Movies
- My Sister's Keeper - It tells the story of 13-year-old Anna, who sues her parents for medical emancipation when she is expected to donate a kidney to her sister Kate, who is dying from leukemia.
Anna Fitzgerald's older sister, Kate, suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Anna was conceived in order to harvest blood from her umbilical cord in order to use in treatments to help save Kate's life. Although the treatment was initially successful, Kate relapsed; ever since, Anna, the only compatible family member, has been used as a donor for any other bodily substance needed to treat Kate, who continues to swing between remission and relapse as she grows up.
Anna is usually willing to donate whatever Kate needs, but when she is 13, she is told that she will have to donate one of her kidneys. The surgery required for both Kate and Anna would be major; it is not guaranteed to work, as the stress of the operation may well kill Kate anyway; and the loss of a kidney could have a serious impact on Anna's life. Anna petitions for medical emancipation with the help of lawyer Campbell Alexander, so that she will be able to make her own decisions regarding her medical treatment and the donation of her kidney.
Anna's mother, Sara, is an ex-lawyer and decides to represent herself and her husband in the lawsuit. Over the course of the novel, she tries on several occasions to make Anna drop the lawsuit. Anna refuses to do so, but the resulting tension between her and her mother result in her moving out of the house to live with her father Brian in the fire station where he works. This is done on the advice of Julia Romano, the court-appointed guardian ad litem whose job it is to decide what would be best for Anna. Julia was once romantically involved with Campbell when they went to school together, but Campbell broke her heart when he left her. It is eventually revealed he left her because he discovered he had epilepsy and thought she deserved better. They get back together at the end of the book.
Meanwhile, Anna's brother Jesse, who has spent most of his life being ignored in favor of ill Kate or donor Anna, spends most of his time setting fire to abandoned buildings with home-made explosives, using the knowledge that his fire-fighter father gave him to make the fires bigger and fiercer, and doing drugs. He is a self-confessed juvenile delinquent and pyromaniac, and the only time throughout the book that his parents pay him any attention is when Brian discovers that it is Jesse who has been setting the fires. Brian forgives him, and by the end of the book, he has reformed and graduated from the police academy.
During the trial, it is revealed that Kate asked Anna to sue for emancipation because she did not want Anna to have to transplant, and because she believes that she will die anyway. The judge rules in Anna's favor, and grants Campbell medical power of attorney. However, as Campbell drives her home after the trial, their car is hit by an oncoming truck. Brian retrieves Anna, who is unconscious, and suffers an injury to the head, and Campbell, who suffers an injury to the arm, from the wreckage of the crushed car and rushes them to hospital. However, after some time, the doctor informs them that Anna is brain-dead, that the machines keeping her alive may as well be switched off, and asks them if they have considered organ donation. Campbell steps in, and declares that he has the power of attorney, and "there is a girl upstairs who needs that kidney." Kate is prepped for surgery, and Anna's kidney is successfully transplanted. Kate survives the surgery and goes into remission. Most of Anna's usable organs are removed for transplants in the future. Campbell and Julia get married, Kate stays in remission for at least 6 years, while Anna dies for her sister's life. :'(
- Charlie and The Chocolate Factory -
Charles "Charlie" Bucket, a sensible boy from a poor family, lives with his parents and both sets of elderly grandparents (Grandpa Joe, Grandma Josephine, Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina). From these four, especially Grandpa Joe, he hears stories about the candy-maker Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory he built in Charlie's hometown. After rival chocolate makers Arthur Slugworth, Mr. Fickelgruber, and Mr. Prodnose sent in spies (posing as workers) in order to steal his recipes, Mr. Wonka decides to send his workers home and close the factory. Years pass in silence, then one day the factory mysteriously comes back to life. The gates, however, remain locked. The identity of the workers employed to restart the factory remains a mystery. Nobody, including Wonka, is now ever seen entering or leaving the factory.
One evening, the headline of Mr. Bucket's evening paper states that Wonka is holding a worldwide contest, in which five Golden Tickets are hidden under the wrappers of his candy bars; the prize for those who find them is a day-long tour of the factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The contest becomes a worldwide sensation, with people resorting to increasingly desperate and unscrupulous measures to find the tickets. Anyone who succeeds in finding one becomes front-page news and a worldwide celebrity. The first four tickets are found by bad children: the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, spoiled rich Veruca Salt, chewing gum-addicted Violet Beauregarde, and television-obsessed Mike Teavee.
Charlie also tries to take part in the search, but his first two attempts fail. Subsequently during a cold icy spell, he finds a dollar bill in a gutter, which he uses to buy two Wonka Bars. Upon opening the second bar, he finds the remaining ticket. Although a huge crowd rushes to look at the ticket, Charlie is rescued by the shopkeeper and runs home to tell his family. The five lucky winners then await the big day.
Grandpa Joe accompanies Charlie, while each of the other four children are chaperoned by their parents. As the group moves from room to room, the tour turns into a series of punishments for the bad children. One child after another falls victim to his or her particular vice and is removed:
- Augustus falls into the chocolate river that he is drinking from and is sucked up the pipe to the Fudge Room.
- Violet blows up into a giant blueberry after consuming experimental chewing gum and has to be taken to the Juicing Room to get the juice out of her.
- Veruca attempts to take one of Wonka's squirrels for her own and is thrown down the garbage chute. Subsequently, her parents follow her down the garbage chute.
- Mike is shrunk after using experimental television equipment on himself and has to be taken to the Gum Stretcher to be stretched back to normal size.
Charlie is the only child who does not misbehave throughout the factory tour. Seeing that he is the only one left, Wonka announces that he has "won." Charlie receives the entire factory and will take over the company after Wonka retires. The reason Wonka had sent out the
Golden Tickets was to find a child to be his heir, as he has no family to carry on his work. Wonka, Charlie and Grandpa Joe then board a special glass elevator.
They see the four bad children leave the factory with permanent reminders of their misbehavior as well as their lifetime supply of chocolate:
- Augustus is squeezed thin and covered in chocolate.
- Violet is blue all over her body.
- Veruca and her parents are covered in garbage.
- Mike is ten feet tall and very thin.
- Hachiko
- Another Cinderella Story
- The Grudge
- I Know Who Killed Me
- etc...
Books
- Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
- Refrain - Winna Efendi
- Miles To Go - Miley Cyrus
- Chicken Soup
- etc...