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Đang hiển thị bài đăng từ Tháng 6, 2017

Overcoming Death and Stereotypes ⇉ Review of What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

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When I was in school, I would have friend groups for different situations. I met people in certain activities, and our interactions were limited to those situations. Or if we did go out and do something different, only people from that group attended. The older I get, however, the more I appreciate having a stable friend group that does life together. The initial appeal of What to Say Next  is that it breaks these "class lines" and puts a girl from the "in" crowd in the time and place as a boy from the "out" crowd. In the process, we're reminded of the unifying nature of our humanity. We don't have to be one or the other. As long as we put aside preconceived stereotypes, we can be just human. WHAT I LIKED It's the Small Details   (that bring the characters to life) In a fiction writing class I took in college, the professor told us that small details make a story more realistic. I was reminded of this early in  What to Say Next  because it is f...
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Learning to Love Yourself and What You Do ⇉ Contemplations on Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

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Francesca Zappia has a talent for bringing characters and their emotions to life. I started reading this book intending to enjoy some light reading before bed . . . and stayed up flipping through the pages, intent on finding out how things develop between Eliza and Wallace after he sees her artwork. The high school me could relate with Eliza. I didn't like school and had a hard time communicating with my peers. Reading and writing were my means of escape from reality. I never created an online fandom like Eliza, but I did hang around the Inkpop forums before Figment took over. Given this shared experience and how the Internet has become such a large part of our culture, I was interested in seeing how Francesca Zappia would bring the two worlds together. I like how Francesca Zappia integrates pages from Eliza's popular webcomic  Monstrous Sea , comment threads, and text messages into the novel. It gives us a broader picture of Eliza's life and how much more real her online c...
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The Ominous Eye by Tracey Hecht ⇉ Furry Friends and Big Dilemmas Will Encourage Young Readers to Reconsider What They Know about Right and Wrong

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The Nocturnals are back for another adventure! Who else enjoys reading books featuring animals as the protagonists? WHAT I LIKED Friendship Focus The focus of the Nocturnals  has always been on the strong friendship that Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark share. I like how their friendship is put to the test in this novel because it shows young readers that good friends can fight and doubt each other, but they will continue to care for each other and put in the effort to make up. Blurs the Line Between Good and Evil Like the first book, The Ominous Eye  blurs the line between good and evil. Oftentimes, we look at someone's actions and judge their character based off a specific behavior at a specific point in the time, but we don't stop to question the motive behind their behavior. The Ominous Eye  calls us to consider the other side's perspective. Caricature of the Real World The actions of the nocturnals in this novel reflect the actions of real-world people when bad things happen...
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5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior by Mark Siegel ⇉ Full Color Illustrations, Unlikely Heroes, and a #GIVEAWAY

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Five worlds at stake. Three unlikely heroes. . . The Sand Warrior  has the basics to one of my favorite plotlines in fantasy worlds. Furthermore, it's told in graphic novel format. Though I typically favor prose reads, I enjoy a good graphic novel and opened this one in anticipation of how the illustrations would bring the story to life. WHAT I LIKED Full Color Illustrations The Sand Warrior  is filled with full color illustrations from start the finish. I appreciate the use of full color because it brings the fantasy world to life in a way that wouldn't have been possible with black and white illustrations. The Political Intricacies With the fate of 5 worlds at stake, there is unrest and political intricacy as expected. Different races fight for a say in their fates, there are power struggles, and there is the daily fight for survival. In the end, the story makes the reader question who is in the right and if there is a way to resolve everything in a way that respects all the...
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Movie Monday: Room

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Room Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson Genre: Drama, Thriller Running time: 117 minutes Released: 2015 Distributed by A24 Films Held captive for years in an enclosed space, a woman (Brie Larson) and her 5-year-old son (Jacob Tremblay) finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time. Room seems like a small-scale film, but it does so much with so little. Most of the film centers on just two characters, a mother and her son, and takes place inside of a small room. However, even with the seemingly small focus of the film, there are heavy internal struggles as they adjust to a completely different world and their new lives in it. Half of the film centers around 5-year old Jack and his mother who is simply referred to as Ma and their lives as they are contained to a single 10-square foot room that they call ‘Room.’ Ma was kidnapped and held captive 7 years ago by a man they call Old Nick and has since had a son five years ago. There is a daring e...
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Movie Monday: Jurassic World

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Jurassic World Directed by: Colin Trevorrow Genre: Science Fiction Adventure Running time: 124 minutes Released: 2015 Produced by Amblin Entertainment Located off the coast of Costa Rica, the Jurassic World luxury resort provides a habitat for an array of genetically engineered dinosaurs, including the vicious and intelligent Indominus rex. When the massive creature escapes, it sets off a chain reaction that causes the other dinos to run amok. Now, it's up to a former military man and animal expert (Chris Pratt) to use his special skills to save two young brothers and the rest of the tourists from an all-out, prehistoric assault. Review The dinosaur amusement park that John Hammond dreamed of setting up has finally been created, and Jurassic World is a real spectacle. While the characters feel flat and the writing is nothing special, the film brings incredible scenery, great camerawork and visuals, and thrilling action. It does a great job of breathing life back into the Jurassic P...
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Review: Change Places With Me by Lois Metzger

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Change Places with Me Lois Metzger Genre: YA  mystery ,  science fiction Hardback: 224 Pages Publication: June 14, 2016 by Balzer + Bray Rose has changed. She still lives in the same neighborhood and goes to the same high school with the same group of kids, but when she woke up today, something was a little different. Her clothes and hair don’t suit her anymore. The dogs who live upstairs are no longer a terror. She wants to throw a party—this from a girl who hardly ever spoke to her classmates before. There’s no more sadness in her life; she’s bursting with happiness. But something still feels wrong to Rose. Because until very recently, she was an entirely different person—a person who’s still there inside her, just beneath the thinnest layer of skin. Review Lois Metzger has a talent for writing dark, unsettling novels. Novels that, despite their dark mysterious nature, draw you deeper and deeper into the story. That, plus the complex nature of humanity that Metzger showcases...
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