The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

In "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury, Joby the drummer boy is the protagonist. Joby changes throughout the story. He goes from feeling alone and afraid of what was going to come to prepared and not concerned.

In the beginning of the story,Joby is feeling lost, hopeless, unprepared, and uncertain. For example, Bradbury says "If he stayed very still, when the dawn came up and the soldiers put their bravery on with their caps, perhaps they might go away, the war with them, and not notice him living here, no more than a toy himself." He was afraid of what was going to happen in the battle.

In the middle of the story, Joby is talking to the general. The general is helping Joby by teaching him how important he is. For example, in the story, the general says to Joby "He must keep at it, at it! Long and steady, steady and long! Then even though shot or torn, those wounds got in hot blood-in blood he'd helped stir-would feel less pain. If their blood was cold, it would be more than slaughter, it would be murderous nightmare and pain best not told and no one to guess." He tells Joby that if he is slow and unsure, the soldiers will be. But if he is fast and steady, so will the soldiers.

In the end of the story, Joby is ready. "He swallowed. He wiped his eyes. He cleared his throat. He settled himself. Then, at last, very slowly and firmly he turned the drum so it faced up towards the sky." Joby is prepared and ready for battle. Joby will go into the battle beating a sure and steady beat to the battle.

The Unnameables

In the book The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem, Medford Runyuin is on an island. On the island there is a very strict society. Medford wasn't born on the island. The main rule on the island is that everything must have a purpose. If it has a purpose it has a name. If it doesn't have a purposemit does not have a name. Everyone is named after what they do. For example, if you were a weaver then your name would be Weaver. If you made something that didn't have a use, then you would be banished and brought to the mainland. The problem is that Medford doesn't want to follow the rules and be like everyone else. He let his mind go wild and carve whatever he wanted. One day a goatman appeared in front of his house one day. He could call the wind but couldn't control it. The peopel found out that Medford had created these useless objects and had a trial to banish Medford. The way the conflict was resolved was that almost everyone on the island had something useless or unnameable. The council decided to allow these useless objects on the island. They decided to name them runyuins.

One theme to this book is that it's okay to be different. I think that the theme was showed when Meedford didn't have a meaningful last name like everyone else. Another theme was let your imagination flow. Medford let his imagination flow into carving. He carved things like seagulls, fancy bowls, and anything he had on his mind. The last theme that I saw was to ignore what others think about you. In the beginning of the story, kids made fun of him and called him names for being different. Medford didn't let this stop him.

The way that this book connected to the real world is that the island was just an island off the coast of the any place in the real world. The island was just an example of what the people thought was a "perfect society." Some of the problems are the same as problems people have today.

Theodore Boone: The Accused

Theodore Boone is a 13 year old kid that is obsessed with the law. Both of his parents are lawyers. Theodore was always a good kid and always tried to follow the rules. But one day, Theodore found out that his locker was open and his hat was missing. Theodore decided not to report to the principal and thought that he had just left his locker open. Later that day, he saw that his bike tire was slashed. Theodore got a little worried when he noticed a knife had cut his tire. Then he got accused for robbing an electronic store and stealing lots of devices. When the detectives checked his locker, they found three tablets that Theodore didn't put there. Theodore tried to deny everything, but all of the evidence pointed to him.
Theodore tried to follow the rules, but when some kids started calling him guilty, Theodore got into a fight. He got suspended for two days. This was the first time Theodore had gotten in this much trouble. Theodore realized that if he didn't find out who really robbed the store, they were going to blame it on him. He talked to his uncle, Ike, and Ike came up with an idea. He thought that the people who were framing Theodore was connected to his mom's work as a lawyer. Theodore broke into his mother's files and learned who had framed him. Ike taught Theodore that it is okay to break the rules if you are trying to do something right.