Nicole

Alexandra ,Sabrina, and Alyssa
Hi I am Nicole,
Bay Head School and I am welcoming you to our project.
We are all looking forward to reading "My Brother Sam is Dead" with you and sharing our comments.
Maybe at the end of this project our classes can get together and have a pizza party.

Hi Nicole....
We're looking forward to reading the novel with you as well. I know my class would love to get together and have a pizza party. That would be fun, wouldn't it? I really enjoyed the book and find the American Revolution very interesting!

You can tell that not everyone in the family is getting along and that this could result in problems.
I think that Sam is doing the right thing; he is fighting for his freedom. So i would agree with Sam.

After i read chapter 2 i explained it to my parents, i asked them what they would say if i said i was going to go into war.
My parents said that they would not let me go.

Mr. Meeker makes the following statement,"But you never get rid of injustices by fighting," to which Sam replies, "Either we're going to be free, or we're not."Mr. Meeker's comment is not just an argument against fighting England but against war in general, I think that he mean that war doesn't solve problems. After I read this chapter I found out that Sam is going to continue going to war,[and even stole Fathers gun]. Timmy is very confused by all of this and can not pick a side, [one because he doesn't know much about the war, and he couldn't disobey his father.]

A. If I were in Tim's place, I would not tell my father. I would be afraid that he would try to find Sam and it would start another big fight, I would feel that it was all my fault, if he was not allowed to go back and fight for his freedom.

B. Betsy has proven to be a very important character to the story, she has been sending letters to Sam. They are very close friends, and care for each other. Betsy knows that Sam is coming to Reading to visit and makes sure that no one will know. I think that she will become a main character, she is clearly for the Patriots and is looking out for Sam's safety.

C.If I was living at the time of the Revolution I think I would be able to do the many hard things that you would have to do in that time period, just to have a normal life. But the thing that would scare me would be that anytime... anyplace can become a battlefield. That time period is very different from now, they use to milk cows and feed the animals in the barn, and those were just everyday chores.

D.In this chapter we find out that Sam is returning, but we don't know if he is injured or not. Betsy is becoming a bigger character in the story, and many unexpected things are happening.

E. After looking at St. Aloysius students comments i found one that caught my attention,
Tiffany,
I read your comments and I noticed that we both have different ideas about Tim, if I were him I would not tell my father, but you would and when I read your comment it made me think that I want to change my mind. I liked you comments and can't wait for more.

The three divisions would be between:
Sam and Tim- At the beginning of the story it looks like Sam and Tim are the best brothers, but as the story goes on and the war continues.. They start to drift apart.
Sam and Mr. Meeker- as the story unfolds you can already feel the tension between Sam and his father. Now that Sam has been fighting for his freedom against his father’s word, he made it so it was and embarrassment for his father to even say his son's name, even thought Sam knew he was doing the right thing.
Tim and Mr. Meeker-Tim is very confused about the war, he cannot choose between his brother and his father. I think that when Sam left it was like Mr. Meeker just forgot about Tim, kind of like he wasn't there. Mr. Meeker and Tim aren't as close as they were in the beginning of the book.

Tim always thought of the war as something that had nothing to do with him, but when his brother Sam when into the war to fight, he started to realize that danger was closer then it appered. When the Patriots came to take the guns from the Tories they hurt father. Tim saw that this wasn't a war in a far away place it was right here right now and he couldn't do a thing to stop it.

I think that the quote means that many men protected their land with their lives, and were willing to die fighting.

I think that Mr. Heron is not just sending bussiness letters and i would not trust him just yet, he hasn't been in the story long so i guess we will have to wait and see what input he has on the war.

Good job Nicole,I think you are right. The war came to Tim quickly and I don't think he liked it.

In this chapter we found out that Tim went to send the letter anyway, against his fathers words.
1. Tim lied to many people in this chapter, fist he lied to his father ad said that he was going fishing, when he was really sending the message for Mr. Heron. Second he lied to Mr. Heron and said that his father changed his mind about sending the letter, and last he lied to Betsy and told her that he didn't have a letter.I also think Mr. Heron should not be trusted. When Betsy opened the letter and Tim read it i realized that Mr. Heron is going to use Tim to send messages about the war.

2. I think that when Betsy attacked Tim, she was violating Mr. Herons privacy. But when the letter was opened and we saw what was written, we had a different opinion. Maybe what Betsy did was a good thing.

1. War is not fair, it never was and it never will be. When we go to war many people risk their lives fighting for their country, while others are at their homes, safe and not on a battlefield where one wrong move could cost them their life. Is that fair? Is it fair when a mother and father have to hear that their child was killed in the war? What happens when you lose battle, you may be taken as a prisoner, or you may feel like you let down your country for not winning. Is that fair? The answer is no, it is not fair but we can't change that. We cannot force everyone to go to war, we can't make everyone happy, we try to win as many battles as possible but sometimes it just doesn't work, and you cannot change the way you feel or what happen in the past.
2. Life is what it is and that’s the way it goes. It can be unfair, and it will be.
3. When one belongs to a community, a village, or country does one have an obligation to partake in the affairs of others?
You have your own opinion and you can do almost anything you want. When The Revolutionary War took place, many people were Tories [loyal to the king], but there were many others who thought that the British should not rule the colonies. Mr. Meeker was a Tory but he did not want anything to do with the war. As Sam became a Patriot and joined the minutemen, Life and the rest of the Meeker family were now a part of the battle to redeem power.
4. Danger is behind every corner, and Life has been walking right into trouble since the day Sam decided to fight in the war. Life should just stay close to his house/tavern and stay out of trouble. He shouldn't go far from home because of cowboys who he ran into on his trip to Verplanks could easily kill him if they wanted to, because Life does not have a weapon. He should also have bought a gun from Verplanks Point when he went there with Tim, this would be very helpful since Sam took Life's Brown Bess. Life also should also keep a close eye on Tim who could stir up trouble, the Patriots who dislike the Tories cause they have weapons, and he should also pay very good attention to Mr. Heron.

1. I know that many people think that life Meeker was captured by the cowboys, but I am not so sure that, that is what happen. That is a very obvious reason so I think there may be another, Maybe like an unexpected twist. But Mr. Meeker might have been taken by the cowboys. We do not know yet, but i hope we find out.
2. In this chapter we find that trouble is coming, and it will not be good. Life Meeker is missing and is no where to be found. there are a number of possibilities that could explain his disappearance, he could have just tripped in the snow and got hurt, or maybe he got captured by the cowboys. We do not know, all that we do know is that Life has been missing for a couple of months and it doesnt look like he is returning.

1. “I still hadn’t figured out what he was fighting for. It 
seemed to me that we’d been free all along."
Tim has thought that he was free under the rule of the king, but he doesn't know everything that the king does. He thinks he is free because he has never lived life not under the rule of a king. He doesn't see how the British might be an enemy.

When Mrs. Meeker begs Sam to come home after his father's death, Sam refuses. Tim comes to conclusions that his brother will never leave the army. Not because he made a commitment, but because he felt as if he was apart of something big. Tim's meaning by "something big" is that Sam wants to feel important. Maybe he thinks joining the army will give him more respect, or to maybe go on an adventure that is dangerous and brave.

In this chapter, there were many different emotions. Some happy, but the worst part was we found out that Life Meeker had gotten sick and died. When the Meeker family heard that Life had died it was hard on them especially now when they war is at its worst. Now that Sam will not come back to the tavern is even worse.

“In war the dead pay the debts for the living.”
That Quote means that the ones who died in the war are making a sacrifice for those who are not in the war so the can keep on living there lives the way they have been, before the war has started. So they are technically pay the price for others to live.

In this chapter, my emotional response was very different from the last chapter. The Rebels are not doing well in the war. They do not have a lot of food and water and are getting sick. It looks like they are not going to win the war, but i guess soon they are going to make a comeback.

1. “Give me liberty or give me death!” was said by Patrick Henry. This quote was meant for the soldiers like Sam, it means that if I can't have freedom/liberty they there is no point of living. Sam said that he didn't want to leave the Continental Army until the war was over, so that quote explained Sam's feelings.

2. In this chapter, many sad things happened. First the cows were stolen from the barn. When Sam went to find and take back the cows, two fellow soldiers grabbed him and blamed him for stealing the cows. He was labeled as a "cattle thief" and was going to be put on trial. When he when to trial he was accused and for his punishment he will be shot. This was very emotional for the whole Meeker family. Tim has lost his father and Sam is going to be killed for an act he didn't even commit. Sam, his brother, who he thought of as a best friend, an idol, and an older version of himself will soon be gone also. Susanna, Tim's mother, had to go through the death of her husband and one of her two sons is going to be shot in 10 days. It must be hard to be in their positions right now, to loose two people that you love.

chapter 14:
1. When same was going to be killed it was very hard on the Meeker family, but the weird part was that he was being killed by his own side, the side he has been fighting for for three years. The worst part was that he was killed for a crime he did not commit.

2. This chapter was the saddest of them all, this was a book that kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time. In this chapter Tim tried to get Sam out but his plan failed and he was then shot in his shoulder. When Tim when to the execution he saw his older brother Sam being shot. Sam died after the forth bullet.

Epilogue:

1. There probably was another way to achieve the same respect and the same ending we have now, we don't know for sure but there may have been a different way to make a new beginning. War is not the answer, it was a bad way to solve a problem that could have been revised in a different way. Maybe by skipping the Revolutionary War, or even erasing it right off the timeline, we could still be the nation we are today. But without losing the lives of others, without mothers shedding tears, and without the scars people now have because of what hey have been through. War effected a lot of people and it still does, we could have changed that. Now its too late you can fix a wound but you can never cover up the scars.

Nicole, you did a wonderful job with the wiki page. Your contributions and insightful comments added much to our classroom discussions.