The Rome Rag
The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods by Ann Cameron
In The Secret Life of Amanda K.
Woods, a realistic fiction novel by Ann
Cameron, all Amanda Woods wanted was
to be special, to be “not average”.
Firstly, everyone in her small town in
Rome, Wisconsin thought she was
awkward and just average. Even in her
new school, they didn’t accept Amanda
into their groups. She decided to create
a sort of second personality named
Amanda K. Woods. The actual name is
the same, but the “K” adds “mystery
and sharpness like a sword through the
name”. However, that “K” made a
great difference because Amanda turned
into the most confident and proud
person there could be. As a result of
Amanda’s second personality, she finally
realized she and Amanda K. Woods were
the same person and ultimately didn’t
want to pretend to be someone else
anymore because she was and had
everything she wanted.
Weather Status
Usual weather:
Cool breeze and heavy showers.
Newsletter 1
May 2006
Amanda Woods is a complex
person. She is very self-conscious and
thinks way too little of herself. This is
because her mother, among others,
doesn’t really appreciate her and has
high standards she can’t live up to.
Amanda creates another personality to
fit in better, Amanda K. Woods, and
she is proud and sure of herself. Due
to years of people telling Amanda she
was just average, she honestly
believed it and didn’t really like
herself. She didn’t know that the
“second Amanda” was just her, not
afraid of what people thought of her.
Amanda is actually a great person,
she’s thoughtful, kind and has a great
heart, but people don’t see that. The
persnickety people that are around
Amanda just see the idiosyncrasies
that make her human. Amanda Woods
may be a little complex, but at the end
of the day she is more humane than
all of them put together.
Later in the week…
Cool breeze will stay most of the week. There will
be sunshine on Thursday.
Amanda Woods: From Armadillo to Snapping Turtle
ROME, WISCONSIN’s very own awkward, eleven year old Amanda
Woods has broken out of her shell. Lydia Woods, the accountant of the
Woods’ stores and Amanda’s mother, had a lot of opinions of her
daughter’s new personality.
“She was such an awkward girl. I tried to make her more girly, like
her sister, but she just liked playing around with that dirty horse of hers,”
Lydia confessed. “My husband, George, decided to take responsibility of
her and now she is more vivacious.”
Another local that attends Amanda’s school, Pam Collins, claims she
used to be friends with Amanda until her mother said they couldn’t.
Amanda’s mother didn’t approve of their friendship. Collins claims Mrs.
Woods said she was a bad influence for Amanda.
“It’s such a shame we couldn’t have been better friends. Amanda’s
such a good person but it doesn’t seem like anyone sees it.”
Apparently, while everyone was awestruck at the new Amanda, she had a
pen pal, Antoinne Bionnier, from France and, strangely, she signed as Amanda
K. Woods. When Mrs. Woods was asked about it, she had no idea that
Amanda had a pen pal and that Amanda doesn’t use her middle name when
she writes. The question now, why did she use her middle name?
Amanda Woods is not who we think she is. She lied about her having a
pen pal, she’s uncharacteristically using her middle name and she’s acting
differently now. It’s like she’s a whole other person.
Seems like the story of the ugly duckling. The awkward, different
duckling was ostracized but then turned into a beautiful and confident
swan. It shows that someone goes through hard things; they don’t want
what they thought they wanted all along.

Natasha Jimenez

Newsletter 2