Karma Book Review

As Mrs. Garrison explained - until about 1980, commercial clubs had been primarily “single purpose’ clubs. Each club offered only one activity, such as tennis or racquetball. Most of those

An 8-year-old boy walked through the streets and constantly saw stabbings and muggings in the crime-ridden streets of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Born to a poor family and surrounded by crime daily. Facing the challenges of living in poverty and being born in a place where most people are statistics. Though his childhood was an insurmountable struggle, he was able to overcome it and become one of the greatest baseball players ever. Played 20 seasons in professional baseball with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox.

Australia and Everest, two different climates, locations, and ways of life, yet people come to both for breathtaking adventure. In sixth grade I found out my family was moving across the world to a city called Wollongong in Australia. Here my adventure began from going to an all girls school to hiking in the Grampians. Everest is a place only a few people want to tackle, but it leaves a memory for all who climb Everest no matter how old. A new adventure is what brings people to places whether it is a city in Australia or the top of the world. In Wollongong, I was scared to start my first day of a new school full of strangers with funny accents in a place I had only dreamed of. My dream and my desire to explore new places came true, and now I have the key to unlock my new adventures. Those people dreamed of climbing Everest and did unlock an exciting but scary truth. I was a girl scared to go

Top students across the nation compete for the title of valedictorian each year, although very few actually receive it. Much to the detriment of the students, the competition can become sophomoric and pointless yet remaining intense and cut throat. In her article, “Best In Class”, Margaret Talbot conveys the message that the competition of valedictorian has unfavorable consequences through her use of diction and testimonies.

The Buddha in the Attic is an emotional novel written by Julie Otsuka in 2011. The novel is unique in the sense that it is written in the first person plural in order to tell the story of many characters simultaneously. There isn’t a set plot except for the chronological stories of multiple picture brides coming to America in the early 1900’s. Each chapter serves as a major section in the women’s lives and assimilation into American culture. The first chapter is titled “Come, Japanese”, which focuses on why the women are coming to America. They describe the decision, sometimes forced, and journey to come to America to meet their new husbands. Many did not necessarily want to come, but they were promised a better life by their husbands, and most of the families of each wife received some sort of endowment money. One of the wives’ said that she was forced to go to support her family, while her older sister was working at the local geisha house just to put food on the table. They described the crowded conditions and long journey of the boat ride, as well as the cliques made and friendships formed on the voyage. All they knew of their husbands at this point was from a letter that was usually not written by the husband, as well as a picture, which was usually of a different person. Each woman’s story was different, and they all had different motives for coming to America, whether to seek a better life or better yet, forget about their previous life in Japan. They all had

Nana and learns to think differently about her parents. She witnesses an Indian killed because

The book I read was 13 Minutes. It was written by Sarah Pinborough. It was 343 pages long.

For my book review I read, Beyond the Burning Time, by Kathryn Lasky. This story perfectly relates to what we are reading in class. Virginia Chase, Mary Chase, and Caleb Chase are all main characters within the book. Virginia is the mother of both Caleb and Mary. The husband of Virginia, Jacob Chase, passed away and was not present throughout the story unless talked about. Mary and Virginia live on their farm and for the beginning of the story Chase is an apprentice so he is not home. The story takes place through 1692-1693 in Salem, Massachusetts.

Somaly Mam, The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine (New York: Random House, 2009).

“When a rule is enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. He is regarded as an outsider.

Sumayyah is a very interesting person. She was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and she was the first person in her family to be born in America. She has a large family with 8 siblings (not including herself). Her family is from South Africa, but her race is mixed with many European nationalities such as Ireland and England. Sumayyah is an English enthusiast. “I love writing for fun. I am even writing my own book.”

The story starts pre-revolution, while Marji, the main character is 6 years old. She has a concrete grasp of her identity, even though very elementary and childish . At this age she only has one goal in her mind: "At the age of six, I was already sure I was the last prophet." (6 Satrapi). She has clean-cut idea of what she wants to do, which is to not discriminate on a class basis: "I wanted to be a prophet because our maid did not eat with us" (6). Also, Marji she wanted to ease her grandmother’s suffering : " ...and above all because my grandmother's knees always ached" (6). Marji even attempts to be an avid religious fanatic. She imagines god as her friend, guiding her as she goes and even tries to go and tries and helps her cope with her ideas that she is

“Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant – in the blink of an eye – that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. The book deals with the smallest components of our everyday lives—the content and origin of those instantaneous impressions and conclusions that spontaneously arise whenever we meet a new person or confront a complex situation or have to make a decision under conditions of stress.

Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always (1992) is a fantasy novel set The Holiday House in the 1990’s. Important settings in this text are In the backyard of The Holiday House, The world outside The Holiday House, and The Attic of The House.

An event that has relation to war today is the tension in the northern region of India, Punjab, where the Sikh holy book was ripped up and thrown. Many Sikhs gathered in a peaceful protest, trying to bring to justice the people who were responsible, but the police ended up shooting and killing two peaceful protestors. Simran Jeet Singh, is one of the authors, who writes on this topic. He takes up this topic, because it represents part of the unjust that happened to Sikhs in 1984 where they were killed and murdered in the thousands by the Indian government. Singh says, “I was born in the United States in the summer of 1984, during the height of the anti- Sikh violence in Punjab” (Singh 1). He goes on to say how he feels the pain of his Sikh brothers and sisters who were killed in the year 1984, for their religious beliefs. Background about Singh shows us the importance of mediated narratives, as they show that Singh is trying to raise awareness about the issues going on in Punjab in an attempt to try to avoid the destruction that happened in 1984. Another one of these authors is Nirmala Ganapathy, who is part of The Straits Times. She takes up the same interest as Singh, as she works to raise awareness on the issues affecting her homeland of India. She writes about why Sikhs have been blocking major roads in India and the influence this has. Her curiosity is what has