Why a good book is a secret door

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Author: rautrey

Doll Bones

Doll Bones

Doll Bones by Holly Black was a great book.  I liked that it was a little bit scary, not keep-you-up-at-night scary but just a little spooky.  I would recommend this to a kid who likes reading books similar to the Goosebumps series.  I also liked that it wasn’t just about girls playing with dolls but it had a young boy, Zach, who liked imagining various characters and bringing them to life through dolls.  Zach also had a dad who challenged him because he didn’t like his son playing with dolls and Zach stands up to his dad because of it.  I also liked how this book showed how the kids used their imagination to create huge stories around their dolls characters and how they would continue the story on for days or even weeks.  This book kind of dips into fantasy because its the kids imagination and they create a fantasy story around their dolls characters.  I think the author wanted to convey the power of imagination and how these three kids have such a powerful imagination that it seems real to them.  I would like to share this book with kids for that reason.  Our current education system seems to take away a lot of creativity and imagination in school so I think by sharing novels like this that show how fun and powerful your imagination can be, it can encourage creativity in and out of the classroom.

 

Rebecca Autrey

Comics – Rebecca Autrey

Comics – Rebecca Autrey

I agree with Versaci when he said that some adolescents and teenagers find classroom material to be dull and how its important to catch them off guard.  Comics books are a perfect way to do this!  They would be perfect for the kid who hates reading or someone who just can’t find their place in the literary world.  It adds for a new look at creativity and a new way of understanding stories and what the author is trying to convey because the story is in between the pictures and the words.

Reading my Lunch Lady graphic novel went by so much faster than all the other books we’ve read in class so far.  I probably finished it in 10 minutes.  It reminded me of when I was little, when my brother and I used to read Captain underpants.  These books are really similar; same sense of humor and same basic story of kids in school helping a super hero who originated from their school.  It was weird to go back to reading speech bubbles and looking at the pictures to further understand the story.  In some ways it almost slowed down my reading and kind of frustrated me that I couldn’t skim over the words and understand what I was reading.  I think comic books would be interesting to introduce when talking about an author’s purpose.  This could include a classroom discussion about why certain pictures we used to tell the story instead of just focusing on literary text.  I’m sure there are comics that could tie into other subjects too and those would be fun to introduce to kids to get them excited in all aspects of the classroom.

 

Rebecca Autrey

So much depends upon….

So much depends upon….

Rebecca Autrey

1.  I think Williams is saying how we can put so much pressure on one thing like the red wheel barrow that we lose sight of the importance of other things like the chickens.  Like the wheel barrow can be used to get a lot of work done in a yard but the chickens also do work like making eggs and providing food.  But because the wheel barrow is so red and prominent, it is the main focus and so the attention is draw to it and its importance.  I think we can do that with every day things.  We focus on the one, maybe negative or positive thing and lose sight of other things that matter because we put our everything into that one idea or job or friend.

2. So much depends upon

school

an education

test scores

that we lose value

in everyday things

like culture

friends

family

life learning