Grace's Blog Post #2 - Page 80

     "A second later the bungee jacket activated, and Shay bobbed back up in midair, laughing maniacally at the top of her lungs. Tally waited another moment, watching the uglies' horror dissolve into confusion as Shay bounced again, then righted herself on one of the tables and headed out of the door.
      Tally dropped the book and dashed for the stairs, leaping a flight at a time until she reached the back exit of the dorm." 

      I think that in Uglies, Scott Westerfeld uses really good descriptive language, he shows each scene from the book in perfectly clear pictures like this one, making the book practically a movie in your mind. He also uses figurative laguage. For example, he says "Shay bobbed back up in midair" which is comparing shay to the action of something floating in water. Also in the sentence "watching the uglies' horror dissolve into confusion" he personifies the horror to 'dissolve' into confusion, which isn't possible, but descibes this situation perfectly.

Sorry these are all late, the blogs slipped my mind.

Jessi's Blog Post #5 Page 297

"Just get whatever Dr. Cable wants. And don't you dare touch one of those hoverboards."

"Don't worry, I won't have to," she said, and snapped the fingers of both hands as loudly as she could.

Croy's hoverboard jumped into the air, knocking the Special's feet out from under him. The man rolled off the roof again, and Tally leaped onto the board.

____________

I chose this passage not for the quality  of the writing, but for what  it shows about Tally's character development  She is very conflicted throughout (almost) the entire book, right up until she talks to David's parents. She throws the pendant into the fire, which seems to be the moment she truly decides she wants to stay. But, then Dr. Cable shows up. Tally knows she can turn pretty now, once more she has the power of choice in her hands. And, it almost seems she's going along with Cable, right up until she says the necklace is on the roof. And, the minute she chooses to oppose the specials and the privilege to turn pretty, we see how far Tally has come. She knows the city secrets and wants to escape them. At this point, Tally is deciding for herself, without the overpowering influences and threats of the city.

 Tally Youngblood lives in a world where the best day of your life is your sixteenth birthday. And, that's because on this day, a surgery turns them from Ugly, to Pretty. But some last minute complications come up, and Tally's future twists. And suddenly she's tumbling through things she never wanted to happen...This book is a journey through the future in a world much different than we know it today. The fate of others seems to fall in Tally's hands throughout the risky page-turner. And quite the page turner it is. The story encases you, drags you in and pulls you along as Tally fights her way to find herself through a world that's beautifully known to her. Folded within the pages lies an adventure-packed story full of discovery. This is definitely a good book for those who enjoyed the Matched Trilogy, or for anyone who wants a good adventure story to hang onto.

Madison R.- Blog Post #3

"At first there was a sound like a roaring wind in her dreams. Then a tearing noise filled the air, the crackle of dry brush inflamed, and the smell of smoke swept over Tally bringing her suddenly and completely awake. Billowing clouds of smoke surround her, blotting out the sky. A ragged wall of flame moved through the flowers, giving off a wave of blistering heat."

It makes a clear picture of what's going on and the heat and the shrubs up in flame. It pictures what exactly is going on around Tally and you can just imagine how she would be feeling surrounded by the wall of flame.

Rachel Z's blog post #3 pg. 146

"A band of orange and yellow ignited the sky,  glorious and unexpected, as spectacular as fireworks, but changing at a stately, barely perceptible pace.  That's how things were out here in the wild, she was learning. Dangerous or beautiful.  Or both."

This exert shows how the people in this town weren't raised like we are raised today.  The author has awesome writing techniques like, " A band of orange and yellow ignited the sky,  glorious and unexpected, as spectacular as fireworks", and uses them all the time.

Rachel P.'s Blog Post #5 Page 27

                 "The figure let out a sigh "Oh, phew. Hey that's okay. I must have scared you, too." The girl leaned forward, grimacing as if she was also sore from remaining still so long. Her face caught the light.

                   She was an ugly too.

                    Her name was Shay. She had long dark hair in pigtails, and her eyes were too wide apart. Her lips were full enough, but she was even skinnier than a new pretty. She'd come over to New Pretty Town on her own expedition, and had been hiding here by this river for an hour. "I've never seen anything like this," she whispered. "

                  This book tells the captivating story of Tally Youngblood. She is an ugly and is about to turn sixteen which means that in a few weeks she'll have an operation that will turn her into a pretty which means that she will have a life fit for royalty. But, before that Tally meets a new friend named Shay. When Shay runs away Tally is given a choice by the authorities to find her friend or not turn pretty. But as she joins Shay, she learns that being pretty isn't actual a pretty thing. This story is filled with adventure, heartfelt moments and will surely keep you hooked until the end.  Overall, I would give this book 4 stars out of 5. It is the PERFECT book for anyone who loves adventure or books about futuristic societies. My only concerns with the book would be that it can get a little wordy and that the timing is hard to follow. Other than that, this book is one of the best books anyone could ever read!
               

Blog Post #5 (FINAL BLOG)

1.  Always title your blog post with the PAGE # (this will help others avoid reading spoilers).

2.  For your FINAL blog- you can choose ANY section from the book.

3.  Blogs will have 2 parts- Part 1:  passage from the book  Part 2:  commentary

4.  Don't forget to comment/interact with your peer's posts!

5.  You CANNOT choose the same passage as someone else- the first one to post claims it!

For your final blog, you can choose from ANY WHERE in the book.  You are going to do a sort of book review.  Your first paragraph should still be a passage from the book but your FAVORITE passage.  It might be a particularly well written section, or the most exciting part, or a great cliffhanger.  For your second paragraph you do not have to analyze this passage but rather write a paragraph long book review.  Let us know what this book is like and pitch it! If you weren't a huge fan, think about what kind of person might like to read this book.  This should be a STRONG paragraph- not a sentence or two!  

--
Ms. Melin

https://sites.google.com/site/mselmer114/

Jessi's Blog Post #4 Page 292

"We still would have come for you. If the pendant had been damaged, it would have sent a signal automatically."

The words sunk in slowly: If the pendant had been damaged . . . Tally gripped the edge of the table, trying not to show any emotion.
_________________________

I can't even imagine myself in a moment like this. The excerpt is small but it holds strong emotions. (Before I talk about these lines though, I think it would be a good idea to review what happened before this: Tally is on the fence about her feelings about the Smokies. She wants very badly to become pretty, but she's beginning to get accustomed to life in the Smoke. Then when Shay gets upset about the attention David is giving Tally, Tally goes to make things ok with him. This however turns out with a completely different outcome than intended because Tally finds she loves him. He takes her to meet his parents where she learns about what the operation does to your brain, and decides to give up turning in the Smokies, and on her way home she throws the tracking necklace in the fire. The Specials arrive the next morning.) Dr. Cable has won it seems, by hiding software in the tracker so it would alert them if it were damaged, because she knew activating the necklace manually may never happen. And, because of this, Tally has turned the Smoke over trying to do the exact opposite. You can tell from " Tally gripped the edge of the table" how guilty she feels and how its crushing her, the fact that she ruined all these peoples lives. Yet, Tally must look as if she's emotionless. As if these words mean nothing to her. As if she hadn't caused the very thing she was trying to prevent.