RJ #24 The Boy Who Dared

                                                                                                                                                  2/13/12




Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

     I am in the middle of reading the book The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. It is actually really interesting so far. It got me hooked. There was one passage in the book that really got me thinking. It was on page 38. ''Helmuth believes in prayer, believes in G-D, has always believed in G-D, even now doesn't believe that G-D abandoned him but has grown closer.'' The significance is that it shows how we as Jews never stop believing and having faith.
     I used 2 before reading strategies which were reading the synopsis and predicting what the front cover picture means in reference to the book. The 2 during reading strategies were reading slowly and reading lines over again to understand what's happening. My 2 after reading strategies were proving if my prediction was right or not which I don't know yet and skimming and scanning for parts I missed before.
     The genre of the book is Historical Fiction. The main characters are Helmuth, Hugo, Mutti, Gerhard, and Hans. They are all round and dynamic however some are described to a more extent than others. The setting is in Germany during World War 2. The exposition is when Helmuth learns about the Jews and does not understand why they are picked on. The inciting incident is when Helmuth is embarrassed in class when he is denied an answer to a question. That is how far I got. The conflict is World War 2 and Helmuth trying to stop it and understand it. It is man vs. man. It is external. The tone is serious and the mood is depressing. The theme is War. The moral in the story is War is very bad and if we don't do something it could destroy us all as a society.
     The author's point of view is 2nd person. The P.O.O is Cause and Effect and chronological order. The author's purpose is to inform us World War 2 and all the people who stood up for the Jews and what will happen to our society if we don't remember this tragic event. The author is biased towards Jewish beliefs. There was no figurative language mentioned in the story.
     Personally this book is one of the best that I am reading right now. I would recommend it to the whole class.
     I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars for it was really suspenseful.
         


                       Sincerely, Isaac Paley 702