Brittany+F.-Kathy+Johnson

Week 3: = Week 3 Adult: Mrs. Johnson = Student: Brittany Fore Book Title: So B. It Pages Read: 65-157

A lot of things have happened so far! First of all, Heidi discovered the old camera in the drawer. After getting the pictures developed, Bernie and Heidi discovered that So B. It used to go to a disabled home in New York City. Heidi decides that it is up to her to travel the long journey alone and find out some of her history and maybe the meaning of the soof. When arriving at the bus station, she had to find a woman that looked suitable to play the part of her mother. She eventually found a woman, Alice Wilinsky. When Alice arrived at her destination in Salt Lake City, Heidi called Bernie. After getting off of the phone with her, she had to rush to make the bus on time. The bus driver didn’t seem to notice that she wasn’t with Alice so she sat alone in a seat. She had got off at the next stop and got sick. This is where she met her next “Mom”. Her name was Georgia Sweet. Heidi became quite good friends with Georgia. After awhile, Heidi finally arrived in Liberty. However, Liberty was nothing like she had expected. It was dull, lifeless, and stormy. She had no money for a cab, so she ran to the nearest magazine store. She saw a jar of jellybeans sitting on the counter. The sign said that if you could guess the exact number of jellybeans, a free taxicab ride was offered. She guessed the right amount and the cab driver gave her a ride to Hilltop Home.

Heidi reminds me of a friend I have. She is very curious and determined. I think this is a very good character trait to accumulate. If you don’t interrogate things, how will you ever know? I must say I intend to be this way. If I don’t completely understand something, I ask questions until I do acknowledge what’s going on. This can be good and sometimes bad. But I am who I am and I can’t change that.

I would personally like to meet Heidi. I think it would be a fun experience. However to her I might seem like a lucky kid. I mean I have TV’s in my house, a cell phone, and a swimming pool. To you and I those things seem ordinary. But to Heidi, they probably sound luxurious. She isn’t use to that kind of technology so those concepts would be hard for her to grasp. All in all, I would very well like to be friends with her though.

First of all you’re probably wondering why I have repeated some of the previous details in my summary. Well as I was looking in the book, I realized in the last summary we both got ahead of ourselves and didn’t stop on the assigned stopping point. We went a little ahead. This way we are now on track and our memories are a little more refreshed. I personally had a hard time writing this week. I read some, stopped, read, stopped, etc. I forgot about the details here and there. Last night I decided to look over the chapters we have read so far and I ended up reading some more. Before I knew it I had almost finished the book and it was getting late. So when I went to write the summary today I got what I wasn’t supposed to read and what I was suppose to read mixed up. I’m okay now though. I skimmed through things and got it straight. As of now I am extremely curious as to what the word soof means!! It’s driving me crazy. I can’t wait to get to the end. But I’m kind of predicting that it means something obvious. Or maybe it means nothing at all (I hope that don’t happen though).

P.S. I really enjoyed reading your letter. I wanted to thank you for noticing one of my numerous character traits. I have always been a sensitive girl whether people see it or not. I try and put myself in other people’s shoes. It really changes my perspective on things. And I do agree with you about Heidi being too young to travel alone. Not only is she too young, but also I would be too scared. There are so many dangers in the world. It is a risk-taker going that far by bus, but to do it alone is craziness.

I hope to hear back from you soon.

Sincerely, Brittany Fore

Brittany,

I think I've figured out how to use the wikki. Very cool. I read the pages in our book over the weekend. I actually stopped where I was supposed to even though I wanted to read further. I am planning on working on my Week 3 Assignment tomorrow (Wednesday) night.

Check back on Thursday, and I should have it posted.

I really like communicating this way!

See you in school tomorrow, Ms. Johnson

Week 3
I stopped reading this time on the correct page. I haven't read ahead at all. I looked at what we were supposed to write about this week again, then read your response again also. You are so positive with your comments. It's hard for me to be positive about the pages I read this time. It seemed very depressing to me. Riding on a bus that far, with no family or friends with you plus being a child would be very difficult. I have to give it to Heidi, she is a very determined kid. She had to be very scared to step on that bus, but yet she did it. I was relieved when she met Georgia. Georgia seemed genuinely nice and seemed like she would be the type to make sure nothing bad happened to Heidi. It must be the mother in me, but I was nervous when I was reading about what all Heidi went through on that bus ride. Thank goodness she made it to Liberty in one piece. Of course it was raining when she arrived. The rain was a continuation of the depressing tone of the book. Now she is stuck at Hilltop, in the rain, and it looks abandoned. I really hope the situation gets better for Heidi because I am feeling pretty sorry for her right now.

To answer some of the questions I am supposed to address this week, I have already said that I thought Heidi was very determined. That can be a very good quality in a person, but in this case I believe it has led Heidi to make a very bad decision to go to Liberty, New York. Determination is necessary to reach a person's goals, but patience is needed along with it. Sometimes it takes a while to be able to get where you want to go. Heidi could have gone to Liberty, New York when she was older. I am not sure if I would want to be friends with Heidi or not. In one way, I feel sorry for her and respect her for trying to find out more about her mom. But in another way, I don't believe she thinks things through. That can get a person in a lot of trouble.

I am going to finish the rest of the book this week. I am going to take it with me to St. Louis tomorrow when I go with the 7th grade to the City Museum. I am curious to see how it all ends. I can't even guess what is going to happen.

I don't know you that well, but I believe you are a very determined person just like Heidi. However, I think you have way more common sense than she does and you would listen to what the adults in your life have to say, unlike Heidi.

Let's see what happens next..... Ms. Johnson

= Week 4  Adult: Mrs. Johnson   = Student: Brittany Fore Book Title: So B. It    Pages Read: 157-243 In the last section, Heidi arrives at Hilltop Home. The cab driver was reluctant to let Heidi out because the place looked run down, however Heidi got out and went inside. She couldn’t find anyone so she let herself in. She aimlessly wondered around and hollered for a human response. She heard people talking in a room so she yelled, “Hello?” She happened to glance to her left and saw a filing cabinet. Heidi figured maybe this would be the key to some of her questions. To her surprise, there was a sleeping man sitting in the chair. Not only did Heidi see the man, but he also said soof in his sleep. He awoke and other adults came in the room. A woman asked who she was and the man replied with the Mama’s word, soof. Everyone was then introduced. Elliot, Ruby, and Mr.Hill (Elliot’s father). They started talking and Heidi got to the point as to why she was there. To sum things up, Mr. Hill got mad, Heidi started to run, Roy (Ruby’s husband), caught up with her, Heidi called Bernie, Bernie talked to Roy, and Heidi ended up staying with Roy and Ruby. Ruby cooked potpies for them and gave Heidi a bath. The next morning when Heidi woke up, Roy had left to go to Monticello. Heidi was mad because she had wanted to show Roy the photos. Instead she showed them to Ruby. They then concluded that the “scrawny Santa” was Mr. Hill and the boy was Elliot. Roy and Heidi later go back to the Hilltop Home to speak with Mr. Hill and his attorney. Mr. Hill asks everyone to leave the room so he could talk to Heidi alone. In the end, Heidi finds out so many things. Heidi’s moms name is actually Sophia, Heidi’s father is Elliot. Elliot called Sophia soof because he couldn’t pronounce Sophia. Sophia called herself So B. It. Mr. Hill had been devastated about his son having a baby so Sophia moved back to her hometown in Reno and Mr. Hill agreed to pay her bills as long as her and her daughter didn’t come back around. They get back to the house and Heidi calls Bernie with the newly discovered news. Bernie tells Heidi that she don’t want to hear about it right now. The reason she said this is because Sophia had died. They later had the funeral near an apple orchard only a mile from Hilltop. I really enjoyed this book because it’s has a suspenseful feeling to it and that made me not want to put it down. I think it was very brilliant idea to make the reader want to know the meaning of the word soof from the very beginning. I think there is more than one moral Sarah Weeks wants to stress to readers. A couple of those morals include some things are better unknown and never give up. These can be good or bad, it just depends on the situation and circumstances. There are a few questions I would like answered. Why and how did Heidi accumulate such luck? Does anyone else in her family have luck? Why didn’t she think about Bernie’s feelings when she decided to leave? I personally wouldn’t do that because I would be scared and I couldn’t up and leave my parents that way. I know Bernie was disappointed in Heidi for making the decision she did. To me, that would be one of the hardest things. One of my worst fears is disappointing my parents. I respect my parents wishes and I definitely wouldn’t disobey them… I think Heidi needs to let other peoples’ emotions and feelings sink into her head before she does something like that. I definitely would’ve ended the book by her mom living. I say this because after everything Heidi went through to get that information, it doesn’t help at all because her mom dies in the end. I think it’s very wrong of Heidi to not come home when she found out her mother was getting worse. I mean my mom and I aren’t the best of friends, but I still love her dearly. If I found out she was really sick, I’d come home in a heartbeat and Heidi should have done the same. You don’t realize what good of a gift God gave you until it’s gone. Thank you for participating in Reading Rocks with me. I have really enjoyed reading and discussing the book and I’ll be looking forward to your next letter. Sincerely, Brittany Fore