Reflection #18: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/30/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 221 - 230

Jack continued to do his job in the war as best he could, but he was beginning to weaken due to lack of good food and water. He took his job very seriously and loved saving his mens lives, but he needed help. This is when he became very lucky and found an escaped donkey from his ship. It brought back memories of how much he used to love his donkey's back home. Jack decided to team up with the donkey, since it was a trustworthy and durable animal that could scale the mountain with ease. This meant that he could save many more of his fellow soldiers then he had before. From that day on, the donkey and Jack always worked as a team. They saved more soldiers than the rest of the stretchers-bearers combined! Jack was never afraid of anything with this animal next to him. He didn't care how many enemy soldiers were shooting at him because him and donkey were invincible. Jack took excellent care of his calm buddy. He did everything based on what the donkey needed, thinking only about it and not himself. This is what got him through the war.

Reflection #17: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/29/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 211 - 220

Jack was strong and fast, so he was put in the lead. This was very dangerous because soldiers would be shooting at him first, if he even made it past the beach. He did pass the beach and begin to scale the mountain though. He scaled and scaled, watching his fellow comrades tumble off the mountain like rocks. The commanders began to realize how ineffective their plan was, so they ordered their soldiers to dig trenches until a better plan was thought up. These trenches were safe, but the soldiers were definitely stuck and needed some help, but the commanders didn't want to seem like cowards and have their men run. These commanders left their soldiers in the mountain while the enemy rained bullets towards them. By the end of the first few days, 2,000 men had been killed on their side, and it didn't seem to get any better. Jack was a stretcher-bearer though, so he had to keep running injured men down the mountain to the beach for them to get treatment. This was probably one of the hardest jobs to have. Jack did it well though. He even began to not use stretchers, and just put the men on his soldier and bolted down the mountain like a gazelle. He was perfect for his job.

Reflection #16: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/28/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 200 - 210

The third tale has begun. This story too has to do with donkey's in some way just like the other two. He begins the tale about a boy, who lives in a poor family and needs to earn some money. This decision leads him to a donkey keeper, where he finds a job tending donkeys to be ridden by children. The kid, named Jack, began to grow up and decided he wanted to move on from donkeys. This caused him to catch a boat to the other side of the world. He was happy there for a couple of years, until he became homesick. He wanted to see him family again, but he had absolutely no money, and the ocean was much to vast for him to swim. Soon later a war was declared on the other side of the world, exactly where he wanted to go to see his mother, so he joined up and off he went on a free boat ride to his homeland. As they were riding on the boat, Jack soon realized they weren't bringing him exactly where he expected to go. They brought him to an island filled with mountains, and he was told to scale these mountains to find the enemy at the top. This was not a good situation, especially since the enemy had the advantage, but jack did it anyway.

Reflection #15: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/27/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 190 - 199

The three kids were finally able to meet with the soldier once again. They brought him quite a bit of food because they hadn't been there for over a day, and he already has trouble feeding himself with a bad eyesight. The soldier wouldn't reveal that his eyesight was returning. He was afraid that this Fabrice man would laugh at the fact that his eyes stopped wanting to see because of all the war they had been through. Now that they are away from war though, they seem to want to see again. Fabrice began to talk about his hardships, but the soldier thought to himself how much worse his situation had been compared to his. They continue to talk until Pascal butts in, asking to hear of a story from the war. The soldier finally decides to do as Pascal pleases, and begins another tale.

Reflection #14: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/26/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 180 - 189

Pascal has thought of an idea to get the soldier back home, but it requires him having to tell others of the soldier's existence. This is very risky though because you never know who you can trust. The plan involves Pascal having to skip school, so his sisters had to cover for him. Pascal then begins to rush down to the harbor, but we learn nothing more than that for now. The story now skips to the soldier. He is still all alone in the woods with barely anything, but there is good news. He sight is starting to come back! He now can see dark silhouettes of people and not just blotted whiteness. This could make it much easier to get the soldier around since he isn't totally blind, and the kids won't have to guide him the whole way. Then all of a sudden, the kids are back, along with a stranger named Fabrice.

Reflection #13: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/25/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 170-179

The lieutenant continues to reflect on his horrific memories from the war. He lay as quiet as can be next to one of his soldiers named Ernie, and watched him get bayoneted without even blinking. This moment in his life has scarred him forever, and it was when he figured out he must find a way home. The story then shifts to modern time once again. Pascal, Marcelle, and Coco's mom is starting to figure out that something is happening to all the food in the house. Pascal them comes out and says he's been eating all of it since he's a growing boy. She believed him, but they can't keep giving food to the soldier for too much longer because they are not a very wealthy family and need to feed themselves too. A plan has to be made for the soldier sometime soon or the mom will keep getting more and more suspicious.

Reflection #12: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/24/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 160 - 169

The Lieutenant and his platoon didn't last very long in the battle. When bullets began to fly around the Lieutenant, his legs immediately buckled from his shock, and he fell to the ground. As he laid there, he watched most of the men in his platoon lay still on the ground of writhing in pain from being shot. He never thought this was what would happen to his troops. The one still alive just charged on with their guns raised in front of them, seeming like they almost didn't realize what was happening. The lieutenant could only watch the rest of them fall, but not hear the fight scene. The massive amounts of death machines spurting out their bullets had made his hearing go temporarily away, so he seemed to him that time almost began to slow. One of his soldiers walked up to the Lieutenant, but he was shot immediately right after he had told the lieutenant to get something out of his pocket. He needed to hurry though cause the enemy was gaining on him.