Reading Response #2:

The book I am currently reading is called School's Out Forever by James Patterson. It  is the second book of the Maximum Ride series. Maximum Ride is the main character. She has five siblings, (Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel.) who all have special talents. They are not blood related siblings, but they were created in a lab, in which they later escaped with a help of a human named Jeb. He took care of then for 2 years, and they thought of him as a father.The Ride family are 98% human and 2% bird. They also have wings, which are connected to their where their shoulders are. There is also another species, called Erasers. They are also known as "werewolves." They are big, strong, and bloodthirsty, and were made especially for Max's (Maximum's nickname) family,  to kill them. Max and her family always has to escape them. They have been running for four years so far. Max also has a voice in her head, and she thinks she is going crazy, because no one has voices in their heads..
             I think Max is a very caring sister to her siblings. They all think of her as the "mother hen of the flock" , who took care of them after Jeb left. She would do anything to get them back, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.  For example; when Fang got hurt by The Erasers, she was willing to go into a hospital for her family and her brother when he got injured. On page 25, it says " Not only were we are about to enter a hospital, which would freak it us all out, but it might end up being for nothing. Because Fang could die anyway." I then realized that hospitals were like labs. For example: doctors in white lab coats are similar to scientists in the lab. The smell of antiseptic, is the smell of purifying alcohol in the lab.
           Max is very easily jealous. When she saw Fang kissing some girl at school, she immediately thought that she was doing by force. When she saw Fang kissing back, she became very upset and ignored him for the rest of the day. Another example: when a woman named Anne took them in, and began treating them like her children, she felt like she was being replaced. She asked Fang if she was still their "mother hen" and Fang replied "No." She got upset, and very hurt. Fang saw this, and then said "You don't need to be a mother yet, you will someday." She then understood what he meant, and relaxed. I still think she was upset though, I wouldn't have gotten over it so easily.
Max is very protective of her family, in general. She cares about them a lot, since she grew up with them, and she didn't have any friends. In other words, they were her friends, her best friends who had always been there for her.

Reading Response #1
In the book Finally 12 by Wendy Mass, Rory has just turned 12. She has made a list of things-to-do when she turns twelve. When she turned twelve, she tries to do all of these things on the list. Every time she does something on the list, she has bad luck but also good luck. The main theme of the book is the older you get the more responsibilities and opportunities you have. 

One of the reasons I think that the theme "the older you get, the more responsibilities and opportunities you have" is because when it is Rory's birthday, she made a list of things to do when she is twelve. One of the things that she writes down is "to drink coffee." (Page 40)When she tries to make coffee, she has no idea how to make it. She then just turns random knobs and dials on her mother's "Fancy-schmancy espresso/cappuccino coffee maker" when she finishes making it, she forgets to put milk and sugar in the coffee. Then she remembers that she is supposed to put milk and sugar, and she puts too much milk and too much sugar. She also puts in two giant mugs, and drinks them one after the other. She gets coffee-drunk and she gets really hyper because of the coffee. The consequence is that her father sees and sends her to her room where she falls asleep because she became tired of bouncing around, and her father said she cannot drink coffee anymore because of that. 

Another reason I think the theme is "the older you get, the more responsibilities and opportunities" is also because Rory gets to stay home alone now that shes twelve. When it was her first time staying alone at home, Rory got scared and then she decided to call her mother twice. She took a bath later, and was still in the bath when she heard "a pounding noise outside" she ran out, only in her towel, when "a foot comes crashing in the door." I think this means that she is not RESPONSIBLE enough and I still think she is not old enough to take this responsibility. There are many possibilities that could happen when you are home alone. Someone could break in. A fire could start. You could electrocute yourself when you are listening to music with headphones on while in the BATH (what Rory did!) This is a reason why I think that Rory is not responsible enough to take care of herself and to stay home alone.

One last example that I thought was a example of the theme is "the older you get, the more responsibilities and opportunities you'll have." is when Rory goes babysitting, she babysits a child only 2 years younger than her. The girl she babysits is very intelligent. Rory asks her if she wants to do something, and she says watch a movie. Rory watches the movie along with her and notices it is still early for her bedtime. So the girl asks her to watch another movie. She falls asleep (not a responsible person for the job! and its only 8:20 pm!) Rory wakes up when the movie is over, but she sees that it is not the girl's bedtime. Then, the girl goes for a bathroom break. She puts on another movie, and Rory falls asleep AGAIN. When she wakes up, it is only 8:30! A whole movie has ended already, its not possible for ten minutes to pass for a whole movie. Then, she figures out the girl has been turning back the clock the whole time! This proves she is not a responsible babysitter and she cannot handle this job/situation yet!

In conclusion, I think "when you are older you will have more responsibilities and opportunities" is the theme because there are many examples in this book where Rory gets a opportunity and a responsibility but cannot take care of it. She then has to deal with the consequences, which proves she is too young and irresponsible to deal with these situations yet.