The Book in Search of April Raintree

Betty’s temporary time as a model again ended abruptly. The agency told her that the campaign was moving to Europe but in actuality, the company was only interested in her husband, Don. The company had no intention of signing Betty as a model. Her dreams started to come true but were taken away from her suddenly. She told her husband that she decided she wanted to spend more time at home, which is a lie. You know this is a lie because she immediately goes out to the backyard and starts to shoot doves with a BB gun. April’s outcome differs from Betty’s because she takes her dreams into her own hands, she doesn’t let other people decide for her. April wants to go to Paris and she takes all the necessary steps to go. She gets visas and Frank goes in to quit his job until he is offered a promotion that he cannot refuse. Frank thinks to himself, asking himself why he doesn’t want to go to Paris, “Besides: why think of accepting Pollock’s money as a mere compromise solution, an enforced making-the-best-of things until the renewal of her ability to support him in Paris? Didn’t it have the weight and dignity of a plan in its own right?” (Yates 221) The Wheeler’s end up staying in their home and never go to Paris. April is disappointed. The outcomes of both these women’s dreams are different. Betty chooses to give up her dreams while April is forced to give up her dream of living in Paris and getting a

William joins the military and while he’s gone Margaret invites William’s mother Mrs. Anglin and brother Marshall to her parents’ house for dinner, which doesn’t go well because Mr. and Mrs. Ryder refuse to sign in an even more awkward silence. William comes back injured but not crippled and they live with her parents until he’s accepted into college. Margaret’s parents are sad to see her go but as soon as they can they go see her and it was unannounced. Margaret’s parents are very upset to see the place where she’s living and go to sign how upset they are that William hasn’t provided better for their daughter. Her parents never visit her again. The next time Margaret sees her parents is when she’s very pregnant to let them know that they’ll be grandparents. Lastly William and Margaret move into better housing where they will raise their child till William graduates from college. Margaret and William invite everyone to their baby shower after the birth of their son and her parents show up after everyone has gone. Margaret is upstairs with her son and William answers the door and her parents surprise her. When they see each other all the turmoil between them is gone and they enjoy each other’s company. The movie ends with Janice’s retirement party where Abel, Margaret, William and their son go and Janice’s signs a speech that Margaret

April was forced to wear very ugly clothing to school.  Mrs. DeRosier also wasn't sending the mail that April was sending and receiving from Cheryl.  Jennifer, a former friend of April helped her out in both of these areas.

During Carla’s wedding, the couple recites their own vows to each other. They also try to kiss after every word the preacher says. It is very humorous in and innocence type of way. Carla’s mother comes to the wedding at the end. Elizabeth now shows support for her and Daniel. Daniel has a gift to give Carla at the end. The complete marching band including color guard and majorettes from Daniel’s School plays and marches in a parade down the street in front of the car the couple is sitting in. The movie concludes with a happy ending.

“When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” This beginning to the novel “Ellen Foster” by Kaye Gibbons, prepares readers to enter the world of one of the most influential and appealing young woman protagonists in modern fiction. Ellen Foster, the main character of the book by Gibbons, is, in my view, the most fascinating and remarkable character in the story. Readers are introduced to the narrator Ellen, a determined, yet mature and individualistic eleven-year-old, who lives in the South during the 1970s. She lives with an alcoholic father and a sick mother. Ellen must go through many hardships and face much trauma, when she foreshadows her mother’s death and the long journey in front of her by saying that a storm is coming- “I can smell the storm and see the air thick with the rain coming.” (p.7). Young Ellen must go through much more than the average child her age, but she knows that she will get her happy ending. After dealing with her abusive father and depressed mother, Ellen deserves to go to a happy family, one that will accept her with smiles on their faces and joy in their eyes. Even if it means jumping from foster home to foster home, from a cruel grandmother to a condescending aunt and cousin, Ellen will find the people that will love her, even if it means first having to go to those who don’t.

Ann M. Martin’s latest heartwarming novel, Rain Reign, focuses on Rose Howard, an eleven year old girl with Asperger's syndrome who is positively obsessed with homonyms. She lives in Hatford, New York, with her single father and pet dog, Rain. But, when Hurricane Susan hits the city, Rose finds herself trapped in her house with her father and Rain nowhere to be found. Rose and her father find out that they have to make some tough decisions and sacrifice for the ones they love. One of the main lessons that Rain Reign provides is the idea that if you love somebody, you have to be willing to let them go.

April Raintree written by Beatrice Culleton is an inspiring story set during mid to late 20th century about two Métis sisters who struggled against social prejudice. As they grew up through many hardships trying to uncover their unique identity in society, the two sisters discovered the world in two entirely different perspectives. Though they planned to stay together as they grew up, the changing personalities in addition to the distinct beliefs about their Métis heritage separated them not only from society but from each other as well. However in the end, the story’s tragic, yet surprising ending disclosed the death of one of the sisters. The novel April Raintree exhibits how the communication barrier and social beliefs of the two

("Mary realized the letter effectively closed the door on her college aspirations. She had already completed sixteen hours of college credits and would get no closer toward graduation."pg.17) They both are loving and supporting to their kids and wanted the best by trying to get them to avoid the violence they had around their neighborhood. But without their Mothers guide they couldn’t follow the right path growing up. Joy gets married but has to end up leaving Bill due to his drug addiction and violent abuse. Soon after, she meets and marries Westly and has two children with him. Westly dies so Joy ends up moving back in to the Bronx with her family. Marys' husband dies when Moore was young. They were both similar because they lived in Baltimore and had to raise their boys without a father figures. Mary responds cruelly when she discovers that Wes is managing drugs, vindictively flushing a great many dollars of medications that Wes intended to sell down the can. Moore's dismissal of Riverdale and poor scholastic exhibitions puts a critical strain on his association with his mom,

She opens the door to her childhood, beginning with when she was 3 years old and boiling her own hot dog by standing on top of the chair to reach the stovetop. While doing that, her pink dress catches on the fire because of which gets her horribly burned. She spends a few days in the hospitals and enjoys it too, because she is getting food on time and is not left starving. One day her dad shows up and they run off out of the hospital without paying the bills of her treatment. That night her family leaves the town and move to another place, taking as much stuff as possible with them. Most of her childhood memories involve her whole family- mom, dad, Jeanette, Lori, Brian, and later on Maureen -moving from one desert towns to another, settling in as long as her dad can hold the job. This happened more frequently due to the dad’s alcoholism coupled with his paranoia about the organized society and the state. One of the towns they stayed in was Battle Mountain, Nevada, where they spend a few months. Jeanette and her brother Brian spent many hours exploring the desert and collecting rocks. Even their mother got a job as a teacher and

The Canadian novel ‘Crow Lake’ by Mary Lawson, published in 2002, was awarded in Canada as First Novel Award in the same year it was published and won the McKitterick Prize in 2003. The author Mary Lawson was born and brought up in a small farming community in southern Ontario. After graduating from McGill University, she moved to England in 1968. She still lives there with her husband and sons, though she returns to Canada every year. The story took place in a small town called Crow lake in northern Ontario. In this book Kate Morrison, the main character, leads the reader through her journey for healing from past mistakes dealing with her family. At the beginning, Kate who is seven, and her siblings Luke, Matt, and Bo, experienced a tough time surviving after their parents were killed in a car crash, which impacted them for the rest of their lives.

Her first day doesn’t start off nice and normal as she wanted it to. Crystal Jamison a supposed witch and member of one of Clearwater’s founding families runs into her and she spills her coffee all over Crystal. Through this encounter she meets golden boy Owen Marsh who offers her his sweater and she later meets all his friends.

April Raintree was a strong independent girl growing up who took care of her younger sister Cheryl going in and out of different foster homes. They attended in a few different residential schools all with the same rules, same type of people. April was full “Indian” with a lighter skin colour than her sister Cheryl did not care about her race, skin colour or what others thought, quite confident and to be proud and be strong about her and her family all at one point before entering foster homes. April and Cheryl got separated but never lost touch with one another up until April got married and moved away to live a life she always dreamed of, to be rich, pretty and live the “white life” so she can not feel embarrassed anymore. It has been two years since the sisters been in touch and Cheryl told April; “ Look, April, you’ve changed a lot and I

She looks forward to moving away like others in her town. She admits she will not be missed at her job and at nineteen, without the former protection of her older brothers, she is beginning to feel "herself in danger of her father's violence.” This danger she sees is taken away when she meets her suitor, the sailor, Frank who promises her a better life away from these hardships she has faced.

Maria Campbell’s autobiography Halfbreed is a moving story about a young Native girl’s battle to survive, in coming to terms with the past and in discovering a way to build a brighter future in an atmosphere of social abuse and viciousness. Campbell is the oldest daughter of seven children, and was born in northern Saskatchewan. Within the book, she points out the differences between the Native people and the whites, as well as those of status Indians with non-status Native people. Both whites and full-blooded Native people rejected her due to her designation as a non-status Native, otherwise known as Metis. Filled with a strong feeling of resentment and anger, Campbell’s search for self-identity and her struggle to overcome the poverty, discrimination, and cruelty experienced by Metis individuals are described within the novel. When Campbell was twelve, her mother passed away. As a young girl, she was forced to give up school and take on the role of the mother to her younger siblings. At fifteen years old, Campbell felt obligated to marry in order to prevent her younger brothers and sisters from being taken away from her and her father. Unfortunately, her diligent work and good intentions did not keep her family together. Her spouse, a white, abusive alcoholic, reported her to the welfare authorities, and her siblings were taken away and placed in foster homes. Her husband chose to take his family to Vancouver, where he abandoned her and their newly born child.

The Film follows the character of Joanna, who was a very successful woman, a TV producer, but unfortunately lost her Job. After loosing her job, her husband decides to get out of the city, and moves their family to a town called Stepford. When they get to Stepford, Joanna and Walter get the tour of the perfect suburb by Claire. The houses are all beautiful, the yards are perfect, ect. They are shown the men’s association, and the Stepford day spa. This is where we find out how perfect all the wives are. Joanna and Walter go to a picnic where one of the wives starts to spark, and Joanna tries to call a hospital, but no one will let her. This is also when Joanna meets Roger, and Bobbie, who are not perfect like the other wives. Joanna, Roger, and Bobbie decide to investigate a little. They go