Final Blogger Reflection

You can view my best blogger post here.

This blog post best demonstrates my ability to analyze in detail complex characters and how they develop through out the book, interact with other characters, and develop the theme. A example of that found in my post is, " She gets trapped in his gaze and is pulled to him. That throws her off and starts the journey that will forever change her. The longer she knows Po the more he convinces her that she is her own master and can make her own decisions." (Miller characterization post). This shows how I can analyze character relationships and how those can change the characters. In my post you will also see how well I can see how certain characters help develop the theme or advance the plot. Another excerpt from my post is, "With Po helping her she starts to take control of her own life and become what she wants to be. He helps her let emotions in and shows her how to deal with them. In the end of the book Kasta now is more considerate of the people she loves and now believes she can do good and be good." (Miller characterization post). This helps you see how I can see how a character changes through out the text and how some characters help them change.

My goals for reading next trimester is to finish the Divergent series and hopefully get to finally read some of the single books that I thought sounded good. Because once I start a series I can't read other books that aren't in the series cause then I start to get confused and forget what is in which books and it just starts a whole mess. I don't really have any goals for writing because I don't have English 1B till third trimester. But maybe one goal I could make is to maybe write down what I think, because sometimes I think about how I could write my own book like some of the others I'm reading. Some improvements I want to work towards next trimester for reading is to try and remember what the books I read say because sometimes when I'm reading I get caught up in the book and read to fast for me to actually comprehend what it's saying. Some improvements for writing are to not ramble on and say things like 'and' to much. Also to write things that will capture readers like the books I'm reading do.

Tone:
The tone of my independent novel is strong-willed. And the mood is empowered. Text to support this is "' Kasta your the most powerful person I know," Po whispered."(Kashore 70).
A part in my book where a character swayed the belifes of others is when Kasta is telling Po what her uncle has her do on her little 'missions' for him. And how she very much dislikes its, so Po tells her that she has the power to defiy him and not do what he says and in soon in the book she does quite doing what her uncle says and breaks away from him. A quote is, "'Isnt it in your power to refuse?' Po asked. 'How can anyone force you to do anything?" The fire burst into her throat and choked her. "He is the king. And you're a fool, too, if you think I have a choice in the matter." "But you do have a choice. He's not the one who makes you savage. You make yourself savage, when you bend yourself to his will."

Links and Videos

 

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/hmhbooks/graceling/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceling

The new book I'm reading is called Thungs Not Seen. It's about a boy that becomes invisible and needs the help of his blind friend and their scientist dads. So far in the book they haven't found how to turn him back and the child services are looking for him. If he doesn't turn up in 5 days then his parents could face criminal charges.

Theme and Summary
The theme of Graceling is 'Don't let others run your life for you, be who you are and live your life'.
This theme develops through out the story because in the beging Kasta does what ever her uncle tells her to and she lives by his rules. He runs her life for her and she has no choice in anything she does. And she's miserable because of it. But as the book goes on and Po comes in to Kasta's life, he starts to tell her that she is the only one who can run her life and she doesn't have to take orders from her uncle. So by the end of the book Kasta has broken away from her uncles grasp and she takes control of her own life. And she is very happy and can live without grief or guilt. A quote to support the theme statement is "'Isn't it in your power to refuse?' Po asked. 'How can anyone force you to do anything?' The fire burst into her throat and choked her. 'He is the king. And you're a fool, too, if you think I have a choice in the matter.' 'But you do have choice. He's not the one who makes you savage, when you bend yourself to his will,'" (Cashore 85). Chapter 12 is about Kasta and Po at one of their training sessions when Kastas uncle, King Randa, walks in and she get super mad. Randa made one comment and it almost set Kasta over the edge. Po tries to calm her down. Then at dinner, with just the two of them, Po tries to tell Kasta that she doesn't have to let her uncle control her and she gets angry and strikes Po on the jaw. After that she relizes what he said is true and then her and Po start getting a new idea on the kidnapping of his grandfather. This is a summary of chapter 12.

I finished my book Graceling and I thought it was amazing. The combination if the little romance, the adventure, excitement, suspense, and defining the government was so good in this book. It all came together to form a new kind of distopian book that captures you right away. I could not wait to see what happened next and was sad when it ended. I got wrapped up in the characters emotions and what they experienced. 

Characterization

The complex character in my book is Kasta. In the beginning Kasta doesn't think she can be anything good, she thinks she is only bad news. She feels that she can't control her own body because her uncle rules over her every action, or at least the ones he sees. She does not care for many people and does not think about feelings much . But when Po comes into her life, she feels like he took the ground right out from underneath her feet. She gets trapped in his gaze and is pulled to him. That throws her off and starts the journey that will forever change her. The longer she knows Po the more he convinces her that she is her own master and can make her own decisions. That she can be good and can do very good things. He shows her the light that he sees in her that she can't see on her own. With Po helping her she starts to take control of her own life and become what she wants to be. He helps her let emotions in and shows her how to deal with them. In the end of the book Kasta now is more considerate of the people she loves and now believes she can do good and be good. And she continued to defy the evil the kings do and helps the people of the kingdoms. 

Book Recommendation

Graceling is a book filled with cliff hangers, surprising twists and turns, and it has some romance in there( kind of like a 'I'm never going to date' but falls in love kind of thing). I love these kinds of book and I think this book is one of the best. Its like the Hunger Games kind of deal, but it brings something new into the mix. I couldn't wait till I got to the end to figure out what happened but I also didn't want the book to end. Graceling is about a land with 7 kingdoms and 6 nasty kings but 1 kind one. Kasta is the niece on King Randa and has a special set of skills. She can kill in the blink of and eye or just severely hurt you. She has amazing accuracy with anything and can move faster than you can blink. These skills are called a Grace and other people have Graces too but specialize in something else. The ones that are graced have 2 different colored eyes. With no parents and no one to guide her, her uncle takes advantage of her Grace and uses it to his power. Any one who wronged him would get a visit from Kasta. But Kasta never liked doing his work and after awhile she starts a council who dose good for the people. And through the councils mission one day she meets the Graced Leined prince. After they meet each other he starts to stay at her uncles castle and she starts to fall apart. His eyes capture her and she doesn't know what's happening. Soon after they meet Po, the prince, convinced her she doesn't have to do her uncles dirty work if he didn't want to and so she stands up to her uncle and her and Po run off to find his princess cousin who is danger. They embark on what seems to be an impossible rescue mission and Po gets seriously injured. Kasta and the weak princess have to keep traveling and he I slowing them down. Kasta has to make very hard choices and fight for, not only her life, but for the lives of all the kingdoms. You have to read the book to find out what happens next. And you should.

Graceling

Right now my book is packed with suspense and turns and twists. Something new and exciting is happening on every page. 2 of the main characters are going through a deadly, never before traveled mountain pass and one is very weak. They are trying to escape an evil king with dark desires . He has the forest on either side of the main pass and the main pass covered with soldiers. The main character has to battle a mountain lion, carry the princess, and fight off the below zero coldness for her and the little princess. 

My independent reading book is called Graceling. In it some people have 2 different colored eyes and that means you have a grace. A grace is something that you excell in extreamly and unnaturaly. The main character Kasta is graced with killing. She started traing her grace when she was 8. Now her uncle, King Randa, uses her to punish those who have wronged him. But she doesnt like it one bit. She hates her grace and hates her uncle even more. He's made her image one to fear and cower from, but she doesn't want it to be like that anymore.Then she meets Po. Another graced royalty and finds freindship in him. But when everything is put to the test it might just break. With her uncle threating to kill her, her emotions welling up like never before, and new dangerous tasks coming up she has a lot to handle, How would you handle it?

Reading Skills
In my book right now Kasta and Po ride off to find out more about Po's kiddnaped grandfather. But Kasta is also running from her uncle the king of one of the seven kingdoms because she disobyed him. I predict that when she runs away, her and Po will come face to face with even bigger problems and life or death situations. More truth will be uncovered, problems through out the kingdoms will appear, and relationships will be tested. That's what I predict will happen in the book. Questions I have are: Is Kasta and Po going to fall in love? What will Randa do to Kasta? How are the seven kingdoms going to get along now that Kasta is no longer under Randa's control? A text to world connection could be that this takes place in the midevil days and they say things like 'My Lady' and 'Lord King'. It reminds me of what we learned in 7th grade. A text to self connection I have is sometimes when Kasta is around a crowd or group of people she feels alone and sometimes invisable, I can connect to this because sometimes i've felt like this before, like around new people because I don't make new friends that well. And a text to text connection I have is this book to the Divergent books because in both books if you break the rules you face very serious consicuensies, and in both books what seemed like impossible for 2 people to fall in love and stay together actually happened and although each couple faced septerte fights and conflicts they both wound up together and happy in the end.

Summer Reading Post

My summer reading book is Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross. The main characters in the book are Mira, Blue, and Felix. In the beginning of the book Mira starts off as kind of a dream chaser. She runs away from her godmothers to Beau Rivage, where she was born and where she thought her parents died. But what she doesn’t know is that by going there, the city will change who she is and she might just have sealed her fate. Through out the book Mira finds out the truth about her forbidden past secret by secret, and as she does so she finds out her hometown was nothing like she expected, and that started to change her. She started to accept that not all dreams come true and she learns how to deal with problems much bigger than her own personal ones. So through secrets, love, and friendships Mira goes from a girl who depends on others and someone who is afraid to speak her mind and stand up for herself to a brave young woman who is independent. Blue is the kind of guy you would try and avoid in the beginning, and he likes it that way. He has a tough outer shell with thorns and needles, but on the inside he really is a sweet, caring guy who just got hurt. Through out the book Mira changes him. He tried his hardest to stay away from her and not fall in love, but he didn't try hard enough. The first time he fell in love it ended with a "deadly" kiss and he never forgave himself. So through the book he goes from a tough, scary guy who refused to fall in love, to a guy who cared so much it hurt. He finally caved in to love and he soared. Lastly there is Felix, he doesn't really change in the story but he plays a major role in changing Mira. He was her first love and very dangerous.


My article is like an overveiw of the book with someone eles thoughts and ideas too. It is a book review somebody did on Kill Me Softly. Its very good and it will make you want to read the book.

My video sort of shows what the book is about. Its what the lyrics are saying. Because in the book fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White come true and actual people are in the characters places.
Kill Me Softly Article