Blog 20: Among the Hidden

Earlier in the semester we discussed the importance of book order in a series and how important each book is in understanding the overall story. I believe the Shadow Children series is one of those series where you have to read the whole thing. Among the Hidden was a great book, but once you read the rest of the series, this first book feels like just a chapter. I think maybe I ruined the book for myself by reading the rest of the series, but now I do not like Among the Hidden as much. It feels so incomplete. And on top of that, some very important things in this book end up being revealed as untrue in another book. I hope everyone reads the complete series, because it is so much better that just the first book alone.

Blog 19: The Giver

Anticipating

I do not think that I have ever read The Giver. The reason I am unsure is because the book description sounds so familiar, but I cannot recall actually reading the book. I, unfortunately, have the memory of a goldfish, so it’s not so surprising that I cannot remember. I read some reviews on Barnes&Noble.com and Amazon.com, they all say the same thing: The Giver is AMAZING, but skip the rest of the series. (I did not know it was part of a series, until reading this.) From the description, I feel like it may be similar to the movie Pleasantville. The description sounded similar to the movie in the sameness, and then discovering that everyone has differences. The issue came up in class when discussing the “Of Wands and Wizards” class post that there are relationship and boy/girl issues in this book also. I will be sure to keep an eye out for them so that we can discuss it J.

PS: I love love love Number the Stars, also by Lois Lowry. It is amazing and beautifully written, but keep a box of tissues handy. I am hoping that this book is just as good.

Notable Moment

At first, I thought that Jonas’s vision blurriness with the apple and everyone faces was going to be a cancer or a need for glasses. Something that would make him stand out to the community as ‘different’. I was way off. But what it actually was makes a lot of sense once The Giver explains it.

“Let me try one more thing. Look over there, to the bookcase. Do you see the very top row of books, the ones behind the table, on the top shelf?”

Jonas sought them with his eyes. He stared at them, and they changed. But the change was fleeting. It slipped away the next instant.

“It happened,” Jonas said. “It happened to the books, but it went away again.”

“I’m right then,” The Giver said. “You’re beginning to see the color red.”

“The what?”

The Giver sighed. “How to explain this? Once, back in the time of the memories, everything had a shape and size, the way things still do, but they also had a quality called color.”

I did not realize until this moment in the book that nothing had color! I guess my feeling about the book being similar to the Pleasantville movie were closer than I realized. The concept of sameness and rules is brought up a lot in the book prior to this quote, but how extreme it was it a bit scary. I cannot even imagine a world without color. Cars, TV and cleaning the kitchen I could definitely get used to, but no books or color just sounds like torture, not sameness.

Analysis

I must admit that I went thru quite a few tissues while reading this book. I loved it, but thought it was maybe a bit mature and serious for a 4^th grade audience. The concept behind the book was very interesting though. With all the fighting, wars, and other issues we have today, it is not surprising that the idea of a world without these issues should come up. I can’t figure out though how they got everyone to see everything in black and white, but then everyone had to take a pill for stirrings. Obviously there has been some genetic something going on. They could suppress the brain from seeing color and feeling love and pain, but could not suppress the feelings of wanting. It seemed to me like the idea was thrown into the story after. The stirrings never go beyond dreams for Jonas, and it does not contribute anything to the story that is incredibly significant. I think it is a great topic for discussion though. With all young children, the beginnings of feelings toward the opposite sex are an issue. I do not agree with the books message to suppress these feelings however. I get that maybe the author is saying to wait until you have the wisdom and understanding to better comprehend these feelings before acting on them, like when Jonas decided to stop taking the pills, but the overall message of hiding feelings is upsetting to me. That should not be something we teach children. They need to be taught to understand the feelings, then to control them on their own.

Blog 18: Mrs. Frisby Analysis

I think this book was cute, and maybe makes children not so afraid of big, bad rats. However, they may all want to hang out in rat labs and try to teach them to read with the hopes of creating a really awesome pet. I liked the characters in the book a lot. Mrs. Frisby was a very brave mother. I am sure that the thought of Timothy in the back of her mind gave her courage, but I was very proud of her for actually climbing on Jeremy's back to fly, then going into the Owl's hollow and approaching the rats. She seemed to have quite a bit of scary obstacles to overcome, but she did them with strength I did not expect from a tiny mouse.
I also thought Izzy was a great character in the book. The suggested age for this book is 8 to 12 years old according to Barnes&Noble.com, and that is the age when girls discover boys but the boys are still clueless. That is exactly Izzy and Justin. I had to smile when he walked into the library and Izzy dropped all of her reading papers, then tried to impress him with the reading level. So cute :).
The only thing that really frustrated me about this book was the ending. Who were the two rats who died!? Is this a series and I just don't know about it? If you have figured it out or know where I can find the answer please tell me! I guess this is what makes Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH a great book. When there are no more pages to turn and you want more, the book definitely qualifies as great.

Blog 17: Mrs. Frisby Notable Moment

The further into the book the reader gets, the more we can see the intelligence of the rats. We follow their progress thru the mazes and the picture tests at NIMH, then after they escape. But I feel that the greatest intelligence is shown when Nicodemus and the other rats begin to see that stealing is wrong.

" But why? Why move? We've got a better place to live right now. We've got all the food we want. We've got electricity, and lights, and running water. I can't understand why everybody talks about changing things."
"Because everything we have is stolen."
"That's silly. Is it stealing when farmers take milk from cows, or eggs from chickens? They're just smarter than the cows and the chickens, that's all. Well, people are our cows. If we're smart enough, why shouldn't we get food from them?"
"It's not the same. Farmers feed the cows and chickens and take care of them. We don't do anything for what we take. Besides, if we keep it up, we're sure to be found out."

I think this quote shows how much more Nicodemus has matured and grown above what he was taught at NIMH, while Jenner still thinks like a rat. Nicodemus took what he had been taught and applied it not only to escaping and times of crisis, but used it to overall improve his way of life. If he and his fellow NIMH rats continue to have the morals of basic, normal rats, then they have not evolved at all. What makes us intelligent is how we use the knowledge we gain, not necessarily how much information we can cram into our brains. I hope that children reading this book can see that message and understand how important it is to apply knowledge to bettering yourself and not just besting your neighbor.

Blog 16: Anticipating Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

More rats :( As we discussed in Blog 6, Jaimie is not fond of mice and rats. This is another book I have never read, however, the title did sound familiar. I again went to my childrens book buff/5th grade teacher friend Caitlin to get a review of the book. She told me that the rats of NIMH are rats that have been experimentd on and now have almost-human abilities. Shudder. I actually liked the Redwall mice. They were nice and not very mouselike at all. I read the Wikipedia for this book and it seems like the animals are being brought to the same level as humans, even more so than the characters in Redwall. This should be an interesting read. I am curious to see how these rats and mice compare to those in the Redwall book.

Extra: The Lightning Thief

I am a bit sad this book was taken off our list. It was my favorite of all the books selected for this class. I have always loved reading about mythology, and thought this book was a great way to introduce children to the topic. In the book, Percy is 12. But this is one of the few (and I mean very few) books that the main character is not emphasized as a child. When I was reading this book, I kept forgetting that Percy was so young until they would say something about his grade at school. I felt like I could relate to the character better because of this. I had not seen the movie before reading the book, I was waiting until after we discussed it in class. But when I found out it was taken off our list I went to Hastings right away! I just finished the movie (Ive been watching and blogging - Yay for multitasking) and loved it, but thought it was sooo different from the book. (Book is way better for those who have neither read nor seen the movie) I am now in the mood to pull out my high school mythology books and browse. Considering its 1:30 in the morning, I will probably wait until this weekend though. I think that if you have some spare time, and feel the need for a good book and a glass of wine this is a great pick! I definitely did not want to put it down, and have read the book twice since buying it in August. I love this series and cannot wait until I have some time to read the rest of it(in order, of course! ;) ).

Blog 15: Analysis of Nesbit, Lewis and Rowling

I know these three books are grouped together because they all have to do with Real vs Secondary World, but I think the main focus with these three was series order.
NESBIT
I was never exposed to E. Nesbit before this class, so I had no idea The Phoenix and the Carpet was part of a series until someone told me. I do remember being confused about which child was which and not knowing Cyril was a boy until chapter two. However, once I got all of the children straight in my mind the book was great. I think it stands alone from the series very easily. The first book maybe went into more detail about the children, but I honestly didn't love them enough to want to find out. Maybe if I had read book one first I would have felt closer to the children, but it was not necessary for me to enjoy the book.
LEWIS
I have read two books from the Narnia series (Lion, Witch and Wardrobe and Magician's Nephew) and was not in love with either. I saw the movie first then decided to read the series. My roommate had the box set, and Magician's Nephew was first. I was so confused when I read it the first time because I couldn't get into the characters after expecting the four from LWW. I set it aside and read LWW instead, then went back to MN. It was soooo much better that way. I really prefer the original order of the series to the rearranged version. Unless you had already read LWW, you couldnt make connections between the lamp post and Jadis in MN. The books may be able stand on their own, but I much prefer reading them in the order Lewis wrote them. Hopefully during winter break I will have time to read the whole series!
ROWLING
If you are reading a Harry Potter book just to read it or for AR credit, the books stand alone. However, if you plan on reading them all eventually, start at the begining. If you hop around in the Harry Potter series, you may be a bit confused and/or come across people who had already died. (which is confusing in itself) The books do not need each other, but they are so much more enjoyable when you grow up with the characters and read about them in chronological order.
Overall, I think the moral of the story is to always look at the series as a whole instead of just a single book. These three authors show us that order is not always important, but when it is, the reader misses out on some big details.