Week 6 9.29.10

It is important for readers to understand what is happening in their books, who the characters are and what the theme is. In your response, outline the following: Plot, Setting, Characters, and Universal Theme. Provide evidence to support your thinking from your book.

In Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer, the main character is Vladimir Tod, who is half human and half vampire. Two side characters are Vlad's aunt Nelly and his best friend, Henry. Henry is a human and the only person Vlad's age that knows Vlad's true identity. Vlad, who is 13 and currently an 8th grader at Bathory High lives in the small town of Bathory. (I find this particularly funny as this is a story about vampires and ther was a female "vampire" named Elizabeth Bathory. She was known as the Countess of Blood).

So far, in my book, the plot appears to be clouded in mystery. There are very short chapters in which a dark dressed man is hunting people who are associated with Vlad. (Again, I find humor in this because one of the characters that is mentioned in my book as a bit character is a young man named Edgar Poe - as in Edgar Allen Poe...that's just really hilarious).

p. 29 "The man smiled, careful to keep his fangs hidden behind closed lips. 'It's quite all right. Edgar Poe isn't it?'"

For the main story, Vlad is trying desperately to hide what he truly is. However, there is a new teacher at his school is requiring Vlad to explore who he really is in the form of a "research" project as part of a mythical creatures class.

p. 49 "Vlad's jaw dropped, and as if on command, the letters stopped moving. Vlad read the new word they'd formed aloud.'Vampire?'
He couldn't do vampire! Fear of the sun, craving for blodd, inability to enjoy Italian food, everything that he really was? This was going to suck."

There is very much a mystery about Vlad's history and these shady characters who involve themselves in Vlad's world.

Since I am still relatively early in my book, I can only see the beginnings of a Universal Theme in the story. Vlad is a young man who is questioning who he is, trying to determine which path he wants to explore about his true self...this, to me, comes across as human nature. This is because it is often within humans, especially young adults on the precipice of deciding who they want to be, to attempt to discover who they really are.

Week 5: 9.24.10

In your book, what are some of the ways that your character expresses themselves through their emotions? How do they show love? Anger? Hate? Why is this important to you as a reader?

In my book, Eight Grade Bites by Heather Brewer, the main character, Vladimir Tod shows his emotions through his actions. Although I have only begun this book and am on page 47, I can tell this by the way the author is describing Vlad's behavior. Earlier in the story, on pg. 12, Vlad begins to act to his try nature of being a vampire:

"Touching the tip of his tongue to his newly exposed fangs, he leaned forward until his feet slipped from the branch. Wind brushed his hair back from his face as he descended and then, with a flicker of concentration, Vlad willed his body forward. Arms outstretched, his fangs exposed, his throat releasing a low, guttural growl, he floated closer to the boys until he was just above their heads, and screamed."

This tells me, as a reader, that Vlad is using his vampiric nature to his advantage, to scare some little boys on Halloween out of their candy. That, in my opinion, makes him a bit of an opportunistic jerk. He's not taking into consideration how he could be hurting those little kids, only that he is willing to scare them to get their sweets. It is a selfish thing to do and irritates me as a reader. This is important because if I wasn't interested in my character, whether they are entertaining or irritating, the author is still drawing me into the story.

New Book!!

I have finished reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was a really good book and I enjoyed the history rich stories that were told about a great leader's personal life. Check out my glog to see my book analysis on this book.

I now am going to start a new book: Eighth Grade Bites - The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer.
I'm very excited to read this book as it's a series that I have always had my eye on. There is a good long list of books that I'm wanting to read, but I'm goign to put this one on the top because it seems like it is going to be a nice, quick easy read after having just finished something that was a definate thinker.

Wk #4: 9.12.10

It is important to use our observations/knowledge of the world around us to understand and make meaning out of what we read. Thinking about your experience with the writing excursion, how much importance does your author place on how two characters in your book dress/look? How do you know this?

As I have come to the conclusion of my book, I think about how the author took the time to really describe Abe Lincoln throughout the various times of his life (as a young boy hunting his first vampire to the pale, gaunt president that is immortalized in Washington DC). Seth Graham-Smith really takes the time to describe the hunting jacket and axe that Lincoln carries for most of his life. I believe that he did this so that the reader (me) can become more familiar with the personal side of a president that is so well-known. He, the author, lets us into the intimate life of a man who is one of the greatest faces of this country and by describing how Mr. Lincoln is dressed allows me to really see how the man was, not the president.

Random Thought While Reading

I had to post a new blog for this specific connection I had while trying to finish Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I am at the part where Abe is debating against Stephen Douglas for a seat on the Senate in 1857. Douglas is trying to accuse Lincoln of being a radical abolitionist.

On page 233 it reads:
"[Douglas] excelled at whipping the crowd into a frenzy with images of freed slaves flocking to Illinois; of black settlements springing up in white backyards; of black men marrying white women.

If you desire [blacks] to vote on an equality with yourselves, and to make them eligible to office, to serve on juries, and to adjudge your rights, then support Mr. Lincoln and the Black Republican Party, who are in favor of the citizanship of the Negro!"

(The bold is what the author wrote about Douglas's speech and it is separate from what I had quoted above).

As I was reading this, I couldn't help but think to myself - If Stephen Douglas were to come back to life today, I really wonder what he would have to say about President Obama.

9.10.10 - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I'm getting deeper into my book and I am continuing to make connections with what is going on in my book to what is going on in real life as well to things that I have seen. I'm on page 211 and on this page there is an article pulled from a New York newspaper from 1857. This article discusses the gang violence in New York at the time and mentions the gangs Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys. I immediately recognized Dead Rabbits from the movie The Gangs of New York.
This also brought to mind that various gang violence that I have seen on television and often within our own community.

My book talks of vampires and one of our great presidents hunting them, but it constantly makes references to real life situations and circumstancs. The article of gang violence in New York demonstrates how books pull true life into them in order to engage the reader. It is important for us, as readers, writers and citizens, to be aware of events, both recent and from the past, so that we can continually make connections to other people's thoughts, opinions and ideas.

9.3.10 - Reading Response

When I look at and think about how the main character in my book, Abe Lincoln, expresses himself, it really resonates a chord with me because Abe is prone to the meloncoly (which means, he tends to get really sad from time to time). This connects with me as I too tend to get sad from time to time. I can tell how Abe is expressing himself because most of the book has large excerts from sections of his "lost journals" where he kept records of how he felt or what was going through his mind at certain points in his life.

There is one place, on page 168, where Abe is writing his reflections and wondering on the fleeting existence of the human body. Part of his journal reads: "It is a strange thing how quickly the body dies. How fragile a force our presence is. In an instant the soul is gone - leaving an empty, insignificant vessel in its stead." This makes me think of the times, when at my saddest, I am prone to such depressing thoughts and will express myself in my journal using similiar feeling or with drawings of how I am feeling at the time. This also comes through in my writing when I am expressing those feelings in my poetry. This type of connection makes it easier for me to see why it is important for me to understand how the characters in my reading are expressing themselves and how it connects with my own personal ways of expression.