Michael Anthony is the writer of Enchanted Alley and Drunkard of the river

“We went to the river for a swim, and there we played hide-and-seek swimming games, running along the river’s edge screaming “Coco” to commence the game.Everyone was smiling.” Beah pg. 84

In “The Reading Monster”, Patrick Brantlinger discusses three main points from Frankenstein. Brantlinger first points out that Frankenstein is filled with political meanings, and it can be interpreted in conflicting and persuasive ways. He also discusses that the story is about two different educations, or miseducations, which would be Victor Frankenstein’s and the creature’s. Frankenstein’s education mainly has to do with science, and Brantlinger claims that Frankenstein is an autodidact because he chose isolation. He also evaluates the way that Mary Shelley portrays science in her novel. Even though it is clear that the creature educated himself through reading books, Brantlinger suggests that it is hard for readers to accept the creatures literacy. The confusion over the creature’s identity is Brantlinger’s third main point. The creature, already stripped away from his education and

In the memoir On Writing by Stephen King, there are several differences with the structure when compared to fiction novels. First and foremost, considering the memoir is about his writing techniques, King goes into detail about how he engages the audience. He explains what he calls the “toolbox”, which contains the essential resources every writer needs in order to improve their style. A few of his tips include using basic vocabulary you know the audience will relate with, avoiding adverbs at all costs, and avoiding a passive voice in narration. After going through the many tips he had to offer, I realized the difference between the way his words flow together versus other author’s. A strategy King utilizes for engaging the reader is remaining dominant and straight-forward in his words. He mentions that the reader is always the main concern, and making sure they will understand the point is necessary. Another way King connects with the audience is by using his sense of humor. This memoir doesn’t have a formal tone, which is half of what makes it enjoyable. There are several times where he is satirical, sarcastic, and making jokes to keep the reader engaged. With that being said, the overall diction is a balanced mixture between informative and humorous. An additional difference between King’s memoir and fiction novels is the way he is direct with the audience. Considering fiction novels are generally telling stories to the reader, there isn’t a connection with the narrator.

“Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised I became a writer,” writes Sherman Alexie in his article, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” published April of 1998 in the Los Angeles Times. In his essay, Alexie describes life growing up on a Spokane Indian Reservation as a boy who learned to read in a world that didn’t encourage him to. He did this with a Superman comic, using mainly assumption and his three-year-old brain’s perception of pictures. Alexie says that his love for books came from the love and adoration he felt for his father, who collected thousands of books in their house. This love, however, came with the consequence of sticking out like a sore thumb in a society that didn’t want smart Indians. He writes, “I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life.” By reading and writing, and by encouraging young Indian students to read and write, Alexie is trying to prove to the world that there is a place for smart Indians in society.

SHOCKING!! Never before read when you read about how a boy’s creation coming to life. David Almond’s book Clay, tells an unusual story about a quiet, young boy named Davie, who was forced to reach beyond his comfort zone. The characters within and throughout the book Clay was. Davie (Main Character), Davie’s best friend Geordie Craggs , Stephen Rose, Father O’Mahoney, Clay, Crazy Mary, Miss Doonan, Annie, Davie’s Father, Lass, France Malone, Biddy Hell, Maria, Geordie’s sister Noreen, Connemara, Mebbe, Billy, Vera, Martian Mould, Miss O’Malley, Brent, and Noah. The book takes place in the English North Countryside. Which explains the way people in the story talk.

Mike Bunn’s article, “How To Read Like a Writer”, simply does what the name implies: it is trying to encourage readers, students for the most part, to ‘read like a writer’. Bunn briefly reveals how he came acquainted with ‘reading like a writer’, and then goes on to explain to his audience how to ‘read like a writer’ themselves. From the opening sentence, to the closing statement, Bunn is encouraging students to analyze how a certain texts were written and why they were written that way. Bunn claims that by using this way of reading, you not only understand the text better, but you also become a better writer as you learn and develop the skills you analyze. Bunn is hoping that, after reading his article and adopting his methods, students will

Stephen King’s On Writing is the equivalent of a writer’s workshop in a book. While the

Book Thief Author’s Craft Essay by Sydney Paunan World War II was one of the darkest periods of time in human history. This is a fact widely known and accepted by most people, and this era of history is studied very often in schools so the horrors of the past may be taught and not repeated. But how did this two-front war affect young German children? They were growing up in a wildly violent time whilst being told that the horrible crimes committed by their country were justified, though this view of the war is often overlooked. Though The Book Thief does not tell a true story, it is very possible that the events in the story were the reality for many young children growing up in Nazi Germany.

Koren Zailckas, the author of Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood (2005), is a 37 year-old Caucasian female who was born to a Catholic, middle-class family in 1980 (Zailckas, 2005, p. xiii). Zailckas grew up on the Northeast side of the United States with her mother, father, and sister who is five years younger than her—none of whom, according to her, have a history of alcoholism (p. xiv). Zailckas, however, recounts starting to drink as early as the age of fourteen and continuing to do so throughout high school (p. 4). The primary events of Smashed occur during Zailckas’s undergraduate years at Syracuse University in New York, where she was a member of the Zeta Alpha Sigma sorority (p. 142). Currently, Zailckas resides in New York, with

John Edgar Wideman begins his piece, Our Time, with a description of the world he grew up in. He takes the reader through the story of his brother, Robby, using a variety of voices and points of view. In this narration of his brother’s life he brings to light his own dilemma with writing the piece. He uses a variety of voices and points of view to demonstrate the different perspectives of Robby 's story. To contest the ethical dilemma of telling someone else’s story without exploiting it, Wideman addresses the issue head on. By reading Our Time, a writer could learn much from Wideman, and adopt a number of his methods for different writing styles.

Ethan Canin the author of The Palace Thief, probes the idea that your past actions don’t define who you are. The various interactions between Hundert; Hundert’s pupil, Sedgewick Bell; as well as the father of Sedgewick Bell, Senator Bell, all exhibit the different ways that our past, as well as our present choices, continuously define us as we go on with our lives. Hundert extends on the idea that your past choices don’t define you, but moreover the choices you make as of the present. “I peered through my glasses at the stage and knew at once that he had attached the “Outline of Ancient Roman History” to the inside of his toga …. I simply nodded when Sedgewick Bell produced the correct answer,” (Canin 168-169).

After a small collection of minutes, the smoke exhausted itself. There was nothing left to give.

I went on a date recently with this really cute guy with dark brown eyes on September 12,

Although Summer was coming to a close, the smothering heat had yet to subside. As a result, Alfred Jones was spending his last few days of freedom, relaxing on top his cherry red Chevy truck, sipping cold bottles of soda and whistling old tunes. He kept going over a particular phrase mentioned to him again and again, that vacation always seemed to fly by, but these past weeks, every hour seemed to drag on until every day seemed meaningless. He brought the rim of the bottle to his mouth and surveyed Calamity look-out. Lush trees, cracked roads, obnoxiously coloured houses... Same old, same old. It drove Alfred insane, he was never able to stand the peacefulness of it all, everything in (think of town name later) was so... unimaginative. It

Stephen King is a contemporary writer who has written many books in his lifetime. In his novel Misery, he discusses the consequences or bad sides of being famous. This normal average man, other than being a world famous author, acts as a regular individual in his daily life. In Stephen King’s Misery, King uses Paul Sheldon, as a doppelganger of himself to describe the horrors of being a famous person in the worst situation, showing readers that it is not so bad to be a regular person.