Nonfiction

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[|A Long Way Gone]: Memoirs of a Boy Solider

A Long Way Gone: [|Memoirs of a Boy Solider](a different trailer is available)

Time is All He Has by Kali P.

Randy Pausch himself said: “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand”. With this thought in mind, Randy no longer had a pessimistic view. He no longer moped, thinking he only had six months until he died. He realized he had six months to live. Randy Pausch wrote //The Last Lecture//, a poignant tale on how he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Randy Pausch is a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon. He’s living a fantastic life; he has a beautiful wife, three children, and a safe home. That all changes when he finds he has pancreatic cancer. The university asks Randy to give one last lecture to the students, and he accepts. Randy gives his now famous speech to hundreds of people, all desperate to hear how Randy is dealing with such terrible news. The speech ends up being not only about his cancer, but his dreams and how he achieved them. He talks about how he always wanted to play in the NFL, and be a Disney Imagineer, even become Captain Kirk from Star Trek. William Shatner, who portrayed Captain Kirk, sent Randy an autograph, and said, “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario” (Pausch, 46).

I believed //The Last Lecture// was very well written. I grew to admire Randy Pausch, and I continually quote his lecture. Before reading this book, I had already watched the actual lecture, therefore I knew the ending. //The Last Lecture// is quite an emotional story, but it has a lot to offer. There are so many important lessons in this book that I believe everyone should know. This is certainly unlike any book I’ve ever read. Occasionally, the optimism became a bit overwhelming, but was one of the best told stories I’ve heard.

Pauchs’s book will be read by millions of people, but it is written only for his children. Randy Pausch is recording his last lecture and incorporating as much advice as he can give because he won’t be around later to say it. “It is because Pausch's advice is so universal in its wisdom and his voice so clear in its delivery, that we eavesdroppers can also benefit.” ( Flanagan, About)

Mike McGraw Mrs. Thompson-Calio English 9 Honors 21 September 2011 ** A Child’s Struggle to Survive ** // A Child Called “It” // is an inspirational true story by Dave Pelzer, he recalls in vivid detail his childhood and the cruelty he managed to overcome. It is written in the first person and shows inside the mind of a badly abused child who is so reduced by his mother that he is not even considered human, and is referred to as “It”. This is the astounding story of one of the worst cases of abuse in California history and should be read by all. Dave Pelzer tells of how he was beaten, starved, stabbed, and nearly killed by his mother who put him through terrible agony and mistreatment. For about 8 years, from 1964 till 1972, he was slowly getting more and more distant from his family as his mother abused him everyday more than the last. Dave wrote //A Child Called “It”// to tell others that child abuse is not something that doesn’t really happen or is not a big deal. His mother was a good parent for Dave’s early years and as he describes “Mom was a woman who glowed with love for her children” (Pelzer 18). Then she began to drink and became addicted. Not long after, she started to be violent toward Dave but surprisingly not to the other boys, Dave’s two brothers. Her most common punishment to David was to not feed him, sometimes for days. Although David’s father tried to stop his mother from beating and torturing Dave she simply would not, and soon, even his father gave up on helping him. This book was extremely eye opening. It gave you a look into abuse at its worst and expressed a child’s look at a life of cruelty. Not only that but it also showed that David had a fighting spirit and throughout all of his childhood he managed to stay strong and have the “Courage to survive” (Pelzer front cover). //A Child Called “It”// was an exceptionally well written book that had an interesting layout of chapters. It started with his freedom from his mother, then went to before she started abusing him, and lastly described the time of abuse to finish off the rest of the book. //A Child Called “It”// is a breathtaking book of Dave Pelzer’s abuse. Although sad throughout, it has a heartwarming ending and a sequel //The Lost Boy.// Some may think that describing in such detail the actions of David’s mother may be controversial; however I believe that they were completely necessary to give the full effect of what David went through. Everyone should read //A Child Called “It”//; it is excellent for all ages.