I am currently reading The Diary of Anne Frank which is an actual dairy written by a young, Jewish girl during WWII. The diary was a present for her thirteenth birthday and covers her life from the time she is thirteen until she is fifteen when her family is discovered and taken to a Nazi concentration camp.
1. One song that came to mind when thinking about this assignment was “World” by Five for Fighting. The beginning of the song reminds me of how she gets the diary as a gift and how much potential it has. It also reminds me of how her diary shaped history.
2. I also thought “You’re my Best Friend” by Queen would be well suited to this story because she names her diary Kitty and at one point writes that Kitty is the only one she can truly confide in. Many times she writes things to Kitty that she tells no one else.
3. “Drops of Jupiter” by Train also makes me think of Anne Frank. She is fresh and idealistic and her writing helps us to see what it is like to grow from a girl to a young woman. Even under such stressful circumstances, she still thinks and worries about things that many girls think about and reminds us all that “there’s time to change” and “room to grow.”
4. Another song that reminds me of this book is “Imagine” by John Lennon. It makes you think about the war, the hatred, and how people don’t get along which goes with the wartime setting of the story.
5. One other song that comes to mind is a song that I remember from when I was in Catholic school. We used to sing this song called “I Believe in the Sun” in church. The music is by Carey Landry, but there was a footnote that said the lyrics came from words scratched on a wall in a concentration camp. For some reason that footnote sticks in my head. When I think of what happened to Anne and her family I think of the faith these people must have had even in such unimaginable conditions.

Wilson Rawls does this in Where the Red Fern Grows. Rawls chooses to write in first person which gives you the feeling that the main character, Billy, is telling the story directly to you. He draws you into this story about a boy and his extraordinary love for his dogs by making you feel as if you are right there with Billy. He takes an ordinary event in a child’s life, wanting a pet, and allows the reader to become part of it. He builds the relationship between Billy and his dogs from the time they are puppies, to becoming champion hunters. As the story comes to the climax, with Old Dan and Little Ann protecting Billy from an attack by a cougar, you sense that Old Dan and Little Ann aren’t going to make it. Yet, they have become a part of you and you hope for the best, thinking these loyal best friends can’t be parted. Rawls brings the story full circle when Billy visits the graves of his dogs just as his family is about to move away from the Ozarks, and relates the legend of the red fern planted by angles that signifies a sacred place. As a reader, you are changed by having shared the experience.

I think the speaker, C. S. Lewis, meant that literature gives depth to our lives. Literature fills voids within our lives and makes life worth living. It takes what may seem ordinary, and gives us a new perspective. Good literature helps us to look more deeply at ourselves through the characters that an author brings to life. We learn more about who we are and how we feel when we empathize with the characters.

I finnished my book... What should I do now?

I have heard this book is very sad. This will challenge me because I don't enjoy reading about depressing topics especially when they involve the death of an animal.:( I'm sorry I'm reposting this. I accidentally deleated it.

I have chosen the book The Red Pony by John Steinbeck because it is about horses.(: