Blog Post on Shiver

I recently read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and it is the story of a girl that meets a werewolf that has watched over here for many years. I thought this book was very good. One issue I want to touch upon are how animals are treated in the book. In Shiver, the main character Grace was attached by wolves when she was eight years old. She mentions how people in her small town grew angry and tried to hunt and kill the wolves.
Another incident like this happens, when a teenager that lives in the town gets attached by "wolves" and is found dead. All the people try to hunt the wolves and "solve" the problem, even though they don't have enough proof it was them. I think the the author is trying to get us to feel sympathetic to animals, and that is what the main character Grace is feeling. Although it is very unlikely that a wolf attacks someone, it is impossible for such thing as a werewolf to exist. When Sam (the wolf) turns into a human he is shown as almost perfect. In real life, this is unrealistic. Why would someone treat an animal so harshly, but be so kind to a wolf that was turned into a human?
The author also wanted us to appreciate the beauty of nature too, with long paragraphs and pages talking about the beautiful woods. I think the woods symbolizes a peaceful haven, a place where for a little while there are no problems. I also noticed in the book that whenever Sam and Grace go into the woods, they go in happy and usually come out running for their lives. The woods are the home of Sam, and they reflect all his troubles and happiness that he has faced.
In all, I liked Shiver and would want to read the sequel. I think some of the some plot ideas and interpretations that I made for this book will carry over and continue to be a major part of the book.

Blog Post on the Hobbit

I recently finished The Hobbit and I thought it was very good. I have read Lord Of The Rings and was wondering how the Hobbit differed from Lord of the Rings. I felt that the hobbit was less dark, and that the main issue (and problem) was not as serious. The story of the hobbit is Bilbo Baggins, a well-respected hobbit goes on an adventure with thirteen dwarves and a wizard, Gandalf. They encounter all sorts of nasty things such as goblins, and Bilbo discovers a magical ring. The thirteen dwarves want to get back treasure that they was captured from them by an evil dragon, Smaug.
As I was reading the hobbit, I was mentally comparing it to Lord of the Rings. Although the hobbit is a prequel to lord of the rings, they could almost be two different books. As I said before, the hobbit was much more lighter toned, and that consequences weren't as severe if they did not complete their mission. The lord of the rings was the end of the world, we may not come back alive mission. The hobbit seems more like a bedtime story for little kids, they tell stories of dwarves and marvelous adventures.
Despite theses obvious differences between the books, I enjoyed the hobbit a lot. It was quirky, and there were both funny and scary moments. I think if I was to tell someone which to read first I would say the hobbit, because once you've read lord of the rings nothing really amazes you in the other books.  The Hobbit will set you up for lord of the rings and will give you a sneak peek into what will happen. The hobbit is also very different because it follows the view of Bilbo Baggins, who is doubtful and very often wants to go home at different parts of the book. This is very different from the narrator of lord of the rings, who is Frodo Baggins and who has a much deeper perspective on the world and his adventure.

Blog Post on Blonde Roots

I recently read Blonde Roots and I did not really like the book. The plot of the book was about if white people were enslaved and black people were the masters. The Earth was completely different, and black culture was all over the world. While the basic ideas of slavery were the same, I felt that there were differences in the way real slavery in the past and the way it was presented in the book.
In the book, the story was told in two views, split into parts. The first was of a slave girl, who tries to escape from slavery many times. The second view is from a black man and his experience meeting the "primitive" Europeans and his takes as he becomes a slaver. Even though the idea of a book like this is very intriguing, the actual book wasn't that good. The end was very uncompleted, and the end of the book felt like the middle, with many things still unanswered. The fact that they included the slavers opinion wasn't very necessary, since it took you half the book to realize who it was.
The main characters name was Doris, and she came from England. She talked about her experience living there and how happy she was. This reminds me of primary source documents that tell the life of a slave.  They had to go on a awful ship voyage, and the treatment of slaves was mostly the same. There seemed to be a modern twist on it, people eating foods that did not seem that old. And you never knew the year, so to me it rose up some questions. Would blacks have ended slavery? How would this happen? How would the world be different? Slavery has affected everyone and still affects people today. People still think about when we enslaved people and I think no one truly got over that.
Honestly, in my opinion this book was okay, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

Blog Post On Climate Change

I read Climate Change by Shelley Tanaka and the overall main idea of the text was warning humans about climate change and global warming. She included chapters about the idea of the Earth warming, how it started, what humans can do against it, and how far humans are behind in all this. She included details about the number of emissions we are currently burning, and how much forests are left in the world. She mentions that major countries have lost most of their forest, for example the US has lost 94% of its forests. She makes many predictions about what is upcoming for humans, that polar bears will only be able to live in the arctic circle by 2050, that almost all farming will have to be stopped by 2050, that by 2020 there won't be any ski resorts in upstate new york because it will be too warm. One quote is,"we consume things, discard them, replace them, expand them." Humans are constantly trying to get things that are better and bigger, and that is causing the world to lose energy and warm up the planet. These details contribute to the main idea, which is that global warming and climate change are happening and that is the fault of humans.
I think the author wants us to be very shocked by this book and to get so shocked you want to help. She includes scary facts and ideas that really stun people. While I was reading this book, I began to feel almost depressed because the book was depressing. She did underestimate anything; if anything she overestimated. She included facts that she knew people care about, such as "a polar ice cap melting by 2050, leaving 30 million without water". People will realize right off the bat that they need to step against global warming because it could mean the death of people. Instead of including facts such as, the amount of burning emissions have gone up 3.6%, which most people won't even understand what that means or could cause for them, but including people will scare the readers.
After reading this book, I began to feel worried about how the Earth is going to change for everybody on the planet. I read it and was surprised by the harsh facts in the book. I knew a little of global warming, but not that much and did not realize the harsh affects that are going to come this way. My thinking has been changed and I am more serious about global warming. I will try to remember the little things I can do to save our planet, like turning off the lights when I'm not in the room and conserving paper. Some questions I still have are how can people try to stop global warming. Although Tanaka did a good job explaining all the bad things that are coming our way, she didn't mention that much how to solve it. One of the downsides of the book is it gets you worried about our planet, but it doesn't tell you much how to save it.