Monday Musings

To this day, whenever I try to read "Big Sister and Little Sister" (by Charlotte Zolotow) I cannot get through the whole book without breaking down, crying. I am not exactly the crying type. Thanks to three older siblings, I have a pretty good tolerance to physical pain, and I'm pretty good at not crying even when I feel like I want to. However, this book is definitely the exception. If we tried to read this in class, I would die, and it'd got like this: Ms. Galang reads the book out loud, students are either taking notes or trying to make it look like they're taking notes. Suddenly there's me! And I'm running out of the door, sobbing! Yeah, not a pretty sight.

Anyway, this book really means many things to me. As I do have an older sister, I can really relate to this book, and yet there are quite a few times when I really don't. When I was a bit littler, or at least before my older sister became a teenager, there were times when the events in this book really seemed to take place. Although my sister, (Re)Becca, was always bossing me around, it was because she was looking out for me. She'd hold my hand as we crossed the street, she'd help me find my classroom and introduce me to my teachers (and flip out when she couldn't figure where I'd gone), she'd teach me how to manage my time best while doing homework. Then as she got to about twelve, she became a teenager. I know, that shouldn't work--how can a twelve-year-old be a teenager? By acting just like one, of course. And that's what she did. Becca began chewing gum, playing more softball, getting more exclusive with her friends, and bossing me around--but this time without that whole bit of "looking out for me".

That's when I started to relate less to the book. The story's idea that the sisters are looking out for each other was nearly gone. Becca was no longer that caring or supportive of me, and yet I would still try and be nice to her, to be that little sister.

Why I even tried, I guess we'll never know.

Well, now that I'm reading what I just wrote, it's wrong. I tried because Becca was so nice to me, before, and now I was trying to be nice in return.

Now, things are a bit better. When I was littler, like many little sisters, I'd try to copy my older sister. But once I quit doing that and found ways to be me, ways to be different from the rest of my family, Becca sees me differently. Now, it's less like I'm her pestering little sister, and more like that friend who is just younger but still pretty cool. Or at least that's how it seems like, to me. She includes me more with her friend, asks me more about what she should wear (I am the more fashionable one, of course *insert winky-face emoji here*) , and asks about that new band her friends are talking about, generally I heard of them at least a week ago *another winky-face, please!*.

And yet, there are times where I'll take a step back and realize, we're back at the beginning, looking out for each other. And other times, I really just want to punch her. But I know if I had actually done that even once, I wouldn't be here to write about it.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on "Big Sister and Little Sister", by Charlotte Zolotow.

argument essay draft

Every now amd then, a few adults get it into their heads that some of the books that kids/teens are reading aren’t appropriate for kids to be reading, and so they try to ban these books. As young adult, or YA books have become more popular, more and more people are trying to ban more and more books. One of these challenged books is “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, which I have recently read.

Many articles have been published on the topic of book banning. Jen Doll wrote an article for the Atlantic Wire called “the Banned Books We Have Loved”. Among other things she talks about in the article, Doll lists several of the books that have been banned and writes the lessons that can be learned from reading these books. For example, from the book “Bridge to Terabithia”, Doll says “…we learned the importance of friendships and being open to those that might not seem ‘appropriate.’ We learned that death can be sudden and unexpected, and terribly tragic—but that we owe it to ourselves, and those we've loved, to go on. We learned that boys and girls can be friends. We learned to love deeply and protect our imaginations, and to respect and care for our friends and family”. Using “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson as an example, Doll was able to come up with so many lessons that are important and can a have a huge effect on kids’ lives if they know the lessons or not. Doll does the same for several other YA books, then closes the paragraph with the statement “Over and over again, the books worth reading were the banned ones.” Spot on, Ms. Doll.

One of the books on the very long that list of banned and challenged books is “animal Farm”, by George Orwell. The book was banked for containing violence, as well as some other reasons. An example of violence in the book is when the humans come back to animal farm and try to take control again. One of them shoots off a gun, and “The pellets scored bloody streaks along Snowball's back, and the sheep dropped dead." Quite a bit of violence in there, eh? And yet, this is a very important point in the book, and without showing that the character Snowball was shot, there would be a slight plot hole.

Another reason the book was banned is because the book basically shows how socialism doesn’t work. The US banned the book because they were afraid of insulting Stalin by publishing it, as Stalin was in power at the time the book was being published.

Despite the violence in the book, Animal Farm has some perks. It teaches kids to fight for what they believe in, as the animals do. They believe that they shouldn’t be under the farmer’s rule, and that they should all be equal. The book says “Man serves the interests of not creature except himself.” This shows what the animals thought, and so they took over the farm and got rid of the men there.

All this shows how books shouldn’t normally be banned, even if they do contain violence. Sometimes it’s better to ban a book then to insult another country and potentially start a war. Seeing as that’s a very specific cause, and a rather unlikely one, books generally shouldn’t be banned.