First thoughts about "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young

      After reading the foreword of this book, I have come to the conclusion that this book will have a mystery-murder type of plot. The author dives into details about the protagonist of the book, and gives out an abundance of information about the personal life of him even though the audience hasn't read a page of the actual book. Young mentions that the protagonist, Mackenzie Allen Phillips, has never been into violence, but had to face it after some of the experiences that will be shared in this book. As a curious, have-to-know type of reader, I can't help but feel that Mackenzie went through some type of event that made him question his own ways of living.

Young does a great job of pulling the reader in and making one actually want to read this book. He gives us (the audience)  a basis of where the protagonist came from and how he was raised by writing, "Mack was born somewhere in the Midwest, a farm boy in an Irish-American family committed to calloused hands and rigourous rules" (Young, page 1 of foreword).

I like the contrast that was conveyed in the foreword when Young switched gears by letting the audience know that Mack had run away from home, from a drunk father, and from a helpless mother. It really made me respect Mack. Again, as a curious reader, I am pulled into this book because of the foreword alone. I can't wait to see the story that this book entails as I read it throughout these upcoming weeks!

Characterization of Rayce Davis from "High Risk, High Reward" in "The Chronicle"

In "High Risk, High Reward", Rayce Davis is characterized as somebody who isn't afraid to take chances, or to put his body on the line. This is shown in the lines where Rayce says "There's so many different ways you can get hurt. It's high risk. You're always going high speeds, there are jumps, and you can get hurt real easily." Even though these factors haunt his mind while on the track, he continues to aspire towards his goal of being a professional motocrosser, knowing that he can get hurt at any time. Rayce Davis is, as described in this article, an achiever.

Theme of "Daily Divas" from "The Chronicle"

In "Daily Divas", two students are described for showing their "inner Beyoncé". The lines at the beginning of the article, "While most people see their ordinary reflections, some view themselves in a more glamorous light", tell what the theme of the article is: Take pride in both who you want to be and who you are.

Characterization

Character Analysis for Hans Hubermann

Hans is Liesel's foster father and one of the great loves of her life. He's a super nice guy. Early in the novel, this is how Death describes him:

"To most people, Hans Hubermann is barely visible. An un-special person. Somehow, and I'm sure you've met people like this, he was able to appear as merely part of the background. He was always just there. Not noticeable" (Zusak, 22)

Considering how memorable a character Hans is, Death's statement might seem a bit puzzling at first. But, we see what he means. If we saw Hans walking calmly through town, winging his paint cans and harmonica, we might not see the hero inside him. We might see just another poor man in a dreary, poor town.

But there's more to Hans. Perhaps, it's his gentle humility that hides him from the attention of most. And Hans's ability to be "not noticeable" (Zusak, 22) is a huge asset in this novel. A flashier guy might not have been able to successfully hide a Jew in his basement during the Holocaust. Even when Hans is caught giving bread to the Jewish prisoners marching to Dachau, the authorities don't search his house. Why? Because they can't imagine he would go that far.

Hans has true strength of character, as shown by his hiding of Max and his other acts of resistance against the Nazis. These acts, along with his general kindness, have a huge effect on Liesel and even on Rudy. Hans gives them a positive role model. He's a rare example of an adult that they can really aspire to be like in the ways that matter.

Reading Skills for "The Book Thief"

In "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, there are many clues as to what the plot of the story will turn out to be. For example, in the prologue it lists three different cases of detrimental things the girl has to face throughout her life. I think that this is signifigant because it might lead to tough times for the child which force her to make choices she doesn't want to. Will the girl steal something, like the title suggests? Or will she have to hurt somebody? I wonder if she will encounter death herself. That would make for a very interesting climax or building point in the story.

Book recommendation for "The Hunger Games"

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen has been providing for her family since her father’s death in a mining accident. She has done this by illegally hunting beyond the boundaries of District 12 and using the game she kills for food or for barter. Through her skill with a bow and her ability to track and snare rabbits and squirrels, her family has been able to survive.

They have also survived because Katniss signs up for the tessera, a ration of grain that is given in exchange for placing your name in the lottery for the reaping, the ceremony that determines who will be the district’s representative in the Games. Everyone’s name goes in the lottery from the time they reach the age of 12 until they turn 18. Each time Katniss exchanges her name for the tessera, her chances of being the one whose name is called increase. Only it isn’t her name that is called. It is her sister’s.

Prim Everdeen is the one person that Katniss loves above all others. She is only 12, quiet, loving and on her way to being a healer. She would not be able to survive the reaping and Katniss knows this. When Prim’s name is called, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place as a tribute from District 12 to the Hunger Games.

Katniss knows that it is not only her own life on the line in the games, but that others will benefit as well if she is the victor and her skills as a hunter will give her an edge in the Games. But her life as a tribute becomes more complicated by the other tribute from District 12. Peeta Mellark, the baker’s son, is a boy that Katniss owes a favor to because of a kindness that he showed her when she was most desperate and her family’s survival was at stake. And Katniss knows that now her survival will mean his death.

Katniss is whisked away from her family and Gale, her best friend and hunting partner, to the Capitol, where she is prepped and primped to participate in the Games. She and Peeta are to be mentored by Haymitch, the only tribute that District 12 has had who was a winner in the Games. But Haymitch is a reluctant and seemingly inadequate mentor, so Katniss realizes she must rely on her own strengths in order to survive.

As the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, "The Hunger Games" is a compelling read and makes the audience want to read the next book immediately to find out what has happened to Katniss and Peeta. Katniss is a strong character who solves her own problems and takes charge of her own life. Her struggles with her divided affections between two boys are realistically portrayed but not overwrought. And her tendency to inadvertently create problems can spark many conversations about whether she was right or wrong and whether she stayed true to who she is. Katniss is someone that readers will not forget. In my opinion, "The Hunger Games" will appeal to teens, ages 13 and up. The writing is excellent and the plot propels the reader through the book at a rapid rate. It is definitely a book that everybody in the recommended age group should check out.

Analysis of the prologue in "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

Death introduces itself as the book's narrator and describes its work: after one dies, Death carries one's soul off from one's corporeal body. Death describes itself as affable, yet not nice; in discussing this work, Death is candid, noting that the reader is going to die, but that this is "nothing if not fair." In the prologue, Death acquires a cynical, sarcastic, and bluntly dark tone in addressing the audience and describing its work. 

Death explains that it deliberately tries to notice colors, not bodies and people, in its line of work as a way of distracting itself from the survivors, whom Death considers to be more tragic than the actual dead. Death introduces the story of a "perpetual survivor," later identified as Liesel Meminger, and briefly reveals the three episodes in which Death interacts with Liesel. Death thus foreshadows three key events expanded later in the book in the following three parts of the prologue.

BESIDE THE RAILWAY LINE

Death describes the blinding white of the snow and paints a small scene of two guards, one mother and daughter, and one corpse on the ground by a stopped train. The guards argue over what to do with the corpse. Death tries to focus on the snow but becomes curious about the girl and instead waits. The girl is described as "the book thief." Although not revealed here, the daughter is Liesel.

THE ECLIPSE

A plane has crashed, and a boy with a toolbox arrives first at the scene. Liesel, the book thief, arrives next, and even though "years had passed," Death recognizes her. The boy takes a teddy bear out of his toolbox and puts it on the pilot's chest, and a crowd appears. The pilot's face appeared to be smiling; Death calls this a "final dirty joke," "another human punch line." Death carries off the pilot's soul and sees a momentary eclipse, one where time seems to stop. Death says it has seen millions of these while carrying off souls, more than it cares to remember. Although not explained here, the pilot is an American who has just participated in an air raid; the boy, Liesel, and the rest of crowd has just come from bomb shelters.

THE FLAG

Death: "The last time I saw her was red." This is the fiery sky of a massive bombing raid. Death finds piled bodies stuck to the street and rhetorically asks if fate or misfortune glued them there. Sardonically, Death answers its own question: "Let's not be stupid. / It probably had more to do with the hurled bombs, thrown down by humans hiding in the clouds." Death finds the book thief kneeling among rubble, clutching a book. Death wants to console her, but "that is not allowed." Instead Death follows her; she drops the book and Death later takes it from a garbage truck. Death: "I would keep it and view it several thousand times over the years."

Death explains that these three colors -- red, white, black -- most resonate with its memories of Liesel, and draws them on the page as a dash of red, a circle of white, and a swastika for black. These are the colors and symbols of the Nazi flag; the implication is that Nazism is responsible for the deaths in these three episodes.

Finally, Death explains that it carries a small legion of stories of perpetual survivors like Liesel, and that each one is "an attempt (an immense leap of an attempt) to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it."

Death cautions the reader that it is not a violent or malevolent entity, that it is instead a "result." On a practical level, death is a biological process, the "result" of the end of a living being's metabolic processes. Yet in the frame of this novel, Death implies that it exists as a result of humanity's actions, that Death is kept busy by men who kill other men. The capacity of men to do evil, along with the capacity of men to do good, is a central theme of the prologue in "The Book Thief" and Death is both fascinated and conflicted by these extremes. Hitler and Stalin represent one extreme, Liesel and Hans Hubermann another. The novel invites the reader to consider the "worth" of humanity along with Death. I chose to analyze the prologue because I thought it was a salient part of what I've read so far in this novel.