Analysis of Coraline and Future Research

Coraline is a very grotesque and dark fantasy book. There were moments that genuinely grossed me out. Despite some of the things being a little too grotesque for me, like the other mothers hand being cut off, this was by far my favorite book we read this semester. I enjoyed the journey Coraline went on as she tried to find her real parents and escape from having her soul taken by her “other mother.” Over the holidays when I have plenty of spare time, I hope to further my research on Coraline and other books that are considered to be grotesque. I also plan to further my research by watching the movie for the first time. I have heard good things about the movie and look forward to seeing it and comparing it to the book

Notable Moment: Coraline

The cat in Coraline is a very notable worthy character in my opinion. I find it interesting that he does not have a counterpart in the “other world” being able to go and leave whenever he wants. The cat, who has no name, acts as a guide for Coraline and helps her as she struggles with finding her real parents and escaping from her “other mother.” I also think it is interesting how feline the cat acts despite being able to talk. Even in the “other world” cat keeps feline type traits that shapes who he is as a character.

Anticapting: Coraline

I am very hesitant to let myself look forward to reading this book. I have heard nothing but awesome things from my roommate about Coraline the movie and the book. I don’t want my expectations to be to high and set myself up for disappointment if the book does not reach my expectations. Despite these hesitations I hope to agree with my roommate and not be let down by the grotesque book.

Analysis: The Bad Beginning

The Bad Beginning is definitely unique in many ways. I think it is peculiar that Lemony Snickett wrote a whole series on unfortunate events and the bad thing that happen to three children. Although their parents just died and they are left in the care of an evil uncle, Violet, Cloauss and Sunny all protect each other. Without the help from each other and their individual talents the bad things that happen to them would worsen.

Rhetorical Reflections: The Bad Beginning

My notable moment from this book is just how different it is from the movie. I almost feel like they could be two different stories that just happened to have the same characters. One of the most intense scenes in the movie was when the Uncle Olaf tried to kill them by locking them in the care and leaving it on train tracks. The children were barely able to escape only because of their special abilities to chew, read and invent. Their uncles attempted murder was not even mentioned through the book. I find it very interesting just how different the movie and book are.

Analysis: James and the Giant Peach

James and the Giant peach starts with a cynical attitude and the reader is introduced to the depressing story of James who is an orphan living with two horrible aunts. James soon finds his life to be changed after dropping magic crystals into the ground. It seemed to be a common theme throughout the book that when something good would happen something bad would soon follow. Despite dropping the crystals their magic still worked and created a giant peach and giant insects. James and the insects traveled inside the peach all the way to New York. While making the journey all the way to America, they are faced with sharks, bad weather cloud men and other things that caused chaos and also friendship.

Notable Moment: James and the Giant Peach

The dialogue between the characters after the peach rolled through the city and landed in water, was a moment that stuck out in my mind. This is the part in the book when I started to bond with the characters and see who they are. After being thrown around in the peach while it rolled and bounce down the hill and through the city the insects were all a little shaken up. In this time of fear and pain, their mannerisms are made pretty obvious. The grasshopper showed optimism and wisdom saying "Perhaps we are in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a beautiful day." The earthworm on the other hand, revealed his negative attitude of always presuming the worse. My favorite insect was the ladybug. Her mother like attitude brought everyone together and helped James become a silent leader.

Rhetorical Reflection: James and the Gaint Peach

I loved James and the Giant Peach. I think the book has a sense of weirdness that I enjoyed as a child and later, now that I am older, intriguing. Although some people may argue that the beginning of the book is too depressing, I rather like it. I think that his parent’s death by being eaten by rhinos reveals that death is not meant to be taken too seriously in this book. My favorite part in James and the Giant Peach is when James attaches the giant peach to seagulls in order to escape the shark. I enjoyed getting to experience James becoming a leader and saving the day.

Analysis: The City of Ember

The City of Ember was my favorite out of the four dystopia book we read. Along with Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H, I found it to be more adventurous and less sci-fy as Lina tried to piece together the torn directions that can save her city. Similar to the other dystopia books, the government’s role in The City of Ember is important. The government controls the underground city and hides from its people the potential danger of running out of supplies and electricity. Most of the citizens of Ember have no idea the severity of the problems that resulted from living underground for so many years. Their lack of education also reveals the peoples powerlessness. No one has any knowledge about other societies or technologies that may exist.

Despite the limited amount of knowledge available, Doon is a very intelligent boy who expressed “wanting to learn.” With Doons’ brains and Linas determination, the two unlikely pair up and work together to save the people of Ember and reveal the secrets of the government. Their adventure together begins after Lina discovers destroyed instructions that she believes to be the solution to her town’s problems. Doon and Lina piece together the chewed up instructions and which lead them to boats that will take them out of Ember by way of river. Lina, Doon, and Lina’s sister are the first to leave the tunnels of Ember and discover that there is another world above gound.

Notable Moment: The City of Ember

The moment when Lina bought colored pencils stuck out to me. The main thing that I found interesting about her buying the colored pencils was the two colors she chose. Out of all the colors, Lena picked blue and green. Immediately green and blue reminded me of grass and the sky. To me this was pretty obvious forshadowing that Lina’s dreams about another colorful world were real. The main reason why this moment in particular impacted me was because this is when I first thought they might be living in an underground city. When I thought about Lina and the city that she dreamed about which she described to be “somewhat like Ember, except that its buildings were lighter and taller and had more windows” and then the moment when she buys a green and blue colored pencils it clicked in my head that the reason Ember is so dark is that it is underground.

Throughout this book color, or lack there of, played an important part in the story. From something as little as Lina’s drawings to the importance of light to keep their city going, color seemed to be a minor theme. Out of everything that the city had already ran out of, I think it was foreshadowing that blue and green pencils, the colors of sky, water and grass, were still available for Lina to buy.

Analysis: The Giver

Despite some sense of ongoing scrutiny of The Giver I have always been a big fan. Although I agree that the subject of infanticide may be a little mature for the intended reader of this book, I definitely think it is a great classic. The story starts with Jonas going through his daily routines that are expected of him from society with little or no feelings. As the day of job assignment for the twelve year olds approaches it becomes evident that the citizens have a sense of sameness. Each family is usually consistent of a mom and dad who are matched together by the government and two children, one boy and one girl. Because of Jonas’ dads job at the nurturing center their family begins to take care baby Gabriel. Like Jonas, Gabriel has light eyes that are very rare in their society.

After the highly anticipated job assignments, Jonas struggles with being the chosen one to be Receiver of Memory. Once he begins his job he acquires knowledge from the giver and his memories that no one else knows. Jonas is introduced to colors and the feeling of love and is frustrated that no one else gets to experience these great things. On the other hand, the giver is forced to transfer feelings of death, starvation, and loneliness that inflict pain of Jonas that he has never felt before. Despite the pain, Jonas realized how empty his society is.

Jonas decides he has to change his society once The Giver reveals that when a baby is released it is actually killed by an injection to the head. The anger and hate Jonas begins to feel causes them to create a plan to escape. By doing this his new memories will be left for all the people to have and discover. Jonas leaves with Gabriel to save him from being released and they make their way to an outside village decorated for Christmas.

I think I find The Giver to be such an interesting book because of the evolution of the suppression of feelings. Because of the governments control Jonas and the other citizens had no idea what they were missing out on. I think an element of fear is what guided the government. Perhaps they thought it is better to feel nothing than to have your heartbroken. Once jonas discovers feelings of love and happiness he knows that a life without them is not the way a society should live.

Notable Moment: The Giver

So far in The Giver there have been many moments that have caught my attention. From the odd view of a normal family too discussing each person’s dream every morning this book is definitely different from the other children books we have read so far. One thing that particularly stands out to me is when Jonas reads his instructions to be Receiver of Memory that was in his folder. The instructions are different than what Jonah expected and states things that are not found acceptable in their society.

Up until this point Jonah never knew anything else besides following the rules his family, government and society expected of him. Now he is being told that these expectations no longer apply to him. He is exempt from governing rudeness, telling his dreams, and taking medication. The two things that are most interesting to me and that I feel will cause Jonah problems in the future is that he is “not permitted to apply for release” and now may tell lies. After he reads what was in his folder Jonah subconsciously knows things are about to be different for him. Although he tries to comfort himself by saying he doesn’t have to lie and that he hardly has dreams anyway, as I reader I immediately know things are about to change.

This is also the point in the book when I really start to question the government’s role. Although from the beginning of the book I knew the government and society was dependent of keeping everything the same I did not know the secrets that were kept in order to do so. Once Jonah was given his job and read his instruction I began to realize how much control the government might have

Analysis: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMP

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMP was an adventurous story of a little mouse trying to save her son. As I first began reading this book I was really excited to see that a female was going to be the protagonist. After reading many books ending with a male character saving the day and becoming the hero, I was hoping Mrs. Frisby would do the same. In the begining Mrs frisby shows characteristics of a hero. She shows bravery and selflessness by flying to see the owl and following his advise to seek help from Justin and Nicodemus. However, as I continued to read I felt her female role as protagonist was challenged.

A major thing that was odd to me was that we never discovered Mrs. Frisbys first name. Instead, her name is always attached to the late Jonathan Frisby (a man!). I feel Mrs. Frisbys identity is not clear throughout this book because of the importance of her husband and not herself. Therefore I do not believe she became the female hero protagonist I was originally hoping for.

Although she is different than the male heroes in the other books we have read, Mrs. Frisbys role of caretaker and mother was still important. Despite her lack of identity, Mrs. Frisby still bravely volunteered to poison Dragon in the hopes of saving Timothy. Without her selflessness and strong desire to save her son this story would not have been the interesting and adventerous one it turned out to be.

Notable Moment: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMPH

One of the most notable moments in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMP for me was when Mrs. Frisby bravely let Jeremy fly her to see the wise owl. Despite her name being in the tittle of the book, my first impression of Mrs. Frisby was that she was not going to be very adventurous. This perhaps might be becuase we have not yet had a female protagonist. I thought throughout the story she was going to rely on her children and other characters to save Timothy. This all changed however when she agreed to let the crow carry her high above the ground at the small chance that the owl would have some smart advise on how to handle the threat of the move. I am excited to finally see a female protagonist and especially one that is brave and adventurous.

Unlike the quick flight when they were trying to escape Dragon, the trip to see the owl was a total of six miles. The fact that Mrs. Frisby was willing to risk her life at just the chance to help her son gave me the realization that she was going to be a part of the adventure to come. The courage of this little widowed mouse to protect her children was when the story took off for me. Her new bravery is what kept my attention as I proceeded to read and is why I believe this to be a notable momemt.

Anticipating Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H

At the beginning of the semester I was really excited to see Mrs. Frisby on our reading list. I have read this book before and from what I remembered it was very entertaining. I think I was required to read Mrs. Frisby when I was in the fith grade. I think my favorite thing about reading it the first time was the sense of adventure that the book has. Now I look forward to what I discover after reading the book again over ten years later.

I also hope to compare the mice in this book to the mice and rats in Redwall. Although before this class I knew it was common for children novels to have animals be main character, I did not think mice would be a top choice. Mrs. Frisby is an interesting character from what i remember, and I am looking forward to going on this adventure to try and save her son for my second time.

Analysis: Goblet of Fire

The Goblet of Fire was a great addition to the Harry Potter series. In the fourth book of the series the three main characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, face greater and darker challanges while handling the hardships of becoming teenage wizards. Compared to the first couple of books this one seems to be for a slighter more mature reader. The dark and evil world is revealed in greater detail and presents more of a threat to the famous Harry Potter than ever before. The end of the book, when Harry and Cedric travel to Lord Voldermort by touching a portkey, is a really scary and intense moment. A fairly good developed character, Cedric, is killed in this part of the book. For young readers this could be alot to handle. I believe this shows the authors intention for the reader to grow as the book and characters grow. This is also the first time you really get to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione develope and deal with feeling towards the opposite sex. The triwizard ball makes it evident that Hermione and Ron have a different relationship growing than Harry and Hermione. Ron then becomes jealous of Victor Krum for liking Hermione. All this while Harry has a secret crush on Cho.

Through out this book Harry faces many challanges other than his interest in Cho and his quarrell with Ron. After being selected to compete in a dangerous competition he did not enter, Harry knows something bad could happen. Along with the three deathly triwizard challanges Harry believes Lord Voldermort is close. On several occasions his famous scar severly began hurting and burning which confirmed his fears that the dark lord may be back. With help from people like Dumbledore, Sirius, Hagrid, and his friends, Harry wins the tournament and escapes Voldermort. The end of the books reveals that dark times may await now that the dark lord is back.

Goblet of Fire: Notable Moment

I found it very interesting how different some things in the Goblet of Fire movie were compared to in the book. One of the main parts in the book that I think differed drastically from the movie was when Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley family went to the Quidditch World cup. In the book it was portrayed in way more detail of course because the movie could only put about two hours worth of the 734 page book. Because of this, I was able to get a way better picture of the famous tournament from the actual book. The magical atmosphere before the actual game was shown in greater depth along with the teams mascots performances. The movie also does not include the Weasleys getting to sit in the nice box seating therefore not introducing the character Winky.

I believe the difference between the movie and the book is something important to notice. Sometimes a sceene from the movie can poorly portray something from the book that you really enjoyed. My favorite part from the book, the Quidditch World Cup, was definitely not even close to my favorite scene in the movie. The books details of the magical flags for each team and the descriptions of the souvenirs Ron, Harry, and Hermione bought was better than the movies portrayal. I feel like some of the magical essence in the book was left out in the movie. The movies short scene of the Irish team’s mascot was nothing compared to the books description of the leprechauns and veela. “A hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and Harry’s question was answered for him. Veela were women…the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen…except that they weren’t-they couldn’t be-human.” I don’t even remember the movie showing the Bulgarian mascots. Without these important details from the book this scene in the movie was not nearly as cool to me.

Anticipating Goblet of Fire

My only prior expierence with the Harry Potter series is seeing some of the movies. Although I enjoy the movies I would definately not consider myself a huge fan like many of my friends. My sister and many of my friends have read all the books and highly inticipate when a new movie is to come out. I think I find myself somewhere in the middle spectrum of how I feel about Harry Potter.

I do wonder if not having read any of the first three books will negatively effect my opionion of the Goblet of Fire. I have never started a series in the middle before and am curious to see how it will turn out. On the other hand, I have seen the first couple of movies so maybe this will be enough for that not to matter. I am also interested in why the fourth book is the one you chose for us to read. I am looking forward to finding out alot about Harry Potter and this book in our disscusions in class.

The Magician's Nephew: Notable Moment

For me, a notable moment in The Magician’s Nephew was when Digory grabbed hold of Polly’s wrists and held her back so he could strike the bell. This is a significant moment because it perhaps reveals C.S. Lewis’s views of females and children. In class we discussed that Lewis was thought by some people to favor men in his books. In this novel, I do see a few instances where women might be shown in a negative way, one being the moment before Queen Jadis was awoken by the bell. Digory is tempted so badly to ring the bell he turns against Polly saying “Girls never want to know anything but gossip and rot about people getting engaged.” It bothers me that Digory acts this way towards Polly. Until this part in the book, the two young characters have seemed to have an equal relationship, but now Digory holds the fact that Polly is a girl against her. Right after this he uses physical force over her to get his way. Although this is out of character for Digory, he uses he strength against Polly to have power over the situation. Another negative depiction of women is Queen Jadis. Unlike Aslan, Jadis is an evil ruler. The good ruler is male while the evil ruler is female.

Before Digory strikes the bell, he also calls Polly a kid. “I should never dream of calling a kid like you a woman.” This could also show how Lewis idolizes youth. The negative things Digory said about women are perhaps not true for young girls. I think Lewis was trying to suggest that children are not the gossiping and rotting adults they will someday become.

Anticipating The Magician's Nephew

I am looking forward to reading something by C.S. Lewis. I have learned some things about Lewis from a religious stand point but have never read any of his actual literature. I have seen both The Chronicles of Narnia movies that came out and enjoyed them. I knew previous to watching them about the religious allegory so i did not feel the betrayel that i know some talk about regarding Lewis. Hopefully The Magician's Nephew will be as good as I am expecting. I am interested in reading the rest of the collection after this book.

I find it interesting that this is another fantasy with talking animals. I am curious to find out if it is at all similar to Redwall. On the other hand though I know The Magician's Nephew has human characters as well. As a fantasy book, I wonder how it relates to others we have read so far in class.

The Phoenix and the Carpet: Notable Moment

I believe the moment when Jane and Robert fall through a hole in the carpet is interesting in a couple of different ways. The whole idea of a magic carpret is very much something that would be found in childrens fantasy. The carpet in The Phoenix and the Carpet is thing that actually allows the children to go on adventures that kids with normal carpets and rugs are not able to do. When the magic carpet actually rips and gets worn down i believe this takes me out of the fantasy element in a way. This is a notable moment to me because i believe a magic carpet should not break so easily.

The chilren actually being able to ware down a magic carpet is also interesting to me. The fact that the children did not treat the carpet with much care shows another negative side of them. When Cryil rips the carpet in chapter ten they act like it is not that big of a deal and simply sew it up. If me and my friends had a flying carpet, we would treat it with much more care and respect.

Anticipating The Phoenix and the Carpet

To be honest The Phoenix and the Carpet is the only book on our reading list that I have not ever heard of before. This gives me a sense of excitement because I can go into it with a complete open mind unlike the other two books we have read so far. The fews things I have learned from just buying the book and getting ready to read it is its 1900's time period and the author, Nesbit, is English. From flipping through the pages i can tell that the authors English background influences the language used. I also believe imagination will be a huge part of The Phoenix and the Carpet just by the illustration on the cover. I am looking forward to the adventures this book will take me on.

Redwall: Analysis

Throughout Redwall the little mouse Matthias changes and grows into a great warrior. The book starts with implying that Matthias is young and inexpeirenced. Father Abbot describes him as "a young buffoon of a mouse." Despite his novelty Matthias was destined to be a hero. When an evil army of rats try to take over the great Abbey, Matthias takes the opportunity to prove himself.

Jacques clearly distinguishes between the good and evil in Redwall. Almost all of the animals can easily be put into either catagory. As Matthias takes on many challenging and often dangerous adventures to defeat Cluny and his evil comrades he becomes the warrior that the good animals of Redwall needed. Jacques gives the reader a chance to watch Matthias grow and change from being the little hopefull mouse whose shoes were to big into a Redwall hero.

Redwall: Notable Moment

The introduction of Basil Stag Hare in Redwall was a notable moment for me. Basil Stag brought a sense of comic relief to what has been somewhat of a stressfull story line so far. Matthias was on his way to take back the famous picture of Martin the Warrior from Clunys army when the rabbit made his first appearance. The first thing said from Basil Stag was a joke about Matthias, "Problem, a little problem? Well at least it's not a fully-grown adult problem." Right away I liked this character and hoped i would learn more about him.

As the first scene with Basil Stag Hare progressed you could feel his light heartednes rub off on Matthias. He greatfully agreed to help the young mouse out and teached him how to be quick and light on his feet. As he and Matthias worked together I believe the mouse became a greater warrior because of this new sense of fun. Matthias seemed to relax more when the hare was around. After Matthias rescued the vole family and found himself surrounded by rats, my new favorite character casually showed up and saved them. When the mouse questioned him on where he had went Basil Stag jokenly answered "spring cleaning, y'know."

Redwall has the most characters in it than any other book I remember reading as a child. It is often hard for me to remember which rat is which, and which otter is which. This is how i knew the introduction of Basil Stag Hare was important to me. Although I am not sure if the rabbit will continue to show up in the novel, I enjoyed the change i believe he mad in Matthias as a warrior.

Anticipating Redwall

I looking forward to reading Redwall. I think I am personally going to enjoy it more than The Hobbit. I like that the characters are animals. It reminds me of many other movies and books that I have enjoyed like Charlottes Web and Animal Farm. Other than it being animal based, I do not know much else about Redwall.

I remember I had a couple friends who used to read the books alot when I was around fith grade. Although I never got into them, they loved Redwall and had good things to say about the books. I am looking forward to reading them now as more of an adult and to see a different perspective than my twelve year old friends did at the time.

Blog #3A

Anticipating The Hobbit

I am actually undecided on how I feel about reading the The Hobbit. My initial feelings were not that good because I strongly disliked The Lord of the Ring movies and I know The Hobbit is the prelogue to the trilogy. However, I have read and enjoyed many books and then was disapointed when the movies came out. I am trying to come with a complete open mind as I start to read The Hobbit. I am determined to not judge the book based on my opinions of the movies.

The character Bilbo Baggins seems interesting to me and I am looking forward to taking the adventure with him as he starts off The Lord of The Rings. As far as fantasy goes, I think this will be a novel that will require a great amount of imagination. Maybe reading this will help me escape from the stress that comes with the first couple of weeks of a new semester.

Blog #2

Observations of Reading Preference Survey

After reading my responses to the "What i Bring to the Table" survey I observed that I had forgotten some of the books that I read when I was younger. Some of my favorite books are ones that I read as a young teen. The survey also makes me really excited about this class and the things I hope to learn about some of my favorite books like, The Goblet of Fire. I enjoy reading fantasy but honestly dont know much more about the topic. I ranked fantasy my second most valuable kind of literature on the survey and now I am ready to learn more about what I like to read.

Blog#1

Survey of Reading Preferences – Questions

- What associations do you have with reading? Do you have any personal history that makes reading seem more or less pleasurable? I love reading, but wish i had more time to devote to it. Summer and being outside makes is more pleasurable to me.
- Why do you read? To escape and learn from others.
- What has been your best experience in a literature course? (high school or college) I loved reading Of Mice and Men in my highschool enlish class.
- What has been your worst experience in a literature course? (high school or college) Reading shakespeare.
- What college-level literature courses have you taken in the English department? Shakespeare Lit.
- Compared to other literature courses you have taken, what do you expect will be the level of difficulty of this course? Why? I have only taken one other Literature course here at A&M and was not interested in the material which made it hard. I think this will be a little less difficult because I like most of the books on the reading list.
- What themes do you look for when you read literature for adults? Good and evil.
- What are your favorite books written for adults? One Day by David Nicholls and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
- How do you determine whether a book you have read is good? If I am sad to finish it and put off finishing the book because i dont want it to end.
- Do you think it is a good idea to study children’s literature? Yes.
- Why do you think scholars study children’s literature? To see what children like to read, and what they respond to.
- When you think of “children’s literature,” what comes to mind? Harry Potter and Twilight, i guess those hit series come to my mind first.
- What do you look for when you search for a children’s book? I dont really know to be honest.
- Why would you look for children’s books? For a fun book.
- What do you do with children’s books? I like to be able to read with out consciously analizing the book to understand it, and with childrens books i usually do not have to do that.
- What children’s books do you most admire? Where the Wild Things Are.
- What were your favorite children’s books as a child? The Traveling Pants series.
- In what contexts did you read children’s books as a child? Im not sure.
- Are there certain themes that interest you in children’s books? True Friendship.
- Are there certain types of books that you think children shouldn’t read? I think this depends on each child.
- How do you judge whether a children’s book is good? If i have to use my imagination and i like for them to have a positive theme.
- What do you think of when you think of fantasy? Imagination.
- Do you like fantasy literature? Why or why not? Yes, it is a good way to escape and let your mind wonder.
- Explain your reaction when you learned that this course would focus on fantasy. I was excited and looked forward to reading most of the books on the reading list.
- Rank the following from most to least valuable:
Nonfiction: 9
Poetry: 8
Historical Fiction: 3
Romance: 6
Fantasy Fiction: 2
Science Fiction: 7
Horror: 5
Mystery: 1
Adventure: 4
- Explain your choice for #1 and #9 in your rankings above. The first books i really got into reading were mystery novels and since then i have always enjoyed them. I like trying to figure out the mystery as I read. Nonfiction is my least valuable because i usually do not find them very intersting. Only a few nonfictions have been enjoyable to me and that was soley because of my interest in the topic.