"Hell" collage.

these are 15 images that I think represent "Hell ".

ENG reading response, Tomorrow When The War Began.

Text Type - Novel 

Text Title - Tomorrow When The War Began

Author - John Marsden

This text is about a group of six high school students who decide to go on a camping trip,

they find a special place to camp which in the book was called “Hell”, and they settle down for the week.

During their camp they noticed some unusual planes going past, but didn’t think much of it.

When they got back, their dogs and cattle were all dead, and there were no people to be seen.

A war had begun. They ventured into the town of Wirrawee only to find soldiers

stationed at what was supposed to be the town show grounds.

They knew they needed to do something that would help their people in some way.

After running away from soldiers, getting shot, and hiding away, they came up with a plan.

They blew up the bridge to cobblers bay, which the soldiers were using continuously to get their stuff

in and out of Wirrawee.    

A key message in this text that I identified was that you need to rely on your

friends to get through hard times in your life, this is evident in the text,

and all of the friendships got a lot stronger during the novel, they had to trust each other to do the right thing and protect each other. An example of a character who was committed to supporting his friend was Homer supporting Ellie after the petrol bombing incident. Homer offered her comfort and support, actively helping her get through her guilt. Another example of this is when Ellie had helped Homer when he came to her about Fi, although Ellie liked Homer she still offered him her advice and support. The reason why this is so important is because this sort of stuff happens in everyday life, and the author is trying to get the message across that we need to cherish our friendships and look to one another for help but also be there when someone else needs help.

My favourite character was Lee because in the start he was not very well known by all the others,

Ellie just wanted to invite him because she wanted to get to know other people in her year at school,

and because she thought he was interesting. Further into the book Lee got shot in the leg when he

was with Robyn in Wirrawee. He didn’t seem to worry much about it and was joking about it afterwards.

I think Lee is an important character in this novel because of his interest in Ellie,

if he wasn’t willing to tell her how he felt then she would’ve still been hung up on Homer

who was in love with Fi.

This story made me rethink my attitude towards all of my friends, like if I were in a situation like that,

who would be there for me? Who would be selfish? And mostly who would be somewhat of a leader? I would recommend this novel to people who like action and romance books because

it has a good balance of both of those things. It's quite interesting to read and compare the situations,

because the situations in this book are very likely to happen and in some parts of the

world are happening right now.