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Ilene Gonzalez :) Chapters 1-3 1/31/11

=== I just started to read the book called //They Cage the Animals at Night// written by Jennings Michael Burch, which is a true story of an abandoned child's struggle for emotional survival. It is all about a little kid who is left abandoned from his parents and is now left in a foster home to be never seen again with his family. With only the last words being said by his mother, “I’ll be right back". His mother's eyes were abandoned (how are her eyes abandoned?) and when Jennings would ask what was wrong, all he would hear was silence. Jennings had been very excited to know that he had a day to spend just his mother and himself. That didn't go on for long, soon after he was rushed in to an (the) old building as was then left there. Jennings was a little boy who had no clue what was going on. He would ask his mother and all she would do was say nothing much, but have her eyes full of tears. Not only was he left, but he was never going to see his family again. === === As I read more through out the book, on to chapter 2 my eyes were full of tears and it started to get blurry as I kept reading on. Soon after, a tear of sadness came rolling down my face and on to the book. It was based on reality that a poor kid was abandoned forever from his family who he had loved. Every part so far had made me cry and I could tell that it was getting sadder as I moved on through out the beginning of the book. Reading this book in the beginning was a little bit weird how it starts off in the zoo and then it goes to how Jennings was in the foster home. Before I started to read this book I had heard a lot of things about it which by the time it came to start to reading it I knew that is was a good choice. As Jennings moves on he starts to make friends and soon forgets all about being left behind. To bad that is was then ruined by Mrs. Carpenter who got mad at Jennings for eating a whole box full of Jell-O powder because he was to nervous to meet people who wanted to know how those children were like. It got to the point where Mrs. Carpenter started to kick, punching, and picking Jennings up and soon after throwing him on the floor….OUCH! Soon after Mark (Jennings’s friend) walked in from playing in the snow and was surprised to see that Jennings was getting yelled at. === === Jennings is the main character in my book, which apparently was abandoned by his parents. The only words being, “I’ll be right back”. Jennings was an 8 ½ year old kid who had felt kind of jealous. He felt that way because he couldn’t spend so much time with his mom because he had 5 other brothers. Until one day e was very happy to be able to spend time alone with his mom, but for some odd reason she didn’t talk on the whole ride while getting to her “friend’s house”. Soon after they got there it seemed like she was rushing to get there and with her eyes filled with tears and when Jennings would ask what was wrong his reply was just acward silence. He then noticed that he was left there and thought that he would ever be able to have love for anyone and he thought that he was abandoned forever. === === I really like this book and think that it has been on of the best books I have read so far. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a box of tissues near to be whipping their tears. I enjoy it and I think that I will keep enjoying it! I hope to have other recommendations with this author. I really think that this is a good book for someone who likes to read about the reality and people who know that by reading this, they will learn a lot of lessons. One thing I learned so far is to be strong and to have faith in yourself in order to keep learning new things and going to be someone really important in life which in my opinion is something very important! === Ilene, I can see you have not yet finished this entry. I'd like to see you write a paragraph about Jennings. What have you learned about his personality so far? Have you noticed anything about him that sets him apart from other children his age? Why do you think this novel makes you so sad? I look forward to reading this finished entry! -Miss Bond

okay Miis. Bond yes i have it finished just to copy and paste it :) i would reccomend this book!

1/31/11
===As of now I have enjoyed this book and I am now done reading chapters 1-7. In the beginning of chapter 4, Sister Frances is still very mad at Jennings for what he did, and keeps telling him that now because of what he did nobody is going to want to adopt anyone from that foster home again. Poor Jennings, since they were still very mad at him, they really didn’t feed him so at times he would starve a little bit. Jennings was now treated differently by everyone. Even the other kids wouldn’t talk to him as much as before. Now, everyone would either stare or make faces at him. In other words Sister Frances was like an enemy to Jennings. Nothing was the same as before which made everything seem uncomfortable to poor Jennings. What had Jennings done now, what been he going to do for the time that he is there after not being close with any of the instructors? === ===After days and weeks passed, things between him Mark and Stacy started to get clear again. Soon after, Stacy was called by one of the instructors and when she looked, she noticed that her mom was waiting there at the front door. Stacy was now happy to know that she was no longer gong to be in the foster home and was now going home again with her family. Before leaving, she said goodbye to both Mark and Jennings and gave them a kiss on the cheek, and said that they were both never gong to be forgotten. After a little bit, Jennings started to miss Stacy, but then Mark told him that it was better to forget about her ad move on. When Mark said this Jennings felt like Mark had felt this before and got used to it. Soon after, Jennings was called, and meanwhile, he was trying to wonder what he had done now, but then noticed that his mom was there waiting for him. Jennings was now very happy and was sad to know that Mark was now going to stay alone. === ===Jennings was now very happy although he did miss his friends. Jennings was sad though to think that his mom had left him there and he thought that it was because she was tired of him. Soon after he found out that she was not tired of him, instead she said she was just tired of trying to do so many things at once. Jennings was now confused on his first day of school thinking that all the teacher/sisters were going to be the same as the ones in the foster home, but he was totally wrong they were so nice and helpful to him which was kind of hard to believe after what happened to him before. Jennings was soon happy to know that his mother had gotten him a surprise and he couldn’t wait to find out what it was. Soon when he got home he noticed that there was someone sitting on the coach, someone he didn’t know. Then, he was told that his mom had adopt him and that the boy was 9 ½ and his name was Jerome. Both boys went to figure out that they had a lot of things in common and soon became really good friends! === ===As of now I love the book. Even though it has made me cry I still love it and now, I learned another lesson… BE HAPPY FOR WHAT YOU ARE NOT FOR WHAT YOU ARE NOT! I learned that Jennings is a small boy and has gone through all of this so that means that we have to be thankful for what we have and, not for what we don’t have! I hope that someone I know reads this and tells me that they enjoy the same way I do. I hope to know that Jennings ends up having something good return to him. I can’t wait to read other books about Jennings. Or at least by the same author! ===

** Chapters 8-15 **
==** I never thought that a book would make me cry so much. I really like this book and I thought that I would have nothing to really say, but to think about it, this book has good wording and excellent details. As of now, I think that the saddest part has been when Jennings thinks that his mother past away because she said she would be right back, all she was going to do was go up on the roof and a couple minutes later, all Jennings heard was a big, loud scream. Soon after everyone was out in the halls to see what was going on and then Jennings noticed that his mother was lying on the steps with blood gushing out of her mouth and nose. He started to cry thinking that his mother was dead. **== ==** Jennings was now taken to another foster home until his mother was better. Soon after he got there he realized that it was old and a big mess. Then, his friend Mark saw him and they were both really happy to see each other. A couple pages after, Mark and Jennings were playing and then Mark wasn’t feeling good at all and was taken to the hospital. As he was leaving Jennings promised to pick Mark up from the hospital as soon as he was better and that was what made Mark feel a little bit better. Soon after Jennings found out that Mark was too sick and passed away. After that, Jennings’s mother was feeling better and went to pick him up and whenever he would look at Jerome, it would remind him of his “brother” Mark. A couple days later, Jennings over heard that Jerome was very sick and was going to pass away. Jennings kept it to himself and was very depressed. **== ==** Jennings was now 10 ½ and was depressed all the time. He was living what I would call a “depressing life” he was young and was already into so many sad memories. Okay well Miss. Bond kind of fixed the whole thing for me right now because I was confused that Jerome was not actually related to Jennings, but then Miss. Bond told me that they were brothers, but Jennings never met Jerome because he was always in the hospital. Silly me thinking that they were not brothers. Okay well moving on, Jennings is now sad to lose his mom. **== ==** As of now this book is very nice and good. I think that this is a very good book. I hope to read more books under this author. When I heard that this is actually based on a true story, it broke my heart even more. What I found interesting was how Ms.Bond met Jennings and Doggie in real life. I am glad that I got to read the whole book already. I am now getting ready to work on the project! I am now finished with the book and I can' t wait to see which book I am going to start reading next! :)**==

**Entry about characters :)**
===**I would say that Sal is a very good person. I woud say that he is very nice to treat Jennings like a son of his own. Sal is the bus driver and has helped Jennings a lot. I think that he has the love for Jennings and I bet that he would get to the point to actually adopt someone like Jennings. At first, I thought that Sal was Jennings's father because of the way he treated him. Thinking about it I never heard anything about Jennings's actual father. Like I said before I actaually thought that he was his father.**=== ===**Meanwhile, Mark is a great friend to Jennings. They met again at the second orphanage and then one day they were hanging out and Mark got very sick and had to be taken to the hospital. Beforeleaving, Jennings promised him that as soo as he was better he was going to go and pick him up. Which in my case I think that it actually made Mark feel better. At first, he didn't want to go to the nurses office because he thought he would never see Jennings again, but soon after everyone noticed that he was too sick and had to go to that hospital. When Jennings was at the first orphanage and when they met for the first time Mark and Jennings were friends, but not as much as the second time they saw each other. I think that happened because at first Mark and Jennings would hang out with others as well and they really didn't know each other, but by the time the met again, I think that the got along better.**=== ===**In between writting my last entry I figured out that Jerome was actually a brother to Jennings. At first I thought that he was just someone that his mother had adopted. Jerome was actually a brother, he just didn't know him because he was in the hospital for his whole life. Jerome and Jennings both figured out that they had a lot of things in common. After Mark past away, Jennings would look at Jeropme and think of Mark because they were both very close with him. Jerome and Jennings were both similar on many things. Soon when Jennings heard that Jerome might pass away, he was not himself and he would be crying all the time.**=== ===**Jennings was always afraid that his mother would die. Before he went to the orphanage for the first time, he told his mother to promise him that she would not die. He also said that when he came back from the first orphange and saw that she was very sick. I think that Jennings is a very caring kid and that he really didn't deserve to go through what he did. I know that if I could help him myself I know I would, Just thinking about it makes me very sad. I hope to read a book simialar to this one! As of now I have heard about the book called, A Child Called It. I think that is going to be the next book I am going to read. I bet I am going to get ready to cry again.**=== Ilene Gonzalez chapters 6 and 7 FINISHED THE BOOK date: 3/2/11 I just finished the book A Child Called It and it was amazing! I figured out that Dave was tough and strong thinking about it, I think that Dave went through a lot of harsh things. Some things that he went through were things like getting punished with food. Reasons he would get punished would be because he would finish washing the dishes right away. In my oppinion, I think that his mother wasn't being fair in the way that only Dave did all of the work. I mean everyone has their own oppinion, but I think that Dave's mother thought that what she was doing was bad. Who would tell their child not to tell the teachers certain things. I think she's smart... in the way that she thinks that she could get away with hitting Dave without making it obvious. NEED TO FINISH THIS ENTRY...MISS.BOND..if any questions ask me...
 * Chapters 1-5**
 * 2/24/11**
 * I am now reading the book called A Child Called It which in my oppinion is a great book. As of now Dave (the main character) is getting child abuse by his mother. Dave was in the middle of washing the dishes and he got his hands out because they were hurting and he tried to put his hands back in before his mother came, but it was too late. His mother came to do nothing but hit him. She hit him on the face and he fell to the ground. He had no other choice was to stay there and suffer pain. He only hoped that he could eat breakfast beause he didn't eat dinner and so he was too hungry. Poor little Dave if he doesn't follow his mother's orders, he is not able to eat,and if he can, the only thing that he gets to eat is his brother's left overs.**
 * Before goinig to school, his mother said bye and told him to say that she didn't hit him. Instead he had to make up an exuse like he got hit with the door. Soon after he got to school, he was called to the nurses office. It was a daily thing, he had to get checked by the nurse to make sure he didn't have any more scraches and marks. It was too obvious that he was getting hit by his mother. Teachers had to talk about it and soon took very good care of him. He was very sad to think that he was going to get in trouble by his mother because they found out after he was clearly told not to tell anyone anything about it.**
 * I think that this book has a lot to do in common with the book called They Cage The Animals At Night. The reason that I think that is because they were both based on true stories. I also think that because they both writen and they happened to the author themselves. I think that these book are great and I believe that they have suffered a lot and it must be hard for them to go through that and then write about it. I know that only reading it with the details that it has makes it sad and hurtful with what happened to him. I believe that David and Jennings both went through a lot and still are friendly and kind. I know that it's hard when people don't get all the attention that they need because of the way that they are treated or abondoned.**
 * I know of someone who their parents divorsed and was then left behind and grew up with their grandma for the rest of their life and really, this person doesn't know much about their father and the mother lives somewhere else with her boyfriend. This person has trouble in school at times and doesn't call their grandmother by her name, instead, they call her mother. This is a true story of a friend of mine and it's sad to know that's it's actually true. Anyways, I think that everyone should get treated well and it's sad to know that not everyone thinks that way. I hope that you pay attention to this and make sure that you thank your parents for what they do for you. Think about it, as of now you have your parent with you and you have the attention that you need. You don't get child abused and you are not in the foster home hoping that they come to get you again. This is just something to think about.**

Ilene Gonzalez 3/10/11 *just started reading the book called Number The Stars which sounds very interesting :)

This is going to be pretty short... Miss. Bond I need to talk to you...*

This book sound pretty amazing by now and I think that just reading the first couple of pages is already good. I think that I will end upo enjoying the book very much...I can't wait to keep reading it to know more about it.