The Boy Who Dared

Pages:12-55

Describe the most important event. Give at least three reasons why you think it

is the most important event.

I think the most important event in the book was Hitler getting elected as Chancellor.  This is the biggest event in the book because they start talking about the hard life of the Jews.  In one little episode, a baker who is a Jew is washing his windows from the comments people have written on his windows. When a solider comes up and stops him and he refuses, he starts kicking him.  Two more come and start kicking him.  

Hitler being elected is HUGE also because the main character Helmuth, is forced to join the Hitler Youth Program.  One day he is in school, and a commanding officer comes into the classroom and there to sign up all the nonmembers.  He calls them up one by one and signs up the stragglers.  When he is officially signed up, he must go to their meetings.  One he does, he barely has time for anything else.

Another thing that is big and is a result of Hitler is the big fight that Helmuth's brother and his mom's boyfriend.   Helmuth must write an essay about how Hitler saved the Fatherland regardless of their belief's.  When he starts to write, Hugo,  is proud because he loves what Hitler is doing.  Helmuth's brother is all against Hitler.  They get into a loud argument
 and it ends as Helmuth's brother losing

The Boy Who Dared

Pages 0-31

Prompt: Are the characters realistic (do they seem like they could be read people)? Why

or why not?

I think Helmuth is a very realistic character.  Partly because the book is based on a true story.  Other than that, he is realistic because he acts like a person who sits there and lets things happen to him from what I have read so far. He doesn't seem to mind what other people say.  I know we have people like that in our world today.  Those people let the world change around them.  

In the first couple pages they started talking about how Hitler would bring war.   Helmuth wonders why people could dislike a man willing to fight fro the betterment of Germany.  I would wondering the same things if I knew nothing about Hitler, I would have said the same thing.  If we had someone willing to fight for the betterment of the U.S. then I would say the same thing.  Unless he is a lunatic like Hitler.  I don't think he knows  anything about Hitler except that he was running for chancellor.  

The last thing why I think he is realistic is because he has two older brothers that are allowed to do things he can't.  I know this sounds weird but I have many experiences like this.  For instance my uncles can go do things I can't do.  I always hated that like he did.  now since I am older I can do more things with them.  When Helmuth gets older I think he will do more things with his brothers.

Hidden Talents

Prompt: Is what you are reading believable? Why or why not?

Pages: 0-45

So far, what I have read is believable.  All the characters seem to be acting like a real person or one that sounds normal.  Their behavior sounds like some of the kids I know and some that go to this school.  Each of them have a personality that sounds realistic and relatable.  This is what I know so far.  Im guessing the book is not called "Hidden Talents" for nothing.

One of the people that sounds believable is a kid whose last name is "Bloodbath".  His first name escapes me, but he sounds believable because he is the school bully.  Most schools have bully's like him.  He has a certain behavior that I find quite menacing.  He basically runs the school mail system.  Anything anybody gets from home, he gets.  He is the kind of bully that is in control of everything.

The last character I am going to describe is the main character Martin.  He has a little problem respecting authority.  This sounds realistic because some people at this school have this problem.  He got expelled from two different schools.  The school he is going to now is the lost resort.  HE has a tenancy to mouth off to authority.

The Life Of Manjiro Nakahama

Book: Heart Of The Samurai

Character: Manjiro Nakahama

I think Manjiro's role in life was to prove that all Western's were not all bad and to see for himself.  He believed that they were misunderstood.   

When the wind picked up, I asked one of the older fishermen, Toraemon if the wind always roars like it had now.  He only told me to get back to work and payed no attention to the dark clouds.  Everyone was to dazzeled by the amount of fish we had and were about to bring into our boat.  People were so happy because the village had been going hungry for a while now.  No one seemed to notice the dark clouds that covered the sky like a blanket, exept for me.  When we started to go back to the shore and land was again within sight, we started panicking. We realized that we were drifting AWAY from our shores, not towards them.  My people call it the Black Current.  Then we realized in how much trouble we were in.  We were very afraid.  We had no oars, our mast had snapped, and it was raining.  The rain was freezing us over in sheets.  Then we came to a small island we named, Bird Island.  We ate most of our catch in the storm and in the helpless drifting in the open ocean, but when we saw that island we were so happy we could find a place that could possibly find a place to find help, food, and some rest.

A few weeks ago we got off Bird Island.  We saw a ship and we screamed at the top of our lungs to get their attention.  When we did get their attention, they sent their Captain Whitfield and his First Mate they call Jolly.  Who wasn’t very jolly if you ask me.  They took us aboard their whaling ship and fed us and gave us new clothes.  After that we went to sleep.  My best friends Denzo and Goemon kept telling me of the danger of being on the ship.  They could kill us.  He was right. We were in so much danger, but I didn’t think we were in any danger.  We could never return home, for these people were the barbarians of the West.  They started to teach me their language.  It was very difficult to learn what I now know to be a fork.  Denzo would not learn.  He was convinced that these people were evil, and they woud kill us in time.  Goemon thought the same thing.  I thought “ Why would they save us, then kill us?”  They fed us, gave us new clothes because our old one’s were wrecked.  I started to work as a whaler on their ship.  It was dirty work but it had good pay.  They had a hard time grasping my name so they gave me a new one.  John Mung.

The whaling was hard work.  I felt wrong about killing these animals, but I realized I needed to so I can earn Western currency.  One day, when we were stopped in a harbor, Goemon and I went to spend time on land.  A few days ago, Captain Whitfield had his prized posession stolen.  His silver pocketwatch.  We were just walking back to the boat when the First Mate Jolly and two men stopped us on the beach.  He accused us of steling the Captain's watch.  He did not trust us because we were from a foreign country.   They searched us and found nothing.  We emeptied everything onto the white sand of the beach. “Where are you hiding the watch?” he asked us.  We could barely understand him so we remained silent.  He pulled out his knife and asked us again.  When we did not answer again, he attacked.  We dodged every swipe of the gleaming knife.  He crashed into an oil barrel and knocked it over on a torch causing the whole thing to catch fire.  I grabbed the torch and waved it in front of him.  He tried to grab it from my hand but missed and his long beard caught fire.  He ran off screaming.  I noticed something glittering in the sand.  A silver pocket watch.  Jolly dropped it when he ran off.  We went to the Captain and explained everything.  He was most pleased with us.  Jolly had to do all the boat’s chores for a month.

A few years had passed and Denzo, Goemen and I have all stuck together.  One day I decided to go with Captain Whitfield to live on the mainland.  Denzo had dieda year before.  Goemen came with us.  We were both around the age 16.  I started to go to school while Goemon worked.  One day I met a girl.  It was a whole year before we started to talk to each other.  She was very nice to me.  Thats when we started to go on walks together.  I brought her flowers every day.  One day she took me to see her father.  I was so scared of what he might say or do to me. I had nothing to be afraid I found out later.  We fell in love and we would do everything together.  After school every day, I would have some work to attend to.  I had been saving a fund so that me and Denzo could go back to japan after 5 long years.  I finally saved up enough money so we could leave and see our family’s again.  We boarded The friend of the Captain’s ship.  I said a long goodbye to him.  We set off for Japan the next morning.

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