Choice Book Report Quarter #3

Part 1:

My choice book for second quarter that I read is called Flipped. This book was about a boy named Bryce and a girl named Juli. The first time Juli sees Bryce she flips. The first time the Bryce sees Juli, he runs behind his mom. Juli is obsessed with Bryce from 2nd grade up until 7th grade. In the book Juli says, "I spent all of 7th grade whispering spelling words and sniffing watermelon." The watermelon smell is coming from Bryce's hair. By 8th grade, feelings are being reversed for both. Some things are said and done and Bryce and Juli's lives become very complicated.

            Juli is an 8th grade girl who has been crushing on a guy since 2nd grade. He has been telling her nicely (then at times not so nicely), time and time again that he is deffinatly not interested. She never gets it until 8th grade when he starts to say things about her and her family and lying to her. This shows that Juli is determined, sometimes not in the right ways but deffinatly determined. She knows what she wants and won’t stop till its gone or hurting her family. Another example is when a tree, her Sycamore tree, had to get cut down. She was determined to stay with that tree whether it fell or stayed strong. She stayed for many hours ignoring the threats to call the police. She stays through the threats of chainsaws roar. She stays until her father comes and talks to her. A daughters safety was to important to him so he made her come down. Juli tried and tried to stay with that tree but just couldn’t. She burst into a waterfall of tears. Her father had painted her a picture of that tree and gave it to her after a couple of days. She was thankful for that picture. Everyday she woke up seeing it, and every night she fell asleep seeing it. She knew she ad done her best and there was nothing more that she could have done. The picture was kind of a thank you from the tree for being its loyal companion. This act of strength showed that no matter how caring, loving, and determined you are you can’t always win. Yet, in a way, everything comes back to thank you.

            Another major characteristic of Juli is that she is fragile. Not fragile like a glass but she has a fragile heart. If you say or do anything to hurt her of her family, she will shatter like a window during a storm. For example: in the book, Juli raises chickens. She gives 6 eggs to Bryce’s family everyday for free. Others pay. Bryce’s family won't eat the eggs because they are afraid that salmonella will be in the eggs.  Bryce then, everyday throw the eggs away. One day after this had gone on for 2 years, Juli came over with the half a dozen. When Bryce goes to throw them away, he sees that the trash is full. He takes the garbage and brings it to the front of the house with the eggs on top. Juli is still on the front step day dreaming when he comes out. When she sees him. She thinks that the eggs had just broken. She picked one up and when she saw that they weren’t broken and that he was just throwing them away, she ran off devastated. She never spoke to Bryce for weeks. All of this shows that Juli is very fragile.

Part 2:  
            The theme of the book "Flipped" is your "When you heart changes, it changes for the better". Why? Well, Juli thinks that Bryce is the one for her, but when he shows his true colors, she knows that he is completely wrong for her. Bryce starts talking behind her back and telling people about her family and things about her. He starts being a complete jerk. When she realizes this her whole perspective about him changes. When she sees him with his friends and sees that they always talk about her, her thoughts change about him. And finally, when Bryce insults her family, she has a complete change of heart. Her heart really did change for the better of her and her family.

            Bryce's heart change when he stops and really focuses’s on the good in Juli, not the creepy. He doesn't see her as an adolescent girl who has had a crush since forever, he sees her as a strong independent girl. He starts to constantly think about her and hopes he doesn't do anything wrong in front of her (He does make bad mistake in front of her though, bad mistakes.) When he sees that she can be herself no matter what, he changes perspective. When he sees how pretty her heart is, his thoughts change. When he sees that she is heart broken because of him, his whole heart changes for the better. So... now, you have Juli, who in the beginning loved Bryce and now hates his guts. Then there is Bryce, who at first was completely appalled by Juli and now he loves her. What will happen to them? At the end, Juli is obviously not speaking to Bryce, but when she sees him planting a tree, a tree for her, a Sycamore tree, and her heart flips again. Follow your heart, it knows what it wants.