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.

Reflection #11: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/23/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 150 - 159

The lieutenant feared being in the war. He considered every harmless bullet that missed him was only leading to one bullet that would do great harm. He thought of war as a waste of human being's in pointless fighting. He knew there was nothing he could do about it now though. He is a leader of a platoon and must lead them best he can to keep them safe and also gain ground on the enemy. His job was to flank the enemy, as foxes would do their prey, creeping along the outskirts of the forest, stepping as silently as possible. They then came upon the enemy, causing panic among them all. The earth erupted as each and every bullet hit the ground. The battle had begun.

Reflection #10: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

5/16/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 140 - 149

The soldier begins to recall his time in the war as a lieutenant. He remembered how he tried to get to know every single one of his 30 men in his squadron. He could see in his memory of how terrible it had been sitting in the mud-filled trenches, and just waiting to be shot at from the enemy trenches. The only good moment of being in those trenches is when he would receive letters from his family to keep him from going completely insane from war. He still doesn't understand how war had created such unbreakable bonds between him and the men he fought with. The bonds don't matter though because most of them will end up dieing anyways. They will charge across torn up ground to try and gain ground on the enemy, risking their lives against people just like them. All he knows is that each bullet that misses him just make him that much tougher, smarter, and faster.

Reflection #9: Book 2

Nolan B.
Mr. Salsich
English 9
5/9/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 130 - 139

The kids were yet still tired of these wise words from the soldier. They wanted more war-ridden stories, but the soldier seems to only tell stories about donkey's so far. Pascal became bored with the stories and began asking the soldier about his time in the war. The soldier was reluctant to say anything to the young boy. All he would say was that war is the worst thing to go through, and that he wished he had never done it. Pascal then decided it was time for him and his sisters to leave for now. He told the soldier he was coming up with a plan to find him a way home, but that he needed to tell one more person about his whereabouts, and he agreed. We then find out a twist about the soldier, he had been lieing the entire time, he was never actually blind.

Reflection #9: Book 2

Reflection #8: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

4/4/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 116 - 128

The story of the sky stopping it from raining continues. The people still don't seem to understand what the sky wants. They just keep sending up themselves and different types of animals, big or small, to threaten the sky. The sky eventually gives up all hope and tells the people to send nothing more to quarry with it. This is when the donkey decides to go see the sky, but the people yell at it not too because they feel like they'll lose their dignity if a donkey goes. The donkey listens to them until it becomes night. He then sneaks up the mountain to the sky. The sky at first is angry that yet another animal was there to see it, but it soon realizes that the donkey came on it's own will. The donkey explains that he doesn't care how mistreated he is by the humans, he just can't bare to see others in despair. He has witnessed so much pain that it hurts him even more to see others enduring the same pain, and he would rather witness the pain all himself. The sky is touched by the donkey's words, therefore granting his wish.

Reflection #7: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

3/28/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 101 - 115

The soldier in these pages begins his second story that he tells to the three kids. This story is about the sky looking down upon the Earth and seeing many things it does not like, leaving it disappointed and preventing it from raining. This causes everything to dry up and wither away. The sky left the Earth without rains for many months, causing the people and animals and plants all to suffer from the fatal heat that is always being cast down on them. All of the fresh water on the planet was almost gone, making everyone fear what will happen to them. People rage on and complain to the sky, while never knowing all the sky wanted was peace among everyone on Earth and for them to know that they are using their power in all the wrong ways. The people and animals keep trying to convince the sky to rain, but they fail every time. The sky is not satisfied by what they have said to him to earn them rain.

Reflection #6: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

2/22/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 90 - 100

Marcelle decided to show her brother where the soldier was hiding. I wasn't so sure this was a smart idea for her because her brother is slightly older and more mature. He might end up telling their parents about the soldier, which might not end well. Coco was not happy with Marcelle's choice of doing this. She is the younger sister though and seems to have no opinion in the matter. When they reached the soldier though, the soldier seemed to not care that they brought they're brother. He welcomed him, and Pascal was very intrigued in the man mostly because he'd been in the war. The man begins to tell them another story.

Reflection #5: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

2/7/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 72 - 89

The two girls have to leave the poor soldier all alone in the woods by himself because it's getting dark. They go home and the soldier is frightened. He used to be brave when he first signed up to go to war. He knew that by doing this he would be in danger, but he didn't care because he believed it was the right thing to do. He was also very smart and went to the best schools since he was wealthy, which is the reason he was an high rank in the army. He was no longer brave though. His blindness ruins and takes over any trace of the braveness in him. He is now a mere coward.

Reflection #4: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

1/31/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 56 - 71

The soldier continues to tell his story in these pages. It has to do with a man and his wife trying to go back to their homeland because their king is making them, and it's many miles away, but the wife is pregnant. This obviously means she can't walk all that way the ask a neighboring women to borrow her old and fragile donkey to carry the wife. The women was hesitant because her donkey hazel is very old now, but agreed as long as they take good care of hazel. They walk for four days until they reach their homeland, but Mary, the wife, will have the baby very soon. They wander trying to find a hotel but all are booked because of people coming there from kings orders so they end up having to sleep in a stable. The story continues on with the baby being born a prince and then is kidnapped by the king. I'm still not sure why the soldier is telling the kids this story. I think he might be trying to tell them how sacred the donkey's are and why he considers his little silver donkey luck. That's all I can really think of, but it's a plausible guess.

Reflection #3: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

1/25/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 41 - 55

These pages were confusing. In the pages before this they had said the soldier left the woods where the girls found them. Now they girls have returned to the woods, and he is still there! This makes me wonder if he had maybe walked back or the chapter before this happened before this chapter. Anyways, the girls continue to have a liking toward this man and treat him with much food. Coco has an obsession over the little silver donkey the man has. She admires it, and so does the man, who treats it like his good luck charm. The man is happy for the first time in a while by being with these girls. He then starts to tell them a story.

Reflection #2: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

1/10/11

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 23 - 40

The book takes a different turn in this part of the book. We learn that the man had tricked the two sisters by leaving his spot when he had told them to bring him food. I found this mean, but I guess he didn't want the girls to start to like him. He then describes how it's like being blind, and that everything he see's is now just white. He travels on to the sea even with his blindness, stealing an old man's cloths that were drying so he wouldn't look like a soldier no more. It's as if he's trying to hide his past behind him. His blindness keeps getting worse, making everything less and less able for him to see and more and more white. He goes back to when he enlisted into the war and that he thought it'd be exciting, but how wrong he was. He was horrified and fled. Now he is just trying to return home, which I would completely understand. War is something not to mess with.

Reflection #1: Book 2

Nolan B.

Mr. Salsich

English 9

1/4/10

The Silver Donkey

Pages: 1 - 22

The book starts off rather oddly. There are two sisters named Coco and Marcelle walking through the woods when they find a man laying on the ground. They immediately assume he his dead and run away screaming. After running for a bit they stop to think if the man was actually dead or not so they pull themselves together, and go back to find the man sitting up. He looks toward them in the woods, and he is frightened by them. We then find out the man is blind! This makes me wonder why he is in the woods in the first place or that he could be homeless. Later we're told that the sisters are young and that the man is a soldier trying to cross the sea to see his ill brother. The war is still going on, but he needs to get to his brother. This than brings me to the thought of how is he blind and a soldier? He would be useless in a war. A even more questionable fact we find out is that he is a lieutenant. I really want to figure out who this man truly is.