Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, September 17, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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.
- 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.
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