My School Writing

This is my School Writing page, where I will post writing that I do in school.

At my school, we do this thing called One Book One School or OBOS for short, where all receive the same book and read it over the summer. This year we read Eleven by Tom Rogers. Eleven is about a boy who turns Eleven on September 11th. A couple weeks after we start school we have a OBOS day, that is when we all get the same T-shirts and do activities related to our OBOS book in class. This year we were fortunate enough to be able to skype the author of Eleven, Tom Rogers and ask him lots of questions! It was awesome. For English class, we had to write an essay about Eleven. I hope you enjoy my Essay!

Kindness is Key
September 11th, 200l. When you hear that date what do you think of? The World Trade Center, New York, planes, those are examples of things that might come to mind when you think of 9/11. Most kids in school right now weren’t born or very little when the events of 9/11 occurred. To help us understand more about 9/11 author Tom Rogers decided to write a book called Eleven. Eleven is about a boy named Alex who turns 11 on September 11th. One of the main themes in Eleven is stronger together because people of all different colors and races came together to help each other get through this tragic day. Even though stronger together is a theme in Eleven that doesn’t mean that it is the only theme. A theme that I identified was kindness because it is significant in the book, it connects to our everyday lives, and there’s text evidence in the book to prove it.
An example of a theme in Eleven is kindness. One example of kindness in the book is … Dr. Marks was quick but thorough and soon reassured Alex that Rex was going to be fine. The dog just needed some stitches to close up the cut on his head … when the doctor sewed the two flaps of skin together with a needle and thread, Alex flinched but never looked away. “There. Good as new. Just rub this cream on the wound twice a day.” … “I can’t.” “It’s not hard I’ll show you.” “No, I mean, I don’t have any money.” … “This one’s on the house.” (Rogers 90-91)
Kindness is displayed in this quote because Dr. Marks didn’t have to give Alex the cream for free, but he did anyway. Another example of kindness displayed on page 119. Alex read the sign taped to the register: “Two slice + Coke = $5.95.” His stomach rumbled, but he shook his head.“No thanks.” “I’m hungry,” whispered Nunu. “We don’t have any money,” Alex mumbled. Mr. Patel frowned. “I see. Not even a dollar?” Alex shook his head again. “That is a shame. Because today the lunch special is two for one dollar.” … “But,” continued Mr. Patel, “the one dollar special comes with a one dollar rebate. Paid in advance. So, here you go. Your one dollar rebate.” He opened the till, plucked out a dollar, and handed it to Alex. Alex took it confused. “Ah, lunch for two, sir? That would be one dollar.” (Rogers 119) Kindness can be found in this quote because when Alex didn’t have any money to pay for food Mr. Patel found a way to give Alex and Nunu a meal.
Kindness is an important theme in Eleven because it shows how kind people can be when others are in need. We all have had someone be kind to us before and we know it makes any situation better. Being kind to someone makes you feel good about yourself and makes someone else feel better too. This applies to Alex because after people are kind to him, he decides to pay it forward. When he realizes his new friend Mac is lonely, he decides to stay a little while longer to keep him company, even though he should be getting home. This shows that Alex has learned from the encounters of kindness in his life, and knows when someone needs a little kindness too.
In Eleven the main character Alex experiences kindness, I have experienced kindness in my life too. When I first moved to Marshfield in 2015, I didn’t know anyone. But, a girl in my grade, named Chloe, who lived in my neighborhood decided she wanted to get to know me better. So, one day she had me over to her house, we had so much fun that she decided to have me over again the next day, and the day after that. We have been best friends since that day. Chloe was kind to me because she invited someone over to her house that she knew was new to the school and didn’t have any friends.
A very important theme in Eleven is Kindness. Kindness is important in Eleven because it is in our everyday lives, it is significant in the book, and there’s text evidence to prove it. Kindness is not just in the book, it’s everywhere. There are countless opportunities in our lives to be kind to someone, but it’s whether or not we take these opportunities that matter. Kindness helped Alex get through the horrible events of 9/11, so it can easily help you too. So if you know that someone is sad or lonely, be kind to them, because you don’t know it might end up changing someone else’s lives in the process.