"The bully" Aleksa Obradovic

1. How does the character Tony change throughout the short story?

Tony didn't change a lot in this story but small change is still a change. He learned how to forgive to his childhood bully. As a result of his forgiveness he got a new friend. That was actually the only friend that he still has from his High School days.

2. How does this change affect Roger?

A lot of things are connected and what happens to someone might affect some other people. That was the case with Tony and Roger. Because Tony forgave Roger, Roger had like a chip of his shoulder fall of his shoulder. After that happened he must of felt a lot more relaxed. That feeling is something similar to the feeling of success.

3. What do you Tony meant when he said, "I guess you're thinking, 'What goes around comes around'"?

He though that for every bad thing you do come bad consequences and for every good thing comes good consequences. He was mentioning that he was a bully and now as a bad consequence he is in a wheel chair.

4. Why do you think the author wrote this story? What message did the author want to convey?  

He wanted to write this story to convey a message. There are a few messages that he wanted to tell us but I will discuss the top 2. First of he wanted to tell that for everything that you do there is either a good or bad consequence. But in the same time he wanted to tell us that you must always have the power to forgive because if you do, good things might happen to you in return.

Short Story Alex

9.What does she mean by “a smile that isn't a smile”?

I think that these smiles imply hostility and hatred. They are merely smirks and evil smiles. They are pretending to like the person they are talking to, but in reality they hate them.

10. What does it mean to be yourself?

To be yourself is to act natural and normal. You do not pretend to like someone, or enjoy something. To be yourself is to dress normally and do things you like. It means being honest and treating everyone with respect.

11. How did the race affect Squeaky's views on life?

While she was running she saw the true views of other people. This made her feel bad for her brother.

12.What does it mean to be honest and worthy of respect?

To me this means these people will never laugh at others and they will always be geniune. These people rarely lie and always treat everyone as a friend. They believe that if they are honest, people will treat them honestly.

The short story: Raymond's Run

5. I believe that she is confident about her talent of running. That definitely affects her running performance because our attitude towards life in general determinates everything. For example if you believe that you are the worst you will not be able to win. Attitude is everything. I, myself have multiple talents that I am proud of. But, one talent that I am going to share with you is the talent for sport. A talent is something that was passed on by birth. But to make that talent work you must first like and enjoy the thing that the talent is connected with. I had the privilege of everything that I do being encouraged by my parents. When you have that support it is easier in life.

6. People act like things come easy to them because they want to show you that they are really superior in a certain and that it comes easily to them and harder for you. Those people who don’t make it a secret about their dedication and effort just don’t care what others think about them in the aspect. I have definitely saw people that have said things they do that come easy. I personally do not care about others seeing my commitment because I let my results do the talking.

7. I think that the source of rivalry between the girls is jealousy. Gretchen is jealous of Squeaky because of  Squeaky’s talent for running and domination in that part of athletics. I had rivalries like that in sports like basketball. But, that rivalry stays on the basketball court.

8. Squeaky’s  behavior was more boy like. She didn’t want to dress up in some fancy clothes and attract attention. Her family wants her to change that and make her act more like a girl. That is also the reason that they made her enter a beauty pageant. As I was growing up there were situations in which people told me to act like a boy or in Serbian “budi musko.” They typically said that that when I was scared to do something and was whining if something hurt. Gender definitely defies some expectations and roles in life. 

Vocabulary Enricher

Disdainfully	201	Full of or showing disdain; scornful.
Resolutely	203	Firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion
Brandishing	208	To shake or wave, as a weapon; flourish:
Insincerity	217	The quality of being insincere; lack of sincerity; hypocrisy; deceitfulness.
Lumbered	222	Miscellaneous useless articles that, are stored away.
Precariously	225	Dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure:
Loathsome	227	Causing feelings of loathing; disgusting; revolting; repulsive:
Ominous	229	Portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious:
Proclamation	246	Something that is proclaimed; a public and official announcement.
Stammered	247	To speak with involuntary breaks and pauses, or with spasmodic repetitions of syllables or sounds.

He sighing disdainfully, and repeated the process again.

They ran brandishing their swords to keep of the foe.

The cars front was hanging precariously over the cliff.

He heard the door close with an ominous boom.

They signed the proclamation, which declared peace.

 

Discussion Director Aleksa O.

I was discussion director for this part of the book (170-255). My role was to make 5 questions and discuss them with the group.

1. What did you think when you saw Dodecahedron? I personally thought of math  and the art of geometry. I also though of the number 12 since dodecahedron is a polygon that has 12 sides. It was really interesting that the involved math in the book.

2. When Dodecahedron said all the math problems did you try to solve them yourself? At the start I did try to solve the questions since I love math. But, after a few moments I realized was focusing more on the math and not the reading.

3. What is one of the most interesting facts told in this part of the book? When the 0.58 kid said that you cannot reach infinity even though you know it is there.

4. Did the demon of insincerity teach you anything about real life? It showed me that not all people say what they truly are. A famous quote is that "People aren't always what they say they are." The demon was saying all the thing that were the opposite of what he was.

5. What do you think that Phantom Tollbooth taught Milo? It think that it taught him to like and recognize the things around him. It helped him to entertain himself with just the thing that he sees. But, one of the most important things that they taught him is to honor education!

Literary Luminary by Alex

“So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.”

“Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”

“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.”

“The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort.”

“You may not see it now," said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, "but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in the pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.”

“It's bad enough wasting time without killing it.”

I picked these quotes and phrases because they are very thought provoking.

Illustrator: The Phantom Blog

My job for this week was the Illustrator, and I made this illustration representing everything that may have taken place in the book. However not every event in the book, was in the illustration because there were way too many events to include in one illustration.



The poorly drawn ladies are supposed to be Rhyme and Reason, right next to them are Milo's (the main character, in the middle) buddies made during the story. Right to that is the man that was the guide "sort of" at the beginning. Above that man is the conflict of the book. On top of the castle there is the phantom toll booth. Over that is the car Milo rode in. On the left to that we have the authors name. On the left to that I attempted yet failed to recreate the creatures in DolDrums, below the failed attempt we have my thought of the book, the book was great but was overall very strange. In the center of the illustration we have Milo. The center part is expressing how Milo is always confused and hence the Q-marks on top of his face, The 2 speech bubbles at the bottom are representing the two kingdoms. The speech bubble over his head (top - right) represent his journey with the monsters as conflicts and the one on the top - left is the map that represents the map that Milo might have used to navigate around the fantasy land.

That's all for now, I won't do illustrator job again because there is not enough time, but whenever I illustrate next I'll try to add colors and illustrate in a nicer way. CUNP!      

Illustrator- Literature Circles

                                                     

This drawing represents Milo and his dog friend Tock at the Valley of Sound. The drawing itself is after they free up all the sound from the Valley of Sound. It was a big moment for the villagers of the sound valley. They went from having no sound at all and just using signs with letter to communicate, to having sound and talking to each other. Milo (on the left of the image) was the hero that saved them by freeing all the sounds. Tock was missing the sound so much he started saying "So many sounds!"(as shown on the image). At that point of the book I imagined living without sound and the feeling was horrible!

Late Discussion Director

Alex Nedera
7/5/2015
The Phantom Tollbooth

Discussion Director

Q: What did you think of Milo's six million year imprisonment?

A: I was confused at how people could live for six million years and still remember it.

Q: What do you think about the author's writing style?

A: I thought that this book is written like one of Roald Dahl's.

Q: Do you think Milo's experiences have affected his journey?

A: I believe that the things he's learned help him all the time because in the story he reacts to things differently.

Q: What did you think of the Word-Bartering?

A: I was fairly surprised that to use a word you usually need to pay an exorbitant price.

Q: How crazy did you think the wether man was from a scale of 1 to 10.

A: I would say that his crazy level is a solid 5.5

Vocabulary Enricher May 7th

Alex Nedera

7/5/2015

The Phantom Tollbooth

Vocabulary Enrichment

Speculate: To Think About Carefully 

Indignantly: Angry at Something Unworthy 

Cartographer: Maker of Maps 

Unethical: Wrong 

Surmise: Guess or Infer 

Minstrel: Singer/Bard 

Monotonous: Monotone 

Ordinance: Rule or Law 

Loiter: Linger Aimlessly/ Dawdle 

Conciliatory: Tending To Win, Soothe or Reconsile

He Loitered next to the cafeteria because he had nothing else to do.

The crowd applauded the Minstrel's performance.

George was a Cartographer and he made maps.

Mr.Jones Surmised that Merlin is a magician.

The big man's voice was Monotonous.

Literary - Luminary, The Phantom Toll Booth

Literary - Luminary

I added an extra part on my job and theorized a persons behavior. The passage I chose was:
Milo and Tock walked up to the door whose brass name plate read simply "The Giant" and knocked.
"Good afternoon" said a perfectly ordinary sized man who answered the door.
"Are you the giant?" asked Tock doubtfully.
"To be sure" he replied proudly.
"I'm the smallest giant in the world. What can I do for you"
"Are we lost?" said Milo.
"That's a difficult question ," said the giant. "Why don't you go around back and ask the midget?" And he closed the door.
 They walked to the rear of the house....

In the paragraphs the man pretends to be 3 other people, altogether he was 4  different characters:          The smallest giant, the tallest midget, the thinnest fat man and the fattest thin name.
According to the author this was because ordinary men are not ones who are listened to so he had to do this to stand out. I think this mans behavior could be justified many different ways and could be very easily theorized. Now you may be thinking why the author didn't write the proper reason or any other reason than the "normal people" one and this is because he did not want to waste his time on creating a reason for this guys behavior. Yet I will try to decipher and theorize this mans behavior and prove it with some facts and research.

According to my research I've found that for some people living alone and for some noise drives them crazy. About 50 million Americans have tinnitus a disease in which victim hears uncontrollable buzzing in their ears. People living alone could also start to go crazy like this guy. He is living alone, no one to talk to so his brain created different perspectives for one person. This may be a case of Multiple Personality Disorder. I rest my theory.       

The Phantom Tollbooth-Meeting#2-Illustrator

The Phantom Tollbooth
Blog post #2
Illustrator

   
     
     In the picture above, I decided to illustrate the confusion that Milo, the protagonist, experiences throughout the plot of the story. I included the magic pencil that the hero of the story is given, as I predict that this gift will play a large roll in the book's resolution. Milo receives the utensil from the Mathemagician, who is the king of Digitopolis.
     Digitopolis is the land of numbers, all numbers originated in this kingdom. The numbers came from mines, I illustrated this fact using the hole dug into the mountain and the pickax located above the hand.  To make it clear that numbers came from the pitch black tunnels, I had "Milo's" hand writing the word "NUMBERS" next to the two illustrations. He writes this with his magic writing utensil/staff.
     To the left of the number section I included the word section. There I have a palm-like tree with a ladder and basket bellow it, since words grow on trees are plucked of them just like apples. To make sure that the viewer knew that I was referring to word trees, in Milo's handwriting, I wrote "WORDS" above it. I also included my favorite part of the book, intending to confuse the viewer.
     In the illustration, I decided to compare the Land of Noise to the normal life of most people. In two boxes I drew the same picture of a vase falling of a table, where the vase hits the ground I have an equal sine. In the box labeled "NORMAL" the vase makes a bang and a crash. But in the box labeled "LAND OF SOUND," behind the equal sine I wrote SILENCE.

     The Phantom Tollbooth is a very "picturesque" book. It has many complex parts, and pictures are great for making the sequences simpler. Also the humorous style of the author allows his illustrations to be interesting and also funny in an absurd way.

Phantom Tollbooth Meeting#2

   Phantom Tollbooth

   Blog post #1

   Discussion Director
    
       For the second meeting with my group my job was discussion director. I made my first question          about the reading but the rest were kind of critical thinking questions. We all agreed on the questions and this is what we got:

  

What did the road sign say when Milo and Handbug where driving?

“THIS IS THE SCENIC ROUTE: STRAIGHT AHEAD TO POINT OF VIEW” PG 102

2.       What were you thinking when Milo knocks on all those doors with the names at the top like “The Giant”, “The Midget” and so on?

They were thinking that it was the same guy and he was pretty useless.

3.       What do you think is going to happen in the next section that we read?

Martin thinks that they just escape the demon by walking out because he was dumb.

4.       Did these chapters that we read remind you of any real-life experiences?

It reminds Martin of Uselessness and Isis with a mask.

5.       What questions did you have when you finished this section of what we read?

Meeting #1 Ilustrator

Today was our first official meeting with my group. We are reading the phantom tollbooth written by Norton Juster. I was the illustrator and I drew a map of how I imagined that the boy traveled with his toy car.  I picked to draw this picture because it was not included as an illustration in the book it was an important part to miss. 

Martin Travel Tracer-Phantom Tollbooth Meeting #1

Phantom Tollbooth
Blog post #1
Travel Tracer
                                                       
        The Phantom Tollbooth is a book that changes setting a lot. It starts in the bedroom of the main character and then moves into a whole different world. Then, Milo, the main character, moves through different kingdoms both in his fantasy and in reality.
Bedroom: (important setting, as initial incident occurred) 
        The initial incident of this book occurs in Milo's room. His messy room is on the eighth floor of an apartment building. In the boys room, there are books, tools, games and toys scattered all over the place. In my opinion, the author made Milo's room messy to emphasize how board he always is. The mess shows that Milo starts to play with something, and then gets board of it. Next, he tries to play with something else but abandons that too.
        In Milo's room, there was a strange surprise package. It was odd in shape and also in size. When the boy unpacks it and assembles it it becomes a tollbooth. When Milo drives into the tollbooth with his electric automobile, he is transferred into a different world. Pg. 11
Expectations: 
        When Milo passed through the tollbooth he appears in "Expectations." He found himself on an unknown country highway, and his house, bedroom and tollbooth were nowhere to be seen. In "Expectations" all the colors were very rich and bright, the flowers shone, and tall silvery trees lined the road. The sky was bright and the sun was shining. By the road was a sign with "Welcome to Expectations" written neatly on it. Behind the sign was a house from which a man came out off and told Milo that "Expectations" is the place where you had to go before you got anywhere else. Soon, Milo left towards his chosen destination, "Dictionopolis." Pg. 16, 17
Doldrums: (important setting, because this is where Milo met Tock)
        Before Milo gets to "Dictionopolis" he gets lost in the "Doldrums," the home of the Lethargarians.  The peaceful highway began to change as Milo began to enter the "Doldrums." The broad green valley began to get grayer, such as the sky and the countryside. Even the birds only sang gray songs. Everything there had the same monotonous tone. On the twisting and turning road the air became much heavier. Small, boring creatures live here and Milo only manages to get out off there when he meets Tock. Pg. 16, 17, 19, 20, 22
Dictionopolis: (important setting, for this is where Milo received his task)
        When Milo started to think again he got out of the "Doldrums" and went on towards "Dictionopolis" located in the Foothills of confusion. When Tock and Milo, the new duo, got near to the word growing city. they could see the cities towers and flags sparkling in the sun. The city was surrounded by a great wall. Inside this giant barricade was an immense square. It was covered by people, market stalls filled with merchendise and buildings painted in happy colors. Large wooden wheeled carts came from word orchards, along with caravans, sacks and boxes that came from far away lands. The air was filled with the sound of minstrels singing mixed with the sound of merchants trying to sell their goods. People were sorting the many different words into different cases. Everything looked great. This all changed when the Spelling Bee and the Humbug fought and knocked over all the stalls. This mixed up all the words, along with the way people spoke. Everything was being drowned in confusion. Luckily, people were able to correct everything quite soon. Pg. 34, 36, 38, 45, 47, 56
Jail: (important setting, because this is where Faintly Macabre tells here story)
        Officer Shrift blames the havoc on Milo and Tock and takes them to the dungeon. To get to the dungeon they took a long, dark corridor lit by few candles; then down a circular staircase where the air is damp and musty and the walls are slimy to the touch. The jail itself is a high vaulted cell with only two windows. There is a button on the door, which you press to get out. This is what the two heroes use to escape after Macabre's story. Pg. 63, 78
Faintly Macabre's story: (important setting, for this is where Milo learns of Rhyme and Reason)
       The which's (not witch's) story takes place in a land of barren and frightening wilderness on high rocky mountains. There was seldom any life there, and the life that was there was evil.This place was called the land of Null. This all changed when a prince sailed over and built a city there. The city got larger and bigger, got got so big that it began to be called the kingdom of Wisdom. But outside the walls it was still evil and twisted land. The two sons of the founder of the kingdom of Wisdom built their own cities too. Both their cities prospered. The kingdom of Wisdom was also in good hands. All problems and disputes were solved by Rhyme and Reason. It was a happy place. But when Rhyme and Reason were banished the kingdom of Wisdom fell into despair and the two other kingdoms began arguing, but still growing in power.
Royal Banquet: (important setting as that is where Milo gets his mission)
       The royal banquet took place in a book shaped palace. The walls inside the palace were covered in mirrors. The dining room itself was filled with people. There were carefully set cutlery along with gold plates. In the center was a thrown covered in crimson cloth. Behind it was the coat of arms. But when King Azaz begins his speech the room empties. All the people are seen again when they cheer Milo, Tock and the Humbug out of Dictionopolis. Pg 80-100.
Point of View: (important setting for that is where the action ended)
       The Point of View is where the three protagonists get to when the dense forest ends. From there you can see a rich, beautiful and green landscape.      

         The Phantom Tollbooth changes setting a lot, has descriptive details in certain parts whilst not in others.

Discussion director #1 Vishesh Sharma

Discussion Director:

I am the discussion director. Hi, my name is Vishesh and I led the discussion this time. I had 8 questions and they were:

What is your thought of the book so far, what was going through your mind when you read the assigned section?

According to me this book uses a lot of symbolism. The characters in the book are very interesting and all of them have their own special and interesting mannerisms and the way the author described the places was outstanding. I was wondering how the author combined such imaginative thoughts with real world context it was simply amazing. According to other members in my group the book started to get interesting later on, deep in a very strange way and it had good and hard words.

How would you describe Milo?

According to me A bored young man who launched into an exciting journey, with his pal Tock a watchdog and Humbug a beetle who cant spell anything.

Where is he going?

Milo first went to expectations then to Doldrums, the to Dictionpolis and now he is going to rescue the princesses named Rhyme and Reason.

How would you describe the little man introduced in chapter 2 and what is his mannerism?

He is small and repeats all he says several time and speaks fast. He is a peculiar
man. To Milo he was a very awkward man. He may be a little annoying, maybe too joyful, childish, lacks company, useless.

What do you think of Lethargarians (the creatures) in Doldrums and why is it so?

I think they are boring. This is because they live in Doldrums and that is the town of boredom where nothing exciting takes place and nothing
ever changes. They are not allowed to think and their schedule isn’t the most exciting one either.
According to other people these creatures are lazy, unaware, non - thinkers and small.

What is the conflict of the book?

The conflict of the book is the war between kingdoms and getting them back together using rhyme and reason princesses, this is an external
conflict that was caused by an internal conflict between the two kingdoms.

What may be resolution and why do you think this is it what may happen in the book, (predictions)?

The way I think of it is that they rescue Rhyme and Reason and settle peace into this symbolic world. Milo realizes that he is the chosen one
and he feels better about himself and from that moment on enjoys life.

Enough talk about them, but who are Rhyme and Reason?

They are princesses that answer all problems and help unite and bring peace to the “world”. adopted daughters of the king of wisdom and solve disputes, psychiatrists of kingdom of wisdom.

ok, hang on and read until the next blog post or update rather on what's new in Phantom tollbooth

Vocabulary enricher

Pg.1 Para.1- Nutty-It means silly or ridiculous.
Pg.1 Para.1- Didactic- Something instructive, someone inclined to teach or lecture.
Pg.1 Para.1- Dejectedly- It means disheartened; low- spirited.
Pg.13 Para.1- Earthographers- A person engaged in in production of maps.
Pg.16 Para.1- Tollbooth-An entrance to a toll road.
Pg. 23 Para.2- Doldrums- A state of inactivity.
Pg.24 Para.6- Ordinance- A rule or a law.
Pg. 26 Para.2- Daffodil- It is a bulbous plant
Pg. 38 Para. 7- Chorused- A group in which people sing in.
Pg. 40 Para. 2- Bosh- It is something absurd like foolish talking.
Pg. 40 Para. 3- Earl- A governor of one of the divisions of England.
pg. 50 Para. 8-  Misapprehension- It simply means misunderstanding.
Pg. 56 Para. 8- Infuriate- It is basically to make furious.

There were no additional words added by my group members.

Milo is a boy who sees no meaning to learning or to life. He always wishes for the opposite of what he has and when his wish comes true he wonders why he wished for it. Milo always is seeking adventure and excitement he dislikes learning because he see no use in learning English, Math, etc. It is on an ordinary day when Milo goes to his bedroom and finds a peculiar package. He opens the package and inside finds an unassembled turnpike tollbooth as well as a map, a rule book and a instruction manual. He assembles the tollbooth and jumps into his electric car, as he approaches the tollbooth he thinks of Dictionopolis as the instruction manual told him to think of a destination and he randomly chose Dictionopolis.

Milo speeds through the tollbooth and finds himself on a highway with his house in no line of sight. He is surprised to find out that the tollbooth actually worked.  When he arrives at the Expectations where he meets a little man with Obsessive–compulsive disorder named the Whether man. Milo goes on to find Dictionopolis; his mind begins to stray and stops paying attention to the road. He hears a voice coming from a distant, and Milo soon notices dozens of little men who have the ability to change colors and blended into the objects.  These little men are called Lethargies who live in Doldrums a land where nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes, everything is monotonous. Abruptly a dog with a clock for a body runs in. The watchdog’s missions is to make sure that nobody in Doldrums wastes time. The watchdog explains to Milo that to leave Doldrums he must do the opposite of  brought him here in the first place, which was not thinking. Milo started to think and concentrate his electric car began to move and was off on his way with the Watchdog to Dictionopolis.

As Milo and the Watchdog make their way to Dictionopolis; the watchdog introduces himself as Tock. Tock begins a speech about the importance of time. Once inside Dictionopolis they see a market full of merchants selling words and letters as if they were fruits. They meet five cabinets who always repeat each other’s replies in synonyms. They explain the reason for the market in a dizzyingly, mind-boggling complex way leaving Milo confused.

Milo and his companion take a walk through the marketplace exploring the words the merchants were selling; words they never heard of. Milo meets a shopkeeper who discuss with him the construction of word, and suddenly a giant bee swarms in. The spelling bee tells Milo that he is capable of spelling any word. After throwing a bunch of words at the bee to spell, an insect approaches, this insect was a beetle. They get into an argument. The beetle and the bee begin to fight; the beetle swings his cane catching the bee’s leg which toppled a stool which knocked another stool and so on causing the whole market place to collapse. Having caused discord in the marketplace Milo is approached by Officer shift and is sentenced to 6 million years in jail. He is then taken to jail where he has been told there is a which. Not a witch you might be thinking of, but a person named which. When Milo and Tock are thrown into to jail they meet Which who tells them the story of how see once decided which words to say and which words no to use; she told them how she became corrupted and began to give people less and less words to use. The king was infuriated to he threw her in jail.