Quincy Eldersveld

Mrs. Roskamp

LA, 8A

19 October 2016

Thematic Writing

This book is about a girl, Lea, who lives in St. Louis and her friend, Camila, came to visit her from Brazil. They signed up for a photography class. And so did Lea’s other friend, Abby, from her neighborhood. So they went to the first class and Abby started to get close and be really good friends with Camila. Lea and Camila went to a remodeling house and found a picture of a girl who was wearing the same necklace that Lea’s grandma owned. Which there was only one of that necklace, or so Lea thought. So Lea tried to solve the mystery and she was so focused on the mystery girl that she forgot to be a good host for her friend. In the end she found out that the mystery girl was a really good friends of her grandma, and that there was two of the necklaces. In this book I realized that friendships are more important than anything else.

The girls were not always acting like friends, they fought but not with words, with actions. The girls in this book, Lea and Abby, were best friends at the beginning. And Lea hoped that Abby would get along with Camila and that they could be friends too. But when Camila and Abby first met, Lea seemed to see that they were getting along almost too well. Which bothered her a lot. So she started to get mad at Abby. But what Lea did not realize was that Abby was being really nice to Camila because she was worried that Lea liked Camila more than she liked her. Abby was jealous of Lea;s friendship with Camila. And Camila was caught in the middle of the mess. In the end both girls could not stand each other and they finally talked over why they were mad and jealous. Once they talked that over they were all a really good group of friends. And I realized when I read that, that it is really easy to do sometimes. And that friendships are more important than trying to make people happy.

Another conflict was the photography class, Lea was told that she was not good enough. When the girls first signed up for the photography class they thought that they were good at it. They all loved it and they would learn more about taking pictures. On the first day they had to take pictures of whatever. Lea planned out her picture and took it very carefully. While in the meantime Camila and Abby took a bunch of fun and crazy pictures. Then the teacher pulled up the pictures to show the whole class. She got to Lea’s and she said that it was dull and needed some pop and some excitement. When she got to the other girls she talked about how much she loved their pictures. Lea was really jealous at that point. She was supposed to be the best photographer. And she was not ok with her friends being better. She was thinking too much about herself and not caring about others, and congratulating her friends for their photography skills. She was not being selfless. It would have been easier for her in the long run to just own up to her mistake and try harder the next day, because the girls have already gotten off to a bad start.

In this book I realized that friendships are more important than anything else. I really liked this book. It was a good mystery and not to long. It was a good quick read for a busy person. It had a lot of adventure and mystery. It was written by the perspective of Lea which was also easier to read for me. You learned things along the way about St. Louis and Brazil, but it was not written like a nonfiction book, I would not read it, because I really only read fiction and mystery. The one thing that I did not like about it was that the mysteries were easy to solve and you could figure out what would happen by reading a clue. So maybe they should have made the mysteries a little bit harder to find out! But overall I think that this is a well-written book.

Quincy Eldersveld

Mrs. Roskamp

LA, 8A

16 September 2016

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Selfless

Selfless is an attribute of Jesus, and one that we should have too. Last year we had a theme day where we had to choose the theme. We went over to Faith Church and had to decide a theme. We had to all think of ideas in smaller groups, then choose one theme for our smaller group. After that we combined as a grade and voted all of the options. We ended up choosing the theme selfless. This theme makes me feel challenged because it means that you have to do things that are against what our human nature wants us to do. I can apply this theme to my life as an 8th grader at Zeeland Christian School and to my life in the community and in the world.

This years theme can apply to my life here at Zeeland Christian School. I can be selfless by using my time to help others, in ways like staying a few minutes to help someone with homework/work. Or to just be kind and do what Jesus would do use his time to help others. Another way that I can be selfless is to give someone something that I wanted if someone else wants it or needs it. Like if I have eaten a bunch of candy I could give someone the last one. A simple way to be selfless is to hold a door for someone or picking up something if they drop it. You could hang out with someone that you don’t normally spend time with. Someone who is normally alone. (Which is easier said than done.) You could also help a teacher stack chairs, or sort papers after school. You could also let someone else do or have something before you. But you could mostly just have a attitude of wanting to serve and put others before yourself.

This year’s theme also applies to my life outside of school. I can be selfless outside of school by helping a stranger with picking something up or just saying hi and smiling . People notice when others go out of their way to help or worry about someone else. And by doing something for someone else they can hopefully see that there is something different about us and they can see Jesus through us. Another thing that I can do and anyone can do to be selfless is to hold open a door for someone, and when they say “Thank you” to say “Your Welcome.” A bigger thing that you can do to be selfless is to buy someone something or give someone a gift, (because you want to not because you have to) that required time and maybe even money. Keeping an eye out for what you could do for someone and what you could do to be selfless all the time.

I can apply the theme “selfless” to my life as an 8th grader at Zeeland Christian School and to my life in the community and in the world. You can be selfless through anything you do, whenever and wherever you are. In conclusion it is not that hard to be selfless, and it can make a big difference in someone’s life.