The book I read this summer is Burned by Ellen Hopkins. The book is written in the form of poems, therefore it is a very interesting read. The main character, Pattyn, is the oldest of seven girls in an extremely religious family. Her drunk father is very abusive towards her mother, so Pattyn and the next oldest sister, Jackie, often have to take care of the younger girls.
While shooting her gun in the desert outside her house, Pattyn meets Derek, a boy her parents would never approve of. While she has always been respectful and disciplined toward her parents, Pattyn finds herself getting into trouble with her new boyfriend. After her father catches her with Derek, Pattyn is not allowed to see Derek anymore. At school, Pattyn sees Derek with a girl she knew, and that is when her attitude really started to spiral. She threw her backpack through a window and broke the girls nose. Pattyn’s father decided to send Pattyn to rural Nevada for the summer to live with her Aunt J. At first, Pattyn did not want to go, but she soon changed her mind when she got there.
Pattyn’s summer consisted of growing into someone who was not strictly religious like her parents. She drank coffee, learned to drive, and had a very serious relationship with her new boyfriend. In Burned, Pattyn states “What had happened to me? Beer. Tequila. Coffee. Heavy petting, which, I had to admit, I enjoyed. What was next? Excommunication?”(204). Overall, Burned is about a teenager trying to figure out the best way to live life. She believes the Bible, yet still wants to make her own decisions and enjoy life.
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteFantastic description of the book by Ellen Hopkins! I really like the way you describe the main character's storyline and how she develops and grows over the course of the summer. Your use of the quote (in MLA format!) is especially impressive.
What else do you think the quote says? There are a lot of nouns strung together--almost like a laundry list. Why do you think Hopkins chose to write her description of the summer this way?