Connection: Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind

My book, (ahh, I keep forgetting to post that I'm reading a new book!!!) is called Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind. It's about how 12 year-old Shabanu lives and survives a life of many hardships in the Cholistan Desert  with her sister Phulan, her mother, father, aunt, and their herd of the finest camels in Pakistan. But anyway, (This is just so you can sort of understand what I'm talking about,)

   I can see that in Pakistan, as well as China, people of both countries hope and pray for sons and for their daughters to have many sons.  Most people don't care to have any daughters, and would much rather have a boy. Auntie, (who is quite cantankerous ;) always brags about having two sons when her sister (Mama) only has two daughters, and when she is stitching Phulan's wedding dress she outwardly complains, " If God had blessed you with sons, we wouldn't have to break our fingers over wedding dresses." And when the family goes to Phulan's new cottage where she will live with her future husband, Hamir. It is tradition that the family members paint symbols of good fortune on the walls. A fish for fertility, circles intertwined for harmoney in the family, camels for wealth, and a row of lines with arms and legs and appendages that indicate the many sons that the family wishes for Phulan.
   In Social Studies we learned that in China, because of the large population, families were only allowed to have one child. And the preferred gender of choice would be male in most cases. if they had a girl, people used to even kill them. Nowadays, they either keep, or put them up for adoption. I have a friend that was adopted from Vietnam and her sister was adopted from China.
   I think the reason people preferred having sons over daughters is because they thought that boys were more useful and important than the girls. Sure, men used to provide money for the family, but today, women work as well. I don't know, I am a girl, and I feel really bad for all of the girls who were turned away just because of their gender. I think it's nice to see the perspective of a girl who lives in a world where her opinion doesn't matter and she is shunned for her strong spirit, and how she copes with all of this.

PERSPECTIVE

Alright, I am now reading my new book called THE SON OF NEPTUNE!!!!!!!!!!!! Percy Jackson lovers, I know you're jealous, and people who have not read the series, do it. NOW!! But anyway this post is about the perspective of my book not how awesome it is so here it goes!

    In the book, "The Son of Neptune" I have come to the conclusion that my story is told in third person limited but alternates perspectives of different characters every couple of chapters. An example to back up my conclusion would be chapter 1: Percy followed, staggering under the weight of the old lady who was definitely getting heavier. He didn't know how that girl Hazel would hold off the gorgons by herself, but he was too tired to argue." You can tell it's third person limited because only Percy's thoughts and feelings are revealed to the reader, although it's not told in first person, because the author is referring to Percy as "Percy" instead of "I" or "me". Another example would be, " In the past few days he'd hardly slept. He'd eaten whatever he could scrounge-vending machine gummi bears, stale bagels, even a Jack in the Crack burrito, which was a new personal low." This sentence is mostly told in third person objective, but it also mentions that eating a Jack in the Crack burrito is a "new personal low" for Percy, which you wouldn't have known about if this sentence wasn't told from Percy's perspective.  An example of how Percy's perspective is directly revealed would be, "Then he thought about Annabeth, the only part of his old life he was sure about," This sentence is directly stating his thoughts about Annabeth. (His girlfriend) An example of how his perspective is indirectly revealed would be, " Percy ran for the door in the hillside. June got heavier with every step. Percy's heart pounded. His ribs ached." From this sentence, you can assume that Percy is scared, in extreme pain, but still determined to get to the door in the hillside. And finally an example of how the narration shapes the reader's perspective on a specific person or event: "Then she'd met Percy.  At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he'd had an aura of power."

New Book!! :) AGAIN! the third!

                                                                  

Next book is called the Siege of Macindaw. I already posted my connection about it :)

Connection: The Siege of Macindaw

I can infer that by the way a Skandian loves his ship, Gundar Hardstriker must be devastated at the condition of his ship, the Wolfcloud. The author even mentions that a Skandian's ship is like an extension of himself, and an expression of his own being. The ship was ruined with sections broken and twisted hull, which makes it virtually impossible to sail. While the Skandian captain and his crew sat beached on the Araluen coast, he is depressed to find that the only thing the ship is good for now is firewood. I feel really bad for Gundar if his ship meant so much to him and now it's ruined, it even says in the book that the mere sight of his treasured boat came close to breaking his heart :( .

New Book!! :) AGAIN! the second

Well, I guess I was more than halfway through that last book cause now I'm done and started the NEXT NEXT NEXT book! It's called The Sorcerer of the North. oooooh,

                                                                                      

New Book!! AGAIN!

Ok, another book, but I'm already more than halfway through, sorry :). This one is next in series and it's called  The Battle for Skandia. Here's a pic:

Connection: The Icebound Land

        I really admire the way the author, John Flanagan, uses personification to describe the sheer force of the wind on the Viking wolfship during the storm. "This was a savage, living, primeval force that wrapped around him, deafening him, blinding him, punching the breath out of his lungs and preventing his taking another: smothering him as it tried to claw his grip loose." Just the adjectives he uses makes the wind seem like it really is a savage creature, alive and out to get Will, the main character. Showing no mercy to him, and doing whatever it can to get him to let go of the mast. This segment of the story isn't just a great sample of personification, the sensory details make me feel like I'm really on that ship, holding onto the mast for dear life, trying not to get swept overboard by the powerful wind and waves. I can taste the salt water. It's in my eyes and I feel like I'm struggling to breathe.  The wind is so loud that if I call for help, I can barely hear myself. I visualize this scene in the book so vividly and it gives me a real sense of what it felt like to physically be on that ship, just before you experience the fierceness of a raging storm at sea.

Next Book!

               Now I'm reading book 3 of the Ranger's Apprentice series called "The Icebound Land"!

Connection: Candymakers

         The whole candy factory experience in the book, "Candymakers" by Wendy Mass strongly reminds me of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" I haven't actually read the book, but I've seen both movies and was in the play we had at school. Both stories tell of crazy candy inventions, a contest, and 4 and 5 special children. There are, of course, differences between the two. In "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" the children all end up disappearing or dead except for Charlie. There are no dead children in "Candymakers", only children with secrets. For instance, one child is a spy, while one carries around a life jacket, another wears a men's suit, and the last has horrid scars that he doesn't seem to notice. To find the explanations for all of these odd quirks, you would need to read each group of chapters told from the child's perspective.
       The kids in "Charlie in the Chocolate Factory" all end up dead (with the exception of Charlie) because of their bad habits. Greed, overindulgence, overconfidence, just to say a few. Also, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" seems to have a more whimsical feel to it. With the oompa loompas and chocolate river. The LIFE IS SWEET candy factory in "Candymakers" seems a bit more realistic apart from some of the inventions being created there. (ex. oozing crunchoramas, super duper jumping jellybeans, neon yellow lightning chew). When people ask me what this book is about, I almost always compare it to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and it does have many like features but the plot is also quite different, so that is why I decided to do my connection on this T-T/T-M instance.

New Book!! :)

I finished Candymakers, and now I'm on to the second book in the "Ranger's Apprentice" series called The  Burning Bridge, can't wait to see how the story plays out!
    

My new BOOK!! :)





   I finished "Ruins of Gorlan", and it was AWESOME!!! And now I'm waiting for Book 2. But in the        meantime I decided to read the book called "The Candymakers" by Wendy Mass.

Sounds Yummy :)

Ruins of Gorlan

The book I am currently reading is called "Ruins of Gorlan" which is part of the "Ranger's Apprentice" series by John Flanagan. So far, I am really enjoying this book :)