Ashley+C.+~+Dan

Ashley Campbell 5/24/10 Period 2 Ko vs. Dan Characters from different novels can have many similarities, as well as differences. Although Ko from, __So Far From the Bamboo Grove__ by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, and Dan from __Night of the Twisters__ by Ivy Ruckman. Ko is a 16-year-old girl, that is living in Korea (hometown is Japan) trying to get back to her hometown of Japan to escape the Korean Communist Army as they are fighting in World War II. All of the soldiers are killing the Japanese. Dan is a 12-year-old boy that lives in central Nebraska and is trying to save his family and best friend from 7 twisters that are hitting them in 3 hours. While is house is now gone because of the twister and his mother is somewhere, out there in the open while twister are happening. Even though they have different backgrounds they have many similarities.

Something about Ko is she is extremely caring because she is trying to find safety, and food for her family, and she is protecting them from the Korean Communist Soldiers. She tries to hide them from the soldiers, and she fights some of the soldiers for their safety. She shows that she truly cares about her family. Dan is showing that he is caring by trying to save his little baby brother (Ryan) and his best friend from the twisters. Even though he is only 12 and his mother or father are not with him. Yet he finds the strength that he cares enough for his family, that he is successful in saving them from the twisters unharmed. And it shows that he even cares more because he was injured during the process when he had fallen and cut his leg on glass! That just shows that he was even more caring and determined to save them.

Another similarity is, they are both extremely responsible!!!!! Ko is responsible because after her mother had died from a disease, she had to take care of her little 12-year-old sister. Ko was only 16 at the time so it was a little more difficult. Ko had to feed, cloth, provide shelter, and keep Yoko in school (her and Yoko). So Ko had to generally be a mother to Yoko, when Ko was still a kid herself. Dan shows responsibility by taking care of his little baby brother Ryan during a multiple amount of Tornados. Dan did not like his baby brother though cause his baby brother was always annoying Dan, and crying. Dan could have just left his baby brother there but he did the responsible thing and took baby Ryan with him to protect the baby and save his life.

A difference between Ko and Dan is, Ko is a hard worker and Dan is a lazy. The way that Ko is a hard worker is that Ko tried to defend her family. She worker by fighting off soldiers, she also had to walk many miles, had to trick farmers into letting her have some of their crops, sometimes she would just steal the crops. Ko was the only one that was in perfect condition. Yoko had an ear infection and she was very young, and Honorable Mother was an elderly woman and did not have the strength for the whole hike. That’s how she is a hard worker. Dan is lazy because, he would just sit around with Arthur (his best friend) and play video games, eat bags of chips, and drink cans and cans of soda!!!! He would not do anything but just sit inside and do nothing, while he could have been outside exercising and having fun!!

As you can see, the two books are on completely different topics. Ko is in Korea trying to escape the Korean Communist Army because they are Japanese and the soldiers are hunting Japanese people. Dan is in Nebraska trying to save his family from 7 twisters hitting their little town in 3 hours. __So Far From the Bamboo Grove__ is a Non- Fiction book, and __Night of the Twisters__ is a fiction book. Even though one story is true and the other is not, they can still have similarities and differences. :) :) :)