Connections to Life #1

"Burned" and Identical" relate to my life because I've heard a lot of stories on the news and in the paper about people who go through things like sexual abuse and teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy is more relivant to me then sexual abuse, I hear more about stories about teenagers in high school getting pregnant then I hear stories about sexual abuse. I think this is probably relivent because most kids who suffer abuse are probably more scared to talk about there abuse, while girls who become pregant who decide to keep their baby is something a little harder to hide. Also television shows I have seen or watch like "16 and Pregnant" or "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" I tend to witness more about girls who go through teen pregnancy like Pattyn in "Burned" then I witness or watch shows about sexual abuse like Kaeleigh in "Identical" has to suffer through.

Prediction Post #3

From the beginning of the book "Burned" we learn that Pattyn is very pressured by her family to live up to the expections of a good Mormon girl. Also that her life is very hard and sometimes lonely. Pattyn's father is never home sense he has to work to support there family of nine and that she doesn't really have a good relationship with her sisters, except Jackie the one closest to her in age. Pattyn also doesn't really have a relationship with anyone outside of her family except the kids in her church because she always has to be home to watch the little ones. Pattyn has handeled her life and the expectations she's supposed to live up to until she starts sexually experimenting with boys. I predicted in the beginning that Pattyn would lash out from her family and get herself in trouble. Also that Pattyn might find herself regretting the sexual things she does rebelliously or get into trouble sexually by getting pregnant or getting hurt by a boy. Although the books ending is very unexpected and sad most of the other things I predicted are right. Pattyn does get pregnant but she doesn't regret it because she's in love, but the first boy she experiments with she does regret it because he just used her to fool around. When her father catches her she does indeed get into trouble. My predictions overall where pretty acurate, I'm usually pretty good about making predictions by using the information I gather from the book or my peers.

Connection to the World #4

In "Burned" Pattyn becomes pregnant by her boyfriend Ethan, but they're in love and he agrees to marry her. In "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" Amy gets pregant by a guy she has a one night stand with. In both situations the girls didn't intend to get pregnant but both want to keep their babies. In "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" Amy keeps her baby but had considered adoption. In "Burned" Pattyn never considered adoption because she was in love and wanted to have a future with the man who impregnated her. Unfortunetly for her he died and her baby died before it was even born in a car accident. But lucky for Amy everything for the most part worked out.

Connection to the World #3

"Burned" is similar to the book I recently read called "I Know It's Over" about this boy and his girlfriend. In "Burned," she becomes impregnated by her lover Ethan but loses the baby not by choice, but by accident. Pattyn gets into a car crash and loses both Ethan and the baby. In the book I read Sasha decides to have an abortion because she feels like she's too young, and isn't ready to be the mother of a child at the age of sixteen. This book is different because Nick is okay with Sasha having an abortion in the end, even though in the beginning he's hesitant. But in "Burned" Ethan is supportive of her decision to have the baby and even agrees to marry her.

"Burned" Book Summary

"Burned" is about a girl named Pattyn, who is living in a religous, yet abusive home. Pattyn's "misbehaving" as her father would call it, all started with a simple dream. It was just a typical fantasy dream about a boy, but Pattyn doesn't know if this is aloud considering she's a Mormon, and she thinks what she is dreaming is wrong. Having this dream may not be a sin, but to her family it is one more step to Hell, and means Pattyn is no longer the good girl.
This turns into more then a dream when she starts experimenting with a real boy named Derek, but her father catches her with him. Her father is enraged at her, and doesn't want to deal with her sinning ways, when he has a family of six young girls to deal with, and a son on the way. Pattyn ends up getting suspended, and sent to live with her Aunt that she barely knows.
Pattyn and her Aunt become very close, and are able to confide in each other about things going on in there lives and things that have happened in the past, but she feels bad she left her sisters with her father. She fears he might beat them instead of her mother, sense she's pregnant with the son he's always wanted.
It turns out that she has fun during her stay with her aunt, and she learns how to drive and ride a horse, and meets the love of her life. She falls in love with Ethan, the son of her aunts friend. He is not Mormon and her father would kill the both of them if they were together but Pattyn doesn't care and starts to quesiton if she believes in her familys religious views and the way the act.
When she returns home to go to school things start to go bad again. She mouths off to her father and gets beaten. She also takes the rap for something her sister does, and gets the horrible punishment her father gives her in order to save her sisters life. On top of all the problems she's having at home, she also learns that she will have Ethan’s baby and is concerned for herself and the her future child if her family were to find out. She plans to runaway with Ethan so they can get married and be happy together.
Ethan and Pattyn get in a car wreck on an attempt to escape from her home and she wakes up in the hospital to learn that she lost Ethan and her baby. Pattyn feels like she has nothing to live for and no one to love, and in the end of the book, she hints ending her life, because everything she wanted has been taken from her.

Identical Book Summary

Kaeleigh and Raeanee are 16-year-old identical twins, the daughters of a district court judge father and politician mother running for US Congress. Everything on the surface seems fine, but underneath run very deep and disturbing secrets. When the girls were 9, Daddy started becoming involved with Kaeleigh in ways a father never should, and has been sexually abusing her for years. For Raeanne, she needs to numb the pain of not being Daddy's favorite; so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and sex. For Kaeleigh, she wants to do everything she can to escape the life she's living, even if it means cutting herself and vomiting after every binge. Raeanne only wants to know her fathers love, the love he's been giving to her twin sister Kaeleigh since she was young. While Kaeleigh, who is just the opposite, only wants to be acknowledged by her mother who is rarely home. Reading about the things that have happened to these girls makes me feel bad for both of them, and anyone else in that situation. I have learned that Raeanne is constantly having sexual relations with guys just because she feels like she's been neglected sexually by her father. Raeanne later learns that the reason behind his abuse; when their father was a boy he was sent off to a babysitters sense his mother was never home and his father was always working. Their father was forced to do sexual acts at the age of 10 while his babysitter filmed it. Her fathers constant abuse towards Kaeleigh has toubled her when it comes to relationships since the only relationship she's had is with her father. Kaeleigh thinks she might of found love with a close friend Ian, although Ian loves Kaeleigh, she doesn't feel worthy of his love or that she'll ever be his. Kaeleigh believes she'll never be freed from her father. I have also read that Kaeleigh tries to escape from home by going to work at a home for the elderly. Kaeleigh has become close with an elderly woman named Greta and learns Greta was also abused in the same way by her father. Kaeleigh has come close to telling her about her own problems with her father and family, but has never been able to share this dark secret with anybody, not even Ian. Raeanne is constantly seeking sexual relations as a rebellion to her drastic home life, with multiple guys. While Kaeleigh lashes out by trying to commit suicide and escape her life, because she feels now that her mother won the election she will never be home, and the only thing she has to live for is Ian, and she doesn't think she deserves him. Raeanne decides to get away from the house and hook up with Tyler since things with Mr. Lawler and Mick haven't worked out lately. While with Tyler Ian barges in and demands to know why she would do this. Raeanne is confused and tries to explain to Ian that she isn't Kaeleigh, and Ian tells Kaeleigh that when they were seven Raeanne died in the car crash caused by their father. Kaeleigh wakes up in the hospital confused about everything, Kaeleigh meets with a therapist as a way to help her and learns she has something called split personality disorder. Kaeleigh learns that when she and her twin sister Raeanne were in the car accident only Kaeleigh survived. Kaeleigh has been living as her and her twin sister since the accident with no way of knowing. Kaeleigh asks her therapist how this could be possible and he tells her its a brain disorder and over time it can be cured and she can learn to control which girl takes her over. Kaeleigh moves on to live with her grandmother and is now able to control her multiply personalities for the most part. She comes to forgive her mother for her neglate, and her father is put away. Although Kaeleigh is relieved her father will get the help he needs, deep down Kaeleigh doesn't believe he can be cured of his sick obsession. The ending to this book was very original and nothing I could of ever predicted. Ellen Hopkins is a very original and interesting author to read, and I highly recomend her.

Prediction Post #2

From the beginning of the book Identical we learn that Kaeleigh is sexually abused, and that her life is very hard and lonely. Kaeleigh's mother is never home and she doesn't have a good relationship with anyone in her family, and almost nobody outside of her family. Kaeleigh has handeled her hard life by cutting herself and drinking or vomitting after over eating. I predicted that in the end she would lash out and hurt her father (or herself) or confied in someone she trusts very much so that she can finally put her father in jail and recover from what she's lived with. I hoped this is what would happen because then Kaeleigh could finally get the help she needs. I also predicted something as drastic as suicide considering the conditions she's living in, and in the book she does attempt it but her attempt isn't successful. Although the books ending is very unexpected and very different from some of the other things I predicted I'm usually right or close, but not always.