A Free Bird, A Free Soul

Summary

As the story continues, when Maya was in San Francisco, she received a scholarship for a Labor School and there, she learned to dance and to act. Later on, she agreed to stay with his father and her lady friend, Dolores, in southern California during the summer. One day, Maya’s father decided that they were going on a short trip to Mexico and there, they went to a party and had a minor car accident. When they returned home, Dolores said that Maya was coming between her relationship with Maya’s father and after a serious discussion, Dolores hurt Maya. Maya was sent to the house of one of his father’s friends but she escaped. She lived in a junkyard with other teenagers for around a month. Then she went back to live with her mother. After a period of time were Maya questioned herself about her life and who she was, she discovered she was pregnant. Three weeks before she was supposed to give birth, she told her parents about her pregnancy and luckily, everything went well.     


Quote 1

“In the Mexican bar, Dad had an air of relaxation which I had never seen visit him before. There was no need to pretend in front of those Mexican peasants. As he was, just being himself, he was sufficiently impressive to them. He was an American. He was Black.” (p. 233)


Unlike the White people in America, the Mexicans didn’t discriminate Black people and accepted them for who they were and not by their skin color. Maya liked to see his father’s sudden change and she noticed the difference of his personality when he wasn’t around White people. He was proud of who he was and the Mexican people respected him as he respected them.


Quote 2

“The idea of sleeping in the near open bolstered my sense of freedom. I was a loose kite in a gentle wind floating with only my will for an anchor.” (p. 251)


In this quote, Maya Angelou is using a metaphor to explain how she felt. How freedom felt for her. In her writing, Maya uses many literary devices such as similes, personifications, metaphors etc. I think that using literary devices is a good tool to make the reader better understand how an object, place or event looked and how the author felt.   


Conclusion

I have reached the end of the book and I think that it was very interesting and enjoyable. I could see, through the years, how Maya and Bailey changed as well as the places and people around them. Maya had many problems not only with the people around her but also with herself. She wanted to figure out who she was and where she belonged. But even though she had many conflicts, she dealt with them. I would recommend this book for people age 13 and up because even adults and older people could appreciate this book.

 

Arrivals and Departures

Summary

As the book continues, Maya Angelou talks about her new friend Louise and how close they were. One day at school, she got a love note from a boy that asked her if she wanted to be his Valentine. She didn't know what to do so she consulted Louise and they decided not to respond the letter. Maya wasn't the only one to make new friends, Bailey met a girl named Joyce with whom he played house with. He was very happy when they were together even thought she was older than him but one day, she suddenly disappeared. When graduation day came, Maya explains the event and how a white man came to the ceremony and began to talk about how he would better the education. One day, Momma decided that Marguerite and Bailey were going to live with their parents once again, so they were sent to San Francisco. Maya and Bailey, with their mother, then lived in Los Angeles when the Second World War began.


Quote 1

"She was around for a few months, and she had appeared, out of limbo, so she disappeared into nothingness. There was a gossip about her, no clue to her leaving or whereabouts. I noticed the change in Bailey before I discovered she was gone. He lost his interest in everything. He mulled around and it would be safe to say "he paled." (p. 150)


Bailey was affected after Joyce's disappearance as shown in this quote. I have noticed that the people he met were very important for him and that they had an impact in his life. He got upset when he was separated from the people he loved as demonstrated in this quote and also when he was separated from his mother.


Quote 2

"We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwoman, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous."(p. 180)


After the white man finished his speech and left the graduation ceremony, what is showed in the quote is what Maya thought. First of all, the white man made the colored people believe that they were only capable of being maids, handyman and anything else that served the white people. I think that it was disrespectful of the white man to say what he said in his speech and, even worse, in a place where there were children. Finally, this event showed discrimination against black people and everybody in the ceremony noticed it.    



Conclusion

I think that in the next chapters Maya is going to talk about how it was to live during the time of the Second World War and how she dealt with all the problems that came with it. When it comes to Momma and Uncle Willie, I think that they are going to stay in Arkansas and visit their relatives in Los Angeles. Another prediction I have for the next chapters is that Maya and her family are going to move to another place because of the war. It must have been hard for Bailey and Maya to leave their friends and family in Stamps and move to a new and strange place. This book has been very interesting so far and I'm glad to read the final part.

This is a picture of Los Angeles around the time when Maya and her family lived there.

Let's Go to the Movies!

Summary

A year later or so, Maya and Bailey's father came to Stamps and took them to live with their mother in St. Louis. There, they were introduced to their aunt, uncles, grandparents and their mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Maya had a problem with Mr. Freeman and he was set on a trial. He was imprisoned but the same day, he was released and then found dead. Maya and Bailey were sent back to Stamps and Maya enjoyed returning to her home town with Momma and her uncle. One day, Maya was in the Store when a woman named Mrs. Flowers walked in and said that she wanted Maya to go with her to her house. They had a nice talk, read books and ate cookies there. One night, Bailey returned very late home and he told Maya that he had been on the movies and seen a woman in a movie that looked like their mother. Maya and Bailey went often to the movies since then, just to have an image of their mother.


Quote 1

"I was liked, and what a difference it made. I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for Marguerite Johnson." (p. 101)

When I read this quote, I realized how important it was for Maya to be represented and appreciated by who she really was. She wanted people to like her and recognize her for her personality and not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild as said in the book. Maybe she felt that she wasn't paid much attention to, but when she met Mrs. Flowers, everything seemed to change for her. Mrs. Flowers had a big impact on her life not only because she called her Marguerite, but also because she taught her what she was capable of.


Quote 2

"The movie star made me happy. It was extraordinary good fortune to be able to save up one's money and go see one's mother whenever one wanted to. I bounced out of the theater as if I'd been given an unexpected present. But Bailey was cast down again." (p. 119)

Bailey missed his mother very much when he returned to Stamps, as shown in this quote. He wanted to see her and would have done anything to remember her, for example, see movies that have a character that looks like her, as he did in the book. Even thought he was sent away from his mother, I think that he somehow forgave her and wanted to live with her.


Conclusion

I think it's surprising that Marguerite (Maya) and Bailey were sent back to Stamps again even though they liked it better there. Their parents sent them away when they were little and when they finally met years later, they were sent away once again. In the book, I have noticed that many white people treated black people unfairly as shown in the scene were Marguerite’s name is changed to Mary and she is being insulted by a white lady. I think that Maya will try to become an actress or a writer later on in the book. I also predict that Maya and Bailey are going to be reunited with their parents for some particular reason and taken with them to another town were Maya will find her talent.

                                    
                                          This is a picture of Maya around the age of 10.

Strange Incidents in Stamps

Summary

Hi! My next blogs are going to be about Maya Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” When she was three years old and her brother Bailey was four, they were sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother which they, in short time, began to call Momma and their Uncle Willie who was handicapped. Momma owned and worked at the Store were Maya and Bailey spent a lot of their time in. Throughout the years that Maya spent with her grandmother, she saw and heard about many conflicts between black people and white people who she viewed as non-human because of how they treated the Negros and because of their physical appearances. She also talks about Reverend Thomas (that Maya didn’t like so much) who sometimes visited them at the Store and about the experience he had once had in church. It happened on a Sunday,  Reverend Thomas was preaching when suddenly a women called Sister Monroe began to say “Preach it!” at loud and began to follow the Reverend across the church. After that day, they had called the event “the incident”.  

 

Quote 1

“Until I was thirteen and left Arkansas for good, the Store was my favorite place to be. Alone and empty in the mornings, it looked like an unopened present from a stranger. Opening the front door was pulling the ribbon off the unexpected gift. The light would come in softly (we faced north), easing itself over the shelves of mackerel, salmon, tobacco, thread. It fell flat on the big vat of lard and by noontime during the summer the grease had softened to a thick soup. Whenever I walked into the Store in the afternoon, I sensed that it was tired.” (p. 16)

When I read this part of the book, I realized that the author used many literary devices. When she compares the Store with an unopened present, she is using a simile. She is also using personification when she says that the Store felt tired in the afternoon. I think that she used these literary devices to make us understand better how she felt when she was in the Store and how much it meant for her.

 

Quote 2

"But I couldn’t force myself to think about them as people. People were Mrs. LaGrone, Mrs. Hendricks, Momma, Reverend Sneed, Lillie B, and Louise and Rex. Whitefolks couldn´t be people because their feet were too small, their skin was too white and see-throughy, and they didn’t walk on the balls of their feet the way people did—they walked on their heels like horses.

 People were those who lived on my side of town. I didn’t like them all, or, in fact, any of them very much, but they were people. These others, the strange pale creatures that lived in their alien unlife, weren’t considered folks. They were whitefolks." (p. 26)

Black people have been judged and mistreated in many ways by white people. But not only have white people hated black people, but also black people have judged and seen white people in a different way. And in this quote, this is demonstrated. And it’s surprising that even a little girl thought of whitefolks as non-human because of how they looked and treated Negros.    

 

Conclusion

What I like about this book is that it shows real conflicts in which black people are being mistreated by white people but they confront the situation in a calm manner and are able to continue their lives as they normally did. I enjoy the writing style of Maya Angelou because she uses many details to describe her feelings, the settings and the people she is talking about in the book to make the reader have a more clear view of what she is talking about. I look forward to keep reading the book and to know what Maya is going to do if she leaves Arkansas.  

 

This is a picture of downtown Stamps, Arkansas around the years when Maya Angelou lived there.

More than a Victory

Summary

Polyphemus captured Annabeth, that’s why she scram but Grover, Percy, and Clarisse managed to save Annabeth and Tyson, who had escaped from the explosion of Clarisse's ship in a hippocampus, took the Fleece to save Thalia's tree before it died. Polyphemus threw a tree to the ship they were going to escape on and it sank but luckily, a group of hippocampus helped the half-bloods to get to Miami Beach. There, they decided that Clarisse had to fly to Camp Half-Blood Hill with the Fleece and when she was heading to the airport, Luke and two bear-man appeared and took Annabeth, Grover, Percy and Tyson aboard the Princess Andromeda. There was a huge fight in the ship between Percy and Luke but Chiron and many other centaurs helped Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson escape from the Princess Andromeda and then took them to Camp Half-Blood Hill. They arrived at camp short after Clarisse, they placed the Fleece in Thalia's tree and it began to heal! One afternoon, Tyson told Percy that Poseidon had invited him to an underwater internship and he agreed to go so in that same afternoon, he left. A couple of days later, Grover woke Percy up because something had happened with Annabeth while she was guarding Thalia’s tree. When they arrived to the tree, nothing was wrong with Annabeth but Thalia had revived.


Quote 1

"But I believe if you give it some thought, you will see that Poseidon has been paying attention to you. He has answered your prayers. I can only hope that some day, Luke may realize the same about me." (p. 258)

In this quote, Hermes feels that his son, Luke, doesn't realize what he does for him but as a god, he can't show direct affect to his children. And it's true, sometimes children don't realize and appreciate what their parents do for them. If we think of it, we can see all the things are parents do for us. 


Quote 2

"Hermes struggled. “Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for the better or worse... and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum." (p. 258)

In my opinion, what Hermes is trying to tell Percy is that we have to accept others differences, that families always have to stick together and that we have to give people another chance. Luke has changed for bad, but I think that Hermes thinks he can also change for good again, he only needs some help to remember who he really is.  


Conclusion

This book has been very entertaining and I would recommend it for people that likes adventures. Rick Riordan, the author, has a really good form of writing because he makes you want to keep reading and he includes suspense in his books. I look forward to read the next book from the series, "The Titan's Curse." I hope you have enjoyed my blogs and the book as much as I have.   


I think that the song "Don't Forget Were You Belong" by One Direction connects to the last quotes becuase it talks about not forgeting who you are and that you are not alone.

Traps In Each Island

Summary

Percy woke up in a rowboat with Annabeth, but there was no sign of Tyson or other members of the ship. They reached an island were the "C.C's Spa & Resort" was located and there, a woman named C.C wanted Annabeth and Percy to have a makeover to find their true self's. Annabeth and Percy agreed but instead of making Percy look better, C.C turned him in to a guinea pig but luckily, Annabeth realized what had happened and gave Percy Hermes' multivitamins. Percy came back to normal and the other guinea pigs that were cursed by C.C, transformed into pirates that wanted revenge because of what C.C had done to them, so they went after her. While C.C was distracted, Annabeth and Percy took the pirates ship and sailed until they reached the island of the Sirens. Annabeth was hypnotized by the Sirens because they were singing her future. They made her jump into the sea and to begin to swim. Percy, who had his ears covered with wax so he didn't hear the Sirens, saved Annabeth and then headed to the island of the Fleece and the Cyclops. When they were finally there, they climbed a mountain until they found the Cyclops cave, and there they saw Clarisse who had told the Cyclops the secret about Grover, that he was a satyr. The Cyclops, Polyphemus decided to marry Clarisse and eat Grover, but Grover told him to eat him with mangos. Polyphemus went to find mangos and when he came back, Annabeth put on her invisibility cap and distracted him while Percy went into the cave to save Grover and Clarisse. When Percy had freed them, they heard Annabeth scream in terror.


Quote 1

"Bah! Men get all the glory." C.C closed her fist and extinguished the magic flame. "The only way to power for women is sorcery. Medea, Calypso, now there were powerful women! And me, of course. The greatest of all." (p. 179)

C.C, like Clarisse, wants to prove that women can do what men can do, and that men are not always the heroes. And it's true, for example, not only men can be president, Argentina and Brazil are ruled by women.


Quote 2

"She looked down. “Don’t you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework." (p. 199-200)

I think that Annabeth wants to change the world and make it better because of what she said in this quote. I also think that this is one of the reasons why Annabeth wants to be an architect, she wants the world to be a blank page, were she could change it. I would also like a world without wars or homeless people like Annabeth said in the book.

Conclusion

My prediction for the final chapters is that Annabeth is going to be captured by Polyphemus but she is going to be saved by Percy, Grover and Clarisse. I think that they are going to get the Fleece but that Luke is going to arrive to the island and they are going to fight for the Fleece. I also think that if this happens, Percy, Grover, Annabeth and Clarisse are going to win the Fleece and save Thalia's tree. I'm nearing the end of the book but I hope that the group can save Thalia's tree and Camp Half-Blood. 



 

Unexpected Meetings

Summary

Percy decided to board the ship with Annabeth and Tyson, but when they entered the ship, it looked deserted and Percy and Tyson had the feeling that there were monsters aboard. They slept in a stateroom and the next morning, they met Luke, the son of Hermes that had betrayed Camp Half-Blood Hill and tried to kill Percy. Luke told Annabeth, Percy and Tyson about his plan of reviving Kronos, the Lord of the Titans, and to destroy Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. He wanted them to join him but they refused and escaped from the ship in a lifeboat just in time before they were fed to dragon ladies. Percy used the thermos from Hermes so they could travel faster and they reached Virginia Beach very quickly. Annabeth knew a place where they could stay, a half-blood hideout Annabeth had built with Thalia and Luke. Percy sent Tyson to find monster donuts because he wanted to talk with Annabeth privately, but when Tyson came back, he brought a real monster! Annabeth, Tyson and Percy tried to defeat the monster, but Clarisse arrived in a ship her father Ares had given to her and she managed to defeat the monster. Percy, Annabeth and Tyson joined Clarisse in her ship that was heading to the Sea of Monsters. When they reached the entrance to the Sea of Monsters, they had to get through Scylla and Charybdis who were two monster that protected the Sea of Monsters. While they tried to get through them, the ship was getting destroyed so they had to use the lifeboats but Percy was pulled up by Scylla and when he was released again and was falling down to the sea, the ship exploded.

Quote 1

“But whenever Annabeth talked about the time she’d spent with them, I kind of felt . . . I don’t know. Uncomfortable?

 No. that’s not the word.

The word was jealous.” (p. 139)

I think that Percy was feeling jealous of the time that Annabeth had spent with Luke and Thalia because Percy and Annabeth had been through a lot together and they were a good team. Also because Annabeth is a very important friend for Percy and he trusts her very much and I think that Percy wants her to feel the same way.

Quote 2

“No, father,” Ares mimicked. “You’re pathetic. I should’ve let one of my sons take this quest.”

“I’ll succeed!” Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. “I’ll make you proud.” (p. 154-155)

In my opinion, Ares was being very harsh on Clarisse and he didn´t think that a girl could succeed. I think that Clarisse wants to prove him wrong and show her father that girls can do whatever boys can do. I also think that Ares was being very rude and that he shouldn’t treat her daughter that way.

Conclusion

My prediction for the next chapters is that Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Clarisse are going to get past Scylla and Charybdis and they are going to go find the island were the Fleece is. I also predict that Luke is also going to search after the island of the Fleece because he knew the coordinates to the island. And finally, I think that Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Clarisse are going to receive help from other people to find the island and Grover. I’m excited to keep reading and to find out what is going to happen next. I hope you are enjoying my blog posts so far.

A Punishment Instead of a Reward

Summary

After defeating the bronze bulls, Percy, Annabeth and Tyron met Tantalus, who was in special assignment on camp and had decided that chariot racing was going to be allowed after it´s cancellation and that all campers that wanted to participate would be excused from their other activities. Mr. D, the director of the camp, and Tantalus had to decide were Tyson was going to stay, but a triton appeared over Tysons head showing that Poseidon had claimed him as his son. Tyson stayed in cabin 3, Poseidon’s cabin with his half-brother Percy. The night before the chariot race, Percy had a dream that was actually an empathy link with Grover, meaning that Percy could talk with Grover and see what was happening around him in that moment as long as both of them were feeling the same. Grover told Percy that he was in the cave of a Cyclops in the Sea of Monsters and that the Cyclops had "it". The dream ended and it was the day of the chariot race but when the race began, a million of Stymphalian birds, that looked like pigeons, began to attack the campers, and to scare the birds away, Percy and Annabeth played some horrible music. Tantalus didn´t congratulate them for saving the camp, but punished them for disrupting the race and then congratulated Clarisse for winning the race. While Percy, Annabeth and Tyson were washing the dishes (which was their punishment), Percy told Annabeth about his dream and asked her what Grover said the Cyclops had. Annabeth told him that it must have been the Fleece that could cure Thalia's tree. They asked Tantalus to send them on a quest to find Grover and the Fleece but Tantalus decided to send Clarisse on the quest because she had won the chariot race and defeated the bronze bulls. Later that night, Percy went to the beach where he met Hermes that gave him a thermos that worked like a compass and could help the ship go faster if he opened it, a bottle with special vitamins, provided him with a ship so he could travel and then told him to decide if he was going to find Grover and the Fleece or not because if the harpies saw him out of his cabin, they were going to eat him.


Quote 1

"Wounded campers ran in every direction, with birds shredding their clothes and pulling out their hair, while Tantalus chased breakfast pastries around the stands, every once in a while yelling, "Everything's under control! Not to worry!" (p. 83)


I think that Tantalus poisoned Thalia's tree and allowed the bulls to go into the camp because he wasn't doing anything to stop the birds or to protect the campers. When he announced that the chariot racing was allowed and said that the campers that participated would be excused from their regular activities, Clarisse asked him about the border patrol that protected the camp, that was one of the regular activities, but Tantalus tried to avoid the commentary and said that it was a summer camp and they had to have fun. This is another a reason why I think Tantalus did this, it looks like he wants to destroy the camp.


Quote 2

“Annabeth doesn't like Cyclopes. You... don't want me along?"
"Oh, that's not it," I said halfheartedly. "Annabeth likes you. Really."
He had tears in the corner of his eye." (p.95)



When I read this quote I realized that Tyson feels different and that nobody likes him because of that. I also realized that he thinks that if he goes with Percy and Annabeth to the quest, he will ruin it but it's the opposite because he saved Percy's life in the school gym and when they were fighting the bulls.


Conclusion

I think that Percy is going to go find Grover with Annabeth and Tyson although they were not assigned a quest. I also think that many monsters are going to attack Percy and his friends because of their escape. This book includes many characters from Greek myths which I think is interesting because you can see how they could have lived in the real world and how their stories are related to what is happening in the book. I like the way the author writes because it keeps you entertained and makes you want to keep reading.  I'm enjoying the book so far and I'm exited to know what is going to happen next.

Wait, a What?

Summary

Hi! During this week, I have been reading “The Sea of Monsters” from the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians written by Rick Riordan. The character that tells the story is Percy Jackson, who is a half-blood or a demigod, which means that one of his parents is mortal and another an Olympian god. Percy's father is Poseidon, the god of the sea. On the first chapter, Percy tells us about his nightmare: his best friend Grover, a satyr, was being chased by a monster while he was entering a bridal boutique saying things to himself like "I have to warn them." Then, Percy woke up and his mother told him that he had to hurry up for school and that there were problems at Camp Half-Blood Hill which is a place to train half-bloods were Percy had been last summer. There, he was taught how to fight monsters and then sent to a quest with Grover and his friend Annabeth to find Zeus' lightning bolt. When Percy arrived to school, he saw that there were new kids that were friends of the school bully. At P.E period, Percy was playing dodge ball with the new kids when they transformed into Laistrygoians, giant monsters capable of throwing fire balls. Percy's friend Tyson, who was a homeless kid that was bullied at school, helped him to escape from the balls, taking them and throwing them back to the Laistrygoians; Percy was amazed that Tyson didn´t die. When the monsters disappeared, Annabeth appeared and told Percy that they had to get to Camp Half-Blood as fast as they could. Annabeth called the Gray Sisters Taxi and they arrived as quickly as possible to the camp that was being attacked by two giant bulls when they arrived. Percy, Annabeth and Tyson helped the campers to kill the monsters and then saw that Thalia´s tree, that protected the camp from monsters, had been poisoned. Thalia was the daughter of Zeus who had sacrificed her life to protect Annabeth, Grover and a boy named Luke. She was turned in to a pine tree near camp by Zeus as she was dying. Percy was still impressed that Tyson had managed to fight the monsters and not die and Annabeth told him that it was because Tyson was really a Cyclops.

Quote 1

"I think Grover's in trouble," I said, and told her about my dream." (p.5)

Grover is a very important friend for Percy and I this quote demonstrate it. I think that Percy's dreams are signs that warn him or tell him about things that are going to happen in the future.


Quote 2

"Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed.”I'm sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you." (p.45)
 
Tyson was a homeless kid, and many children from school bullied him but Percy always stood up for him. This quote shows that Percy was very important for Tyson, just like Grover was important for Percy, and that he was thankful for his help. He risked his life trying to save Percy when he was fighting against the Laistrygoians and the bulls.


Conclusion

My prediction for the next chapters is that Percy, Annabeth and Tyson are going to go find Grover. I think that maybe Thalia is captured in some place and that’s why her tree was dying. I also think that Grover is captured in the underworld and that the monsters that were chasing Percy wanted to kill him because he is Grover’s friend and wants to find him. So far, the book is very interesting and it keeps me entertained and I look forward to keep reading it.  

The Best Act of All

When I began to read the last pages of the book, I realized my prediction was wrong. The army officer had served the countess´ husband before he was executed, because he was one of the men that wanted and tried to kill Hitler. She had a long private talk with him and when it ended, the officer and the soldiers left. After that, Mutti, Karli, Lizzie and Peter said goodbye to the countess and began their journey to find the Americans with the choir schoolchildren. As they traveled, the schoolchildren sang as well as Karli, Mutti, Peter and Lizzie. They had to share shelter many times with other people but it wasn´t so bad because they shared food with each other. After days of walking and singing, the Americans appeared! But they came so loudly and shaking the ground that Marlene got scared and ran away. Peter told one of the Americnas that they had to find Marlene. He said that they would find her for them but that they had to leave because it was to dangerous. Mutti, Karli and Lizzie begged them to let them look after Marlene, but they didn´t let them. Mutti, Karli and Lizzie were taken to a camp refugee for "displaced persons" but Peter tried all he could to stop the Americans from taking them to a bigger camp with more "displaced people". Rules were rules and Karli, Mutti and Lizzie had to be separated from Peter. Peter told Lizzie that he was going to write, that he would come back and find her and that he was going to keep looking after Marlene. In the camp, there were actors, singers and artists so they held plays and concerts were the choir schoolchildren sometimes got to sing. Mutti realized they needed a school so they decided to have one and Lizzie was in charge of the small children. Six months passed before the war ended and Lizzie, Karli and Mutti were allowed to leave because they were going to stay in Mutti´s cousin Renate´s house. When they were in the camp, Peter and Lizzie wrote to each other and Peter told Lizzie that when he was released, they were going to get married and live in Canada, but the writing stopped when Lizzie and her family moved, even though she gave Peter her new address. They found an apartament near Renate´s house were they could live and they got the good news that Papi was alive! He had been prisioner of the Russian army. Karli and Lizzie began school again and one day, when they were coming back from school, they saw Peter sitting on the front doorstep! Lizzie and Peter got married and sailed away to live in Canada and when Karli was older, he also moved to Canada. Papi came home years after Lizzie had moved to Canada. One evening, when Lizzie and Peter were about forty years old, they went to a circus from France. When the act of the elephant started, Lizzie recognized Marlene immediantly and it seemed like Marlene recongnized Lizzie too. After the show, Lizzie asked the owners of the circus were they had found Marlene and they said they had her from another circus. Lizzie was with Marlene for hours in the weekend the circus was there but when it was time for the circus to go, she knew it was alright becuase she was glad that she had survived and that she was fine.


"But I´m sure it was Marlene who was the saving of them because Marlene made them laugh. They loved to watch her splashing in the streams, loved to feed her by hand whenever they could and, like Karli, loved to have a good giggle whenever they Heard her . . . how can I say this politetly? . . . letting off - which was often, and it was sure smelly too!" ( p. 177)

Marlene had a very big heart, she seemed to understand people and people undestood her. I think she knew how to make someone happy when they were sad. With her company, the choir schoolchildren forgot they were tired and hungry, they had a good time with her as well as Peter, Lizzie, Mutti and Karli.


"The star of the show was an elephant, and I knew as soon as I set eyes on her that it was Marlene. And the extraordinary thing was that she knew me. As she was led around the ring in the grand parade, she stopped right by me where I was sitting in the front row, and reached out her towards me." ( p. 193)

It was amazing how, about 35 years later, Marlene and Lizzie met again and that they could recongnize each other. Mutti, Karli and Lizzie had a big impact on Marlene´s life, they took care of her before and during the war, gave her food, found her a shelter, and most important, they accepted her in their family. I think that's why Marlene could recognize Lizzie in the circus.


I have enjoyed this book very much and I would recommend it because it´s entertaining and it teaches and reminds you very impotant things for life. For example to never give up and fight and keep going to get to your goal. Sometimes everything seems lost but like Mutti said in the book, "put one foot in front of the other", and maybe, you´ll find the answer. I hope my blogs have been interesting an fun to read. It has been a great experience to share them with you.  

 

During my summer vacations, I went to a circus in Denmark called Cirkus Arena were there was elephants. When I reached the part of the book were Lizzie and Peter went to the circus, I thought it was a very fun coincidendce and connection to the book.

Fell in the Wrong Hands

Continuing to read the story, Lizzie, Mutti, Karli, Peter and Marlene traveled following Peter´s compass that only pointed in the right direction. On their journey, they met people from other refugees that they shared shelter with and shared their stories with. Karli got sick, very sick, so they had to find a doctor. They reached a big house in the middle of the night, were an angry man opened the door; he didn´t look so pleased when he saw Mutti, Karli, Lizzie and Peter, but a woman appeared from inside the house and told Hans, which was the man’s name, to let them in. She also told Mutti she was going to find a doctor. Then, Lizzie followed Hans into a stable were Marlene could stay, and when she went into the house, she saw it was full of people, that had escaped from the bombing. She immediately understood why Hans did not want more people in the house. When the doctor arrived, he said that Karli had to be kept warm because of his fever and that he had to take some medicine he came with. After the doctor left, the woman that was with Hans introduced herself and said they could call her countess. Peter gave Karli his compass so he had something to look at while he was recovering. Karli made sure that Peter knew it was his compass and that Karli was going to give it back. When Karli began to feel better, he escaped from the room they were staying in and the others had to find him. When Lizzie found him, he was doing his juggling tricks on top of Marlene while a group of choir children and many other people from the refugees were watching. Karli stopped to juggle for a moment with his two balls and showed everyone his big brother's compass and said it was magical. Then someone told Karli to juggle with it and many other people began to encourage Karli to do it, so he did it. At first, he seemed to be very good at doing it but with all the crazy audience around Marlene, she became uncomfortable and made Karli loose his balance until he dropped the compass. Lizzie tried to catch it but she couldn't but luckily, Hans cached it. He began to examine the compass and when he opened it, he realized it was an British or American compass, not German. He asked Karli were he got the compass from but Mutti answered for him and said it was a gift from Papi to her that he had got from a British pilot that got killed when he was fighting the war in France. Hans was not very sure about the answer but he said that it wasn't a toy and that children should not have it. Mutti said that she agreed and then they left. When they were back in their room, the countess came in and told them that Hans didn't believe their story, neither did she, and that he wanted to call the police. She also said that Peter had an American accent and she knew it because her nephews were half German half American. She also didn't believe that he had asthma because he looked strong and healthy. She knew Peter wasn't German. At last she said they had to leave as soon as possible and she asked Mutti if the children of the choir could leave with them. Mutti agreed and the countess gave them and the children enough food for the journey. As they were about to leave, Hans came in from the front door bringing an army officer and some soldiers with him.


"But there were times when he came back with very little: a few nuts and some half-rotten vegetables. Several times he returned empty-handed altogether. Then we just went hungry, and those days were the days, with no food inside us, when it was hardest to keep ourselves warm, even if we could manage to make a fire." (p. 148)

Before Peter, Mutti, Karli and Lizzie found the big house, and they didn´t have any food left, they had to look for food in the forest or in little houses in villages. Sometimes Peter found many things to eat, but sometimes he didn't, that´s why we have to be thankful for having a home and enough food to survive because there are people in real life that don´t have anything to eat. Luckily, Marlene could eat whatever plant or grass that she found on her way.


"Everywhere I looked, every centimeter of the floor space was occupied. People were lying fast asleep, in the corridors, on the landings, and, I presumed, in every room." (p. 157)

I can imagine how hard it must have been for the countess and Hans to make sure all this people had somewhere to sleep and food to eat.  But on the other hand, it was very kind of Hans and the countess to open her house and help those persons who had lost everything and were fighting to survive.

The book is coming to an end and I think that Peter is going to get caught and Mutti, Karli and Lizzie are going to be in problems too. But maybe Lizzie, Mutti and Karli are not going to go to jail because of Marlene, because they have to take care or her. I also think that Peter is going to give Lizzie or Karli his compass before he is taken away by the soldiers so they can find their way to a safe place.   

 
Here is a picture of how a compass from the Second World War looked like.

We´ve got to stick together

As I kept reading, I discovered that the airman in the hay barn woke up and resulted to be a Canadian bomber named Peter Kamm that had a Swiss mom and a Canadian dad. His plane was attacked and he had to jump from it in a parachute and landed not so far from the farmhouse. Lizzie fell in love with Peter and Peter fell in love with Lizzie. Mutti was very angry at Peter and she didn’t want that he spoke to her children nor that her children spoke to him and she didn’t want him to escape from the house because she wanted to turn him in to the police. The next day, Lizzie took Marlene down to the stream so she could drink some water when she suddenly heard Mutti screaming and a moment later she heard Karli screaming. Karli had fell into the lake! Peter told Lizzie to quickly get a rope, then he put the rope around Karli’s arms and pulled him up from the water. At first, Karli looked like he was dead, but Peter pumped the water out of his body until Karli woke up again. After that, Mutti trusted Peter more so she let the kids talk to him. Then they sat down to eat potato soup that Mutti had made but there was a knock on the door. It was three soldiers from the German army that were looking for a parachutist. The sergeant asked for their names and Mutti said them and also said that Karli, Elizabeth and Peter were her children. They also asked for Peter’s age and why he wasn’t in the army. Peter said he was 21 and then Karli interrupted and said that he had asthma like him, and that was the reason Peter was not fighting in the war. After the soldiers went to the hay barn and saw Marlene, and then left with excitement, Peter and Mutti decided that it was better for them to reach the Americans together and Karli and Lizzie agreed. They were all a new family, Mutti, Lizzie, Karli, Peter and of course Marlene. After packing all what they needed, the began their journey going west.

“I remember standing there in Aunt Lotti´s kitchen watching this confrontation, and feeling very confused. I could not understand how Mutti could be like this. It seemed to me to be so hypocritical. All my life she had made herself out to be this ardent pacifist, always speaking out against the war - after all, there had been a huge rift in our family because of it - and now here she was full of unforgiving anger, and hateful, vengeful even, towards someone who may have been in the uniform of our enemy, but who was trying all he could to be kind and conciliatory and helpful.” (p.110)

I chose this quote because it shows how the arrival of the airman affected both Lizzie and Mutti. Mutti changed a lot because of Peter, she was scared and wanted to protect her children. Mutti's behavior made Lizzie feel bad for Peter, she wanted to give him a second chance because the bombing was not his fault. Peter was also very ashamed and regretted being part of the horrible bombing.

“What is done is done. The past is behind us. You are family know, one of us. And I have been thinking. You were right when you told Elizabeth we should stick together and help one another.” (p.128)

 

After Peter had saved Karli, I think that Mutti forgave Peter and recognized that they shouldn’t be enemies because that would have kept them from finding the Americans. This problem also happens in real life, and if you are constantly mad at someone, it can lead to more problems and confrontations. Besides, it was not fair for Karli and Lizzie to see people fighting all the time.

 

There are some lessons that this book teaches you which you can use in real life, for example not judging people before you really know them and finding a solution together to a problem like I already talked about earlier. What I believe is going to happen next in the book is that the new family is going to continue their journey but I don´t think they are going to reach the Americans because they are too far away, Peter said that in 4 or 5 weeks they were going to meet. Peter and Lizzie, I think, are going to make their relationship bigger since they both like each other. And when it comes to Mutti and Karli, they are not going to leave Marlene alone. I hope you are enjoying my blog and the summaries of the book as much as I am. 


I think that Kelly Clarkson´s song "People Like Us" connects to this part of the book because it talks about sticking together and not giving up and the video shows how people judge other people.
 

A Big Surprise

On February 9th, 1945, Lizzie turned 16 years old and her mother had a surprise for her. It was Marlene! She was going to stay in their garden at night and return to the zoo in the day. Everything was wonderful with Marlene until a German shepherd came. The dog always barked at Marlene and to fight back, she followed him across the garden trumping and moving her ears, but nothing worked to make the dog go away, not even talking to the owner. One night Marlene got so upset that Mutti decided to take her for a walk and Karli and Lizzie joined them, but as soon as they reached the park, the German shepherd appeared and Marlene began to chase him. Mutti tried to chase Marlene, but she was going so fast and so far away, that Mutti couldn’t chase her anymore, she couldn’t even see her. As all that was happening, the air raid began to sound, the bombers had arrived. Mutti told Lizzie and Karli that they had to get to the shelter and that they couldn’t do anything to find Marlene but Karli wanted to find her so he began to run after her. Mutti and Lizzie ran after him and when they caught up with him, bombs began to fall and Dresden was in flames. They ran away as fast as they could from the city like many other people that lived there. As they ran, they heard the sound of shooting, they were killing the animals from the zoo. They kept moving on, maybe not running but walking, until Marlene appeared! It was a miracle! With Marlene, they reached a forest were Mutti told them that the forest was a shortcut to Uncle Manfred and Aunt Lotti’s house. Papi and Mutti had had a big fight with Uncle Manfred and Aunt Lotti but Mutti was sure they would welcome them in their house, because of the bombing. A couple of days later, they reached the house but it looked deserted so they began to look after their Aunt and Uncle. They searched all over the farmhouse and in the stables and didn’t find anything but when they opened the hay barn, there was a man lying there that looked asleep or even dead. Mutti was almost sure that he was an airman from the British army.

“I did sense in her eyes the depth of the grief she was still suffering after the loss of her mother. And without my ever saying anything, I knew she understood all my fears, about Papi, about the bombers that might come any day now, about the war.” (p. 64)

What this quote shows is how Lizzie felt after she had been alone with Marlene a couple of days after her arrival. Maybe, Lizzie had judged her wrong and didn’t give her a chance. When I read this I realized that they both connected and that they had one big thing in common, they felt lonely. However, it is good to know that there is someone that understands you and that you can trust.

“No! We can’t! We can’t leave her. We have to catch her! I’m going after her. You go home if you like. I’m not coming.” (p. 70)

With this quote, we can see how much Karli (that said the quote), loved Marlene. It was very important that Karli reached the shelter before the bombs began to fall but he wanted to find Marlene first and bring her to safety. And even though one of his legs limped, Karli ran as fast as he could after Marlene.

What I think is going to happen next in the book is that the man in the hay barn is going to wake up and stay in the farmhouse as well as Karli, Lizzie, Mutti, and Marlene. I think that Uncle Manfred and Aunt Lotti are not at home because they wanted to escape from the bombers even though the bombers were only going to bomb the city. And although the family is passing through a hard time, Marlene seems to be helping them to pass through the pain.


I found this quote from Martin Luther King which I think connects very well to this part of the book because Marlene, Mutti, Karli and Lizzie had to walk day after day without eating, drinking water, and even without sleeping.