BP #10: Stages, stages, stages...

Image retrieved from:
"Books: Witch & Wizard | The Official James Patterson Website." Home | The Official James Patterson Website. Web. 29 Dec. 2011.

Click on the book cover to see James Patterson's official website, book description, excerpts, reviews and more!

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson is a thrilling tale of Whit and Wisty Allgood, and their battle with the New Order created by The One Who is the One. This book is written in a very interesting way, because no ordinary world is established before the Call to Adventure occurs. Whit and Wisty are immediately thrown into the chaos of their adventure. The book begins with armed men storming the Allgood's house, seizing Whit and Wisty and accusing them of being and Witch and a Wizard. It is also interesting that the pair do not meet a mentor before they are immediately forced to cross the Threshold into the Special World.

"I gasped as my bedroom door crashed open. Two hulking men in dark-gray uniforms burst into my room, glaring at me as if I were a fugitive terrorist-cell operative.

"It's her! Wisteria Allgood!" one said...

"Who are you?!" I asked. "What are you doing in my freaking bedroom?""
- Witch & Wizard, James Patterson, pg. 16

Whit and Wisty have no idea what any of the army men are talking about, and refuse to believe that they are a "Witch" or a "Wizard". This could be called the Refusal of The Call, because it takes a great deal of events for the pair to finally believe that they are indeed magical.

"'Wisteria Allgood... The New Order is taking you into custody until your trial. You are hereby accused of being a witch."

My jaw dropped. "A witch? Are you nuts?" I shrieked.
- Witch & Wizard, James Patterson, pg. 24

Although it does not occur in the typical order, an Ordinary World is established as the book progresses. Whit and Wisty begin to realize that their parents knew all along that they had magical powers, but they hid it from them. They realize the rhymes their parents used to tell them are actually spells and hints to get them out of sticky situations. Before they were taken, Whit and Wisty were permitted to bring one belonging from home. Their parents insisted that they take a battered old drumstick and an empty journal with them. These seemingly useless items play a key role later in the story.

BP #9: Ordinary World...

The book I have just finished is The Convicts by Ian Lawrence. I have read this book before, although it has been a few years and I had forgotten most of it.


Image Retrieved from:

"The Convicts (cover) | Canadian Children's Book Centre." If You Love Children’s Books, You’ve Come to the Right Place! | Canadian Children's Book Centre. The Canadian Children's Book Centre. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Click on the book cover to view an inside preview of the book on amazon.com!

"I had no wish to know this world, though I had been born by the banks of the Thames, where the river met the sea... the river had taken her father, and the sea had taken her two brothers, and ever since my sister's death she taught me to fear them both. I often thought- when I saw the Thames swirling by- that one or the other was waiting to take me too."
- The Convicts, Ian Lawrence, p. 4.

Tom Tin, the main character in this book, is an English boy growing up in a somewhat early London. His father is a captain, and his mother does nothing, she simply breathes and survives, ever since the death of his little sister, Kitty.

Everything Tom knows in the beginning in this book is poverty and a family torn apart by the sea and the bank. The readers of the book are never introduced to what Tom knew before, and it creates the feeling that this is all he knows, and how his life has always been.

He has been taught to fear the sea, despite the fact that his father is a sailor himself, and he does fear it very much.

Tom Tin has very few things, however, he loves them and cares for them very much. He really does feel the presence of "home" before it is all torn away from him as the events of the book unfold. Tom's feelings of his ordinary world remind me very much of the quotation from the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

"It's not much, but it's home," -Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Image retrieved from:

Darlene. "Its Not Much, But Its All I Have! (Original Date:10-28-2010) « TweetinGrandma's Blog." TweetinGrandma's Blog. 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

BP #8: Free Choice

Image retrieved from: "Sister Wife." Orca Book Publishers - Outstanding Books for Young Readers. Orca Book Publishers Canada. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. .

Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitshka is based upon the now growing popular idea of "The Sister Wife" concept. The polygamy way of life was made widely popular by the show "Sister Wives" that airs on TLC. Polygamy involves a man marrying several wives, in order to achieve the status of "purity" in their religion and be accepted into God's kingdom.

Below, the stars of the popular TLC TV series "Sister Wives"

Image retrieved from: Dodd, Johnny. "Sister Wives Star Hopes He Won't Be Jailed for 'Loving Four Women' - Sister Wives : People.com." People.com : The #1 Celebrity Site for Breaking News, Celebrity Pictures and Star Style. 13 Oct. 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2011.

So, my question is, what do you think the ordinary world (common culture in this book) thinks of Unity?

When the people of Unity visit the nearest town to buy staple items, they receive many awful glares and funny looks. They often hear taunts and are shunned by the people, and so only one man from the group goes to the town every week. I think the common world finds the people of Unity very alien and strange, because they live so differently than them. They find the idea of polygamy disgusting and unethical, because being with multiple women is considered adultery to them.

The people of Unity are out casted.

Image retrieved from:
"Finland – Racist Move! Outcast – The Finnishing Touches.." The Finnishing Touches.. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. .

BP#6: Archetypes in Modern Fiction

Grist by Heather Waldorf is a twisted tale of summer romance gone wrong. Char and Kerry, have a seemingly perfect fling. Char is extremely happy, despite the fact the Char's grandmother has warned her to befriend Kerry, and nothing more. Char simply doesn't understand, and her and Kerry soon begin to date.



Char is staying with her grandmother for the summer, away from her widowed Dad and his girlfriend, Barb. Char soon discovers that Kerry's father passed away last winter in a snowmobiling accident that Kerry was involved in, leaving him with shattered bones and 6 months of rehab.



But when Char's grandmother catches Kerry and Char kissing, she spills the beans on what is really happening. I don't want to reveal the sickening twist, but Char is thrown into an absolute rage at Kerry's dead father for ruining everything.


Living in hatred, I think that Greg (Kerry's father) becomes a Shadow for Char. She battles internally with him, and is a constant reminder of the things Char wishes would have never happened.


However, Greg is also slightly atypical to a Shadow, because of the fact that Char never really has to "fight" with him at the climax of the story, the entire second half of the book is about her struggle with herself to overcome the hatred she feels toward Greg, and towards herself.









This song reminds me very much of Char's feelings, because she can't think strait because she is so consumed in thinking about Greg.

Is it Classy?

"'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read."

-Mark Twain

A "classic" novel, often commonly known as "old" stories, are those which have withstood the test of time. If a novel was popular in its' heyday and is still considered a good read in the present, it is considered a classic.

In the forums on online-literature.com, a classic novel is described as having to meet the following criteria:

• Morality: the novel should say something of value.


• Effective language: strong, fresh words that create somewhat of a poem in the writing.


• Truthfulness: does the novel make you believe in your heart what the author is saying? Can you feel the emotions the author is trying to portray, do you care for the characters?


• Universality: the ability of a novel to be enjoyed anywhere in the world, not just in the Western world.


• Timelessness: the novel should withstand the test of time, not wither and grow old.

Grist by Heather Waldorf is a good book, but I do not believe that it will become a classic. The book itself is well-written, but the plot is choppy and it seems to end suddenly, though the ending is drawn-out. Another thing is that this book is rather twisted, and somewhat disturbing, but not in a thrilling and suspenseful kind of way. I don't think that many people would particularily enjoy this book, and for this reason I do not think it will live on.

In Real Life...

"I look at the words, black like inky spiders, and watch the webs they weave." Page 1, The Worst Thing She Ever Did, Alice Kuipers.

I just finished The Worst Thing She Ever Did by Alice Kuipers. It focuses on Sophie, who was caught in a terrorist bombing of a subway with her sister; who did not survive. Sophie is struggling to deal with her grief, and she feels trapped in her own life. She is a victim of near-constant panic attacks, and her friends have left her due to her constant need.

This book reminds me of, and is posssibly based on, the London Underground Bombings. Multiple explosions were planned and detonated, which killed and injured many. To find out more on this attack, you can read the Wikipeidia article here.

This also reminds me of the very well-publicised and well-known event of the 9/11 World Trade Centre terrorist attack. Planes were flown into both of the twin towers, and the pentagon. There were several other planes that were assumed to be hijacked, excluding United Airlines flight 93, in which the passengers of the plane revolted against the terrorists. Over 3,000 people were killed in the attacks. To read more on the World Trade Centre attack, click here.

Also similar to The Worst Thing She Ever Did is We All Fall Down by Eric Walters. I read this book quite a while ago but it is still very fresh in my mind because it is such a good read. It is based on the World Trade Centre Attacks, an d it also is from the perspective of someone caught in the attacks. These books are very similar, however The Worst Thing She Ever Did is set up differently, because the author wrote the book from present to past, starting with how Sophie's life is now, and finishing with the attacks, which were the result.

Parker Fadley in a Cracked Up Nutshell...

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers is a 2010 White Pine Nominee, following the life of the apparently emotionally unsound Parker Fadley...


"I don't want to open my eyes.
'Just wait, parker, can you hear me?'
I am not going to open my eyes. I am going to lie on the court until I die, and I hope that happens soon, because I want to die."

-Courtney Summers, Cracked Up To Be, pg. 153


Parker Fadley used to have it all. But now, her life has taken a turn for the worst, and as much as everyone else does, she doesn't want her old life back. A dark secret demolished her life, leaving her to pick up the peices. An emotional train wreck, Parker turns to alcohol and drugs to solve her problems. Kindness dissapears from her vocabulary. She hates her parents, she hates her friends, she hates the guidance councellor, she hates her ex-boyfriend who still loves her, she hates her old Cheer squad, and she hates the boy she is in love with.

Parker hates life.

Placed on the suicide watch list, nobody can understand why she tried to kill herself, and why her life is slipping away from her own control. Nobody else understands why she sneaks into the woods and searches amongst the pine needles. But nobody can understand, because nobody knows what happened.

And nobody ever will.



I predict that things will get a lot worse for Parker before they get better. I'm guessing she will most likely attempt to commit suicide again but will be thwarted by those who care about her most. Towards the end of the book, I think Parker will turn her life around and go to rehab.



The video I chose is the song "Lover Dearest" by Marianas Trench. It was written by Josh Ramsay whilst he was in rehab to overcome his heroin addiction. I feel that it really sums up how someone trapped in the life of drugs or something similar feels, and how difficult it is to get out of it. I think that this really relates to Parker, as she feels she needs her alcohol and pills, but she doesn't want to quit, because it is so easy to just stay addicted.

The Help

Image from steppingbackintimecherishedcookbooks.blogspot.com
Click on the book cover to see a review by The New York Times

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is an inspiring story that takes place in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, at the peak of prejudice and racism towards black men and women. Following the lives of maids for white families, it exposes the brutal truth of how the world once was. Times are getting tough, and the awful and horrible things the maids and their families are forced to deal with are increasing. They live in a fear of speaking and standing up for themselves, for many who do so go to jail, are beaten, or even have their tongues cut out of their mouths. But an unusual advocate emerges for the black people- the young, white writer, Skeeter Phelan. She begins collecting stories- the good and the bad- from local maids about their life from their own perspective, with the intention of publishing it as a book anonymously. But will the fear of being punished stop the maids from telling their stories, and will local racists stop Skeeter from her dream of exposing the truth?

The Help is by far one of the most inspirational yet shocking books I have ever read. Skeeter's determination to make things right, and the humour that can be found in topics that are really quite serious carries this book, and creates a story free of dull moments. I found that the relationships that developed in this novel were strangely addictive and enticing, and the way the characters interacted with each other was actually quite interesting. As I was reading it, I noticed how much thought and effort was put into this book. With the book written from multiple perspectives, I realize how difficult it must have been to make it flow well and make individual plot lines interconnect.

If I could change one thing about this book, I would change how the relationship between Skeeter and Stuart ended. I wanted them to work things out so badly!

“I say ‘ That good vanilla from Mexico’ and then I go head. I tell her what else I put in that pie for her.” Minny revealing the Terrible Awful secret to Miss Celia (Pg 339)

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
-Groucho Marx
www.brainyquote.com/quotes

This quote describes my relationship with books really well because it tells how a book can become one's best friend. To me, books are my comforter, and truly, something I can always trust and rely on. This quote also portrays the humour and enjoyment that can be found in books, the best comedians around, telling their jokes through their author's carefully chosen words.