Courtney Patterson
ROAR Blog #5
December 16, 2009
ROAR Blog #5
Summary: In the book Rattlebone by Maxine Clair, Irene feels that she is not growing up compared to her friend Wanda. She never had a boyfriend and she continues to write her whole life in her diary, which isn’t very much to her. Wanda is two years older than Irene and Irene loves to read Wanda’s diary because she has experienced more in her 16 years, than Irene has in her 14 years of living. Irene has experienced her mother cheating on her father and her father leaving because loves someone else, but Irene chooses not to tell Wanda. In Wanda’s life her brother Puddin has been put into jail, because he got into trouble one day when he wandered away from home. Wanda was upset when she found out that Puddin was in jail, but she thought that it was for the best because she felt that her mother was trying to hurt him.
In school Irene begins to enjoy some of her new classmates, two of them are white and one is a Quander. She began to get close to Folami Quander, who family is a little different from the normal family. Her father has many wives and at first Irene couldn’t understand why, but Folami explained a little about her culture. Irene also became close to Folami’s brother, Obadele and he became her first boyfriend. Irene’s mom didn’t like that fact that her daughter was hanging out with the Quanders, because they had a bad reputation in the town. Later in the book, Irene noticed that Folami wasn’t coming to school anymore. Wanda told Irene that Folami was pregnant by Irene’s boyfriend, Obadele. Obadele was going to be a king in his town and Folami was going to have his first baby.
In the next chapter, the whole city is damaged because a plane had crashed near Irene’s high school. A few people were killed and after this even the town is never the same. Irene’s friend, Cece had told her to fill out an application for a black sorority, but Irene found out that Miss October Brown was a part of the sorority. Irene didn’t fill out an application, but after a few weeks she filled it out because she felt better about things in her life. Her parents were starting to get along and building their own business. Everything is going well for Irene and she was able to graduate from high school.
* Summarized pages: 127-213
Quote: “From my perspective, opportunity flaunted itself everyday” (Clair 205).
Reaction: My reaction to this quote is that in Irene’s life she was able to have opportunities to better herself if she just allowed herself to do so. Although the book, there were many opportunities to experience something new like puppy love with Nick when she was younger and then as she matured she experienced real love with Obadele. Irene had different opportunities to learn about different cultures than her own. This opened her mind to new thoughts and new people all at the same time. Maxine Clair has showed through Rattlebone that she is a strong writer and she keeps her readers turning pages, while teaching lessons.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROAR Blog #4:Rattlebone
Courtney Patterson
ROAR Blog #4
December 11, 2009
ROAR Blog #4
Summary: In the book Rattlebone by Maxine Clair, the readers learn about Ms. Brown a little more. She moves in to a room at the Thomas Pemberton Proprietors because she had to leave her previous home. Thomas Pemberton is one of the owners of the place and he is married to Lydia Pemberton, who is the other owner. Lydia is unable to have any children, so one of the rules in the house is that no kids are allowed. Later in the chapter, the readers find out that Ms. Brown is pregnant. When her pregnancy is discovered, she gets a letter that says that she is getting a kicked out of the house by Lydia. Thomas becomes torn by his wife decision to kick Ms. Brown out. Ms. Brown later has to move out of the house and she moves into the reverend’s home.
In the next chapter the readers learn about Dorla Wooten, who is the most serene girl in Irene’s middle school. Dorla’s father had killed her mother, because the mother was seeing someone else while they were still married. This event happened over the summer and Irene was trying to be nice to her, so they could become friends. Geraldine is Irene’s new friend who spends a lot of time with Irene at her house. Geraldine lives in the basement of Miss Jones’ home. Miss Jones’ home is known as the house that people have sexual relationships at. This didn’t stop Irene from hanging out with Geraldine and trying on makeup, clothes, and just having fun with her.
One day Geraldine decided to take Irene up stairs, so they could spy on the people would was in the bedrooms. Irene and Geraldine continued to spy on people, until one day when Irene was looking through a keyhole and she seen a familiar face. It was Irene’s mother and she was shocked. She left Geraldine’s house quickly and she could not speak to her mother for days. Geraldine had got sick one day and she was unable to go to school for weeks. In this time, Irene started to have bad nightmares and she would sleep walk. Irene’s mother worried about her, so she started questioning her about her friends and school. When Irene started to tell her mother where Geraldine lived, her mother realized that it was the same place that she brought that man to. After Irene became well, she went back to school, but she became mean to everyone. She was no longer nice to her friends, Dorla and Geraldine.
*Summarized pages: 71-112
Quote: “Stopping by Geraldine’s house my routine. We taught each other a lot of things, not the least of which was how to do the turkey hop” (Clair 101).
Reaction: My reaction to the quote is that it foreshadows what will come next, because Geraldine’ house taught her a lesson and it was that she should mind her own business. This was the lesson that Irene learned because when she was looking through keyholes, she seen her mother cheating with another man. Maxine Clair’s style is writing is districted. She likes to write with many details and this helps readers visually her words.
ROAR Blog #4
December 11, 2009
ROAR Blog #4
Summary: In the book Rattlebone by Maxine Clair, the readers learn about Ms. Brown a little more. She moves in to a room at the Thomas Pemberton Proprietors because she had to leave her previous home. Thomas Pemberton is one of the owners of the place and he is married to Lydia Pemberton, who is the other owner. Lydia is unable to have any children, so one of the rules in the house is that no kids are allowed. Later in the chapter, the readers find out that Ms. Brown is pregnant. When her pregnancy is discovered, she gets a letter that says that she is getting a kicked out of the house by Lydia. Thomas becomes torn by his wife decision to kick Ms. Brown out. Ms. Brown later has to move out of the house and she moves into the reverend’s home.
In the next chapter the readers learn about Dorla Wooten, who is the most serene girl in Irene’s middle school. Dorla’s father had killed her mother, because the mother was seeing someone else while they were still married. This event happened over the summer and Irene was trying to be nice to her, so they could become friends. Geraldine is Irene’s new friend who spends a lot of time with Irene at her house. Geraldine lives in the basement of Miss Jones’ home. Miss Jones’ home is known as the house that people have sexual relationships at. This didn’t stop Irene from hanging out with Geraldine and trying on makeup, clothes, and just having fun with her.
One day Geraldine decided to take Irene up stairs, so they could spy on the people would was in the bedrooms. Irene and Geraldine continued to spy on people, until one day when Irene was looking through a keyhole and she seen a familiar face. It was Irene’s mother and she was shocked. She left Geraldine’s house quickly and she could not speak to her mother for days. Geraldine had got sick one day and she was unable to go to school for weeks. In this time, Irene started to have bad nightmares and she would sleep walk. Irene’s mother worried about her, so she started questioning her about her friends and school. When Irene started to tell her mother where Geraldine lived, her mother realized that it was the same place that she brought that man to. After Irene became well, she went back to school, but she became mean to everyone. She was no longer nice to her friends, Dorla and Geraldine.
*Summarized pages: 71-112
Quote: “Stopping by Geraldine’s house my routine. We taught each other a lot of things, not the least of which was how to do the turkey hop” (Clair 101).
Reaction: My reaction to the quote is that it foreshadows what will come next, because Geraldine’ house taught her a lesson and it was that she should mind her own business. This was the lesson that Irene learned because when she was looking through keyholes, she seen her mother cheating with another man. Maxine Clair’s style is writing is districted. She likes to write with many details and this helps readers visually her words.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
ROAR Blog #3:Rattlebone
Courtney Patterson
ROAR Blog
December 1, 2009
ROAR Blog # 3
Summary: In the book Rattlebone by Maxine Clair, Irene’s father is back in the picture. He has moved back home because his relationship with October Brown is over. James continues to daydream about her, but he then realize that he has to come home to his wife who is now keeping a close eye on her husband. One afternoon after a long day at work James was supposed to go home to his family, but he decided to help Thomas Pemberton who was a friend to James. James was helping Thomas by going down to the river, so they could help put down sandbags because there was a storm coming. While James was down by the river, something went wrong and everyone was beginning to evacuate. This is when James lost his footing and the wind started to pick up because his light went out. James couldn’t see and he ended up falling in the river, this is when he thought that he should try to swim and maybe he would be able to get out of the water. As minutes pasted he didn’t get very far and Thomas finally came to his rescue when he pulled him out and brought he home.
In the next chapter Irene learns about growing up and becoming a woman, when a boy name Nick shows interest in her. Nick is about the same age as Irene, but when he wants to show Irene his love for her, he shows very little maturity. Irene doesn’t want Nick to act like a little kid, so she pretends not to like him, but she does write about him and her life in her diary. Irene writes all of her personal thoughts and feelings about growing up north of Kansas in her diary, but she only shares it with her best friend named Cece who she doesn’t see often because she lives far away.
The readers learn about Eddy who is the younger cousin of Irene. Eddy has a fake eye because one summer he had a cherry bomb and when he went to light it up, it exploded and a piece of metal flew into his eye. Eddy had one last cherry bomb, so he decided to give it to Irene. That was the first gift she ever receive other than Christmas gifts. A few days later when Irene and Wanda was hanging out and Nick and Eddy was down by the river, Wanda told Irene that she became a women. Irene didn’t say much about the topic, but she knew that she was growing and so were the people around her. When Wanda and Irene went down to the river to see the boys, Eddy was sleeping, but Nick was nowhere around. They started to call out to him, but there was not answer. Wanda went to get help and when she returned with Irene’s father, Nick’s mom, and Irene’s mother, James jumped into the water and he found Nick. Nick had drowned and later that night Irene lighted up the last cherry bomb as a way of saying goodbye to her first crush.
*Summarized pages are 41-67.
Quote: “I struck a match and lit the green stem. When it sizzled, I threw it high and far, exploding the whole summer.” (Clair 67)
Reaction: My reaction is that Max Clair’s style continues to show strong writing because she uses the cherry bomb as something more than a firework that the kids play with, it was a metaphor for the last summer of their youth. As the cherry bomb went in to the sky and exploded that was the end of their youth, because the kids lost their innocents as they experience death for the first time.
ROAR Blog
December 1, 2009
ROAR Blog # 3
Summary: In the book Rattlebone by Maxine Clair, Irene’s father is back in the picture. He has moved back home because his relationship with October Brown is over. James continues to daydream about her, but he then realize that he has to come home to his wife who is now keeping a close eye on her husband. One afternoon after a long day at work James was supposed to go home to his family, but he decided to help Thomas Pemberton who was a friend to James. James was helping Thomas by going down to the river, so they could help put down sandbags because there was a storm coming. While James was down by the river, something went wrong and everyone was beginning to evacuate. This is when James lost his footing and the wind started to pick up because his light went out. James couldn’t see and he ended up falling in the river, this is when he thought that he should try to swim and maybe he would be able to get out of the water. As minutes pasted he didn’t get very far and Thomas finally came to his rescue when he pulled him out and brought he home.
In the next chapter Irene learns about growing up and becoming a woman, when a boy name Nick shows interest in her. Nick is about the same age as Irene, but when he wants to show Irene his love for her, he shows very little maturity. Irene doesn’t want Nick to act like a little kid, so she pretends not to like him, but she does write about him and her life in her diary. Irene writes all of her personal thoughts and feelings about growing up north of Kansas in her diary, but she only shares it with her best friend named Cece who she doesn’t see often because she lives far away.
The readers learn about Eddy who is the younger cousin of Irene. Eddy has a fake eye because one summer he had a cherry bomb and when he went to light it up, it exploded and a piece of metal flew into his eye. Eddy had one last cherry bomb, so he decided to give it to Irene. That was the first gift she ever receive other than Christmas gifts. A few days later when Irene and Wanda was hanging out and Nick and Eddy was down by the river, Wanda told Irene that she became a women. Irene didn’t say much about the topic, but she knew that she was growing and so were the people around her. When Wanda and Irene went down to the river to see the boys, Eddy was sleeping, but Nick was nowhere around. They started to call out to him, but there was not answer. Wanda went to get help and when she returned with Irene’s father, Nick’s mom, and Irene’s mother, James jumped into the water and he found Nick. Nick had drowned and later that night Irene lighted up the last cherry bomb as a way of saying goodbye to her first crush.
*Summarized pages are 41-67.
Quote: “I struck a match and lit the green stem. When it sizzled, I threw it high and far, exploding the whole summer.” (Clair 67)
Reaction: My reaction is that Max Clair’s style continues to show strong writing because she uses the cherry bomb as something more than a firework that the kids play with, it was a metaphor for the last summer of their youth. As the cherry bomb went in to the sky and exploded that was the end of their youth, because the kids lost their innocents as they experience death for the first time.
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