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I Love, I Hate, I Miss My Sister- Part 2

The ending of this book was nothing like I expected it to be and Im not really sure how I feel about it. I feel as if there was no story line and that it was all just scattered memories leading up to Sohane finally accepting the fact that her sister is dead. There was a lot of things I didn't like about the book. I think that it is awful how Sohane was rejected from coming back to classes at school and thrown out of the town meeting just because she was wearing the headscarf even though the meeting was made in honor of HER sister. I think it is also awful how Djelila was murdered only because she didn't want to wear the headscarf. It just goes to show how the saying "nothing is ever good enough" is so true. No matter what these two girls did, they both were being told they were wrong by different people. I think that neither one of the girls were in the wrong and that Sohane being banned from everything is just unfair. If  I were Sohane I would have done the same thing, be the bigger person and remove myself from those situations, even though it would suck. Women choose to wear the head scarf for many different reasons and none of them are bad or have anything to do with others. There shouldn't be a problem with people choosing how they express themselves. The head scarf is just part of the muslim culture just like how every other culture has certain little traditions, symbols, and meanings that they want to express. I looked up the French law on the banning of head scarfs as mentioned in the book and read a little about it, learning that it's a $250 fee for wearing one in public. That is crazy, think about how you would feel if someone was banning you from things and charging you money just for wanting to be yourself and wear a piece of clothing that has meaning to you. It should be the person underneath that matters, not the scarf itself.

http://arabsinamerica.unc.edu/identity/veiling/hijab/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28106900

I love, I hate, I miss my sister.

For my literature circle book I am reading "I Love, I Hate, I Miss My Sister" written by Amélie Sarn. From what I have read so far, the book is the story of two muslim sisters, Djelila and Sohane. Shortly into reading you learn that the story is being told by Sohane and that Djelila is actually dead so the book is flashback stories and Sohane talking to Djelila as if she were still alive. The main focus in this story is religion and the social struggles muslim women face. The two sisters are completely opposite, one following the muslim values and beliefs and the other following the modern day free spirit personality. They are very different and the main thing that is noticeably different between the two of them is that Sohane wears a head scarf and Djelila exposes her skin a lot more. This begins to cause problems for the girls in school, at home, and in the community. So far I like the story and am interested in reading the rest. It is cool learning about some of the different views muslim people have and the different struggles the women have to face. The only thing I don't enjoy about the book so far is that its a little bit hard to follow sometimes. The writing tends to jump from the past to the present a lot and the wording sometimes confuses me. For example, one sentence Djelila is alive sitting next to Sohane, the next sentence Sohane is taking about when Djelila was killed and how she wishes she had her sister back so its a little bit jumpy in that way. Other than that, I'm curious as to where this story is going and what the purpose of this book is. 

Towards the end of the novel Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor decides to run away from her family and go back to her uncle’s house. There has been so many things that have led up to make her want to do this and I’m so happy that she finally did. So many kids in America face struggles of having a poor life at home and usually there’s not many choices the child has to better themselves in the situation. In Eleanor’s case she really had no options and she has a lot of siblings so it made it harder as well. I think that Eleanor leaving was the right choice but I also feel bad because of her other siblings left behind. I did some research and according to the National Runaway Safeline between 1.6-2.8 million children runaway each year in the United States. That is a crazy amount and way more common than I thought. There are so many different reasons children run away from home. I think that young children usually have no plan on where they’re going or what they are going to do when they run away but that they just think anything and anywhere is better than being in a poor situation at home. Eleanor seemed to have a good plan of going to her uncle’s house and then if her uncle said to go home she knew she could go to Parks. I find it sad that children don’t realize that there are other ways to get help and that there are other people they can talk to if their parents aren’t really there to help them or if their parents are the cause of them wanting to run away. There are school counselors and teachers or other family members that are willing to help in most situations. If you know someone is struggling with something at home you should always try to help them and talk to them to.

http://www.pollyklaas.org/enews-archive/2013-enews/article-web-pages/the-truth-about-runaways.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/#.WIEJVKIrKu4

https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/running-away-part-i-why-kids-do-it-and-how-to-stop-them/

From what I have read so far, the book Eleanor & Park is an innocent young love story. While reading this story, it makes you feel young and help you remember to be thankful and appreciative of the simple things in life. The characters in the book appreciate the little things about each other which makes them fall in love. I have never been the type of person to enjoy reading and have always hated being assigned books to read in class. When I first read the email saying we were going to have to read all of these books I kind of had this “Oh no” thought. As I started reading, it came to my surprise that I was getting more and more interested in the book. I found that I wasn’t dreading to continue reading and that I was able to follow the story very well and even relate to it in some ways. I really enjoyed how the book goes back and forth between Eleanor’s point of view and Park’s point of view, at first it was a little confusing but as I went on I found it helpful. The story explains the middle school bus setting so perfectly and its nice how the story brings together two completely different types of kids. It really touched my heart that this poor girl Eleanor goes through such a rough start as the new girl in school and has to live with such a rough at home life, she finds her only happiness and escape path through Park. Just thinking about seeing Park made Eleanor so happy and that’s what I find to be so cute. You can tell how much each young lover cares about the other one even with so few words being spoken. I think in the world today people need to start to look at the little things in life more and begin to appreciate people for the things that matter such as a good personality rather than material goods.

http://www.rainbowrowell.com/eleanor-park/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/books/review/eleanor-park-by-rainbow-rowell.html

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