Reader's Journal #13- Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid by Lawrence Fisher and Tanya Nicole Kach

#13                         Reader’s Journal                         11/21/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            This week I finished the book, Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid, by Tanya Nicole Kach and Lawrence Fisher.

A passage that stood at to me the most was:

“When Tom Hose was informed that Krimm had been found dead, he did not seem surprised and said, ‘You knew that was coming.’ This stuck me as an unusually strange and cold reaction to learning about a death. Tom Hose hated Kimberlie Krimm because of all of her problems at Cornell and because of my troublesome interactions with her sister. One evening, after he had been drinking, Tom Hose even described to me the configuration of Krimm’s dead body as it was discovered in the cemetery. These details were especially disturbing, because no details had been reported at the time. He claimed that Krimm’s lifeless body was found propped up on a hillside amidst overgrown grass and shrubbery. He further claimed that Krimm was slouched over her knees, which were bent inward and up against her chest. He went on to describe Krimm’s panties being drawn down to her ankles. According to official reports, the manner and time of Krimm’s death were undetermined because her body was so badly decomposed when she was discovered by authorities.” (KINDLE)

I chose this passage because it made me realize what type of a person Tom Hose really was. Before reading this I believed he was crazy for abducting Tanya, but this made me realize he was an insane and disgusting monster! It is significant to the book because it shows just one of the many horrid things Tom Hose did in his life.

I used various before, during, and after reading strategies. Before reading I reviewed my last reader’s journal and made sure I understood everything up to where I was in the book. I also made predictions. I predicted that Tanya would be discovered or run away for Tom Hose. While reading I wrote down any new vocabulary I found in the book. I also checked if I could confirm my prediction however it was mentioned in the last few chapters; therefore, one after reading strategy I used was to confirm my predictions and I was correct. I also though about if any of the nonfiction elements had changed but realized they hadn’t.

The genre of this book is memoir because it is a true story about a “memory” of someone’s life. The main idea is a girl named Tanya Nicole Kach was abducted when she was fourteen for over a decade. This main idea is implied because it is not clearly stated in the book and you must read between the lines to figure it out. If I had to rename the book, I would call it The Abduction of Tanya Nicole Kach because it is the main idea of the story. Some details that support the main idea are, “When she was found dead, Anna Marie Callahan had been the same age as I was when Tom Hose abducted me, she resembled my appearance, and she had been subject to the authority of Tom Hose because he worked at Cornell.” is factual, “Hiding me in his bedroom closet allowed Tom Hose to open his usually locked bedroom door.” Is factual, and “For the entire time of my captivity, I never dared to watch television or listen to the radio…” is factual. The essential message is that a young girl, Tanya Nicole, was abducted by a man name Thomas John Hose. A cause and effect from the story was that Tanya Nicole ran away from her home, so the effect was her ten years of captivity.  One thing Tanya compared and contrasted throughout the book was how she felt with her dad and step-mom, which was useless and unloved, to how she felt with Tom Hose, which was cared about and adored.

 I identified five text features in this book. The text features I indentified were title, subtitle, illustration, headings, and subheadings. The title, Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid, helped me understand what the book would be about. The subtitle, A Tanya Nicole Kach Story, helped me identify whom the story would be about. The illustration on the cover, which was spilled milk, to me, represented how crazy Tanya’s life was. The headings, which were the chapter numbers, helped me know what chapter I was on and finally, the subheadings, which were the names of the chapters, helped me predict what each chapter would be about.

The pattern of organization in this book is chronological/time order because it is written in the order of which things occurred in Tanya’s life. The author’s purpose was to inform the readers about the harsh experiences Tanya encountered before and during her abduction. The author’s perspective is subjective to whoever or whatever Tanya does and doesn’t like because the book is written in first person point of view.

            I identified many types of figurative language in this book. The tone is informative and showing sympathy. The mood is sympathetic. I found the following sentence to be an understatement. “It was scary to be in that closet.” I would think it would be horrifying, depressing, terrifying… not “scary”. “When he finally let me out, I felt as free as a dog.” This is a simile because it is comparing how Tanya felt to the freedom of a dog using the word “as”. “‘Do I look stupid, Tanya?’” This is a rhetorical question because Tom Hose said this to Tanya to make a point. It is a question people do not answer but is just said to prove something.

To check the validity and accuracy I went to three sources. Two sources were the websites, http://www.zimbio.com/Tanya+Nicole+Kach and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/24/national/24missing.html. They each showed different articles, however both stating exactly what it said in the book. The last source I went to was my father. I asked him if he had ever heard of Tanya Nicole Kach and he had. He told me all about her abduction from which he had heard on the news when it took place. By checking all these sources I was able to conclude that the book was accurate and Tanya Nicole’s story was true.

Some new words I encountered while reading this book were pacified, meticulous, deviation, inextricably, and alien. To find out what all these words meant, I used context clues while reading the sentences they were in. For example, “The risk was limited to a few hours, and it pacified me.” I replaced pacified with excited and frightened. Since these two words are almost opposites I looked in the dictionary to find the exact meaning. The word pacified means to put a stop to anger, agitation, and excitement. “Hose was meticulous in this endeavor.” I replaced meticulous with worried, smart, careful. The correct definition of meticulous is, showing great attention to detail; careful and precise. “The slight deviation that allowed me out of the closet on Christmas Eve 2000 was as astonishing as it was baffling.” I replaced deviation with the word surprise; however, I was completely wrong. The definition of deviation is, the action of departing from an established course. “And survival, for me, was inextricably linked to Tom Hose with
deep psychological chains that it would take many more years for me to break.” It was extremely hard for me to replace this word but the definition is, impossible to separate. “This all the more depicts how alien the experience was for me.” Although I know what an alien is, I could tell that the author wasn’t talking about a green space creature in this sentence. I replaced alien with the words new and foreign, because the noun alien, is from out of this world and is considered foreign. The exact definition is, belonging to a foreign country or nation.

 I made text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections while reading this book. A text-to-self connection is that like Tanya Nicole, I am an only child. I can relate this book to Jaycee Lee Duggard’s book, A Stolen Life, because they are both about young girls who were abducted for a long period of time. This book reminds me of the world because abductions take place almost every day and kids mistreated by their families.

Although I am sorry for Tanya, I am having a hard time understanding why she didn’t try to escape earlier in her abduction. However, I admire Tanya for her braveness and for her strong willed personality that is shown throughout the book.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book! I think most teenagers and anyone older would like this book, as well. The writing of this book got better as I read but I still rate it a 9 out of 10 stars because the book wasn’t as well written as other books I have read, but I enjoyed reading Tanya’s story.

 Sincerely,

Bailey Levy 802