Becoming Naomi Leon

I just finished reading the book becoming Naomi Leon, by Pam munoz Ryan. I liked it a lot. It was fun and interesting to read. And it was very different from most books i've ever read. It's about a girl named Naomi Leon who struggles with a lot of things, like speaking up for example. But she's pretty much always made the best of living with her Gram and brother, Owen. Then her mom, Skyla, who has a drinking problem, and a new boyfriend, has revisited after leaving her kids with her ex husband's (the dad) mom for seven years. And after she kisses up for a while she reveals the real reason she's here; to take naomi, just naomi, to live with her. Naomi decides that she wants to meet her dad before going to court against her mom, and she is glad to have met him when she goes home and faces her future. Once naomi wins the argument in front of the judge, her mom leaves. Leaving Naomi almost thankful for the things she taught her.

I think this book is really about how some little things matter. But some really don't. It didn't matter when Skyla bought Naomi a bunch of clothes, Naomi still wanted to live in her home, not with Skyla. It didn't matter that Skyla was her real mom. She would never be her real family. certain things don't make an imprint on us. I think it's mostly because of the past and sacrifice.  It didn't matter that Skyla was her mom, because she wasn't there for Naomi like Gram and Owen always were. And it didn't matter that Naomi got a bunch of clothes, because it didn't really coast her mom anything.

I think it's pretty much the same for the good little things. It only matters where it comes from in you, and what you really sacrifice for it. It mattered when Skyla bought Owen a bike. Because She always treated Owen second best, and now her got the first best for once. Also, when she says Clyde (her boyfriend), spent good money on it, i think she really means she had to work for him to do buy it. It also mattered when Skyla knocked over Naomi's favorite soap carving. Because That's something that mattered to Naomi, but didn't matter to her mom, which it should've. It's not the fact that Skyla broke it, it's the fact that she didn't care, and never cared about it in the first place.

People often say the best things are little. But i thing that most little things that matter actually aren't all that little. It's more like the specific act may be simple, fast, or little, but the gesture is big. Like the bike was just a little present. But it wasn't to Owen. Because it meant his mom did care. It meant more that his mom loved him than that he had a bike. Because i think that all that disapproval Skyla gave Owen was actually directed towards herself, for leaving him when he was struggling so much and needed her. I think its the little things that go so much deeper. And they're special because it only matters like that for you, no one else in the world.

Non-fiction blogpost

I read the article, "Drought Leaves Cracks in Way of Life" By John Eligon. I see how droughts are serious.People cancel their whole vacations just because of a drought. People lose their crops and homes. And even their food.

THE SHAPE OF WATER

The book "The Shape of Water" by Allen Spollen, is mainly abut a girl that has to deal with a loss of her mother. Her mom dies and she is left to deal with a lot of emotions she doesn't know how to handle
On top of that her dad is getting remarried to a women who has a son. And she has many encounters with way different people as she struggled to figure out her feelings. And then there is another crisis in her life that she then has to deal with. I think that having the 'random' encounters is a way of saying that anything can  happen when ever and where ever. I think that the author was more directed at the idea of loss and healing. But i really noticed the more 'small' things she but in there.

Allen showed what i got of her writing mostly through big gestures. Such as death, and abandonment. I think that's what makes the ideas noticeable but the little things make it different. You meet so many people that have been through so much. And the ones who you get to know, even just a little bit, leave an impact on you. The happy ones show you that you can feel better. you can heal and if you want to and if you try you can be happy. The sad ones show that they've been through so much and either you don't want your life to be like that, you want to be the one who makes it out stronger. Or that their are people who have been through worse than you. There will always be people who have less than you and worse situations, and you should be thankful for what you have. I think that all of this, meeting people, is part of the realization of the healing process. That's the first step, you feel sorry for yourself, then you experience and start to realize, then you work with the people who care about you to get through the tough times.

There's always that one thing that sets you off. It's different for everyone, and when it happens to you, it feels like the end of the world, whether it is or not. And seeing different people and seeing different situations helps you put things into perspective. To see what others go through help you see that it'll be okay, it will help you make it okay. It helps you see how different the situation can be, but how the same the pain can be.

People say it's the little things that count. But that's not true, they all count. the little things may help more, and the big things may help more, that what really makes it count. And people never seem to see the little things though. They're waiting for a big giant sign to some along to change everything, when a little thing all along could've helped, and it just need a little work put into it. The girl in this story waits a little to late to realize this, and that helps me realize that i shouldn't wait, just from a small story from a girl i don't even know.