My book, "The boy at the top of the mountain" by John Boyne, ends with Pierrot at a camp for soldiers from the Axis Powers. He then gets released and gets a job working on a boat. He makes some friends, but leaves to become a teacher. He teaches for a few years until he runs into some childhood friends, convincing him to revisit his birthplace. He visits, and he tells his story to his deaf friend, who is now an author, and he turns it into a story. The most valuable lesson in the story is how even though he got brainwashed, he eventually realized he was wrong, and decided to admit it. The lesson to learn is that you should admit your mistakes instead of covering them up, leading to more and more mistakes. In the story, Pierrot says, "You might get mad at me after I say this. In fact, you might want to kill me. But it's all true, and I know I messed up" (Boyne, Pg. 184). The reason people should still read this book today is so they find out how easy the German people were brainwashed, and how to avoid being brainwashed by a leader like HItler. In the book, it states, "We were all brainwashed so easily, maybe we should have thought more about what we were doing" (Boyne, Pg. 176). This is why I think others should read this book.
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My book is "The boy at the top of the mountain" by John Boyne. The book is about a boy whose parents die, so he moves to Germany to live with his aunt. He ends up living in Hitler's House. At first, he had more pride in the French, but Hitler influences him and makes him believe Germany is the rightful ruler of the world. Eventually, he becomes a mini-Hitler and gets too powerful. Once the war is over, he is alone in the house. American soldiers come in and find him, and take him to a camp where he lives for more than two years until he is released. Afterwards, he gets multiple jobs, but ultimately moves back to his childhood home. I would recommend this book to a reader because it is very interesting and there are many parts that will keep you on the edge of your seat. A current day connection to World War II is how right now in the War in Syria, many civilians are getting killed for something they didn't cause. This relates to World War II because many Jews, Poles, Slavs, and others were killed even though they did not harm anyone.
My book is “The boy at the top of the mountain” by John Boyne. The story takes place in Germany, in the house of Adolf Hitler. The time period in the book is World War II, just like what happened in real life during that time. The proof that the book takes place during World War II is proven in this quote from page 76, “We must get revenge on the puny countries that unfairly defeated us in the first World War by winning in this war. The book compares to the real-life events because it talks about the creation of the concentration camps, the Holocaust, how Germany lost, and how Hitler died. On page 208, the author states, “Each one will be surrounded by an electrified wire fence … soldiers will be placed at guard towers ready to shoot … to try to escape will be suicide.” On page 241, John Boyne states, “Hitler had put a gun to his head (and killed himself).” Most characters in the book had great German pride, due to the fact that they lived with Hitler. Some characters were secretly French or British, and tried to poison/kill Hitler. Also, just like in real life, citizens of Germany were brainwashed and convinced that Germany was doing a good thing with concentration camps and starting another war.
Introduction
Imagine there a is dog walking down your street on a cloudy rainy day. This dog is matted and wet and walks with his head down ignoring his surroundings. Most people would see this dog and think’ “Aw, that poor doggy. I wish there was something I could do.” Then, you go on your day and the dog slips from your mind. Well here’s the deal, you can help. I know, it’s shocking, but it’s the truth. There are 70 million homeless cats and dogs currently living in the United States (Pepelko, 2018) while there are only 554,000 homeless people in America (Weber, 2018). This becomes more shocking when you find out there are 159.8 million total cats and dogs in America (ASPCA, unknown) and over 325.8 million people in America (WorldOMeters, 2018). I know in this world you need to take care of yourself, but at some point we need to take care of our four-legged friends as well. I personally feel compelled and passionate about this issue because I have two dogs who were both strays as puppies and were rescued in near death situations with their litters. To even imagine my dogs scared and alone out on the streets makes my stomach churn, a lump form in my throat, and tears spring to my eyes. I think most pet owners would agree when I say that seeing your pet in distress or need is gut-wrenching and heart-shredding stuff. Others should care about this issue for two main reasons. The first reason is that say if your pet was abandoned and homeless you would want people to show empathy and help so you should do the same. Secondly and finally, we need to protect this world and everything on it. You should always show compassion towards others and especially to animals, because they can’t speak up for themselves in times of struggle. The Issue The issue is that not everyone takes care of their pets. 6.5 million animals go into pet shelters every year. Out of those pets, 3.2 million pets are adopted each year (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Out of the remaining pets, 1.5 million get euthanized. Because of people not taking care of their pets, more than a million pets get killed. If this number increases, then eventually 5 million pets will die a year because they don’t have a home. This problem is caused by irresponsible pet owners or people who don’t have enough time to take care of their animals. In addition, if you don’t watch your pet, it can run off and then not have a home. This issue is causing too many animals to get euthanized. These animals can still live and help people, but since they don’t have a home, the animal shelters get crowded, and a lot of animals have to get killed in order to make space for other animals. Also, some people can’t handle the responsibilities of owning a pet, so they have to give it up. This issue obviously affects the animals that don’t have a place to live. It can affect people who don’t want a lot of animals roaming the streets at night. It would be very difficult to drive if you always have to lookout for dogs and cats in front of you. People who work at animal shelters would be affected, because they would be overwhelmed by the number of animals they need to take care of. The Solution What other people are doing to help out this organization is that they are making rescue groups. “These groups rescue any animal that are breed or issue specific” (One Green Planet). Hurricanes in Puerto Rico lasted two weeks. Pilotes came to the rescue and saved 87 abandoned animals (WNCN) In addition a country singer named Miranda Lambert and animal shelter, SCRAPS are working together to help animals in need (KREM2). As Lambert tours different cities she talks about shelters and encourages people to donate. One more thing people are doing to help is in philadelphia animal rescue organizations are trying to make philadelphia a no kill city. “The groups want to make the killing of saveable shelter pets a thing of the past.” (LIVEKINDLY) We could encourage NC to become a no kill area for all shelters. What you can do to help out and solve some of these issues would be simple. One of the solutions would be that you could volunteer. Volunteering would help out the organization and take care of the animals they have. Volunteering could help out more than you think and it would be really useful for the animals in shelters (SPCA) Another way to help would be to adopt a pet. Adopting an animal would stop them from getting euthanized or homeless. You should be responsible about adopting a pet since it would be hard for them to be adopted and then be brought back to a shelter. You could also be a foster parent to a animal. This will help them to not get euthanized. This means you would be taking care of them but not fully adopting them. You could also be a pet advocate. A pet advocate is a person that helps animals that are missing. First you could help them find their home or drop them off a shelter. This would prevent animal shelters getting overcrowded and getting euthanized. If you already have a pet that is a female you should get a spaying and neutering. This is for them to not breed unless you feel responsible enough to take care of more pets. Conclusion There is a lot you can do to help, especially as just one person. You can give money or supplies to animal shelters. Or you could go with an adult to play with the animals. The animals in the shelters really want homes, but having some new toys or someone to play with would be very beneficial to them. You could also collect money and give donations. However, there is less we can do as a big group. Because we are only 13/14 years old, there aren’t many things animal shelters will let us do. We can’t volunteer, and we can’t go visit and play with the animals in a large group. However, we can collect donations to give to a shelter. We would like as many people as possible to donate money that we can give to the SPCA. This will help members of the SPCA get more materials for the animals. With the money donated, they will be able to provide treatments and food for animals staying there. To make people aware of the problem, we plan to have an assembly. It will just take one day for us to present to sixth and seventh graders. We will most likely need around 20 minutes to give our full presentation. We will schedule the sixth grade presentation to take place during second period, and the seventh grade presentation to be in sixth period. Since we will be doing our presentation in the auditorium, the only transportation need is for sixth and seventh grade classes to walk there (we would send an email to the teachers). Poster and a donation box (which would go outside of the cafeteria) would need to be made. It will not be hard to set up, since we wouldn’t be leaving the school. Our goal is to raise $1000. After, we will give all the collected donations to the SPCA. By doing this, our hope is that we will make a difference in the animal’s lives at the SPCA. By donating the money we collect, the SPCA has a little extra money to spend on food and toys. This way, the time the animals spend at the SPCA will be more enjoyable while they are waiting to be adopted. Animals can make great recoveries, but they need your help to do so! Works Cited ASPCA. “Pet Statistics|Shelter Intake and Surrender.” ASPCA. No date. January 29th, 2018.<https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake- and-surrender/pet-statistics> Browder, Cullen. “NC Shelter Kills 99 Percent of Animals, records show.” WRAL. Kelly Hinchliffe (ed.). November 15th, 2012. January 29, 2018. <http://www.wral.com/ nc-shelter-kills-99-percent-of-animals-records-show/11778189/> Cardiff, Emily. “10 Ways to Help End Pet Homelessness.” One Green Planet. February 24th, 2014. January 24, 2018<http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandn ature/10-ways-to-help-end-pet-homelessness/> Carroll, Megan. “Local Animal Shelter get help from Country Super Star”. KREM2. January 31, 2018. January 31, 2018. <http://www.krem.com/news/local/country-star-miranda-lamberts-mission-to-help-homeless-animals-makes-its-way-to-spokane/513188791> Do Something. “11 facts about animal homelessness.” Do Something. January 25, 2018 <https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-animal-homelessness> Flores, Buffy. “Philadelphia to Save Stray Animals with new Shelter Coalition.” LIVEKINDLY. January 30, 2018. January 31, 2018 <https://www.livekindly.co/philadelphia-save-stray-animals-new-shelter-coalition/> Minnick, Beau. “Pets abandoned in Puerto Rico now looking for homes in Raleigh.” CBS: Local News that Matters. October 9, 2017. January 31, 2018 <http://wncn.com /2017/10/05/pets-abandoned-in-puerto-rico-looking-for-homes-in-raleigh/> No Voice Unheard. “Problems-Solutions: Homeless Animals 101.” No Voice Unheard: The Power of Books. January 26, 2018 <http://www.novoicEunheard.org/problems _solutions.html> Pepelko, Kristina. “12 Alarming Facts About Pet Homelessness.” One Green Planet. February 20th, 2014. January 29th, 2018. <http://www.onegreenplanet.org/ animalsandnature/12-alarming-facts-about-pet-homelessness/> Ruecker, Todd.”Starting and Ending a Paper.” University Writing Center. July 2010. January 29th, 2018. <https://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=65898 > Weber, Christopher. “America’s Homeless population Rises for First Time in Years.” U.S.News. Geoff Mulvihill. 2017. January 31st, 2018. <https://www.usnews.com /news/us/articles/2017-12-06/us-homeless-count-rises-pushed-by-crisis-on-the- west-coast> WorldOMeters. “U.S. Population.” WorldOMeters. 2018. January 29th, 2018. <http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/> The issue I am writing about is violence in our community. This relates to our community because anyone could get injured because of the violence in the community. I am interested in this topic because I don’t like to see anyone get hurt. People are affected by this issue because people die or get a massive injury because of these incidents. This past week, a lady was stabbed 6 times and robbed of materials worth about a thousand dollars in a grocery store parking lot. People should care about this issue because they, or their close family and friends, might get affected. Our community can help avoid these issues by dealing with disagreements peacefully instead of using violence.
This I believe - you can always achieve your goals if you put your best effort towards them.
The date is June 15th, 2016. I was at a swim meet, ready to swim my event. As I stood behind the block, I looked around me. I saw my opponents, all five of them. I was ready to swim my 50 freestyle. They called event #32 and I got on the block. “Ready?” the announcer asked. Then, BEEP, and we dove into the water. I started swimming, and after the bubbles cleared, we were all within a foot of each other. Five seconds later, I was a yard behind the other five swimmers. I decided to try not to focus on the swimmers, and just do the best I can. I swam the fastest I could while maintaining my stroke. I focused on what Coach told me, “Fast, short kicks”, “Breathe every three strokes”, “Don’t take your whole face out of the water.” After reaching the end and turning around for the second half, I went right back into the routine, “Fast, short kicks”, “Breathe every three strokes”, “Don’t take your whole face out of the water.” I sped down the pool like a blur, and finished my 50. I waited until the last swimmer was done and then got out of the pool. I went back to my team and they all said I did good, but since the race was so close, the outcome was not known by anyone except the judges. I swam my other events, a 50 backstroke and a 100 freestyle. I won my 50 backstroke by two seconds, and then came in third in my 100 freestyle. Four hours later, the whole team was gathered at the award ceremony to receive our awards. They announced the winners for the first 31 events, and my team, South Fayette Middle School Lions, came in first in 21 of the 31 events. Now for #32. All my tension built up and I was excited to find out who won. Me and my friends got quiet as Coach Matt announced the winner. “In Event 32, 50 Freestyle ages 11-12, First Place is taken by... The swimmer from SFMS, Thanuj Desu!!” I was really excited as the medal meant that the Lions won first place at the meet, with 22 first places out of the 42 events. If I decided to just give up after I fell behind, Our team might not have won the meet. This I believe - You can always achieve your goals if you try your hardest. |
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