Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Final Post - End of Book Thoughts

Your journey with My Friend the Enemy has come to an end, I hope you enjoyed it. I want you to spend some time reflecting on the book. Think about the characters, the time period, and the main events in the story.

  • What did you enjoy most about the book? 
  • Was there anything you didn't like about the book? 
  • What did you think about the way the story ended? 
  • Was there anything you wish would have happened that didn't? 
Please use specific details from the story to support your thinking. Be honest about your feelings and thinking, this is your time to reflect on your book. Make sure to answer ALL questions.

8 comments:

  1. The thing that I enjoyed most about the story was when they figured at that Mr. Mayhew wasn’t actually Mr. Mayhew. I liked this part because It shows kinda that the moral of the story is don’t judge something by how it looks; let it develop and get to know it. Something that I didn’t like about this book is that the author never expanded on Jed’s capture/demise. You have no idea what happened to him. Does he die? If he is captured, which we do not know, will he ever get out? those are some questions I was asking, and none of them got answered. I didn’t like the way the story ended because it doesn’t exactly resolve the matter of sogoji. Will he ever come back? It also was at of info on Mayhew. THey didn’t really explain why he faked, or what his real name is. Something I wish had happened that didn’t was that jed never came home. I wanted him to, but he didn’t. This made me sad because he was a great person, and Estelle really, REALLY
    wanted him back. That is something I wish had happened that didn’t.

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    1. @Ethan
      Can you explain your thinking in the first answer? Just a little bit more on that! Thanks

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  2. My Friend the Enemy was a good book, but not my favorite. The part that was probably my favorite was when they figured out that Mr. Mayhew was a fake name and that he never served in the army. I could just see the kids getting out of the police car and Sherman was about to tell the class. It was so confusing and weird at the same time. The ups and downs made you think inside your head “What is going on?” How did they figure...wait, who is Mr.Mayhew talking to?” it made you want to keep reading to figure out what happens. When you do figure it out, you think, “Why didn’t I think of that in the first place?”
    The parts I didn’t like about the book is the ending, ( which pretty much answers the next question) I think that the author should have maybe made an AfterWord chapter to tell us what happens after the train leaves and what life is like where Sogoji moves to, and what happened to Hazel. Also, the most important what happened to Jed, is he still alive? or what? I know that this was a cliffhanger, but in my opinion it wasn’t a good one.
    The parts that happened that I wish didn’t was when Frank and Hazel found the bomb, I don’t get why the author added that. I think that it didn’t really make a difference in the book, they found the bomb and then Hazel started to think that they found Sogoji. I think that that was just a part that the author didn’t need to add. Last, when the book talked about how Mr.Mayhew spent most of the day reading and not teaching, it shows that he is a bad teacher. But I don’t think they need to make that clear in the first parts of the book.

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    1. @ Sutton

      Sutton, I agree that this book didn't have a the best ending. It seemed like the author kind of rushed the ending just to get it done. What would you want the ending for this book to be? Do you think this was a happy or sad ending? Will everyone be alright? I am glad that you thought there should have been an afterward. I think it would have wrapped it up a lot more if there was something else to it. To be honest with you, when I finished the book, I looked to see if there was another chapter, or if some pages fell out. Could you please explain the last few sentences a little bit more though? I understand how Mr. Mayhew was reading, but how does that tie in?
      Great job Sutton! I enjoyed reading and responding to your comment.
      -Caroline :]

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  3. The book “My Friend the Enemy” really had a strong story to it. With the surprises and the mysteries, lots of the time you didn't know what was going to happen. All the characters in this book had a very strong part in the book. For instance, you might have thought Mrs. Lanski was not a big part in the book, but once we found out that she was the one who reported Sogoji, we found out she was a big part. In this book I thought there was a lot of main characters. It was kind of fun to read about this time period, and see how it change the story. It was surprising like reading about the school house. How Mr. Mayhew would do things way different in a one room school house than other teachers in our time period. From dismissing school early, to letting the kids plan a Christmas program, it all was pretty interesting. Even if it wasn't a main event, it was very exciting to read about it. I noticed lots of the main events in the book seemed like they always lead to something else. Like when they all found out Jed was missing in action, that lead to Mrs. Lanski reporting Sogoji. The thing that I enjoyed most about the book, was probably all the characters. I like to read about Hazel, and Sogoji, and all of the interesting adults. It felt like you could predict what they were going to say, and when they were going to get mad. I also like how the book was written in third person, so you could read everybody’s thoughts. It helped the story a lot. I would have to say though, some parts of the book I didn't like. I didn't like the end as much as I thought I would. I wish it was a little bit more powerful. A big strong ending would be nice. I felt like it was a little choppy. If Hazel gave something to Sogoji, or they said something meaningful that would be great. I thought it kind of ended just to end. I did like how it wasn't a happy ending. I have read way too many stories about happy endings. It was sad how Sogoji had to leave. It could have been happy, but the author decided it should have been sad. I was just wishing at the end, there would be some secret about Sogoji, or something that Hazel finally told him. Over all, I think it was a great book. I loved reading it and having this book club.

    -Caroline

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    1. WOW! You wrote an AMAZING final blog post Caroline! Your words and everything you described. It made me wonder and agree with everything you said. I already do agree, because we talked. But, that was a very strong post!

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  4. “My Friend the Enemy!!!!!!!” The first question is “What did you enjoy most about the book?” What I enjoyed most about the book is the relationships that all of the characters had together. I loved being able to know that Hazel had someone that would always watch over her and be able to have a fun time with “Her Friend the Enemy!!” I also enjoyed when there was a lot of commotion, fun times, bad times, and the best times. This was one of my favorite books because of how exciting a action packed story it was!!!!! The second question is “Was there anything you didn't like about the book?” In this book, the beginning wasn't really anything to be so excited about. But, what I realized is that there wasn't really anything wrong with this book. I enjoyed every part of it even the very sad ending. I loved knowing that now Hazel and her family are safe, and everything will be okay even with Sogoji and Mr. Mayhew in jail. The third question is “What did you think about the way the story ended?” I think that the story ended in a sad way but I know that because of how nice Sogoji is and about everything he does that someone will surely adopt him because of his generosity. When Mr Mayhew went to jail it was the best day of my life because I realized that when I was talking in my group that the real Mr. Mayhew was nice and kind but the other Mr. Mayhew is the bad guy and loves to pretend. The fourth question is “Was there anything you wish would have happened that didn't?” The thing that I wish had happened that didn't is when Sogoji was sent to jail I really hoped that in the end it would talk about how Hazel’s family would come and adopted Sogoji instead the book just ended. Also I wanted everything to be like it was know and that there wasn't any bombing and people getting hurt. This was a good book and I recommend it to others!!

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  5. What I enjoyed most about this book is there was a lot of things you thought would happen and it did not happen. I know this because I thought that Jed would come back fine, and he did not even come back. Also, I thought that Mr. Mayhew, and Sogoji would not go to Jail and they both did. Last, I never thought that Mr. Mayhew, and Estelle would be together and they were together. The one thing I did not like about the story was when Sogoji had to go to jail. I did not like this part because Sogoji did not do anything, so why should he go to jail for nothing. Sogoji was not doing anything wrong he was just japanese, and at that time period if you were Japanese it was bad because America did not like Japan. What I thought about the end of the story was that it was surprising. I think this because I never thought that Sogoji and Mr. Mayhew would go to jail. Also, I never thought that Jed would not come back. I did not think these things because why would a teacher go to jail, or why would Jed not come back. Last, why would Mrs. Lanski call the police on Sogoji if he helped her with stuff. What I wish happened in the story is that Jed came back. I wish this because if Jed came back Estelle, and Jed would be together then Mr. Mayhew would get jealous, and it would make the story more interesting. It would make the story more interesting because Estelle would have to choose between Jed, and Mr. Mayhew.

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