Review of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Jazz Cat

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll

Recommendation: 

This month I read ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll. I thought that this book was silly and a wonderful classic. I would recommend this to book to people who like fantasy and older stories because of the ridiculous characters and creative setting, with talking caterpillars and card-people. I think this book would be appropriate for 7+ because there are songs and poems that the characters sing that are rather funny and there is no violence or other less appropriate stuff. Younger kids would actually love this book, but I think that they would have to have it read to them. This book is a ‘Hero’s Journey’ because it goes through all of the stages, such as Alice is called to the adventure, and it follows all of the steps,though not in complete order, as Alice ‘Crosses the Threshold’ before she meets ‘The Guardian of the Threshold’. In few other places, it breaks away from the Hero’s Journey, like how alice doesn’t really have any allies, as well as how some of the steps are out of order.The book itself is called ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, however, there are two stories within. I chose to do the first story, which has the same title as the book itself, but I definitely think you should give the second story, ‘Through the Looking Glass’, a read if you enjoyed the first.

Summary:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is about a girl who wanders about a strange world, meeting odd and silly creatures along the way that are easily offended and like to sing songs.

In the first part of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, Alice is sitting by a tree with her sister. Alice is called to adventure when sees a white rabbit carrying a pocket watch with a waistcoat. Alice runs after the rabbit, finding him odd,and crosses into Wonderland by falling down a rabbit hole. Alice ends up in a room filled with doors, and finds a strange guardian of a beautiful garden in the form of a troublesome small door that is locked. She has trouble opening it, shrinking and growing and crying a pool of tears in the process. Alice ends up getting into wonderland by going through a tunnel to the white rabbit’s house. She travels past the rabbit’s house, (after nearly destroying it) and meets a caterpillar. The caterpillar asks her questions and tells her “One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’ ‘One side of what? The other side of what?’ thought Alice to herself. ‘Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.”(pg 50) Alice takes a bit of each side of the mushroom and makes herself normal size-as she had been very small right about then-and continued on her way. She wasn’t normal height for long, as she shrunk herself to enter a house. The house belonged to the Duchess, who had a Cheshire Cat. The cat grinned. Alice ended up taking care of the Duchess’ baby, though it turned into a pig in her arms. Later, as Alice wandered, she met up with the Cheshire cat who pointed her in the direction of the Queen of Hearts’ croquet ground and a mad tea party… First she runs intothe mad tea party, and meets a crazy Mad Hatter, the March Hare, who is just as mad, and the ever-drowsy dormouse. She leaves in a huff and ends up in the Queen of Hearts’ croquet ground. She met the Queen of Hearts and her servants, played croquet, “(…)and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting, ‘Off with his head!’ or ‘Off with her head!’ about once a minute.” (pg 79) Alice meets the Duchess at the croquet ground, who tells her about the mock turtle, she meets the Mock Turtle as well as the Griffin, who tell her stories and sing a song. Later, Alice goes to the court to watch a trial on the Mad Hatter, who is accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. The tarts are not missing, however, and Alice ends up disrupting the court, ending her road of trials.

I think that the theme of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ is Growing up, as while Alice is wandering, the characters teach her life lessons or give her useful bits of information.

Character Analysis:

I chose the Cheshire-Cat. The Cheshire-Cat is the trickster archetype. The trickster archetype creates havoc or mischief, does not play by the rules, and can be an ally to the hero.

The cat tricks Alice into going to the Mad Tea Party as she’s wandering around “In that direction,’ the Cat said, waving its paw round, ‘lives a Hatter: and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’ ‘But I don’t want to go amongst mad people,’ Alice remarked. ‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’ ‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice. ‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here,” (pg.67)

The Cat comes to the croquet ground to say hello to Alice and the cat ends up disrupting the game, and Alice is very grateful for that. “It’s the Cheshire-Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to.’ ‘How are you getting on?’ said the Cat, as soon as there was enough mouth to speak with. (…) ‘I don’t think they play at all fairly.’ Alice began, in a rather complaining tone.” (pg.100-101)

The Cheshire-Cat also does not listen to the king, and everyone is distracted by him. “It’s a friend of mine–a Cheshire-Cat,’ said Alice: ‘allow me to introduce it.’ ‘I don’t like the look of it at all,’ said the King: ‘however, it may kiss my hand, if it likes.’ ‘I’d rather not,’ the Cat remarked. (…) When she got back to the Cheshire-Cat, she was surprised to find a large crowd collected round it: there was a dispute going on (about the cat) between the executioner, the King, and the Queen” (pgs. 101 & 103) The Cat changes during the story, though it is a very minor change, and he goes from tricking Alice in the beginning when they first meet to helping her and being friendly, though still causing trouble.

All Quotes from:

Carroll, Lewis Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Woodbury, New york: Bobley Publishing corp, 1974

Review of Every Soul a Star by Maggie Storm

 

 

Summary

This month I read Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. It has 322 pages.
The book is about three kids, named Ally Summers, Jack Rosten, and Bree Holden, and each one has their own storyline. I’m writing about Bree.

I think the theme of this book is that although change can be hard, it is almost always a good thing. This is proved with all of the characters because they all go through a hard change and benefit from it.

The book starts out with Bree talking about her family. She considers herself to be very pretty and popular, which seems to be true, as she says “I don’t mean to sound stuck up, but I happen to be very attractive.”(Page 5) She also wants to be a model.

The next chapter is about her free modeling class that she is taking with her best friend, Claire. You’d think that she’d be a snob, but she’s not. Her sister, Melanie, has these screaming nightmares while sleepwalking and Bree always finds her and brings her back to bed.

When Bree exits the modeling class, she finds her parents in their “embarrassing beat-up old van.” (Page 27) Bree gets in and is delivered with some horrible news: they’re moving to a campground for three years. This is the change that Bree goes through, moving to the middle of nowhere when she wants to stay with her friends and potential modeling career.

When she gets there, she finds out that the family that her family is taking over the campground never told their daughter, Ally, that they were leaving, so naturally, the Holden’s arrival comes as a shock to Ally. This is the change that Ally goes through, moving back to civilization when she wants to stay at the campground, blissfully unaware of modern America. Bree isn’t very sympathetic, but comes up with a plan to get their families to change their minds. At dinner, they work on their plan, but are interrupted by a kid having an allergic reaction. Bree gets up and cradles the kid’s head on her lap. She has no idea why she did that, as proven by when she says “I don’t want to have to explain why I flung myself to the rough cement floor to cradle the head of a strange boy.” (Page 134) This also shows that Bree is kind, but her kindness just requires some coaxing out because she has to fulfill a certain expectation of popularity.

The next day, they start stage one of their plan. It works. Bree then tries to set Ally up with Jack, then calls Ally hopeless (in her head, of course). This shows that Bree still is clinging to her old life, where she was obsessed with popularity and clothes. Ally doesn’t wear “good” clothes, which makes Bree feel differently about her.

Soon, they start stage two of their plan. It also works, but after their parents talk to each other, their parents see right through the plan and it all falls apart. Bree then runs to the labyrinth, an attraction at the campground, and tries to walk it. She decides not to and sits down on a bench to look at her modeling book. She becomes even more homesick, showing that the change she goes through is really hard for her. She calls her modeling book (her Book) her inspiration.

Jack came to the campground on for one reason: to get out of summer school. He also has to do an experiment with his teacher, but the first night is rained out. Ally is allowed to join the experiment, and everyone helping with the project stays in a shed overnight. Bree unexpectedly comes in to help with the experiment, showing she is starting to change.

Over the night, they discuss the good things about living at the Moon Shadow Campground and everywhere else. Ally begins to feel better and so does Bree. But the discussion is cut short by the fact that it stopped raining. They begin the experiment, but before that, Bree looks through a telescope at the moon and according to her, her “inner geek has been released.” (Page 235) Which is “so not good.” (Page 235)

Many days later, the eclipse (the reason that Jack is there and the end of Ally’s time at the Moon Shadow) is about to happen. Bree feels different after it, but I’m not going to tell you how it ends, you’ll have to read the book yourself.

 

Character Analysis

Bree

Bree is a popular, pretty eighth grader who has to go live on a campground for three years. She hates that. She doesn’t want to go because according to her, it will be insane. She has blue eyes, dark brown hair, is tall and obsessed with her looks.

She changes over the course of the book as a result of her move. At the beginning of the book, she ignores her parents; she is popular, and obsessed with staying there. For example, on page five, it says “I worked extremely hard to become one of the most popular girls in my grade, and I work hard at staying there.” At the end of the book she is less concerned about her image, she is interested in space, and is making an effort to get along with her family. On page 298, it says “Usually when Mel starts talking about anything science-related I tune her out, but this is actually interesting.” Also, on page 314, it says “‘You’ll like this one,’ Mel says, lifting one up and handing it to me. ‘You look really good in it.’  She’s right, I do. My eyes are bright, my hair has come loose from its ribbon, and Stella’s scarf is waving around my neck. But that’s not what I see when I look at the picture. I see three unlikely friends holding hands.” This shows that she doesn’t care much about her looks.

 

Recommendation

I recommend this book to people over the age of nine because it is sort of hard to follow the story. This book would appeal to people who like books about realistic events, such as moving, or people who like books about unusual things, such as eclipses. The book is about both, and is really, really good. It is a really cool book, since it tells the story from three different perspectives.

Review of My Life in Pink and Green by Rainbow Scorpion

Book: My Life in Pink and Green

Author: Lisa Greenwald

Pages: 267

 

This month I read the book “My Life in Pink and Green”by Lisa Greenwald. I saw the cover of this book and thought it may be a pleasant read. I read the inside flap and thought it looked good, but I found it cheesy and dull. I thought that it lacked detail and an interesting storyline.

 

Summary (spoilers):

 

The book begins with Lucy Desberg, a 12-year-old girl living in Connecticut. She lives with her mother and grandmother who own a pharmacy called Old Mill Pharmacy. Old Mill isn’t doing very well due to all the new super stores where people can get a bunch of things in one outing. Under this stress, to Lucy’s grandmother and mom are always getting into fights. One fight is about the mortgage where her stubborn grandma will say things like: “‘Three delinquent mortgage payments–that’s what!’Grandma shoves the letter in front of my mom’s nose. ‘In danger of foreclosure! Can you please explain?’”(9)

 

One day, the most famous teenagers in Lucy’s town walks into Old Mill, Courtney Adner. Courtney has won homecoming queen three years in a row. Her hair is a mess, it is green, teased and awful. However, Lucy helps restore her hair back to it’s original form by giving Courtney tips and beauty products to help. Later, Courtney comes back, praising Lucy for all she’d done, saying things to her friends like: “‘This is my hero’”or “Lucy, those products were amazing! Especially that Natural Color Solution one, it worked like magic.’”(50)

 

Before you know it, Lucy has a mini-makeup company taking place in the pharmacy. She helps many, many of people. Everyone in town is getting to know her as a makeup artist. “‘Oh yeah,’Cassandra says giggling ‘I forgot you’re like, Ms. Maybelline.’”(89)

 

Meanwhile, Lucy’s best friend, Sunny, is going through her first huge crush on a boy named Evan. Lucy wants her to be confident and believe in herself and try to make something happen. Whilst Sunny just want to be shy and stay in her shell and not draw attention to herself. “‘We’re not going to talk to the boys, though,’she says ‘just going to watch them from afar..’”(101)

 

Sunny developed her crush on Evan in earth club. Which she and Lucy were forced to join, along with Sunny’s brother Yamir, who is a grade above the two girls. While researching in Earth Club, Lucy stumbles upon a link to a grant the mayor of the town was offering, it is a “going green grant”. Lucy gets excited and with the help of her older sister fills out the application form. Part of the application process is saying how you would use the money. Lucy says she’s use it to start an eco-spa (a spa that helps the environment). When she tells her mother and grandma about her plan, they don’t take it seriously, the way she hoped they would. Instead, they reply with things like: “‘Lucy my love, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but this wont solve all of our problems.’”(192) While all of this is happening, Lucy develops a crush on Yamir, Sunny’s older brother. When Lucy shares this news with Sunny, Sunny is very displeased. In the end, Lucy and Yamir become a couple and so do Sunny and Evan. Eventually, Lucy talks to her grandma’s friend Morrie and his son invests in helping them open an eco-spa. In the very end, Lucy also gets the grant and her pharmacy is saved.

 

 

Character Analysis: Lucy Desberg

 

One of the interesting characters in my book is named Lucy, I chose her because she is the only inspiring character in the book. I feel this way because she takes a lot of action and is my age. She takes action by saving her family’s pharmacy. I know she saves it because on page 259 it says: “I take the envelope and stand it up on the keyboard. The back of the envelope is facing out so that the first thing grandma will see when she comes back from the office is: CONGRATULATIONS.”I think this proves my point because she’s winning a prize of money that she worked hard to get all by herself. Lucy has long brown hair, I know this because on pg. 21 she says “…and when I look in the mirror and see my brown, straight as a ruler hair, I sort of wish I had hair like Claudia’s.”I know she wears makeup as well because on pg. 20 she says: “People don’t always realize this, but doing makeup is a real artform…”Lucy is hard working and persistent, she doesn’t let the fact that she’s a kid get in her way. I belive this because on pgs.131-132 she says: “I hate when adults talk to kids like that, especially teachers. I really hate it. Actually, it makes me angry, it makes me even more determined…”Lucy is a protagonist  because she saves saves her family and the antagonist is a girl named Erica Crane. Erica is bad because on pg. 41 when we first get introduced to Erica Crane Lucy says: “It’s just a fact of life: Erica Crane hates me. Always has, always will.”The setting that affects my character the most is the pharmacy her family owns, Old Mill Pharmacy. This setting affects my character because it is failing and they might lose it, leaving her mom and grandma with no jobs. This situation causes Lucy to work harder and it makes it so she does a lot to help her family. On pg. 135 she’s talking about how much the grant would help the pharmacy: “All afternoon at the pharmacy, I daydream about what would happen if we got this grant.”My character has a lot of interactions with a lot of different characters, but most of them are with her friend Sunny. Most of these interactions are about Sunny’s crush on a boy named Evan. On page 101 Sunny says: “‘We’re going to the mall, I overheard Evan and his friends on the bus line yesterday. That’s what they’re doing today.’”Lucy changes throughout the book. In the beginning, she has no hope in saving the pharmacy. I know this because on pg. 16 it says: “And that’s when I realize that, yeah, I’ve been wishing and hoping that we’d find a way to save the pharmacy. But now, I need a real plan of action. The only problem is, I’m a kid.”By the end of the book, Lucy has faith in herself and is proud of what she has done. On page 236 it says: “I can’t help but feel amazing. To think I didn’t even want to join earth club. Now Ms. Deleccio says I’m a model member. And it’s more than that–my help at earth club has done more than just help the earth, it’s helped my family too.”

 

 

Recommendation

 

“My Life in Pink and Green”is definitely not my favorite book. I found it lacked detail, I thought it ended unrealistically when it is supposeably “realistic fiction”. I also thought that it was, in some parts, sort of offensive to women.

 

This book lacks detail in so many ways. One example is on page 70 when Lucy is talking to her best friend over the phone about a crush she has. She simply tries to make her feel better by saying: “‘so, yeah, you’re awesome and you should know that.”Really? “Awesome,”really? When I’m trying to cheer up my friends I don’t just call them awesome. I say they’re beautiful, fabulous, even sometimes majestic, but I never call them just “awesome.”I also will explain why I think those things about them. I get that the author might of thought that’s just how 7th grade girls talk, but she should have been a little more creative.

 

The ending of this book is very unrealistic. Everything this girl wants, she gets. She ‘gets the guy,’her friend ‘gets the guy,’and her family business is saved because she won a grant. Literally, the last sentence of the book is on pg. 267 and reads: “Because this time he’s holding my hand and not letting go. and I’m not either.”That’s just a cliche if you ask me. If this were actually realistic, the pharmacy might shut down. Yes, I understand that’s really depressing, but if you’re going to write realistically, go big or go home.

 

Lastly, there were times where this book sort of offended me. This girl, Sunny, gets a crush, and that completely changes her. For example, on pg. 126 Lucy is talking about how it’s almost like Sunny’s been brainwashed: “…she’s all out of whack, like she forgot what life used to be like before her big Evan Mass crush.”I understand how you may get nervous sometimes when you have a crush but it doesn’t completely change you. Seriously, it’s like all these girls care about are boys. Why couldn’t the girl ‘get the guy’without forgetting her life? Or, even more different than the usual stories, why not make one of the relationships gay?

 

There are good parts of the book. I like Lucy’s determination and I found some parts sort of funny. The book did not make me feel like my eyes were bleeding like “Twilight”. Overall, I think maybe a second/third grader would like it, but I do not recommend for middle school-aged students.

Hoot, Review by Domnall

 

This month I read the book Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen. I enjoyed this book because I think it follows a good storyline and there are no
boring parts to it, most of the book is actually a mystery. I think this book would be appropriate for kids over the age of 8, because of the reading level, and because it has some bullying and a little bit of fighting. I would recommend this book for those of you who haven’t read it because it is well written, and each part is exciting-you want to read more. And it’s not a very long book so it doesn’t take long to read. Out of 5 stars I would give this book a 4, because it is a really good book (it’s a Newberry honor book) and I really liked it.

Summary

Hoot takes place in the present, in Coconut Cove, Florida. The main characters are Roy Eberheart, and Curly. In the beginning Roy has to move to Florida, his dad had to move them there. He moves a lot, this is the tenth city he’s lived in. He hates living there. But one day Roy is on the bus and he sees a boy running with no shoes on, running away from something. Then he hears about a construction site where someone is vandalizing the place. He gets curious, and soon follows the running boy to find he was planning something. His sister tells Roy to stop following the boy. But he won’t listen; Roy wants to find more about him. There are owls, the boy finally explains to him. The owls, apparently, are important. The moral of the story is, don’t let people stop you from doing something right.

 

Character Analysis

I chose Roy as my character because he is one of the most interesting characters in my book. He is an only child, so he is always finding things to do outside of the house. This affects the story because then it can focus on what he does. I think Roy is good in my book because he tries to save the owls, he says on page 180, “Yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about the owls that would soon get crushed by the bulldozers. It made him sad and angry.” In the beginning of the book Roy seems uncomfortable with Florida.  I know this because it says on page 17, “Disney world is an armpit, compared to Montana.” But at the end he likes it more, he says on page 292, “That’s what a real Florida boy would do.”

The Da Vinci Code Review by Týr Ironheart

Summary:

When Robert Langdon, an American professor, arrives in France, he is expecting to meet with a Louvre curator and give a lecture.But when the curator is found dead with a note saying “find Robert Langdon”, he is thrust into a mystery so intense that people will literally kill to win. As the clues the dead man left lead to actually finding the Holy Grail, the hunt becomes a chase, and Robert’s clock is running out. Friends become enemies, and things are not always what they seem.

 

Recommendation:

“The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown is a really great book. If you like solving codes, puzzles, or any other sort of brainteaser, this book is for you. If you happen to like action/adventure, this book is also for you. If you like mystery, this book is for you, too. However, all you romance fans, this isn’t for you. At all. (Dan Brown is not the best writer of dialogue—especially romantic dialogue.) The twisty-turny plot makes your spine tingle, and will keep you up until 1 a.m. reading under the covers. I give 4.999 out of 5 stars, because no book is perfect, but this one was close.

 

Character Analysis:

I believe that Robert Langdon, the main character, changes over time. He starts out scared to take risks or chances. “…and now we run. ‘ What?! What if they are still out there? ‘ Robert said.” (17%) Then Robert spends a day and a half evading cops and murderers. This hardens him enough to realize that if he didn’t take risks he would be put in jail for life or die. By the end of the book, he is much braver. In fact, when his potential murderer says to him “Hand over the cryptex, Robert, or I will shoot you.”  Robert responds calmly, “Leigh, if you give me time I will solve this for you.” ( 79%) He then bravely deceives his would-be killer, and in doing so, solves the final riddle and brings the bad guy to justice.

Life of Pi by Striples

Book recommendation 

This month I read, Life of Pi by Yann Martell. I did like this book because it was exciting and each page was exciting to read. This book would appeal to people over the age of nine, I say this because it might not make sense to kids under that age. This book may not be appropriate for kids under the age of nine because it is intense and there are some bloody parts (I find it very sad when the zebra dies) I would recommend this book because it is very well written and it is just a good read. Out of 5 stars I would give this book a four because was not perfect (I mean a book can not be perfect) but it was a very good book.

Summary

The book Life of Pi, takes place in current time, in Pondicherry, India and Toronto, Canada. The main characters are Pi his dad and his mom. One of the greatest problems is when his family decides to move to Canada, the problem gets worse when the cargo ship holding his family and his families’ zoo sinks and only he survives, to solve this problem, he swims to a life boat, but when he gets there it is full of animals. A hyena an orangutan a zebra and a tiger. After about two days the zebra and the orangutan are dead. Since Pi is scared that the tiger will kill him so he builds a raft out of spare things around the lifeboat and then ties it to the lifeboat so he can stay a safe distance away from the tiger. The moral of the story is, to never doubt yourself and the things you capable of doing.

Character Analysis

One of the interesting characters in my book is Pi because he was depressed most of the time. I know this because it says on page 1’’my suffering has left me depressed and sad’’ but then later in the book he is not so sad I know this because on page 3 it says, “academic study and the steady, mindful practice of religion slowly brought me back to life.” this affects the story because when Pi is sad and gloomy, the story goes by very slowly, but when he is happy or not so sad the story goes on smoothly. Pi (has dark brown hair and blue eyes; he has light brown skin and a scar on his hand. Pi usually acts very sad most of the time. Pi is a protagonist; I think this because it says on page 11, ‘’I’m pretty sure I have never done anything bad’’. Pi lives in India and travels to Canada to go to college; I think that it would be hard to have to travel back and forth. My character is happiest when he is with his family in India. Pi has the most interactions with his brother and the animals in his parent’s zoo. Pi getting along with his brother affects the story because the story can focus on something besides him and his brother fighting.

Alcatraz vs. The Scrivener’s Bones

Book Review by Daphne Dawn (6th grade)

Review

This month I read Alcatraz vs. the Scrivener’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson. I liked this book because it was very funny. It was also very exciting when they travel through the library of Alexandria and get split up. One of the reasons the book is funny is because the author talks a lot about how he will not . This book would appeal to young adults because the book is very long and funny and very interesting. This book would not appeal to young kids because it is long and sometimes hard to understand. I would recommend this book to young adults who love fantasy. Out of 5 stars I would give this book a 5 because it is very well written and very exciting.

Summary

My book takes place in Egypt in the library of Alexandria. The time period is in the modern day.  Four of the characters in my book are, Alcatraz, Kaz, Bastille and Australia. The conflict in the story is that they are being chased by an evil librarian. They get chased into the library of Alexandria. After entering the library, they all get separated and have to find each other in the thick fog and get through the maze of bookshelves. At the same time there are curators (ghost like librarians with a skull and cloak) trying to get you to check out a book so they can have your soul and you become one of them.

After Alcatraz, Bastille and Astralia finally find each other.  They have to fight Kiliman to save Kaz and Bastille’s mom, Draulin, who have been captured by Kiliman.  They also have to get the translator lens from him.

Alcatraz tricks Killiman by tying one end of the trip wire to the lens and the other end tied to a scroll, so once he picked up the lens, the scroll would fall off the shelf and Kiliman will get his soul taken.  I think the moral of this story is that knowledge is power.  In the end of the book, Alcatraz and his father are able to outsmart the curators and get his father’s soul back after it was taken. His father had written the words, “I am not an idiot.” before his soul was taken.  Alcatraz reads them and figured out how to get his father’s soul back.  It says in the book, (when Alcatraz figures it out) “He tossed aside his robe, wearing a tuxedo underneath. ‘Aha!’ he said. ‘I knew you’d figure it out, son!’”

Character Analysis

One of the interesting characters in my book is Alcatraz.  I choose him because he is the main character and is very funny.  My character is 13 years old, has brown hair.  My character can do very stupid things and is very willing to take risks.  He is a protagonist (good person).  I think this because he is trying to save his father and friends from the librarians.  One example of this is on page 234 when Alcatraz says, “Bastille! He’s goading you!”  My character lives and plays in WA and works and travels all around the world.  The setting affects my character because in different places. He has to be very careful NOT to let his talent out.  When Alcatraz is in the library of Alexandria, he acts very cautious because if he lets out his talent or trips, or moves a book, it would cost him his life.  This is important to the story because in one part, he takes the risk of braking the wall behind a bookshelf.  Alcatraz mostly interacts with Bastille.  These interactions are mostly talking and sometimes Bastille telling Alcatraz he’s stupid.  These interactions matter because they need each other to defeat Kiliman and save Bastille’s mother and Kaz.  In the story , Alcatraz doesn’t change very much.  Mostly he changes in the first book, then stays mostly the same.  Though, he does learn a lot of things.  In the book, the author describes Alcatraz as “a liar” on Page 58.  At the end of the book, the author still describes Alcatraz as a liar.

The Amber Spyglass

Editors Note: Behold our first negative review!

Creepy. I was in over my head. – JStar

In Phillip Pullman’s first two books in the His Dark Materials trilogy, are fantastic. I enjoyed the ending of the first book and loved the second the whole way through. However, The Amber Spyglass starts to twist into themes off evil, death, and sin.

There is also a great deal of violence in the third book. Mrs. Coulter attempts to kill Lyra with poison that puts her to sleep, Mrs. Coulter whispers, “Shh, Shh, sleep my darling. Drink this.” Creepy. Violence occurs again when The Church (Jordan College) locks men in their basement to torture and kill them,

“In the cellars the man from Bolvangar, dressed only in dirty white shirt and loose trousers with no belt, stood under the bare light bulb, holding the trousers with one hand and his rabbit daemon with the other.”

In his story Phillip Pullman sculpts a mystical wonderland that explodes in a non-religious allegory. In Lyra’s dreams she is in a world of dead children, which is a way of saying she is in Hell. For example, “they were imprisoned. Someone had committed a crime, though no one knew what it was or who had done it or what authority sat in judgement.” This quote illustrates people being mistreated by God or “The Authority” because they weren’t perfect.

In conclusion I would not recommend this book to the religious or the fragile because the book has stark non-religious elements which the religious would find offensive.

The Subtle Knife

 

 

The second book of Philip Pullman’s series of His Dark Materials starts off with a young boy named Will that is curiously looking for his dad. His mother has a mental disorder which makes her forget important facts. He helps his mother by bringing her to a neighbor’s house for a couple of days. Strange men break into his house and look for a little green bag from Will’s dad with letters in it. They asked his mother many questions that she couldn’t answer about the leather bag. Will walks to Oxford looking for his father but finds a secret door that is almost invisible. He enters a magic portal to find himself in a city with no people. He goes discovering and finds a girl that was in The Golden Compass before as the main character known as Lyra. Philip Pullman’s amusing work, The Subtle Knife teaches us how to respect our elders and find the good in ourselves. One of Philip Pullman’s most riveting parts of this story is when the old rich man steals the golden compass from Lyra’s bag and in return he wants the SUBTLE KNIFE.

 

 

 

 

The Golden Compass

Anyone that likes a captivating fantasy or mystery book should read  The Golden Compass.

A picture of our book!

In this story a little girl goes on a epic adventure to find out what the true meaning of dust is.  In a world of witches, talking animals, & mythical creatures,  a mysterious cult called The Gobblers are entrapping  children. Another significant group in the story is the Jordan college which is run by the master.
This story has amazing characters! Lyra: A girl who grew up in a college her whole life is the hero. Lyra’s daemon,  Pantalemon,  travels with her to the frosty arctic. Iorek the bear has no daemon but his armor is his soul. Along the way our hero, meets Mrs. Coulter an elegant, charming, and beautiful woman with a golden monkey.
Lyra starts off as a curious stubborn girl but later shows her true colors.
I think Philip Pullman’s purpose is to entertain and educate readers about the unique ideas and morals of the story.  Finding the good in anyone takes time. We should have a skeptical mind regarding authorities.
Lyra is a high minded role model for early teenagers. I would recommend this book to readers 11 & up