Shiloh

I have just completed a book called Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. This book made me feel sad and happy, I felt sad because of the way Judd treats his dogs, and how Shiloh got hurt by the big German Shepherd. I felt happy when Marty got Shiloh. I have a connection to my life, it didn't really happen to me, but it's happened to a person in my family, the connection is about my three cousins who live in Beijing buying a dog. My cousin Merrie's friend got a dog from a friend of their's, but her sister was alergic to dogs, so they sold it, and my cousins bought the dog from her, all three of them paid for the dog, Jenny and Katherine payed the same amount, but Merrie payed the most, because she really wanted it. So now the dog is Jenny, Katherine and Merrie's, but it's mostly Merrie. And they named the dog Toto. It relates to the book because Marty work very hard for Shiloh, and Merrie used lots of her own money to buy Toto. This is a just right book because, I can understand the whole book, make connections, and I can really understand the characters feelings.

Marty changed a lot, because at first he told lies to everyone, because he wanted to keep Shiloh alive, so he built a pen for him, and he keeps on bringing Shiloh food from dinner, he changed from not lying, to lying, and then back to not lying. He started to lie because he loved Shiloh so much, and really wanted to keep him alive, and he knew that if he told his parents, they would make him give Shiloh back. Another character that changed was Shiloh, the dog of Judd, Judd treated all his dogs very mean and cruel, and Shiloh keeps on running away, Shiloh changed a lot because, at first, he didn't trust Marty at all, Shiloh was even scared to get close to Marty, but then after he got to know Marty more, Shiloh knew that Marty was nice, he is not mean, so he began to trust Marty and love him. Shiloh changed because of Marty, he found out Marty really loved him by what he does to him, and not eating his meals to save it for him.

The problem of the story is, Marty really wanted Shiloh, but then he can't keep it because it's Judd's. The problem was resolved when Marty made a deal with Judd that if he works for him, for 2 weeks, then he can get Shiloh. Marty worked very hard because he really wanted Shiloh, and he will do anything to get him, and after working 2 weeks for Judd, Marty got Shiloh. I want to change the part when Marty's mom offers to buy Shiloh, because it does not make any difference if she said that or not, so I would change that to something more interesting, instead of her mom offering to buy Shiloh. I think the author's message is, that even though you really want to do something for someone really badly, you can't lie, you always have to be honest.

The Mum Detective

I just finished a book called The Mum Detective, by Gwyneth Rees. This book was very exciting, because lots of different things happened, like Matthew and his girlfriend Jenny ran away, and how mad and sad both of their dads got, when Esmie thought that the dead body in the allotment was Jenny's mother, and Jenny was very mad that she said that her dad was dangerous. My connection is that I have a Crime Busters book, just like Esmie, and I really like to read it, and Esmie does too, she even has a kit to go with it, so she can test out different things. This connection helped me understand more about how exciting it is to read the book, and test things out. This book is a just right book for me because I understood the whole book, and I can picture it out in my head.

One character that changed is Jenny, she change from very nice to mad and mean to very nice, at the end and the beginning Jenny was lots of fun and always let Esmie try on different things in her room, but then Jenny changed in the middle of the book because Esmie said that her dad was dangerous. Esmie thought Jenny's dad was dangerous because she thought that he killed Jenny's mom. But then she found out that it was someone else. After Esmie apologized for saying something that was not true, Jenny forgave her and she became really nice again. Another character that changed was Lizzie. Lizzie is Esmie's dad's girlfriend, at first she was very afraid to tell Esmie about herself, but at the end Lizzie became fun and was very outgoing. She changed because once Esmie spied on her, and then Lizzie knew that Esmie wanted her to be more like a mom, and not hide a side of her from Esmie.

The main problem of the story is that Esmie's mom died when she was giving birth to Esmie, she tried to help Jenny find her mom, and she trying to get her dad to marry Lizzie, because she really wanted a mom, and when Lizzie was acting weird about where she was going, Esmie went and spied on her. Esmie didn't accomplish her goal of helping Jenny find her mom, Esmie got in contact with Jenny's aunt, but she didn't know where her mom is either, but Jenny was still very happy because she got in contact with her mom's sister. Lizzie didn't marry Esmie's dad yet, but Lizzie is getting closer to their family, and even brought home for them a kitten, so Esmie's whole family is very happy. I would change the part where Esmie spies on Lizzie because I think it very isn't nice to interfere with other peoples life. I think the author's message is, we should not get our hopes up that high, just incase you can't get what you want and will be very disappointed, so we should be very happy for what we have.