1. BOOK CLUB By Marlena B

2. SUMMARY A few days ago, I went to a book club with a few people. We ate dinner, talked about the book we had all read, and played games. It was fun and I enjoyed going.

3. THE BOOK The book we all read was a book called Taking Flight. This book was the autobiography of the ballerina Macheala DePrince. Macheala was born in Sierra Leone, a country in Africa. When she was young, the country was in a war. The education system wasn’t working, so young people couldn’t get jobs, and therefor joined together and attacked the country. The people their called them “debils.” As a result of the war, both Macheala’s parents died. She was sent to an orphanage where she and her friend, Mia, along with the others were treated badly. Then, each girl got a American family who was adopting them and eventually went to go home with them. Machealla didn’t get a family but at then was adopted by Mia’s family! In America, Machealla and Mia were great friends and sisters, and Machealla took dance lessons and became a great ballerina.

4. WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT During the book club, we talked about some points in the book. One was Machealla’s influence by her childhood in Sierra Leone. When in America, her and Mia both were frightened by people wearing camaphloge prints and shouting men, because this reminded them of the debils. Also, the two mistreated their baby dolls because they were following the example of the people in their orphanage. Another was how ballet influenced her life. When Machealla was in the orphanage, she found a magazine with the cover having a picture of a ballerina on it. From then on she wanted to become a ballerina. Even when she faced racism and similar in the dancing world, she still became a ballerina. One more was how people treated her from Sierra Leone to America. Machealla had a disease called vitiligo, where one has dots on their skin a different color from their skin. In Sierra Leone, people called her a “devil child” for both this, and being intelligent. In America, no one noticed her spots and rewarded her for her intelligence.