Perks of Being a Wallflower

Maya Mrs. Huff Per.5 The novel The Perks of being a Wallflower is written by Stephen Chbosky in letter form. Back in 7th grade my sister would always tell me how fantastic this book was. I was never a big fan of reading but I decided to give the book a shot. Once I opened this book I could not put it down. When you read this book you really jump in and in many ways relate to the story. This book is happy yet very sad but, is overall an amazing story. Charlie is a teenage boy at high school who sends letter about his life to a person he has never met. Charlie discusses his hardship to this person which includes his two best friend's death; his Aunt and his only friend Michael. He is a lot different than everyone around him. His brother is super athletic and his sister has a big mouth. Charlie is embarrassingly shy about everything and finds it difficult to make friends. One day Charlie goes to the homecoming game where he would meet people who would forever change his the way he lived. Charlie meets a boy named Patrick who is loud; Patrick introduces Charlie to his step-sister Sam. Charlie gets introduced to drugs and finds out people like him for him. He mostly connects with his friends threw mix-tapes with his favorite songs on them. He then meets a girl named Mary Elizabeth who loves him but, he doesn't feel the same w ay. When Mary Elizabeth is told Charlie doesn't have the same feelings it brings conflict between him and all his friends. Charlie befriends one of his teachers who shares similar interests with him. Charlie one day over-doses on drugs and wakes up in the snow only to realize what he has become. Charlie realizes what he has done but tries to continue living his life. The ending will definitely bring tears to your eyes but warmness to your heart. One quote that stood out to me in this story was when he wrote in his letter, "It's kind of like when you look at yourself in the mirror and you say your name. And it gets to a point where none of it seems real. Well, sometimes, I can do that, but I don't need an hour in front of a mirror. It just happens very fast, and things start to slip away. And I just open my eyes, and I see nothing. And then I start to breathe really hard trying to see something, but I can't. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it scares me." This quote was very powerful because it defined how he really felt. This quote is very deep and it made me think very long and hard until I understood which is why I love it. Overall I give this book give this book a complete five out of five cassettes ( ) because it was a very easy read. I didn't feel like I was forced to read this novel I actually wanted to take in every sentence of it. I would strongly recommend this book to people who enjoy reading realistic- drama books. This book is something everyone can relate to in a different way. It is the perfect amount of happiness and sadness. And the best part about this is that it doesn't sugar coat anything it is like reality. If you are going to read this brace yourself for tears!

Jeserine
Period 2/English
September 16, 2009

    Go Ask Alice by Anonymous is a great book and became one of my favorite books.  I chose this book because is filled with many twists. It's not like other books because it isn't in chapters. The entire book is written in a diary form. I've read many books before, but I decided  this a good  book to read since it's based on a true story.  My older sister showed me this book. She told me what it was mainly about and it caught my attention. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it back down. If you like shocking stories, I encourage you to read this book.
    This book is an actual diary written by an anonymous 15 year-old girl. She felt as if her life was going  wrong. She has issues with her crush Roger , her parents, and she worries about her weight. Then her father got a job offer as a college professor at a new school. The teen get's excited and decides to clean up her life. Once the family moves, everyone seems to enjoy their new home while she feels like she doesn't fit in. After meeting her Jewish neighbor, Beth, things became easier for her. Then summer came, she went off to her grandparents' home. While she was with her grandparents, she met up with her old friend Jill. Jill invited her to a party where the troubled teen is introduced to drugs. There, she  lost her virginity to a guy at the party she barely knew. After that, she promises she wouldn't do drugs again. She goes back home and meets a hippie girl named Chris at a thrift store. She tries drugs again, and she even begins to start selling them for her new  boyfriend, Richie. Richie turns out to be gay, having an affair with Chris's boyfriend, Ted. After that, her and Chris run away to San Francisco where her and Chris get raped. They both return home and she goes to a psychiatrist. Instead of staying away from drugs, she continues to use them and runs away to Denver.  There, she met a girl on the streets named Alice, who was going through a situation similar to hers. After living a drugged life, she realizes she should go back home. The teen began improving her self-esteem and lost contact of drugs. Her dad introduced her to a guy names Joel. He makes a great impact in her life, and changed her thoughts in life. There's more, but the ending will have to be a surprise.
     "I'm partly somebody else trying to fit in and say the right things and do the right thing and be in the right place and wear what everybody else is wearing. Sometimes I think we're all trying to be shadows of each other..." This quote shows how she is lost in the world and is struggling to fit in with the crowd. She doesn't know how to be herself yet. This quote is significant because in the whole book, she has trouble filling in her own shoes. As she tries harder and harder to fit in, she doesn't realize that she is living below the influence. I chose this quote since it explains how and why she began doing drugs.
      I give the book five 'under the influence' symbols because this is an outstanding book. The symbols represent how she constantly follows the crowd and doesn't do the right thing. She get's addicted to drugs, has sexual orientation, and even runs away from home. I chose that symbol also because it shows that she has done something inappropriate and unnecessary. It's rated with five 'under the influence' symbols also because even though she does drugs, it is still has a touching story.
      I recommend this book if you enjoy reading daring and mysterious books, this is the right one to chose. This book can inspire many people. They can relate to the story and learn a good lesson just by reading it. Go Ask Alice can also help teens stay away from drugs and not give into negative peer pressure. Even though this is an amazing book, it involves lots of drugs and sexual content. It may also be too inappropriate for younger children. Go Ask Alice is a perfect book for teens going through trouble, and even parents with teenage kids!


                

   
 

Go Ask Alice-Jerri White

Jerri White

English Period 2

November 12, 2008

Go Ask Alice

In this Blog I'm going write about Go Ask Alice. The other of this book in anonymous but it's from a real girl's diary a while ago. This wasn't my first time reading it though, I read it in sixth grade, but I think it's a really interesting, deep book. I've already read about 7 books since this school year has started and I think that this has been the best hence me picking it. Out of all the books I have read this one teaches you lessons and shows that you can't escape your life with drugs, things will only backfire on you worse.

The main character is a high school girl who is moving to a new city for her dads work. She doesn't care that much because she didn't really have much friends at he r school in the first place. Once she moves to the new city she makes new friends and ends up doping drugs and selling them. Then she runs away to Frisco and makes a little boutique there with her friend then they finally come back home. Though she runs away a couple times after. She finally wants to get back on track but she afraid everyone is going to think she still sells and she wants to be good and have people think or her as a good girl and not a druggie. She ends up having to go to the hospital and rehab after having acid without even knowing. All she did was eat a peanut. She freaks out and all she can think about is worms eating her and the baby she was baby sitting. After getting out of rehab she tries to but everything in the past again but I guess it wasn't that easy… if you want to know the rest you're just going to have to read it.

"After you've had it, there isn't a life with out drugs" I bet you have seen this quote before. Im going to explain the significance of it though. Once you read the whole book and you go back to that quote it really makes you think. It can defiantly be true because you can tell as hard as she tried to quit she would get sucked back in to doing drugs. It really sad but this whole book is completely true. It s too bad to because she had to be afraid of the kids who used to be her druggie friends. She never knew if they would slip a drug into her lunch or her locker, even to one of her little siblings. It shows that you can't get into drugs and say "im only doing it this one time." I guess if you really do committee to your word, and stay committed but once you get started how do you stop?

These are needles. One of the objects she used when doing drugs. Does that seem horrible to inject a drug with such a scary looking object? To rate this book out of 6 needles I would use all six. I think it's such a great book and shows that drugs aren't all happy. In the real world out side of your high the people you love are growing upset and distant from you and you just love off drugs and forget the real world. Before you think of picking up that illegal drug, go and read this book.

I recommend this book to anyone started in 5^th grade. It's grade to learn ahead of time about this things. This book really sucks you in and makes you want to just keep turning the page and see what will happen next and if she will end up okay. I also think it opens a new door to true life books that are reall y intense, this book was the book that made me start reading all the time. If you haven't read it check it out in our library right now!