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. .