The Swap “Wordle”

Title: The Swap         Author: Megan Shull

Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Science Fiction

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 8.44.46 pm

Jack’s Main Characteristics:

Sporty: After Jack’s mother died his father has pushed him to his absolute limits. He trains everyday, early in the morning and goes to practice every week. Hockey is his passion and he wants to be in the NHL one day.

Stressed: Jack has enormous pressure from his dad and brothers. He’s the youngest son and want to make his family proud. He feels like if he does not do well he will be disappointing his father.

Respectful: His father taught him that he should be polite and respectful to others. His dad was a Army Sergeant and took no nonsense from his sons. His dad is very into rules and cares that everything is in order and that none of his sons are disrespectful.

quote from book: “In the captains world, this means my answer was not acceptable. I need to try again. “I wil try to be more respectful of your time by being on time?” I say. The Swap Page 9

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 10.21.50 pm

Ellie’s Main Characteristics:

Anxious: She is always anxious because of her old friend Sassy. Ever since Sassy had made a new more popular friend she has been bullying Ellie and making fun of her. Ellie is afraid to be herself and stand up to Sassy and from that she can’t express her true feelings.

Introvert: Ellie prefers being alone and reading a book over going to a party. She doesn’t have a group anymore after Sassy ditched her so shes used to being alone. Sometimes she enjoys it but after a while she gets lonely.

Smart: Since she doesn’t have a whole lot going on in her social life she dives herself into her studies. She writes about her feelings and true emotions.

quote from book: “It doesn’t feel good to listen, even when it’s not about you. i am getting the worse feeling inside.” The Swap Page 3

*all of these characteristics only apply to the characters before they switch bodies.

The story is about how there are two main characters: Ellie and Jack, they both are having a hard time in home life and school. Ellie’s parents had recently gone through a messy divorce and her so called best friend dumped her to become popular. Jack has enormous pressure from brothers and especially his dad. Both wish that they could swap lives with someone else and magically one day in the nurse’s office they swap bodies and lives. Now they have to live a weekend through each others lives and learn how to be yourself in the process of being someone else.

Shull, Megan. The Swap. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Text To Self On Chinese Cinderella

Title: Text To Self: Chinese Cinderella

Author: Adeline Yen Mah  Genre: Autobiography 

In many ways, the story of Adeline life can relate to many.Chinese Cinderella made my blood boil and rumble, it was a shocking and rather tragic story about a young child attempting to navigate through an abusive household. Her family had a hatred for her before she could speak or walk. She was blamed for the death of her mother and resentment towards her is undeniable. The worthlessness feeling her family put on her made her have anxiety issues and struggle with loving herself.

This book is based on Adeline Yen Mah; the author of the book. I can not say that my life was anything similar to hers. She had to deal with being unloved and hated by everyone. I was unable to put the book down, you felt like you were going through this together. I can not compare my life to hers but it many ways the way she is feeling is how many adolescents feel. In many cases teenagers battle depression and feel misunderstood. They feel that everything is the end of the world and if i don’t do well now, i never will. They don’t go and talk to others and keep it to themselves until one day they can’t handle it anymore. Adeline for most of her life was unable to love herself and made herself feel worthless and believed what her family was saying is true,

Adeline and I have a main thing in common, it would be the struggle to be confident in our skin. In her case she was treated badly by her family and had to struggle to become her own person. In my case, it has been a struggle to love myself and believe that i’m worth it to others. When others treat me badly and it becomes a regular occurrence i tend to start believing that there lies were true. In both cases we were treated as not as good to make the bully feel more powerful and secure.

The book taught me that i need to believe in myself. Adeline was always told she wasn’t good enough and didn’t deserve anything she was given. But somehow even through that she still managed to overcome all of it and prove she could do anything. For a lot of the book she was trying to prove to her father she wasn’t bad luck or worthless, but she finally realised that she shouldn’t have to prove to anyone besides herself that she’s worth it.

After reading Chinese Cinderella, i experienced Adelines world and how she lived a very tragic life but was still able to be triumphant in the end. She made me realise that even if things feel like its the end of the world now, i still have the support of my friends and family. I admire her strength and how she never choose to give up

“Believe that one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realities.” Quote From Chinese Cinderella

Mah, Adeline Yen. Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter. Harlow, Essex: Longman, 2004. Print.