YA Book Reading Response

“Will Grayson, Will Grayson” by David Levithan and John Green is a book written from two people’s voices: two completely different teenage boys, both named Will Grayson. The two Will Graysons meet one strange night, and their lives intertwine. Although the story is written through the eyes of both Will Graysons, the story wraps around Tiny Cooper, Will Grayson #1’s best friend, and Will Grayson #2’s boyfriend. Tiny Cooper is a force that brings both Will Graysons’ lives together.

Both of the Will Graysons’ bond over their love for Tiny Cooper. The Will Graysons have a connection, although they are completely different people, they often know what the other is feeling and feel the same things at the same times. For example, when Will Grayson #1 was mad at Tiny, Will Grayson #2 and Tiny broke up, and when Will Grayson #1 and Tiny became friends again, Will Grayson #2 and Tiny got back together. The story wraps around Tiny and Tiny is a force that brings the Will Graysons together, and bring the story together.

Argument Essay

Lulu Tenney 807

            The article, “Guess Who’s Looking at Your Facebook Page?” is about how college admissions officers and employers are looking at students’ and employees social media pages before accepting them into a college or job. The real question is: should employers be allowed to look at employees’ social media pages as a background check before accepting them into a job? I don’t think that they should have the right to look at employees’ social media pages before accepting them into a college or job because I believe it is a complete invasion of privacy.

            I don’t think that it’s ethical not to accept someone for a job just because of what’s on their Facebook page. Someone could be a great worker: focused, engaged, and hardworking, but may be a person outside of work who is spontaneous, crazy, and fun; or someone who states their opinion on their social media account. I think that people should be able to post what they want in the privacy of their social media account, without it poorly affecting their profession. In the article, it gives the example of Emma Sullivan, who tweeted a comment about the governor of Kansas when she was a senior in high school, and now that it’s all over the internet, she potentially has lower chances of getting a good job. It was her private account, and because her principal saw the silly tweet she tweeted in high school, it could ruin her chances of success as an adult. Should these people really have the right to ruin your life based on one immature thing you put on your social media page?

            In conclusion, I don’t think that college admissions officers and employers should be allowed to look at students’ and employees’ social media accounts and accept or deny them based on what’s on their account. Some people may disagree, but I think that private life and work life should be kept as two different things, and that private life shouldn’t affect work life, and work life shouldn’t affect private life.

“Faithful Elephants” Reading Response

Lulu Tenney 807

“Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War” by Yukio Tsuchiya is about a war in Japan that forced the zookeepers at the Ueno Zoo to starve three loved elephants: John, Tonky, and Wanly to death, so that if bombs were dropped on the zoo, the elephants wouldn’t escape and run wild in the streets. I believe that the cherry blossoms represent the different stages of the war.

The cherry blossoms are first mentioned in the first line, “the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the Ueno Zoo. Their petals are falling in the soft breeze and sparkling in the sun.” This line starts the story, so it shows us right from the beginning, that the cherry blossoms are an important part of the story. The cherry blossoms are first mentioned being “in full bloom” which shows the start of the war because the cherry blossoms are fresh. The story is beginning, the cherry blossoms are just blooming, and the war is just starting.

 Although the cherry blossoms aren’t specifically mentioned in the middle part of the book, another metaphor is introduced that is similar to the feeling of the cherry blossoms. It says, “Bombs were dropped on Tokyo everyday and night, like falling rain.” This comparison of bombs and rain are similar to the different comparisons to the cherry blossoms. This line shows the readers the middle of the war, or the climax of the story. This line also shows how devastating the war is and foreshadows that soon, something big will happen due to the war.

The third time the cherry blossoms are mentioned, it says, “He was still patting the tombstone tenderly as the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” This is the last line, and it compares the cherry blossoms to snowflakes, which represents the end of the war and the story. Also, the snowflakes represent the death of the elephants and the sadness of the zookeepers.

The first and last line of the story connect to each other. In the first line “the petals are falling in the soft breeze and sparkling in the sun” and the last line “the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” These lines show the beginning and end of the war and story. The images of cherry blossoms and rain reflect the idea of war, the passing of time, and the sadness of loss.