"In a Heartbeat" by:Loretta Ellsworth RJ#13

11/23/11

Dear Mrs.Zrihen,


         The book that I am reading is called "In a Heartbeat," by: Loretta Ellsworth .  The quote that touched me the most was, "I might die, which means losing a life, but at least I have a heart to give to someone who needs it," on page 7, because it shows how much Eagan has been through and that all she wants is to help someone, by saving there lives with her heart.  Before reading a book, I look at the genre, and then I look at the synopsis to get a sneak preview so I can tell if I would like it or not.  While reading a book, write words that I don't understand in the book, and I put sticky noes in the main places of the book so that I can use them later.  Last but not least, After reading a book, I look up all the words that I didn't understand, and then I do my reader's journal for Mrs.Zrihen.  The genre of this book is Fiction, because Eagan is the character in the book, but she didn't write it herself or tell the story herself.  The main characters in the book are Eagan, Eagan's parents, and Amelia.  The protagonists are all the characters.  There really aren't any antagonists that I can name.  The foil is the doctors and nurses that help Eagan try to live, and the doctor and nurses that insert Eagan's heart into Amelia.  The setting of this book takes place in a hospital, the day Eagan was born.  It was dark, and rainy.  The exposition of this book is thatEagan has a sickness and tries to fight with it, so she can become better and healthier.  At first Eagan thought she could actually get better, but at the end she notices that this is a serious sickness and there is no cure for it.  The climax of this book is that Eagan is a loving little girl that has something that can never be fixed.  The falling action, is when Eagan dies and has to give her heart to some other girl named Amelia, who really needs it.  The resolution of this book, is that Amelia now has a heart from Eagan, which means that its two people with one heart.  The main problem was that Eagan had to lose her life because of a terrible sickness.  The author's tone in this book is hard but soft at the same time, its like she couldn't really make up her mind.  The mood she was in was depressing and happy.  The theme of this book was to teach people to always remember how life is so precious and it means a lot to people when someone loses a life.  The author's point of view is that she wanted to give people a learning experience and instead of putting all negativity, just put positive things in your mind.  The pattern of organization is strong and weak argument, because Eagan has to die, but Amelia gets her life saved, because of Eagan's death.  The author's purpose for writing this book was to inform people that people can be born without a heart, and the only way to save them is by someone else donating their hearts to them .  Three response starters are, I like the way the author wrote and explained herself in this book.  I noticed how the author really put focus into thinking of how to write it.  I wish that their was a little less pain with how the author wrote this book and put exact details.  I rate this book a 10 out of 10 because I liked how the author was detailed about everything and thought everything out before writing it.  That is what I think of this book.

Sincerely,

Danielle Ben-David