Journal 5 -Allison

        A little girl, called Allison, lived with her family and her favorite Japanese doll, MeiMei. One day she received a package which was packed a beautiful kimono. After she dressed up the kimono with her mother’s help, she looked at herself and her parents in the mirror. At this time, she found that she was totally different from her parents, except MeiMei. At lunch time, Allison asked them where she came from and realized that they were not her real parents. Her parents told her that her real parents could not keep her and show up in front of Allison. Next day, Allison asked her classmates and got the answer that her classmates had their real parents. Allison felt depressed. When her mother picked up her in the afternoon, she did not want to hold her mother’s hand. At home, Allison destroyed her mother’s favorite doll and her father’s baseball. MeiMei was her only friend and family, she thought. There was a stray cat outside the window. Allison found it did not have mother, either. She fed it with milk and took it to ask her mother whether she could keep it. Her mother agreed with her if Allison can take care of it carefully. Then, Allison apologized to her parents and smiled happily.

•           Plot: dramatic plot

In this book, conflict happened when Allison looked into the mirror and found she was not her parents’ children. Climax is Allison broke her parents’ toys.

•            Conflict: protagonist against

Allison had an emotional struggle. She could not agree herself that she was her parents’ children.

•           Theme: The love we give to others is unconditional

As the parents loved Allison without any reasons, Allison loved the cat unconditionally.

          Some children are forced to leave their family of origin because of violence and abandon. As they arrive in new families, they regain the happiness and live with their new family members happily ever after in our opinions. Do they really feel happy when facing different family members? Or have they ever asked where their mother and father were? This picture book gave us the following story about the above conditions. I think that the process when Allison found she was not her parents’ child brought her lots of pain and distrust. It seemed that what she believed and relied on for a long time collapsed overnight. As a result, she broke her parents’ favorite toys to show how she felt mad and helpless because she could not change this situation (she could not go back to her family of origin.) However, a little cat went into to her closed heart. This cat became a special bond connected Allison with the parents. Allison loved the cat no matter where it came from and who it was, therefore she realized that her parents loved her as she loved the cat. Love is unconditional.