Post #12: Reading Wishlist

My Name is Rapunzel by K.C. Hilton

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

The Son of Sobek by Rick Riordan

The Kane Chronicles (series) by Rick Riordan

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak

1984 George Orwell

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

The Scorch Trials & The Death Cure by James Dashner
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Post #11: Book Talk

Post #10: Book 3 Review

For our last section of class, I chose to read books from different genres. I ended up reading three books: Eleanor & Park, Hollow City, and Watership Down. All three were wonderful books that I absolutely loved in different ways, because each book was different. I decided to start with a brief review of each book before I got into the nitty gritty stuff.

                Rainbow Rowell is fairly new to the writing scene, her first book, Attachments, published in 2011. On top of that, Eleanor & Park was her first young adult book to be published. Keeping this in mind, while reading Eleanor & Park I have to say, it was a very solid book. Rowell takes two outcast teenagers and turns them into an epic romance story. Usually, in the romance genre, the popular kid falls in love with the unpopular kid. It’s so refreshing to see that Eleanor and Park come from the same world. When Eleanor first moves in, she immediately has a target on her back. No one will let Eleanor sit with them on the bus and she starts to panic. In a moment of kindness, Park tells her sit down with him. After a rocky start, the two become friends and slowly, more than friends. They may have different family lives but, at school, Park is the quiet Asian kid and Eleanor is the weird red-head that wears funny clothes. Neither fit in but that’s why they go so well together.

Hollow City, the second installment in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series was released in early 2014. Author Ransom Riggs is best known for this hit series and is planning to publish third book. Hollow City picks up exactly where the first book ended. The Peculiar children are on a mission to save Miss Peregrine, who is trapped in her bird form.  This book is very powerfully written. Riggs does a good job not depending on the old photographs he uses to set up characters and settings. Each character was well developed in the story. Jacob experiences a lot of growth throughout this book. This makes the book more captivating to read. At the beginning of the book, Jacob is unsure, lost and feels like an outcast. As his powers grow and sharpen, he also grows and becomes more confident. During one scene, Jacob is able to locate a hollow miles away and get his friends to safety. Jacob learns that he does fit in with the Peculiar children even if the come from different centuries. Riggs ability to show character development is marvelous and it captures every reader who picks up Hollow City.

Watership Down, by Richard Adams, was published in 1972. Adams also wrote Shardik, The Girl in a Swing, and Bureaucats. Watership Down, Adams’ first novel, follows the adventures of a group of rabbits that escape the destruction of their warren. The group, led by a sensible rabbit named Hazel, faces many struggles of the wild as they try to find a new place to call home. The genre of this book is fantasy. This isn’t some book where rabbits hop around and graze lettuce all day, it’s an intense and intelligent book and not just anyone should read it. It’s for young adults who are ready to dive into world of how the society of rabbits really works: deception, cunning, tyrannical, cruel, smart, and thrilling. One of the things that instantly made this book astounding was the strong characters. The reader is expected to keep up with many different rabbits and if it weren’t for Adams’ canny descriptions the reader would be lost and irritated. Each rabbit is unique in his/her own way, conveying a very specific skill or personality trait making them likeable and memorable. In the opening it is said Fiver can sense the future, this leads to the escape of the Sandleford Warren before its demise. Not a lot of author’s could pull this off, but Adams does it well.

                These books, though from different genres, do have many similarities in themes, concepts and main ideas. All three of the books incorporate romance but how they convey it is extremely different. In Eleanor & Park, the genre is romance so the entire book revolves around the love aspect.  Most of the book focuses on the love Eleanor and Park have for one another. Rowell writes about how Park feels about Eleanor, “He loved how much they loved each other,” (Rowell 301). She does an exceptional job of describing everything both teenagers feel throughout the entire book and that’s what romance should do. In Hollow City, a fantasy book, romance is more of a subplot to the story. Jacob and Emma fall in love but don’t know what to do because they are from different times and Emma was in love with Jacob’s grandfather. Jacob makes a point to tell Emma that he stayed as long as he did because of her. He says, “‘For you, you idiot! I love you!’” (Riggs 357). Although this is important it is not vital to what is happening with the war and Miss Peregrine. For Watership Down, a fantasy novel, romance is not a big part until the end. When the Watership rabbits realize they have no way to reproduce and keep their warren alive, they take it upon themselves to find female rabbits. The last half of the book is about their journey to obtain females to help them all survive. This is when romance becomes a main idea of the book. El-Ahrairah explains what it means to love, “I have learned that with creatures one loves, suffering is not the only thing for which one may pity them,” (Adams 234). This shows why The Watership rabbits went to the very dangerous Efrafa. They did it for love. Although these books come from different genres, they still have similarities in what they are about.

                It’s hard to think of ratings for these books. They come from different genres so rating them based on the same scale is nearly impossible. I would give Eleanor & Park a 4 star rating. Hollow City gets a 4 star rating as well. Watership Down receives a 5 star rating. It is now one of my all-time favorite books. I definitely would recommend this book to other readers, as well as Eleanor & Park and Hollow City.

Post #9: Heroes and Villians

In Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: the Hollow City the hero is Jacob. He fits the pattern of a Hero. Jacob goes through a psychological transformation that would classify him as a Modern or Hemingway Hero. In the second book, Jacob can also be classified as an Epic Hero.

                In the second installment of The Peculiar Children series, Jacob is still trying to figure out who he is and what he is supposed to do with his life. He feels he has an obligation to help Miss Peregrine because of how she helped his grandfather, but he also feels he does not belong in 1940 with all of the other Peculiar Children. During the course of their journey, Jacob comes to realize that he is meant to be a big part of the war with the hollows because of his great power. He also understands that he has a connection with the Peculiar Children and he could never just leave them behind and go back to his normal life. These realizations show Jacob’s psychological transformation from an unsure teenager, to a confident leader in the oncoming war. This is how Jacob embodies the Hemingway Hero.

                Jacob is also goes on a long journey during the book. Along the way, he creates new allies such as the blind brothers, the gypsies, and Miss Wren. He faces many adversaries, mostly hollows and hollowgasts, along with learning critical information about the hollow’s plans. Jacob is a loyal and brave friend of the Peculiar Children and they all feel very strongly for him. His transformation throughout the book is that he becomes more confident in his powers and more ready for action. Jacob differs from other Epic Heroes because he does have a “super power” (aka he’s peculiar). But there are other things that make Jacob different than heroes such as Odysseus. Unlike, Odysseus who learned hubris from his journey, Jacob learned to believe in himself. Odysseus went from being cocky to humble and Jacob went from being unsure to confident. Most epic heroes learn hubris but Jacob already knew how to be humble. He went his whole life being a nobody so that’s not the lesson he needed to take away from his journey. Although the war is not over yet, Jacob has already changed a lot. We will have to wait and see in the next book if Jacob returns home a completely different person.

                If I chose any character from another book that Jacob shares similar traits to, it would be Percy Jackson. Although, I think that Percy is a more likeable character than Jacob, they share some similar characteristics. They both go from being nobody’s to playing key roles in giant wars. Both follow an Epic Hero’s journey but have super powers. And both Percy and Jacob learn to believe in themselves and their abilities making them great leaders to others around them. The reason I think Percy is more likeable than Jacob is because Jacob whines a lot and he started dating his grandfather’s ex-girlfriend which I find very strange.  Percy is more of a Romantic Hero and I like that about him. Also, I’ve read a lot more about Percy than Jacob so that might affect how I see them.

                The second book of the Miss Peregrine series was very good and I can’t wait for the next one to come out sometime next year. It’s a long time but I think it’ll be worth the wait.

Post #8: Memoirs

            My thoughts about memoirs are as follows. The book doesn’t have to be the entire truth for it to be considered a memoir. If the story is really boring, people aren’t going to read it. Just vamping it up a little, doesn’t mean it’s not true. It’s still the same story, just enhanced in places to make more of a profit and keep readers entertained. I don’t see what is wrong with adding to the story as long as the author isn’t completely changing what happened. It might as well be a piece of fiction if it’s going to be a lot different than what actually happened. If that’s the case, why not just put on the cover that it is based off a true story? That way, you get the best of both worlds. Back to the point, I think that if the story is changed only a little to increase interest, it can still be considered a memoir.

            I also believe that half-truths are ok in memoirs. It’s not fair for readers to be so upset upon finding out a memoir isn’t COMPLETELY true. It’s the author and publisher’s job to create an interesting story that is going to sell and be popular. So, if that means adding some fluff, then why is that so bad? Readers overreact because they feel cheated. People lie to each other all the time. Besides, they probably wouldn’t even have found out anything was a lie. It’s not a crime to add to the story for the benefit of the reader (keeping it interesting), and the author (creates more profit). Half-truths are totally ok for memoirs as long as they don’t entirely alter the story.

Post #7: Book Trailer

Post #6: Readicide

Readicide is the killing children’s desire to read. I think this is a huge problem in today’s schools. Between the way that teachers choose to teach books and the amount of literary fiction students are expected to read, it’s no wonder kids are falling out of love with reading.

In my experience, teachers go a little overboard when teaching classic books such as: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, etc. With the massive amounts of notes, study guides, and quizzes there isn’t much time for me (or any other students) to appreciate the book itself. When teachers stand in front of the room and talk at students about what the author ‘truly meant’ when he/she said this it makes the book boring and hard to think about. All the fun and enjoyment is taken out of reading the book. Finding a meaning in a book that relates to the reader is what reading should be about. Not what the school thinks students should get out of it. Literary fiction is great to teach in schools, but not when it’s forced onto students and symbols and themes are shoved down their throats.

Literary fiction should not be removed from school’s curriculum completely. It does have some good issues that people still deal with today. Also, people need to read these to see our history and how themes still apply to this day and age. However, too much of these classics can be extremely boring and suffocating to students today. Schools need to find that balance between literary fiction and genre fiction. Genre fiction is in no way less ‘worthy’ to read in school than literary fiction. It’s has great themes that would go along well with the curriculum. Gene fiction is also a lot more fun and interesting for students to read. This will help with the problem of Readicide, making reading in school more enjoyable. If you look at The Hunger Games, students can learn about a dystopian society and government takeovers in a futuristic, engaging way.  

Critics shouldn’t sneer at genre fiction because that’s what people are reading today. It’s what is popular among children, teens and young adults. It’s what’s selling and being turned into million dollar movies. It’s what’s making its way on the bestsellers list. Kim Wright says, “Publishers, always the last to recognize a literary trend, are pursuing top genre writers who, for the first time, have not only bigger paychecks but genuine clout,” (Wright). Literary fiction will always be the classics that everyone should at least know about, but genre fiction is what everyone is reading now. The best way to keep kids reading is to incorporate genre fiction into school and get rid of some of the literary fiction that is causing Readicide.

Post #5: Adaptation of Carrie

If I were to make a film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Carrie, there are three important scenes that I would keep the same.

First, one of the most important scenes of the entire book is the locker room fiasco where Carrie is made fun of by all of the girls. This is a milestone in the book because along with "becoming a woman" Carrie rediscovers her powers and starts to learn to control them after this horrible incident. This also sets up the pure hatred Carrie has for the other girls and how they bully her. Another reason to include this part is because of the strong emotion it shows. Carrie is humiliated and thinks she’s bleeding to death while the other girls find true disgust for their classmate. Chris and Sue, who are introduced in this scene, come to be important characters throughout the book and become part of the reason for Carrie snapping at the end.

The second scene that I would keep the same is the crowning of Carrie and Tommy as Prom Queen and King. This is a very important part of the book because when the pig blood is dumped onto Carrie and Tommy, Carrie has been embarrassed for the last time. The blood is the final act that makes Carrie snap. It changes her character entirely.  Carrie changes from a sad girl who cries to a monster that destroys the town and kills almost her entire class.

The final scene that should remain the same is Carrie’s final confrontation with her mother. It is after the pig’s blood and she comes home looking to kill her own mother. Margaret White is sitting in the house, knife in hand, waiting to kill Carrie. She tells Carrie about her carelessness before she was married. Margaret wants them to pray together one last time. While Carrie’s head is bowed she strikes at her with the knife. It ends up stabbing her in the shoulder. Finally, Carrie slows her mother’s heart to a stop. This is important because it shows the result of all the years of punishment and loathing from Mrs. White.

One thing I wouldn’t include is Chris and Sue talking at the restaurant. Although, it shows that Sue feels guilty for her actions and Chris does not, it is not important enough to the story to keep in. It is a minor detail that is added for effect. In movies, you have to cut things down to the most important things that keep the story moving. This is just not one of those things.

Another thing that I would cut out is some of the witness questioning. Maybe one would be ok to clear up some things but Sue’s was the most important. You could show some of what Carrie did without having it be set up as a police questioning. Showing Carrie burn townspeople alive would be a lot more effective than having a witness talk about the event. It cuts down on the time and I think it would be confusing to hear all of the witnesses’ stories.

Post #4: Reflection of book 1

I really enjoyed Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I thought it was uniquely written with how the pictures were incorporated. Riggs did a wonderful job with the characters, I fell in love with all of them and their well-being. The book was a little slow in the middle but picked back up at the end with a lot of exciting action. I loved the idea of time loops and peculiar children in general. It was interesting that Riggs chooses to call them 'peculiar'. I would like to know where he came up with that. I can't wait until the second book comes out at the beginning of 2014! I need know what happens to Jacob and Emma and all the other peculiar children.

Post #3: Book 1 Project

If you loved reading about the peculiar children's adventures in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children then this is the perfect product for you. Buy a T-shirt with one of the outrageous pictures Jacob sees throughout the book to show your support for the peculiar children. It's the ultimate fan gear. You like the picture of the floating girl, Olive? Get it on a shirt. What about the picture of Victor holding a bolder over his head? Get it on a shirt. Or maybe you like the picture of Enoch with his homunculi. Get it on a shirt. Show that you are a proud fan of the Miss Peregrine series.

Ransom Riggs’ book is because he uses unique, old pictures to enhance his already spot-on character descriptions. As a young boy, Jacob is shown some old photos from his Grandfather’s childhood. These help to start Jacob’s journey to a little island off the coast of Wales. Upon finding more odd pictures at the house, Jacob finally comes to the realization that the stories that his Grandfather told him so many years ago were actually true. When Jacob first sees the peculiar children, everything seems to connect in his mind, “The pictures strewn before me, staring up at me just as the children stared down. I’d seen them in the photographs,” (Riggs 121). The pictures of the peculiar children make the book more interesting and intense to read. It creates a much more vivid picture in the mind of the readers, helping them fill in the gaps in their imagination.

The use of photos throughout the book helps Jacob as well as the reader. As Miss Peregrine explains to Jacob a story of a young girl she had once sheltered, Jacob recalls a photo that helps him place who she is. He recalls an elder lady dressed in little girl clothing, “‘I think I’ve seen her picture,’” (Riggs 211). Riggs uses these pictures to enhance readers thoughts about the characters looks. By looking at the black and white photos readers can understand more about the setting outside of what Riggs describes. Readers learn just how old these peculiar children are. They are shown in old suspenders and dresses that were worn during the time of World War II. The photos reinforce the idea that the children have not aged and really do come from the 1940’s.

For the peculiar children, keeping and looking at the photos helped them stay sane. Jacob finds old pictures of Emma and his grandfather hidden away in her room. Emma uses them as a reminder of her life before the loop started and there is something different that happens every day.  She explains to Jacob, “’And that, as they say, was that. […]It’s an old story,’” (Riggs 233). Keeping the memory alive, Emma keeps herself sane through the day that repeats itself. The loop makes it so that every day is September 3, 1940 and it resets itself every night. So although the day is the same, what the peculiar children do with does not have to be the same. So, readers, if you wish to wear something different other than an ordinary T-shirt that you wear every day, spice it up with a peculiar children T-shirt!

Not only does Ransom Riggs’ use of the peculiar photos enhance the reader’s experience but it makes his book unique and memorable. Not many books can pull off the picture aspect as Riggs has. Be as close to the peculiar children as you can. Be unique, different, and unlike anyone you know. Be peculiar.  If you wish to go above and beyond like this book and expand your fan experience, you will buy a Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children shirt today!

Post #2: What is a Book?

   A book is a district. Like the districts 1-12 in The Hunger Games, books specialize in different things. Districts also represent the different types of readers. You have the readers who love reading fantasy, manga, realistic fiction, horror, mystery, non-fiction, or adventure etc. Readers have the option to choose what kind of book they want to read, something that will be special to them. Similar to the train that takes Katniss and Peeta to the different districts, books transport readers to different worlds. You can change instantly from a pulse-racing, scream-inducing Stephen King novel, to a heart-aching, vampire-sparkling Stephanie Meyer book. There are so many options to look forward to in the world of books.

Does a Kindle, IPad, phone, other electronic device count as a book?

   Although I definitely prefer my books printed on paper, I would consider these other devices books as well. As long as people are reading, we shouldn't be too judgmental about how they do it. We are all reading the same words, falling in love with the same characters, and experiencing the same heartbreaks whether it’s through paper or through electronic devices. I know that one of the main reasons I prefer reading paper books is because that's how I grew up reading. It wouldn't be the same to me to read off of a lit up screen. Also, reading off a computer (etc.) makes my eyes hurt and I end up with a terrible headache. So I think I will just stick to the textbooks rather than the online version.

   I finished my book 1 within...a week maybe? Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was a fantastic read. It was fairly simple to read and kept me entertained. The beginning was a little slow but once Jacob found the children and Miss Peregrine things picked up a lot. The entire book was a very cool concept and I liked the loop idea. I would never have guessed any of that to happen (Although I had my suspicions about Jacob and his Grandfather being peculiar in some way or another...). I was upset at the end when Ransom Riggs kind of left us hanging until I found out the second book will be coming out this January! I will definitely be picking that one up as soon as it hits the shelves. I loved this book and I'm so glad that I chose to read it for our first unit.

Post #1: Why I read

I like to read for many different reasons.  Books can take you to new realities. I like to be absorbed into different places, places that don't even exist. Every time I open a book, it takes me on a new adventure. It's a nice escape on a rainy day when I'm sitting in my room by myself. Sometimes when I've had a bad day I like to read to forget and fall into the action and drama of Percy Jackson. Being taken away to an alternate universe is most fun when you relate best to a character. It helps to keep the book enjoyable when you feel like you're the one experiencing the magic.


 Books have their own unique way of teaching readers about character, loyalty, friendship and many other themes. When you finish a good book it's like learning the meaning of life. It's liberating to close the cover and know exactly what the author wanted you to know. The Hunger Games by Susan Collins teaches us to stand up against conformity and to change the future. But, it can also be challenging to close the book and wonder what exactly just happened. I can be thinking about the meaning for days. And that's what makes reading fun. The challenge it presents you're mind.

Not only does it become an escape and a way for authors to teach you valuable lessons, it also makes you more intelligent. Reading is a great way to increase your vocabulary and learn about different cultures and time periods. Books are very captivating and that's why I read.