The article "Man From Ministry Bans Potter" by Tania deLuzuriaga talks about how the Harry Potter books were banned from St. Josephs School. It was banned because people thought that the themes of witchcraft and sorcery are not appropriate for a catholic school.
          A woman who's child went to the school said that "Most children were strong enough to resist the temptation." Meaning, that he thought that if children believed in magic, it would be bad. Using your imagination and believing in magic is not a bad thing. I don't think that they had a reason for banning the books. Also, the article says, "I'm upset it was done without talking to anyone about it." None of the parents were told that Harry Potter was being banned from the school. I think that they should have told more parents. It is up to the parents to decide what their children should be reading. "Police vice squad arrested anyone selling works considered offensive." If anybody sold or has a book that is considered offensive, they are arrested.
          I think that St. Josephs school had no real reason for banning the Harry Potter series. The only reason they said it was banned was because it had themes of witchcraft and sorcery, but Harry Potter books are not the only books with magic in them and they only mentioned banning Harry Potter. Also, the article says, "most children are strong enough to resist the temptation." She said that you have to be strong to read Harry Potter books and because of the "weak" children, the book has to be banned. I don't think that any child or adult should not be able to use their imagination or read what they want to read.
           I am a very big Harry Potter fan, and I don't think that there is anything wrong with reading those books. It is possible that if the article told better reasons for banning the book, then I might understand, but it doesn't matter if children believe in magic or use their imaginations. That's just part of being a kid.

Your Past is Important

       Sometimes I convince myself that doing one thing is a good idea, but soon I realize that I was wrong. In the book Diverent by Veronica Roth, the main character Tris chose to move away from home and change her life forever. She thinks that it was a good idea, but after her mother comes to see her, she makes Tris realize that she misses her family and doesn't want to forget about her past, by telling her to go and visit her brother. She misses her old life and her family, all her new friends and leaving her, her teachers don't like her, and she is constantly getting beaten up by a group of bullies.

       This part of the book is meaningful because it shows that you should never forget where you came from. You should revisit your past. Tris was trying to convince herself to forget her family but when she saw her mother and brother, she realized how important her old life is to her and she doesn't want to forget it. 

       Once I got to the 6th grade, every day during lunch, I would wait outside for my friends from my old school to come outside. Once i saw them, it was like a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders and I felt happy. Soon, my friends started bring their own new friends to lunch with us. I thought that my friends were rude and unthoughtful for bringing knew people to eat lunch with us. A couple weeks later, I noticed that nobody was paying attention to me. I realized that my friends had started to act differently. I didn't fit in anymore. So I stopped eating with them and ate with my new friends instead of my old ones. I thought that I should just forget about the and focus on my new friends. But, now I realize that your past is what makes up your life and you shouldn't just try to forget about it. So, I shouldn't forget my friends.

Finished books:

-Divergent
-The House on Mango Street
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
-Insurgent
-Allegiant
-Catching Fire
-Mocking jay

      Over the summer I read the book Make Lemonade by Virginia Wolff.
It was about  teenager named Jolly, who had two children to take care of on her own. She had to drop out of school to take care of her two children. She had been working at a factory and was barely getting paid enough, until she was fired for no reason.
       She put up a babysitting poster in LaVaughn's school so that she could find a babysitter for her children while she tried to keep a job. LaVaughn signed up because she wanted to make some extra money for a college fund. LaVaughn helps Jolly take care of her children, and fix her life.
It took me a while to really get into the book and start to enjoy it. I liked the story, but a couldn't stand the main character LaVaughn because when Jolly asks LaVaughn for money, she would use it to buy diapers which she needed for Jilly, her daughter. But LaVaughn said that the money wouldn't help, only because she was trying to save up for her college fund. LaVaughn probably would have gotten scholarships to college because she has perfect grades. Jolly really needed the money for something very important.
         Also, LaVaughn's thoughts about Jolly are very rude. She always thought poorly of Jolly, and never thought that Jolly could be good enough. Throughout the book, LaVaughn always thinks, I can't stop babysitting now because I need the money to go to college, so that I won't ever end up like Jolly. She shouldn't be thinking about quitting when Jolly's whole life depends on her. She also only thinks about the money she is getting, not about how she has to help Jolly.
         I think that Jolly deserved someone better than LaVaughn to be a babysitter for her, even though LaVaughn helped her get her life back on track.