This nonfiction article showed how when you stare at a dog for a little bit longer than you normally would, you will have an instant connection. There were studies that showed that if you stare into a wolf’s eyes, you don’t have the same connection that you would with a dog. A simple stare lights up yours and your dogs day and it makes you both happy.It also draws you and your dog closer together.

I used to think the only way you and your dog can have a better connection, is by playing and hugging them. I also didn’t know that it didn’t work with wolves, but only with dogs. Now I know that you can also bond with your dog by staring at them for a long period of time. That would show your dog that you love them.

There were a lot of questions that I still had about this passage. One of them was what made them start this research. I would ask them that because I always like to know who or what inspired them. Another question is do the scientists that researched this have dogs. I would ask them that because then they can test on themselves and their dog.

Have you ever had a great companion? A companion is somebody who’s always there for you and will always give you their shoulder to lean on. In Wonder, Daisy is a great companion towards August. She’s always there to cuddle with him when he’s sad.

My first opinion is Daisy was a great companion towards August because she is very loyal. For instance, she doesn’t judge what August looks like, like everybody else. On page 227 it stated, “I wondered how it would feel to be in heaven someday and not have my face matter anymore. Just like it never, ever mattered to Daisy. Based on what I read, Daisy was always laying by August like he was a normal kid.

From my reading, I know that Daisy is always very loving towards August. In the book, Wonder, I read Via saying, “The only celestial body that doesn’t orbit August is Daisy, the dog, and that’s only because to her, August’s face doesn’t look different from any other human’s face. To Daisy, all our faces look alike.” When Daisy died, Auggie was so upset about it. The author stated him saying,”Bye, little girlie,” I whispered into daisy’s ear,”I love you.”

I read a nonfiction article about parents arguing that their kids should be taking less tests at school. They thought that some of the tests were just reviewing already known material. They thought that there should still be tests, but not as many. Parents were fighting the school board.

One sentence in this article that stood out to me was, “We need fewer, better, and fairer assessments.” This sentence stands out to me because I agree with what she’s saying. Some tests just review the same material over and over again.

Debbie Vency, who is on the school board, has a strong point of view about this topic. She thinks there should be tests,but not as many. However, tests are important to all of the kids so that they know where they’re at in school and so the parents can, too.

Christina and her family woke up early in the morning to start packing for their trip to Hawaii. They were rushing all over the house getting their clothes, toothbrushes, and hairbrushes. They all had to get their dog, Jace, ready too. They heard their mom say, “Let’s go say goodbye to Grammy.” They said goodbye and were headed off to the airport.

While they were on the airplane, all they were able to think about was playing in the water and walking in the sand. They were so excited they couldn’t stop kicking the seat in front of them. Christina was sitting with her mom, Bridget, and her dad, Chris. In front of them were Christina’s brothers, Joe, Ayrton, and Elio. Jace was at the bottom of the plane where the dogs go. The whole family was so excited because the plane had TV’s on the back of all the seats. The flight from San Diego to Hawaii was five hours. They finally all fell asleep and woke up to the plane landing. They were in Hawaii!!!

Hawaii was beautiful! It was eighty degrees and it felt awesome. They were all so anxious to get to the house and go to the beach. Before they did that, they had to order a taxi. The whole time they were driving to their house, Christina and Elio kept on chanting, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” It drove everybody crazy! The taxi driver got really mad at them, but they were so excited so they couldn’t stop. They finally got to the house after about thirty minutes.

Christina came out of the car screaming “Aloha!” and started doing the Hawaiian dance. “What in the world is she doing?” her brothers thought. Christina is free spirited and loves fashion. She does what she wants to do but she doesn’t make that many wrong choices. Jace came out of the taxi barking while he was waiting for everybody else to come out of the car. Bridget ran out of the car to stop Jace from barking while Chris paid the driver.

“I want to go play football on the beach.” said Elio. Ayrton and Joe didn’t bring their buggie boards because they were too big. But before they could go play, Bridget and Chris wanted a family photo. Chris said,”Say Rumplestiltskin!” They all said,”Rumplestiltskin!” and the photo was taken. They were heading towards the house when Ayrton said,”Can we rent buggy boards from the booth?””Sure, as long as you take good care of them.” said their mom. Joe said, “Of course. We’ll be careful.”

Joe and Ayrton said at the same time,”Can we please have money for them?” Ayrton and Joe got the money and started running to the booth. The buggie boards were twenty dollars each if you wanted them for two weeks which was how long they were going to be in Hawaii. The lady at the booth said,”What would you like and how long do you want it for?”

Joe said,”May we please have two buggie boards for two weeks?” The lady said,”Of course. That would be forty dollars please.” Ayrton handed her the money. She said,”Thank you. They’re over there.” Ayrton and Joe looked over at where she pointed and didn’t know where to start. There were so many buggie boards. There were ones with Hawaiian flowers and some with rainbows and ponies. Ayrton and Joe decided to get matching ones. Joe’s was red with a black smiley face and Ayrton’s was green with a black smiley face.

Joe and Ayrton went by the booth again and looked inside of it.There was a different girl in there. Joe and Ayrton thought she was really cute. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. They went back to the booth and said,”We just bought these boards. Are they good?” She said,”Yes. All our boards are high-quality. You’ll love them.” Joe said,”Hopefully we’ll see you around.” She said in a flirty voice,”I’m free a couple hours after this. Want to go boarding on the beach?” Ayrton said,”Sure! See you later.” They both said Aloha and left.

Joe and Ayrton were so happy. They went to the house and unpacked real quick. “We’re going boarding. We’ll see you in a few hours.” yelled the boys. They grabbed their boards and left an hour early. They got in the water and caught a few waves. They wiped out a lot though. As the boys caught a wave, they looked up and saw the girl from the booth walking towards the water. The boys took the wave in and met her on the sand. She was wearing a purple wet suit and had her hair in a ponytail. She said,”Aloha! Let’s catch some waves, shall we?”

Joe and Ayrton said,”We shall.” as they dove into the water with their boards. Joe wasn’t doing very good. He had four wipe-outs and he missed seven waves. Ayrton was doing pretty good. He wiped-out once and missed two waves. Lauren was perfect. She caught every wave she took. She actually had to start teaching Joe how to ride. She must of been a good teacher too because Joe actually caught a few waves after that. Joe caught a wave all the way back to the sand and took a break.

He saw Lauren’s phone and keys. Joe saw a building-shaped key and her phone had a text to captain saying,”I’ll meet you later at the ‘place’.” Joe got really suspicious. He signaled Ayrton to go to shore. Ayrton swam to shore really quickly. Joe showed him the key and the text message. Joe said,”Do you think that means anything?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe we should leave early and ask mom and dad for cab money so we can follow her and see where she meets the ‘captain’.” said Ayrton. Joe said,”That’s probably a good idea. Let’s go tell her we have to go back to the house.” “Hey Lauren” Ayrton yelled from the sand,”We have to head back home. See you later!” Lauren smiled and waved goodbye.

Once they got back to the house, they told their family about Lauren, the key, and the text messages. Joe told his parents,”We need cab money so we can follow her. We’ll text you a picture of where she is just in case we need help. We’ll get dressed and be on our way.”Their parents handed them the money and Bridget said,”Be safe. If you need help text me.” Joe and Ayrton got dressed and ordered a cab driver. Just as the cab arrived they saw Lauren leaving and started following her from afar. They followed her for about two miles. She stopped by a little shack on the other side of the island, near the volcano.

The shack said,”Is it or is it not?” The shack looked very old and dirty. It looked ugly. There was a smaller shack next to the big one that said,”Private Bathroom.” Lauren walked into the bathroom. She came out looking totally different with her hair down and wearing all black. She was wearing a black hat, black jacket, black shirt, black leggings, and black shoes. Joe joked,”Either that’s a fashion trend in Hawaii, or she’s up to no good.”

“Yup. Wait, I think she’s going in the big shack.” said Ayrton. Lauren walked into the big shack. They heard her say hi to somebody. Joe responded,,”Let’s try to go up and see what’s happening.” They quietly got out of the cab and snuck right next to the shed. They heard someone say,”Hi Lauren. How’s the mission coming along?” When Joe and Ayrton heard this, they looked at each other with their eyes wide open. “Good. I met these two boys named, I can’t remember, but I’m going to use them to help me capture Jack Black. They’re really annoying though.”The man said,”Very good.” Ayrton whispered to Joe,”How dare she.”

“I know. We have to do something about it.” said Joe. They kept on listening and heard the guy say”If we’re going to catch Jack Black, we are going to need some equipment from downstairs.” They walked downstairs and Joe said,”What do we do now?” Ayrton got up and started looking around the shed for a way downstairs. “Look over there!”shouted Ayrton. Joe looked and saw a door that led to a secret ladder. Joe and Ayrton tip toed down the stairs.

The downstairs was very nice because it had metal walls and nice cases filled with weapons. All of a sudden there was a loud thump. Lauren and the guy ran over towards the loud noise and saw Joe and Ayrton lying on the floor in front of the stairs. They both fell!!! “What are you guys doing here and how did you know I was a spy?” said Lauren. “Oh, you were a spy. We didn’t know for sure.” said Joe.

The guy said,”Lauren, are these the guys you were talking about, because they discovered us so we need to lock them.” “Do it. I never liked them anyway.” replied Lauren. They took Joe and through a secret door and down another staircase. Joe and Ayrton got pushed into a giant cell by the man. They shut the cell and walked upstairs to make a plan.

Luckily, Joe and Ayrton took pictures of where they were along the way. Joe quickly grabbed his phone and texted their dad pictures and information on what happened. Ayrton whispered,”Do you think mom and dad will find us?” “We’ll be fine. They’ll find us.”

“We’re on our way.” Ayrton texted back,”Go into the little shack. There’s a ladder that leads to where we are.” Their dad responded,”OK.” Joe and Ayrton were pacing back and forth in their calls while the rest of their family drove to where the pictures showed they were. Their little sister,Christina, went first, then Elio, And then their parents. They forgot that Jace couldn’t go down the ladder so they formed a basket together. Christina whispered to Jace,”Jump! Don’t worry. We’ll catch you.” Jace jumped and they caught him but Christina hit herself hard on the floor. Bridget gasped and said,”Are you okay?”

“I’m good, but that hurt a lot.” said Christina. They tip toed over to Ayrton and Joe. Chris had to help Jace because he made a lot of noise when he walked. They made it over to the cell without anyone hearing them. Ayrton said,”Look in that drawer. I think the key to the cell is in there.” Christina crawled over to the drawer and found a key ring with about five rings on it. She walked back over to the cell and tried a couple of rings and got it on the third try. Ayrton and Joe tip toed out of the cell and everybody hugged.

They found a different stairway that led to upstairs so they snuck out of the shack. They hid behind a bush while Lauren and the guy walked out. They jumped on Lauren and took her into the cell. The guy got bit in the butt by Jace and he got taken downstairs too. Joe said,”You might be here for a long time.” The family drove away and never looked back.

The boys learned to never judge a book by it’s cover because you never know who they are on the inside.

“I am passionately interested in understanding how my country works and if you want to know about this thing called the United States of America, you have to know about the Civil War.” ( BrainyQuote ). The Civil War was a time in the United States when the Northern and Southern states fought over slavery and states rights. Before the Civil War, there were a lot of important events that lead to it, such as the Missouri Compromise, Abraham Lincoln becoming president, and the debate over slavery and states rights.

One event that lead to the Civil War was the Missouri Compromise. “The Missouri Compromise was a federal statute in the United States that regulated slavery in the country’s western territories.” ( Wikipedia ) In other words, the Missouri Compromise was the line that separated the North from the South. this impacted the Civil War by showing what states belonged to the North and what states belonged to the South. It also separated slavery. If you were on the North side of the Missouri Compromise you were free and if you were on the South side you could be a slave. The line went between the bottom of Kansas and the top of Arkansas. The Missouri Compromise was one of the first things that lead to the Civil War.

Another event that lead to the Civil War was when Abraham Lincoln became president. “Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.” (Wikipedia) When Abraham Lincoln became president, he had a lot of rules so that meant that the states didn’t have as much freedom as they used to. Some states didn’t want to be tied down to these rules so they started seceding. Both the North and the South got mad about that and that’s another way that it impacted the Civil War.

Lastly, the states debated over whether slavery was right or wrong. The Northern states believed in freedom and was anti-slavery, while the Southern states believed in slavery and states rights. This impacted the Civil War because Northern states thought it was so wrong for the slaves to be treated how they were. Slaves got seperated from their families, they got whipped, slapped, hung, and burnt. One of the most famous slaves was Frederick Douglass. “I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.” -Frederick Douglass ( BrainyQuote ).

The Civil War was a very interesting time and is very important to the history of the United States. What is also important is what events lead to war, which was the Missouri Compromise, Abraham Lincoln becoming president, and the debate over States Rights and no slavery.

Wonder Summary

August goes through a lot of hard times and now his friend Jack does too. They are in fifth grade and August has a very different looking face. They get bullied by this kid named Julian. Jack is always in defense of August because everybody always stares at him. August has a very nice sister named Via who has a boyfriend named Justin. Via loves August but is afraid for him to go to her school play. She’s afraid people will gossip about her having a little brother who has a birth defect. Via’s a teenager and she cares about what people think of her and August. Now everybody is starting to be nicer to August which is really good. 

Novel Update

The protagonist in Wonder is August because Via’s, Summer’s, Jack’s, August’s, Miranda’s, and Justin’s perspectives all reflect around August. Via’s is about her and August’s relationship, Jack’s  and a summer’s are about school, and Justin’s and Miranda’s are about August and Via. They all have something to do with August. August is also the one with all the main problems at school and with his birth defect.b In the beginning of the book it mainly introduces August. It also introduces his family and his guides at his new school, Beecher Prep, but mainly August Pullman. “He’s also the sun and everybody revolves around him.” That was a quote from Via.