Book Review: Eragon

“I found the pace of this book extremely slow, as Eragon and friends pointlessly explore nearly the entire map of Alagaësia.”  I’m sorry but what? I don’t think Aaron Hughes knows what he is talking about. Eragon was written by Christopher Paolini, a 15 year old at the time. Can you believe that? Fifteen! So maybe the book wasn’t perfect, but for someone as young as Christopher that is amazing!

 This book is about Eragon, a poor farm boy, who discovers a dragon whom he becomes the rider of, “He raced home, trying the escape the dragon. My dragon.” (Eragon, pp.46)  Eragon, his dragon Saphira, and Brom the storyteller go on a journey to find and kill the creatures that destroyed Eragon’s home and killed his uncle. On the way he discovers that he needs to train and defeat the only other person known to be a Dragon Rider, Galbatorix, the king of Alagaësia.

This book was a very interesting read. It made me want to keep reading until I was forced to stop, so I could have a life instead of being locked up in my room for hours. I loved it a lot, but it had its strengths and weaknesses. Some of the weaknesses were that, rarely, the book got boring. It was only during the parts when they were telling stories that went on and on. The strengths were that it was so intense! You never knew if the bad guys were going to attack or not. Surprises would always happen!

The writing style in this book was amazing. It was easy to read and it was also cool to see the different languages that they would use sometimes. Eragon even had a dictionary for the languages they used! When you read this book, the plot may seem pointless to you. It is them just going about Alagaësia and fighting sometimes. But then you figure out that there are four books all together and you start to respect the book more and understand more.

Characters in this book were really inspiring. They made you think about things that you never really would have thought about. An example would be when Brom was telling Eragon about the past of the old Dragon Riders, “The sands of time cannot be stopped. Years pass whether we will them or not…but we can remember.” (Eragon, pp. 31) Eragon was my favorite character. In the book he is a fifteen year like I am, so I can relate to him in that way of being a teenager and the complications that we have. I also really liked Saphira. She kind of reminded me of my dog, Kimmy. But not in a bad way! She just seems like the type of loving creature that would do anything to protect her owner, and would even risk her life for it. There were many more characters in this book that made it special and important, and that is why this book is so successful.

If I were to give this book a grade it would be an A. It’s not perfect enough to be an A+, but it isn’t bad enough to be an A-. This book really moved me. To be honest, I didn’t really even want to read this book. I got it just for Best Sellers class, but then after about the first chapter I got really into it and could not stop reading! My point is, I know you have probably heard this quote a lot, don’t judge a book by its cover. I know that I do that a lot and I need to work on that but it is true and you never know what you’re going to expect when reading any book. It may be good, it may be bad but if you don’t give it a chance, you will never know.

Top Five

bLoG pOsT nUmBeR sEvEn

        In my opinion, a non-fiction book has to be mostly true. I am fine if the writer doesn't tell the whole truth, just a white lie. An example of that would be saying if the author had one dog and his neighbor had another. Instead of talking about the neighbor and his dog, why not just say you have two dogs or just leave that dog out of the situation. I don't think that it's okay that Frey and Mortenson bent the truth to tell their stories. They should have been honest and say that some of the events in the book were exaggerated or made up. Plus, why do they want them to memoirs so badly? It would make life easier for them if they just made it a regular book instead then they wouldn't have any crap about lying. I think that David Shields is both right and wrong. Right because we shouldn't have to label something, a book is a book and some people may enjoy it and some people may not. Wrong because, in my opinion, the only reason we have genres is so that people know where to look when they want a specific book at the book store. So overall, i think that David is more right then wrong.

Readicide

       

Reading is an amazing thing to do. By why do a lot of kids hate it? It's because schools kill the joy of reading. Reading is supposed to be a place where you can escape life to the wonders of a magical world where you can relate to the characters and go on wild adventures. But how can you do that when a teacher is making you read it, having you answer ten billion questions about each and every chapter, and then taking a long, boring test on it? There's no joy in that! Kids want to have a choice on what they read, not read something they have to. Then they will just go into the book thinking it will be horrible without even giving it a chance. I think that we should add more genre fiction to the curriculum. I have a sister who hates reading; she doesn't even give books a chance! And I think that partly the reason for that is because of the reading that we do in school. Teachers act like the only books that teach lessons and show the struggles in life are literary fictions. I disagree; I think that in genre fiction books, you learn more. You learn about friendship, life, problems, magic, creatures, humor, and so much more. Don't get me wrong, there are some literary books have those also, but sometimes they can just get boring and kids like action and crazy weird things that happen. So, why should we want kids to read books anyway? Pretty much like I said before, they teach us life lessons and let us escape to somewhere where we can dream and imagine. Books can help us when we get older and have to make a choice, or when we get a job we can use our past knowledge from books to help us know what to do. I will always enjoy reading and will never let the ideas that schools have about it kill my point of view and what I like.

I Am Number Four trailer

Blog Post 4

        The book that I read is I am Number Four. It is a book about a kid named John Smith(Number four) and his guardian, Henri. They are from the destroyed planet of Lorien. They traveled to earth with 9 other kids and 9 guardians when John was just 4 years old. They are all spread out around earth, hiding from the creatures that killed Lorien, the Mogadorians. The Mogadorians can only kill the kids in order from 1 to 9. The first three are killed. Number Four is next.
        I loved this book so much and it was a joy to read. I think that the three scenes the movie should keep is the scene where John gets his first legacy, when John and Sarah kiss, and when John meets number 6. If I had to cut off any scenes, it would be Sam and John hang out, and when Mark steals John's phone. I already saw the movie and I was very satisfied with it. Some things I would change about the movie is add some more Mogadorians. In the book there was like a whole army of them, but in the movie there was only about 5. I would also add some more romance with John and Sarah, becuase I liked that in the book. Next, I would add the parts where John has to train with his powers to get used to them. Lastly, I think they should have had a better connection with John and Henri. In the book the connection was really strong, but in the movie they seemed kind of annoyed with each other all the time. That is what I think about the movie adaptation of I am Number Four.

Book 1 reading project

        The book that I read was The Shack. It was an amazing book to read and it taught me a lot. One of the things that it taught me was to forgive and to help. We need to forgive those who have hurt us and live our lives without hate. That is why I think that there should be something called The Missy foundation. The Missy foundation would be a foundation for families who have lost someone, people who are poor, or they just need someone to talk to. This relates to the book when Mack’s daughter, Missy, gets kidnapped and murdered. He was really depressed and he changed, “Shortly after the summer that Missy vanished, ‘The Great Sadness’ had draped itself around Mack’s shoulders like some invisible but almost tangibly heavy quilt.” (Mack 25)

                The Missy foundation would do many things to raise money. The first thing they would do would be a march around a forest in Oregon (where most of the book takes place). There would be marching for lost loved ones, the poor, the sick, and pretty much anybody you care about. There would be red balloons sold so that you can carry it if you know someone who has died or that you cared very much about. There would be drinks and food there that you could buy. Bands would be on a stage and be singing and there would be singing and dancing contests in which the winner of each would win a free book of The Shack and also 500 dollars. Lastly, there would be a stand selling The Shack and ladybug pins (which represent Missy’s kidnapping), “…he noticed a ladybug pin sticking in the coloring book.” (Mack 49) “We believe he’s responsible for abducting and killing at least four children so far, all girls, all under the age of ten. Each times he adds a dot to the ladybug, so this would be number five.” (Wikowsky 52)  All the money raised for that would go to homeless shelters and help benefit those who need it.

                The Missy Foundation would also do a book signing. They would get a lot of famous book writers somehow and then they would all have their own stations to take pictures and sign books. You would have to pay for a ticket in advance because it will be sold out if you do not hurry up. Some of the famous authors there would be William P. Young (author of The Shack) J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, and many, many more! It would be really hard to get them there knowing they are probably busy, but the foundation would still try their hardest!

                Another thing that the Missy Foundation would do is when they raise enough money; they would start to build schools around the country. The schools would be for kids from kindergarten to the 12^th grade. The schools would be very nice and big. All the teachers would be paid and they would be the best there is. Sometimes, the Missy foundation will visit the schools that they made and talk about their foundation. Not only would the foundation go to just schools that they built, but they would go to other schools around the country and talk to people about what the foundation does and let the kids know that if they need someone to talk to, they can always ask for help. The kids would learn to be helpful and nice to everybody that they meet.

                Lastly, the Missy foundation would take mission trips to places like Africa or Mexico, or somewhere that needs help. When there, they would feed families, give clothing to children, give water to everyone! They would help to make sure if somebody there is sick, then they would help out and try to get them better. They would probably do this around the summer time and be there for about a month.  Anybody would be allowed to come!

                This book was really amazing to me. It made me think more about God and the struggles that he must have also. It taught me to trust people; to forgive and to forget.  I am very thankful for my family and I would never want them to be hurt. I think the Missy foundation would help families that really need support. Thank you William P. Young for a book that can change lives.