Imagination and Where The Wild Things Are

I think that my favorite picture book is Where The Wild Things Are. It is a story about a boy who goes on a wild adventure with his imagination. It used to scare me as a kid and the pictures were embedded into my brain but I still liked the book. As a child I understood the book as a boy who goes on an island with monsters but now as I read it again it is a boy who has a big imagination and has a huge adventure within it. Here is how this book inspired me to write about imagination.

The main thing that inspired me was the fact that the whole story was his imagination. The author made the story seem like it was actually happening so you can view it using your imagination. It was interesting because events happen and the boy goes through an adventure. I think it was also about how just because they are scary or the fact that they're monsters doesn't always mean that they are bad. They actually made him the king of the wild things.

But it's really about anger, too. In the picture book he hides in his room because he was punished and he goes to a jungle in a far away land. He meets the wild things where he tames them and he becomes the king.

This book rhymed in some parts but I want my whole story to rhyme. it will be about imagination and there will be some repetition like in where the wild things are. That is how it has inspired me to make my picture book.

The hunger games- movie and book difference

The hunger games book is amazing. I thought the movie might be better than the book but I was wrong. The book is more graphic which I happen to like more. But of course the book is different and similar in its own ways. Shockingly a lot of the dialogue from the book is in the movie which I didn't expect. The avoxes weren't in the movie and a lot of the killing of the tributes is different. Also in the beginning of the games, katniss' search for water was not at all mentioned in the movie.

Something that they did the same was the dialogue. I think that they did it so that the readers can feel comfortable as if they were watching the book take place. I think they were targeting the readers with the dialogue because in the movie the lines were so specific to the book that they might have taken the dialogue straight from the book.

I also think that it took a layer of mystery out of the movie without the avoxes. They were a confusing but interesting thing about the story. The avoxes all were missing tongues and they couldn't speak and you didn't know their crimes. I think the movie would have a sense of horror or mystery which I like.

Also the way that the tributes are killed in the book are different from the way they are killed in the movie. Like for example, in the book 2 girls die from the tracker jackers which are the poisonous bees that cause hallucinations. But in the movie only one person died, which is making me wonder where the other girl was in the movie.

But above all, the most interesting thing that differed between the book and the movie was the beginning of the hunger games. In the beginning of the hunger games movie when the games first started she almost immediately found water. But in the beginning of the book hunger games book when the games first started she spent like 1/5 of the time looking for water and she was suffering from all sorts of side effects of dehydration.

All in all both the Hunger Gamesbook and movie were amazing and hopefully they'll make a catching fire movie.

Argument essay on child soldiers.

Many children, right now,all over Africa and different parts of the world are child soldiers. Many children are terrorized brainwashed and kidnapped into becoming child soldiers... But as soon as they kill someone they become perpetrators.

Child soldiers are kidnapped, brainwashed, and terrorized into becoming child soldiers. Not only that but most of them have no choice. In some countries hunger and poverty drives parents to sell their children into service. In the article Children at War by P.W Singer a boy says, " They killed my father and my mother in front of my eyes. I was ten years old." if someone killed my parents I would be mentally scarred for life.

Child soldiers are being used as combatants in the frontlines of war. These boys are literally getting sick from killing people. A boy from the same article says, " I got so sick I thought I was going to die." child soldiers have been used in every continent except Antarctica and yes that includes america. Girls are recruited too.  But most girls are singled out for sexual abuse, including rape. They have a hard time coming back into society. Boys are handling explosives and are suicide bombers, and are involved in terrorism.

"What do I like? I like the gun." says Awil, a child soldier quoted from Chilren at war. This is what kids are saying at such a young age. "The initial use of drugs makes you more powerful." says Ishmael Beah who is a former child soldier. This is what kids know as normal. They are perpetrators, they do drugs, they smoke and they kill people. The kids soon known nothing except for how to be bad.

But even for the child soldiers there is hope. Even though they are brainwashed and kidnapped there is hope. Many child soldiers come in contact with American soldiers. The child soldiers are taken and put in Camp Iguana which is a wing in Guatanamo Bay. The kids there watch DVDs and they learn math and English. Therefore there still is hope for the child soldier

Don't judge a book by its cover

Well I would like to start off by saying I like video games. I tend to play them on my spare time if I am not doing other things that actually have purpose. Not saying that video games are useless, they actually are a great form of entertainment and they help with eye-hand-coordination. I thought this book here would be a read.

But it turns out I was wrong.

I thought this book was going to be about cool video games with new technology and how it would be better in the future and awesome things.

The introduction to this book was amazing, It was all about cool things like when first video games came out to what they are now and all sorts of fun stuff.

But then it got boring.

It got boring almost immediately after the introduction. Right afterwords there were statistics. Numbers. The first few were cool statistics were ineteresting and then it crashes. They give me all sorts of days and years and percentages and sales. I skipped around a few pages looking for something that's interesting, and I found something. I learned that the Xbox Kinect was originally its own product that recognized voices and bodies.

I will not lose all hope because I am sure I can find or read something good in a book about video games. I sure am learning things which is good, so if you like stats and video gamesthis is your kind of book.

None of this would have happened if I did not judge this book by its cover. Playful on the outside and  boring on the inside.

The Twisted Book with a twisted moral

In the marvelous book, "The 4th of July" by James Patterson, there are no parts of the book that are boring. From the gruesome deaths to the dialogue to the killer himself. This book was an excellent book about how people aren't always who they seem to be. The short chapters of this book vary from a page to 3 pages, keeping you on the edge of your seat. But the thing about this book, is that they don't give you any clues to who is killing the people through out the book until the end.

What shocked me even more was the fact that the killer was the nicest person ever who worked in The Man in The Moon garage. His name was Keith and even the head of San Francisco Police Department was neglecting that he could be the murderer of dozens of people and several families. But the twist was he was going to kill Lindsay next.

He stalks people before he kills them, and he kills people for no reason! He just chooses them at random and kills them!

He was so nice to Lindsay who is the protagonist, he sold her a beautiful car, asked her on a date and everything! But if it weren't for Lindsays dog, Martha, she would probably be dead because her dog was protecting her from him while he was stalking Lindsay, that's when things got serious. She was going to arrest the guy but when she got close up to him and she put the cuffs on him she realized that he had been carrying a hunting knife...which is what he used to kill his victims. But she was even more shocked that it was Keith.

I like James Patterson's 4th of July because it was mysterious and action packed and twisted! An excellent mystery, and one of my favorite books!

Catching Fire

Within the past few days I have started the book "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins. Catching Fire is the sequel to "The Hunger Games" which is now a major motion picture. I'm not too far into the book because I started it a few days ago, but I think a few things might happen inside of the book. The things that might happen in the book are stated below.

One thing that might happen of course is that she might get into the hunger games again. Now I don't know if this happens but it would probably be a slight chance due to the fact that she has already been accepted into the hunger games already. It would be a little unrealistic even for a science fiction novel.

This book could have the possibility of it being about Katniss being popular and she gets attention and no one looks at her the same way that they looked at her before.  Also when I say attention I mean good and bad. Good because she is a survivor. Bad because while she was a good survivor she was a good killer who killed kids with friends and family members.

The possibilities are kind of endless so when I get farther into the book I could infero just a little bit better. The few things I can infer about "Catching Fire" are stated above.

Am I Blue?

        The short story "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville was very touching. From the fact that someone was even killed because he was different. This story is about a boy who is bullied because people think he is gay. But  one day after he was being bullied he was visited by a fairy godfather.

        Melvin, who is the fairy godfather of Vincent, the boy who is being bullied, was killed because he was gay... or because people thought he was gay. They thought that they should "teach him a lesson" but they killed him. Melvin goes to heaven and comes back as a fairy godfather instead of a guardian angel, which he was supposed to be. Vincent, who does not know if he is gay or not was chosen by Melvin because he works with similar issues like the one that Vincent has. They are also similar because he both bullied for the same reason. But that all changed when they turned all the gay people in the world, blue.

        Vincent doesn't want people to know that he is gay. He is not proud of it by the way he is acting, but he doesn't know if he is gay to begin with. But all those insicurities go away Melvin makes Vince see people who are homosexual, blue. There were different shades of blue depending on how gay you are. If you more gay you were the bluer you were.

        The interesting part of the story was toward the end, once Vince decided what he wanted one of his wishes to be. His wish was to turn everyone from coast to coast blue, that is of course depending whether or not they were homosexual. It was even more interesting when he found out that the boy that was bullying him, was gay himself.

        I think the moral of this story is to not be afraid to be different. And if you are different, you are not the only one. It is not whether people see you but it is how you see yourself. I also think that another moral may be don't be afraid of what other people think about you. The story was kind of touching even though it was fictional.
       
     
      

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh compared to life

        In the wonderful passage "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist Joby is a fearful boy about to enter war. It also wasn't any war, it was one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war. In the middle of the passage or short story, Joby gets a motivational speech by the General of the army. He motivates him by telling him he is important. By the last part of the short story Joby is motivated and ready to go into war, and I think I know why. I think it was because sometimes it takes a person to give us a little boost on self-esteem or someone to motivate you.

        In the beginning Joby is like any other boy. He has fear of something that he barely knows and is about to clash head on into it. Not only that but he is fourteen! I know I would be scared if I was going to war equipped with nothing but a drum and two drumsticks! Who wouldn't be? Joby of course has a right to be scared.

        I think by the middle of the story while the general is giving the motivational is when Joby is actually starting to feel good about going into battle. The general made sure that he was not going to be afraid by saying things like, "You are the heart of the army" or "we need you." he also told him that if he beats the drum slow then the soldiers heartbeats will be slower and they will be calmer so they will be more focused.

        I think by the end of The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, Joby was motivated. He was ready to go into into war because it says faces his drum upwards toward the sky like he was ready to play the next day.

        I could compare this to life in a way. I could say that when you are feeling upset, mad or even scared, when you talk to somebody you could possibly feel better. If you are feeling upset you can talk and feel better, or someone can talk to you and help you feel a little better if not, a lot.

The 4th of July

        A few days ago I've started the book 4th of July by James Patterson. 4th of July is a mystery book about Boxer, a woman in her twenties trying to find a killer. This book,  I think is interesting because it goes straight to the action. The 1st chapter drives the reader right in to the story with what looked like a kid who committed suicide. They found him in a bathtub filled with water and with a toaster in it. Even though it may sound quite harsh, it made me want to read more.

        So far this book has been action packed and filled with surprises. In most parts of the book it is in 1st person, told by the protagonist and in a couple of other chapters it is told by a narrator. Being that I am in the start of the book I'm not too sure what the main idea of the whole book is yet. From what I read so far I'm predicting that she's going to find the killer. 

         When I stopped reading last Boxer was in a car chase with a black Mercedes who she thought the killer was in, only to find out once the car crashed there were two kids the age of fifteen and thirteen. Boxer felt some sympathy for them and helped them out of the car. Once when she asked the girl for her learners permit the girl pulled out a gun and shot Boxer and her partner. Her partner was unconcious and Boxer got up and told them to put their gun down, but when they said no, Boxer shot them both in the chest, killing one and brutally injuring the other. Once Boxer got out of the hospital she was being sued by the kids parents.

          In conclusion I think 4th of July by James Patterson was interesting because the book is litterally action packed. It is a great mystery book so far and I'm sure i will be finished with this book in time.

The Future of us

        Over the summer I have read a few books. One of these excellent books is The future of us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. I wanted to respond to this book first because I thought it was the most interesting. In this gripping book about Facebook, two teens from the early nineteen nineties controlled their future. The most interesting distinction from this book and a lot of other books is the way that it was written. In The Future of us, each chapter was written in the perspective of one of two main characters. One chapter may be in the point of view of Josh, and the one right after is in the point of view of Emma. The book Flipped was also written like this.

        In the beginning of the The Future of us, Josh and Emma are neighbors who've been really close since they were babies but they stopped talking to each other when they grew up. Since this book is in the time period of the nineties, they didn't have high tech computers. Josh gives  Emma a present which is a CD-ROM to activate aol. The weird thing about the CD-ROM was that when Emma put the CD into the computer, was when the computer turns on Facebook. Facebook really wasn't invented until 2006! 

        The best part was the middle of the book. In the middle of the book you find out that, not only was it just Facebook, but it was Emma in the future fifteen years from where she was then. When she see's the statuses she writes in the future, she goes to school and slowly changes what her statuses are, meaning she slowly changes the future. The same thing with Josh. He just kept messing with the future, like changing the people he has married over and over.

        The ending was a predictable teen love story ending. It was kind of girly for me but i liked it. Josh and Emma liked each other and held hands at the ending.

        This was one of my favorite books I have read because it was a good mixture of technology and how teens actually think about situations. In conclusion The Future of us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler was a wonderful book and was one of the best books i've read in a while.