Evelyn's Blog

The Host

For this week’s independent reading book, I am reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Stephenie Meyer is the author of the famous Twilight saga.  I just started The Host, so I don’t really know what the story is really about, except what the summary says. So far, the book is about an alien species (called souls) who came to Earth and take over its inhabitants.  It describes Wanderer (a soul who is named like that because she had previously had lived 8 lives and 8 planets) who’s human, Melanie Stryder, will not cooperate with Wanderer’s takeover.  Wanderer becomes worried at her lack of control over Mel.  Mel often takes over, and does things that Wanderer really does not want to do. So, she goes to see her Comforter, Kathy.  After she leaves Kathy, running, The Seeker, who is in charge of Mel’s body, also becomes worried on how Wanderer’s control on Mel is slipping.  Mel keeps on “attacking” Wanderer with her memories and her yearning for Jared, her lover, and Jamie, her younger brother, like in page 10, when Wanderer is first  inserted into Mel, and in page 31, when Wanderer is sleeping.  Wanderer becomes desperate to find out if they are alive, and both of them go looking for them.
My synthesis question for The Host is: “What is a possible solution to Mel’s power over Wanderer?”  My evaluation question is: “Do you think that Mel’s power over Wanderer is a good or a bad thing? Explain.”
A text to text connection I had was: “This alien invasion sounds like the series, Animorphs, and the Yeerks that invade the human minds and take control in the books.  Like some of the souls, some of the Yeerks are actually good.”

The Will of the Empress

My new independent reading book is The Will of the Empress.  Like the other independent reading book I just read, it is by Tamora Pierce. The Will of the Empress is about 4 young mages (people with magical powers) called Lady Sandrilene fa Toren (Sandry), Briar Moss, Daja Kisubo, and Trisana Chandler (Tris).  The four of them had formed some kind of special bond in Winding Circle, where they had learned magic.  Sandry had learned magic from Dedicate Lark, Briar from Dedicate Rosethorn, Daja from Dedicate Frostpine, and Tris from Niklaren Goldeye, who was the mage that found that the 4 mages had powers.  Then, Tris, Briar, Daja, and their teachers travel to different places. When they return, they all have changed and won’t share secrets that they once would have, and  they close their mental connection to each other. Sandry, who feels betrayed, does the same thing.  When Sandry’s cousin, Empress Berenene of Namorn, repeatedly invites Sandry to visit her court, she goes.  Sandry’s great-uncle, Duke Vedreis of Emelan, asks Daja, Tris, and Briar to accompany her as guards, they accept.  The 4 travel to Namorn, and there they learn about a Namorn custom of bride kidnapping where the man kidnaps a woman and holds her captive until she agrees to sign a wedding contract.  Because of the 4 mage’s power and Sandry’s wealth, Berenene decides that she would like them  in her court.  She tries to persuade  them to stay in Namorn.  When Fin, one of Sandry’s suitors, kidnaps her and puts her in a magic-proof box, Sandry reopens her mental connection to Briar and calls out to him.  He and Tris rescue Sandry, and they decide to leave Namorn despite Berenene’s attempts to make them stay.  Then, Berenene orders Ishabal Ladyhammer, her most powerful war-mage to put a curse on Tris, causing her to fall down a flight of stairs and have a broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder, 2 small cracks in her skull, a broken cheekbone, an arm broken in 2 places, a broken wrist, 5 broken ribs and etc.  Tris insists that the other 3 travel ahead of her, and that she would catch up with them when she recovered.  Halfway to the border, Sandry is kidnapped by Preshan fer Roth, whose marriage proposal she had turned down before leaving, and Quenaill Sheildsman, who protects Berenene and Isha’s second-in-command.  Quen puts a sleeping spell on Briar and Daja, and magic-dampening spells on Sandry.  Briar wakes up, using smelling salts, and also wakes up Daja.  They go after Sandry, but are confronted by Quen.  Daja and Briar engage Quen, until the spells on Sandry wear off.  Sandry frees herself and unravels her captors clothing and cocoons them using her magic.  After she meets up with Briar and Daja, they continue to the border.  Isha is there and she raises a barrier against them.  Sandry uses the circle of thread that has 4 bumps in it, 1 for each mage.  Tris, who is not to far behind, enters the ring, and they use their combined power to shatter the barrier.  The circle disappears, and the 4 all have a circular lump on their hands.  Isha, who put too much of her power in the barrier, is magically drained.  They continue home.
I made plenty of text to text connections with other books in the series.  One of them is: “In Sandry’s Book, Sandry created the tread circle.” A really bad text to world connection I made is: “Lots of people that have come home from war probably also have bad dreams, like Briar.”

Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce

Question: Why did you choose this book?

SPOILER!

I choose this book because I read the others in the quartet. The book is called Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce. There are 2 quartets with the same characters and separate books. The first book in the series is Sandry’s Book (the UK title is The Magic in the Weaving), then Tris’s Book (The Power in the Storm), next Daja’s Book (The Fire in the Forging), and Briar’s Book (The Healing in the Vine). The next quartet books are: Magic Steps, Street Magic, Cold Fire (the book I’m reading), and Shatterglass. Then there is The Will of the Empress, a lone book. And there are some other books too. Cold Fire is about Daja Kisubo, one of the foursome in the books who is a metal-mage. She has traveled has traveled to Kugisko with her teacher, Dedicate Frostpine (the greatest metal-mage in the world), and expects to have a peaceful visit with some of Frostpine’s old friends. Unfortunately, she has no peace when there are mysterious fires in the city. Whats worse, most of the houses in the city are made of wood. Daja helps Bennat Ladradun, a firefighter with a tragic past, to fight the fires. They quickly become friends. When Daja realizes that the fires have been deliberately set, their relationship is tested. On top of all that, Frostpine’s old friends, Kolborn or Kol Bancanor and his wife Matazidah or Matazi have twin daughters, and Daja knows that they are mages, each specializing in different housework power. Niamara (Nia) is a shy girl who posses carpentry magic, and Jorality (Jory) is a loud and outgoing girl with cooking powers. Because Daja has no skill in any of these areas, she entrusts them to some local mages. All she has to do is to teach them how to meditate. This proves to be rather challenging because when you put a hyperactive girl and a shy one together, almost nothing works. In the end, it turns out that Ben is the fire setter, and Daja captures him and gives him to authorities. They burn him alive. Daja still likes him, so she and some other fire mages help burn him faster. I believe Ben’s abusive mother, Morrachane Ladradun helped contribute to his twisted way of thinking. I think that this series and the book are both really good. Maybe my favorite series. I have read other books by Tamora Pierce, which all prove to be equally good. Like K. M. Grant’s writing style, the events seem to flow right into the next. I don’t think this is the kind of book that is just for girls or just for boys. If you like magic, you might like this book.

I have recently watched a video on TEDtalk about Adora L Svitak’s ( a child prodigy) speech. Adora is a 12-year old girl who travels around the United States to talk. When she was 7, she wrote and later published a book called Flying Fingers, a book about learning. In the video I watched, Adora was talking about how adults should learn from kids. She talked about how she was tired of being called “childish”. I have to agree. When people are called “childish”, usually we have done something bad, or something we shouldn’t have done, but we did. But, she also mentions what all the adults have done: World Wars, George W. Bush, and so on. Kids, however, are different. “Anne Frank touched millions with her powerful account of the holocaust, Ruby Bridges helped end segregation in the United States… ” Adora says. Other kids have done amazing things too. I think that adults should have more trust in us kids. Like she says, maybe the students should teach the teacher, instead of the teacher teaching the kids. Parents should set higher expectations, like Adora’s parents do. But, you should still learn from you teachers and parents and other adults. They are older, have more experience and are wiser than you.

Question: Why did you choose the book?

Answer: I choose this book because it was the third of a trilogy that I am reading. I’ve already ready the first two, so I’m reading the next one. It is called Blaze of Silver by K. M. Grant, and its really good so far. It’s about a knight called Will de Granville, who is collecting ransom silver to free his king from the emperor of Germany. When the Old Man of the Mountain hears that his old enemy, Kamil, is in Hartslove with Will, he plans his revenge. He sends a man who plants seeds of doubt on Kamil. When they go to Germany to give the ransom silver, they are attacked by imperial soldiers (they will later find out that they are followers of the Old Man).
Kamil goes against Will and the others, and they are soon tied up. Will’s squire and a boy in training to be a knight escape. Later, at a tournament that the Old Man has planned, Will, Kamil, and Will’s adopted sister, Ellie, escape. When Kamil supposedly gives his life for Will and Ellie, they realize that Kamil may not be a traitor after all, though Ellie still has her doubts. When Will gets to the palace of the emperor, the the man that the Old Man sent to Hartslove was there. When Will is accused of taking the ransom silver, Ellie and Marissa (a nun-to-be) prove that they are not just along for the ride. I really like that author’s writing style. One event seems to flow into the next. The genre is historical reason.

This is my new story. Click here

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dccpwncc_75cqxt7c4w

Barn Owls

This is the link for our Ch. 17- 23 glog. http://s017.catkinson.edu.glogster.com/glog-5169/