Deliver Us From Evie

Since the lead blogger has not posted, actually no one has posted I though I would discuss Deliver us From Evie. I have read a little over one third of the book. It was interesting how quickly I realized that the narrarator was placing alot of emphasis on how different and "not girly" Evie is. It was not until I read the note from Patsy that I though wow, Evie is interested in the opposite sex. Then I went back and read the part when Evie was wearing Patsy's sweater at the Halloween party and wondered if that was another hint made by the author. This books has been very good reading. It is a different perspective than the other young adult books we have been reading because Evie is not the narrarator, her brother is. Her family seems to lover her and her brothers really seem to care about her. It is also intersting how her parents really have no clue in the beginning of the book that their daughter not only dresses differently and wants to farm when she grows up, but this could possbily be an issue and Evie could be telling them lightly that she is "different".

Coraline

This book is my favorite so far. I didn't actually buy this one, just went to Barnes and Noble. I thought it would take me a few times to finish it but I have to say that I got completely sucked in and read it all in one day, in the most uncomfortable chair you could imagine.
At first I thought this book would be a little more realistic, and it would be a lot different than it was, I didn't expect it to turn out the way it did. I really enjoyed the way the black cat was used, when she said that the cat would always run away from her and didn't want to be her friend but there was a cat on the other side who would talk to her and help her through her adventur, I knew it was the same one. When it couldn't talk on her side but she knew it was communicating through the blinking, then as soon as they got to the corridor he continued the conversation as if he had been talking before, I thought that was neat. This book reminded me of Alice in Wonderland in a very strange way. The fact that the young girl was in another world, experiencing talking animals, and trying to find a way back all seemed so similar to me. The way that Coraline outsmarted her evil "other mother" by challenging her to a game just showed that she was a lot smarter and wittier than Alice ever was. It seemed as though Coraline knew when to trust and when not to, when she did make a mistake she was very brave and would continue to say that over and over, even if she wasn't sure she truly believed she was. My favorite part is at the very end, I don't want to ruin it for everyone else but Coraline is very tricky and found a way to get rid of the bad. :)
I found this book in the teen section but I really enjoyed it, the way Gaimen incorporated all the characters from one side to the other, they all had a way of communicating to her, the mice, cat and the dog in a way. He showed that it wasn't just a dream when she got back to her side, and I really enjoyed this factor.

Skellig First Half

David Almond has a unique way of writing his story. The book was hard for me to read at first because of the way it was written. I felt like there were a lot of information just chunked into the book to extend it. The story took a while for me to understand the location and what Micheal was doing. The start of chapter three was odd for me because it started off by having words tied together and it made it difficult for me to read. Since the beginning of the book to chapter three, the story was vague. Then, the transition started to pick up by the change of the story format. It sounded more like a normal story by having events happening after another. In addition to the book, I thought that it was weird for the book to have a name, "Doctor Death." It can be creapy for children. The book showed some value of life by having some interesting qoutes. For example, on page 26, it said, "Drawing makes you look at the world more closely. It helps you to see what you're looking at more clearly..." I thought that this would be a great lesson for the reader to think about and relate it to their experiences in life.

The Wizard of Oz

I hope everyone is enjoying the first half of The Wizard of Oz. It was interesting to go from reading Alice and Wonderland then transitioning to Oz. It seems like Alice is more of a younger children's book and Oz for older children. They are both fantasy books but they are very different. I found the grammar, sentences and meanings in Alice more for young adults. While Oz is longer and has smaller text, it is more of a children's book. What I found in both stories is that they have significant meanings and symbols. If a child were to read these books they would simply understand the characters and the environments interesting, if an older child reads these books they are likely to see the meanings behind Dorothy's adventure in Oz. Personally I have enjoyed the beginning of Oz alot more than Alice, Alice in Wonderland is quite a strange book.

Alice In Wonderland

I decided to start this blog because I couldn't figure it out last week and nobody else has yet :)
Alice in Wonderland is a really strange book so far, but I can't say that I am surprised because I have seen the Disney movie so many times and it is not a whole lot different. Alice falls down a hole and enters another world where there is nothing but talking animals. Alice is a very strange and curious girl who talks to everyone, often offending them, but not as much as she talks to herself. Many people think that Carroll was on certain drugs when writing this book and once again I am not surprised, things like the queen of hearts and especially the caterpillar are just too weird and almost inappropriate. I really enjoy this book because it reminds me of when my mom used to read it to me. Some people may think it is not something you should read to your children but children don't know what a hookah is or understand the underlying messages that come across, it is a wonderful book that will spark their imaginations.

First Half of Alice in Wonderland

I have no idea on how to see other people's blog. So I am posting my own blog. The first half of the book was interesting. I never really knew how the story went, but I got a good understanding of what is going on. The beginning of the story is very interesting how Alice jumps into a hole that she doesn't even know where it is leading her. I went to a play before about Alice in Wonderland, but I never understood some parts of the play. After reading this book, I now understand the part about how she met the animals. It is interesting how the book gives the dialogues of Alice. That too made me understand why Alice was talking to herself so much at the play. She does a lot throughout the book and it makes it interesting because you know what she is thinking at that moment. I am lookin foward to finishing this book.

Ch. 5 Zipes

In chapter 5, Zipes introduced a woman name Wanda Gag. Zipes notes her on her work, which played a major role with the Grimm's fairy tales. He seemed inform about how Wanda changed the view of fairy tales. He notes that the original stories from Germany were gory. Zipe questioned about whether creators can "appropriately" write for children or actually write for children (p.88). I think it was a great question to be brought up because it does raise many of the questions we had about the earlier chapters. That is that the stories are for children or adults, and how publishers will modify the stories. Zipes explained about how Wanda contaminated some of the Grimm's Stories by changing a few things, but it did still follow the storyline. As for the Hansel and Gretel variants, they all had the same actions about returning a favor. I liked how the story about Molly Whuppie and The Rose Tree. They both had like a revenge type of ending. "What goes around, comes around", sums it up for me.