10.04.2014

Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton (An Output of the Literature Circle by the 7 Deadly Beauties)


Sad to say that this will our last (awwww TT^TT) book for the semester. 
And this is our reading log for the month of October.

Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton



NADZLA ADAL

The story of Sixteenth Summery by Michelle Dalton begins with Anna, a young adult who lives year round on Dune Island where most of the people get away from it all. She spends summer with her family working at their ice cream shop and hanging out with her friends until one day she meets Will, the gorgeous and sweet guy New Yorker and he catches Anna’s eye at a bonfire. Her summer is filled with green as hills and blue as sky and red as roses feeling in love. But she can’t ignore that every beautiful sunset with full of sweet kisses and walk on the beach, the moment with Will is growing shorter because Will has to leave very soon. Anna feels strangely with her feelings because she doesn't feel it before and the possibility of forever is uncertain, one summer doesn't promise to give her happiness with the main man but only the sweet downfall with him.


ABBYGAYLE BASIO

1.Have you experienced this kind of summer? If yes, cite some instances.
            For me, no, not yet? haha. Well, I'm also looking forward to experience a summer like this.
Ara said, “Not really the same as Anna's summer because i haven't experienced a summer love but the same in a sense that its so fun, so unforgettable and so worth it. We always go to the beach and have fun, spend the evening like there's no tomorrow. Experience new activities and discover new stuffs.”

Jovie said, “The meeting-a-summer-love or the enjoying-the-summer-far-away-from-home? I never experienced meeting someone and falling in love with him just for the summer. Maybe I met some kids from our neighbor when I was a kid but not the summer love thing. But I experienced a summer that was far from home and it was also during my sixteenth summer.”

Rica said, “I don’t actually experience summer love. I think it was just like summer attraction. HAHA. When we were having our vacation in Cebu last 2012, he caught my attention when he started to talk. At first, I thought he was gay.  I really liked his eyes. He is Chinito. He also talked smartly. I felt butterflies in my stomach when he asked where I study but, he didn’t ask my name. -__- That was the first and last time I saw him.”


Nadzla said, “No, I haven’t experienced this kind of summer YET because mostly I spent summer at home read books, take care of my skin and sleep for all day long so how can I experience this kind of summer. Well, but perhaps sometimes I imagined myself to become like Anna but I am afraid of heartbreaks at the end and I Think my imagination really worked and satisfied me because it was not just Anna that I wanted to experience but also I would wish for a man like Will and we would spent the whole summer time with him and I would make whole time as sweeter as the weather of summer time.”

Mae said, "no,because i never been to an island for summer with my loved one.hahaha! soon..."

Kate said, "No, not yet. " 

2.Do you believe in "love at first sight"? Do you think it will last?
            For me, yes I believe in love at first sight. Maybe it will just depend on how the love develops on the later part.

Ara said, “I don't believe in love at first sight because love is something that you develop, you can't just say you love a person without spending time with him/her. I also don't think that it will last because you may find something unpleasant when you started to get to know the person.”

Jovie said, “I actually don't have any idea about this love at first sight things. Is it what they call the "spark"? I don't know. Maybe that's just infatuation or something. I don't think I'll believe it unless I personally experience it. Maybe only few lasts but most of them doesn't.”

Rica said, “For me, NO.  I guess because, when someone cathes your attention, it is not yet love. It is first attraction, and then love will follow. It depends on the person, if he/she was attracted and felt more than that and that he is really sure that his feelings will last, then it will really last.
Mae said, "nope,i dont beliv because love for me is not found in just first meeting..maybe it is just a physical attraction at first only..moreover,our heart is deceitful that's why don't rely on it always so that we cant jump into conclusion.lastly, it won't last long unless it is proven to be true..Just remember,true love waits."

Kate said, "Yes I believe in love at first sight but honestly speaking with my experience it didn’t last that long." 

            Nadzla said, "Yes I believe in love at first sight because when you store an imprinted images in your mind when you see that object or person that you want to be with, you will love it exactly as the way it should be in your mind because our eyes is powerful and magical among our parts. I believe in that kind of love because there is a chance that you can marry that person and you can see things clearly with him or her and that love is possibly can be sure and real. But I don’t think it will last if you do not work it out, both parties should work for it to last not just depend on the belief of “love at first sight”. Perhaps our eyes are wonderful and sexy, but it can see a lot of things that in the process will make your life happy but exceptional."

3.What is your unforgettable summer? Why it was unforgettable?

For me, it was when we were at Davao, when I was 8 years old, during my 3rd grade, I did consider it unforgettable because I had a lot of fun playing with my cousins and my siblings like there’s no tomorrow. And I also skipped classes for about 2 weeks just to be with them.

Ara said, “My unforgettable summer was when we went to Camp Zabros in Davao. It was so unforgettable because i experienced my first zipline and horse back riding there.”

Jovie said, “My unforgettable summer was my 16th summer. We had an unexpected and rush trip to Bohol with my family and some relatives. So much happened and what happened in Bohol, stays in Bohol. It was unforgettable because it was my first time stepping into a different land and that's far away from home”

Rica said, “My unforgettable summer was last April 2013. Last year, we went to Iligan not to have a summer vacation but for some private purposes. I never thought it would be unforgettable. We have our night swimming there, what made it unforgettable was that the water was from Ma. Cristina falls and I was like “Wow! Amazing!”. I could really feel the freshness of the water. And, I have also conquered my fear when I glided on the longest slide. We stayed there for only three days, but it was all worth it. It was really “chada”(means great,wonderful in Iligan’s dialect).”

Mae said, "last summer i guess is the unforgettable summer for me..for almost 4Yrs i haven't seen my residence and bonding with my own family."

Kate said, "My unforgettable summer was just last summer, this summer in 2014, because after 8 years I came back to my roots in Tacloban city and that trip I shall say was fun, exciting and at the same time revealing, revealing in a way that the deepest secrets in my family was revealed in that trip. Also it was heart breaking, heart breaking to see my birth place ruined by the typhoon and heart breaking because of the secrets revealed so last summer was my unforgettable summer." 
 
             Nadzla said, "My unforgettable summer experience was when we spent our vacation at Pearl Farm in the Island of Samal quite far from Gensan. Well, the beach was perfect for summer vacation for the whole family because it was like a paradise in a small island with full of gift from God (the nature). It was very amazing when it comes to their total accommodation because the staffs there were really cared for their visitors and they gave a fresh juice with fruits when you get there (check in time) and I felt so special. In that beach I’ve experienced riding in a jetski for an hour and it was one of the best thing happened to me in that summer. The food they served was very delicious and healthy because they served the foods with organic and fresh ingredients but quite expensive. Mostly, in that beach their tourists were celebrities and Koreans with sexy butt and pearl skin color. I saw there Chavit Singson, Drew Arellano and many important persons (I forgot their names). In total view of the place, it was perfect like P-E-R-F-E-C-T and cool like C-o-o-l. So why couldn’t be an unforgettable."

4.In your own, how will you describe Dune Island?

For me, Dune Island would be a place where you can do everything, party all night, drink and eat with your family and friends, and why not, meet someone? Haha. Well, Dune Island would  be hopefully my next summer destination.

Ara said, “I would describe Dune Island as a magical place where once in your life you could forget about your problems and just have fun.”

Jovie said. “It's actually an ideal summer escapade place where you can spend your summer with. The beach, the parties and the bonfire and everything. It's perfect for summer season.”

Rica said, “For me, I would describe Dune Island as the perfect place for summer love. Because of the fresh air, the sound of the waves and of course the happy people around. “

Mae said, "Dune island for me is a wonderful place good enough for summer time..It looks simple but still amazing."

Kate said, "Dune Island is like a beautiful and a relaxing place that foreigners love to go. It’s a place good for surfing and a perfect place for meditation because it’s really not that crowded. Also, Dune Island’s a place good for starting a new life." 

Nadzla said, "For me Dune Island is an island of certain love and pain because                Anna and Will have experienced that way and make the whole story bittersweet in the end. If you heard an island as in “island” the first thing that you can think of is that the whole and almost everything in that specific island is limited but unforgettable and amazing to remember. "

5.If you are to make your own ingredients of your ice cream, what will it be?

For me, it would be a combination of coffee, cheese, hazelnuts, mango, and chocolate sprinkles.

Ara said, “It would be a combination of durian, coffee and almonds.”

Jovie said, “Vanilla ice cream+cheese+cinnamon+Beng Beng+choco-coated donut. Actually anything goes with me. As long as my stomach can still digest it.”

Rica said, “I like it to be just vanilla and chocolate with chocolate chips. The combination of vanilla and chocolate is just perfect, adding some chocolate chips on it like Anna and Will’s summer love.”

Mae said, "i really want my ice cream to be flavored with mango,chocolate or cookies and cream...it's enough for me."

Kate said, "I really wanted to make an ice cream made of chocolate chips, chocolate, strawberry and durian. I don’t know what it will taste like but because those are my favourite ingredients I’m sure it will be savouring and yummy.. hehehehe.." 

Nadzla said, "If I am to make my own ingredients of ice cream , it will be simply a melon, carrot, fresh milk from cows, coconut milk, white sugar and vanilla. I chose these ingredients because melon and carrots are orange, milk and coconut milk are fresh, sugar is sweet and lastly vanilla is perfect for the addition of flavour so these ice cream ingredients are healthy, yummy and quite easy to find inside the market. Well if I have an orange (color) ice cream it will be a perfect summer for me because my summer is cool, orange and sweet."



JOVIE ANN MATANGUIHAN

Sixteenth Summer is a fresh and romantic love story of two adolescents namely Anna, who was a settler in the island and was the daughter who owns The Scoop, and Will, who was a vacationer from New York, also called as "shoobee" by Anna and her friends. They both fell in love and enjoyed that summer, partying, riding bicycles, going to the beach for picnic or swimming, fireworks and all traditions held at the island. It was a romantic summer love for both of them but time could be demanding. Summer was about to end and they need to separate ways. But still the memories will last for a while.

Although I've never experienced summer love, I've always experienced adventures during summer. We ought to visit my relatives from my mother's side during summer and they’re from sub-urban areas in South Cotabato. We get to visit farms, harvesting fruits, go mountain hiking and visit several falls, we also went to a hot spring who was formerly owned by a Korean investor. That hot spring or hot tub, because it was somehow like a small pool, it had a slide. Can you imagine sliding into a lukewarm water? But it was really unforgettable. Every summer we get to experience different kinds of adventures. We enjoyed playing and swimming in the dam, climbing mountains and visiting some familiar natives in the mountains. They were my uncle's workers and sometimes we send them home and we would pass by streams and cliffs. In my sixteenth summer, we went to Bohol and the experience was just amazing. We get to visit the peak where you can have a photo with the Chocolate Hills as the background before it got ruined by the intense earthquake the following year. We also had a chance to meet my cousins and relatives in Bohol. It was the first time we met and it was just really.. Wow. And we went island hopping and visited the longest sandbar. It was like we were stuck in the middle of the sea.  And we stayed in a solo resort in a small island. Can you imagine that? And I really wished that we could stay there for a while but it was almost June and that trip was not really planned. It was a rush trip but we. Absolutely had a great time. One of the best memories I keep.

Here are some photos from my recent summer vacations.

16th summer in Bohol








KATE DIOSOMITO

·         Anna is the protagonist at the same time the narrator in the story. Anna is a local of the coast of Georgia where she lived for her entire sixteen-year existence. Anna lives year round on Dune Island, a place where most people come to get away from it all. Anna is the eldest in her family she has 2 younger sisters sophie and Kat and a five years old brother Benjie. In summer she works in her family Ice cream shop “the scoop”. Anna is an intelligent student at the same time an ice cream genius she invented a lot of ice cream flavors that they sell in “the scoop”. She loves sweets so much. Anna is five feet one inch and she’s the type of being allergic with cuteness. She has a long, blond-streaked brown hair and she usually let it go wavy and wild. She’s close to Caroline and Sam her bestfriends since she was a kid. The things they always done every summer are hunting for ghost crabs and digging up clams with their toes, and eating shaved ice until their lips turned blue. Anna is also in love to a New Yorker named Will.

·         Will is a tourist living on the island for the summer. He went to Dunes Island with his brother Owen and his mother. Will is a native New Yorker. He has these nicely muscled calves, his hair is a chocolaty brown and His skin looked a bit pale. He had the face of a god Anna described him as a beautiful man. He has this squinty softness of his big, dark eyes, the strong angle of his jaw, a nose that stopped just short of being too thin, that swoop of tousled hair, and the bit of melancholy around his mouth. His height is 5’9. Will is a humoured and a gentle man like guy. He knows how to initiate things and he’s a family oriented man. He’s a compassionate and loving guy when it comes to her mother. Will is also mysterious. He fell in love with Anna and he’s a downright good guy. 

·         Caroline is of Anna’s best friend and also the girlfriend of Sam. Caroline has this raspy voice that Sam always makes fun. She also has this long white-blonde hair. Caroline loves on fruit, nuts and seeds, and supersweet iced tea. Caroline is a supportive and at the same time Anna’s back-up in case anything goes wrong. Caroline is a sweet and beautiful lady. She’s also honest and straight-forward. And caring when it comes to Anna and Sam


·         Sam is the guy best friend of Anna also the lover of Caroline. Sam is a tall guy. At the age of eight he moved to the island and settled to Anna and Caroline’s friendship. Is a straight-forward man, he says his opinions freely. He’s also a strong man. Sam has also this sweet side, were he is patient and caring when it comes to Caroline. He’s patient in a way that he kept his feeling towards Caroline for more than a year until he admitted his feeling to Caroline. He is also caring and supportive to Anna’s relationship.






ARA NNEKA DIALAWI

" love can't be measured by how short or long the relationship is, but how you made each days magical"



RICA ANN COLINA

Passage Picker

·         “Hmm, maybe five nine,” Caroline allowed. “Of course, compared to you, everybody’s tall.” (p. 21)
-          I was really laughing when I read this line and I was like, “oh, relate”. This conversation was when Caroline was staring and scrutinizing Will for the first time and referring to Anna. I have chosen this line because it sounds funny and somehow true to me.

·         “But me and Will? I thought we could be something. If I was lucky. If he’d seen the same spark in my eyes that I’d seen in his. If, somehow, this summer was going to be different from all the others.” ( p. 24)

-Anna was being optimistic in this time after seeing Will. I have chosen this line because after all the hopeless thoughts Anna felt every summer, she gets to look on the possible things that will make her summer remarkable.

·         “A perfect person is easy to love. But when somebody likes all your imperfections, well, that's when you know they really mean it.” (p. 148)

-I have chosen this line because it made an impact to me. It is universally true that when someone loves you for who you really are and is contented of what you have despite of all the imperfections, that is the time you already have true love.

·         “You don’t exactly know how badly it’s going to hurt when you leave,” I said. “Do you even care? (p. 196)
                “It’ll hurt me, too, “Will said. “Believe me.”

            -It is shown in this conversation that Anna has been really inlove with Will. It is truly painful to imagine that someone you have loved for the first someone will leave. I have chosen this line because it proves that life is ironic. You have found someone who truly loves you and then suddenly, he will leave.

·         “I don’t know what’s going to happen with us, Anna. But I’m always going to love you. That I know.” (p. 253)

-This line was said by Caroline, Anna’s best friend. She was telling her problem about her relationship with Sam. I have chosen this line because it moved me. It proves that no matter what happen, your true friend will never forget and left you even she already have a boyfriend.You can really feel that she has never changed . She valued you more than her boyfriend. 




MAE ANDREA TABAOSARES

Reason: I choose these words because I haven’t encountered these words before and I don’t know their meaning. Also, I could add them up to my vocabulary.

Author’s Purpose: I guess the reason why the author decided to use these words is because they fit with what she exactly mean. And that it really describes the situation, thing or person she's referring to.



Shack - “Angelo’s looks so salt-torn and shacky, you’d never know they make these incredible gourmets for boys at a counter in the back.”

Noun
a. Small crude shelter used as a dwelling

Verb
a. Make one’s home in a particular place or community.
b. Move, proceed, or walk draggingly or slowly.
Origin: probably back-formation from English dialect shackly rickety. First use in 1878.


Quaint – And he didn’t have that “isn’t this all so quaint?” vibe that some vacationers exuded.

Adjective
a. Strange in an interesting or pleasing way
b. Very strange or unusual; odd or even incongruous in character or appearance.
c. Attractively old fashioned (but not necessarily authentic)

Origin: Middle English queinte, cointe, from Anglo-French, clever, expert, from Latin cognitus, past participle of cognoscere. First use: 13th century.

Sultry – Every April, which was when the sun on Dune Island started to graduate from merely sultry to scorching, we all made new wraps.
Adjective
a. Sexually exciting or gratifying
b. Characterized by oppressive heat and humidity.

Preposterous – Sam plucked a pair of preposterous lime-green glasses off the table and put them on.
Adjective

Origin: Latin praeposterous, literally, in the wrong order from prae- + posterous hinder, following. First use: 1542.

a. Incongruous; inviting ridicule.
Origin: obsolete English sulter to swelter, alteration of English swelter. First use: 1594


Surreptitiously – I grabbed a paper towel, blotted surreptitiously, then tucked a few errant strands of hair behind my ears.

Adverb
a. In a surreptitious manner.
b. Surreptitious – marked by quiet and caution and secrecy.
Origin: Middle English, from Latin surrepticus, from surreptus, past participle of surripere to snatch secretly, from sub- + rapere to seize. First use: 15th century.


Vicarious – “Oh, Anna,” she said, her voice filled with lots of things – sympathy and worry, but also joy and maybe a vicarious twinge.
Adjective
a. Experienced at secondhand.
b. Occurring in an abnormal part of the body instead of the usual site involved in that function.
c. Suffered or done by one person as a substitute for another.
Origin: Latin vicarius, from vicis change, alternation, stead. First use: 1637


Garish – The trees were garish and overgrown, just like so much on this crazy, lush island.
Adjective
a. Tastelessly showy.
Origin: unknown. First use: 1545

Squelch – “That’s all the motivation I need” I said, squelching the last of my giggles.
Noun
a. A crushing remark
b. An electric circuit that cuts off a receiver when the signal becomes weaker than the noise.

Verb
a. Suppress or crush completely
b. Make a sucking sound
c. Walk through mud or mire
d. To compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition.
Origin: Unknown. First use: 1624

Lark – That made this dance a lark instead of a love song.
Noun

a. North American songbirds having a yellow breast.
b. A songbird that lives mainly on the ground in open country; has streaky brown plumage.
c. Any carefree episode.
d. Any of numerous predominantly Old world birds noted for their singing.

Verb
a. Play boisterously.

Origin: Middle English laveroc, laverke, from Old English lawerce; akin to Old High German lerihha lark. First use: before 12th century.


Curmudgeons – This place was for fishermen and oil-rig guys, truckers, off-the-gridders, and curmudgeons.

Noun
a. A crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas.

Origin: unknown. First use: 1568