I must admit, I've seen the movie Holes a few times and loved it. That is what prompted me to read the book. After all, books that are made into movies are usually much better than the movies they are made into! (Take Jurassic Park, for instance, and Harry Potter...though I do love the Harry Potter movies!) I would have to say that in the case of Holes the movie and the book are about equal! The person who wrote the screenplay made such few and minor changes that the book and the movie are practically the same! I love them both and am thinking about using them in one of my classes this year! So, on with the synopsis!
Stanley Yelnats is a pudgy(in the book, not the movie), unlucky, awkward boy. He doesn't have too many friends and gets picked on a lot...usually by boys much smaller than him. After fishing his notebook out of a toilet at the end of school, he misses his bus and starts to walk home. As he is walking home, a pair of sneakers fly off of an overpass and hit him in the head. Because his father is trying to invent a way to recycle old sneakers (another difference between the book and movie) he sees this as destiny.
And it is destiny in a way. He get stopped by cops, who nab him for stealing the shoes from a homeless shelter, where they were going to be auctioned off for thousands of dollars as they belonged to a very famous baseball player. He ends up at Camp Green Lake, a "camp for bad boy". Every day (including weekends and holidays) at Camp Green Lake every boy get a shovel, is marched into the vast wasteland that used to be Green Lake, and has to dig a 5-foot deep hole with a 5-foot diameter. They dig holes to build character...or do they? Stanley starts to think they are really looking for something...but what?
This is a wonderful book with a touch of the fantastic. One of its prime messages is that good things come to good people, regardless of their luck or what they come from.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Stephanie Meyer - Twilight Series
With the new movie coming out in December and final book of the series just out, these are the books to be reading right now. Meyer writes beautiful prose that flow and leave the reader unable to put down her books. I have to admit, she also makes you want to throw the books across the room at times, but in mind, that's a good thing. Only a truly gifted writer can make you feel such intense emotions! Whether you love or hate the characters, these books are wonderfully crafted and will appeal to girls and women of all ages (and boys and men, too, I think).
It has been a while since I have read the first three books, so I will wait to complete the synopses until after I have read them again, but I want to discuss some issues I have read about online and my feelings on them:
It has been a while since I have read the first three books, so I will wait to complete the synopses until after I have read them again, but I want to discuss some issues I have read about online and my feelings on them:
- Bella is not a good role model because she is weak, therefore, we should not let our daughters read this book.
Okay, agree that Bella is weak, especially in New Moon and Eclipse, but why is a weak character bad? A) Her weaknesses make her human. B) Her bad decisions and weaknesses are something to discuss with our daughters. I talk with my 16 year old cousin all the time about Bella's character and her decisions. I think teenager can learn a lot from Bella about how they do and don't want to act in their relationships with their boyfriends and male (platonic) friendships. And besides, telling a teenager she/he can't read something makes them want to read it even more!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Scott Westerfeld - Uglies Quadrilogy
Tally Youngblood lives in a society where all adolescents are "ugly" until they get their
"pretty" surgery. At sixteen, everyone gets a new face, new skin, new teeth, height adjustments and whatever else they need to be an average supermodel. Unfortunately for Tally, her best friend, Peris, just had his surgery and she still has 3 months to go. The worst part of this is that she isn't allowed to go see him, and though he can come see her, pretties rarely, if ever, go back to Uglyville. New Pretty Town is a nonstop party. Once teens become beautiful, all they can do is party and drink and have fun. Tally can't wait to join Peris in New Pretty Town...so she decides to sneak in to see him.
Though she can barely recognize the new Peris, she finds him and promises to be good so they can be together (in a total platonic way) once she turns sixteen. She almost gets caught, but escapes by pulling a fire alarm and jumping off the roof of a building in a bungee jacket. As she's making her way back to Uglyville, she meets Shay, another ugly who has sneaked across the river to New Pretty Town.
Shay and Tally teach each other many things, but Shay know of things that go beyond their world. She takes Tally out to the Rusty Ruins and tells her of people who do not live in their city, nor any other city. She and Tally get along so well, because they both have lost all of their friends. Shay claims that not all of her friends became pretty, some of them stayed ugly and escaped the city. The night before Shay's 16th birthday, she shows up at Tally's window asking her to come with her to The Smoke, the place in the wilderness where the mythical David lives. Tally refuses to go, she wants to be pretty.
On the morning of Tally's 16th birthday everything goes as planned. She has recycled all of her possessions, has her new face all picked out, gets picked up and driven to the hospital, and is sitting in the waiting room...where she waits, and waits, and waits. Finally, someone comes to her and leads her back down to a car and takes her to a place called Special Circumstances. Most people don't believe that Special Circumstances even exists, but Tally is there. Dr. Cable gives Tally an ultimatum either go to The Smoke with a locket that is a homing device when activated, or never be pretty. Does she really have a choice?
Uglies follows Tally on her journey to being pretty. Pretties finds Tally pretty and trying to discover the secret that keeps all pretties shallow and "bubbleheads". Again, she is trying to escape the city, though this time to escape being a bubblehead with her new man Zane. In Specials, Tally has been turned into a "terrible pretty" fighting machine. Her bones were all ground and replaced with indestructible plastic used to make aircrafts. Her teeth are sharp points and she's covered in tatoos. She likes the way she is, but is it really her, or has she been programmed to feel this way, yet again.
I have not read Extras, yet, as it does not follow Tally anymore. What I like about these three books is that it follows a very strong girl, who underestimates her strength, but is constantly trying to discover herself. Even after society tries to mold her to into the norm, she breaks free and becomes more. She is constantly fighting the norm, fighting mindlessness, fighting ignorance. There is a lot of social significance in these books. Do I think the world will be like this some day? No, but I do think they say a lot about how are world could turn out if we keep going the way we go. Some of the issues these books touch on are destroying the environment, plastic surgery, the influence of popular media, war, human experimentation, and probably others that I can't think of at the moment.
I will add to this post when I read Extras.
"pretty" surgery. At sixteen, everyone gets a new face, new skin, new teeth, height adjustments and whatever else they need to be an average supermodel. Unfortunately for Tally, her best friend, Peris, just had his surgery and she still has 3 months to go. The worst part of this is that she isn't allowed to go see him, and though he can come see her, pretties rarely, if ever, go back to Uglyville. New Pretty Town is a nonstop party. Once teens become beautiful, all they can do is party and drink and have fun. Tally can't wait to join Peris in New Pretty Town...so she decides to sneak in to see him.
Though she can barely recognize the new Peris, she finds him and promises to be good so they can be together (in a total platonic way) once she turns sixteen. She almost gets caught, but escapes by pulling a fire alarm and jumping off the roof of a building in a bungee jacket. As she's making her way back to Uglyville, she meets Shay, another ugly who has sneaked across the river to New Pretty Town.
Shay and Tally teach each other many things, but Shay know of things that go beyond their world. She takes Tally out to the Rusty Ruins and tells her of people who do not live in their city, nor any other city. She and Tally get along so well, because they both have lost all of their friends. Shay claims that not all of her friends became pretty, some of them stayed ugly and escaped the city. The night before Shay's 16th birthday, she shows up at Tally's window asking her to come with her to The Smoke, the place in the wilderness where the mythical David lives. Tally refuses to go, she wants to be pretty.
On the morning of Tally's 16th birthday everything goes as planned. She has recycled all of her possessions, has her new face all picked out, gets picked up and driven to the hospital, and is sitting in the waiting room...where she waits, and waits, and waits. Finally, someone comes to her and leads her back down to a car and takes her to a place called Special Circumstances. Most people don't believe that Special Circumstances even exists, but Tally is there. Dr. Cable gives Tally an ultimatum either go to The Smoke with a locket that is a homing device when activated, or never be pretty. Does she really have a choice?
Uglies follows Tally on her journey to being pretty. Pretties finds Tally pretty and trying to discover the secret that keeps all pretties shallow and "bubbleheads". Again, she is trying to escape the city, though this time to escape being a bubblehead with her new man Zane. In Specials, Tally has been turned into a "terrible pretty" fighting machine. Her bones were all ground and replaced with indestructible plastic used to make aircrafts. Her teeth are sharp points and she's covered in tatoos. She likes the way she is, but is it really her, or has she been programmed to feel this way, yet again.
I have not read Extras, yet, as it does not follow Tally anymore. What I like about these three books is that it follows a very strong girl, who underestimates her strength, but is constantly trying to discover herself. Even after society tries to mold her to into the norm, she breaks free and becomes more. She is constantly fighting the norm, fighting mindlessness, fighting ignorance. There is a lot of social significance in these books. Do I think the world will be like this some day? No, but I do think they say a lot about how are world could turn out if we keep going the way we go. Some of the issues these books touch on are destroying the environment, plastic surgery, the influence of popular media, war, human experimentation, and probably others that I can't think of at the moment.
I will add to this post when I read Extras.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Scott Westerfeld - Peeps & The Last Days
Scott Westerfeld is one of my favorite young adult writers (I have yet to read any of his books for adults). Peeps was the first book I read by him and it is still my favorite. Peeps brings an all new meaning to vampire, aka "peep" - being the saviors of the human race. Westerfeld's genre of vampires (peeps) are kick-ass, meat-eating, super humans, who freak out when they are first transformed, hating everything they once loved. They are also the only things that can save the human race from the ancient enemies.
Peeps follows a young man named Cal, who is a carrier of the "peep" virus, having all of the advantages of a peep and none of the craziness. His new job is to catch newborn peeps and take them to a compound for their safety and for training, primarily the women he infected before he found out what was happening to him, as well as the woman who passed it to him.
The Last Days is a sequel to Peeps. I say 'a' sequel and not 'the' sequel because The Last Days is about different people than Peeps. It follows a group of teenagers who are trying to start a band as the world is falling apart beneath them. Moz and Zahler are two guys who play guitar together and consider themselves a band. Moz meets Pearl on the street as a woman is going psycho and throwing all of her possessions out of her apartment window. When she throws a rare Stratocaster guitar, both Moz and Pearl run to save it. Pearl, it turns out, is a rich musical prodigy, looking for a new band after her old band broke up months before. She gets back her old peeps-infected lead singer and they find a drummer, Zahler switches to bass. Voila, they have a band...a band that can do what no one alive, peep or human, has ever seen before. Only the most ancient peeps have heard rumors of a band like this hundreds of years ago when the ancient enemies last attacked.
One of the things I really like about Westerfeld is how he handles point of view. He writes in the first person, but with every chapter, he switches characters. I know that this has become a popular writing style, but I think Westerfeld does it very successfully. Each character very much has their own voice and their own mind. He also does this with the Midnighters trilogy.
Overall, these are great books. Violent, yes. Some adult themes, yes. But a unique and interesting spin of vampires. I think they are definitely worth reading. Westerfeld is a highly entertaining writer who is on his way up the ladder of popularity in YA literature.
Peeps follows a young man named Cal, who is a carrier of the "peep" virus, having all of the advantages of a peep and none of the craziness. His new job is to catch newborn peeps and take them to a compound for their safety and for training, primarily the women he infected before he found out what was happening to him, as well as the woman who passed it to him.
The Last Days is a sequel to Peeps. I say 'a' sequel and not 'the' sequel because The Last Days is about different people than Peeps. It follows a group of teenagers who are trying to start a band as the world is falling apart beneath them. Moz and Zahler are two guys who play guitar together and consider themselves a band. Moz meets Pearl on the street as a woman is going psycho and throwing all of her possessions out of her apartment window. When she throws a rare Stratocaster guitar, both Moz and Pearl run to save it. Pearl, it turns out, is a rich musical prodigy, looking for a new band after her old band broke up months before. She gets back her old peeps-infected lead singer and they find a drummer, Zahler switches to bass. Voila, they have a band...a band that can do what no one alive, peep or human, has ever seen before. Only the most ancient peeps have heard rumors of a band like this hundreds of years ago when the ancient enemies last attacked.
One of the things I really like about Westerfeld is how he handles point of view. He writes in the first person, but with every chapter, he switches characters. I know that this has become a popular writing style, but I think Westerfeld does it very successfully. Each character very much has their own voice and their own mind. He also does this with the Midnighters trilogy.
Overall, these are great books. Violent, yes. Some adult themes, yes. But a unique and interesting spin of vampires. I think they are definitely worth reading. Westerfeld is a highly entertaining writer who is on his way up the ladder of popularity in YA literature.
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