Daniella

Hi Bay Head School!
My name is Daniella and I am 12 years old. I love playing basketball and having a good time. I am looking forward to reading the book and meeting all of you!

In the second chapter of "My Brother Sam is Dead" Mr. Meeker says "But you never get rid of injustices by fighting," and Sam replies to that by saying "Either we're going to be free, or we're not." I think that Mr. Meeker is right, that when you fight no problems will be solved, but I don't think that he is even trying to see Sam's point. Sam is standing up for what he believes, even if it means going to war and having to die for it. I don't think that Mr. Meeker just said this about an argument against fighting England, but just at the thought of having his own son going to fight in a war. By reading this chapter, you can tell that Mr.Meeker is completely against war and is so angered and scared that his son is willing to give up his life for freedom. If we would put ourselves in Mr. Meeker's shoes we would also be just as frightened and angered as he is at the thought of our son going into war and maybe even dieing. We can also see where Sam is coming from though, he feels so strongly that Britian has no right to be doing what they are doing, so he is standing up for it. This chapter teaches you alot about the Meeker family and their relasionship. You can see that Sam and his father argue alot, but on top of all that they put Tim in the middle of it. I feel so bad for Tim, especially when Sam asks him to choose between him and his dad. That's a very tough choice and I am very anxious to know what happens next in this book. The book is getting very good and I can't wait to find out what happens next!

If i were in Tim's place I wouldn't have told Father that he was here. Even thought Mr.Meeker loves him, if he knew he was back home they would just fight again. They would get into another argument about the war and then the same thing would just happen again. Though I would want tell him the good news about Sam coming home, I would still not say anything. Betsy's role so far in this story is that she is very imformant for Tim. She keeps Tim posted about what is happening to Sam and if he is coming home. I like Betsy though she does bother me a little bit. She seems like someone who would do a lot of gossping. She also made Tim wait with suspense, when he was dieing to know when Sam was coming back. Tim had to wait for two or three months to know about Sam, but besides from that I like Betsy. I'm happy to see that Sam is back! I hope that if Mr.Meeker does find out that he is back that they do not get into another fight again. I am very excited to see what will happen next!

In this chapter,while Rebel officers were "interacting" with Mr. Meeker I was scared. This part had me on the edge, I felt bad for Tim, having to see these men threaten his father. I would have done the same as Tim, I would want to help but be too shocked and frozen in place to do something. When Sam took the gun from Tim, and took him down to the ground i was shocked. I never thought that Sam would do that to Tim. I thought that Sam would go with him to help his father, so it surprised me when he was willing to fight Tim for the gun. Sam really surprised me in this chapter and I am still shocked by what he did. At the end of the chapter when Mr. Meeker said "Sam. Come back, Sam.", I think that if he had the chance he would say something like "Where were you?" or "Why'd you leave and what are you doing here?". Near the middle of the chapter, Tim calls Sam a coward. I think he said this because Sam was just standing there and was against going back to his family. He was willing to maybe risk his own father's life, to preserve his own. I thought more of Sam and thought that when he found out he would be running to help Mr. Meeker, but he didn't. So, I do think he is a coward, even though he knew nothing was going to happen he still turned his back on his family. Sam choose his friends over his family, and maybe even his family's life. This book is becoming very suspenseful and I can't wait to finish.

In chapter 5 of my Brother Sam is Dead, Tim says " The war had always seemed like a story---something that happened in a faraway place or faraway time, and didn't have anything to do with me." I think that Tim started to feel this way because of the Rebels that visited his father. When they visited his own home it made the war more real. When the Patriots came looking for the weapons in his house and neighborhood, it made him realize that anything can happen now. The quote by Marya Mannes is realted to Tim learning that war even if far away can still affect you and other people. This is true because when someone from your country is fighting, even if it is far away, if it someone from your family fighting it affects you if something happens to them. If something were to happen to someone you know, even if across the seas, it would still affect you. My opinion on Mr. Heron is that he is a very secretive and sneaky man. Mr. Heron seems to be hiding something, and when Mr. Meeker tells Tim that he was lying, I wonder what he was going to send with Tim. Me. Heron seemed very diappointed when Mr. Meeker wouldn't allow Tim to go, too. I'm very anxious to see how Tim plans to see Mr. Heron and see what else will happen in the book!

In chapter six Tim's actions surprise me. I thought that Tim would obey his father, but in this chapter he lies to him. When Tim went to give Mr. Heron a keg of rum, he told Mr. Heron that his father approved of him taking the letter, which he didn't. Tim also told his father that he was going to go shad fishing, even though he actually went to deliever Mr. Heron's letter. I do not trust Mr. Heron, I think that he is going to use Tim as a spy, as Betsy said. I was very surprised by the "scruffle" between Tim and Betsy. I knew how Betsy felt about the war, and the Loyalists for that fact, but I never expected her to jump on Tim! Both of them had their reasons for fighting over the letter, but I felt that maybe it went just a little too far. I think the thing that surprised me the most was what Mr. Heron wrote in the letter. This book is getting very suspensful, and I can't wait to finish and see what will happen.

In the 7th chapter of the book, Tim and Mr. Meeker plan a trip to Verplanks Point. Usually Mr. Meeker would take Sam or Tom Warrups, but since Sam is in the war and Tom is busy he s forced to take Tim. He doesn't want to take Tim because he has heard stories about "cowboys" who steal Loyalists cattle, but he feels he has no other choice. Anyways, in this chapter I feel that it has effected the Meeker family in many ways, phisycal and emotional. It effected them emotionally because Tim feared that the cowboys might kill his father. Also, the letters that Sam sent to Tim's mother was also an emotional pain. The phsical pain in this chapter was when the cowboys were beating up Mr. Meeker. Tim was going thorugh emotional pain for his father, while Mr. Meeker was going through physical pain. the war in the Middle East is effecting my family because having this war means that we will not have peace in the world. Also, this war effects the safety of everyone here, including us. My emotional response to this chapter was frighened. I was scared for Mr. Meeker when they were beating him up.

I think that Tim just wants the war to end. He isn't sure which side is right, and I can tell that the war frightens him. I think that Tim would feel much better if there wasn't a war and everything was normal. Tim hasn't really made up his mind yet about which side he is on. He said that Father makes it sound right to be a Loyalists, but Sam makes it sound right to be a Patriot. If I were Tim I also would be stuck on which side to be on. It's tough when two people you love are on different sides of the war. My emotional response to this chapter is anxious. I want to know what will happen next becasue nothing big really happened in this chapter.

This chapter certainly grabbed my attention towards the end. I'm not sure what happened to Mr. Meeker, but I think that the cowboys got to him. I think that the cowboys went and put him somewhere after they beat him up. I guess they were hoping that he would have the goods but when came with just a horse, he was useless to them. Tim tried being brave, but finally crashed and let his emotions get to him. If Tim finds out what happened, if it's the cowboy story, it will have a big impact on him. I think that he will feel bad because Father got hurt, or died, when he was with him. Maybe he would be scared that the cowboys would come back for him. What happens to Father will also give Tim a huge responsbility because with Sam at war and his Father missing, he would need to take care of the tavern. No matter what happened to Mr. Meeker it will have a huge impact on Tim. My emotional response to this chapter is that I'm scared, I feel bad for Tim, and that I fear what will happen next. I feel bad that Tim lost another one of his family members and I'm scared for Mr. Meeker, and what happened to him. This book is very suspensful and I am very anxious to know what will happen next.

In this chapter, Tim says "I still haven't figured out what he was fighting for. It seemed to me that we'd been free all along." I think that Tim meant that the war never really bothered him until it started to involve his family. He never really saw what exactly the King has done to them, and still isn't sure. He knows that they pray for the King during church, but he doesn't see why they are still fighting. So, this quote is Tim telling us that he doesn't see the need for the war. He reminds me of his father, even though he isn't very sure which side he is on. He and his father both don't approve of war, even though his father is a very strong Loyalist. With both Sam and his father gone, he is forced to grow-up, he is no longer a little kid anymore.

In chapter 11, Mrs. Meeker begs Sam to come home after his father's death. When Sam refuses, Tim says that he relizes that his brother will never leave the army because he thinks he is part of something big. I think that Tim mean that Sam liked the excitment of being in the army. He enjoyed the thrill of helping his country. Even through the tough times, Sam knew he was doing something important and didn't want to let that go. He didn't want to walk away from that and the feeling he gets, being apart of the army. My emotional response to this chapter is worried. I am worried that Mrs. Meeker and Tim will find it even more diffucult to run the tavern without sam and Mr. Meeker. I am worried that Mr. Meeker might be off some where dead, or alive but, badly injuried. I am worried that sam will get killed during the war. This chapter had me worried about many, many things.

When Betsy came to visit Tim and Mrs. Meeker at the tavern, she told Tim that they have killed Jerry Sanford. Betsy and Mrs. Meeker began talking about how this war has turned men into animals. Mrs. Meeker mentioned that Mr. Meeker, before he was killed and in the begginning of the war, said "In war the dead pay debts of the living." I think that he meant that in war, there are always two sides. When one side gets a hold of the other's people, they kill them. Even if they themselves have done nothing wrong, they would still be killed because they are not on their side. So basically, even if you have done nothing wrong, you will get killed because of those, who are still alive, people's actions. This chapter had me shocked and surprised. I knew that Mr. Meeker was at least injuried and maybe even killed by the Patriots. What surprised me was that he died on a BRITISH ship! Also, it scared me how skinny Sam was described. It also shocked and scared me at the very end of the chapter. I thought that Sam was just going to stop the theives, not be considered one. I am frightened at what will happen to him and what is left of the Meeker family.

The quote, "Give me liberty or give me death", was said by a famous Patriot, Patrick Henry. This quote would have inspired soldiers like Sam because it would have been an inspiration to them. It would have been something to look at and keep them going. That quote would help the soldiers know that they would be dieing for something, not nothing. The soldiers would know that when they are fighting they are fighting for their freedom and liberty. I guess that I sort of assumed that they would have Sam killed one way or another in this book, so that didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was what he was getting killed for. I hope that they overlook Sam's case, but that is unlikely to happen. Sam and Tim have both truely changed, and this chapter shows you how much they honestly care and love each other.

Patrick Henry Limrick:
Patrick Henry was a good man,
When he saw the British coming he ran,
He said "Give me liberty or give me death" to us all,
You can tell that he was very involved in the brawl,
He never lost hope and was in the war once it began.

In chapter 14, Sam is killed for cattle theif. Even though he didn't actually steal the cattle, it just seemed that way when he was trying to get them back. What's ironic about Sam's death is that even after he fought with the Patriots for three years, they still killed him for something he didn't do. This is simliar to the irony of Mr. Meeker's death because he was also killed by his side. Sam was a Patriot and was shot by a Patriot. Mr. Meeker was a Loyalist and died on a British ship he was taken to. This chapter was the saddest chapter for me. Sam was finally coming back to his family. Sam was starting to visit them and they wall forgave each other, but then they killed him.

The Epilogue was told by Tim's point of view, like the rest of the novel. In the Epilogue, Tim says "But sometimes, fifty years later, I keep thinking that there might have been another way, besides war, to achive the same end." My reaction to this statment is that I think that war had a great affect on Tim, and if they found another way he would have his father and brother. I think that Tim just wants to believe that, but I don't agree with him. If we never had the Revoultionary War, Britian might still have control over us. We might still have no freedoms or rights. The Revoultionary War would have came eventually and we can't stop that. So, no I think that we couldn't have become a nation without the Revoultionary War. I thought that the book war ok, it wasn't horrible but I wouldn't read it over and over again. Even though I thought that this book wasn't "amazing", I still found it intersting. All in all, it wasn't horrible but yet it wasn't the best book ever, either.