painted+bird


 * Week 1: Kevin Baharyan - Summary**

This first meeting was a pretty good one. Jake and Dan had to do questions, Justin was the discussion director, Danny brought the food and I was the summarizer of the meeting. We had a successful conversation about the book and its characters. Everyone seemed to like the book because it was mysterious and we want to know what's going to happen next. For the food, Danny brought sour cream and onion chips as well as coke. We traded some of it for hostess cupcakes and pretzel sticks. This week was a successful one just like all of them.


 * Questions - Jake Linden**

1.Do you think the kid will ever get reunited with his family? Yes, I think that at the end of the book he will find his family and things will go back to normal. 2. Do you think something bad will happen to every single person that he stays with. Considering that he had very bad luck with the first few people he stayed with I think that nothing will change and bad stuff will keep happening. 3. Do you think the boy has matured after all the of the bad things that of happened to him. Yes, I think the boy has grown up a lot and has gotten used to his new, harsh world that he lives in. 4. Do you think that an average boy would be dead from all the beating and abuse that this boy has taken in the book. I think that a normal kid would not be able to handle all the pain and stress he has. 5. Do you think he will ever get out of those villages and find his way back to a real city. I think that soon he will get to a new, better place.


 * Questions - Dan Chiriani**

1.Why did the boy’s parents leave him with a stranger? They wanted to protect him from the Nazis 2.Why did the boy not leave Marta’s house even though she was cruel to him? The boy had nowhere else to go. Everyday he waited for his parents to find him 3. When Marta died, why did the boy think she was still alive? He has experienced death before and did not know what it was 4 Why do you thing the boy was put on sale for slavery? He was vulnerable because he had no family of his own. 5. Why did Olga take the boy in? She needed help with healing the sick

So far in the first 1/5 of the book, there is one main character. So far the boy does not have a name so he simply goes by “the boy.” He is a gypsy in World War II in Europe. His parents didn't want him to get hurt so they sent him to a lady to take care of him. But, the lady died. So the kid ran away and lived somewhere else. But, the person he lived with then died as well. And this was an ongoing process, everywhere he went and who he lived with died. As of right now, there were no characters that I do not like.
 * Discussion Director- Justin Schwarz**

1.Do you think that the kid will ever get reunited with his family? Yes I think sometime in the story he will find of or hear about his family. 2.Do you think something bad will happen to every single person that he stays with. Considering that he had very bad luck with the first few people he stayed with I think that nothing will change and bad stuff will keep happening. 3. Do you think the boy is too young to withstand everything that has happened to him? I think the age they said he was makes this story a little to unrealistic. 4. Do you think that this boy has gone through too much to be realistically alive? I think that a normal kid would not be able to handle all the pain and stress he has. 5. Do you think he will ever get out all the bad areas he has been in and get to a real city? I think that soon he will get to a new, better place.
 * Week 2: Questions- Jake Linden**


 * Summarizer- Justin Schwarz**

This week the assignment for the class was to complete reading the second fifth of our book, The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. Our jobs this week was for Dan Chiriani to bring in the food, Danny Giunta to be the discussion leader, Kevin and Jake to come up with five questions and me to summarize this weeks discussion. We started off by eating the Sour Cream and Onion chips that Dan Chiriani brought in for the first 15 minutes. Then we discussed the 5 questions from Kevin and Jake. And finished off by discussing what went on during this part of the book. Overall this week was a good group discussion.

1. What did Lekh tell the boy to do after he packed his knapsack? Keep setting new snares and catching new birds. 2. In chapter 6, what did the carpenter and his wife say about the boy? That his black hair would attract lightning to the farm. 3. What was, apparently, the best medicine for a bellyache? A dozen lice kneaded in dough, along with human and horse urine, a large amount of manure, a dead spider, and a pinch of cat excrement. 4. In chapter 8, what did the man ask the boy "time and again"? If he was a Jewish or Gypsy orphan. 5. What was one invention the boy wanted to make? A fuse for the human body that would change old skin to new, and change the color of hair and eyes. **
 * Questions- Kevin Baharyan

**Discussion director**- Danny Giunta

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 * The language of our book is very explanatory. It gets into detail and makes it easy for the reader to understand. There is not much conversation that occurs within the story. Most of the words in the story are not challenging but you may come across some words that are unfamiliar. I believe this book was written for a high school level, but it is an easy read for them. The language in The Painted Bird is not confusing and it is mostly easy to understand. **======


 * Discussion Director** - Jake Linden

The mood throughout the entire story is depressing and strange. No matter where he goes there is death, destruction, rape, and murder. Often the person who takes him into their home and takes care of him then dies somehow. Often the boy is watching at a distance while the person they live with is being tortured and murdered. There is also rape and torture in the book that make it very strange. During certain points a grown lady forces a little kid to do "things" to her. Also there is some bestiality involving goats. If you put that all together it makes it a very strange and depressing book.


 * Questions-** Danny Giunta

1) How did you feel when the Russians killing the Germans? Happy because they brutally attacked people of the village.

2) Why do you think the boy worked at the church even though he was Jewish? Nobody knew he was Jewish and it helped convince others that he was not Jewish.

3) Why do you think the farmer made him hang from the seeling while the dogs tried to kill him? The farmer hated the boy and wanted to see him fall and die.

4) Why was he wondering around in the woods? He wanted to enter the village without being seen.

5) Who transferred news into the village? The men who worked at the train station.


 * Questions-Justin Schwarz**

1.How did the boy escape from the village?- He realized everyone was wearing heavy boots while he was barefoot. So, he took a rock, smashed it over one of the boys faces, and took off running across the fields and into the woods. 2.What kept the boy from going into the villages?- The sounds of gunshots, explosions, and people screaming meant Germans or partisans were nearby, so he kept wandering. 3.What encouraged the peasant to take him into his home?- The boy told the peasant he would milk his cows, clean the stable, take the beast to the pasture, chop wood, set snares for game, and cast spells against humans and animals that were ill. 4.Why were the cabins in the village built back to back?- Because the villagers wanted to save from having to build an extra wall. 5.Why did the boys master cut the boys hair?- Because he said the boy looked like a Gypsy with his long hair and he was anxious that the Germans might take him away. So, he shaved the boys head.

This week we finished 3/5 of the book, The Painted Bird. This third meeting was a pretty good one even though Kevin forgot food. He forgot his food at home. So instead of eating the first thing we did was listen to Justin and Danny's questions. This took up about half the period. The second thing we did was help Jake with the Discussion Director. We all talked about how much we enjoyed the book and its many characters. Our favorite character is still the boy. Everyone seemed to enjoy the book because it was very mysterious and very different then any other book we read. By the end of the period we asked groups for food. We had a fun and successful book club.
 * Summarizer-Dan Chiriani**


 * Questions-Dan Chiriani**

1. Why is the boy mad being the German officer’s apprentice? He is mad of the killing of his Jewish friend. 2. Why did Garbos beat the boy for no reason/ Garbos hated the boy because he was a Gypsy 3. In what ways did Garbos torture the boy? Garbos decided to make the boy drop the missal during an important moment in the service. He then gets tossed into a large manure pit for that. 4. Why did the village give the boy to Markar. They were both shunned from the village. 5. Why do you think the boy is so un-lucky We believe it is because the boy does not fit in with other people. This is because he is a wonderer and was never thought right from wrong.


 * Discussion Director- Kevin Baharyan**

The boy's jacket represents the kindness of the Russian soldiers when they took care of him when he was hurt. The woods represent shelter for the boy that are better than city life with violence. The birds represent freedom.


 * Questions- Justin Schwarz**

1.What was the name of the farmer the boy was handed over to? Makar 2.What was the name of the farmers son? Anton 3.What was the name of the farmers daughter? Ewka 4.How did Ewka feel about the boy? How do you know? Ewka was in love with the boy. You know this because in the story it says the Ewka was always caressing he boy, kissing him on the cheek and face, and other things like that. 5.What were some of the boys dreams about? Growing up to be a tall, handsome man, fair-skinned, blue-eyed, with hair like pale autumn leaves. Or growing up to become a German officer in a tight, black uniform.

This week was a very quiet one. There was not much to talk about. Jake brought potato chip and ice tea. The food was great. Justin and Dan C were questions. Kevin was theme. The theme question was hard for us to answer because we couldn’t think of anything. This book is good so far and we will continue to read.
 * Summarizer- Danny Giunta**


 * Discussion Director-Dan Chiriani**

I thought the The Painted Bird was an good book and I believe anyone who likes an adventure book would love this book. This book was very interesting. It was very violent and creepy. There is a lot of gore and torture in this book. If you like reading about WWll this is not the book to read. It is more about the people living in Europe and how they were affected by the war. The book is about a boy who travels around WWII Europe trying to find a descent home. At times this book was very confusing. I do not believe this should be on the summer reading book list because it is to in inappropriate.

1) Did the end on the story surprise you? No, it was pretty predictable.
 * Questions- Danny Giunta**

2) Would you suggest this book to others? If you enjoy a gory book you may enjoy this story.

3) Does the title have a strong meaning in the book? No, it was not very important.

4) What happens to the boy at the end of the story? The boy found his parents.

5) Would you change the ending if you could? No, I enjoyed the ending.


 * Summarizer- Jake Linden**

Today Justin brought in food. He brought in delicious sour cream and onion chips, like we eat every week, and also cool ranch Doritos. He also got all of us large blue Gatorade that I finished in the first five minutes of class. Then we had a very intellectual discussion on this book and how it affected our lives. Once we finished that we all went to posting our stuff and the website and after Danny finished i posted this, that I'm typing right now.


 * Questions- Kevin Baharyan**

1. What was the first book he read? And who did he read it with? The book was called Childhood and he read it with Gavrila. 2. How did Gavrila return from Party meetings? Hoarse and exhausted 3. Who was looking after the boy ever since he entered the regimental hospital? Mitka 4. What’s the name of the Soviet newspaper? Pravada 5. What was the name of the boy’s new friend? The Silent One