Olivia's Wonder Book @oliviaescondo-blog - Tumblr Blog

How I felt this Secret Coders cliffhanger was waiting for me...

I definitely warmed up to this book. I have never read a graphic novel and this made me excited to introduce them to the little ones in my family. I’m looking forward to buying it for my little cousins (that way I can also find out how the story ends!)

oliviaescondo-blog

Haha yes!! I felt the same way! Like how is her dad involved?!?

For my final project, I am creating alternate life courses that Steve Harmon could have experienced. I will be creating 4 different paths while using sociological theories to explain how different social factors could influence Steve’s outcome. I think this project is particularly important because it shows how your social position can affect the rest of your life.

How you feel after reading 2 coding books

I’ve never read a graphic novel before Secret Coders and I really did enjoy it. I like all the elements that were included in the story like coding, family issues, and young love. I definitely wasn’t expecting all of that. In the beginning, I did find it a little difficult to follow the speech bubbles and what order they go in but I got a hang of it after the first 10 pages. I feel like this is great for children because it is captivating in the illustrations while also teaching them about binary codes and also having a plot to the story.

I did Exercise 12 and part of Exercise 2. I really enjoyed that Hello Ruby provided activities for the young readers. Its a fun and educational tool that really engages the reader. I think it would have also been fun if the activities had been embedded in the story rather than at the end. Although, I do understand why they made it the way they did. I never would’ve thought there would be books about coding for kids when I was growing up. So cool.

Engles and Kory discuss what they call “triple consciousness” in their article. This is, to sum it up in the best way I understand, a few levels deep. The first level is when an African American person knows he or she is Black. The second level is seeing himself through the eyes of white society. This proposed final level, involves seeing yourself through the white gaze but then altering your behavior to be seen as someone that could be accepted as a whole person. This is the troubling process that Steve was experiencing during his court proceedings. I feel like any person going through something like this would definitely become lost on the true person he is. He can’t act like himself, or maybe he can? He doesn’t know who he is especially because he is being told to act a certain way but then he has to ask himself if he is “acting” or if that is how he really is. It’s like personality inception.

msjess29-blog

- Quote from “Monster” by Walter Myers (pg 281)

This quote from the last page of the book sums ups Steve emotional journey throughout this trial. He was framed as a monster by the prosecutor. His lawyer framed him as an innocent high school kid but she may have not believed in his innocence. Throughout this whole trial, people are telling Steve what he is. He is a criminal, prisoner, young, black, a monster. After the trial ends, Steve has to come to terms with who he really is and accept his mortality.

allieholdridge-blog

I think that this quote speaks volumes of Steve’s internal character and how it was shattered by the fact that no one would believe his innocence. Throughout the entirety of the whole book he is constantly questioning his integrity, which I feel is pretty damaging to a person’s self esteem as well as self worth; because if he really could not find who he was anymore he would become another lost individual always looking for clarity. In retrospect the whole trial was a testament to prove his innocence, which in turn motivated him to look deeper for the person he is striving to be.

oliviaescondo-blog

It’s interesting because I get the sense that Steve was never really sure about the kind of person he was before the whole situation even went down. If the robbery never happened, then would he still feel this way or not? I think his ambivalence about himself made it easier for him to internalize the personifications like criminal and monster. Maybe if he had known better who he was, this thought might not have occurred.

heathernaumann-blog

Steve’s includes this quotes in his journal from his visit from his parents which caught my eye. In the sense that his mother is mourning him as if he were dead can mean a lot of different things. For one, an interpretation can be that she is thinking that he won’t be leaving jail and basically his life is dead. Or the second is a literal interpretation which is that he has the possibility of getting the death sentence for the crime.

- Monster by Walter Dean Myers pg. 157-158

oliviaescondo-blog

I also thought this was interesting. What I think is ironic about it is how Steve’s father is the one who figuratively mourns him in the end. I guess he could never get past this episode in their lives. Reading this makes me want to compare Steve’s mom with Mrs. Darling and see the different types of emotional reactions. But maybe we didn’t really get enough from Steve’s mother’s character in the book?

I could definitely see this song by Kaleo being on the Monster soundtrack. It has a sort of dark, eerie feel that I could see being played in a prison scene. It almost reflects a voice of the prisoners that know there’s nothing they can do to save their souls from their own choices. You can also hear chains in the background that give a sense of entrapment along with the lyrics.

This line is the poster child for exactly what labeling theory explains. If enough people tell a person he is one thing long enough, he will believe he is that thing. Sunset, the kid who brought up the tattoo, has internalized the negative label so deeply that he almost takes some kind of pride in it. He wants people outside of prison to know what he believes he is. Steve, however, feels that this is how other people already see him even though he has not actually been convicted of anything. He has begun to believe what the prosecutor is calling him and if he starts to believe it more strongly, he could end up like Sunset.

She is a creature of extremes, and in particular one of very 'feminine' extremes.

Katherine Schneebaum,

This stuck out to me because I didn’t realize it at all when I was reading. The barren planet, wanting to feed the kids, and the house wife parallels. I didn’t see any of this before. There are many types of femininity in this book and I would say that this is the representative of the 1960′s version of housewives during that time. Maybe it was meant to be somewhat satirical? Or maybe it was the authors way of showing a different type of woman compared to the smart, beautiful Mrs. Murray.

-Picture from US Weekly

I would cast Kerry Washington as Mrs. Murray. She is sophisticated, elegant, professional, and caring. She seems like she would fit the role well. I would, however, had made the whole cast British if I could. For some reason, when I read the book, I felt like all of the characters had British accents so it kind of threw me off guard when they didn’t. The movie may have looked like one of those weird british comedies though......

- Madeleine L’Engle, pg 85

I feel like this could be a minor theme throughout this book. When talking about Charles Wallace, they only know how to describe him as “different” because they don’t quite know how to explain. We also see this happen when they are in CENTRAL central. They can’t quite find an explanation for the transparent column when they first encounter it. There is so much in the world that we don’t know about nor have the explanations for them yet.

Mrs. Murray gently touched Meg's bruised cheek. Meg looked up at her mother, half in loving admiration, half in sullen resentment.

Page 26 Madeleine L’Engle

I thought this quote was interesting because it brought my mind back to Mrs. Darling’s relationship with her kids. It’s an interesting dynamic because Meg loves her mother but is almost jealous of her or wants something more from her. This reminded me of the way that Wendy and the other children also loved their mother but wanted the kiss hidden in the right hand corner of her mouth. The parent-child relationships in many of the stories we’ve read so far seem much more complex than meets the eye, the way they would when children read them.

When reading the story of Peter Pan and watching the movie, Hook, did you ever ask yourself, “Why?” Or “What is the point of this adventure?” I didn’t think of these questions till the ends. Wendy lets her daughter Jane go with Peter knowing that it could be very dangerous. But because she’s been through it already, she understands that it’s something that could change Jane’s life. In reality, I don’t think a mother would be that understanding or lenient about the situation. Because of her own experience she is more prepared to let her family go with Peter. And, according to Spielberg’s film, she is prepared to protect Peter on his greatest adventure yet, staying and growing up.

- Jane Yolen, Lost Girls

Right off the bat I noticed something about Darla. She and Barrie’s original Wendy are very contrasting characters. The second that Darla realizes that she isn’t in her home, she doesn’t stop thinking of her real life. She is constantly comparing smells, sights, and feelings to elements in her life at home. She does not give her imagination over to Peter and Neverland. Wendy on the other hand, almost immediately forgets about reality and her parents when she gets to Neverland. She lives fully in Peter’s world and goes along with all of his games. Darla is not so easily taken in that way. I like this because it is a more realistic way that a person might experience this adventure.

#Adulting for me is right around the corner. I’m currently applying to graduate schools for Occupational Therapy. I’m excited about starting the next chapter of my life but I’m also reluctant to leave my home of the past 4 years. Adulting has always seemed so far away but it is right on my heels and it’s like I can’t decide if I want it to catch up with me or if I want to outrun it. I guess I don’t really have an option in reality haha. I think when most people are worried about being an adult isn’t so much the actual adult part but rather the not knowing of what it is they’ll be doing or how they will get there. Unfamiliarity is something that makes many people anxious but we have to embrace it in order to move forward.

#adulting here i come

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Olivia's Wonder Book