Miranda Esmonde-White's Aging Backwards

The process of aging in not an unfamiliar topic to society and is an inevitable phase of life. Since 2011, the number of older individuals are increasing annually particularly those from the baby boomer generation. The life expectancy has been increasing with people living longer thanks to modern medicine. These occurrences are proof that civilization is growing exponentially, however the process of aging also means that the older individuals are facing dilemmas such as decreased physical functions, financial instability from retirement, and abuse. Even older adults who are independent may face some limitations. To address these issues, Congress has passed several acts to decrease the number of elderly abuse and improve living conditions.

Getting familiar with some of the concepts in chapter ten was new for me. I didn 't really know any of the information in chapter ten at all. I learned a lot in the chapter about a wide range of topics. What I learned will better help me understand people on a daily basis.

Killing is an action that can never be undone. In the novel War Brothers, Sharon E. Mckay examines the impact of this action. War Brothers is a story about four children fighting for survival after their capture by the LRA. During their time in the LRA, they all learn what the true meaning of family is and how you have to look out for not only yourself but others too. There are three characters in the novel that are impacted in different ways by the choice to kill. While the experiences in the LRA influence Tony, Lizard and Jacob differently, it is the decision related to killing that ultimately impacts the individual the most.

The Glass Castle is the story of Jeannette Walls and her family. Constantly short on cash and food, the family lives a nomadic lifestyle. For the first part of Jeannette’s life, her family lives in various mining towns on the West Coast. As Jeannette grew in these towns so did her imagination; she was enchanted by nature and the fantasies her father dreamt up for her and her siblings. Life in the desert ends when Rex 's alcoholism worsens; they leave the desert and relocate to Welch, West Virginia, the town where Rex grew up. Life in Welch is completely different than life in the desert. From their arrival, the Wells are eager to leave. Eventually, circumstances become so awful that the children come to the conclusion that they must leave their parents in order to have stability. Lori and Jeannette set their

Unwind by Neal Shusterman -a New York Times Bestselling Author of The Schwa Was Here- is an interesting read. It’s about a boy, Connor, whose parents want to have him unwound. Unwinding is when a person between the age thirteen and eighteen is cut apart, but is still alive; these parts are given to people in need of a new body part. The novel covers Connor’s journey as he runs from the police to avoid being cut apart by the government. This book has many things to like, things to dislike, and connections to discover, although in my opinion few would enjoy it.

Copper Sun written by Sharon Draper, is an emotional book about a girl named Amari.

Many complications come when transitioning to adulthood. The story “Marigolds” made by Eugenia Collier, it shows all the complications she started to face when she was starting to transition to adulthood. As well it was much harder for her since she was african american during the great depression.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book about a girl named Melinda Sordino. In the beginning of this book the audience meets Melinda as she is the main character and she describes her first day of high school starting with an assembly. Throughout the book you read about her life but she goes back to the past recalling of something that happened at the end of the summer; in a couple of instances she comes across someone that she refers to as “IT”. When reading you don't know who this “IT” is but it is developed over the story by her having flashbacks to that night or dropping a hint of what happened. During a seminar at the beginning of the book Melinda meets someone named Heather who is new and becomes her friend but ultimately leaves her

“The Center Cannot Hold” is written by Elyn Saks who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. In this autobiography Elyn Saks tells her story about dealing with mental illness. She details her journey throughout her childhood and school years. She sets an example of how she moved pass her diagnosis with schizophrenia and used her career to bring attentiveness. She provides a descriptive account of how mental illness, can affect anyone.

Coming of age is an event that everyone must go through. There are many different types of coming of age events that can happen at many different times. Many different stories illustrate the process of coming of age. Through our studies of different texts we have learned that there is no wrong way to come of age. In “Marigolds” the main character Elizabeth Collier came of age by destructing something someone cared about. Collier learned that “(you) cannot have both compassion and innocence”. In the process of destroying her neighbor’s Marigolds, Elizabeth realized that the destruction of beauty can cause pain in others. She began to see the world through another’s eyes, which was a major turning point, a coming of age, in her life. In “Always

This book has encouraged me to do what I want to do. I realized that everything is possible, but to being successful I have to work pretty hard. Randy Pausch, the book writer, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; consequently, he was really concerned about what he were going to do. He had two sons with Jai, his wife. Jai used to encourage him, but when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer he started to think about himself, about what he had been, and about what makes him unique. He believed that the pancreatic cancer made him unique, but he concluded that the cancer did not make him unique because there was no arguing that. More than 37,000 Americans a year are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer alone. Despite his pancreatic cancer, he was really optimistic, but sometimes we got a little problem and we turn into a pretty negative person. We must learn about him. Maybe he was sad or concerned about his pancreatic cancer, but that did not affect him because he

In the book “The Boys Life”: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff takes place from 1955-1965 in Chinook. The book begins with Toby and his mother traveling to Utah to mine uranium. Toby changes his name to Jack to remove his father from his life since his father left them when Jack was born. Jacks mother got remarried after that marriage and got married to a man named Roy. Jack and his mother leaves her abusive husband as they travel up to Utah. As they travel to Washington state. On the road Jack and his mother become really close. Jacks mother starts seeing another man and she thinks that they are going to be different since she always attracts the abusive men. As they started seeing each other she fell in love and he convinced her to move to Chinook

What was your personal reaction to the text? Did you find the reading persuasive? Why or why not?

The glass castle movie turned out to be a good film. It was released august 11th of 2017. Screenplay writer was Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham, and Marti Noxon. There were numerous actors and actresses that appeared on the movie. The 5 main characters is Jeannette walls played by Brie Larson, Lori walls played by Sarah Snook, Brian walls play by Josh Caras, Rex walls played by Woody Harrelson, Rosemary walls played by Naomi Watt and finally Maureen walls played by Brigette Lundy-Paine To me I can personally say I liked the movie. The movie captures most of the scenes that are in the book but does not catch them all. The book had more eventful scenes and scenes that “wowed” me! I love the book it really brings out real life lessons about how we should appreciate what we have in life. If the movie didn 't cut out so many films it would have been a better movie.

Teacup Full of Roses was written in 1987 by Sharon Bell Mathis, an author who was a special education teacher in junior high school in Washington, library media specialist and author of several books for young people. Teacup Full of Roses is ALA notable book written completely in inspirational and emotional manner. By using a lot of family discussion to write her novel, Mathis is able to keep her reader’s attention by conveying her ideas descriptively throughout the whole book.