The+Rescue

Michaela,

I really like the analogy you made in your thoughts--__ “Eventually everything hits bottom…but if you wait…someone will come along and turn it around. “The road to happy life is not straight…there is a curve called failure…a loop called confusion…speed bumps called friends…red lights called enemies…caution lights called family…you will have flat tires called jobs…but if you have a spare called determination…an engine called perseverance…a driver called God…you will live a great life!” __

You have a very good grasp of books, characters, and life. I can tell that you like to write and read. Keep up the good work and one day you might even write a book of your own. It has been a pleasure reading this book with you. I think that Mrs. Shull came up with a great idea when she decided to pair adults with students.

**The Rescue** The Fourth Week Evaluation Dear Mrs. Vanderhoof,

My thoughts about the book:

Personally I liked the book. There were some parts in the story where I was like “That’s so sad,” or “That’s so nice." At the end though I was like "Wow" because I knew they would get together, but I never would have guessed any of the parts in the end. In my opinion, I think maybe that this book is for young adults and adults. The only thing I didn’t like about the book is that I had to keep flipping pages to get past some parts of the book that I didn’t really feel comfortable reading. I think if I was a few years older I would enjoy the book more, than at the age that I am. I think all of the characters in the book changed. There was Denise, and Taylor, and Kyle who were the more important characters. Denise went from being lonely, and sad all the time from Kyle’s diagnoses, to being happy. There was someone else that could help her when she got frustrated. Someone to be there with her when the doctors changed their diagnoses every few months. And then Taylor was the person she could talk to about anything. Taylor went from being bullied by himself, to actually “living” life. Every time he was having a good time, he would remember that he “killed” his father. He was depressed, and frankly didn’t care if he died while trying to rescue people in fires. He went from not having any responsibilities in his life, to having a wife, and two kids. From then on every time he went into that burning house, he made sure he would to come back out. He would not let his kids go without a father, because he knew what it was like. Taylor finally had someone to talk to when he had nightmares about that day when his father was killed. He had something to live for in his life from then on: DENISE, KYLE, and MITCH. Denise made him see, that he could only regret that day. It would always be in his mind, but feeling bad about your whole life, and not actually living would not be fair to yourself. He could not change the past, so why not just take the future and make something out of it. Then there was Kyle. To me I thought Kyle was Normal. We all have our flaws. We’re not all perfect, so this just makes us normal. Although while some people have their flaws, they also have talents that make them shine, and cancel out their flaws. Kyle may have not been able to talk as well as some other kids, but he could laugh, and play, and do so much that some other kids can’t. From the beginning to the end, Kyle's speech gets good enough, that he can go to school. The dream that Denise always hoped for. He knows he is not alone. He now has a father, and brother. And he finally says the three words Denise has wanted to hear for years. I LOVE YOU.

To me, there were many themes in the story. Some of my favorites were these. “Eventually everything hits bottom…but if you wait…someone will come along and turn it around. “The road to happy life is not straight…there is a curve called failure…a loop called confusion…speed bumps called friends…red lights called enemies…caution lights called family…you will have flat tires called jobs…but if you have a spare called determination…an engine called perseverance…and a driver called God…you will live a great life!” ** Summary ** Every thing is going pretty good with Denise and Taylor’s relationship, until they are invited over to Mitch and Melissa’s (Taylor’s married friends) house. While they are there though, his friends keep asking him if he’s going to marry her. When he sees that the relationship is getting too serious, he thinks he needs to get out of it before its too late, when they actually are talking about marriage. From then on Taylor goes into a daze. When Denise calls to see if he wants to come over he says he’s just “Too busy.” After promising Kyle he would take him to his first baseball game for his birthday, they wait for two hours but he never shows up. Denise knows it is over between them. He could emotionally hurt her, but she wouldn’t let him hurt Kyle any longer. When Mitch finds out that Taylor let the best person in his life go they get in a fight. In the end, Taylor stalks off fuming with his hands clenched from almost punching his best friend. That night a fire breaks out. When Taylor gets there, he hears there are two people left inside. While everyone else tells him not to go into the engulfed building, he knows he needs to save them, and runs inside. It’s so smoky, in the building that he could only save one of the people. Only later does he know, that the person left inside was Mitch. Mitch has four kids and his widowed wife, who are all trying to deal with his death. Taylor thinks since the kids have no dad, he would take on the role as a fatherly figure. Melissa tells him though that she is moving back near her family. Taylor sees that he is alone. One night, Taylor shows up at Denise’s house. After weeks of waiting for him to tell her what happened to his father, he tells her about how he died because of him, when he was nine in a house fire. That is why he has to be a fire man, and he feels so guilty about actually living his life. Denise sees that he trust her. She tells him they can pretty much start over. In the end, Taylor and Denise are married. Kyle is adopted by Taylor, they have a son named MITCH.

I would not change anything about the end of the book. I really liked in the end where they named their kid Mitch after his friend, and Kyle finally told his mom he loved her. I also liked how Denise became a teacher again, and Kyle could go to school. I'm glad that Taylor finally learned he can live life without always feeling guilty. P.S. **I would like to thank you again for reading this book with me.**

Mrs. Vanderhoof-Michaela Green May 11, 2010

//The Rescue Michaela,// I really enjoyed this book. All along I knew that Taylor had a secret concerning his father and a fire, but when I read the cause for the trauma I could see why he had such a hard time dealing with it. Had I been responsible for my father's death as he was, I would have been emotionally crippled too. I was so glad that he and Denise were able to get together. They helped one another. It was very brave of Mitch's wife to help Taylor get better by telling him that he knew what he had to do to get on with his life especially since she had just lost her husband to a fire.

Nicholas Sparks is an excellent author. He always has an element of surprise in his writings. You think you have it all figured out, and you do--sort of-- but he always has a twist that you don't expect. I hope you have enjoyed reading this book as much as I have.

May 3, 2010 Michaela, You did a great job of summarizing this week’s reading. I think it very interesting that Taylor still evades mention of his father except that he died when he was very young. I thought that when Denise told him that a day didn’t go by that she didn’t miss her father, and when he identified so completely with that feeling that things were going to get serious between the two. Things did get serious, but he still hung back to any real commitment. He came to her for comfort when he got the shakes after the bridge incident and the forest fire incident, but he could not commit. He is good to Kyle, and you can see how Kyle flourishes over the attention. He is speaking more, and both he and his mother are getting out into the community. This is helping both of them. Taylor is good to and for the mother and son, but he takes a long time to take them to his friend’s house. This was just another sign that he was not ready to commit completely. When he did take them to their house, his best friend asks him what he is waiting for. This really bugs Taylor. I sense that disaster is about to happen in the relationship. Denise is awakening to needs that she has kept buried since Kyle’s birth—the need for adult companionship, a social life, and love. Taylor has supplied these for her and she has flourished. She is having a good time and her son is increasing his vocabulary by leaps and bounds. She is well-liked by Taylor’s mom, Mary, and by his friends. She is beginning to feel like part of the community.

You commented about a member of your family having a child very young and the responsibility that it entails. Yes, it does require a lot, and you are correct in that sometimes it is better for the child that the mother puts it up for adoption. Yet, there are all kinds of emotional tangles that have to be resolved. Many adopted children yearn to know their biological parents. They feel like they weren’t loved and that is why they were put up for adoption. Others, however, that have a great set of adoptive parents are happy with their lives. So, deciding whether to give your baby away or not is very hard. I personally feel that if you are out of school and become pregnant that you should accept the responsibility for your actions and keep the baby. If, however, you are still in school and do not have the support of your family, then you should consider the adoption route. You have no way to support the child, and you are still a child yourself. If your family is supportive, then it is better if all work together to keep the child

April 28, 2010
 * THE RESCUE

Dear Mrs. Vanderhoof,

Summary **

When Denise and Kyle decide to go to the carnival it's no surprise when they meet Taylor while they are there. While Taylor and Kyle play catch with a baseball, Denise is being introduced to numerous amounts of people in town. For once, Denise was amazed that Taylor treated her son like a normal boy. At the carnival, while Kyle rode the "swings" ride Denise and Taylor talked to each other. Taylor talked about being a fireman for the volunteer department, and Denise talked about the struggle of helping Kyle learn words over the years. They talked about a lot of things, but one sour spot in the conversation was talking about Taylor's father. He would not give a few more sentences than saying he died, and he was a good man. Taylor started taking Denise to and from the Diner until she got a new car. He would cook them dinner, breakfast, and supper. Denise, and Taylor would play with Kyle in the evenings, and she even showed Taylor Kyle's journal about speech. One day he even surprised her by bringing over an old fashion ice cream maker, and asked her to join him on a first date.

I think the protagonist character is Denise. Denise has been through a lot in the last five years, and pretty much her whole life. Loosing her job, having a child, and dealing with the situations all on her own with out her parents, friends, and Kyle's father. Although Denise was out of high school when she had Kyle, she was still not ready to have a child, and had to face some the problems about having a baby when she was not married, and just starting off as a teacher in a school. In ways though when she had Kyle, she actually had someone in her life that wouldn't leave her or run away when bad times settled into their lives. Her mother and Father had died when she was young, Kyle's father had not wanted anything to do with his son, and she had to leave all of her friends behind to move to a more subtle envirement in North Carolina, and out of the big city. I have see people in my family who have to deal with the responsiblities of a having a child too young. Like Denise, she ended up raising her son without the father. Now though, she is married to a nice guy, and they live in a big house with two kids. When some people are too young, they give up their baby. In ways I believe in adoptition, but then again I think people should take responsiblilites for their children. On one side I can see that a caring person who loves their child would give them up so they could have the best life possible that they could never give them. But then again theres those people who don't want to take on the responsiblily of a child that they had, so they can still act like a child and go to clubs and parties. Although I think they should take responsiblilities, it is good that the child will be able to live a normal life with good parents from adoption. Either way though, Denise gave up her job to work with Kyle so he would get better and never have to deal with the hard consequences of not having the ability to speak well. She gave up her love for teaching, to someone else that she loved more, KYLE. Denise was catious when she met Taylor. She knew all her time should go to working with her son on speech. She also didn't want Kyle to get attached to someone who he would see every day and then disapear the next. I think it was smart of her to think about how the situation would affect Kyle, and not just her too. It would be hard enough for her to say goodbye but for Kyle it would be almost unbarable. Kyle was her life, and she would not let anyone make her think otherwise. Denise is a caring, independent, intelligent, loving, responsible, humorous person who always makes the best of life. I think Denise is one of those people that rarely thinks of herself, and always others. She needs to learn though that taking some time for yourself is not always a bad thing. It would be such a shame if not everyone had a friend like her.

One of the antagonist characters is Taylor. From the beginning Taylor has had a rough childhood. When he was 9 years old his father died in an accident of some kind. He never forgave him self for killing his father, a friend to many, and a husband to his heartbroken mother. Taylor never shared this memory to anyone because everytime he told the horror story, the guilt that had been disguised for so many years, would remind him what happened that day. This is why he became a volunteer firefighter. He didn't want anymore kids like him growing up without a father. He knew what it felt like being without a father, and he didn't want the weight of growing up too fast settle on a kids shoulders. He didn't think he had a right to have all the joys in life that his father, and others never got to experience. Whenever he got to close to marriage in a relationship he would chicken out and make everything from then on go downhill. Taylor was nice to Denise. He used his carpenting skills to fix the cabinets, and sink in her kitchen. He cooked them breakfast, supper, and dinner. He drove Denise to the diner before she got a car. Around her, he usually acted like a gentleman for a while. Taylor usually thought things through, unless it came to fire's. When he asked Denise on a date, he planned out every detail right down to the smallest details. But when a fire erupted on a bridge, he risked his life to save someone else. He is a responsible, intellegient, caring, humorous person who makes everyones life around him better. He needs to learn though that he should live his life to the fullest, and not hold back because of something that happened years ago.

Michaela Green**
 * There are some ironies in this. For one Denise is afraid to get into a relationship too fast, and so is Taylor. But when the relationship gets serious, Denise wants to a step forward, and Taylor takes two steps back, until they're back where they were when they first met. It's also ironic how Taylor met her when she got in a car wreck, and almost lost her son. Something good came out of a bad situation. As I get farther into the book I still liked it, I just kind of chose to skip some parts of the book though, because I just felt uncomfortable reading it. I liked the book though. Did you? P.S. I also thought it was really cool how you went to countries in Europe. I've always wanted to go to Ireland, and see the castles and mountains and landscapes. I also want to go back to Canada again, and other places around the globe.