Friday, March 18, 2011
Background
Ok...here's our blog! I kept the blog itself under my own account just to keep it more uniform. We will mostly just be posting anyway. If there is something you want to add to the background or anything like that, just send the image or file to me. For the most part, anything you want to add can be done in your posts. I really want a great background and if anyone runs across one, let me know! I will be looking too.
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Teri Potts-Initial Reaction & Overall Reflection: My initial reaction to The Princess Academy was that it starts very slow and is difficult to relate to. It is so far from any experiences that I have had, that it did not grab my attention well. The setting and language are difficult to grasp. It was hard to picture what the story was describing and impossible to pinpoint a relative location for the story. I really enjoy reading and usually have a hard time putting a book down, however with this particular book, I had a hard time picking it up. There was a large part in the book about telepathy that was completely strange to me. This was said to be a book about enhancing girl power, which I did not interpret at all. As far as recommending this book for a middle schooler, I guess it would really depend on the middle schooler. It definitly does not have the potential to grab you in quickly and hold your attention. There are a couple of exciting moments and a little bit of a love story involved that is interesting, but you have to get through a lot of much duller moments to get there.
ReplyDeleteTeri Potts-Vocabulary: The names of the characters were just so foreign to me, it was hard to follow and pronounce sometimes. They harvested a stone called linder, which all I can relate it to is marble. The foods that they mention do not sound in the least bit appealing. They apparently lived very hard with no luxuries what so ever! They slept on pallets with pea-shucked mattresses, they wore woolens, put goat dung in their fires, and spoke in Quarry-speech! Maybe middle schoolers who really enjoy a fantasy tale could understand some of this, but for an adult it was hard to swallow! These villagers did not even know the first thing about reading or writing.
ReplyDeleteKim's thoughts- This book is good but a bit boring so far. I personally think it is also better suited for grades 3-5 even and not so much for 6-8.
ReplyDeleteQuestions that could be reflected upon:
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do if the students do not like the book?
How do you tell if a book is age appropriate?
1st lit. circle face to face vs. 2nd lit circle online; pros and cons
Could a Middle Schooler relate to the main characters?
Main Topics & themes
Reality TV & Violence (Hunger GAmes)
1 page reflection on Lit Circle using one of these questions. Due tuesday
I reluctantly began this book to begin with, but my reluctance spawned a nearly profound interest in finding the value in the book. To be sure that I really, really "got" this, I read it and I listened to the audiobook with the hope that inflections in voices and another person's telling of this story would lead to a very rich experience.
ReplyDeleteInstead, it reminded me of my nightly meditations. I read with such determination and focus, but after what seemed to be 100 pages, I found myself in a trance-like state. I realized I lost myself some pages ago, so I looked back over those pages to catch up, only to find that I really did remember everything I had just read--it's just that in many pages, I hadn't read much.
Whereas my meditations put me into a focused state, out of which I feel much calmer, clearer, and have an increased sense of purpose and direction, this book spit me out into a cloud of nothingness.
Perhaps if I read this in a slower world, perhaps in one of isolation or captivity, I could keep up with this novel and become immersed in people, places, and timelessness.
The novel offers excellent themes for all ages, but the delivery is inefficient, frustrating, and ultimately shows up too late.
I'm not sure if even fantasy readers would enjoy this... it's not much of a fantasy. Like Kim said, maybe younger, like 3rd or 4th grade.
ReplyDeleteTeenagers are reading fantasy that's much more involved and quite honestly, darker (Note the entire section at bookstores dedicated to Teen Vampire fantasy). It may simply be that this book's intended audience existed 30 or 40 years ago (like Ms. Lara suggested).
Ok, I decided that I feel sort of guilty for giving this book such a terrible review.
ReplyDeleteThe themes and lessons it offers are great, the second half is much faster, but other books address the same theme in a much better way.