Chasing Redbird

This is one of my outside reading books that I chose to read by Sharon Creech, author of Walk Two Moons. The story is about a young girl, Zinny Taylor, who finds a historical trail that links her to some unanswered questions in her life. The death of her Aunt Jessie and baby Rose haunted her guilty conscience and this finally could prove that it wasn't her fault, and she could find who exactly she is.

The Taylor's were known in their town, because there were so many kids to keep up with. Zinny was the quiet one who was always overlooked and never listened to. Her older sisters thought themselves better because they didn't collect things like stones, fossils, and bottle caps like Zinny. Finally, Zinny got her chance to prove herself in her summer long adventure to clear this 20 mile ancient trail. She camped out at the trail, finding more and more clues, like a madallion and ring, that led her closer to her Aunt Jessie's death. Aunt Jessie was called "Redbird" by her husband, Uncle Nate. After her death, Uncle Nate was always seen chasing his Redbird around, swearing he could see her, but never could catch her. This journey that Zinny partakes in, also chases Redbird because she knows Aunt Jessie is taking care of her and leads her to the final destination...the log cabin. These memories in the log cabin on the trail date back to when baby Rose and Zinny were inseperable and the memories right before Rose's death. She realizes the love Uncle Nate and Aunt Jessie had for Rose and Zinny, and that's all that really mattered. With the madallion, Rose was really calling Aunt Jessie home, and with the ring, Rose calls to Uncle Nate to get ready...

This story has an interesing Bildingsroman- coming of age story. Zinny grows up into the person she was fighting to be. Through her adventure to unlock the secrets of her past, she battles with emotions that let her see who she is. In the end, we see a mature, loving Zinny who stops trying to hide her feelings. She did something incredible to prove she could do it, but came out on the other side with so much more. A new love for her family and blessings from her past.

J.R. Tolkien

Unlike many of my peers that read The Hobbit in high school, I have not. Honestly, I've heard the book title a million times, but rarely heard anything about it. I also didn't know that Tolkien wrote the original Lord of the Rings as the sequel to The Hobbit. He was quite a man! This website I found said that he "created languages and socio-cultural contexts for these languages to develop. He based much of his myth-making on Christian, Celtic and Germanic sources to create his own internally consistent and contained cosmology. It was a process which took Tolkien twenty years." That had to take the man some brains...to create languages out of thin air.

Before reading this book, I have made some predictions about what I think it will be like. First, I think it will be darker than anything else we have read. Basing this judgment from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogies, I much would have prefered if they were 'lighter'. Second, the "Hobbit" in the story reminds me of something we have read before...the Goblins!! From "The Princess and the Goblin" by MacDonald, the hobbit just sounds like it is from a dark and evil place! Also, there has got to be some sort of quest or overcoming good to battle the evil...hence, humans that defeat the Hobbit. Thats all I got...but we'll see if any of these predictions come true when I start reading the book on MOnday!!

Exam 2

Since we just took a test over the second section of the semester...I thought I would do a little re-cap, by reflecting on my favorite parts! The Novels!! I loved the novels. Theres something about little girl books that makes me feel all giddy. =D
First, "The Princess and the Goblin" was my favorite out of them. The fact that it has a Christian background and kind of hidden metaphors is really cool. Coming from a christian background myself, I found it really interesting to go deeper. I liked to look at other ways of looking at how it applied to my own faith. And unfortunately, I am way too much like Lootie. And how Irene grows up and trusts Grandmother is a neat thing to see how she developes.
Second, "Alice in Wonderland" kind of threw me for a loop at first because I was only used to the film version. But as we studied the book, I grew to like it more and more. The variables that Lewil Carrol portrays such as identity, politics, education, and much more; leave me laughing and I don't know why! He turns so many things on its head, literally, that I can't get over how creative it was and how it become SUCH a huge classic! I really had a blast with these novels. Looking forward to our last ones!

Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses"

When I Read Stevenson's collection of poems, my initial reaction was "snooze-fest!" I felt poemed-out...my poem reading has been exhausted and I'm tired of reading the same thing over and over again. But when I got to class, and Mrs. Robinson talked about how much went into these verses from his childhood; I was taken back. I realized that this wasn't just a collection of the same thing said in different words on a page, this was his life, that he rejoiced in even though he was such a sickly little kid. And it's something Stevenson knew that adults in general would like to take back from our own past.
So I went back and read some of the poems that I had earlier mistakenly skipped because of little importance in my brain; and I actually really enjoyed them! When I take time to think about the significance and what it meant in Stevenson's life and people around him, I can enjoy the same things. I miss my childhood....

Happy Easter!!!

In light of Easter and our Poetry discussions..I found a poem online about Easter. And what a wonderful holiday it is ! Something to really get excited about...we have a Savior who would die for us, and a Father who would raise him from the dead. Well, here is the poem..its called "Easter Holiday."

Easter Holiday

Easter holiday, is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ!

Jesus Christ, The Son of God, bled and died for us in a sacrifice.

This Spring day's celebrated, generally in the month of April.

All of the bright and pretty colors, of the Easter outfits with frills.

Women and children will wear their Easter bonnets.

In the Spring, you'll hear the various musical sonnets.

April will bring many rain showers.

That'll bring us various beautiful flowers.

One special flower for this day is the Easter Lily.

It's color is white, and yet snowy & milky.

The birds will sing their songs of praise.

As we begin to feel the warmth of the sun's rays.

As we say "Goodbye" to the winter's gloom,

The flowers and trees have already begun to bloom.

All of life's beauty, The Lord created, for us all to share.

Spring breezes begin to flow, sending fragrances through the air.

The winter's thawing will let the rivers, lakes, and streams rise and flow.

The beauty of the Earth will make us all feel aglow!

Farmers and gardeners will start to hoe.

And then they'll begin to sow.

On Sundays, we'll hear the various church bells ring.

Let's be grateful for the LORD, let's rejoice and sing.

If it wasn't for the Lord, we wouldn't have anything!

(http://www.theholidayspot.com/easter/easter_poems1.htm#eastercomes)

Reflection

Out of everything we have studied this semester, I was thinking about what I like the most. And then of course, what I liked the least. My favorite thing has been the fairy tales! Definitly! I love how you can just skip away to this make believe place with make believe people and live your dreams through these stories..and of course the love stories are always something I enjoy! There is no going wrong with fairy tales!
My least favorite has probably been the poetry. Don't get me wrong, I really like some of it, but I just don't like poetry structure, the way I have to read it. I don't like something that isn't straight forward or anything I can relate to.. And most of the time I have to read it 3 times before I even know what its talking about. Its also the sort of thing where sometimes you have to know the Author and some of their background story to understand where the poem is coming from...but that can also brings a unique dynamic that is interesting.
The semester isn't over yet, but this is what I have enjoyed and not enjoyed. I am nervous for the test because of the whole poetry thing, but I think I will be ok. We have more to come, and it is looking promising!

She's All That

I was roaming through the library the other day when I saw a book that was perfect to go along with what we are studying in class! Its called "She's All That- Poems About Girls." This book has the cutest poetry about little girls, older women, even grandma's! They also have many selected about different race girls- African Americans, Indian, etc. So I will share a few of my favorites!!

Gloria

Gloria was perfect

In lots of little ways.

She had at least a million friends

And always got straight "A's"

I think she was the cutest girl

That I have ever met;

The apple of her mother's eye

And every teacher's pet.

But then one day it happened.

The unthinkable, to wit:

Gloria the Perfect

Got a king-sized zit!

Big and red and puffy,

It covered half her brow.

Funny thing about it, though-

I like her better now. - Joyce Armor

Clara Cleech

The poorest juggler ever seen

was clumsy Clara Cleech,

who juggled a bean, a nectarine,

a pumpkin, and a peach.

She juggled a stone, a slide trombone,

a celery stalk, a stick,

a seeded roll, a salad bowl,

a bagal, a boot, a brick.

With relative ease she juggled a cheese,

she juggled a lock, a lime,

yes, Clara juggled all of these

...but just one at a time. -Jack Prelutsky

Perfect Blend

She's a:

Sadness safe-cracker

A down-in-the-dumps hijacker.

A deepest secret keeper,

A talk-for-hours non-sleeper.

An automatic advice dispenser,

A future candidate for Mensa.

An Olympic-qualifying talker,

A hold-head-high-whatever walker.

A listener to all my woes,

A fear-of-God to all my foes.

A promise fulfiller, gossip killer,

Dance-all-nighter, tiredness fighter,

Solid shoulder for things I've told her.

She's my:

Round the bend, got to spend

Quick to lend, own trend

Perfect Blend

Best Friend

(what would I do without her?) -Andrew Fusek Peters and Polly Peters

3 Types

I have to say...Narrative and Lyric were not my favorite genre of Poetry. Most of the time, I have to read these types of poems 3 or 4 times before even getting what it's talking about; which is really frustrating. But I have decided to put together a study guide for the three types of poetry we have talked about in class! Nonsense and Humorous Verse, Narrative, and Lyric Poems.

Nonsense and Humorous Verse:

• Children like these kinds of poems because they are humorous and they tell a story with not a lot of sutlety.
• They have strong rhythm and rhyme
• "Although it is difficult to distinquish between humor and nonsense, one might say that in humor the real is the absurd; whereas in nonsense verse the absurd is real."
• They often have a play on words that causes slap-stick humor.

Narrative Poems:

• Also called Epics, meaning they are VERY old
• Don't assume the speaker is the author!
• They are mostly Ballads and often sung (4 lines with 8 syllables- second and forth lines rhyme)
• They tell a story, with a setting, characters, events, and a climax

Lyric Poems:

• Not so much tells a story, but depends more on art and music.
• Includes Sonnets
• Authors use poetry to portray experiences of life and how they felt

Poetry

The poems were really fun to read! I would have to say my favorites were "Sick" by Shel Silverstein and "The Spaghetti Nut" by Jack Prelutsky. I know that I faked being sick as a kid because staying home was the funnest thing, and also school was a bore. I remember those commercials like "Dalworth Clean...CALL 2-6-7-8-4-3-3 BECAUSE THE NEXT BEST THING TO DO..IS DALWORTH CLEAN! DING!!" The poems were funny! I think what draws me to this kind of peotry is the cleverness that comes out. It has that play-on-words that gives it a kick and is humorous! I can see why kids like this kind of reading because it tells a story and it keeps their attention. Also it was neat reading the Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes from the old days. I had forgotton about those little rhymes that used to put us to sleep. Who knew we would be studying them in college! I'm liking this topic of poetry that we are discussing in class, and I hope it will keep getting interesting!

The Woman Question

After class today, I started thinking about the "woman question" and I really think MacDonald had some fun with this one, and yet he also gave it lots of thought concerning women of his day. Grandmother is of course very magestic and cool all around. She's very powerful, which is contrare to the expectations of the submissive stereotype we often see in books; and that of itself is nice. I like how she ties in with a Godly figure because of her guidance.
Mrs. Peterson is one of my favorites because of this reason. I think if she were alive today, she would be one of those awesome women that right when I open my mouth to speak to her, my entire life story comes out and she does nothing but listen and give the most incredible wisdom. Those women have the affect of crumbling your security walls in 2 seconds. I do'nt know how they do it, honestly..
Queen Goblin cracks me up! MacDonald turns this one on its head but boy its humorous! It seems, though, exactly how it should be. For some reason, there's gotta be that evil creature, and that fact that her character is funny, makes me think it is that much more normal.
And Lootie! O dear Lootie. She is funny but not. One of those hypocritical things where I don't know why she doesn't get some things, but I would probably be her character in the book. MacDonald must have thrown her in to bite us in the butt a little, but also show the person with little faith and what that can do to us.

Every Daughter of the King is a Princess

This morning I woke up with an old song in my head..it might be familiar to you:

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. When I feel afraid, and think I've lost my way, still your there right beside me..."

I have NO idea why this song I sung years and years ago was in my head upon waking up, but I thought about how much it goes along with The Princess and the Goblin. At first I thought this book wasn't so good, until Dr. Robinson suggested all the religous allegories and some things started to click; and I'm really getting into it! I started thinking about it, and I realized how true it all is. Really though..everything can be paralleled to something in Christianity. The Goblins=devil; Mountain=struggles; Grandmother=angel/Godly figure; Grandmothers lamp=faith; to name a few. It reminds me of a book called Pilgrim's Progress, where the main charachter "Christian" goes on a journey, which is his Christian walk with God. Everything in it ties into real life, some trials and tribulations Christians go through.
My favorite part of the book, I must say, is how Irene calls her dad King-papa. I love this illustration of Irene and her fathers relationship because I really believe MacDonald wanted to portray how every daughter of our King (God) is a Princess and is loved by him so so much. As a girl, I come to those times in my life when I feel not so pretty and pretty low, but things like this help me realize that is never true. I could probably go on and on about this book and what I've come to understand, but I think I may write one of my research papers on it! =D!!

A part of fantasy is entering a world of the unknown, that's unnatural for the laws of nature as we know them. The movie Dr. Dolittle 3 enters this realm of the unnatural. The Dolittle family can talk to animals and work together with them in ways no one else can understand. At first they are made fun of because no one understands they can talk to animals. As in fantasy, the characters have to be more convinced of the magic because they are worlds never dreamed of. But once everyone accepts that the Dolittle family can talk to animals, they end up saving the day! Like any hero/heroine, they overcome or conquer their identity and rescue the dyer situations. In the movie, Mia (the daughter) is just figuring out who she is, being a normal 17 year old trying to fit in, she has a gift. She chooses to either use it for good or try to hide under a blanket so no one thinks she's a freak. However, in the end, she ends up saving a Ranch and becoming the identity she was made to be; a Dolittle.