13+reasons+why+period+4


 * Meeting: Week 1**- May 6th, 2011

=**Group Leader - Jess Van Saders (Person A)**=

1. On your group's wiki page, describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? -The main character of __Thirteen Reasons Why__ is a very quiet, yet kind boy by the name of Clay Jensen. He lives in a small town and was completely crushed when he found out that the girl he liked committed suicide. Frankly, Clay is not that interesting. He is mellow and just wants to understand why he's part of his crush's death. His "story" seems to be that his parents trust him greatly, but they're also flaky. However, we are drawn to the main character because like him, I would personally want to know why I was one of the reasons my crush killed him/herself.

=** Quotes - Jess Van Saders (Person B) **= //“I’m not saying which tape brings you into the story. But fear not, if you received this lovely little box, your name will pop up…I promise.” [Hannah]// -This quote demonstrates how Clay Jensen does have something to do with Hannah Baker’s death, even if it is the slightest point.
 * Page 7 (Cassette 1: Side A)**

//“A pause in her speech. I reach into my jacket and turn the volume up. She’s uncrinkling a piece of paper. Smoothing it out.” [Clay]// -This quote makes us feel that someone actually killed Hannah, not that she committed suicide. Also, this quote shows that she planned her entire speech out on the tapes, never takes pauses, or never says “um”, and Hannah did not want to say the next part of the tape. However, she does and this makes us think once more that someone is making her do this.
 * Page 41 (Cassette 1: Side B)**

//“I caught Alex to keep him from falling. I asked if he was okay, but he just ignored me, picked up his backpack, and hurried down the hall. Did I do something to piss him off, I wondered. I couldn’t think of anything.” [Clay]// -This quote tells us that Alex does realize that Clay Jensen does have something to do with Hannah’s “suicide” because he already got the tapes. He also realizes he was part of Hannah’s death. Alex soon realizes that Clay will get the tapes and understand why he didn’t talk to him.
 * Page 46 (Cassette 1: Side B)**

//“So why did I buy it? Was it only because Hannah used to buy candy from the same rack? And why does it matter?” [Clay]// -This quote gives off the vibe that Clay Jensen, the main character, that he actually cares about Hannah Baker, and not that he just wants to see why he was part of her death.
 * Page 51 (Cassette 1: Side B)**

//“So tell me, Jessica, which did you mean to do? Punch me, or scratch me? Because it felt like a little bit of both. Like you couldn’t really decide. And what was it you called me? Not that it matters, but just for the record. Because I was too busy lifting my hand and ducking-but you got me!-and I missed what you said.” [Hannah]// -This quote makes it seem that Jessica started to be rude to Hannah, and Hannah felt bullied. This is why Hannah drove her self to suicide. Also, Hannah felt that Jessica could have been someone she trusted greatly, after her best friend moved, but that was not the case.
 * Page 67 (Cassette 2: Side A)**

=**Questions - Julia Greenwald (Person C)**=

1) Who and where did Clay steal the walk men from? A: Clay stole the walk men from Tony’s car when he was helping his dad fix his car.  2) Why did the list Alex wrote make Hannah upset even though he complemented her? A: Hannah got upset by the list because people looked at her different and treated her different. 3) Why do you think Hannah was so mad when her principal was trying to make her be friends with Jessica? A: Hannah was mad because her and Jessica were too similar and eventually they got into an argument.  4) Why do you think there were so many false rumors about what happened with Hannah and Justin? A: Before Hannah’s friend Kat moved Justin was Kats boyfriend and everyone thought that was kind of strange. This caused there to be man rumors about what happened in the park with Hannah and Justin. 5) Why do you think that Clay has no idea what he did to Hannah to be involved with these tapes? A: Clay doesn’t realize that all of the things that everyone on these tapes did to Hannah left scars and Clay must have done something to Hannah that affected her enough to take away her own life.

=**Group Summary - Stephen Bart (Person D)**=

Today our reading group we discussed how Clay Jensen does have something to do with her death, even though he doesn’t think he did. Its very odd that she says she knows that the people will get these tapes even though she is dead. So there has to be someone watching all the people that are related to the tape. We think that someone drove her into the mindset to kill her self. She had this whole speech planed out, but before she could tell about it she killed herself. Because of what this person has been doing to her, and that same person is watching over the people that receive the tapes, we believe that is her situation so far. Clay doesn’t realize what he did to Hannah to be involved in these tapes. As he goes through these tapes we realized that all these people have hurt Hannah in some way. So clay must not realize that the littlest things you do can affect a person dramatically. When she was new to school everyone already had assumptions about her. Over time she built a reputation and she didn’t want people to have about her. She was just a normal new kid.


 * Meeting: Week 2-**May 13th, 2011

=**Group Leader - Julia Greenwald (Person A)**= 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the type of language that your book contains. Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why?
 * -**The book we are reading is definitely at a high school level. However, middle school students would not have trouble either with the concept to the extent that they have to understand who is narrating at all times. This is because the narrator switches on/off. __Thirteen Reasons Why__ is a "medium" book to read. In other words, it's not hard to read, but not easy to understand. Also, it is extremely conversational, due to the fact that there are so many unanswered questions the group has. This book is written at an eighth grade+ level because it has some "interesting" content that might be too hard to comprehend in lower grades and younger reading levels.

=**Quotes - Stephen Bart (Person B)**=

-She thought her and Courtney and her were becoming good friends till she found out that she was more like her ride to the party then her friend.
=**Questioner - Jess Van Saders (Person C)**=

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**a.** Clay got mad at Marcus because Marcus wanted to throw rocks at Tyler’s window to make him pay for the “Peeping Tom” act he did to Hannah. However, Clay knew that that was a mean thing to do and that everyone on the tapes, including Marcus, was just as responsible for Hannah’s death as Tyler was. ======

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**a.** Skye was making him extremely uncomfortable because we believe she knows something about Hannah’s death. However, she could still have the feeling that Clay still likes her, and she just happened to the encounter awkward. On the other hand, Skye could also know about the tapes somehow. ======

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**a.** There are several different logics of why Hannah could have given in. One is because she was just so angry at Courtney’s unfriendly behavior that she didn’t even care. Also, it could have been because Tyler did do her the favor of taking the picture of the two for the yearbook even though he used to stalk her. ======

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**a.** We believe Hannah went into that whole explanation due to the fact that she wanted the reader and the listener (of the tape) to understand that Tyler went through such trouble to stalk her at night and take pictures of her. However, the description that Clay gives us is that her voice is a little shaky when explaining this. Therefore, that makes us believe that she thinks she should have listened to her parents and that none of this would have ever happened. ======

=**Group Summary - Julia Greenwald (Person D)**=

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Our group discussed how we think that Clay may be the last person to receive the tapes therefore he will have to listen to all of the tapes and keep them. We also discussed how we think the girl Sky Miller on the buss knows something or has something to do with Hannah’s tapes because she wouldn’t make Clay feel so uncomfortable for no reason. We think that the tapes about Courtney will destroy her because she has such a good reputation and wants everyone to like her. Hannah was upset about Courtney because Courtney just used her like she uses everyone else. Hannah was happy about making a new friend until she realized she isn’t really important to Courtney. This party had a lot of firsts for Hannah, which made her feel uncomfortable and upset. We can tell that she isn’t good with change, and she trusts people to quickly. ======

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In the beginning of the book Clay wasn’t sure what he did to Hannah to be on her tapes but as we go through the book he is getting more and more nervous so we think that in the back of his mind he knows what he did. That is why he can’t stop listening to the tapes because he just wants to get it over with and move on. He looks for answers by going to the places with the stars on the map but that always just makes him more upset. We think that Tyler went to so much trouble to spy on Hannah because there were so many rumors about her and he thought that he could find out more and stop being such and outsider. In the end this just made people call him a peeping Tom and through rocks at his window. ======

**Meeting: Week 3**-May 20th 2011

= Group Leader - Stephen Bart (A) = 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the mood or tone of your book.What is the overriding emotion of this book? What examples back up your claim? -The mood/tone of this book is very scary, eerie, and depressing. It is sad to know that so many people had to do with one's death. Hannah even says that "suicide" is a disgusting word, but yet she continued to commit it anyway. It's also depressing that people would be so mean to Hannah. For example, Zach Dempsey took away her notes from the Peer Communication program class.

=Quotes - Julia Greenwald (B)= 1) “ Eventually, she said the words that ran through my mind the rest of that night: You don’t need to watch out for me Clay.” (Asher p. 148)

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2) “That’s the note. Word for word. And I know it’s word for word because I wrote it dozens of times before delivering it. I’d write it, throw it away, write it, crumple it up, throw it away.” (Asher p. 170) ======

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3) “ Thirty minutes is a long time to wait for a Valentines date. Especially inside Rosie’s Diner by yourself. It also gives you plenty of time to wonder what happened. Did he forget? Because he seemed sincere.” (Asher p. 139) ======

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4) “I’m sure the school had psychologists come in loaded with handouts, telling you what to look for in students who might be considering… Another pause. No. Like I said before, I can’t say it.” (Asher p. 164) ======

-Hannah needed those notes to give her hope. They were the only thing keeping her alive and Zach took them away.
=Questioner - Stephen Bart (C)= > A: He was mad cause he lost his bet about asking her out and she stood him up. A: she stood him up because she was so upset about Markus she didn’t want to talk to anyone or trust anyone.
 * 1) Why did Zach steal Hanna’s last hope?
 * 1) Why do you think she stood Zach up?

A: she didn’t want to but with everything that’s happened to her she did and no one noticed her warning signs and of someone did I think this could have been stopped.
 * 1) Why do you think she committed suicide? Was it because no one helped her or that everyone did something to her?

A: They don’t care about him very much or what he does.
 * 1) Do you think clay’s family cares about him?

5. Do you think Anna’s everyday life experiences caused her to have this mind set? Do you think anyone noticed her warning signs? A: I believe her every day life did influence her in her decision and since no one saw her warning signs she went threw with it. It could have been prevented if some people in clouding Mrs. Bradley who gave out a sheet talking about the warning signs, I don’t get how she never saw any of them on Anna.

=Group Summary - Jess Van Saders (D)= Our group discussion consisted of many unanswered questions due to the fact of how Jay Asher wrote __13 Reasons Why__. Also, we discussed that Hannah didn’t commit suicide because people were mean to her or said things behind her back. We realize that she committed suicide because no one was there to give her the hope and friendship she needed at the time. She even says in the book that nobody saw the warning signs. Additionally, our group had the suspicion that someone made Hannah records these tapes that are currently in Clay’s possession. However, we have come to the conclusion that recording those tapes was her way of telling the people on the tapes what they did wrong. We think that she was too afraid to tell them face-to-face on what they did that hurt her. Furthermore, we think that Clay is the last person on the tapes. This means that he has in burned in his memory that he made Hannah Baker commit suicide. We also have come to the conclusion that Mrs. Bradley, the Peer Communications teacher, did not want to talk about suicide. We think that Mrs. Bradley and the others thought it was just a joke that someone was playing when a random letter showed up saying "I'm going to commit suicide." This is because she did not want to influence other kids. We also believe that Mrs. Bradley does not realize it herself that Hannah was going to commit suicide, and she did have all the warning signs, too.

**Meeting: Week 4**-May 27th 2011

=Group Leader - Jess Van Saders (A)= 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the themes and images that your book contains. What are some of the images that are used? What do they seem to represent? Why do you think the author uses these images to convey his or her meaning? -The images/theme used in __13 Reasons Why__ are that society (rumors) always corrupts people such as making them believe false events even if the person tells them that they are wrong. Also, the theme seems to represent high school students and their evil ways. The author uses this to convey his meanings so that the reader understands how mean people really are. =Quotes - Jess Van Saders (B)=

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//‘ “But it shouldn’t have. I was there for you, Hannah. You could have reached out but you didn’t. You chose this. You had a choice and you pushed me away. I would have helped you. I wanted to help you.” ‘// ======

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-This quote is saying that Clay wanted to help Hannah. However, every time he tried to, she would just push him away. Finally, he got the message that she didn’t want his help, and he just let it go. Then, she had no one and committed suicide. ======

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-This quote tells how Hannah knew nothing good was ever going to come out of her life, and since the incident with Clay; she might as well take her life. She was a lonely and miserable person. She even knew that nothing would be happy ever again. ====== =Questioner - Julia (C)=

1) Why do you think Clay was on Hannah's list of tapes if he didn't even do anything wrong? A: Hannah felt like she owed it to Clay to tell him why she asked him to leave and why she got so upset that one night.

2) Why did Hannah stay in the closet when she could have stopped what was happening on the other side of the door? A: Hannah was sick of always helping others and having no one care about her. She did not have the strength to stop what was happening.

>> A: Tony never did anything to Hannah and she trusted that he would do the job as she asked. >> >> A: Hannah knew what it felt like to have people talk about you and even though she didn't like what Jenny did, she kept it a secret. >> A: If Clay had stayed with Hannah in that room then he could have saved her. She would finally have someone that cared about her and listened to her.
 * 1) When Clay asked Tony why Hannah picked Tony to hold the tapes Tony didn't really know. Why do you think Tony was picked?
 * 1) Why do you think Hannah kept it a secret that it was Jenny that knocked the sign down?
 * 1) If Clay didn't leave Hannah like she asked him to do you think Clay could have saved Hannah.

=Group Summary - Stephen (D)= Our group discussed how Clay really could have helped Hannah from committing suicide by staying in the room with her that night. Also, we do realize and concluded that Hannah was the one who kept pushing Clay away each time. Therefore, Clay really does NOT belong on the tapes. Tony, Clay's friend, sparked up an interesting conversation. This was about how Tony kept track of the tape sending. Additionally, we discussed how Clay should have saw the warning signs and he didn't tell anyone to stop Hannah from doing what she did. Tony should have saw the warning signs, too. He knew that she was going to do something bad, but he didn't do anything about it. Tony and Clay just let it happen. Therefore, the group has come to the conclusion that both boys were pretty irresponsible about the situation going on with Hannah. Finally, the group closed it's discussion by predicting what happens next. For example, we believe that Clay is so upset he's actually on the tapes, heard his story, he will commit suicide as well.