Hana

Letter to Mrs Hatchet  

Dear Mrs Hatchet, 

Before you read this story I want to tell you about Hana. She is a very imaginative little girl. I know she has been through a rough patch, but this is almost certainly a trick to try and annoy me. She is a very disobedient child who deserves to be punished. As you are the principal of this school, the responsibility falls to you. As her teacher I cannot do anything. This is a good piece of writing but hardly the sort of thing an eleven year old would write for a memoir (the memoir is for a school assignment. You will obviously understand my anguish once you have read it). 

Yours truly, 

Miss Milady 

The Memoir 

I don’t remember any of it. My real mother, the brother who had saved my life, or if I had any other siblings. I don’t know my father, or my grandparents. I don’t know what religion my family were. I don’t know what it is like to be a kid. Ever since I was little my life has been... not great. It started when I was a baby and my brother gave me to a stranger on a lifeboat in the hope it would save my life. And it did. What followed was a long journey to Greece. It wasn’t that far away, but the boat was steered off course. Eventually lifeguards found us and brought us in. I was raised in a beautiful country and had a lovely home. My mother was kind, if distant, so I had a happy childhood. 

 Well, not really. Shortly before I turned six, my mother died. I don’t know what it was, but I think it may have been intentional. She wasn’t very well. After that mishap, a policeman and his wife adopted me. That was TERRIBLE. It was like been raised by the devil, himself. I spent three miserable years there. They were cruel and didn’t care whether I lived or died. I was so miserable, but I didn’t dare turn them in. I was a kid with a bad track record. Chances were I would spend the rest of my life there. As I got older it got worse, the beatings increased and the verbal abuse was really bad. I got so scared that I turned them in. By then I was nine. 

 Finally a kind old woman adopted me after three months in a home. The home was nice but loud and crowded. It was a great relief for my ears. Her name was Lillieth Herring. She was the closest thing to a grandmother I ever had. However I was not so lucky with school. I spent two years being bullied and treated like dirt, 2028 was a different story altogether. I was sick of it all and stood up for myself. So you really understand how it is like for me, I have included some of my diary entries. 

 23.2.2028 

My life sucks. I want to meet my family. I want this bullying to stop. Oh, I HATE Miss Milady. She is pure EVIL! Two weeks ago she set us a family tree assignment. As she told the class, I SWEAR ON MY LIFE that she was giving me the evil eye. She thinks she can fool everyone. A sweet blonde lady with bright blue eyes and a sing song voice. She's EVIL. LIKE REALLY EVIL!!! I was so embarrassed today when everyone was talking about their interesting family and all I had was a page with two people on it. TWO! And then Miss Milady said that I couldn’t include myself. The laughter just went on and on. 

24.2.2028 

I’m in trouble. BIG TROUBLE. I’m so worried. I’m going to wait a little before I go home and let Ms Herring cool down. I don’t care if Miss Milady hates me, but if Ms Herring is disappointed in me... I can’t cope with that. Mwa ha ha ha!! Ms Herring thinks that I’m awesome and all I was doing was standing up for myself. She even let me choose tea! Take that, Miss Milady!! 

25.2.2028

Wow, I was so caught up in all my glory yesterday that I forgot to write what happened. Everyone was being particularly horrible to me, so at lunch I climbed on to the playground and started a protest against the school. Then when the teachers tried to get me down... I attacked them. Yeah, I bet nobody was expecting that. 

26.2.2028 

I started another protest today. This time two girls called Calliope and Zoe joined in. 

12.7.2028 

 I’m sorry I haven’t written for so long. Normally I write everyday. Calli, Zo and I have started a schoolyard revolution against the evil Miss Milady. Ha ha, you evil old witch. WE have wiped her simpering smile off her face. Ms Herring thinks I’ve gone too far this time. I can’t stand her to be disappointed me. I have to stop. 

21.7.2028 

We’ve been doing Greek Mythology in school. I already know heaps so I’m doing pretty well. 

28.7.2028 

Miss Milady has gone too far this time. She is going to pay. I just don’t know how yet.

31.7.2028

Miss Milady says that we have to do a memoir. Well, mine is going to be interesting. 

(This is the end of the diary entries)

Well, there you have it. The extremely topsy turvy life of Hana Herring. Oh, and I’ve figured out my revenge. It just hasn’t happened yet.

Letter to Miss Milady

Miss Milady, 

If what I am reading is true, you are in BIG trouble. You are behaving horribly and I am going to do an interview with Hana and her guardian. Count yourself lucky if I don’t fire you! One thing is for sure; you are going to have to APOLOGIZE to this poor little girl.

Angrily,

Mrs Hatchet

The Final Diary Entry 

1.8.2028

The memoir writing is over and I have my revenge. The memoir WAS my revenge. I knew that it would infuriate Miss Milady, and that she would show Mrs Hatchet. Well, Mrs Hatchet lives up to her name and I know that. I also know that can’t stand the thought of her school’s reputation being tarnished. 

I haven’t found my family. I doubt that I ever will. But I have Ms Herring, Calli and Zo, and of course my revenge! MWA HA HA!!

In class we've been reading the book refugee, and we have finally finished it! It was REALLY good! It ended kind of sad but happy at the same time. Hana was nevere reunited with her family and for this activity I wrote what HER ending would look like. I hope you enjoy.

Chapters 36-40

This week for literacy all our work was put into one slide. We had some work on vocabulary and then some questions to answer. The books getting REALLY good now. Ivan died during a shark attack, Mahmoud and his family are being held at gunpoint and Josef and his family can't get into Cuba and they must leave their father behind!

Polish Child Refugee Camp Story

As we sail into the harbour I cry. I miss my big sister Aurelia who disappeared one day. I miss Matka who died giving birth to my little brother Robert, who died soon after. But most of all I miss Beatcyrze, my little sister who died of pneumonia. If only one of us made it, I thought it would be her. She was brave and loving. I was the joker, the oldest, I was supposed to look after the others. It should have been me. 

The sound of laughter is everywhere. I hate it. They are all orphans, yet they can be happy, but I can’t. It’s not fair. I want to laugh and sing and be joyful. But ever since Beatrycze, my last family member died, I have been stripped of all happiness. No eleven year old girl should go through this. No one should go through this. 

Finally we dock in the harbour and Prime Minister Peter Fraser came aboard and gave an incredibly long speech. How he managed to write something that boring, I don’t know. Eventually I fell asleep. 

“Minnie, Minnie wake up!” an irritated voice yelled in my ear. “Matka?” I ask. She was the only person I knew that could be that grumpy. “No stupid, its time to go.” I recognised that voice instantly; it was that grumpy man in charge of me and the ten others in my group. I grudgingly push my brown hair out of my face and glare at him. He’s bald and has a big saggy nose, like a sack that was sewn onto his face. I poke my tongue out at him. “Minnie’s in trouble. Ohhhh '' the rest of my group chanted. I swore at them in German. Luckily Mr Nowak, or Kazimierz, destroyer of peace, as I like to call him, didn't understand me. So I did it again. I am half German but Matka was born in Poland as were Aurelia, Beatrycze and I. 

 I got up and started towards the exit, the others all pushed ahead of me shrieking with excitement and scrambling off the boat. Dragging my feet behind me I looked a sorry sight. A purple splotch around a foggy blue eye, hands and legs covered in scratches, walking with a limp. I was the original sob story. As bad as I felt, I was still amazed by this little country. There are fluffy white clouds in a clear blue sky. There are bushy green trees everywhere. The sea smells salty but in a nice way. I haven’t seen anywhere this beautiful in, well, I never have. A lady walks up to me. “Hello?” she said in an uncertain voice. Luckily Kazimierz made us learn basic English on the way. The only good thing he has ever done I reckon. 

“Hello, how are you?” I said as this was the politest thing I could think of. “Oh, hello dearie, how are you, weathers nice isn’t it, what's your name, I thought you couldn’t speak English…” she garbled on. I can’t understand that much English! “I can not understand you. I only know the basic basics.” I answered robotically. “Oh I’m so sorry.” she said practically bursting into tears. Why is she crying? The question I needed to ask her was not in my small list of vocabulary. This is a small list of what I understand. 

Hello 

Goodbye 

Thank you

How are you? 

I am good 

Right 

Left- In case we get lost 

I am lost. I am Polish refugee- so the locals know where to send us if we have to ask for directions

My name is Minnie 

I am very grateful to be in your wonderful country- I will NEVER say that. 

I can not understand you. I only know the basic basics- Kazimierz prepared us for this sort of situation.

 “How are you?” I repeat hoping she will stop her bawling. “I am fine, thank you sweetheart” she sniffs “Take these” she says as she thrust brightly wrapped sweets at me. I may not understand her but I know gifts when I see them. Besides, I haven’t had a lolly in years now. Beatrycze loved the pink ones, Aurelia loved the blue, but my favourite was always the yellow ones. “Thank you.” I say, then I grab them and run to catch up with my group. “Good luck” she calls after me. Hmm, I hope she wasn’t insulting me. 

 “What were you doing, Minnie?” Kazimierz growls at me. 

“Nothing” I mutter, glad to be able to speak in Polish again. 

“Open your hands.” 

“Why?” I reply hoping my cockiness will throw him off. No such luck. 

“NOW!!” he yells at me. I can’t lose these lollies. So I change tactic. 

“P-please, I haven’t had one in years, oh please Mr Nowak” I cry (I’m very good at acting). 

“NOW!!!” and he slaps me. Hard. 

“Oi, leave that little girl alone!” a lady in a black dress says fiercely. 

“Yeah, she hasn’t done nothing bad to you”!” says another, this time one in blue. The women swarm around him, yelling abuse and clouting him with their handbags. I haven’t been in New Zealand long but I’m enjoying it a lot so far. 

 Then the lady who gave me the lollies came over and said 

“I gave those to her. The rest of your group got lollies but you didn’t take the lollies of them, did you, hmm” she said sarcastically. 

“Who are you?” he asks, I’m scared he will hurt her. 

“My name is Janet, Janet Fraser. And who the dickens are you?” she replies. Kazimierz goes pale. 

“I’m s-so sorry, Mrs Fraser.” I’m very happy about this unexpected turn of events. You see Janet Fraser is… the prime minister's wife. “Scoot.” Janet Fraser says and Kazimierz fast walks off and the rest of my group follow him, like dogs going to bait. Pathetic. 

 “Thank you, my name is Minnie,” I say. Wait a minute. “German” I say pointing to my mouth. 

 “Ohh good!” she says suddenly speaking in German. On the boat one of our lessons was about her. Apparently she could speak German. And I guess that was true. 

“My name is Minnie, I speak German and Polish. Thank you for the sweets Mrs Fraser, I’m very grateful, I haven’t had one since my Matka died.” 

“Oh, that's sad.” 

“She died giving birth to Robert. Robert died soon after. My big sister Aurelia disappeared, she was probably murdered. And my little sister Beatrycze died of pneumonia.” I say sadly, opening my eyes as wide as possible. 

“Ohh.” I’ve shocked her. I always have that effect on people. 

 “And Papa ran away with a woman half his age.” I say to seal the deal. 

“Oh you poor thing, well, good luck.” she says briskly, shoves something in my pocket and hurries off. Finally, I was beginning to worry my plan wouldn’t work...

 You may be wondering why Kazimierz hates me. Is it because I am super awesome. Nope, Kazimierz does hate me for a reason though. You want to know why? His daughter was my best friend in the camp. Agata died of an unknown disease. Ever since then he has hated me as I remind him of her. 

I run to catch up with them and they board the train. Just before I hop on I check my pockets. Great, it's her purse! I check and it's stuffed with money! Yes. Phase 1 of my plan has succeeded. What’s that sound? “Meww?” It’s soft and sweet and pitiful. I look around, it's an adorable little kitten. She's a tabby with mossy green eyes. I was going to wait before I ran away but now I have a companion. I will call her Willow as she's unhealthily skinny and her eyes seem so forest-like. Rain starts to come down. At first a delicate mist that turns into raindrops pounding on the shelter above where I stand. Yet the birds are still singing their sweet song, if they can keep going even when times are tough, I know I can. So I scoop Willow up and jump on a different train. I’m not being a refugee.

In class we've been reading the book Refugee. For this weeks activity we wrote a story describing the experience the Polish children coming to New Zealand as refugees, in 1994. I based my story on my triple great grandmother. But she was not a refugee and she came over in the 1800s. But the Minnie in my story and real Minnie share the same determination, courage, sad beginning and survival instinct that is shown in my story.

Think & Respond Chapters 15-20

This term my reading group has been reading the book Refugee. This week we are reading chapters 21-25. The think and respond is some questions relating to the text and then we answer using evidence.

It has been very interesting, the way the Nazis treated Jewish people was terrible. And people struggling to get a better life, it has been a sad book, an interesting book and a very good book.

Refugee, New Chapter-Isabel

ISABEL

The engine was dead. “What has happened!” Lito cried, the first one to recover from the shock. 

“This is all your fault! We’re going to die! They’re going to get me! The boat is faulty!” Isabel’s father screeched. He lunged at Señor Castillo but Lito grabbed him just in time. “What is wrong with you?” Lito gave Papi a look of such disgust Isabel was surprised he didn’t drop down dead. Before he could say any more Isabel’s mother gave a cry of pain. “The baby.” she said quietly before fainting.”Mami?” Isabel asked, scared she was dead. “She is fine, Chabela. We must let her rest.” Lito whispered. Amara was looking around nervously “Luis, can you hear that?” “What?” he asked desperately, hoping it wasn’t more bad news. Iván looked up, “They’re looking for us.” he gasped, above them was a giant helicopter with huge guns on the front. “Deserters will be shot.” Isabel looked around “We’ve got to blend in.” She dug through the supplies and pulled out a blue sheet that her mother had painted to look like the sea, for Isabel’s bed when she was little. “Are you going to help me or not!” she yelled at everyone. Quickly they sprung up, their hearts filled with hope. They spread the sheet over the bits of wood that were sticking up. They crouched under the thin sheet and began to drift off. 

Isabel woke up to the sound of rain pouring on the sheet, the salty air of the ocean and ...crying? During the night her mother had given birth. “What will you call her?” Lito asked, oblivious to Isabel waking up. “Hope.” she smiled. “Isabel, we didn’t want to wake you up, so we let you sleep, sweetie.”. Isabel looked around. “Where’s Papi?” “I don’t know, we haven’t seen him.” said  Señor Castillo, in the uncomfortable crouching position as there was no room for him to lie down. “What if..” Lito began but then he stopped. “Iván, are you all right?” he asked gently. “I don’t know.” he looked up. His face was covered in blood, it was swollen and bruised. “Iván, what happened?” His mother gasped, speaking for the first time. “He swam away, he was scared of the helicopter from yesterday. He thought they were looking for him. He said he would meet us in America, I tried to stop him, I said he was being stupid, that he would surely die, I wouldn’t let go of him so he.. ” his voice trailed off. Tears rolled down Iván’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.” Then a wave crashed into the side of the boat, rocking it backwards and forwards. That was when Isabel fell off.

“ISABEL!!” Mami screamed desperately, hoping her eldest was still alive. “I’m here.” Isabel called faintly. She tried to climb back on, but the waves made it to hard. The deep blue water daring her to scream. “Tie the rope around her. When the storm is over we can pull her back on.” Lito said taking charge. They meekly obeyed him, shocked over all the terrible things that had happened to them. “Why?” Mami whispered, clinging to Hope “All of theses horrible things.”  “We will make it through. It will be alright. This is just a bad moment in millions of moments.” Lito said stubbornly. He tore the sheet of the sticks and threw it to Isabel. “Wrap this around you, it should keep you warmer.”  Without the sheet the rain could come in. Within seconds they were drenched, victims of the cruel storm raging above them. “Señor Castillo, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Amara commented, trying to lighten the miserable situation. But Señor Castillo could only say one thing “They’re back...”,“Who?” Amara laughed. A high false laugh that clearly stated that she knew who. Señor Castillo pointed a shaky finger towards the sky. “Them.”

This term my reading group has been reading the book Refugee. One of the activities we had to do was to write a new chapter for the book! My chapter is about Isabel. I wrote it so it might not happen in the book.

Isabel is a Cuban girl escaping Cuba on a raft with her parents, unborn sibling, Lito/Grandad & her neighbours. It is very exciting and we have just reached the bit where the engine died! 

Think & Respond Chapters 11-15

This term my reading group is reading the book Refugee. This week we read chapters 11-15.  In the Think & Respond we are given some questions related to the text and we have to answer along with extracts from the text to support our idea. The coloured text are the extracts.

So far in the book Isabel's boat has broken down, Mahmoud and his family barely survived an shooting attack and Josef might not be allowed into Cuba!

Character Comparison

This term my reading group is doing a book study on the book Refugee. It is about three children in different parts of time, and they have to leave their homes because it is not safe where they are.

The activity was a character comparison. I chose to do it on Josef and Isabel. I wrote their character traits and put a circle over the ones they share.

Think & Respond Chapters 6-10

This term my reading group is reading the book refugee. This week we read chapters 6-10. Last week it was 1-5, I posted my think and respond last week too. In the think and respond I had to answer some questions, one of them was about allowing another family to escape with your family and if you should.

So far some very interesting things have happened in the book. Josef's father gets out of jail, Mahmoud's home gets blown up and Isabel and her family are escaping Cuba. I think Josef's father's suspicions about the Nazi's coming after him are true, which is sad because they are finally leaving Germany and they are so happy. 

Think & Respond Chapters 1-5

 

This term my reading group is doing a book study on the book Refugee. It is about three kids, Josef, Isabel & Mahmaud, who all live in different times but have the same goal.....ESCAPE!

We've been doing some activities around it and the one above is the most recent activity I have done. The activity I had was we were given an example of something that happened so far and we had to respond. Or we had a question relating to the text.