news bowl dos

 Puerto Rico Debates 12-year Term for Animal Abuse

Coto Danica. "Puerto Rico Debates 12-year Term for Animal Abuse  | Ajc.com." Atlanta News, Sports, Atlanta Weather, Business News | Ajc.com. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/puerto-rico-debates-12-744845.html>.

the 12 year prison sentence in Puerto Rico was recently challenged by a man who got it for dragging a horse behind his truck(?why? i don't know) saying that the law is too severe since even murder has a shorter penalty. this man says he will appeal for the term being unusual and cruel. he also says that since the horse didn't die that he shouldn't get the penalty. This law was  made in august 2008 in response to people saying Puerto Rico was cruel to animals.

(the horse has recovered but has a limp and will not be able to be ridden ever again.

News bowl

 Activists Decry Shooting after Rio Gay Pride March

Barbassa, By Juliana. "Activists Decry Shooting after Rio Gay Pride March  | Ajc.com." Atlanta News, Sports, Atlanta Weather, Business News | Ajc.com. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/activists-decry-shooting-after-744720.html>.

this article is about how after a huge gay pride parade a young gay man was shot by men in uniform. Douglas Igor Marques Luiz was chillin' with his friends when three men appeared and ordered everyone to leave but then held him back and started to insult him, then after the insults escalated he was shot. this is odd since it happened right after a major gay prid rally and in Rio De Janeiro which was apparently a very safe place for homosexuals to be.   

Unwind by Neil Shusterman

Unwind 

Neil Shusterman 

the main theme of this book is trust. throughout the entire book the main characters, Connor, Risa, Lev are having to trust each other.

Connor is one of  the main characters in the story, in the very beginning he runs away from home and refuses to trust anyone. then as he meets other people he must learn how to trust them with his life. Lev's story is different he is kidnapped by Connor to save him from being unwound and he must trust Connor and Risa, who meets up with Connor and has a similar story.

here are three main stages of the book: the escape, hiding, and capture. in the beginning there is the escape where Connor runs away from home at this point Connor begins the hero's journey and almost goes back to his house, then he meets up with the police (this is one of the trials) and finds Lev(an enemy who turns into an ally) after this he escapes into the forest with Risa and Lev this ends the escape stage. at this point they move into the hiding stage where the bonds are formed and destroyed. in this part Lev begins to trust the other escapees and vice versa. this stage also contains the separation where the characters are split right as bonds are formed. this stage also introduces a new twist, a child. the next stage Connor and Risa get captured and Lev gets drafted into the clappers, a terrorist organization. in this stage new enemies are found and the group gets put into a unwind camp Connor blows it up and that is the end the rest is just a revolt that happens against the guards.

i think that this book connects to junior high in the fact that you must learn to trust your peers just like Connor has to in the book. since in junior high you must trust your classmates to not reveal your secrets in unwind Connor must trust his friends to keep his secrets

i really enjoyed this book since it contains lots of excitement and in contrast to many other reading bowl books it has a more intense feel which many junior high readers enjoy. because of the reasons i believe that this would make a great book for next years reading bowl

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