Morgan+Green-Gina+Kocher

= __ Adult: Gina Kocher __ = Student: Morgan Green Book Title: Girls in Pants: The Third Summer Pages Read: 155-248

Week 3
Carmen Lowell thought that taking care of Valia wouldn’t be easy, but not difficult until the first day of the job. Watching Valia’s favorite soap opera, The World Apart, instead of watching Brawn and Beauty, Valia hating her tea she made, and Valia IMing her Greek friends, making Carmen not being able to talk to her best friends on the phone, made Carmen loathe her at first. Valia had to go to the hospital on weekly or monthly visits and Carmen meets a guy named, Win. She forms a crush on the volunteer worker at the hospital and he likes her, but she realizes he doesn’t really know her, but thinks he does. Along with Carmen’s misery, Tibby was having a perfect day with Brian giving her dyed pink carnations, until Katherine, Tibby’s little sister, trying to get an apple from a tree, falls out the window, the window Tibby left open. Tibby feels guilty about Katherine getting injured because she was too busy thinking about Brian and she is suffering herself by not doing any fun stuff, it seems. Tibby’s parents somehow think that Loretta had part of Katherine’s accident, but she didn’t and she is fired. Tibby never loved Loretta, until she is fired and she realizes that Loretta loved her and her sisters as her own. Lena Karigalis’s dad told Lena that she was not going to attend that art class she was attending at RISD, so he refunded most of his money for it. Lena meets Annik Marchland, her college art teacher, and tells her that she is delayed on money to pay for the class and her dad doesn’t want her to attend the class. To solve the money issue, Lena tries to get a scholarship and work three shifts at the restaurant. Lena loves art and she will do any to be able to do it. Bridgett Vreeland is at Pennsylvania to coach boys and girls Soccer and Eric, which overwhelms her and definitely her heart. Coaches were picked in to groups for different activities and Bridgett and Eric end up in a group together. Bridgett convinces herself that she is not going to fall for him again that they are just friends and anyways he has a girlfriend named Kayla. Will Bridgett be able to be just friends with him or something more?

Favorite Character
I have no favorite in these books; they are all equally amazing characters with different strengths and weaknesses, which I love! Bridgett Breeland is a dare devil and she makes mistakes like all of us and I love her for that! Lena is like me because she is considered shy and I’m exactly the same way and I like that about her. I treasure Carmen for her honest emotions because a lot of people keep things inside of them, but Carmen is the exact opposite! We can all relate to Tibby because we’ve all felt guilty about something and usually stress about really small things and that’s why she is an awesome character in this book!

Partner Chat
I also agree that I love how these girls are caring towards each other and they help each other out, when life isn’t the greatest (that is a sign of true friends)! I love how these series of books keep you itching to read the next chapter or page. First, I wasn’t sure whether I liked Brian, but now I am definitely fond of him (Who doesn’t like guys who give girls flowers?). I think Bridgett will fall for Eric even though she vowed that she wouldn’t and she will have a tough time deciding whether she should. I know that Eric has a girlfriend, but I think he will start liking Bridgett, when Bridgett is trying to get over him. Lena is drawn to art and I believe that she will get a scholarship to pay for college and her family will accept that she wants to become an artist. I also can’t wait to find out whether Carmen and Valia can make peace towards each other. I cannot wait to read the final pages!!!

I am counting the days for school to be out and summer to be here! The way the sunshines, sleeping in till noon (I'm a morning person!), swimming and being with your friends with no stress on finishing homework, what is not to love about SUMMER?! Graduation is coming up and I'm excited about going to High School! Also, I cannot wait till Cross Country and for me to be able to run again! I just found out a week again that I have a stress fracture on my right leg, making me out of the whole Track season ,which I really makes me upset. I run (ran) the mile and the 4X400 and I was determined to go to state this year because my time was not that far the qualifing time, but I just hope that I will be stronger next year! So what are your plans for summer and what are some of your activities that you are currently doing?

Morgan- OH MAN!!! I hate that for you. I understand how addicting exercise can be and a stress fracture definitely means no running! Your attitude is great, though. Summer couldn't get her fast enough for me, either. I am really looking forward to swimming and playing outside with my kids. I'm sure we'll play in the pond and swim at the new pool. I will be planning some new curriculum and learning Spanish as well as cleaning the house from top to bottom. But, I'm not really looking as forward to those things as much as I am the more exciting aspects. 13 days until graduation!! (for you; I never get to graduate!) Have a great day and thanks for writing about yourself! By the way, what's a good graduation gift? I know what I'm getting for Payton (iFlip), but I have another friend with a son graduating and I cannot decide. Any ideas?

Yeah...NO RUNNING for at least a month or two. I'm going to the doctor today to get another x-ray and some therepy. I feel like I like live there now. I defintely agree on your part that Summer couldn't get here fast enough. Summer brings numerous chores along with fun like swimming and being active and that's the disadvantage. Graduation and the dance is going to be a great experience and I can't wait till High School! I love hearing for you and thank you for writing about yourself. My parents were thinking about getting me a camera and a phone, but I got that from Christmas. I told my mom that I was a girl and a girl loves to shop, but boys are somewhat hard to find things for. What do guys like besides 4-wheelers and the outdoors?? All I know is a lot of guys like tools or money, so I would suggest giving him money or a iFlip like you are getting Payton, that would be pretty cool too.

= Week 4 = I got confused somehow what I was suppose to read, so I am sorry about that. I’m with you now though, so that’s all that matters.

Lena is trying to get a scholarship to pay for her college and she decides to draw pictures on her family and Carmen's step-brother, Paul. She later gets the courage to draw her father and he tries to hide his feelings. Later, Lena receives the scholarship and he is proud of her and gives her his blessing to do what she wants to be: an artist. Her dad let’s Valia go back to her homeland and she gets to be again a student as RISD ! Carmen and Win drive to find David because Christiana is having contractions and it is suppose to be hours till the baby is delivered and Tibby is there to help her even though she has no knowledge on pregnancies. They finally find David and they rush to the hospital and a beautiful baby welcomes them and their family is complete. Tibby thought she wouldn’t be brave enough for Christina, but Tibby pulled it out and helped calm Carmen’s mother down and helped them have the beautiful baby. Tibby had struggles being with Brian because she thought she hurt Katherine over thinking about him, but she overcomes those feelings and they get together again and swim in the Rockwood Pool. Bridgett can’t stop thinking about that night that Eric held her in his arms when she was sick and generally took care of her. She tries to stop thinking about him and she gets upset when Eric isn’t there one Monday day, but she finds out that he broke up with his girlfriend, Kayla, because she has feelings towards her. Bridgett feels loved by Eric, but all she wants to do is just take it slow and just be with him. Carmen is debating whether Win thinks she’s the Good Carmen and she thinks that it is unacceptable that he might think that because she thinks she is bad (she thinks she should be known as the Bad Carmen). She realizes later in the book that she is a good person at heart and she ends up caring about Valia, even though she is leaving back to Greece, the area that she loves dearly. She also decides that she wants to go to Williams instead of the University of Maryland. Carmen faced change this summer like all of them, the newborn, the taste of love, and the sisterhood that grows every day.

= = I loved this book and I hope you did to! There are two movies that you should check out if you haven’t seen it and it is really good, yet different from the book. One more book ends the series and I think that every book in this series is an awesome book and the ending of this series is surprising! Thanks for taking time out of your day to write and read this book for Reading for Rocks! I am looking forward to seeing you!


 * RR- Week 4 Evaluation Gina Kocher**
 * Morgan Green**
 * __Girls in Pants__**

The summer wraps up for the four girls. It has been a summer of a little romance, family bonding, and lessons learned. The book ends with the four ladies going to the beach and enjoying being together, minus the multiple phone calls they receive at first. While wondering if their friendships can handle time away from each other, they come to the conclusion that they must continue to be flexible. If only more people could get the concept of flexibility!

Lena’s drawings not only earn her the scholarship, they open her eyes to the truth about her family members. Valia is headed back to Greece, which lifts her spirits tremendously. Lena also learns to let Kostos and that relationship be completely dissolved. What will happen with Paul? I hope it’s in book four!

Carmen hits her ‘light bulb’ moment and matures a lot in the last section. She confesses her faults to Win and he confesses his, “a fat kid lives in me”. Carmen decides that she wants to go to Williams. Having a brother did not make her lose her place in the family as she had thought. Plus, Win is attending a school near Williams.

Tibby comes out of her down-trodden attitude and makes the end of this book the BEST! I laughed until I cried during the labor scene where Christina only has Tibby to lean on. Carmen and Win are off trying to find David, who is out of town for work. Poor Tibby did the best she could do, even if her methods were not the norm. I love the line about her response not exactly being a Hallmark card. At first, I wanted David to come bursting through the door, but the more I read, I like the birth from Tibby’s view. Plus, it would be too easy for him to find a way home and be part of the happy ending you expected.

Bridget gets her man, as is custom. She ends up very sick and in need of some nursing. The nurse is gone, but Eric finds her and takes pity on her. They sleep in the same bed one night (in a platonic way) so he can keep watch over her. This sends Eric to New York to break up with his girlfriend, but he doesn’t tell Bridget and she thinks he is running away. In the end, all is explained and Bridget’s soccer team defeats Eric’s in the championship.

I have really enjoyed reading __Girls in Pants,__ but the third section was the best part. I wasn’t really keen on the romance and lusty parts, but it is a book for teens. At first Bridget annoyed me (the mother portion of my personality); she’s kind of loose with her emotions and… well, we’ll just stick with emotions. As I read on, I kind of liked her a little bit more. I saw my teen self in Carmen: the desire to be good, yet the attitude that sometimes gets in the way. Lena is so grounded that you cannot help but like her. In the end, though, Tibby won my heart. I had an excellent labor, but I couldn’t help but imagine her in there with me during my labor. We certainly wouldn’t have been stuck watching the hunting channel, that’s for sure!

Multiple lessons were learned by all four ladies, but the most present theme is that of friendship. It is definitely directed at teen girls, but it would be a fun, easy read for an adult, too. It helps you remember what it’s like to be a teenager, even for those of us who aren’t TOO far detached from our own. The author allows the characters to feel and experience negative emotions, but still ends it nicely. That’s what we all want anyway, a happy ending.

I also have enjoyed reading along with you. My students have enjoyed me reading this book as well because we dialogued about it together. I am looking into watching the movies. I can't wait to meet you in person and am looking forward to it. See you soon!

GK