An International English Testing System (IELTS) task given by the teacher. the first book report made by me during the IELTS class. please dont bother any grammatical error because everyone is a first timer.

1. Mitch Albom’s For One More Day Book Report 2013
AkmalCikmat2013
The book I chose was a short novel entitled For One More Day, written by Mitch Albom.
This book was originally published on 26 September 2006 by Hyperion publisher. This book
contains only 208 pages.
I chose this book as the title itself made me wonder about the book content. Albom is good at
creating narratives and pulling people into the story.
“… Pepperville Beach. Do you know how it got its name? It's almost embarrassing. A small
patch of sand had been trucked in years ago by some entrepreneur who thought the town
would be more impressive if we had a beach, even though we didn't have an ocean. He joined
the chamber of commerce and he even got the town's name changed Pepperville Lake
became Pepperville Beach–despite the fact that our "beach" had a swing set and a sliding
board and was big enough for about twelve families before you'd be sitting on someone else's
towel. It became a sort of joke when we were growing up–"Hey, you wanna go to the
beach?" or "Hey, it looks like a beach day to me"–because we knew we weren't fooling
anybody. P36
In addition, Mitch Albom also has known for his bestselling novels. Indeed, I was looking
forward to this book while reading it. I am really enjoyed any kind of genres but this is my
first time reading a philosophical novel. I found that it is easy for me to understand the novel
as it was written in simple American English. I was expecting this novel has something to do
with a complicated relationship as the main character wanted to go back in time to correct
everything that he had done wrong along the relationship. This story itself is a poignant, heart
wrenching little tale, not very long and with rather a simple message conveyed using
minimalistic language and spare storytelling that leaves many things brewing underneath the
surface for the reader to detect, but like all of Albom's writing, it works because it carries an
emotional honesty that can be hard to find in more literary fiction.
“Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance
to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know
you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had
back.” P3
Here, Albom managed to capture my attention towards this novel as it conveyed full of
emotional honesty.
“But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your
face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heart-breaking. But
behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin.”
P194
I really like this quote as it portrayed the true feeling of the main character, ‘Chick’ Benetto,
indeed, wanted to go back in time so that he can spend some more time with his mother
which he believed, her mother’s soul still in him even though she had passed away. Chick
once was given the option to choose to be a mommy’s boy or daddy’s boy when he was only
five to six years old. For me, it is an option that should not be bothered by a young kid like
him when the time he supposed to be close to both his father and mother. It indeed caused a
big problem later on when the kid grows up. A child should never have to choose.
My father once told me, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's Boy. But you can't be both."
P34

2. Mitch Albom’s For One More Day Book Report 2013
AkmalCikmat2013
"… In my young mind I figured this was life's assignment: me with him, her with her. Ladies'.
Gents'. Mama's. Daddy's. A daddy's boy.” P21
One of the characters that stuck in my mind is Chick’s mother, named Pauline. She played
such a big role in helping Chick to go back to the bottom after facing situation that really
tough as he can endure it no more. Pauline actually a character who had died due to illness
but for Chick, she is still alive. Only Chick can see her with his naked eyes for only one more
day.
“… and my mother’s name was Pauline but everyone called her "Posey," like the nursery
rhyme, "a pocketful of Posey."
“She had large, almond-shaped eyes, dark, sweeping hair that she often wore up, and a soft,
creamy complexion. She reminded people of the actress Audrey Hepburn, and in our small
town, there weren't many women who fit that description.”
“She loved wearing makeup mascara, eyeliner, rouge, you name it–and while most people
considered her "fun" or "perky" or, later, "eccentric" or "headstrong," for most of my
childhood I considered her a nag.” P29
How Chick met his mother once again? The incident that brought him to his mother for me
was really interesting as no one could imagine that this kind of thing would really happen to
him.
“When you're rotten about yourself, you become rotten to everyone else, even those you
love.” P5
"When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone. They can come back to you, even
at unlikely times."
P145
Chick, after decades, he became a broken man. He lost his job, scrambled his own life by all
regret and alcohol, had been ‘thrown-away’ by his own family – he left his family but I rather
say it as he was left. He hits the very bottom when his daughter shut him out from attending
her wedding. Instead she sent him few pictures on her wedding day, with her surname already
changed from Maria Benetto to Maria Lang.
With all those things happened and made him felt the pressure, he decided to suicide. He did
his very best in getting rid his own life, still he was in good condition – except for the
scratches on his face and body. He met his dead mother once again after his very final
attempt to suicide, jumping down the water tower, failed. He decided to go back to his old
house in Pepperville Beach, found her dead mother in there, still alive.
One thing that I really love when both parties reunite is the following one ‘ordinary’ day so
many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets,
and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Chick learns the
astonishing things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her
tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together.
A major theme of this novel is mortality. It analyses how people might react to the chance to
have a dead relative back even just for a day. Chick himself got the opportunity to spend just
one more day with his dead mother. He indeed used the chance wisely to turn over a new leaf
towards his mother. Chick lied to Posey during a night before Posey’s birthday by saying an
urgent matter came across exactly at the time when he supposed to be with her. He actually

3. Mitch Albom’s For One More Day Book Report 2013
AkmalCikmat2013
went to his father, playing a baseball tournament, even though he never got a chance to play.
Without his knowing, his mother died at that night. That was supposed to be a strong reason
for him to blame himself – he rarely became a good son to Posey.
She marches me around the house. There is the dog. It howls again.
Awowwowowow!
I jump back, but my mother yanks me forward. And she barks. She barks. She makes the
best barking sound I have ever heard a human being make. The dog falls into a whimpering
crouch.
My mother turns. "You have to show them who’s boss, Charley," she says. P34
Years after Posey died, Chick made a list of Times Mother Stood Up For Me and Times I Did
Not Stood Up for Mother. Albom portrayed the real feeling of Chick after Posey died. Indeed,
Chick missed his mother and started to realize the things that he should not do towards Posey.
Later on, he discovered the real situation happened without his knowing, like his father
meeting and marrying someone else, but it kept hidden from him. He also knows the truth
about how badly her mother wanted to have children like him and his sister. It indeed touched
Chick’s feeling to the apex of his heart.
"You know, for three years after I married your father, I wished for a child. In those days,
three years to get pregnant, that was a long time. People thought there was something wrong
with me. So did I. " She exhaled softly. "I couldn't imagine a life without children. Once, I
even ... Wait. Let's see."
"You and Roberta weren't the only ones who carved," she said, smiling. "What is it?" "A
prayer." "For a child?" She nodded. "For me?" Another nod. "On a tree?"
"So," she said, moving away, "now you know how badly someone wanted you, Charley.
Children forget that sometimes. They think of themselves as a burden instead of a wish
granted."P76
This is quite beautiful and full-of-emotion type of book. The language is rather simple and is
very easy to understand. Albom himself is really good in putting such beautiful quotes that
made people when read it feel at ease. The ending, I found, arranged beautifully on how
Chick used all time he spent with Posey, revealing the truth that he might never know if he
did not get the chance just for one more day. The story itself has a good lesson, the positive
value whereas the negative side of Chick definitely should not be followed by the readers –
Albom puts these moral values in between the events happened in every Chick’s day life.
Overall, reading this novel made me think about how importance to think and speak carefully
towards everyone as we do not know, the day we are being rude to them, was the last day we
could spend with them, either we the one who left or they left us. Through Albom's inspiring
characters and masterful storytelling, readers will newly appreciate those whom they love and
may have thought they'd lost in their own lives. For One More Day is a book for anyone in a
family, and will be cherished by Albom's millions of fans worldwide. I indeed will
recommend this novel to my peers after all the above reasons.