Review #3

3 ways Scott Westerfield makes you feel like you are part of the book more than other authors:

 

        I.            The imagery. In the book Scott is overly descriptive but in a way that you don’t realize that it might be a little much but in a way that makes you descend farther and engulf yourself into the story and make you feel like you are walking by Tally’s side experiencing all the plot twists and surprises along with the emotions of love, hate, desire, danger, adventure, change and so on.

      II.            Descriptions and metaphors. In the book Scott loves to take things that the reader may not know about and describe them and compare them to things that the reader does know about to give you a full, detailed understanding of what is going on in the book. This really helps to feel like you are part of the story.

    III.            The even pace. This book has a lot of plot twists and surprises but it keeps and even pace and describes every detail to make sure the reader doesn’t get confused or bored and so they keep feeling like part of the story. This even pace helped the book to blossom into a series of books.

Reflection #3

I think a book is a medium. It’s just a way to get the story inside. I think a story is a portal. Some people say that you can create portals into different universes or dimensions, I’m not saying that’s true, but that is what reading a story is like. Reading a story is like stepping into another universe. You get to experience and explore the story. When people read we take the words from the pages and translate them into our heads as images and it’s like we get to see what we’re reading. I don’t think it matters what you’re reading off of, a page or a screen. A story is a story no matter how it’s told or what it’s read off of. The point is that you get to experience that story. The book or screen is just the medium. The story is what you want.
               

Review #2

Tally-

Tally is a main character in the book. The first adventure that she has in the book is what gives a good impression on what se is like. This adventure is what her and her best friend Paris call an expedition. She is a great character with alot of different traits that sometimes contradict each other. Before she leaves se is worried but she knows she needs to talk to Paris. Tally seems fearless but she knows that she could get caught and she doesn't know what would happen. She is usually with Paris on these expeditions but Paris is a pretty now and she is going to see him. Tally is worried untill she gets to the farthest point that her and Paris have ever gone. She had seemed fearless and have had a plan untill this point. She is curious and enjoys watching the pretties. She hides in the bushes. She is quiet and remains unseen. She is a sneaky and smart character who knows what she wants and is not afraid to go after it. She is like a prisoner escaping jail but instead and ugly sneaking out of uglyville. She knows that something bad could happen but she is willing to take that risk.

Reflection #2

What would your ideal 21st century English class reading list look like?  Is there a way to prevent the death of the love of reading?

 

I think the ideal English class would read a little of everything but not a lot of anything. I think we should be at least exposed to everything. We should read a classic. I also think we could read a play even if it’s A classic play. I liked the crucible because it was good but I could understand it. I don’t think we should read an entire Shakespeare play unless there are footnotes in modern English or it’s completely translated into modern English. And I don’t think another play or classic should be read if a Shakespeare play is read. I think Shakespeare is not good to read completely in old English because we read Shakespeare and I nor most of the people that I talked to understood any of the book. Even after we agonized over it in class it’s still not clear exactly what all happened. Going over a few passages a couple days in class is good though so we are exposed to it. Then I think the rest of the books should be modern books like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, but they should change every few years because The Hunger Games won’t be modern 15 years from now. These books are good and since a lot of teenagers don’t like the classics these books will give them a chance to enjoy English and I think a lot more people will do well because they’re actually interested. I also think that we don’t go over the book every day. They could say you have to read these 4 chapters in a week and on the day their due, go over and talk about them. I understand the tests over them to make sure people are reading but not as many worksheets and things. Last thing is that I think they’re should be a project where kids get to pick their own book and say write a paper on it so they can develop their own thoughts. I think the main reason teenagers hate reading is because we are told how to think about them and we analyze every sentence.

Review #1

Emma Court

Critiques.

 

"It wasn’t great literature (the author seems determined to never use a word that would send even the shakiest reader to the dictionary)"


Even though I have only read the first section of this book I find this to be true. It’s not painfully obvious, I didn’t notice this when I was reading but when I was going back to see if this was true I did realize that she doesn’t use great literature. It’s not so much her sentence structure it just the vocabulary that makes seem like an easier read. I think this is why it’s less noticeable; because she has such fantastic writing that you don’t notice that it isn’t challenging literature. She has great writing skills but I think it loses something when elaborate words aren’t used for things like description. But then again sometimes when you don’t understand the literature it makes you pause and figure it out which pulls you out of the moment. This may be why the novel has so many reviews that say how you can’t put the book down and it’s so great. I agree with all of these reviews so far. I love the book so far. The detail and story are great and I can’t wait to continue reading this book and the rest of the series.

Reflection 1

What does it mean to be a New York Times Best-Seller?

 

When I find out that a book is on the New York Times Best-Sellers list it just tells me that the book is not a terrible book, it doesn’t mean it’s good or I’m going to like it though. Overall I think it’s a good thing to be on the list. I think the reason that some people may think it’s a bad thing to be on the list is because the majority of people like it so if you’re not like the majority of people then you might not like it. I’m not saying that only certain people like certain things but usually people under the same stereotype like the same books. If a Goth, a preppy teenager, an arrogant man, and a ton boy all wrote a list of their favorite books, they wouldn’t all be the same. Everyone likes different things, so If only Goth people liked a certain book and it was truly a great book, it’s not going to be a best seller because mostly Goth people like it so they’re the only ones who are going to buy it. Just because a book isn’t on the list doesn’t mean that the book isn’t great.

Post #1

Why I read?

There are many reasons I read but these are my favorite. One of the main reasons, and favorite reason, I read is because it puts you in a different world, you can escape reality. Reading is not my absolute favorite thing to do all the time but even if I don’t feel like reading once you start reading and you really get into what you’re reading, you forget about your life, your surroundings, and mostly you forget about time. That’s my favorite part about reading, Is when you look up from your book and you realize what has felt like 2 minutes has been an hour or more, and you think you’ve only read 5 pages but you’ve read a million and you don’t ever remember flipping the page because your mind is so much engulfed in the story. The other main reason I read is that it makes you smarter, more intelligent. I think as a person you gain more common sense. Every story you read teaches you about the people, places, even the time periods in the story. Typically smarter people read more. Every time you read you become more cultured, your vocabulary could have expanded, it makes you a more well-rounded person.