Betsy Brown Responces

1. The scene in the morning when Betsy is looking out the window at sunrise.
2. Greer. Only because he seems to be the least obnoxious character so far.
3. The part where Betsy Brown and her friends...um...

It ruined her dignified/sophisticated image for me.
4. It fits with the time and setting.
5. She wins a acting/poetry contest? Not really many hints here yet.
6.Betsy seems somewhat like her mother.

EXPLODING ANIMALS!

Yes, they blow up. At least in rare cases.

I came across this article while reading about explosives, and saw a link that said "Exploding Animals". Had to check it out.

Some Whales explode after being washed up on the beach, due to build up of methane gases in their body caused by the bacteria that decompose them. A species of Ants has a function where it tenses up and "blows open" its body, expelling a bunch of disgusting chemicals.

But the most interesting thing I read in the article was about the exploding toads. They usually puff themselves up with air to make themselves look bigger as a defense mechanism, which usually is effective. But their predators happen to be some of the smartest animals on the plant: Crows. After an influx of predatory crows in the area, around 1,000 toads died by blowing themselves up. Berlin veterinarian Franz Mutschmann proposed a theory as to why this was happening. After observing the behavior of Crows in the area, he proposed that the Crows figured out how to make the toads do this. You see, the toads will keep puffing themselves up until a threat is no longer present. So apparently, the Crows taunt the toads until they take in too much air and then pop them like a balloon, resulting in an easy kill. Oh, and the toads actually live for a short amount of time after the explosion.

I've heard of a similar sensation happening to Puffer Fish, but this seems more odd.

Am I a bad person for laughing at this?

Betsy Brown

Betsy Brown, by Niozake Shange, is a book I'm reading as an assignment for creative writing class. I' unsure as to why we're supposed to post our poinion about the book after reading a few pages, I havn't taken enough in to decide how I feel. All I can say is that the setting chapter 1 creates leaves me to believe this book won't be "bad".

The Good Thief

The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, was a book I read as a class reading assignment.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book overall, the many mysteries surrounding the pasts of characters are what draws you in and makes you want to rapidly keep reading. The was very well written, exiting, and amusingly dark.

The character of Ren can make you feel admiration and sympathy at the same time. With his hand removed when he was too young to remember, Ren is put in an orphanage with seemingly no hopes of getting adopted. The one day, a mysterious conman named Benjamin comes to the orphanage and chooses Ren, claiming he's a long lost sibling. It seems like Ben uses Ren's ailment to help him trick people and conduct more schemes. But as the story progresses, it seems as if Ben's reasoning isn't all that simple, and his mysterious past plays a part in that. Ren goes through many exighting and challenging trials as he travels with the thieves, and in the end finds out a lot about himself as well.

Hannah Tinti is coming to visit our class to conduct a writing workshop. I never really thought too deeply about what the author was thinking when making the characters, story, and plot. But I'm interested to see what she has to say about her own book, and what the creator of a novel like this is like.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book. It didn't quite live up to the hype from "critiques" for me, but then again most things they (are sponsored) to say aren't all too accurate. Doesn't rank up with the classic adventures, but still very good nonetheless. I give it the Planetary stamp of approval, or I would if I could find any ink around here.