The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

                     In the Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury, when the general tells Joby " “Now, boy. You are the heart of the army. Think of that.Youʼre the heart of the army. Listen, now.” Joby realized right then and there how important he was. He realized that he made a huge difference in the army's lives. This quote and realization leads me to a theme. The theme in the story that I came across is that sometimes it take another person to know how important you really are.
                      Joby realized how important he was from the general because before the generals long talk to Joby, he was feeling nervous, young, worried, and reckless. After it he was feeling good about himself, he also realized that (as it says in the text) if Joby beat his drum slowly, then the heart of the men will as well beat slowly.
                      The general also said "you are the general of the army when the general is left behind."  That shows Joby that the men have trust and faith in him. Being general is a huge job, and for Joby to be told that he is the back up general is a big deal. Imagine how he was feeling in that moment. I know that if someone with an important role in my life told me that I was second to his or her place i would be completely honored!
                      When Joby says towards the end how he will take on the army that is the sign of pure confidence blooming from Joby. Once he was told from another person that he was important he immediately realized it. So he went from being a small, scared, and worried boy into a confident man who knows his place.

RUNAWAY by WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

            I am in the middle of the book and I have noticed a theme. The theme that i noticed is, sometimes running away from your problems is the right thing to do. I think that this is one of the themes in Runaway because Holly (the main character) had a hard life at home and Mrs. Bender (her guardian) is always accusing her of stealing things and doing drugs.  Mr. Bender (her other guardian) inappropriately touches her, makes her feel uncomfortable, and forces her to sleep in a cold basement with rarely any food, and she ran away from home.

                 She gathered her stuff together and just left. Holly has ran away from other homes that she was put in before so she knew what to get together in order to survive.  She will do anything she can to stay warm during cold nights outdoors. My point is that Holly faced struggles in her life but every single time she has chose to runaway from them. At least she has her journal with her to keep her some company.

Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen

 I just started the book Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen and the beginning of the book so far has been an introduction to the main character, Holly. Holly's mother died and she was forced to move in (by social services) with Mr. and Mrs. Bender. The Benders are not nice to Holly and make her sleep in a cold basement with a blanket. The Benders always assume the worst of Holly, for example they have accused her of doing drugs and stealing money from Mr. Bender's wallet. Since Holly has such a hard life at home her teacher thinks that it would be good to release her feelings and thoughts into a journal. Holly doesn't like the idea of keeping a journal and thinks that it is stupid, she has said multiple times that she would like to burn it because of the amount of trouble she would get in if Mr. and Mrs. Bender found out the things she wrote in it. She always talks about how much she hates the journal yet she picks it up and keeps writing. Will Holly's feelings toward the journal change throughout the book? Or will they stay the same?