Book Report on Hurricane Song

 

    This last month my class has been reading Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi. The book is about a boy named Miles and his father named Pops during hurricane Katrina. Pops is in love with music and Miles loves football. In the beginning of the story we learn that Pops loves music more than Miles. During the hurricane Pops and Miles are in the New Orleans Superdome. Inside there is a lot of gangs and no control, Miles and Pops escape to find that outside is no better except the smell. In that short time period Miles and Pops create a great relationship. The claim of the story is that you shouldn't abuse your advantages.

    In the Superdome gangs such as Cain's, took their advantages when people were scared and had to help, they took the people's money and lit their things on fire.They had the advantage of chaos because everyone was scared and out of control. Instead of trying to help Cain and his friends made even more chaos and more people became scared. This is how people in the Superdome abused their advantages.

    Outside after the hurricane there were a lot of stealing from shops and gunfights because there were no police. This is an example of abusing your advantages because when people evacuated people took things from shops with no police instead of trying to keep things safe. This is how people outside in New Orleans abused their advantages.

    In conclusion, Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi was a depressing book about hurricane Katrina and what damage it left to New Orleans, but it was also about Pops and Miles relationship. The claim though, is that you shouldn't abuse your advantages which is using chaos to get what you want instead of trying to stop the chaos. You shouldn't abuse your advantages because even though Cain's group got money, they were still beat up and maybe even killed because they abused their advantages. This is why you shouldn't abuse your advantages even if it seems like there is nothing to lose at the time.

Book Report on The Maze Runner

 

    This week I read the book The Maze Runner. The book is about a boy named Thomas who just appears in a box. When he gets out he finds himself in a weird place called the Glade and is surrounded by other Gladers. Thomas has forgotten everyone he knew in his old life and only knows the people in the Glade. He tries to get information about what is going on but many of the people don't give him advice. The next day Thomas is taken on the tour and finds out that outside of the Glade is a huge maze that keeps on changing. The only people who are allowed to go into the maze are the Runners because there are weird animal/machine things called Grievers in the Maze. Later that day a girl comes out of the box which is weird because a person only comes every thirty days and there has never been a girl in the Glade. Later that day when the doors to the Maze are about to close one of the leaders is stuck outside and Thomas goes into the Maze. They all survive and now the ending of the Maze is near so every night one boy dies. Finally Thomas knows how to get out of the Maze and with everybody's help he does it. The main idea is that you have to think outside the box. 

    Thomas had to think outside the box when he had to think of a way to get out. He did this by going through the changing on purpose to get ideas of how to get out. He also put wax paper on the maps to find letters to spell out the secret code in the Griever Hole. These are two ways how Thomas had to think outside the box. Thomas also had to have a teamwork to get out of the maze.

    He used teamwork when he was trying to get to the Griever Hole, he had to have a team because the other Gladers held the Grievers off while he got to the Griever Hole. In the Griever Hole he needed teamwork because the girl had to type in the words while he held off a Griever. Chuck, (who was the other kid in the Griever Hole) also helped because when they were about to die he found a button that turned off the Grievers and got them home. This is how Thomas needed teamwork.

    In conclusion, The Maze Runner was a great book that was about a terrible future but it still showed how basic things like teamwork can make huge changes. To be able to make the change you have to think outside the box too. Thomas was going to die but he thought outside the box and used teamwork and he got his old life back and didn't die. This shows that even in the future you have to use simple things like teamwork.