Friday, August 12, 2011

Kingdom Keepers:Disney after dark by Ridley pearson

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,
I just read a book like no other, from Disney character fantasy to unimaginable technology of becoming a hologram after dark. This exciting book that I was just talking about is called: The Kingdom keepers: Disney after dark by Ridley Pearson. I picked this book to read because of the cover and how it was all gloomy yet colors that make stand out, also Eitan recommended it because he had already read this one, the second, and the third, so I asked him if he liked, and he did, he told me some of the parts in the second book and it sounded so interesting. The genre of the book was Fiction and the subgenre was fantasy because in the cover page there’s a castle and I inferred that since it is about Disney, then it is fantasy. The topic of the book is Mystery, and the theme of the story is that a mystery has to be resolved to get answers. A before reading strategy that I used was to preview the text – or skim and scan- for text features such as the title, illustrations, headings, how the writing is made, graphic aids, or anything that can help me understand the story I am reading, in this case I saw the table of contents, and I confirmed that I was going to read a book about things happening in the Disney park after it closes. Another strategy I used before starting to read the book was to identify text features such as print features; organization aids, ETC. what I found were some italic writing, and dialogue between the characters.
The conflict in the story was that the DHI have to protect the Disney Park from the overtakers led by Maleficent. The story is Man vs. supernatural because the DHI have to take on pirates, witches, ETC. when they are in Disney. The main characters in this story are: Finn, Charlene, Maybeck, Philby, and Willa are the protagonists, while the antagonist is Maleficent. The foils in the story are the other over takers, the mom and the dad of Finn, and the people at Disney. The point of view of this story is third person because of the clue words like he, she, they, it, ETC. The pattern of organization is chronological order because you see the clue words of next, later, after, ETC. The author’s purpose in writing this book is to entertain because of the genre( which is fiction) and how everything is not real and I enjoyed it. If I was in the character’s shoes I would have to tell my mom and dad about the secret of becoming a hologram every time I go to sleep, so they could help with my problem and solve it out. The author was very descriptive in scenes where the characters are all alone for example Finn Whitman alone near a lamppost near the castle in central Disney, also there were certain scenes where I felt the book come alive.
A strategy I use while I was reading the story was to predict and confirm which is used to make an inference and see if you were correct, I predicted that Maleficent wasn’t going to be defeated because the DHI were new at this I also predicted that Jez was going to be a fake friends and betray the DHIs in the end,. Another strategy I used was to reread  for confusing parts in the story.
A strategy I used when I was done with the book was to confirm my predictions while I was reading  like the first one; I was correct and the second I was wrong. The next strategy I used was to interpret a text feature that I found at the beginning of each chapter: a brush, which could the author writing the story, maybe.
                                                                                          Sincerely,
                                                                                            Juan Diaz

The Tale of Despereaux By Kate Dicamillo

Friday, August 12, 2011

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

I just read this summer the book called The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo. I chose this book because the cover showed a little mouse with a needle and string, so I use some before using strategies and I predicted that the little mouse was going to have to fight certain enemies or go on a mysterious adventure that was his fate. Another before reading strategy that I used for this book was to set a purpose for reading, so I can make sure why I am reading the story, when I looked at the cover and the title I realized that it couldn’t be  about finding information, so the purpose I was reading this book was to entertain myself. The author’s purposes, I think, were two reasons to have written this book and those might have been to entertain the readers and teach them to be courageous .The characters in the story were Despereaux, Roscuro, Miggery Sow, and the princess Pea, those were the dynamic and round. The static and flat characters were the King, Botticelli, Queen, and Gregory. This book has three parts that give the perspective of the story from different characters like book one is Despereaux, book two is Roscuro, book three is Miggery Sow, and book four is the ending that includes all three characters. If I was in Roscuro’s shoes I would have forgiven the people who called him a rat which was very hard on him. The bestparts to the story were the resolution because that’s when the problem of the story gets resolved and everyone is going to get a happy ending. The conflict of the story is about the queen dying because of a rat and that it broke its heart by doing so. This story is Man vs. Society because it’s Desperaux going against mouse laws, Man vs. self because Roscuro is forlorn because of the princess calling him a rat. The main idea of this story is that Desperaux has been banished from his village and is on a quest to protect the princess from misunderstood Roscuro. The topic of this story is courage because since Despereaux had courage he saved princess Pea and made Roscuro realize of his bad deeds. Theme of this story is courage helps succeed because courage helped Despereaux be brave enough to go against the rats. The tone that the author has in this book is hopeful, he’s hopeful that Despereaux can cope with this adventure. The mood that I received by reading this story is confident, I’m confident about the mouse being able to fight against the dungeon’s hidden beasts. The genre of this book is Fiction because it is about a talking mouse and rats, the subgenre is Fantasy, and it is fantasy because of the unusual talking animals the setting is in a castle and the plot of the story.

While I was reading the story I noticed some text features that caught my eye like the illustrations that describe what is happening on the opposite page and the subheadings that describe the illustration. Also that when a book ends and another one opens there’s illustrations around the title.

Some strategies I used during reading this book were to predict and confirm which means to make an inference about what might happen next like when I predicted that Roscuro would have never changed his evil deeds and maybe get arrested, but I was wrong because Desperaux helped him change. Also I predicted that Miggery Sow was going to find someone to live with like a relative or a friend, and I was right because she found a person who was actually her long-lost father. Another reading strategy I used during reading this interesting book was visualizing in certain parts that were cliffhangers, so I couldn’t stop reading like how Despereaux was sent down to the dungeon into the darkness. In my opinion I think that Despereaux is courageous, smart, adventurous mouse, Roscuro is a confused rat that has been lied by Botticelli. The pattern of organization of this book is Chronological order because it talks to the beginning of Desperaux, Roscuro, and Miggery to the end. This book’s main idea is stated because in the story it tells you that Despereaux has to save the princess Pea. An after reading strategy I used was to identify the author’s point of view which was third person because of the clues such as he, she, they, it, ETC. Another was to identify the story’s message which was to be courageous and you will such succeed for example Desperaux had courage and he save the princess.
If I had rated this book specifically from 1-10 it would be 10 because it is so imaginative and interesting in my opinion, so I would recommend this to anyone who seeks a talking rodent actually saving a princess


                                                                                                                    sincerely,
                                                                                                  Juan Diaz