Name: Alan Millspaugh Class Period: 3 rd Period

1. Title: The FriendsAuthor: Kazumi Yumoto Date/Year Published: June 1998 Genre: Realistic fiction Name: Alan MillspaughClass Period: 3rd Period

2. The setting takes place in Tokyo, Japan. It’s in the early 1980s with streets filled with shops, skyscrapers, and food carts. It’s not really modern day, but most of the story takes place in an old 1 story abandoned house. Setting

3. Kiyama, Yamashita, and Kawabe are the main characters. • Yamashita has glasses, long hair combed from side to side, with tanned skin. He’s like your normal nerd at school. • Kiyama is your modern day best friend. He’s always nice and never yells at anyone. Pretty much he’s never angry. • Kawabe is mean, and not to be mean, but he’s pretty chubby looking. But he’s loyal, and always sticks up to his friends. • Kawabe looks like a kid sumo wrestler. He has dark skin, little eyes, and a big mouth. • Kiyama is taller than his friends, he has no glasses, has spiky hair, and has tanned skin like Yamashita • . Characters

4. Plot: Conflict • The problem is silly in the book. Yamashita’s grandmother died, but he didn’t really care. After that, he told his friends about the funeral. After the conversation, they decide to spy on an old man and wants to feel how to see a dead person. So they decided to just spy on the old man until he dies, since it was positive that he was going to die.

5. Plot: Resolution The resolution was absolutely stupid. They went to visit the Grandma when she gave her address, then when they were finished, they went to the grandpa’s house. When they arrived, they all guess that he’s taking a nap, but when they enter the house, he’s not breathing, he’s dead. So then, they all figure out how seeing a dead person is like, but it’s kind of sad because they all end up crying because of the dead grandpa. The grandpa was special to them, so It’s really sad in the ending if you read it.

6. Your Opinion • My opinion on this book is that it’s good for people who have a good sense of humor. It’s also just like a TV, but inside your head because they include every single detail in the book. It also has many supporting details, so if your one of those readers who like to skip pages, you can find out what’s going on in all of the pages. I tested this with my brother, he just kept on skipping pages and he knew what was going on in the story. I think this should be a Texas Bluebonnet book, that’s how good this book is.

7. About the Author • The author writes every book in Japanese, so basically, this book was translated into English. • The only time when he writes is when it rains, so it takes a long time to finish his books. • He’s very old, pretty much your typical grandpa. • He only writes Yearling books (rated PG books). • All he uses to write is ink, bamboo, and paper.

8. Why do the friends run away from the Grandpa? In what war did the grandpa fight in? How did they get into the curiosity of dead people? What happened to the Grandpa’s ship members? Why do the friends call the long lost Grandma? 5 Test Questions

9. Summary • Yamashita had a funeral to attend to, when he comes back, he tells them about it. They get into the curiosity of dead people, so they decide what if feels like. They find an old man who’s about to be dead, since the test was positive. After they were caught from spying on him, they had to work for him. During their work, they told a story about him and his wife. After the day, they decide to find the long-lost grandma. They find her in the nursery home and talk to her. When they finished, they went back to the old man’s house. When they enter the house, the old man is dead. After three months, they know how it feels like to see a dead person.