5B Historical Memoir

Volume 2

In this book, the students of 5B are assuming the role of a fictional character from their “Book Club” novels. With mixed success, the students wrote about a life-changing or life-altering event in the guise of a character from their chosen book.TravisClassroom Teacher

My First Day At WorkNymke (as Katie from “Day of the Blizzard”)

I woke up feeling the dim winter light of the morning on my face. As I lifted myself off my straw mattress, I spied through the crack of the wooden door, my parents awakening.  On the inky side of the room, the twins were fighting for the cramped, homemade blanket grandma had made and given us 3 years ago.  I poked the fire hoping it would keep burning.“Katie?” I heard a soft voice behind me.  “Yes, what is wrong? ” “The bed bugs are getting worse, what should we do ?”  I knew there was nothing I could do so I lied. “They will go away soon. Could you tell your twin brother to come down stairs  by the way?”" Downstairs my normal old bread was waiting for me on the wooden table.  To my surprise my dad was still drinking his fresh milk.  “Why was he still here?” I asked myself.  “Hi Katie, I can see you finally woke up.  Your mother and I want to discuss something with you.”  I pushed away the splinters on my chair and sat down.  “ What ? ” I asked.  “ We have agreed that you are old enough to go work with me at the railroad.”I looked at my mother with the face that meant : “You really agreed to let me work at such a important place ?”She shot back a quick look at me that meant :“Yes, I agreed to this.”  I hugged my parents.  “When can I start ?”  “This afternoon should be more than enough time to get ready and tell the twins.”" That afternoon my dad and I left for the railroad.  I was thinking about the coal trains I would see.  “What job will I get to do ?”  I asked my dad nervously while we walked past some horsecars.  “It is a surprise!” He replied in an excited voice.  When we arrived at the station my dad lifted me into a rusty coal train. “Surprise!!!   You're going to be conductor!!!”  He screamed.After a lot of tickets, my dad and I went home.  He helped me eat the cold cabbage soup and helped me with the process of getting into bed.  “This was exhausting but incredibly fun.”  I explained to him.  

“I know,” he answered while blowing out the candle next to my straw mattress. I was already looking forward to tomorrow.

Sadako’s DeathReo (as Mrs.Sasaki, from Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes)

It was a beautiful, October morning when I got a phone call from the hospital. I heard a horrible thing.  I called every one of my family members.  Everyone rushed to the hospital.  Sadako was sleeping in a really old hospital bed when all of us arrived.  I cried out in a really loud voice,“No Sadako-chan! Don’t die!”  Sadako nodded and said in a really small sad voice, “Don’t cry because I won't die mom.” It was as silent as a bug snoring in the hospital room.  Sadako went to sleep after a few hours later.  I tried to wake her up but she didn’t.  She was as stiff as a statue.  I touched her forehead and it wasn’t warm.  It was as cold as an Ice-cube.  She was dead.  Me and my family members cried non-stop for about two weeks.  

When we got home, I didn’t feel like doing anything.  We just cried and cried until we had no tears left.  I still couldn’t do anything.  I felt really hungry but I couldn’t even eat or drink anything.  I still had family members that are still alive but when I see them, I just can’t  stop crying.  

I felt better after a few months but when I think about Sadako, I can’t stop crying but  now I can eat lots of food and I can even go shopping!  My mom forgot about what happened but that’s a good thing.  If she didn’t forget, she also might die because of shock.  My sons Masahiro and Eiji always say to me “Sadako is always here.”  as  they point to the family altar.  I always stay there for about ten minutes.  I can still remember horrifying it was.  

Annie Sullivan’s Life As A Kid.Why Did She Become A Teacher?

Olivia (as Annie Sullivan)   

It was a cold winter day.  I could see the frost coming out of my mouth.  I stepped out of my hard, hay stuffed mattress. I threw some coal into the fire and sat down with my whole family to eat breakfast . It was the usual plain bread and some water from the river on the other side of the hill.

Today I were going to the school house.“Annie!  Hurry up or you will be late for school!” my mum shoutedI ran down to the forest to get the big black horse and I rode down to the small, wooden house in the green, quiet forest. It sounded like no one was there. I opened the old, dusty door and it made an awful sound.  All the forty-eight kids were sitting there reading the braille alphabet. There was a new girl in the last row looking very confused.My teacher, Mr. Brown, told me to sit next to the new girl and teach her how to read some difficult sentences.

I told her all the hard sentences I knew, then I taught her how to write and read them. I have always wanted to be a teacher like my grandma was when she was young.  The new girls’ name was Maya.  Maya had a hard time learning in school so sometimes I got to help her.  It was like being a real teacher.

When I came home I stepped in through the small door and I nearly hit my head on to it.  My mum asked me if I could go and fetch some water to the dinner tonight.  I answered -“Yes mum” with a soft voice,but I would have had to do it even if I said -“No” with a super cute voice.

The next day in school we talked about our future. And we were going to write on a piece of paper what we wanted to be in the future. I wrote as fast as I could “Teacher” with a smile on my face. When Mr.Brown came around to collect mine he said”Interesting,” with a mysterious voice.

20 years laterHere I am 30 years old sitting in the hard sofa teaching Helen Keller how to read the Braille alphabet. I am very happy that I became a teacher even

though sometimes it´s kind of hard to make Helen listen and  do what I want her to do.

The Day I Stopped RunningSaad (as Sadako from Sadako And The Thousand Paper Cranes)

It was a hot sunny day (as if I was in a frying pan) in Hiroshima Japan.  I was racing in a relay race when I was running as fast as a cheetah catching it’s prey when I finished in first place!  After that I felt dizzy, fell to the ground and a white light shined into my eyes when it all went black.

I woke up noticing that I was in an old white plain bed and my mom crying in the room to my right.  As sad as a dog losing it’s owner, my mom came into my room in tears like a stream flowing down her eyes.  When she saw me she immediately wiped out her tears and came running so fast she almost tripped over.  She said,“Sadako! My dear are you feeling well we have been worrying about you.”  I asked my mom if I’m going to stay here for a long time or not but everyone just kept as quiet as the ocean water  down at the bottom.  She replied with a sad face “My dear yes you are because it seems that you have a sickness which means you will not be able to run again.”I froze there like ice, I was dying inside because running is the thing I like to do most and without it I’ll die.  After that relay race I was going to practice for my middle school junior high running team but I guess not.

The next day my first visitor was my best friend Chizuko, I was surprised because I thought my family would visit me first.  She had a big smile on her face which made me feel better and said “How are you feeling now Sadako?  Remember the story about the girl who was sick and couldn’t get cured but when she decided to fold a thousand paper cranes she had a nice life.” I nodded, she continued “Well why don’t you.” I wasn’t sure about that idea but since it was a good luck charm I respected it and we started folding.

    

How I Became A Teacher Alex (as Annie Sullivan from Helen Keller)

It was as cold as Mercury at night.  I was outside pushing my way back to my broken, rotten and filthy house.  I lived in a house with my Mom, my Dad and my little daughter.  I held the handle of my door at my house with my hand and quickly got in so the coldness from outside didn’t get in.  I saw my daughter and my Mom and Dad.  But when I took a looked at my daughter she didn't even blink or hear my voice when I said to her to eat!

I was freaking out but when I heard my daughter’s voice and she said in a whisper,“Annie.”I was calm but she did not speak after that.  I was a little confused but then I cried and cried wishing that my daughter would speak again.  But she did not speak.  Unfortunately she died and I was confused that she died but after that I cried and cried more than a baby that was just born.

But one day there was a knock on my door.  The person at the door was begging and said, “I am Ms Keller and this is Helen Keller.  I was wondering that if you could help Helen.  She is blind and deaf and she may die.  Can you help her please.”Ms Keller was bent down and starting to cry.  I was wondering but I had to think more.  I responded by saying, “I need to think more about it.”  She replied by saying,“Here is the address of my house.”  Before Ms Keller went back to her home she reminded me by saying, “Please help Helen.” I shut the door after she went and kept on thinking and thinking.

The next day I thought that I needed to help Helen.  I thought and I thought that I should help Helen so she does not end up like my daughter.  I wentto their house by walking and said to Ms Keller that I will help Helen.  When I looked up into Ms Keller’s face I saw that she was happy and thankful and she responded by saying with a huge smile, “Thank you.”

My First Time On The Railroads“Wow look outside it looks like it was summer.’’I then woke up my lazy twin brothers and my parents.  I then stepped over to the fireplace to get some fire for the stove. I boiled some water to make tea for my family.  I got the leftover chicken breast and put it in the old rusty pan to cook.  The twins hadn't moved one bit yet and were still half asleep.  When my dad said that after breakfast, we were going on the railroads, we all got excited.

We ate like pigs diving into their trough.  Our parents looked amazed!  We put on all our summer clothes and we were ready to go to the railroads but our parents were still eating breakfast.  We played a game of tag and told them to hurry up.  I won the game of tag and were on our way to the railroads.

On the way, me and my twin brothers ran ahead and looked through the windows and saw amazing and unusual  things like gold rings and jewels.  We saw the unusual railroads.  It was right in the air!  At first I was scared but my twin cheered me up.  We paid for the ticket and went to the gates.

Me and my brothers waited like crocodiles waiting for their prey.  Then it finally came. The overdue train was packed with people.  Lots of workmen rushed aboard to get to their workplace.  We ran in and grabbed the long pole in the carriage.  We were all on the train.  Then we started slowly moving and then the train started to pick up the pace.  I started to rock like a rocking chair. I grabbed my dad’s hand.  I felt like an eagle looking over the city.  We saw the pawn shop and the butchers and all kinds of other different types of shops.

When we got there, the doors quickly closed and then I looked around me.  My brothers and my parents were all gone!  I was all alone like someone who had lost their home.  I got out at the next stop and waited. Then the next train arrived and my family burst out and hugged me.  I asked where dad was and they said that he did the errand himself.  We took the train back home and that was my first day on the complex and elevated railroads.

We shared all our thoughts with each other.  My mum said that it was the worst feeling ever when they left me.  The thing is,  I had been waiting to go on a train.  I never wanted it to be a big mess but it was still my first time on the railroads.  I then knew I should always be careful.  My twins told me that they had had a blast and said that they got ice-cream.  My mum said that next time I could get one.  Then my dad walked in.  I ran to him and hugged him and in his hand was an ice-cream.

David

Anne Sullivan’s First Day Of SchoolStephanie (as Anne Sullivan from Helen Keller)

It was as cold as a day in the arctic.  Today, it was my first day going to school.  I was sent to a school called “Perkins School For The Blind.”  I was so excited!!  

My dad ignored my feelings and took me to the classroom, I wanted to see my classroom but the only thing I could see was black.  I sat on my but it was as hard as a rock.

It was time to learn the Braille alphabet.  I thought Braille alphabet is so easy I can do it in 1 day but it was more difficult than I thought.  In the classroom my teacher ‘Clare’ was teaching us Braille alphabet.   I am bad at Braille alphabet because I can feel all the alphabet the same.  My teacher teaches us one letter at a time so we can understand by alphabetical order.

I met a girl called ‘Sarah’ in my music class.  I couldn't see her but I could hear her voice.  Her voice was beautiful when she sang.  She was my first friend I made at school and I was so happy.  

It was time to go home so I waited in the classroom.  I spoke to Sarah until my parents arrived.  The teacher said to us we needed to stay in our seats, it will be dangerous because we are blind.  My dad came to pick me up.  I was kind of sad because it was time to go.  I wanted to stay with Sarah a lot more longer.But my dad said, “Anne its time to go!” My dad wasn’t usual as his voice was so loud I wanted to cover my ears.  Everyone was silent.  I didn’t want my dad to get mad again so I gave up and went out of the classroom.

 Helen Keller-Hard TimesAxel (as Helen Keller)

It is the dawn of the century, and I am on my way to get water from the water pump.  The bucket I use is terrible because it is all moldy and the handle is starting to fall off.  But I don’t worry because the pump is only a short distance away.

I also think something terrible has happened to Anne because she has started to act like me.  For example she touches everything in front of her.  But the worst thing is that she doesn’t give me as much information as before.  I really do not like it.

I should have gone to school today but I am too terrified to move a muscle from my thin almost rotten mattress on the frozen stone floor.  I was crying really hard and I wouldn't stop.  The reason I am crying is because Anne would not answer me when I tapped on her finger.   She is just lying there in the bed.  I have to admit that I think she is dead.  

After a lot of hours just lying on the floor crying I stop. That was because I had no more tears left.  When suddenly I felt her old wrinkled hand on my cheek.  When she noticed that the floor was all wet with tears, she ran as fast as a lightning clap with me to the stream and made me drink.

After two hours of pouring water into my mouth, she finally let me go in to dry.  After practising the braille alphabet for two days she said. “I got to send you back on a train to your parents.”  I was as happy as a puppet that finally had found his new family.  But as soon as the next day, I felt hopeless again because now again I had no idea how  to communicate!!!!!!

The days passed very quickly, and a month from the day when Anne left me.  I was in Ms Fullers class.  I wrote in her hand. “W H E R E   I  S   A N N E ?”  I could understand that it was hard for her to say because her hand was shaking and she messed up the letters.  But she finally wrote, “S H E   I S   D E A D.”  I didn’t move a muscle.

I was unable to understand what she said.  I blinked.  But before I could do anything she was crying and hugging me for a very long time.  It was such a long time that it feels like I am still there with her.  

This made a huge difference to my life because I did not learn anything new.

When I Met Helen Keller For Time First Time Hampus (as Annie Sullivan in Helen Keller)

It was a hot day when I had just woken up. The sun was right in the middle of the blue sky. It was then I got a telegram. It said “Dear Annie Sullivan, Please help our blind and deaf daughter.Sincerely Mr and Mrs Keller.” I went to a small telegram booth and started writing a telegram to send back. I wrote. “Dear Mr and Mrs Keller, I can come but I don’t want to be paid please. I will come tomorrow at 8:00 am.” After I was done writing I went back to my huge home (almost as big as a mansion). I went into my huge garden. When I sat down in an old rocking chair I wondered what she was like. Maybe I should or shouldn’t go.  I  was thinking about her the whole time, until I fell asleep.

      The next morning I woke up at 5:00 am. I didn’t look at the clock so I thought I had to hurry to the Kellers’ house. I ran upstairs like a kid late to school. Then I came back down with a long yellow dress but when I saw the clock and It was only 5:17.       I took a long breath, “Phew”       After that I carefully walked to the kitchen and opened a box where there was  bread. I took a slice of bread and put some butter and ham on it. Then I put the bread on the table and I went out to get some water from my water pump then went back inside again. I poured some water into my glass and started eating.       ”Oh my goodness!” I said.       When I looked at the clock it was already 7:45 am. I hurried out into my carriage driven by horses.

      When I was finally at Kellers’ house, I knocked on the door. The door opened slowly and then I saw a  tall man in the doorway. I felt small compared to the tall man.       I said “I’m Annie Sullivan.”       “Welcome!” the tall man replied.       “I’m Mr Keller, please come in.” he asked.       “Here is our daughter and her name is Helen.”       “OK, I will see what I can do,” I replied.       Then I went in and grabbed Helen around her belly and held her tight.       “Please don’t do that she is a little wild!” Mrs Keller said. But I didn’t listen to her. Helen kicked and punched at me like a wild monkey but suddenly she kicked me in my stomach and I let go of her. While I was catching my breath. I thought, “Oh my goodness, it’s going to take a while for her to be taught.”        

      

Day of the RestaurantYume  (as Katie from Day of the Blizzard)   

On a freezing winter’s morning, I woke up at about 5:00am.  Even the sun wasn’t up!  I  woke up still in my old broken bed.  I  went to the kitchen where I usually eat my warm breakfast.  My kitchen is almost 150 years old.

When I went to the kitchen, I saw my family wasn’t there so I went to my parents’ room.  My mother, father and the twins sleep in the same room.  In the parents room there was nobody so I searched for my family.  I looked all around my house but they weren’t there.  I cried.  My family had left me alone! I went outside to ask my neighbors if they saw my family but I decided not to. It was in the early morning. The sun just came out. It was freezing.  What am I supposed to do? I went back home.

In front of the door I found the twins. “Katie!”cried the twins.  I asked them if they knew where our parents went.  Then the cute little twins said, “They went outside with a huge dusty bag”I was shocked.  My parents left me and the twins alone and went out with a huge bag. I thought that our parents would never come home again. We only had $5.  We can only buy a month’s food.  I thought in my head that we can make a shop in our house.  I told that to the twins.  The twins said “Maybe we can do that.” But I thought in my head what kind of shop should I do? I decided to create a restaurant with the cute little twins. 1 week later parents still hadn’t come back so I made a restaurant in my house.  The day when the restaurant opened many customers came to my restaurant.  I made some cabbage soup and more food to give to the customers.  The twins got the food that I made and they gave it to the customers. Sometimes the twins ate the food that I made and I really got frustrated like a horse bumping into another horse.

I saw a person that really looked like my mother and father so I went closer to them. It was my mother and father!  I talked to them about what happened when my parents weren’t here.  I also asked my parents where they were. My mother said “Sorry Katie that I didn’t tell you but we had to fix the railroad.” I asked a question “Why?” My mom and father said,“Many people were stuck in the railroad and you know that we work at the railroad, right? We had work to do.  We are really sorry Katie but we do love you.” I was as happy as a mouse dashing into an enormous cheese, which was huge like a horse car.  

The Day Ellen Was Kidnapped      Thomas (as Annemarie Johansen in the book Number the Stars)

         It was a cold day when I woke from a dreamless night.  When I awoke I shivered in my nightgown even though I was under my thick warm bed covers.  It had been 4 years since the Germans invaded my country of Denmark.  To me every day was cold, grey and flavourless.                  Last night my friend Ellen came over for a sleepover and she and I stayed up till midnight.  When I woke I felt like I had been asleep all my life.  I woke before the rooster crowed and shook Ellen awake and asked her,         “Do you hear that sound?”         Even from my bedroom I heard the pounding on my apartment’s heavy wooden door. I felt as scared as a kitten getting chased by a dog.  

         I saw my mom and dad come out of their bedroom with a candle in hand.  My mom went to the kitchen and I thought about how frightened and brave my mom was.  While my dad went to the door.  From my perspective I thought he was mad!!!  He opened the door and saw two soldiers looking down at him.  All of a sudden I thought there was a tiny bit of fright in his eyes.  The soldiers finally broke the long silence and asked with a harsh voice if he could have a look around.  I felt like I was in a cage with assassins surrounding it.  My dad said in a gruff voice.          “Okay but only if you don’t wake the kids or make any noise.”

All of a sudden he started to move towards my room.  I whispered to Ellen.“Hide! The soldier is coming for you.”   I was too slow and the soldier barged into the room, so hard that he nearly broke the wooden door, and grabbed Ellen by her hair.  He dragged her outside and asked meanly yet again “Where did you get this Rosen from?”  He laughed in my opinion it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.  Almost straight after he laughed he dragged the kicking and screaming Ellen out the door... I tried to catch him and get Ellen back but he was too fast.  I felt like killing myself because I had lost Ellen forever!!!   

                  

KenjiKasumi   (As Nurse Yasunaga From Sadako)

I woke up with a slight sunlight slither sliding into my old cracked window as I was dreaming about Sadako and Kenji.  I went to the kitchen to make my usual breakfast, when I wondered “What if they both died, what if.... what if......” But when I had my breakfast, which was as usual rice with some miso-soup, we only have a tiny amount of food because it ‘s just after World War 2. I felt better and I decided not to think about death any more.  So, I then got ready and walked a long way to the hospital I work trying to forget about it.

" When I finally reached the hospital, I was exhausted as usual. I was sweating in my casual clothes, so I quickly got changed into my nurse dress and shoes. After I got changed, my day finally started! and I busily got to work. At the morning, I helped doctor Numata give out the medicine and give shots to the patients who were sick. I was in a good mood after I did all those great jobs, but that ended in a minute when I had a call from my friend nurse running down the stairs shouting, “Nurse Yasunaga, go to the 3rd floor office IMMEDIATELY!” I froze, like a person in a iceberg with no one to help them.  But it was only for one second, because I realised that it was an emergency.  So I ran up the stairs as fast as a cheetah that had not had it`s meal for a week, launching for its meat!  When I finally arrived the 3rd floor office, they almost screamed at me to go to Kenji, the boy who was suffering from leukemia room.  I quickly ran to his room where I heard Dr. Numata and some other nurses trying to help him breathe.  But when I jumped into his room like a rabbit that was running from a fox, Kenji was already cold.

" That was a very sad moment for us nurses and also the doctors so I will never forget it. I was also ashamed over myself of not being able to help.

When The King DiedCharlie (as Annemarie Johansen from Number The Stars)

It was a cold winters morning when I got out of my old, hard bed and made my way to the kitchen.  I had my usual plain bread.  The bread was probably stale but still tasted alright.  I got my school books, put them into my bag and said goodbye to my mum and dad.  I walked out the door with my best friend Ellen and then started walking to school.  

My school is around 1km away from my house but the time goes quickly because I can talk to my best friend.  We were talking about school and what we would do there.  But the thing I was mostly thinking about was seeing the king come down for his morning ride.  I had not seen the king in a while now so I was wondering where he was.  We could just see our school but there was still no sign of the king.

Then I saw a lot of German soldiers on the corner across the road from my school.  We walked up a few meters behind them and stopped.  I saw the king and all the German soldiers who were pointing their guns at him.  “Annemarie, what are they doing?” Ellen whispered.I didn’t reply and just walked a bit further forward until one of the German soldiers turned and looked at me. “What are you doing here?” the soldier said. “We were on our way to school” I said. We walked off so the soldiers couldn’t see us then stopped and listened.  We could only make out a few words but we could still understand what they were saying. “We asked you not to come back here again” one soldier said. “Why not?” the king replied. “Because this is our country now”.  Then I heard a bang.  I looked around and saw the king on the ground.  I waited till the soldiers left then ran over.  But it was too late, the king was dead.                                                                                                                                                             

I felt like crying but tried as hard as I could not to.  I ran back to my house with Ellen following me and told my family what had happened.  We all walked back down to see.  But when we arrived we saw that everyone from our town were already there.  It was as devastating as a family member dying so we decided to have a funeral for him.  Nearly everyone else in Denmark said something so it took a while.  But it was worth it because I really liked the king as well as everybody else in Denmark.  After the funeral we walked home, got into bed and went to sleep.

When I Noticed Annie Was Dying Sungyeon (as Helen Keller)

                                                                                    It was a cold day.  I knew that because I could see window was frozen.  I woke up with cold sharp wind coming through the window and I went to the old creepy water pump to wash my face.  The water was as cold as ice.  So I went to the fireplace to make the water warm.  I made a fried egg to eat with with my teacher Annie Sullivan.  I lost my parents because of a horse accident so now I’m living with Annie.   I put on my yellow old dress to go to the farm, that is right beside us, to get milk.  The milk was fresh.  I went back in.  Annie wasn’t awake so  I went to wake her up in her room to serve her eggs and milk.  Annie’s room is the furthest  room from the main hall.  I walked fast to give Annie her breakfast.  I past many rooms.  Annie’s room is the room where we studied together when I was young.  I think that is why she wants to stay there.  But I don’t usually  go there because it is too old.  I went into her room.  She was still sleeping.  I woke her up.   She coughed very hard.“Are you ok?”“I’m ok, Helen.” But I was worried so I called the doctor. “How is she?”“She has really bad disease. She can’t live long.” I was as sad as when I lost my parents. I wanted to put my face in water and cry for a long time. ... 2 months later Annie died.  I was so sad.  I prayed so Annie could go to heaven.