In the book, "The Red Pyramid," by Rick Riordan, the non main characters interact and influence the main characters very much. For example, the dad of the two main characters travels with Carter, one main character, and Carter does not go to school. However, Carter is still very smart and his dad teaches him (his dad is an archaeologist). Since Carter does not go to school, he doesn't have any friends. I think that Carter would be a completely different person if he went to school; he would have some friends, and he would also have better social skills.

     On the other hand, there is Sadie. Sadie lives with her and Carter's grandparents. Unlike Carter, Sadie does go to school, and is apparently very popular. Since Sadie and Carter don't usually see each other, then they don't get along very well because they are very very different and hardly know each other. Also, Sadie barely knows their dad too. Carter and his dad are only allowed to see Sadie one day a year.

     Since Sadie lives in Britain with her grandparents since she was six, she has developed an accent. This accent makes her seem very pompous and unlikeable. Carter is a very humble person who does not have an accent, so he seems very likeable and normal. I think that another reason Carter doesn't get along well with Sadie is because of her accent. Later on in the book though, Carter and Sadie grow closer to each other, but only because they are both in harms way and they have to work together to save their dad. The police think that their dad is a terrorist who blew up a museum, when it was only a mythical magic thing.

NF Reading Response

    In the article, “Czar Putin?” By Patricia Smith, the author wants the reader to know that Russia’s current president has a lot of power much like an old Russian type of ruler; a Czar. Smith shows this through using quotes from Putin himself and photos of him riding shirtless on a horse. A line in the article that made me think was were it said that the U.S.’s relations with Russia were as bad as they had been during the Cold War. This line made me think about how there could be another cold war. This is very alarming to me since I live here in the U.S. Also, a subheading in the article is, “A New Cold War?”
    The word, “war,” in the line about a new Cold War made me feel kind of sick because I really wouldn’t like another war. Also, a quote from Putin says, “we are ready to take up any challenge and win.” This made me feel even more alarmed because this would mean that Russia would not stop at anything to win, but it also made me feel bad for Putin because Russia has a low population and the U.S. would Probably destroy Russia, considering the fact that we have one of the biggest military systems in the world (hopefully nobody from Russia is going to read this). Some textual evidence that supports the claim that Putin is strong like a Czar is when it says, “87 percent of Russians support Putin and his policies.” More evidence is when it says that he likes to show off his judo skills.
    This article relates to many people around the world because Russia is a very powerful country. If the U.S. and Russia went to war, it would probably be the end of the world because they would both destroy each other and everything that surrounds them. Considering the fact that there are billions of people who live on this planet; having a war would be a very bad idea. I think this because I really would like to be able to be alive and enjoy the finer things in life, such as steak. Also, there would be no steak or anything if we nuked this planet.