10/11/11 Readers Journal #7
Dear Mrs. Zrihen,
This week I started reading the book, Lady Gaga by Celebrity Books. When I was looking at this book on my kindle, I noticed this company has written many biographies about famous celebrities. They have written about Lil Wayne, Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift, and even Lebron James. I decided to read Lady Gaga’s biography because the company that wrote it seemed excellent to read.
The quote that stood out to me the most was:
“Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta…. “
This quote was significant to the story because it is the actual name of Lady Gaga. I chose it because before this book, I had no idea what her name was.
I used many before, during, and after reading strategies throughout the course of reading this book. Before reading I skimmed and scanned for any text features. I also read the reviews to make sure I would enjoy this book. While reading, I used post-its to write down any new vocabulary and nonfiction elements I identified. I also used context clues to help find the meaning of words I didn’t understand. I haven’t finished, but after reading the section, I predicted what would be included in the book using my prior knowledge of Lady Gaga. I also, thought about all the new vocabulary I had found and the nonfiction elements and wrote my reader’s journal.
The genre of this book is nonfiction and the subgenre is biography because it is a book about someone’s life written by another person. The main idea is Lady Gaga. This main idea is stated because it is the title of the book and its clearly mentioned. Some supporting details I found to support this main idea were “Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28th, 1986), better known as her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American pop singer-songwriter.” This detail is factual because it can be proven. Another factual detail that supports the main idea is “[Gaga] began performing in the rock music scene of New York City’s Lower East Side in 2003…” The last factual detail I identified was “[Gaga’s] album reached number one on the record charts of six countries…” The topic is Lady Gaga’s life.
The essential message of the text is that Lady Gaga is a pop singer-songwriter. One cause and effect I identified was because she released her two songs “Bad Romance” and “Telephone”, she was able to go on her second global headlining concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour. In this book, I compared and contrasted her early childhood to her life now. Some comparisons are that she was always interested in music. She learned to play piano at the age of four and began performing at open mike stands at the age of fourteen. Now, she’s a worldwide pop sensation! I contrasted her money situation from her early childhood and her life now. When she was younger, she didn’t grow up in a wealthy family; however, now she makes millions of dollars.
While reading I identified five text features. I identified a photograph, a title, headings, subheadings, and a chart. The photograph helps readers get a clear image of who or what they are reading about. The title usually tells the reader the main idea of the book. The headings and subheadings help the reader understand what each section and chapter will be about. Charts usually give the readers information they need throughout the book. The pattern of organization is chronological order because it explains the life of Lady Gaga in order fro when she was born. The author’s purpose is to inform readers of Lady Gaga’s life. The author’s perspective is unbiased. The author’s point of view is third person. It was hard to identify figurative/descriptive language because the author was being very exact and clearly stated the facts about Lady Gaga.
One of the text features actually helped me identify the validity and accuracy of this book. It stated that Lady Gaga’s website was www.ladygaga.com. This was very accurate information. I also used prior knowledge about Lady Gaga to help me check the validity and accuracy.
The new vocabulary words I identified while reading were “unparalleled”, “infantile”, “thespian”, “studious”, and “eccentric”. I used context clue #5, which is inferences. Unparalleled means not equaled. The word infantile means childish. Thespian is another word for an actor. Studious means to be careful and cautious while studying or in school. Eccentric means a person slightly strange.
I made many connections to the book. Text-to-self connections I made were from me to Lady Gaga. At an early age, we both had a love for music. Of course, I’m not going to be a pop star like she is; however, I love to listen and play music. I related this book to other biographies I read, like Helen Keller. They are similar because they both explain someone’s life. This book relates to the world because Lady Gaga is a world sensation and almost everyone across the globe has heard of her.
All in all, I love reading the biography of Lady Gaga. I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of hers and rate it a 10 out of 10 stars.
Sincerely,
Bailey Levy 802
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