In Chapter 26 of Priscilla Cumming's "Red Kayak", we experience Digger, J.T and Brady in the courtroom. We hear all of the boy's stories and are shocked by some of the things we hear them say.
One thing that shocked me was when both of the boys pleaded guilty. Digger, the most stubborn person Brady knew, pleaded guilty. Digger took full responsibility for his actions and not only made his own decision, he made the right one, The most important line in this passage is when Digger finally was able to tell the truth and express his true feelings towards Brady. “I also want everyone in here to know that my friend Brady Parks – he’s sitting right there in the back – that Brady should in no way get blamed or looked down on for what happened. I don’t hold nothing against you, Brady. And I’m sorry I lied to you. We was best friends growing up and … well, you were right, about no one ever forgetting." I think that it took Digger so much courage to do this and now he was finally able to admitt what he did to himself. In Chapter 25 of Priscilla Cummings, "Red Kayak", Brady recalls a conversation with Ben. One night Brady babysat
Ben and to end off the night they watched the Lion King. Ben:"Why they doing that, Bwady"... Brady:"Because he's bad." Ben: "No Scaw's not bad, he's just being mean." As Brady reflected on this conversation with young Ben, he learned a life lesson. He learned that just becuase someone does a bad or wrong action, it doesnt make the evil, or a villain. It helped Brady realize that just because Digger and J.T did something that ended badly, doesn't mean that they are bad people with bad intentions. I can relate this life lesson to my life because, in the world we live in today there is a lot of crime and violence. So many bad things are happening in this world today, and we don't personally know the people behind them. We don't know their personality and we dont know why they did what they did. We can only know them by what we hear, but we judge them with what know. Text to Self ~ I can relate to Brady when he had to make the decision of, what to do with the kayak and the drill. In my twelve years on Earth, I've had many hard decisions to make. You always have to think of the people envoled and how to spare their feelings. But, in the end you must make the decision that can benifit everyone and what is truly the right thing to do.
Text to Text ~ I can relate this book to the book "Nothing But The Truth", by AVI. This book is going to deal with a lot of publicity in the future, some will be true and some won't. In the book "Nothing But The Truth", there is a lot of flase advertising. In the future I see that thier stories may become 9ieven more simaliar. Text to World ~ I can connect this book, filled with crime, to the world we live in today. In this book Digger committed 2nd degree murder. Because of his wrong actions, Ben died. In this world, people are being killed for no reason. In Paris a couple weeks ago a terrorist group attaked the city of Paris on a normal night. All kinds of horrible crimes go on in this world. Brady and J.T ~
I feel that Brady and J.T's relationship will go downhill and hit many bumps in the road. J.T shouldn't and probably won't stay mad at Brady. Brady did nothing wrong and J.T knows that. J.T may be mad that Brady broke his promise. Brady promised him to not tell anyone about the drill and the kayak. But Digger knew that telling would be the right thing to do, he was hoping Brady would do him a favor and not tell. J.T already had a lot on his plate between taking care of his little sister, his father's chicken farm and his father in the hospital waiting on a kidney. The last thing he needs is to go to juvy leaving his sister alone, and his mother to cope with his father in the hospital. Brady and Digger ~ I feel that Brady and Digger's relationship will suffer and completly end. Digger did what he did out of spite, becuase of his agressive nature. Because of his personality I believe he will never be able to get over Brady telling the police. I believe that he was trying to manlitpulate Brady to get his silence. He even told Brady that maybe he'd get in trouble for something he said, he was trying to scare him into slience. J.T and Digger ~ I believe J.T and Digger relationship will also struggle becuase of their two really differnet personalities. J.T is forgiving, while Digger is ignorant, stubborn and unforgiving. They both probably have different views on the actions Brady took after finding out about the kayak and drill. I feel that they will fight over this and divide. In Chapter 17 through 22, in Priscilla Cummings "Red Kayak", we learn all about Digger's home life. Digger's parents have an abusive relationship, his father is extremely violent towards his mother due to a drinking problem. Dur to Digger's abusive father, he takes on many responsibilites that no younge child his age should have to do. Digger once told Brady the story of a night when he had to take his younger siblings over to his grandparents house, becuase his parents are fighting. He takes on the responsiblity of his younger brother annd sister, he always watches out for them and takes care of them. Digger's home life is shown in his personalty, upfront, agressove and selfish. I dont think its Digger's falt that he is hte way he is. Parents jobs are to make sure their child is growing up to be the best person they can possibly be. It's not Digger's fault he was raised that way in that environment, but I think there is something he can do about it. Digger can change his ways and turn his life around. More importanty he has the chance to save his siblings and make sure they start off, on the right path.
In Chapter 22 of Priscilla Cummings "Red Kayak", Mr. Parks tells his son that doing what's right isn't always the easiest thing. This quote means that sometimes taking the easy way out isn't the best way. He is trying to tell his son that sometimes when telling the truth, you face many challenges. I believe it's always better to tell the truth, becuase you don't want the person to hear or see it after. It's better to tell people gently, then to let them find out through other people gossiping. I follow this advice whenever I'm faced with challenges, becuase it is always better to do the right thing, even if it's hard to get there. When you make the decision to either take the easy way out or the hard way, you must consider this, is it really worth it? Would you rather just take the quick way and hurt someone you care about, or take the time to explain yourself sincerly.Trust me when you do the right thing you'll feel good and you'll know that you made the right decision.
If I was in Brady's situation, I would call the police. I knew that I would have to pay the price to but, Ben is dead. It's not fair for a child, so young, to be dead. Digger needs to pay the ultimate price for his extremely wrong actions. I know he never intended for Ben to die, but he did die and Digger needs to know that all his actions have consquences.
In chapter 17-22 of Priscilla's Cummings," Red Kayak", Brady Parks was approached by Digger with the idea of what to do with the drill. Digger needed to make sure that his secret was safe with Brady, witch left Brady with the choice. After taking a long train ride to his cousin's house, in Rhode Island, he has the time to decide. As he arrives he see's his cousins and aunt, and soon comes across a picture of Amanda, his little sister. His aunt gives him the picture so that he will always have a piece of her with him. At the end of the chapter Brady makes the decision, he decides to throw the drill in the water.
~Conversation Between Digger and BradyBrady ~ DIGGER, we need to talk
Digger ~ Hank, go inside...... What's up? Brady ~ What's up, really Digger, I know what you did and I here to get to the bottom of it. Digger ~ I have no clue what your talking about? Brady ~ You know exactly what I'm talking about and you know exactly why I'm here. Digger ~ (shakes his head), Nope I don't. Brady ~ Com'on Digger I know you sank the kayak and I know you took my father's drill. Digger ~ What's makes you think it was me, maybe it was you? Brady ~ Digger, are you serious? I know it was you, J.T told me . Digger ~ Did he really, well.... Brady ~ Yeah he admitted it! What the hell were you two thinking, you KIllED Ben. Digger ~ Yeah, so the kid's dead, whoops. Brady ~ Really Digger, he's dead becuase of you, do you know what you did to their family. Digger ~ No, let me guess, their upset. Brady ~ Really, are you kidding me. Digger ~ YOU, shouldn't be talking. Brady ~ Why, I havent done anything wrong. Digger ~ O, so you don't remember. Brady ~ Remember what? Digger ~ This was your idea in the first place, Brady! If I'm going down, you and J.T are going down with me. As I ripped a huge piece of plastic out of the DiAngelo's old boathouse I saw a flash of light. I figured it was just a knife of some sort, but it was a drill, my father's drill. As I went to go pick it up, I noticed little flicks of red paint beside it. The same color as the kayak, a memory flashed in my head. Had Digger drilled holes in the kayak? Which was worse that he might have done it or that I might have given him the idea? Was it really him, would he do something like that? Why? I deciede that tommorrow I would talk to Digger after school. I would get to the bottom of this. He wouldn't really have really done it, he wasn't responsible for Ben's death, was he?
Mrs. DiAngelo is mourning over the death of her son and is trying to find a way to cope. Mrs. Parks coped over the death of her daughter by planting a butterfly garden and on one afternoon when Brady was helping Mrs. DiAngelo he brought up his mothers butterfly garden. Brady helped Mrs. DiAngelo start her butterfly garden by telling her what kind of plants she needed. Brady told her all about the butterflys dislikes and likes. Butterflys like sun, the colors yellow, purple, blue, low sources of water and flat rocks. Butterflys only like certian colors, they like purple and yellow, but blue is their favorite and they hate red. They also need a low source of water and flat rocks because they need a place where they and warm up before they take off. Butterflies liked plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, spicebushs, sunflowers, cosmos, daisies, violets and daylilies. Brady helped her plant the garden and start to forget about the death of her son. In Chapter 10, Brady discovers that J.T and Digger have been ignoring him. They haven't talked to him, since the morning of the accident. I think they might be avoiding him because they might be hiding something. If I were Brady I would go and confront them because, their my best friends, I would feel comfortable. I would ask them why and try to solve the problem.
Brady used to have a younger sister, Amanda, who passed away as a small baby. Mrs. Parks was extremely devastated over what had happened, one morning she went to check on Amanda and she wasn't breathing. Mrs.Parks went to live with her mother for a few months and got rid of anything that reminded her of Amanda. I think she did this because Amanda was her second born, first girl. She wanted to try to forget anything associated with her daughter. Nothing like this has every happened to me, but if it did I would never have a clue of what to do. But I'd probaly do what Mrs.Parks did, I would try to not remember her.
In Chapter 8 Brady is feeling many different emotions. During the school day, only a day after the accident, Brady's mom came to pick him up. She brought him to the car and gave him the life-changing news. Ben had died, he passed away that morning and Mrs. Parks wanted him to hear it from her.
I have never experienced anything like Brady had, he was in a life threating situation. He then did everything he could to save Ben and even though he couldn't save him, Brady gave him his best chance. When Brady first thought about it he became angry, he thought Ben's death was his fault and that there is so many things he could have done to save Ben. After Brady felt sad because, he had failed to save Ben's life. That Ben would never "drink another glass of milk." At the end of this chapter Brady wanted to clam himself down, so he took a boat ride down the bay. As he stopped the boat and let it drift, he saw that the water was clear. He was confused becuase the other water was a deep brown, as he looked down he became extremely more confused at what he saw. And what he saw changed his entire life. 13 Year Old Boy Saves ToddlerOn a cold morning, Brady Parks, a 13 yearsold was pulled out of school to go on a non-stop search for his missing two neighbors. Mr. DiAngelo was seen kayaking in the bay early that morning, by Brady Parks and his two friends, J.T and Digger. Later that day Mr.DiAngelo gave the okay to his wife and son to go on a brief kayaking adventure before their family left for a vacation. The wife and son team were seperated out on the open waters, by strong currents. Mrs. DiAngelo was found down the coast of the bay, the red kayak and small child, Ben were missing. As Brady tells the reporters, he went up many small rivers and streams looking for Ben and his yellow life jacket. His loyal yellow lab, Tilly, pionted and barked in the direction of an old dock, where Brady and friends used to fish. Bady quickly followed his pups instinks and found Ben, near the broken down dock. Ben was unconious and he immediatly started to give Ben CPR and never stopped until he made sure that Ben was in the ambulence and on the way to the hospital. Mrs.DiAngelo is currently in okay health, but not much is known about Ben. He is in a cirtical care unit, in a childrens hospital in Washington DC. We all send our prayers to Ben and hope for the best.
At the end of chapter 5 of the book, "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings, Brady stops in the middle of the Corsica River to stop and pray. This was out of the ordinary for Brady because after that day his life would be changed forever. He knew that he would never be the same person anymore. He lifted Ben off the piling and straddled that invisible line between life and death, he turned to God. He had no one else to turn to in this time of need, he knew that God would do him right. "Fate" worked out in his favor because as he was turning the boat around, he heard Carl, his cousin who works as a paramedic shout "We've got a pulse," God saved him and more importantly he might have just saved Ben.
Mr. Parks work two jobs, one half the year and the another the other half. During April through early December, Mr.Parks works the sea's crabbing. The other half of the year he builds boat cabinets. The main reason Mr.Parks has another job is becuase crabbing season is not all year round. He needs another job while he's not crabbing to support Brady. Hemust work one job all year round becuase if he doesn't their family will exprience financial problems. These are just two reasons why Mr. Parks changed his source of income. Crabs in a crab trapFriendship, to me, is when two or more people care about each other enough to; stand up for your rights, believe in you and push you to do your best everyday. To be a good friend, you must be kind, loving, forgiving and trustworthy. Friends must be kind, always their to lend a helping hand. To be loving is to always show your appreciation, for your friends. To be a good friend you need to be forgiving, you can't let one small argument ruin your friendship. The last quality of a good friend is to be trustworthy. You should always trust you friends, that they wil stick by you through thick and thin.
Brady ~ Brady is the main character, who loves to go crabbing in the Cheasapeake Bay.
J.T ~ Brady's next door neighbor, who lives on a chicken farm and likes green tea. Digger ~ Brady's hot tempered friend, who hates Mr. DiAngelo. Tilly ~ Brady's dog who loves to play catch with a tennis ball. Brady's Father ~ Half the year he works as a ship builder and the other half he works as a crabber. Mr.DiAngelo ~ Brady's new next-door neighbor, who has a son and a wife. He also brought Digger's grandfather's farm, nocked down the house and built a mansion. The book "Red Kayak" written by Priscilla Cummings, main setting is out in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is located in the wetlands of Maryland and has been their for over 15 years. It's know for it's huge marshes, seafood and bridges. The main activies to do thier are fishing, crabbing, sailing, racing and boating. It has lots of narrow streams and areas of bright green marsh. The greenish- blue water crashes upon the coasts of this historical landmark. It has beautiful towns and cities, reached by boats or bridges. The Chesapeake Bay is important to the book "Red Kayak", because the main character, Brady loves to go crabbing. The bay is the main and most important setting in the book, most of the important events are said to happen while he was crabbing. The Bridges of Chesapeake Bay.
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