Historical Fiction Book Report Stephen Zhang
2/2/05
By William Durbin
I think The Journal of Otto Peltonen
(historical fiction) is better than historical nonfiction because this type of
book is not about actual real people.
So if they die it doesn’t mean that that individual really died right
then. In the book, Otto got his thumb
smashed but it really didn’t happen to Otto because this book is fiction. Also this book is better because the author
can put some imagination in it to make it more interesting, such as you can
combine two different places and put them together to make one. In fact one copper mine is in Michigan, and
one iron ore mine is in Minnesota. That
is why I think this book is better than historical nonfiction book.
I liked this book because it taught me a lot of things about long ago. I think that when Otto’s family buys a farm is the happiest part in the book because life would finally be easier for them. I think the saddest part is when Otto’s family has to leave Finland to go to America, because Helena cried for a long time afterwards. I would have left out some of the deaths in the mine because the accidents were getting nasty. In one accident a guy died by getting his head cut off by a mine machine and another time one guy got crushed by lots of heavy metals falling on him. I didn’t find any part confusing because the book gave a lot of information about the immigrants and mines.
On May 2, 1905 Otto, 14 years old his two sisters,
and his mom left from Finland to go to America. His father was already there to start a house before they got
there. Now the reason for traveling to
America was because they needed money and land. Their dad worked in a mine but still only got about $1.50 a day,
and still paid the expenses for the tools.
Otto started to work in the mine too, because the family needed more
money.
They joined a union to try to get better pay and
better treatment. Finally Otto’s father
stopped working in the mine because he started making toys to sell, but Otto
kept working in the mine. After two
years, they bought a farm. They bought it for $250, which was cheap. It took quite a long time to move in though
because the farm was not close. They
didn’t have as hard a life from then on.
Otto could stop working in the mine.
Many people from Finland land left to go to America
from 1900-1920. They left because of
Religious Freedom, Economic Opportunity, and Fear of Conscription. The Finnish
soon started a strike on the mines because the pay for mining was very
low. Many people died during the
strike.
The mines did break the strike eventually but instead of giving everyone a fifty-cent increase of salary they paid $250,000 to break the strike. The Finnish mostly got through things by getting help from neighbors. There are many facts of the Finnish and I have the important ones.
Book: (historical fiction) The Journal of
Otto Peltonen
Creative Section
Dear
Mr. Durbin,
I thought your book was good in many ways. First of all, I think that I learned a lot
from your book. For example, I now am
happy to be living the way I am even though I may not be the happiest person in
the world. I think that the best part
of your book was when the Peltonen’s got the farm. I think that the worst part of the book was when the guy got hit
and dragged by a train twenty feet.
I have got a few questions. One: Why did you put so many deaths in your
book? Two: Have other people written to
you and said they didn’t like this book?
Three: Why did you choose to write about a Finnish boy as opposed
to any other immigrant? The final
question is this: Did you enjoy writing
this book? Thank you for your time if
you answer this letter.
Your
Reader,
Stephen
Zhang