Homework for Eighth Class

Turtle of Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game and Katie of Cynthia Kadohata’s kira-kira are both innocent and childish, while Turtle is more or less like a brat, being naughty nearly all the time, and Katie represents a loyal follower of Lynn, which is her sister. They are both determined to make their own world despite the opinions of others.

At the very beginning of The Westing Game, the author depicts Turtle as a girl with a single, long, and dark braid. Interestingly, if anyone tries or even unconsciously touches her braid, she will kick his/her shins in retaliation. However, unlike Turtle, in kira-kira, Katie does not make a lot of trouble in her neighborhood. Instead, she likes hear stories or mysteries from her sister. She is willing to lay on the road all day with Lynn. She is nice to everyone she met. Later on, a detail occurs that Turtle insists to let Flora Baumbach hem her costume when she is busy with Angela’s (Turtle’s sister) wedding dress. When Turtle’s mother said the litter girl’s costume is silly, she just snapped back that nobody gets married anymore, and if they do, they don’t wear silly wedding dresses. What is worth-mentioning is that in kira-kira, Katie actually dares to speak out, too. When Katie’s family is being insulted at small motel on their way to Georgia, she simply asks her father to beat the woman who made her and her family uncomfortable. Because of their common innocence and pure heart, the two little girls share the same talking style. As the story of The Westing Game folds out that Turtle started to listen to the ups and downs of the stock market with a radio plugged in her ear, and as a result, she skipped school. Strangely, earning money from stork market becomes the top issue of Turtle. “She would like to build her own school and hire her own kind of teachers once she became a millionaire.” This is exactly what Katie thinks. She cannot make true friends at school and as a result, she often skipped school to stay with Lynn. She doesn’t care about the grade, and only Lynn is of great importance.

Silver, The level of detail here is terrific, and I like how you noticed that the two girls are even similar in their decision to skip school. I also see you picking up on things we have discussed before, like introducing the character, even though you know that your reader, in this case me, has read both books.

 I especially like the way you give your writing  a sense of direction at the end of the first paragraph and then use a transition at the beginning of the second paragraph to get the reader into a discussion of the specific details that prove your point.  You just get better and better.

I will e-mail both a response to this piece of writing and your really first rate, imaginary (thank goodness) obituary in the next day or two.