Monday, March 30, 2009

Chapter 7

1. Rudy was driving David to Juvenile Hall. David had to go there because of the his charge of arson.
•2. David’s new place is a small room made of cinder blocks, with no toilet. He feels alone, and somewhat scared of all the bigger kids there.
•3. David’s dad was his first visitor. He felt excited about a visitor until he saw who it was.
•4. Before David could sat anything his father asked David how he was.
•5. His mother wanted his father to sign papers that would give a mental institution custody of David.
•6. She wants David to be put away because he exposed the family secret and his mother wants to be able to make it seem like her disciplining was necessary.
•7. His mother had been waiting for David to screw up so that she could him in to an institution, and to be able to justify her abuse.
•8. If David was found guilty of arson and other petty crimes, Lilian could lose her credentials as a foster mother. I think that Mrs. Catanze is a very genuine and loving mother who cares for David immensely.
•9. He is not aloud to see Ms. Gold anymore because he has a probation officer.
•10. Rudy and Lilian Catanze have full legal custody of David.
•11. He uses a simile when he says that Ms. Ctanze’s statement hit him like a ton of bricks.
•12. Her statement matters so much to him because he finally realized that his fate is in his own hands. All he has to do is act right.
•13. Yes I think Ms. Catanze really loves David. She cares about his happiness as if It were her own. I truly believe that she loves him like her own son.
•14. Lilian had David’s pet turtle inside the chocolate box.
•15. David is described as a minor who has an extensive rebellious behavior. He was also described as being in need of close supervision, and someone who has displayed aggressive behavior towards others is argumentative and disruptive.
•16. The judge stated that their was no real proof that David started the fire, and in fact their were written statements that he was the one who attempted to put out the fire that was started by another boy.
•17. David went back to live with the Catanzes.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

chapter 6

•1. David’s character is changing because he is wanting to be accepted into a group. He wants to impress other kid by stealing so they will think that he is cool.
•2. Yes, I can relate because my sister used to bully me and that sort of stuff, but I always used to fight back. Even if I lost, it still meant something to fight back.
•3. He began to steal toy models to create excitement. He did this because stealing candy bars was becoming to easy, and so he had to raise the stakes whenever other kids watched.
•4. The kids would praise David, greeting him wherever he went and going to watch him steal.
•5. David felt completely drained of emotion because of his method of stealing. He felt half robot because it was all business when he performed his thievery.
•6. David’s plan was to either make up a good lie right there on the spot, or run like hell away from the store clerk.
•7. He is probably so eager to get attention even though it is bad because he has never had attention his whole entire life and he wants other kids to think he is cool.
•8. Johnny was one of the kids that used to watch David steal, and his dad was the store manager that eventually caught David.
•9. David knew as he was getting caught by Johnny’s dad, that he himself was across the street stealing from Walgreens.
•10. Rudy is David’s foster father. He disciplines David on his behavior and bad attitude. When he says hell send David to the hill he is talking about a Juvenile Hall.
•11. After seeing the kid whizzing by on his bike, David decided to grab his money and bike and run away.
•12. David went to ride by Mother’s house. He wondered how is mother treated them and weather or not she thought about him as much as he did her.
•13. David saw James Bond about three times, then went to ride down his old street, and finally he went to sleep under an air-conditioning unit.
•14. The manager at Denny’s called Rudy to come pick David up. David was the one that gave him the number.
•15. I think David’s father never shows up or bothers calling because he is mad about how David exposed his own mother and does not want to see him.
•16. Ms. Gold started crying because she did not want to lose David because of his behavior. She knew it was out of her hands.
•17. The meeting with Ms. Gold made him feel like his old cheerful self. He began to avoid confrontations with Larry and did his chores.
•18. David always writes and draw about him and his brothers and how they are now separated.
•19. John is a tough looking kid that all the other kids think is cool. He smokes cigarettes and he persuades David to do many bad deeds.
•20. John wanted David to pop the tires of their teachers car because the teacher had yelled at John earlier for not turning in homework.
•21. John treats David as if an equal when he tells David that he is gutsy and tuff. He treats David like crap when he hits and pushes him.
•22. David wants to join the gang so badly because he wants to be liked by all the other kids. He sees everyone treat John as if he were some god, and so he longs for similar treatment from others towards him.
•23. John started the fire with paper and lighter fluid next to the classroom vent. David was involved as a lookout at first but eventually, after John ran away, David put the fire out by throwing rubble over it to reduce the accessible oxygen.
•24. Rudy’s reaction is a very angry one. He rants on and on about how David is no good. Finally, he adds that David will have to go.
•25. I think that David will have to attend a Juvenile Hall Facility because of all his bad behavior.

chapter 5

•1. Larry is so mean probably because before he became a foster child he was a victim of bullying in one way or another. Now that he his bigger than the other children he enjoys feeling the power himself.
•2. David’s new found passion is riding his Murray bicycle.
•3. The incident with Larry was started when David was defending Chris. Larry meant that hell beat David up when he said clean your clock.
•4. To stick up for himself he did not let Larry talk to him like he was small. He countered Larry by asking him how he would like to be bullied by someone bigger.
•5. Chris’s parents had abandoned him as a small child.
•6. Chris has been in a dozen foster homes before moving in with the Catanze’s.
•7. It was Chris’s last year in foster care because he was soon turning 18 years old and would have to make it on his own.
•8. Larry probably wanted David to call him uncle to make it known that he is David’s superior and can boss him around. He did it to feel powerful.
•9. Lilian took David to a psychiatrist so that David could get help with the confusion he still has about his family and his past.
•10. I think the doctor was acting in the rather demanding way that he did so that he could study and analyze David’s reactions. David did not react wrong. There are no right and wrong ways to act when being helped by a psychiatrist.
•11. The doctor kept calling him Daniel. If I were David I would have reacted the same way, because he had repeatedly told the doctor his name was David with no avail.
•12. The sessions are somewhat intense and twisted. David recounts many horrible acts that his mother performed and makes them known to the doctor through screaming a physical reactions.
•13. Big Larry and David decide to ride by David’s old house. This is definitely a bad idea because in doing this David is risking everything. His mother could claim that the foster mother has no control over David and he could sadly be taken away.
•14. I think that David wanted to go see his old house because he was feeling as if his mother could not get him no matter what. He wanted to prove to himself that he could go on mother’s turf and survive.
•15. David got punished for biking passed his old house. His punishment was not similar to his old ones at all. He was simply grounded.
•16. Her serious talk with Rudy was about how she had been on the phone with David’s mother all day, and how David’s mother was ranting and raving about how David was terrorizing the streets.
•17. He was upset about his mother’s number because he felt she had changed it as a part of one of her sick games. He felt as though he did not have the privilege of her number.
•18. No, the dad never showed up for the 7 am meeting with his son, although David was sure that every car that drove by would be him.
•19. He wished that this time was going to be different, that his father was going to make it and they would have a great time.

chapter 4

•1. After the effects of the trial had worn off David fully realized that his mother could not physically harm him any longer.
•2. David is now living with in Aunt Mary’s foster home.
•3. David is adjusting to his new life slowly. He feels excited about all the new freedoms he is gaining and he likes many of his foster parents immensely.
•4. He began to change his behaviors in because he began to realize there were certain prejudices. He learned that being a foster child was not the best thing in the world and he became very shy and self conscious.
•5. By saying “our kind” his older brother was talking about the fact that they were foster children.
•6. He didn’t care that the bigger boys were using him because all he ever wanted was to be accepted in a group, and he finally was. He wanted total acceptance by the older kids.
•7. David was put in his first foster home in the month of July.
•8. David’s foster mother’s name is Lilian Catanze.
•9. Ms. Gold was talking about David’s family, when she was discussing who he could not have contact with.
•10. When she says David is light fingered she is talking about the fact that he has a habit of stealing things.
•11. The rules were that David had to keep his room clean and help out with chores. He was not to enter someone else’s room without their permission, and their was no lying or stealing in the home. Also, if he wants to go somewhere he needs to ask first and specify how long hell be away.
•12. His new family is somewhat odd, but friendly at the same time. Larry is constantly bugging David, while Lilian and Big Larry enjoy doing fun things with David.
•13. With this new big family, David still feels hollow because he still wonders if his mother ever loved him and why she treated him the way she did.
•14. Larry made David cry when he asked him how it felt to get the crap kicked out of him by his mother, also suggesting that David was a wimp for not fighting back.
•15. Mother’s attitude seemed more relaxed-not cold and demeaning, as when she had come to David me at Aunt Mary’s- she still didn’t talk to David however.
•16. David is trying to earn money so he can save up enough to buy the parts needed to fix his bike.
•17. He finally feels like a normal kid when he rides his bike, because he can finally experience the joys he heard other kids experiencing all his life.
•18. David felt like he nearly coughed up his food because his mother and brothers were at the door to see him.

chapter 3

•1. He feels like a traitor because he feels like he is abandoning his family.
•2. Ms. Gold tried to explain to David that the judges decision would be up to what David said, and that he would either or home to his mother or become a ward of the court.
•3. David saw the judge where is black robe the second he entered the courtroom.
•4. Ms. Gold would like David to tell the truth, because she loves him and wants the best for him.
•5. David wrote a letter to his mother expressing his apology in giving up the family secret.
•6. The letter said, “To Mother: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come to this. I didn’t mean to tell the secret. I didn’t mean to hurt the family. Can you ever forgive me? Your son, David.”
•7. When he tapped Ms. Gold’s hand he apologized for the trouble he had caused her.
•8. She didn’t say anything to the judge because she was trying to stand him down. She was trying to show that maybe she was so confident she didn’t need to speak.
•9. David has so much trouble deciding what to do because he feels as though he is betraying his family, and on the other hand he so desperately wants the life that the foster home can provide.
•10. The judge asked David to give his side of the story, and told him that where he will live all depends on how he answers.
•11. David blurted out, “You sir! I want to live with you! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to tell! I didn’t mean to cause any trouble!”
•12. The scent of Ms. Gold’s perfume made him realize he wanted to stay at the foster home. It made him remember when Ms. Gold always hugs him.
•13. David’s mother told him to be a good boy, that she was going to miss him, and for him to have a nice life. Before she left she gave him new clothes and many new toys and gifts.
•14. When David waved goodbye the only person to return the gesture was his mother.
•15. I think that the mom’s reaction was genuine and she was finally realizing that she was losing a son that she loved very much. She genuinely felt sorry.

chapter 2

•1. David finally got his prayers answered on March 5, 1973.
•2. On that day David said goodbye to his teachers, and was taken to the hospital by a police officer to get cleaned up by the doctors. He didn’t have to live with mother.
•3. The truth about him was that he was shy in class because his whole life he has been brain washed and beaten.
•4. David did not get a chance to say goodbye to his English teacher Mrs. Woodworth.
•5. The officer drove David out of the city limits to the county hospital.
•6. The doctor recommended that David should get plenty of food and lots of time in the sun.
•7. Mom programmed into David’s head that he is a bad boy and that he is ruining his families name with all his actions.
•8. David felt safe when the police told the doctor that his mother would never hurt him again.
•9. His new home is a foster home that looks like a log cabin. It has a huge backyard with lots of trees and a creek.
•10. His first reaction was that he never heard the words Foster Home, but he knew he would love the home.
•11. When Aunt Mary grabbed his arm David thought that she was going to yell and hit him as his mother had always done.
•12. David dreams that his mother found him at the foster home and was chasing him with a knife and eyes of hatred. Yes, I think he will eventually get over these dreams.
•13. Ms. Gold was David’s social worker, who had shiny blond hair and a bright face.
•14. David wouldn’t tell Ms. Gold the truth because he knew that his mother would eventually get him back, and he was scared.
•15. During the time that Aunt Mary is on the phone Mother tells David that she doesn’t care what everyone says, and that shell get him back.
•16. David later realized that Ms. Gold really cared she was trying everything in her power to help David.
•17. Honestly, I think the cycle did not move on because the mother is set on getting David back. She hasn’t moved on.
•18. David retracts all his statements because he thinks his mom is going to get him back. He is scared for court.

chapter 1

•1. I think that this book is about the abuse of a young child, and how he is going to escape his situation.
•2. The setting of this story is in a “good” neighborhood in San Francisco.
•3. David is 9 years old.
•4. David’s daily routine is waking up in the morning to possibly receive some scraps from the night before, then he goes to school where he eats, and when he gets home he is forced to throw up and then he is beaten and treated horribly the rest of the day.
•5. When he gets home from school he is forced to throw up because his mom forbids him from eating and wants him to vomit any food he may have stolen at school.
•6. David sleeps in an army cot in the garage.
•7. Weekends are worst because he doesn’t go to school and is starved all day. School is the only time he gets any peace.
•8. His parents always argue about him and weather or not they are treating him bad. His mom believes he is treated fine but his dad thinks otherwise.
•9. The father is a fireman. With that type of job you should expect him to know the difference between right and wrong.
•10. David said that he feels like an insect that is about to be squashed.
•11. David describes his mom eyes as being ice cold and full of pure hatred.
•12. David leaves his house because his mom tells him to leave. He tries to find the Russian River, but he end up at a pizza shop and is then picked up by the police. If I were David I would have went straight to the police and would have told them every detail of my abuse.
•13. David feels safe at the pizza shop away from his mom.
•14. While he is walking away he feels happy and warm. He says to himself that he will never go back to his moms house. He has great ambitions when leaving his house.
•15. The police officer takes him to the police station where they wait for his dad to show up.
•16. Mark is a man who works at the pizza shop David goes to. He gives David a free pizza before he goes with the police officer. I think that Mark was a good guy and only wanted to help David.
•17. David’s father picks him up from the police station. He tells the officer that David left because he was mad that his mother didn’t let him ride his bike. David doesn’t even have a bike!