Cynthia KADOHATA (2004),  Kira-kira, Aladdin

By Ainara Vasquez  2A  E.S.O.

Katie Takeshima’s sister, Lynn, makes everything seem kira-kira: glittering. Lynn is intelligent, independent, kind and, most of all, she loves Katie more than anything in the world, and Katie loves her. When Katie and her family move from a small Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it’s Lynn who explains why people stare and why they treat them differently, and it’s Lynn who gives Katie hope. But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and her whole family begins to fall apart, Katie must try to remind them all that there is always something bright in the future.

Katie Takeshima is only six years old at the beginning of the book, and ten in the end. But despite her young age she is bright, curious and a very endearing girl with an unconditional love for her older sister.

In the beginning there are many things that Katie wants to understand, but doesn’t. However, as the book develops and she gets older, she learns about life, love and pain. When Lynn becomes ill Katie matures and realises that her sister won’t be with her much longer and that she will have to learn to live without her, to be happy and to have faith in the future.

Some of the themes in the book are family, love, trust, racism, poverty, loss, grief and hope.

The part I liked best was when Katie’s uncle takes her and her best friend Silly camping. I really liked this part because it was the first time she had got out of the house since Lynn had fallen ill, and she managed to almost forget everything that was going on and enjoy herself, she freed herself from all the stress and sadness that a ten year old shouldn’t have to feel.

I would recommend this book to children aged 10 to 14. The reason I would recommend this book is because it’s inspiring and emotional. Also, it teaches you a lot about discrimination in America during the 60s, but from a different perspective. Usually, when you read about racism in the United States it is always about how the Negroes were discriminated, but not about other ethnic groups. You can also learn a lot about Japanese culture, but mostly it teaches you about life, loss, love and the importance of family.

Empty Oceans, Empty Nets
by Alejandra Ramirez,
1 ESO A 2010 2011

Overfishing
by Alessandra Wheelan
1 ESO 2010 2011

John GREEN (2005), Looking for Alaska, Harper Collins.

By Ainara Vasquez  2 A  E.S.O

Miles Halter has never had many friends and has always been fascinated with people’s biographies and their last words. He leaves his home for boarding school searching for an adventure and a “Great Perhaps”, but what he does not expect is Alaska Young.  She is gorgeous, clever, funny and fascinating; Miles could not be more captivated by her. But when tragedy strikes, Miles discovers the value and the pain of living and loving unconditionally.

Miles Halter: He is a shy, nerdy, sixteen year old who is a bit bland and bored, and therefore moves into a boarding school searching for a “Great Perhaps”. He has an unusual interest with the last words of famous historical people and has never really had any friends. When he moves into his new boarding school, Culver Creek, he meets his roommate who people call “The Colonel” and he introduces him to his friends Takumi and Alaska Young. They are the cool and rebellious people at school and therefore, Miles alters his personality to fit in. The book is divided into two parts: “Before” and “After” referring to before and after the occurrence of the tragedy. On the “before” part we see how Miles begins to engage more with people, he takes more risks and he begins to have more fun and enjoy himself more. He also develops a fascination for his friend Alaska and often fantasises about having a relationship with her. On the “After” part of the book, Miles becomes numb and withdrawn, as he develops and obsession with finding out the answers to why the tragedy occurred.

Alaska Young: She is impulsive, good-looking, flirty, rebellious, witty, moody and very mysterious. Miles quickly develops and attraction towards her and Alaska leaves him feeling confused as she is constantly flirting with him although she has a boyfriend. Despite the fact that Alaska is brutally honest and can be seen as a tough girl, she has many personal problems and insecurities which she prefers to bottle up instead of talking openly about. She is also deeply philosophical as she is constantly trying to find the right answers about where her life will lead her. Throughout the book we get to see Alaska’s more sensitive side and slowly we begin to find out more about her past and why she is the way she is. Even when the tragedy strikes and Alaska is no longer there, her presence is still felt by all her friends and that is when you realise how, despite her complicated personality, she was extremely important to all her friends and they struggle a lot without her, and therefore seek some answers.

Some of the themes this book deals with are: the meaning of life, religion, love, friendship, trying to feel like you belong, death, grief and healing.

                      

One of the parts I found most interesting about this book is when Alaska walks into the room, and sits next to Miles sobbing for no apparent reason. She says that although nothing in particular has happened to her there are still moments when she feels extremely sad, lonely and like everything is “screwed up”. This is during the time of Christmas holidays, and she says that she always gets sentimental at this time because she has nowhere to go to. This leads Miles to tell her that “that’s not true, you’ve got a family. And no matter what problems you have with them it’s still a family.” To which, Alaska responds by saying: “Yeah, kinda. I guess.” I found this part of the book very interesting because before this Alaska is portrayed as a very tough and rebellious person, which leads you to think that she is confident and has no real problems. Here, she shows vulnerability, and you become intrigued to find out who the real Alaska Young is.

I would recommend this book to people aged 14 or over, although, because of some of the scenes and themes it may be a bit too strong for some 14 year olds. However, I think this is a book teenagers could learn a lot from, as it makes you reflect about life, yourself and others, and what events have shaped who you or other people are. It also shows you the values of love and friendship and makes you appreciate them a lot more. 

Suzanne COLLINS (2008), The Hunger Games, Scholastic Press

By Ainara Vasquez 2º ESO A

In an apocalyptic United States, the country of Panem is divided into twelve districts and ruled by the Capitol. Every year, one boy and one girl between the ages twelve to eighteen from each district are selected by lottery in a process called Reaping. Each Tribute that is chosen must participate in a gruesome event called The Hunger Games, a televised battle to the death where only one can survive.

When sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her sister’s place she thinks that there is no chanceSuzanne COLLINS (2008), The Hunger Games, Scholastic Press that she will survive, but when she promises her little sister that she will try to win, she does everything in her power to keep her promise.

This book is a dystopian novel with elements of sci-fi and action. Some of the themes included are poverty, dictatorship, problems of society, government oppression and cruelty.

The parts I found most interesting are: the entire time they had to spend in the Capitol. During their time there, they went through makeovers, a parade and interviews for a chat show. I found this interesting because, although the twenty-four teenagers were about to face extreme violence, cruelty, and most of them death, they were being showcased by the Capitol as if they were going through a great honour and as a way for the population of Panem to find entertainment in such cruelty. To me, the whole situation seemed very cynical and in some ways even crueller than the Games themselves. Also, I found the part where Katniss saved Peeta and were both hiding in a cave interesting, as we got to see both characters develop emotionally and doubt if maybe their feelings for each other were more than just for the cameras. Also, you saw how much they cared about each other and how Katniss wanted Peeta to survive.

Although the book is recommended to young adults, I would also recommend it to older people because it makes you think about our society. Although on the surface it may seem like just an action book it is so much more, it is in many ways very true to society today, and also a prediction of what it might be like in the future. It seemed to carry the message that today we are actually quite cruel as a society, we enjoy watching reality shows and seem to find other people’s (especially celebrities’) pain and ridicule satisfactory and as a form of entertainment. It led me to imagine that if there was such a thing as The Hunger Games today, unfortunately many people would watch it and enjoy it. Although the book was violent, the violence was not glorified at all, it is used to show the readers from the Tribute’s point of view how cruel, gruesome and sad it is, instead of from the Capitol’s that it is not entertaining at all. I also liked the fact that there was a love triangle which made the book a bit lighter, but the element of love did not take centre stage, and was not that important, the book was about survival and government oppression. I loved this book because it really got me to think about government oppression in other countries, and the cruelty that a lot of them face, and also about some of the things I, and the rest of society classify as “entertainment” and enjoy. Therefore, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading as it was fast-paced, intriguing and you can really learn a lot about real life from it. 

http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/the_hunger_games_69765.htm

CARROLL, Lewis, Alice in Wonderland

Essay by Stephan Milanović, 1° ESO A

I’ve chosen two themes for my essay, growing up and curiosity, as they are themes running throughout the story.

It goes without saying that the book Alice in Wonderland is based on a dream Alice is having. It is well known that most of the time we dream of things we think and experience during the day. She is learning the rules of adult life as she is getting older, and when she finds herself in Wonderland she discovers a bewildering new set of rules. One of the examples from the book could be the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Alice may have realised that adults follow some certain rules unquestioningly. She sees in the Tea Party a possible reflection of following rules without questioning why they are being followed. She also would have realized that adults normally have all the power, especially in the Victorian era, when children knew they should be seen and not heard. Alice knows that the Queen of Hearts is most definitely in charge and she has the right to chop people’s heads off for the slightest of mistakes and Alice’s opinion is not taken into consideration.

Curiosity is a major theme that drives the story at the start, urging Alice to follow the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole, quite a bizarre thing to do under normal circumstances. She is curious to find out what lies beneath, but as the old saying goes: “curiosity killed the cat”. She could be endangering herself though she doesn’t stop to consider it. Another example could be when she tries to get to the little garden behind the closed door; curiosity is making her want to know what lies on the other side.

Generally curiosity is associated with childhood and can seem to be opposing the theme of growing up. However, both themes are present while growing up.

CARROLL, Lewis, Alice in Wonderland

By Alessandra Whelan 1ESO A

One of the main themes in the story Alice in Wonderland is the growth into adulthood. Throughout the story she gets into numerous situations in which she has to adapt so she can overcome whatever challenge is given to her. One example of that is when she goes to the trials that seem to be very unjust and tries to put a stop to the Queen of Hearts beheading nearly everyone. During her adventure through Wonderland she somehow begins to understand the adult world a bit more.

Another very important theme is when Alice keeps changing size. She also has to adapt herself to these dramatic changes that are done to her body during adolescence. Alice’s size changes also change her perspective and she sees the world in a very different view, for example at the beginning of the story when she follows the rabbit down the hole she finds 4 small doors that she can’t fit into. So she discovers a little bottle labelled ‘drink me’ and she drinks it and becomes smaller. But she realises she left the key on the table and it is too high for her to reach it so she eats a cake labelled ‘eat me’ and it makes her bigger. In that part of the story she is very childish and terrified but she becomes a much stronger and self-possessed person.

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