Narrative Prompt

So for this week we are writing a narrative prompt that ties in the poem "Dover Beach" with the book "Fahrenheit 451". After listening to the reading of "Dover Beach" by Montag, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowels leave the house. I will be writing a continuation of the story after they leave.

Mrs. Bowels punched buttons on her phone as Mrs. Phelps stood watching.

"What are you doing?" Mrs. Phelps dried her damp eyes. She was still crying over the poem Mr. Montag had read. That awful, awful poem.

"I'm reporting him to the rest of the Firemen." Mrs. Bowels replied curtly as the ringer started playing.

Mrs. Phelps eased herself onto the couch. Mrs. Bowels' parlor walls were turned off, making the room dull and lifeless. She sniveled, wiping her eyes again. The poem was...was terrible. So sad. She didn't know why she was crying, though. It was so sad yet...so beautiful, like nothing she had ever heard before. The way the words were put together sounded like music. Sad, sometimes confusing music, but beautiful, beautiful music.

"Is...reporting Mr. Montag...necessary?" Mrs. Phelps spoke softly.

"Oh, but of course!" Mrs. Bowels assured. "He broke the law. You certainly know how important the law is. You aren't actually defending him, are you?"

"No, I- It's just, no, not defending him, not defending him. But Mildred is our friend, we would be burning her house down too." Mrs. Phelps bit her lip as jet cars zoomed above, their loud engines rumbling like thunder. She thought about the poem again. It was her, after all, who requested that Mr. Montag read some lines from the poetry. Now look at the mess everyone is in.

"I know Mildred is our friend, but she is also Mr. Montag's wife, so we have no choice. Once I get off hold I'm reporting them. For all we know, she could have read some books too. yes, she probably read the books, read all of them."

"But the books, the poetry wasn't so bad, was it? It was sad poetry, very sad, but not bad, don't you think?"

Mrs. Bowels almost dropped the phone. "Books not bad? The poetry isn't bad? It's all bad! sad poetry, sad books, I don't want any of it. Do I have to report you too? Did you read Mr. Montag's book too? Bad books, why is there even books? I should report you too."

Mrs. Phelps stood, glancing nervously at the blank parlor walls. "Oh no, please no. No, I hate books! You don't have to report me. I hate books, I didn't break the law. Books and poetry was sad, why, that poetry was awful!"

She was trembling, watching Mrs. Bowels slowly move the phone closer to her ear. The poem wasn't awful, It was beautiful! So beautiful and moving! It made her think about the war, the terrible war, ruining happiness. But she couldn't go to jail, she couldn't stand to see her house burned.

"That's what I thought." Mrs. Bowels huffed as she was taken off hold. She spoke to the man on the other end with a sour face. "Hello? I'd like to call in a report of someone reading a book..."

The Bells of the Abhorsen

Abhorsen is the third book in it's series by Garth Nix. It's a fantasy novel, and like all fantasy novels, Nix creates a magical world of his own.

Map of the Old Kingdom

 

 

However, the part that I found most interesting are the bells. The Abhorsen family uses the bells that are named after the seven bright shiners that established the old kingdom to amplify their powers. Each bell has specific powers. I thought this was a really cool idea for the series and I love it when they use the bells in action. The Abhorsens use the dangerous Free-Magic of a necromancer and the less dangerous magic of the Charter so the dead can't come back to life. Lirael in the third book describes the bells, saying, "The smallest was Ranna. Sleeper, some called it, its voice a sweet lullaby calling those who heard it into slumber. The second bell was Mosrael, the Waker.  Liral touched it ever so lightly, for Mosrael balanced Life with Death. Wielded properly, it would bring the Dead back into Life and send the wielder from Life into Death. Kibeth was the third bell, the Walker. It granted freedom of movement to the Dead, or it could be used to make them walk where the wielder chose. Yet it could also turn on a bell ringer and make her march, usually somewhere she would not wish to go. The fourth bell was called Dyrim, the Speaker. This was the most musical bell, according to The Book of the Dead, and one of the most difficult to use as well. Dyrim could return the power of speech to long-silent Dead. It could also reveal secrets, or even allow the reading of minds. It had darker powers, too, favorite by necromancers, for Dyrim could still a speaking tongue forever. Belgaer was the name of the fifth bell. The Thinker. Belgaer could mend the erosion of mind that often occurred in Death, resorting the thoughts and memories of the Dead. It could also erase those thoughts, in Life as well as in Death, and in necromancers' hands had been used to splinter the minds of enemies. Sometimes it splintered the minds of the necromancer, for the Belgaer liked the sound of its own voice and would try to steal the chance to sing of its own accord. The six bell Saraneth, also known as Binder. Saraneth was the favorite bell of all Abhorsens. Large and trustworthy, it was powerful and true. Saraneth was used to dominate and bind the Dead, to make them obey the wishes and directions of the wielder. Lirael was reluctant to touch the seventh bell, but she felt it would not be diplomatic to ignore the most powerful of all bells, though it was cold and frightening to her touch. Astarael, the Sorrowful. The bell that sent all who heard it into Death." (Abhorsen pg. 32-33). 

As you can see, Nix puts a lot of time into his ideas and developing them. The series is written well and that's why I like it. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading adventure or fantasy books.

For more information, click here

 

This Semester I've read a few books. Among them are Help for the Haunted, Under the Dome, Angel in the Country, and I'm currently reading The Universe versus Alex Woods. I tend to choose my books by whatever interests me at the time. When reading Angel in the Country I was interested in my family history. When I was reading Under the Dome I was interested to see how different it was from the book (and it turns out that the two are so different they might as well be two totally different stories.) and it sounded interesting and the 1000+ pages was a challenge I wanted to beat. When picking Help for the Haunted I was interested in ghosts at the time so the tital and story was very appealing for me.

Overall this semester I tried my best to get the blog posts in on time. I wasn't used to blogging at the beginning and wasn't quite sure what I should say. I was trying to make a good post but wasn't sure exactly what to put. Also, I am not the best with anything techy and actually had to have a friend come to my house and help me get things set up. As the semester continiued, I became more used to blogging and started to find my way around things a little bit. More importantly I became a bit more confident with my posts. I had a blast blogging all sorts of theories on who built the dome while reading Under the Dome and in the end the dome had nothing to do with anyone who I thought was behind it. Even further into the semester I became more confident with my posts and using my voice in them. I added pictures along with my links and started to enjoy blogging more.I also think some of my posts agree with the excellent blog example by "sometimes uses a variety of syntactical structures and effective diction".

In the next semester I plan to take bloging more seriously. I was just geting warmed up this semester and now that I've dipped my toe in the water I can jump in. I want to blog about more books and use more pictures and links. I also plan to update goodreads more and add widgets to my blog- I couldn't quite figure out that techy part as well. Now that I have become used to blogging I feel I can make better quality posts. I also really want to make them on time and keep up with my comments a lot better than what I did this semester. Overall I plan to make each post on time and with even better quality just like the example of a perfect blog post.

The Universe Versus Alex Woods

I'm reading the book The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence. The first thing I noticed right off the bat is that I love the beginning. It opens up with Alex getting pulled over by a cop for whatever reason-read a little more and you find out that he had a bunch of drugs with him and the ashes of Mr. Peterson. I like how it starts off with action and things are revealed along the way rather than building into the action of the plot slowly. When the cops ask him for the story, he mentions to the reader, "Cheif Inspector Hearse told me that he wanted a 'clear, concise and full explanation' of all the relevant circumstances that led to my being stopped at costums with one hundred and thirteen grams of marijuana and Mr. Peterson's remains; but that was a lost cause from the word go. Sometimes when people ask you for a full explanation, you know...well that's the last thing they want. Really, they want you to give them a paragraph that confirms what they already think they know." (pg. 15) I really like this part and how the author wrote it. What I like even more was that it goes to explain his past; the long story that the cops don't want to hear.

I really really like how it starts off with action, explains a little bit and uses some foreshadowing then goes into the past to explain what really happened. You get the exposition through the past, which is explained right after the cop scene. I think it's a different, creative way for an author to start a book.

Angel in the Country

I decided to venture out of my typical reading genres this week and read a biography. Now I know biographies are not the most exciting things to read, but pick the right one and you could end up viewing some pretty funny stories.

I read "Angel in the Country" By James Huelsman, my uncle, at my grandparents house one weekend trip. I've always been drawn towards geneology and I love uncovering stories of my relatives' past, so in a way this book is right up my alley. It's about Mary Pohl Huelsman, my great-grandma (my Grandma Schoenlein's mom) on my dad's side. It started talking about the early years in Mary's life and how she grew up on a german farm in Ohio. Mary died when I was around four and I only can remember a few details about visiting her so it was neat to see her story and get to know her better. 

I loved the funny stories-and there was a lot of them. I also got to see how life was like in the early twentieth century. I was sitting on the couch at my grandma's house when I read "If the girls were good that week, Henry would give each girl a penny to buy something. Invariably, each girl selected one stick of gum since each stick would cost a penny. The cashier would break open a pack of gum just so each girl could buy a stick." (Pg. 19) I turned to my grandma after reading this and told her about a stick of gum costing a penny. She explained how everything was cheaper back then. My dad added when he was a kid, he could buy a king size candy bar for twenty-fice cents and that they were much bigger then than what they are now. I couldn't beleive it. 

Chores back then were a lot different too. Today we can throw clothes in the wash and dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Back then, they didn't have that technology and had to do chores the hard way. In the book it says " When Mary was around five years old on a Monday wash day, she got her arm pinched in the crank wringer." It went into to sying how she walked backwards into it while her mother, Anna, was wringing out clothes. "She let out a loud cry and blood was dripping. Anna ran to get her medical Remedy for cuts and gashes, a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon...Esther grew curious. While Anna wasn't looking, she managed to satisfy her curiosity and took a 'swig' of Kentucky Bourbon...It tasted terrible." (pg.22) I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that part. But even though it might not be what we use today to clean out wounds, the alcohol will clear out the germs. Each week they also had to beat dust out of the rugs and place news papers under them-something I found odd. Anna also taught mary how to be a good steamstress.

There was also no electricity on their farm. When a salesman came out and talked to Henry about the benefits of electricity, Henry still didn't want it. He said how it was way to costly and "too involved." They had done without it for years and they could live without it in the future. The book says "Besides, farmers were expected to bear the cost of transmittion at as much as $2,000 per mile." (pg.26) Today I can't even begin to think what life would be like without electricity.

It explains in the book how the children except Erma attended Home School, a one room school house that taught all eight grades. It says how children used the outhouses in the far corners of the lot. The boy's and girl's outhouse were located at opposite ends. The main sorce of heating was a potbelly cast-iron stove that scorched the children sitting near the middle of the room where the stove was and left the ones on the outside to freeze to death. There was also no water fountains in the school like there is today. The water came from an outside pump served with a little tin cup hanging from the pump. Also, the older boys of farm families would miss daays to help out on the farm, really only coming in the winter when there was not as much work to be done. Back then, farming came before school. Today, school is top priority. 

Picture of a Potbelly Cast-Iron Stove

Today cars can cost a pretty penny and we take driver's ed in order to get a licence at sixteen plus. The book says " ...took the big step in 1918 and bought his first automobile. It was a 1918 Ford Model T. It cost around $500, came only in black, and offered few amenities." and "Henry bought it with the understanding that the car dealer would teach him how to drive it." (pg. 35)I was shocked that back then you either had to teach yourself how to drive or the car dealer would teach you. Either way, the class was not very effective. "Gaining confidence and feeling good about himself, Henry accelerated the car towards the barnyard, gradually increasing speed. Once in the barnyard, not realizing how fast he was going, he was unable to manuver the turn, lost control, and crashed directly into the doghouse which, in turn, rammed into the chicken coop."(pg.37) 

1918 Ford Model T

I was the most surprised when what we had been learning in 8th grade history came up in the book. "The 1920's was the period of Prohibition. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed the making and selling of alcohol illegal, punishable with jailtime.Many people ignored the highly unpopular law and purchased liquor from 'bootleggers'." (pg.50) I had no idea about my family history with this event. My Great-Grandpa Schoenlein was actually a 'bootlegger' that would transport the alcohol. He never made any alcohol, but transporting it was considered just as bad. People had to do it back then becasue there was no jobs available and no way to get money. although he didn't do it often, I still think it's cool that he did it.

In conclusion, I recomend reading some historical biographies sometime. I know they might not be a story with an epic battle at the end or a fluffy romance story, but it's neat to see how far we have come over the years and learn about how things were done in the past.

Click here to learn more about life in 1918

I'm Down: Identity

I'm currently reading "I'm Down" by Mishna Wolff. It's a laugh-out-loud and moving memoir about Mishna's childhood and finding herself. I absolutely L-O-V-E this memoir. I feel as if I can really relate with Mishna on some issues throughout the story.

In the beginning, Mishna is obsessed with being accepted by everyone, especially her dad. Throughout the book, that obsession grows into her looking for her identity. She doesn't want to be stuck in the poor, broken, misunderstanding family she was born into. She wants to be successful like her friends' parents. Now in high school, Mishna decides she wants to go to a nice collage instead of a cheap one like her parents did and that she wants to make something out of her life instead of being a broke bum like her father. She's determined to get a scholarship to a nice school no matter how many obstacles her family throws in the way, especially her dad wanting to make her "down".

                                                                    Mishna Wolff today

Click here to learn more about "I'm Down"
Click here to read about finding YOUR identity

The article in the second link Describes why one needs to find his/her identity and why they might not have found it yet because of their society or culture. This relates to the book because Mishna is having trouble finding herself because her family (Dad and Stepmom) is holding her back.

Under the Dome: Wait... that's the end?! Warning: Spoilers! (Duh)

I finished the book Under the Dome and was honestly a little surprised/disapointed with the ending. Don't get me wrong, It's still a good ending, I just felt it wasn't as action-packed as it should have been, especially with every suspenceful and jaw dropping moment leading up to it.

To tie up all the theories I made throughout the book, each was in a way important. Big Jim wasn't behind the dome, but he was planning to totally take over Chester's Mill. Chef wasn't responcible for the dome, but he played a pretty big roll leading up to the ending. And the aliens, well, they were the ending.

Speaking of Chef, even though he wasn't responcible for the dome, he was responcible for the wipout of the town, finishing off everyone except the main characters, good and bad, who were not already dead. When Cheif Randolph and some officers went to take the remaining propane tanks from Chef's meth lab, Andy Sanders and Chef attacked shooting the teen cops and Cheif Randolph(this was planned to happen by Big Jim) and then let loose his secret weapon stashed in his garage. "Andy and Chef were driven sideways by the bullets, but before they were torn asunder, their joined hands pushed the white button marked OPEN" pg. 981 This lead to 10,000 gallons of propane exploding. "Then, four miles distant, a brilliant white spark flicks the hazy sky, like a stroke of lightning that goes up instead of down. A moment later, a titanic explosion hammers a hole straight through the center of the day. A red ball of fire blots out first the WCIK tower, then the trees behind it, and then the whole horizon as it spreads north and south."pg. 981 This is the description of the propane exploding. As a result of this, Most of the town folk were incinerated or killed in the mad rush at visitors day trying to escape their fate.

The exciting next few pages describe in detail what happens as fifteen minutes of horror spread out into what feels like ages. It was hard reading about all the deaths and the suffering of the survivors. Thick smoke filled tha air, slowly suffocating everyone under the dome. They would have all died if Julia hadn't thought up a last resort idea: to beg the alein children to let them go. I was thinking "wait...this is how this thing gets solved? Really?" I guess you would have to tie in the aleins somehow, but with everything leading up to the end being so exciting it was kind of a downer that Julia would just end up talking to the alein kids. It took some effort to convince them, and the conflict was nice during that part.Also, it was a hard treck to get to the little black box controlling the dome. However, once Julia miraculously convinced one of the leather head kids to free them, I felt the sweet sensation of "Finally! It's over!" I felt like I had been there those last couple chapters, which was to me a bit impressive since it's not a feeling you get in every book. Even though the ending wasn't as action-y as I had hoped, It was still detailed and overall good.

I reccomend young adults to read this amazing book, it is EXTREMELY different from the popular TV show and so descriptive it makes you feel as if you are trapped under the dome as well.