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“A Child Called It,” written by Dave Pelzer is spectacular. This book is an autobiography about a child with a very unstable and abusive home. Dave, the helpless main character, was brutally abused by his mother, Catherine Rovera. His child abuse case was one of the most severe in California history.  Buckherry Band dedicated two songs to Dave, titled Rescue Me and A Child Called it.  Furthermore, the novel was on the New York Time’s best seller’s list for six years straight, which is really remarkable.  Clearly, David’s tragic story is very popular.

The characters in this memoir are Dave, Dave’s mother, Catherine Rovera, Dave’s father, Stephan Joseph Pelzer, and Dave’s brothers Stan, Ron, Russell, and Kevin. In this book, the main conflict is between Dave and his mother. However, Dave also has several minor conflicts with his father.   Dave’s father is too tired and stressed out to tend to Dave’s needs because he is a firefighter and works almost a 24- hour shift every day. Dave is a remarkable person. Dave became a very successful person despite the tragedy he went through as a child. Surprisingly, even though Dave’s mother is so evil and cruel, he doesn’t hate her. He actually loves her to death and cares deeply for her, conveying his strength and heart as a character.  

This book is a powerful memoir that makes its audience reflect. It made me think of all the times I said “I hate my mother!” or “She gets on my nerves!” Dave would have killed for a mother like mine. I believe that this book teaches people how to be grateful for the blessings in their life. When I am going through rough patches in life, this memoir grounds me, causing me to realize that I have a lot to be thankful for.

Even though I had a hard time directly relating to any of the characters, I felt a connection to Dave’s relationship with his dad. Dave was never able to see his dad because he works a 24-hour shift.  His dad knows what is going on in the house, but he is unaware of how serious it is. Comparably, my dad doesn’t live with me, and I barely see him. I could be going through hell right now (even though I am not) and he wouldn’t have a clue. Similar to me, other readers could develop their own connections to the novel.

I would recommend this book to all teenagers because  Dave’s story is a stellar example of a memoir. However, I wouldn’t recommend this book to the younger audience (7 years and under) because the material is too graphic.  I barely ever hear teenagers say “I am so blessed and thankful for what I have been given” and this book will make you stop and think about  small privileges.  

In the month of December 2010 the National Football League postponed an Eagles football game due to snowy conditions. Governor Ed. Rendell, when asked to comment, stated that the United States was becoming a “nation of wusses.” This sparked a debate in which he used the metaphor attacking governmental policies that have lead the US in a downwards spiral. Rendell received a lot of media attention when in his opinion US lawmakers were “wusses.” This metaphor and constant media attention gave Rendell the title of his new book "A Nation of Wusses: How America's Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great.”  The book explains different experiences the former politician had while he was in his numerous offices, and criticises policies lawmakers have put into the political spectrum.

Before you open this book and take a look at what is in between the pages. Understand that the book is separated into two parts. To start the book you must have an open mind. Rendell talks a lot about how the liberal agenda and government is the best response to tackling a lot of America’s domestic policies, so naturally people with a conservative agenda will put down the book and not even bother to read it. The second being, half the book is just him praising himself of his own accomplishments and successful terms in office as Philadelphia’s District Attorney and Mayor, in addition to his eight years as Governor of Pennsylvania. He proceeds to sing the praises of Bill and Hillary Clinton while talking about how collectively they are the best leaders America has ever seen in it’s existence.

A lot of people before opening the book may think it will talk a lot about political theory and be very bipartisan not just one sided. Rendell has a reputation for “stepping over the party lines” and compromising with conservatives, he does mention it more than a few times in the book but it’s all about the liberal agenda, which means people who don’t agree with the agenda won’t even glance at it. Rendell does criticize President Obama and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.“Mistake number one: letting Congress write the specifics of the bill. The administration deferred to Congress, and the well-meaning progressive leadership in the House put in dollars for many social programs that did not create or retain jobs.” (A Nation of Wusses 153). He attacks Democrats in Congress who he feels were given to much power to edit and change provisions in the bill. He also attacks the Democratic controlled congress by changing provisions that suited the interest of their party.  

We all like to talk about our accomplishments and build our ego. But writing it down word for word in a book with a big reputation at stake is not the best of ideas. Rendell spends half the book from chapters 1-12 talking about his achievements and accomplishments. (I understand how you have to build up your reputation in the beginning to make you seem more believable and reliable but you shouldn’t take half the book to do so.) I love Rendell as much as the next Pennsylvanian but the Rendell we all know is a modest man who speaks from the gut. It’s apparent that he gave in to the numerous editors and advisor telling him what he should write. It didn’t feel like Rendell wrote this book at all. Which would make him a wuss wouldn’t it?

“A Nation of Wusses” is a lot of things but bold is certainly not one of them. Rendell over killed on the whole liberal agenda and his accomplishments which are unnecessary. A lot of emphasis was put in on the Clintons that made them seem like political gods and may have been used to create some sort of hype for Hillary to run for president in 2016. The book has it’s moments where I feel Rendell sneaks some dirty politics that occur in his own party in a metaphorical sense. It could be Rendell sticking it to his editor and advisors. It’s all up and down and if you’re a strong liberal who loves the Clintons this book definitely for you. But it has no outreach to target someone else and the writing is definitely not the gut speaking Rendell we all know and love. But keep in mind Rendell spends most of the book railing his praise and talking about one agenda, is this the wussification of Ed Rendell?

In this story and more specifically in this part of the story you can feel a very great sense of what justus where the Dragon Korialstrasz wants to hold up as his duty of being a consort of life. But as he is going along the land he keeps seeing the dead rise to slay the living but he is forced by his queen to not enter himself into the human acts. Then when he finally enters the battle you can see his great power unleashed before he flies away. As he get hit though you can see how strong the enemies are when they strike him and weaken him to the point of falling out of the sky.

As I started this this project I thought “Hey lets make a web page because I learned from my Web Design class”.  So as I started to work on the Html Files but when I went onto my CSS code it didn’t work so instead I didn’t use any CSS. Then went onto my java code learned I wouldn’t be able to learn the code in time to complete this project so instead I just made a scratch project. After running into a bunch of bugs and fixing them I finally finished.

I made this a game because the book itself is based off of a game and I wanted to practice my coding skills so I saw this as perfect project to do just that. As I worked through the web page and it was going along well and to make it interactive I Made the game to go along with the Web pages. The challenges that went into this project that I need to overcome and or change to make this work were. Java not working and the overall Css bugs that I could not fix although I didn’t want to use Scratch in the end I used it just as a fall back.

Sharon M. Draper is an accomplished writer and a winner of many awards for her compelling pieces. She has received much praise for all her publications, and she continues to write more. Draper loves to write she says “words flow easily from my fingertips, and my heart beats rapidly with excitement as an idea becomes a reality on the paper right in front of me.” With such ambition, Draper captivates readers with every single word that’s read in her books. The most compelling is Out of my Mind, which is a story about a young girl having a battle between her distinctions and “normality.”

Melody Brooks is an eleven year old girl born with cerebral palsy. This disability hinders Melody from communicating ideas, and she has never spoken a single word. Unlike any ordinary fifth grader, Melody is unable to walk and care for herself. This disability may have fractured 10 year old Melody Brooks’s body, but it has not affected her mind. Melody is a brilliant child with a photogenic memory that allows her to store and analyze everything that happens in her life. Melody is a genius, but nobody knows it. How would you feel if you were brilliant and you couldn’t communicate any of your thoughts?  

Out of My Mind is a book that should be read by everyone. Ten year old Melody Brooks displays a positive way to deal with difficulties of her world by living above all expectations people set for her. Melody’s unquenchable thirst for knowledge encourages her to move on and not quit. She has the help of an electrical word board thats connects to her wheelchair. This device allows her to create phrases, and it speaks her words aloud. This machine allows Melody to express some of her thoughts but its not capable to prove her real intelligence.