How the toad got his bumps- Journal 1

Many, many years ago, animals did not all look the same as they do today. In fact, some animals looked very very different a long time ago. For example, long ago, toads did not have their bumps all over their bodies. They used to be feel very smooth until one day, that all changed. One day, toad was hopping around the pond looking for some delicious flies to eat. Toad was very hungry, and he was looking to capture some flies, but toad slept in today and all the flies were already eaten by the other toads! Toad was getting hungrier and hungrier. He was becoming very desperate when he smelled something sweet. He hopped towards the direction of the smell. He kept hopping until he reached a small house. The smell was extremely strong now. He looked in the window and saw a tray of fresh warm chocolate chip cookies. Now Toad's stomach was growling. He could not wait any longer. He hopped into the house and hopped up onto the table that the tray of yummy cookies was sitting on. When Toad jumped on to the table to eat the cookies, a woman walked into the kitchen. When the woman saw Toad eating her cookies, she yelled, "Stop eating my cookies!" She picked toad up, but his body was so smooth that he slipped out of her hands and hopped away from her. The next day, when Toad woke up he was very hungry again. He hopped back to the house that the delicious cookies were at. He hoped that today the mean woman would not be there to stop him from eating the cookies. He hopped into the house and smelled the delicious cookies again. This time he finished all the cookies on the tray. The woman did not walk in until after the toad finished his meal. She told the toad that she put in some special ingredients just for him. The next day the toad woke up with bumps all over his back! Now Toad's body is covered in bumps so he will never be able to slip out of someone's hands again. That is how the toad got his bumps.

Relating all the books.

The three books that I read over the summer were "The Old Man and the Sea", "The Grapes of Wrath", and "The Catcher in the Rye". I found all of these books interesting and I enjoyed them all. These three books all had something in common, they all had messages that we can learn from. The message that you can learn from in the book, 'The Old Man and the Sea' is you have to work hard for the things that you want the most. This message is a good one to understand because it can help you out a lot in life. In life, you need to be willing to work hard for things that are important to you. You need to learn early in life that you can not get every thing for free. In the book, the old man gets nothing for free and takes nothing for granted. He is kind to everyone and he works hard to catch the marlin. In the book "The Grapes of Wrath" the important life lesson that I found was that you can't take things for granted. In the book "The Grapes of Wrath", the lives of the characters is so difficult. They have to over come so many obstacles in order to have a normal life. Compared to my life right now, their lives are so difficult. This book teaches you to be thankful for what you have. The last book, "The Catcher in the Rye" also had a very good message. The message in this book is to enjoy your childhood while you can. In this book, The main character Holden is very afraid to grow up. I think this fear comes from the responsibility that comes with growing up. In this book the author wants the reader to enjoy being young and carefree and innocent for as long as they can. The messages in the three books that I read over the summer all had something that I could take out of it and apply to my life.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

The Grapes of Wrath- The Dust Bowl

One major historical event that occurred in the book 'The Grapes of Wrath' is the dust bowl. The dust bowl is a storm that occurred in the early nineteen thirties. It was a series of dust storms that were the result of a terrible drought and poor farming techniques. The dust bowl occurred in many parts of America and Canada. There had not been any rain for a very long time, so the soil in fields had no moisture to weigh it down. Also, farmers did not have a lot of knowledge on farming techniques so they did not rotate their crops. Rotating crops is an important part of farming. It is when farmers switch the type of crop that they plant in a certain field every other season. By doing this, farmers are able to keep the soil healthier. Farmers did not know about this in the nineteen thirties, so the soil was unhealthy with no moisture. When the wind began to pick up, it lifted the soil in the fields and blew it everywhere. This is what has come to be known as the dust bowl. The dust that was lifted off of the ground and thrown around had buried the crops that were being planted and destroyed them. Since all of the crops were destroyed, people did not have any food to eat and farmers did not have an income. The dust storm came at a time that was also known as 'The Great Depression'. This is a time period in the world known for terrible economic times. Many people were having a very tough time keeping a job and the dust bowl did not help in these situations at all. The Dust Bowl caused many people to be kicked out of their homes and have to move cross country in search of a job so they could provide for their families. This was a very desperate time for many American farmers.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

Grapes of Wrath- Hope

In the book , 'The Grapes of Wrath', one thing that keeps all the characters going and trying to reach their goals of making it to California is hope. Hope that they can start over again and hope that they will be able to find a job. They hope that they will be able to provide for their families again and they hope that they this rough patch of their life will soon be over. Hope is such a strong thing in this book. With out hope, the farmers would have given up a long time ago. If they did not have any hope, the farmers would not even try to make the trip up to California. If they did not hope that they could some day have a better life with out the fear and suffering that they had to face in Oklahoma, the farmers would have nothing. Hope is what brought the farmers out to California. They hoped that if they could make it through the dangerous journey to get to California, there would be a job waiting there for them. If they were not hopeful throughout their journey, they would have just given up and not found a job and their family would starve. Hope is a very strong force in this book because it is what gave not only the farmer's but also the family of the farmer's strength to keep going. If the family of the farmer's did not have hope and did not believe that the farmer's could help them and provide for them, they would not have been dedicated enough to make the trip out to California and they would have probably just died. Since they had hope, they were able to make it out to California and make a better life for themselves. The hope that California symbolizes for the farmers and their families is inspirational. I think that when people have hope, it can give them the strength and power to do amazing things.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

The old man and the sea- santiago and manolins relationship

The relationship between Santiago and Manolin in the book "The Old Man and The Sea' is one of a teacher and a student, but it also reminds me of a friend ship. Manolin and the old man are very close to each other in this book. The old man taught Manolin all that he knows about fishing. Manolin looked up to the old man a lot in this story. Manolin enjoys fishing with the old man a lot and the old man enjoys fishing with Manolin, but after fishing with the old man for forty days with out catching a single fish, Manolin's father became very impatient and forbid Manolin from fishing with the old man any more, because he thought that the old man was "salao" meaning that Manolin's father thought that the old man was the worst form of unlucky. Even though Manolin could no longer fish with the old man with his father's blessings, he helped the old man out in any way that he could. He helped the old man carry his supplies to his ship, he brought the old man coffee in the morning and he made sure that the old man always had dinner to eat. He even bought the old man bait one time so that the old man could use some good bait to go fishing with. The young boy was no longer fishing with the old man anymore, but he still had the desire to help the old man in any way that he could. This is because he respected the old man very much. The relationship between the old man and the young boy reminds me of a teacher and student relationship in some ways but in other ways it reminds me of a friendship. For example, the old man and the young boy often eat dinner together. While they eat dinner they discuss baseball and who they think is the best player or the best coach or the best team. This reminds me more of a friendship relationship than a teacher student relationship.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The grapes of wrath- setting

The setting of the book 'The Grapes of Wrath' plays a very important role in understanding the lives of the characters of the book. The book takes place in the late nineteen thirties in the states of Oklahoma and California. Understanding the time that these characters lived through helps you to have a better understanding of the struggles they had and the challenges that they over came. The late nineteen thirties was a time of a lot of suffering and a lot of pain and a lot of trouble. People were kicked out of their houses by banks, farmers were going bankrupt because their crops had problems and many people were out of a job. Many families had to ditch their lives and every thing that they loved in order to create a stable life for them selves. A lot of farmers at this time had huge troubles trying to get their crops to grow. The Dust Bowl made it very difficult for farmers to make money. Understanding what the dust bowl was is a very important part in understanding the setting and what was happening during this book. The dust bowl was a series of dust storms that took place during a terrible drought in the nineteen thirties. Many farmers crops were covered in dust which made it impossible for the crops to survive making it impossible for the farmers to make money from their own crops. They could no longer grow their crops, so they needed to find a new job. They heard about a lot of jobs that had become open in California, so they left their homes and traveled the long dangerous journey from their homes to California with their families. This was a brave move for the farmers and their families, but it was the only choice that they had for survival. This story took place during a time that was very difficult for a lot of Americans, so fully understanding the events that took place during this time is a very important part of understanding this story.



Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

the museum- the catcher in the rye

In the book 'The Catcher in the Rye' The scene with Holden at the museum of natural history. In this scene Holden finds himself visiting the Museum of Natural History. While he is there, he notices an exhibit with indians and eskimos. In this particular exhibit, the indians are seen weaving and the eskimos are canoeing on a stream. While Holden is thinking very deeply about this exhibit he notices some thing about the statues. He finds that no matter when you come or how many times you visit, The statues never change. He sees that the expression on their faces always remains the same and that they are always doing the exact same thing every single time that you come to visit. He loves how predictable the museum is and he finds him self wishing that he could live in a world like that of the indians and eskimos in the Museum of Natural History. He wishes that like their world, his could be predictable and never changing. He admires their world and wishes that he could live in a world that is similar to theirs. This scene is kind of depressing in a way because it shows exactly how afraid Holden truly is of change and of growing up into an adult. He is so scared of change that he would rather live in a world with no change what so ever than the world he lives in. He has become so bitter towards his world because he is so afraid. I feel bad for Holden in this scene because it shows how terribly afraid he really is. I think that in a world where there is no change at all, things would get very boring. Everything would always be the same and very predictable. There would be no suprises and nothing to make things interesting. Even though this world would feel like a heaven for Holden, in my opinion, I think that it would get very dull and I would rather just deal with what ever change comes my way.


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print