To Kill a Mockingbird
by Audra

                      "He can make somebody's will so airtight can't anybody meddle with it."(Lee 91)

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the author leads you on a journey of a family living in the town of Maycomb during the Great Depression.  The book starts with Scout and Jem and their fantasy adventures on the Radley place.   From protecting Tom, to defending him in court Atticus shows who he really is and that is a hero. Even though Tom was given the verdict of guilty, Atticus showed the town of Maycomb that he was not guilty but fully innocent, but the jury decided otherwise for their social status.  This journey that Atticus, Tom, and the rest of Maycomb take in this wonderful story makes Atticus a hero, because he persuaded the people to believe the truth even if the outcome was not the best.
                    The town of Maycomb was a child-friendly place that was filled with good and bad people which made it what it was.  It was a slow moving town with many adventures at hand. Its people were mostly all kin in the heart of Maycomb County, Alabama. "Maycomb was a town but a tired old town..."(Lee 5) the people moved slowly and the days were long.   The streets would turn to mud after rain and the summers were the hottest almost every year.  Citizens from the town were extremely racist which lead into Atticus's trial.  Tom Robinson was accused of a sin that he did not commit, but was used because of a family's shame and the color of Tom's skin. Atticus took the case after appointment and did not give in to anyone's insults or threats.  "'I'm simply defending a Negro... his name is Tom Robinson'" (Lee 75).  Atticus did have his doubts, like what would happen to his family or him. "..Atticus practiced economy more than anything."(Lee 5). He wasn't even a criminal lawyer he did wills and property deeds, but he still took the case and proved his point.
                  Calpurnia was like a mother to Atticus's children and had been with them since the beginning. "I had felt her heart presence as long as I could remember. She gave advice to Atticus and anyone else she was asked from. She was defensive of the kids and of her job.  She cooked, cleaned, and watched over the home. She even took care of the kids when Atticus left for two weeks to the legislature. Atticus had gone to help with work that was to be done with the law and was gone for two weeks. He spent time doing work that nobody wanted to do. “He spends his time doing' things that wouldn't get done...."(Lee 116). Though Atticus still had many friends like Miss Maudie and Aunt Raychel. During the court case his friends were those of Tom's. After the case they even showed more gratitude. There always is a bad guy, like Bob Ewell. He was a poor man that spent his relief money on beer instead of food for his family. He was a rotten liar that thought he could get away with anything. ".. People like the Ewells lived as guest of the county..."(Lee 170). He was though hit very hard with the depression even though he did nothing to help himself. 
                   Atticus did not only defend Tom in court he protected him from the public.  On night in Maycomb some men came to lynch Tom, but Atticus was there to make sure he was alive and well for the trail. The group of men came and started to threaten Atticus and later Scout, Dill and Jem come to "help". "Atticus remained where he was."(Lee150). He stood his ground and with the help of the three children the men soon left and Tom was safe. Tom's trail became the biggest event in Maycomb for a long time and everyone came to town to see it, even the social outcast. The reason of its popularity was it was a black man's word against a white man's word. Bob Ewell claimed that his daughter was raped by Tom Robinson and with the evidence brought up it was not true.    There were four witnesses and only one with a true story, which was Tom.  Atticus asked many questions and proved a lot of the tales wrong. "Did you during all this running run for a doctor?'(Lee 175) The reply was no proving that no one had and care for Mayella's health.  Atticus also proved that the person who beat her had to have two hands especially a left hand neither of those did Tom have.  After all the witnesses had been questions, Atticus made a speech and reviewed the evidence.  "I say guilt gentlemen, because it was guilt...” (Lee 203) That speech was so powerful it push the jury so far of the edge of the world they to hours to decide the verdict.  The wait was the worst part of the whole trial.
          When the verdict came it wasn't that good "Guilty, Guilty, Guilty....."(Lee 211).  Atticus stayed calm and he gathered his papers and on his was out he whispered goodbye to Tom.  He went down the middle of the court room and while he was passing, all the people in the colored balcony stood up to show him respect. He headed home disappointed, knowing there was nothing he could do for Tom now that the jury had decided. Tom then went to jail and was there for some time, before Atticus got the news. "They shot him said he was running....seventeen bullets in him"(Lee 235) Tom tried to escape from jail because he thought there was no way he would be set free.  When he did he was shot seventeen times and died right there at the jail.  Atticus did the right thing and took Calpurnia out to Tom's house to tell their family of the news. When the people of Maycomb heard about it some were furious and others didn't even care.  After the trail the friend of Robinsons were very grateful that Atticus had gotten the trial and they showed their thankfulness through giving the family gifts.  " The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the family.." (Lee 213).  The people were even with the outcome that was given to them.  Others were mad, like Bob Ewell who threatened Atticus and later tried to kill his children only to kill himself. The town then went back to normal with a few smarter children and a stronger bond with a secret neighbors.

                  The roller coaster of events that Atticus takes in To Kill a Mockingbird made him a hero, because he protected a innocent no matter the social and mental outcome it hade on him and his family. Atticus in this book made sure that Tom got his trail and that the evidence would be for him not against him.  He had his doubts bur he surpassed them and did the right thing.  He was upset when Tom was found dead because he had a chance of freedom, but he was more worries for the children of Bob than his own pride.  He had friends and mentors that helped his on his journey and enemies that put him down.  Through all of it this he showed that he was a true hero and a kind, caring person.  In the story he taught and showed people how it felt to be cheated out of something because of who you are and he made people see the true and how the world should be.

WORKS CITED

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Warner Books: New York, 1960

            

post 6

My Part Way Normal Life

by Audra Baker

            As a child my family burned thing, destroyed things, and had random firework wars between my Dad and Uncle Ryan, but most of the time my family did nice things such as growing a garden, having cookouts with neighbors and occasional pool parties at my babysitter's house. I lived in the small town of Emden, Il, a town with the population of five hundred and only a few miles south of the Tazewell and Logan county border. I lived on Mason Street with the house number of one-twelve. I lived in a two-story house that had a flooded basement most of the time and a huge back yard.  My neighbors, Mark and Tami, were my family's best friends and their daughter Casey was my babysitter throughout my childhood.  My cousins were Tearney, who was seven and Bryson, who was ten.  Their dad was Ryan and their mom was Ronda. I am not really sure how the two families are related, but my grandmother has a family tree book that says there is a relation. My parents Kim and Terry and my siblings Aaron, who was six and Adrianna, who was one is my family now, then and forever. 

         As a kid I was quiet most of the time, but then there was the daredevil side of me that would do anything that I thought was dangerous. Around this time and in my stories, I was six and then I had my seventh birthday somewhere in it.  In my neighborhood, I was allowed to ride my bike in the Ally, play in my front yard and of course play in the backyard.  With permission, I could go and play with my cousins.  In my front yard there wasn't much to do and not many places for a kid to play except the drive way and sidewalk for chalk. The backyard had a garden, sometimes a pool and a sandbox filled with shovels and pails. 

          The backdoor of the Baker household lead to the back hall which lead to the basement and kitchen. The kitchen was small and had a yellow and blue theme to it and it lead into the dining room.  The dining room was a soft rose color and lead to the living room, library and office. The living room was painted a cream color and had a worn path in the brown carpet that lead to the messy play room and the freezing cold, closed-in front porch.  The cream colored walls of the library had many book shelves full of books on the east wall and a oak piano on the south wall. The office had wooden panels on the wall that lead to the bathroom, cleaning closet and the stairs that lead to the bedrooms.  The bedrooms were split by a tiny hall way, on the left was my parents room that had a wooden panel wall and orange carpet and on the right was the kids room which had white walls and blue carpet.  My parents room had a small closet and a small bathroom in it and the kids' room had a walk-in closet. My bounderies were my yard and the alley behind it, but that didn't matter because I never needed to leave them, because my favorite place to be was my garden.      

Fire in the Garden

           When I was little, I spent most of my time outside in my family garden.  My family spent hours in the spring planting seeds and weeding out the weeds, so the plants wouldn't be choked out. My family planted all kinds of seeds like, tomatoes, okra, beans, carrots, asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, table onions, peppers, rhubarb, strawberries, and even had a grape vine that grew over  some old cattle feeders that had been cut in half and put on their side.

     My favorite memory in the garden was when my dad and my neighbor Mark were burning it in the fall. My dad, Mark, and I were watching the garden catch fire from one corner to another. My brother came out of the house and decided to watch too. After the flames were gone, my dad explained to Aaron and me that the ground was still hot even though the flames were gone.  I, being a daredevil child, decided to walked around the wooded planks that surrounded the garden thinking that I was so cool while doing it.  Since I am twins with my brother and every sibling has to have a sibling rivalry with each other, Aaron ran into the garden to pick up one of the sticks that hadn't burned.  My dad was talking to Mark when he saw my brother.  He yelled at him to stay out of the garden.  Aaron ran out of the garden for two reasons; one my dad was yelling at him, two his shoes were blazing hot. Aaron did accomplish his goal. He got the stick and, as soon as, he was out of the garden, he sat down to take off his shoes. 

               My dad yelled," Don't touch your shoes!"

        Yeah, he didn't listen.  He took off his shoes and started to scream. The bottom of his shoes were melted and totally ruined, plus Aaron burned his hand.  It wasn't bad though.  It just took a Band-Aid and some triple anti-biotic ointment to fix it for a couple weeks.  My dad told Aaron that he hoped he learned his lesson, but I don't think he has since he and I are always playing with the flames at cook outs or bon fires.

 The Firework War

        Almost a year later, in the heat of a summer night, my parents invited my neighbors and and cousins to the house to celebrate the Fourth of July.  Just coming home from a carnival and firing up the grill for hamburgers and hot dogs, the mood was perfect and everyone was excited.   

       Later that night in my driveway, my dad and "Uncle" Ryan were putting on a firework show for my mom, my six year old brother, Aaron, my one year old sister Adrianna, my seven year old cousin, Tearney and me.  It started like a normal firework display with the pop rocks and fire crackers. Then it turned into a full out dad versus dad with tiny explosives war.  It started when my dad threw a firecracker under my "uncle's" chair. Ryan screamed like a girl when they went off. Then Ryan put a fire cracker in my dad's chair which blew up and startled my dad so much he fell to the ground. They took some old Barbie dolls, tied them to a pack of bottle rockets and shot them in the sky. That was the best part of the whole thing because nothing came back down.  It was totally awesome and it is still my favorite fourth of July celebration.

The Chimney Comes Down

            During the spring of 2007, the chimney on my house was starting to fall apart.  My dad talked to my grandparents and the family prepared to tear it down.  The next weekend from that day, the chimney came down and it was great.

           With a trailer and my dad's truck, his brother, Randy and he torn down the chimney and loaded the bricks onto the trailer.  The afternoon after, my uncles had left and the trailer of bricks were placed in the front yard.  My dad called me and my brother downstairs. He hitched the trailer to his truck and seat-belted  my brother and me in the truck  He drove to the entrance of the pond, handed each a brick and said," Throw it." My brother and I understood what that meant. Aaron and I ran to the edge of the reed-lined pond and started chucking the bricks into the water.  It was the best day ever, with of all the destruction at the house and my brother and I chucking bricks in the pond, which was against the rules when my dad took my family fishing. My dad dumped half of the bricks in the back entrance, so people wouldn't come into my grandfather's pond without asking him first.  He took my brother and me home and played with his son and daughters for the rest of the evening.

Conclusion              

      As a kid, I was quiet, but very wild and my life was very calm and easy. My personality hasn't really changed, but now I can do more dangerous stuff, because I am stronger than what I was then.   Compared to now, my childhood was the best thing ever.  Life is crazy between school and my family, probably because my whole family is in school, not just the kids. From my stories I learned never to set bad examples for my siblings, like walking as close to fire as I can, because they will try to do better.  I also learned not to follow the parents bad examples, like a firework war, but to still have fun in destroying something every once on awhile.  What I miss most about my childhood life is my old home and my old garden. After moving to Hopedale, IL, I miss my old friends and school.  My relationship with my family has become stronger, but everyone in my family always try to best each other in everything, but, hey, that is just the competitive spirit.

 

post five

A Christmas Smell

Audra Baker

              On Christmas Eve of this past year, my mom, dad, twin brother, Aaron, little sister, Adrianna and I went to my grandparent’s farm to celebrate Christmas. The farm is in Logan County and is about three miles from the tiny town of Emden. They raise pigs ranging form twelve days old to about twenty weeks old. Then they go to the next farm were they live for a year. My grandmother, who was the farms accountant, and I had spent the week before making Christmas cookies, fudge, and buckeyes, which is peanut butter balls rolled in chocolate, for everyone to eat at the party.  She had wrapped presents for everyone and made cards special for each person. 
            Her house smelled like freshly ground nutmeg from sprinkling it in hot chocolate and egg nog that was like a mountain piled high with whipped cream and sugar.  Staring at the Christmas tree, I realized it was as bright as the sun and smelled like a forest of pine with an assortment of colors and patterns all over.  As the family sat down for supper, my grandma brought, ham, bread, veggie pizza and many other wonderful sides to the table from her tiny fridge and nice, warm stove.  After the dishes were cleared from the table, my siblings ran to the colorful tree. Quickly, they started to sort the present into piles by each person’s name.  Rip!  My family started to open their gifts.  I was given a small glass piano for my shelves in my room and a tea set that my grandma gives to her granddaughters when they turn fourteen.  The best of all my gifts was a keyboard for my room so I could play piano whenever I wanted.  
            As we drove home all my little sister talked about was Santa and his reindeer.  It was a fun day and I can’t wait till next year for the holidays and what it brings to come.  This event was memorable, because it was the first time in a long time that my family was all in the same place, since my parents had started school. 

post two

Book Review

 



           I read The Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades by Rick Riordan which is about Greek and Roman demigods fighting together to stop Gaea from rising. I selected this book, because it is part of a book series that my friend suggested to me. I choose to read it, because the fifth book of the series came out last fall. My first thought about this book was excitement, because the book before it ended with a cliff-hanger. I also was worried because two of the main characters had just fallen into the depths of Tartarus. The setting of this book is Tartarus and the Mediterranean area. Annabeth and Percy are traveling to the Doors of Death in Tartarus, while Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Nico and Coach Hedge are on the Argo II sailing to the Doors of Death in the Mediterranean sea. All that is happening Reyana, Octavian, and the whole Roman demigod legion is preparing to attack Camp Halfblood, which is the Greek demigod summer camp in Long Island. This is all happening during July for about two weeks. 
        The time setting is half the month of July and it time setting is just the modern world today. I know this because of the technology that is used and the frequent said dates in the story. In the story, Percy and Annabeth have just fallen into Tartartus, the Underworld, and are making their way to the Doors of Death with the help of Bob the giant to meet their six friends who are coming to close the Doors, so monsters can't portal through them to the mortal word.  Their friends are traveling to the House of Hades, which is the temple that holds the Doors, on a ship Leo and his siblings built called the Argo II.  If the two groups do not completed this task Gaea will rise and destroy the world.  Gaea's plan was to have the Roman and Greek demigods kill each other in a battle between the two camps.  If she succeeds the whole world will be her domain.The story takes place in the Mediterranean area, Long Island, New York, and Tartarus. I know this from the book because of the descriptions of the settings in the different chapters. The setting was very important to the story, because if the characters weren't on their quest it would not succeed and Annabeth and Percy would of died.
         Percy, son of Poseidon, has dark shaggy hair, green eyes and his personality is calm and humorous. Percy can control water, breath underwater, create hurricanes and other sea storms, and has a pen that turns into a blade. Annabeth, daughter of Athena, has blonde hair, gray eyes, and her personality is serious and very levelheaded in any situation. She is very smart and can come up with insane battle plans. Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, is from Cherokee descent, with brown choppy hair braided with a feathers, brown eyes and her personality is loving but serious.  Piper can has a sword that tells the future, ability to charm-speak and a magical cornucopia. Leo, son of Hephaestus, has curly brown hair, brown eyes, and his personality is funny and mechanical. Leo can control fire and can build anything from his tool belt. Nico, son of Hades, has black hair, brown eyes, he only wears black and his personality is dark and alone. Nico can control the dead and shadowtravel. Coach Hedge is a protector satyr and his personality is being crazy. Hedge can make medicine and take out anything with his baseball bat. All the characters above are the main Greek demigod from the story. Here are the main Roman demigods. Jason, son of Jupiter, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and his personality is very serious. Jason has a coin that turns into a sword and other weapons, create storms, has the ability to fly, and summon lightning. Frank, son of Mars, is Chinese with black hair and brown eyes, and his personality is shy. Frank can change into animals and has an amazing shot with a bow. Hazel, daughter of Pluto, has brown curly hair, hazel eyes, and her personality is serious and dark. Hazel can summon precious stone and metals from the ground, control the Mist, talk to the dead, and has a very fast legendary horse named Arian.  Octavian, son of Apollo, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and his personality is self-centered and jerky. Octavian sacrifices stuffed animals and can predict the future. He was the one that was going to start the war between the two camps. Reyana, daughter of Bellona, has black hair, brown eyes and a very bold personality. Reyana can send her strength to her warrior during and is a Roman praetor. My favorite character is Nico, because of his personality and how he fights in battle. My least favorite character is Octavian, because he is a jerk to everyone. 
     In the story Leo, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Nico, and Coach Hedge are traveling to the House of Hades to seal the Doors of Death and rescue Percy and Annabeth from the depths of Tartarus. While all that is happening the Greek and Roman demigods are about to have a big war against each other.  The overall conflict of the series is to stop Gaia, the earth mother, from rising, but the main conflict in this story is to close the Doors of Death. It is resolved by Annabeth and Percy cutting the chains that held the Doors in on place down in Tartarus and Hazel and Leo doing the same on the mortal side. Nothing really surprised or confused me in the book because the stories of this series do plenty of foreshadowing and explaining. I would not change the ending, because the demigods split up in two two groups to finis the prophecy only making it the story better. Nico, Hedge and Reyana start to shadowtravel the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Halfblood and the others continue the quest to stop Gaea.
        My favorite part of the book was the ending were the Doors are closed and the demigods are back together.  I don't like the parts were Octavian started to gather an army to fight the Greek demigods. What I learned from this story is that you have to work together to get things done even if that group or person is your biggest. Yes, I would definitely read more books from this author, because he puts in humor in near-death experiences in his books. I would recommend this series to other students because it never gets boring. This book has a very good plot and plenty of action and humor.  

post four

Three and a Half Inches Tall

Audra Baker

 

              The first thing I remember after waking up was looking at a huge black wall and standing on a field of blue, tiny loops. I looked around the land with many obstacles.  I looked behind me and saw a huge, light blue wall with a big flower plastered on it. To my right I saw a glass wall with many relics on it shelves. The glass case had a huge map inside that had new places and pictures all over it. I looked farther in that direction and see a tiny gap close to the ground. I wondered were it led to. I looked up and instantly regreted it. The ceiling was as bright as the sun and the air was a cold as snow. The land ended with big stones stacked on one another. I had to escape from that room. It was way to cold.  I walked to the gap, crawled under it and hoped for a better place to explore.
              On the other side of the gap there are more loops, but there are big metal doors everywhere.   I followed them until I reached a sand-colored ground.  I stepped on it and it was freezing cold, but I continued on my trek. It was brighter and colder there, but I had to explore more to find my way out of it.  I walked until I saw a big structure and stopped. It had a small ledge that could be used when it rains and another big glass wall. Beyond the glass was a bunch of pedestals holding small people just like me, except they weren't moving.  I wondered what happened to them. 
             As I turned the corner a few times, I walked into a very, very cold room. It was very dark and had very big black curtains that would sway every time you touched them.  It smelled like rotting wood and had a very dusty floor.  There were tall, wooden structures all around me and the wall reaches up into the sky.  I explored a little more and found some steep stairs.  When I reached the top I saw the place I had come from before and many new ones too.  It was much warmer and brighter up here and it smelled much better.  It was very far from the ground. There was a big forest of white all around me and very small walls from a grate that lead to the edge of the cliff.  I started to get drowsy and I fell asleep.  When I woke up I was five feet tall and in my school’s auditorium. I wondered how I got to be three and a half inches tall.

post three

My First Amazing Campout

Audra Baker

English 1

                On a dark, breezy night two families talked and fished, while eating under the stars.  A nice toasty fire and some light up bobbers on the lake were the only type of light anyone would see if they were to join the fun.  These families were my own and some very close friends.  I was ten years old and this night was the best night of any camping trip I have ever been on. 

                In summer of 2011, my mom, dad, brother (Aaron), sister (Adrianna), and I went on a camping trip in central Illinois with the Mcmullens (Hannah, Izzy, Ray, and June).   As my dad and Ray drove the two families to a Yogi Bear campsite, I wondered what camping was like this far from home; Scary…, Fun…, Sad…, I had no clue.  When the vans hit the parking lot, the kids were out of the car in seconds and up to the door of the big, oak lodge.  As the parents received the campsite number, Hannah, Aaron and I looked around the canteen.  It was basically like Walmart, but in a smaller space.  It had everything!  As Aaron turned the corner, he said,”Whoa”.  There was a picture of this cat fish that was, so big it wouldn’t even fit in the bed of a pickup truck.

                Aaron asked,” What is that?”

                “That is a catfish was lifted out of the lake after it was stuck in some of the reeds by the lake” the campsite manager said.

                Aaron, Hannah, and I thought that was wicked.   Everyone went back to the cars and the dads drove the ladies and my brother to the campsites.   The parents set up the tents, while Hannah and Izzy unloaded the luggage and Aaron, Adrianna and I unload the kitchen stuff.  The campsite had a few, tall oak trees, an old picnic table, and a man-made firepit.

                Later that night, the boys were fishing and the girls were chatting with each other.  It was even more fun, because Ray brought this really cool light-up bobber that made the lake look like a light-up disco ball.  My dad made beef stew for supper and brownie smore’s were for dessert.  Brownie smore’s are two brownies and a toasted marshmallow squished it together.  The sky was crystal clear and allowed all its bright shining star shine in the sky.  There was a small breeze in the air that made the trees dance in it flow.  The lake looked non-existent, because of its dark murky water.  The tents glowed from the lanterns inside.  The fire was golden and orange on the tips of it licking flames.  It made crackling noises as the flames rose.  The embers were cherry red and the wood was black with cracks all over.  The stone pit was covered in ash from cooking and glowed a dim orange from the flames.  The gray, glassy smoke rose straight up in the air trying to grab the star up above.  Eventually the boys did catch some fish and after a long time everyone fell asleep.

On a mid-summer night, I sat with my closest family and friend on campsite fishing on a lake.  My family and the McMullen had a wonderful time and it was the perfect day for camping.  I was only ten years old and so far this had been the best campout of my life. 

post one

      My name is Audra Baker.  I am fourteen years old and live in Hopedale, Il.  Some of my favorite things to do is play with my seven pets and shoot my bow and arrows .  In my opinion I am a horrible writer, but others say differently. I am most skilled in creative writing and historical writing.  I enjoy creating presentations and skits, but I don't like presenting them.  My biggest challenge as a writer is correct grammer and spelling.  I am horrible at both.  My goal as a writer is to improve my writing skills by the end of this class