I think if you have been judged your whole life you are going to be worried if you say the wrong thing in front of a lot of people. Even if Max did not do anything wrong people still look at him as if he is some stupid freak of nature and that puts someone under a lot of pressure, ESPECIALLY because he didn't have a lot of confidence to start off with.

In a post by Yaroslav he mentions about the sequel to Freak the Mighty called Max the Mighty. I didn't even know there was a sequel! He makes me want to read this book a lot because i do agree with his opinions so when he says that the sequel was good i think he must be right. He makes the book sound very interesting just by mentioning some parts of the book.

All of the posts mention the characters in the book, at least once. I think it is interesting how we can all be different people and still think about things in the same way. Everyone talks about how Max is this big guy but he does have a soft side. Another popular subject was there friendship. All of these different people have a common topic and i think that is showing authors purpose. If all of these people are writing about similar issues in the book, or what they think the theme is it must mean that the author wants you to think about this. If only one or two people wrote about how Max does have a soft side it would not make sense and it wouldn't be as important. But all of the blogs do talk about similar issues (in their own ways of course!) and that shows how much people do care about this.

I really enjoyed reading all of these blogs. They gave out opinions and information that i didn't notice the first, or second time i read Freak the Mighty. I liked how i could tell the difference between every blog, they weren't all just the same but people incorporate their own personalities into them.

Blog Post

In the book the treasure map of boys Ruby is dealing with a lot of friend issues. Honestly for the first time in a while i think she was right to think what she did. She told her friend that she liked someone and her friend told her to stay away from him. That is not fair to do to someone even if you liked him first.

Nora (the friend who is now mad at Ruby) is icing Ruby out and hanging out with their OLD friends who absolutely hate Ruby. Sitting with them at lunch is like a smack in the face. It is just as bad as if Ruby just started kiss Noel (the boy Nora and Ruby liked) right in front of Nora.

Ruby is now back to being a roly-poly (what they call someone who has not a lot of friends) she literally has two people talking to her and they are also considered roly-polies. AND NOW Noel of all people is mad because someone was comforting Ruby because she was crying.

Are you following me??

I know this story is confusing when i try to explain it but that is the character of Ruby. Her whole life is one big jumble of different stuff. While someone is doing this or that another person is doing this while being mean to her. It is just a bunch of madness!!!!!!

At home Ruby is pushed away by her parents and she is an only child. Sometimes i feel like she does somethings for attention. She doesn't get that much attention at home so she wheres fish net tights and things to get attention from guys. everyone wants people to like them, no one wants to be hated, Ruby just has a weird way of getting her attention: flirting for every guy. One day she wants him and the next day she wants someone new. 

It would definitely be hard to be friends with Ruby but I wouldn't hate her like most girls do. I honestly think some things that she does are not fare and like i said her life is one big mess BUT she is not crazy or anything like that. Despite what she says about her self and what other people say she is not crazy boy stealing slut. (what she and other people think of her) 

Blog post

In my book, The Treasure Map of Boys, I find it interesting that a girl with so much self hatred can find love in someone.

This girl is always saying what a crazy she is and how she is in some serious mental state. Yet she always finds someone who likes her or who she likes. She falls in and out of love so easily. I think it is strange that she can think these horrible things about herself and still love someone else. It is a confusing web that I thought out. This is sort of my thought process that i went through as i learned more about Ruby.

                   

Ruby is a very confusing character and it is hard to keep track of all her emotions that she goes through in even just one chapter. She is like a good bomb, (good witch that sort of thing) it only takes a little thing to set her off. But she is a good person and she does want to do good things.

This is why i don't understand how everyone calls her mean names. She did not do anything wrong, i am not saying i would have done the same thing as she did, but she did not do anything so bad that people have to write abut her on the bathroom stalls.

Real Live Boyfriends

      
      I sort of feel bad for Ruby and because she does not really have a clear point of what exactly she is doing. People call her rude mean names that are hurtful to any one but she has to put up with it. She has a boyfriend and she has like 2 friends but it is not enough. She wants a real. live. boyfriend.

     I dont think what she wants is wrong she just wants someone who will pay attention to her. Both her parents are either fighting or kissing and at school she is an outcast and her friend Kim is like a boyfriendanatior (terminator but with boys).

     Ruby wants a real live boyfriend. All this is, is a guy who pays attention to you and cares for you. It was like your dream guy. But she doesn't have that instead she has a guy who doesn't call her back and writes poems about blood. She is trying to kid herself and make her think that she IS in love but when she asks Kim what it is like to be in love they have two whole different definitions.

       A real live boyfriend is someone who you don't have to worry about. You can hang out with him even if he is with his friends. Someone who will always call you back. As a reader i think it is obvious that she needs attention. She gets panick attacks and she went through a whole boy crazy phase. SHE NEEDS ATTENTION.

       I don't really like Ruby because she is relatable but she annoys me. I don't really understand where she comes from. If that makes sence. She annoys me but she is interesting as well.overall i do like the book and am interested to read more.

Free Post for the Hate List

I really admire what Valerie is doing. Even though a lot of people hated her she went back to school anyway. She faced her fears and went through a whole year. She made friends with one of the number one people on the hate list and she got over Nick. She came to realize that nick was dead and no matter how many people hated her, or how alone she felt, he would never be there.

I think Valerie was admirable because she faced her dad during her parents divorce. I think that was one of the most scary parts of the book and it made me scared for her. She dealt with it the right way, I think. She handled it on her own AND she told her mom and Dr.Heiler about what happened.

When Troy threatened her it was also very sad. I thought she was at the party to have fun and she might finally have a boyfriend. I felt the same way she did, so when I found out that she was being babysat I was devastated. How could someone do this? It was horrible. Then when Troy threatened her with a gun was super scary. No one should feel the fear that went through her mind. He also hurt her. That was a part in the book that as a reader it was hard to read.

After all of this happens she still has the courage to go and apologize to people WHO SHE DIDN”T EVEN KILL. She went to houses of people who looked at her like dirt some didn't even want her in their house. But I was so shocked at Chrisy Burters parents because they were he most forgiving and nice to her. Their daughter was practically the cause for the whole thing.

Free Post: Hate List

          This book has so many problems. One is teen depression. There were these two kids names Valerie and Nick. They were both outcasts at Garvin High School, and people made fun of them and bullied them every day. Valerie was once popular but then she realized that she was not like these girls. So she changed to all black and baggie clothes. People started to call her sister death and thats when everything changed. People started to avoid her and call her mean names.

        When Nick started at Garvin it was only a matter of time before they became friends. Valerie introduced him to her little circle of friends and they all clicked. Soon the two of them were hanging out together after school, walking to class together, meeting at each others lockers, they became really close. But it wasn't until Valerie went to his house and found out that he loved shakespear, a total dent in the baggie clothed i don't care attitude that he had, that she realized she was in love with him. They were still out casts, and everyone made fun of them. But they were bullied, and were outsiders together.


       It all started as a joke. No one thought it would end up in a Garvin high massacre. It was a little red notebook. Nothing huge. A list. But then it turned into a whole bunch of names of people who bullied, and tormented Valerie and Nick.

        All the signs were there Valerie just never noticed them. She never realized that she was implying that she wanted the same thing that Nick did, for all of them to be dead. This is why it came as a total shock to Valerie when Nick told her he would "handle it" she didn't realize that he would take out a gun and shoot her worst enemy. Then he started to shoot everyone. It took a while for her to realize this but everyone who he was shooting was on the list. The hate list!!

       Valerie does not realize this but as reader I noticed that it seems like Nick just had enough of all of this and went crazy. Valerie insists that he was not depressed and has all these flashbacks of how happy he was. I am not saying Nick was depressed but just sick of all of the people who were giving them a hard time and it was just him for of pay back.

      This is why being a reader is sometimes interesting because you have different perspectives and opinions from the narrator. You are forming your own opinions and you get to have a persecutive different from anyone else, with is the benefit of books and not reality.

Social Justice: Deadly Little Secrets

How does the text make you think about justice in the world?

In my book I think that a big social issue is rumors. In the book they all live in a small town so when ever something happens the whole town finds out with in minutes. So when this innocent town gets hit with this big bad "killer", everyone avoids him as though he is a contagious disease. He is immediately discriminated aganst. Everyone talks about him and makes fun of him.

Rumors are hurtful to many people. This book makes that very clear, rumors. Are not something to mess with. Just because someone says something or seems trustworthy it doesn't always keen that they are. For example in the book the secondary character: Ben, has. Supposedly killed his ex girlfriend, so when the main character started to hang out with him and then start being stalked her friends assumed right away that it was Ben. The only one who didn't. Think it was Ben was the one who truly knew him, his only friend. The main character was the only one who bothered to know him before fully making assumptions about him. After she. Got to know him she didn't fully trust him but she waited to know him and then make her own dissuasions and opinions about him instead of listening to everyone else.

This point brings me to the next social issue which is followers and people who think for them self. Kimmy the main characters best friend assumed he was dangerous because of what everyone else was saying. She chose to listen to other people instead of thinking for herself. This is not good because one person who she listened to instead of looking into it was actually the real killer! When you listen to other people or are not afraid to be different it can prevent you from saving yourself (at least in this story).

Sadley I don't think it would be much different in the real world because I think where ever this kid would go someone would find out about the past eventually (secrets never end up in any good) and then the kid would be made fun of, teased, and no one would trust him. I know I can say how bad it is that people didn't trust this kid, but I have to think not only how I feel as an outside reader but how I would feel in this situation myself and I hate to say it but I probably wouldn't trust him anymore than anyone else did. I think that it was really amazing how the main character completely pushed away everyone else's thoughts (mostly) and just focused. On how she felt because it was her gut feeling and her life that was in danger.

This really makes me think about how maybe for me life is okay but there are people going through loads of horrable things because of how humans act, and what some people believe and think is fair and others don't. Ben was lucky because in this book he had someone who thought it was fair to give everyone a shot and go with your gut. Sadly though a lot. Of people disagreed and thought she was crazy for thinking what she was doing could be right. This is like the discussion we had in class because very one has their own idea in this book of what is right and wrong or fair and unfair.