Post 6

Today I was reading two books. One was called “Judy Blume, Freckle Juice” and the other was called “The Young Man at Sea”. The first book I’ll talk about is “The Young Man at Sea” because I only got through two chapters of the book. “The Young Man and the Sea” is about a kid named Skiff. Apparently Skiff’s mother died and his father is drunk. Skiff takes care of a boat called “The Mary Rose” that was given to him at the age of nine by his father. He really likes the book and takes it upon himself to “raise” it. Now thats the definition of a devoted kid. 

All throughout the story it also talks about how his father and mother were part of two different families. His father’s family was called the “Beaman’s” and his mother’s family was named the “Spinney’s”. The “Spinney’s” never let his father forget that he was a “Beaman” and how they were called Swampers. The reason they were called Swampers was because the “Beaman’s” lived off the creek. The creek gave them ways to make money like trap crabs and salt clams. In the Fall the Swampers would shoot down birds and geese. That sounds like a pretty fun lifestyle to me. However, the “Spinney’s” were all either poor or rich. It was that simple. Well thats pretty much the summary I can give to you so far.

Now to talk about my other book, “Judy Blume, Freckle Juice”. This book is pretty short and about 40 pages. In my honest opinion this book is only for 1st graders, at the very least. The highest could probably be 4th grade. Now lets begin. The book is about a kid named Andrew Marcus who is obsessed with getting pimples. Its basically the only reason he never pays attention in class. The kid who sits directly in front of him in class is called Nicky Lane. He does have freckles, and tons of them. The only reason Andrew wants freckles is because if he does he can avoid his mother telling him to wash his neck and get to school on time.

After thinking for a while his teacher startled him and asked if he was focusing. Andrew replied with a yes and headed off to his reading group. One of the girls, who he hated the most was laughing at him. Her name was Sharon. Sharon knew that Andrew wanted freckles and decided to do something about it. Thats why she asked him if Andrew wanted the secret “freckle juice” that would give him freckles. Sharon also said that it would cost 50 cents. At first Andrew just ignored her because he knew Sharon as usually a trouble maker. However when he got home Andrew gathered up fifty cents of his allowance.

The next day Andrew put the fifty cents in his pocket and headed to school. At class he gave Sharon the fifty cents and she gave him a slip of paper. The he got home Andrew read the paper and saw that their was a list of ingredients starting from Ketchup. All the way to onions. When he finished mixing the ingredients Andrew drank the it and his stomach started hurting. His mother came home moments later and he went to bed. The next day freckles weren’t popping up. As expected….. He went to class and the teacher told him that he looked handsome without freckles. This changed Andrew’s view of things and his obsession stopped.