Reading Response

What Happened to Goodbye

Sarah Dessen

  Throughout the book "What Happened to Goodbye" Mclean slowly finds out who she wants to be. All people are different. Some are kind, some are innocent, some are adventurous and some are rebellious. Mclean, however has been moving constantly for three years, and hasn't had the chance to really settle on the person she wants to be. However, Mclean starts to gain confidence as the end nears the book.

 When Mclean comes to Lakeview, she thinks that she doesn’t really fit in. However, she soon makes friends with popular kids. One day when she was eating lunch with them; Dave, Ellis, Heather and Riley, Mclean invites the outcast Deb to come sit with Mclean and the rest of them for lunch. On page 90 Mclean says, “I felt both Riley and Heather look at me, but I kept my eye on Deb, who looked so surprised --shocked, even-- that you’d have thought I’d asked her to lend me a kidney.” This is evidence of Mclean showing her brave side. She’s slowly growing her confidence, and asked Deb to join them, knowing the risk of her only friends leaving her. If she was scared inside, she didn’t show it. She was determined and felt like Deb shouldn’t be left out, because she was a good person. Mclean invited Deb right there, in front of the popular kids, and she didn’t care. She’s gaining confidence little by little.

  Mclean’s parents are divorced; her mom left for another man and Mclean stayed loyal to her father, staying with him. Mclean doesn’t like her mom for leaving her dad when he didn’t deserve it, and because of this, she avoids her calls, makes excuses for meet-ups and, overall, doesn’t want any relation with her. However, she ends up planning to go to a basketball game to meet her mom and other family. She got so scared and nervous, she asked Dave to come with her. Mclean needed someone to be there for her, not only to accompany her, but to make her happy. That’s a step forward for Mclean, because she invited Dave to the game to meet her mom, who she really doesn’t like. Mclean says, “And despite my dad’s confidence that this was a good thing, it suddenly felt like anything but. Which is why I panicked, and did the last thing I ever would have expected. “Do you want to come?” I asked Dave.” Mclean shocked herself on inviting Dave, yet it’s good for her, that she’s making friends and becoming confident.

  Mclean has started to become good friends with Riley, Ellis, Heather, Deb and Dave. They like to hang out with her, and even helped her build a model of the town for a community project. When Mclean hangs out with them, she gains more confidence because she’s honest to them, and she’ll talk to them. When Mclean, Deb and Dave were working on the model together, Riley, Ellis, and Heather came to come pick him up to go to Riley’s house for dinner, and Riley saw them there, hard at work and invited them to come. Mclean described it by saying, “Riley took one look across the model and then said, “You guys can come. I mean, if you want.” So they have accepted Mclean for who she is, and she’s happy about it. She gets invited to hang out with them and knows that they really are all friends now. 

 This shows that not all people can find their true personality, and the environment around you helps influence who you want to be seen as. As for Mclean, gaining confidence in herself was found by spending time with friends.

Kaitlyn Chow                                                                             September 15, 2014

                  

Reading Response

Mia is a seventeen year old girl who carries the love of music. She was caught in a very tragic car   accident, and is now the only survivor in what was her used to be family of four. This accident brings Adam, her boyfriend, and Kim her best friend, to come closer as they work together to have hope for Mia. Before this accident, they didn't know much about each other, just who they were and that was it. Mia desperately tried  to bond them by force; however, she gave up on them because they insisted that they just didn't 'click' with each other. Throughout the story, Kim and Adam have seemed to bond together, realizing that their friend might not survive this battle.

One example that shows why Mia's condition brings Adam and Kim closer is because when her relatives found out about the accident, they came rushing to the hospital. Kim came as well and, realizing that Adam was missing, went out to go find him. She knew that Adam was really close to Mia, and he needed to be aware of the situation. Mia, knowing that Kim, went out to look for Adam in the club he played in with his band, and went through all that trouble to get him, was very appreciative. For example Mia said, "It was Kim who must have braved any number of bouncers to find Adam. And Kim who must've braved telling Adam....And now, because of her, he was here." This shows the understanding that Kim had of Adam needing to know about this, and about Mia needing Adam there.

In addition to that, there is yet more evidence of Kim and Adam starting to bond and look out for each other, like when Adam and Kim tried to go in and visit Mia, who was in a coma in the ICU center and the nurse says, "I'm sorry, visitations are restricted to immediate family only." At this, Adam goes slump, almost falling to the floor. However, Kim is there, to catch him, to support him. Then she also takes her part in persuading the nurse to let them in, although it doesn't help the cause because they are still not allowed to go visit Mia. Notice how Kim caught Adam; she knew that he felt so defeated, and even if she did too, she was trying her best to tolerate both of their despair. As Mia described Kim, "Adam has about a foot and fifty pounds on Kim, but after stumbling for a second, she adjusts to the burden. She bears it." Kim would be there for Adam now, and she knows how hard it is, but she can bear it.

Lastly, Kim and Adam work together a plan that would get them into the ICU to see Mia. So, they work together to distract the nurses and break into Mia's room. They hide in a supply closet, gathering ideas that might help them get in. They did argue, but they still considered what each of them had to say. And when they needed a light to see in the dark closet, Kim, being the resourceful person that she is, "pulled out the cell phone her mom gave her...and a square light softens the darkness. "Now, thats more like the brilliant girl Mia brags about," Adam says." This shows us that Adam and Kim are on good terms and working together so they can see Mia, cause they both need her.

Although Adam and Kim had no interest in knowing each other in the beginning of the book, seeing Mia in that condition brought them closer to each other as they supported one another. They were both close to Mia, and it was hard to accept what happened to Mia and her family. However, they didn't accept the fact that Mia was in a coma, and that she was the only one out of her brother and parents to survive the dreadful car crash. Yet, Adam and Kim managed to encourage each other and try to stay positive; doing more than they'd ever said or done to each other before.

Hi, this is Kaitlyn Chow. I am an eighth grader attending middle school at MS. 51. This is my writing entries for the year in ela.