Fiona's Tie-Personal Narrative

In the novel Stung by Bethany Wiggins, the main character Fiona faces many obstacles and challenges. In the beginning of the novel Fiona wakes up and has no recollection of what has happened to her. She wakes up in her childhood room with an unfamiliar tattoo on the outside of her hands. This circular tattoo with 10 lines stands for how many times Fiona has been injected with the bee vaccine. What Fiona doesn't know is that she has been in a medically induced coma for 3 years and there is now a wall separating their city of Denver. Once Fiona has woken up, she is confused to why no one in her family is there. She starts rummaging through her old room and became aware that she wasn’t alone, Fiona quickly goes to the bathroom and realizes

A Native American girl was gifted with the ability to dance. At four years old she started lessons on ballet. She was determined to be a great ballerina. Everyone in her tribe saw her as “naturally gifted”. She saw herself as a typical Indian girl and spent part of her childhood on an Osage reservation in Oklahoma.

She said that would be great, but she didn’t know where she had left it tied off. When she was traveling through the woods, she was hitting her head on tree limbs and tree branches. Which then she said she couldn’t even remember where she was heading. He knew what was going on and said that she was having a concussion, he knew all the symptoms and procedures to start working on the concussion.

As a child, Maria’s grandmother told her all about the Osage pride and folktales. As it states in line six of the prompt, Maria thought of herself as a typical indian girl, shy and docile. The only thing that brought her out of her shyness was the passion to dance ballet. Betty Marie was Maria’s real name, but she thought changing her name would help her in her career and sounded more sophisticated since an abundant of other ballerinas changed their names as well. Her last name didn’t change, because she didn’t want to deny her heritage as an Osage native american. Her reputation as a wonderful ballerina spread in her hometown, but was told by one instructor that she didn’t properly learn the basics. So, she had to restart from the beginning. At first she became furious , but realized her technique became better afterwards. Even if an american native, Maria had developed a cognizance to how she grew as a successful

Her father was a drunk, her mother was mentally ill, all she had was her three siblings to struggle with her by her side. Throughout her life she wasn’t given all that she needed, and her parents put her in many dangerous

Josie rebels against the ridiculous rules and regulations of traditional Italian traditions that her Nonna is devoted to. This demonstrates that Josie being torn between the cultures has led to a rift within her family dynamic. Similarly, in Dancing Lessons’ Cindy’s aspiration is to become a dancer, but after she hears her father say that ‘a school teacher [is] a stupid thing to be’, which she aspired to be at a time, she becomes hesitant to express that desire. The cultural tradition of Cindy’s father left her feeling as though her future options are limited. Despite the fact that the pressure in one story sterns from a desire to maintain tradition, and in the other, the source is a fathers expectations in regards to his daughter’s career, it is clear that both characters experience a resembling struggle. In both narratives, the impact that families attempt to exert is the only ever protagonist. It is clear that the importance of this similarity outweighs the superficial

Another person in the group that changes is Fiona also known as Fi. Fi is from a wealthy family, she is noted as the “perfect girl”. Fi seems quite lazy compared to the others disappearing whenever chores need to be done “she looked like she had never done any hard work in her life”; this is due to her family’s wealth. In the beginning Fi is represented as delicate and fragile, as the novel progresses she shows she is now keener to do what others assumed she

Miss Farrell has a wonderful talent that allow her to let you vividly experience the true life of a performer. It is not a surprise that she has this wonderful gift. In fact, a ballerina is naturally a story teller, but instead of using words to illustrate her tale a ballerina will use movements and sounds to tell a story. Farrell does not hold back a single bit of her tragic but fulfilling life from us. She honestly puts her true self into the book showing us the somewhat odd but beautiful quirks in her

It’s a year later and Leah loves ballet. She’s even trying to get some dance classes at her school. All of her football friends took some classes of ballet and loved it as much as Leah so now they’re in ballet too! Leah overall learned how the knowledge that her mom had versus her ignorance that knowledge is always going to win over

Essentials states that historical fiction and bibliographies can make the past come alive and invite readers to immerse themselves in another time and place (p.166). In choosing Fiona’s Lace as part of a classroom collection, this is precisely what I intend to do for my students. The story itself is intriguing for readers of all ages. Concepts including family, strength, and bravery are present throughout the book. In addition, the story details the struggle of Irish immigrants during a significant point in history in a realistic way that is still appropriate for the age range I chose. I believe that Fiona’s Lace is a valuable addition to a classroom collection not only due to the factors previously mentioned but also because it will stimulate

Once this girl started with the drugs, she could not stop. As soon as she tried the first drug, it lead to all of the other drugs and things that she did. Her first time doing the drug was an accident, and she did not know, but she made the wrong choice in continuing to do them. She said it gave her a feeling of belonging and love that she had never felt before. If her parents or her close friends had paid more attention to her, then some of the events that happened would not have happened. Her heavy drug use lead to her runaway from home to the streets, involvement in crime, her prostitution, and her visit to the insane asylum. She found a "best friend" (Chris) - one that would give her drugs - and they decided to runaway and leave their family and friends to start their own shop in San Francisco. They thought they could not handle their parents telling them what is right and what is wrong, but that is what they needed to hear. They were naive in thinking they could live their lives alone without any rules or any authority.

Jaspreana Tobias, a young girl born in the vibrant city of New Orleans, Louisiana, was a child who had grew up around music and rhythm and soul. Born to a family where the last person who was not from New Orleans was born two generations ahead of her, one could assume the rhythm was in her blood. Since she was little and could feel the music, the young Louisianan danced and did so with passion. Though her family loves music and all its counterparts, Jaspreana is the only dancer in the Tobias family tree. In high school, Jaspreana, a determined dancer, tried out for her school’s dance team. Unfortunately she did not make the cut. As any young woman would be, she was disappointed in herself; heart-broken actually. In her mind, she had a great chance at making the team, due to her skillful footwork and elegant grace as a dancer. In her own words, the result of her not making the team was “devastating” as it shook her confidence to the core. On that day, Jaspreana swore she would never try out for another dance team ever again. After months and months of sulking and great disappointment, her love and passion for the art of dancing returned. Not only had it returned, it returned with a new fire which burned deep in her soul. Dancing was her passion and being a professional dancer had been her dream since she could ever even two step to the sound of a simple beat. Jaspreana practiced and practiced. She would dance and think about dancing from the break of dawn until dusk. Finally

The supra described confidence that heightened her performances also accomplished something much greater, which was motivating her to experiment with different, unfamiliar ideas and activities. Some things that can be counted as one of her passions are acting, singing, dancing, biology, ornithology (specifically the evolution of avian flight), reading, writing, and learning. The arts are a major part of this 14 year old who has appeared in 7 musicals, 3 plays, 7 singing recitals and concerts, and 6 dance recitals. These feats were achieved only through perseverance and an exploration of new and different genres of hobbies, for Samantha never would have known that she loved to perform if she hadn’t become truly interested in dance in Connecticut when she joined a ballet and a jazz class at Joni’s Dance Center or half-intrigued with the idea of acting when she auditioned for her school’s production of School House Rock in 4th grade. These specific discoveries influenced her to try out a musical theater group in Las Vegas called Hollywood Kids Academy.

I have talked before about coming from a simple life. That could be a slight understatement as I have never previously attended a ballet, and when the question, “Surely, you’ve all heard of Tchaikovsky, right?” was posed I struggled to recognize the name or any significance to my life. It was not until I heard the musical number of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” that the gears of my mind finally associated it with memory. While the first few notes of the celesta filled the room with carefree delight, I was transported back to the cold, laminated floor of my farmhouse bedroom. Sitting on the gaily-colored rug in the middle of my six feet by seven feet small expanse of space, I remember holding my china ballerina/music box so gently. The object itself is about twenty inches tall. It is a beautiful ballerina in a lavender tutu with matching slippers and a delicate crown of flowers in her hair. The ballerina is perched upon a white cylinder, almost reminiscent of a cake topper, that is embellished with glitter and flowers and all of the pretty works. When the key is turned, the melody flows angelically through my small room, and I feel as if I am not longer present—instead, I am swept away to a wonderous, snowy world with enchanting dancers. My only connection to Tchaikovsky let alone The Nutcracker is a ballerina figurine that I left back home. I did not have a clue what to expect, but I could barely contain my excitement.

Together, Bill and Fiona were happy. They might not have been climbing the corporate ladder, but they were fulfilling their dream. It was a simple life, but it was the life that they had chosen. One day, their happy existence darkened as the cold shadow of cancer appeared on the horizon. Fiona had breast cancer. Bill struggled to make Fiona as comfortable as possible so that she would recover. It broke his heart to see her in so much pain. No matter what he did, Fiona did not seem to get any better.