Marcus's blog by a Muscular Mustache

I have been reading Homeless Bird  by Gloria Whelan and I have seen many literary devices in this book. Some examples are when Maa Kamala said “You wallow like pigs in the mud. That is all in the past” on page 121. That is referring to Koly and all the other widows telling their stories of how they became widows hanging in the past like pigs wallow in the mud. Another example was when Koly was trying to get her widows pension and sass won’t let her have it. At that moment Koly thinks ‘Sass was like a great boulder shutting her in a cave. She could not move sass; she could not get around sass.’ These are only two examples of many in the book.

A reoccurring theme in the book is perseverance because no madder how bad the situation is Koly always finds the good in it. I know this because when Hari died, Chandra went away, and sassur passed away Koly made friends with first the pariah dog (page 82) and the bandicoot (page 83). But before she was friendly to the pariah dog or the bandicoot she had nobody to talk to except for the little green lizards that crawled on Koly’s bedroom wall (page 79).

Koly adapts to her situations by thinking of things she was a part in, read, or witnessed. One example was when Koly was at the train station by herself and the man tried to take her away and that’s when she remembers the pariah dog biting the gosling’s neck. So she bites the man (page 114). The man howls in pain and runs away. This example is only one of many.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books with a bunch of excitement. It has been a good book.I liked this book because it is exciting.An example is when Koly was deserted in Vrindavan and did not know where to go. My favorite part of the book was when Koly finds a job as a sari maker for Mr Das and makes more money than when she was stringing marigolds for Mr Govind.

“It looks delicious Aunt Nancy” I said. My mouth was watering like a waterfall.  My family on my dad’s side and I were sitting at the dinner table with what looked like the most delicious meal ever, sitting right in front of us. It consisted of a steaming turkey that just came out of the oven smothered in gravy and baked potatoes with all sorts of toppings to put on it and a sedar plate with egg, lamb bone, parsley, salt water, matzah, and matzor. These things are usually on a Seder plate.  Sitting to my right was my cousin and to my left was my dad. It was sedar dinner on Passover.

“Are we almost there?” I asked for the thousandth time as we drove by houses by the dozens. “Yes” answered my mom sarcastically. After about twenty minutes we finally parked in front of my aunt’s house in Philadelphia. When we knocked on the door my cousin greeted us.  After her were the rest of my dad’s nieces and nephews. I could smell the matzah and the turkey. “It’s great to see you again Aunt Nancy!” I said. But right after I finished the sentence I was lifted four feet off the ground and turned upside down by my favorite cousin.

After that I played with my toddler cousin for a while.  Well actually it was more like he and I sat on the couch and I tell him “cool!” while he plays on his new kiddie vetch camera. I finally got tired of playing with Aharon and his late birthday presents so I went up to our room and layed down on my pallet of blankets for a little while. When my mom called me down for dinner and I got to the top of the stairs it hit me “Wow is what I smell dinner?!” I asked. “Yes” answered my mom, this time her answer was not sarcastic. When we sat down at the dinner table we said the blessing and started serving ourselves. I had turkey and a baked potato. The food was amazing!!

That night we all watched my favorite movie, X-men! I like it because it is so action packed. The next day a couple of us went to the Philadelphia insectarium. When we were at the insectarium we saw bees and beetles. I even got to hold one! It was a lot of fun to see all the cool beetles and other insects like spiders. When we were leaving the insectarium lady offered us cheese powder covered mealworms that smelled horrible, and my cousin ate one!! The rest of the day was spent at the house just playing around. The next day we left.  Every one was saying goodbyes and giving hugs. This was the best Passover at Aunt Nancy’s house yet. I’ve never had this much time with my family before and it was so much fun. I can’t wait to go back there again!!!

Von is usually

A regular first name. They are

Mimicked on Halloween by kids that eat too much

Pie.

I am usually very brave but I am

Really scared.

Especially with them all under my bed.

I am doing Sumerian weapons. I am intrigued with what I’m studying. At the beginning of this project we had to choose a essential question. I picked “What were some of the Sumerians most dangerous weapons?”. I picked that question because I thought it was a good question.I chose this subject because I have always had an interest in ancient warfare and I was attracted to it. I learned that the Sumerians edited the axe so it is more like a modern day axe.The axe that the Sumerians made was made of bronze, it was made in the bronze age. The Sumerians also turned a farming tool into a deadly weapon called the sickle sword. The good part about my project is everyone is complementing me on my project. On the bad side it is running a little on the late side. Overall I am very happy with my project.

Last summer I went to the USSSA world series last summer with my baseball team called the West Georgia Lightning. We were a good team. I played 1st base, pitcher,and catcher. My favorite position is catcher and I played catcher a lot. We came in 2nd in the second bracket.We got awesome trophies. After that my family and I went to our beach house I went surfing and boogie boarding it was so much fun. I had so much fun. That was the best summer ever!

When I read Bud not Buddy I feel sad for Bud.The reason I feel this way is because he is very poor and lonely because he lost his only friend because he could not catch while on the lam. I know he is lonely because he lost his parents and i know how it is to lose someone close to you. I think Christopher Paul Curtis wanted us to feel sad for Bud but at the same time think he is funny. I think this because he wants to have us to think about the book a lot to make the book popular.