WA#8

Cristina De Leon
April 15, 2008
Block E 4th period
Writing assignment #8
American Author Thesis proposal

As I finished reading the books by Dave Pelzer I came up with a couple of possible topics for the essay. For example, peer pressure, wanting to fit in to a group, maturing, or the American Dream according to Dave. There was one that really caught my attention and that is survival. I would write about the different ways that people survive in different environments. Just like Dave had to do. He had to somehow cope with everything and everyone around him in order to make it through each day. I would also describe how he writes about the things he did to survive, the things his mother and friends did and said to him, and about the people that helped him.
In order to be able to write this paper I would have to learn about different situations people live in and how they survive. For example how do bums make there living where could they live? How do people treat them? Along with describing what the books were about I will also get a chance to describe his style of writing.
Since I read the books on Dave’s life it gave me a good understanding on his writing. All the writing he did was to try to let people know that horrifying things are happening to children every where. Things might seem all nice and perfect but people or just things could change. He also wrote these books to let people know to not be scared, if you’re in any situation where you are being abused you should speak up there are people who actually care and will help. Another reason is that even though something bad happened that doesn’t mean you have to give up on life, you could still do what you want to do in life.
This is what I am hoping on doing for my American Author paper.

Blog # 5

I just satrted reading my second book( March 20,20080 i have not been able to read much but from what i read he starts the book off by talking about the horrible things that his mother did to him while living in her house. What were some of the things he did to susrvive.
As i was writing this i thought of a possible topic for my essay.
SURVIVAL: meaning i could write about differnt ways that people survive in different enviornments. Just like Dave had to do. He had to some how cope with everything that was happening around him in order to make it through.

Blog # 4

I finished reading "The Lost boy." i read from 35-298. It took me a lot of hours but since i was really into the book, it didnt seem that long to me. The rest of the book was about dave and his adventures threw the fostor care system, trying to be accepted by his peers, stealing, facing his mother and fathers, being in jail and most of all searching for the love of a family. So far i came up with a couple possible topics for my essay. this topics are: peer pressure, wanting to fit in to a group, maturing, or the American Dream according to dave. One type of symbalism that dave uses in both the Child called it and in The Lost boy is that he could fly. This is important because he would also star out the window in his mothers basement and prentend he could fly away from his problems. He was really interested in flying so once he was 18 he joined the army.

Blog # 3

My first actual American Author book is "The Lost boy" I read from pages 3 to 32. What i read so far is about Dave telling us about theday that his mother told him to leave the house if she was really treating him that bad. Dave decided to walk out, when he was walking out he could believe he had done that. After a couole of hours he started to get cold and hungry., but he was really stubborn and told himself that he would not return back home no matter what. Then his hunger brought him back to earth. He walked by a pizza place and it smelled so good in there that he decided to go in. Once he was in there he seen a quarter at a pool table where two men were playing. He went over and he tried to steal it, once he was about to walk out the owner stopped him and told him to return the quarter. Well to make a long story short, dave returned the quarter and then he called the police that he was a run away child. What i noticed so far is that he is still writting the same way as the first book.

Blog #2

For my American Author i did Dave Pelzer. I Started off by rereading the Child called it. I read the whole book in 2 days. The book is about dave as a little boy and how his perfect family started to fall apart. His once beautiful, caring, intellegent mother became, scary, alcoholic, and an abusive mother. HIs father who was once his hero, became a person that he bearly realized. His mother would beat him, and play wierd games with him. some examples of games are: washing the dishes,cleaning the house, etc, but the bad part was that there was a time limit. If he did not finish within the time limit she would starve him for days or up to a week, make him drink amonia, along with other horrible things. I have not really started to think about ideas for my paper.
I really like the way Dave writes his book. He writes from his perspective, he tells us exactly how he felt at that time. He puts alot of details into his writting. He makes you feel like your right next to him. My favorite passage from the Child Called it is when his mother makes him drink amonia infront of his father, because he has been a "Bad Boy". Once Dave drinks the amonia he falls to the floor and tears come out from his eyes as he lies on he floor bearly being able to breath.

American Author Proposal.

Cristina De Leon
January 16, 2008
Block E

Writing assignment #6: American Author Proposal

For my American author reading assignment I would really like to do Dave Pelzer. Dave is well know for his book “A child called IT.“ In this book he describes the abusive childhood he had. His mother forced him to drink ammonia, starve and hit him along with other horrifying events. Books like Dave’s inspire me and make me believe that even though you’ve been through the worst something good will come out of it. There is a lot more to live for all you have to do keep your head up and hang in there.
I believe that Dave Pelzer meets the requirements for the American author project. He is a non fiction writer, he writes about his life. He has also written a couple other books, such as “the Lost Boy” , “A Man Named Dave”, “The Privilege of Youth” and of course “A child called It.” Dave has won awards like the JC Penney Golden Rule Award (1990), Ten Outstanding Young Americans (1993), Outstanding Young Person of the World (1994) and the National Jefferson Award (2005). With him winning these awards I believe he is somewhat regarded as an important American literature writer.
I am planning on reading “The Lost boy”, “A Man Named Dave”, and “The Privilege of Youth.” I will probably also read the child called it again because its been a real long time since I read it, I think it was 6th grade. The order that I will read the books is; re-reading “A Child called IT”, “The Lost Boy”, “The privilege of youth” and finish up with “A Man Named Dave.” I am going to read them in this order because Dave wrote them in this order. “A Child Called It” is about Dave’s experiences as a child. “The List Boy” is about his journey through the foster care system. “The Privilege of Youth” is about Dave’s high school years. The last book that I am going to read is “A Man Named Dave” is where he declares his independence from his mother.
I think that Dave Pelzer’s writing will allow me to write the ten page essay because he is a good writer. Through out his books I think he will grow in his writing because he is describing different events in his life.
This is who I would really like to do for the American author project.