Category Archives: Magical Realism

Jan
14
2016

Rose and the Magician’s Mask, by Holly Webb

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I am reading Rose and the Magician’s Mask by Holly Webb which is part of The Rose Series. The main character of my book is named Rose. There are also other characters like Freddie who is Mr. Fountain’s apprentice and Bella who is Mr. Fountain’s daughter who is very spoiled and screams a lot. The main problem of this book is that Gossamer stole a mask from the king’s palace in England but the worst part is that the mask can do anything! Rose and the gang have to stop Gossamer and the mask before they build an army to take over the world! This book takes place in Venice and England in 1943.

When Gossamer steals the mask from the King’s palace in England, Gossamer runs off to “The City of Magic” (Venice) to unleash the power of the mask. Mr Fountain, Freddie, Bella and Rose chase Gossamer in Venice where nothing is quite what it seems. Some of the events that change the direction of the story are when Mr. Fountain almost does not bring Rose, Freddie, Bella or Gus (the really wise talking cat who guides them through magic) but at the very last moment he changes his mind. I think this really changes the direction of the story because if Mr. Fountain did not bring them they would not be as successful in the end.

I think something very surprising is that Bella screams so loud and it combines with her magic. She does not realize it is so loud that she knocked down a big boat and makes a few people’s ears bleed (actually). I think that Rose has a really hard life because when Mr. Fountain chose her to be his apprentice she still wanted to be a maid. In the book she has to be a maid and a magician’s apprentice and it is hard to find time to do both those things when she is trying to chase Gossamer.

Another thing that makes Rose’s life hard is that all the servants act weirdly around her because they feel weird about magic. When the people you always clean with barely talk to you it does not feel very good. I think Rose is very brave because she was not very scared until the end because unexpected things happen then.  Also, Rose is not very self confident because although she is brave she always doubts her decisions. I think Rose should believe in herself more. Rose is also very shy because she didn’t talk to kids very much in the orphanage.

I really liked Rose and the Magician’s Mask (and the rest of the Rose Series) because Rose has a really strong personality. Rose also has the courage to take risks, which is a good trait to have. I also like Rose and the Magician’s Mask because everyone has a part in saving the mask. I would recommend this book to readers who like unexpected surprises because there are a lot of surprises. I also recommend it if you like magical realism. I would do this because this book is all about how Rose learns how to use her magic. One connection between me and my book is that it is usually loud in the Fountain Mansion and it is like that in my house. If I had to rate this book it would definitely be five stars (out of five)!

Jan
14
2016

The School for Good and Evil: The Last Ever After By Soman Chainani

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My book is called The School For Good And Evil: The Last Ever After. It is the third book in the series The School For Good And Evil. It was written by Soman Chainani. Sophie and Agatha are the main characters. The main problem is that all of the fairy tales that everyone knows are getting changed and rewritten by the evil Schoolmaster. Instead of good winning, evil is winning. Evil is killing all of the good characters because it has love on its side. Evil got love because Sophie married the evil Schoolmaster. As long as she wears his ring, evil will win all of the fairy tales ever to come and good winning will just be forgotten.

My book is set in two places. One of them is the Blue Forest. The Blue Forest is a forest that students from the school for good and the school for evil used to train in to prepare for the real forest, which is where they would go and live their real fairy tales. The second place that my book is set in is the school for new evil, which includes the school masters tower. The School For New Evil is the School For Evil but in a different and bigger building. The Schoolmaster’s tower is like the Schoolmaster’s house, but it doesn’t have any stairs to go down, you have to fly up and through a window to get in.

Sophie and Agatha were best friends. That was until a boy, Tedros came between them. Tedros is the prince of Camelot. Sophie and Agatha both loved Tedros. Tedros picked Agatha to be his princess. So, Sophie went seeking love. She came upon the evil Schoolmaster and found out that she loved him but he was evil. She married the Schoolmaster and became evil. The Schoolmaster wanted to change all of the fairy tales so that evil would always win and it seemed like evil was right and good was wrong.

Evil characters that have been killed by their good nemeses rise from their grave and find their enemies to kill them. Everything starts dying including the sun. If the sun dies, everyone in the world will die as well. The only way to stop everything dying is if Sophie destroys the Schoolmaster’s ring with Excalibur, Tedros’ father’s sword. Sophie must decide who she wants more. Her best friend, Agatha or her true love, the Schoolmaster.

Sophie is a confused person. She doesn’t know what is right and what is wrong because she always tries to be good, but no one appreciates it so she turns evil. Sophie doesn’t want to be evil, she wants to be happy. The only way for Sophie to be happy is if she finds true love. Sophie found true love but it is evil. For example, on page 2 it says “Sophie reddened, remembering she was all alone in this world. Everyone else had abandoned her. Every desperate effort to be good had been punished with betrayal. She had no family, no friends, no future.  And now, this ravishing boy in front of her was her last hope for love. Panic burnt through her muscles and dried out her throat.  There was no choice anymore. Sophie swallowed and slowly stepped towards him.”

Sophie is also desperate for love. She has always wanted to be good but when she fell in love and it was evil she wasn’t willing to sacrifice love for good. She was too desperate. For example, Sophie once had a choice. Her choice was love or friendship. She could have gone to Camelot with Agatha and been good just by destroying the Schoolmaster’s ring but she couldn’t. She knew she wouldn’t get a second chance at love and by destroying the Schoolmaster’s ring it would mean giving her happy ending to Agatha and losing hers.

Agatha has a very strong personality. She doesn’t let other people take her over or do things for her. For example, on page 147 it says, “If anyone can make Sophie see what love really is…it’s her best friend, isn’t it?” said Agatha. “The league’s old faces melted to childlike stares, as if finally seeing the young girl with hope instead of disdain. Tedros stepped next to his princess, chest proud. “Exactly. Leave Sophie to me.” Agatha’s smile vanished.”

Agatha is also very independent. For example, before she went to the school for good she lived in a small house in a graveyard with her mother and her cat. She did most things by herself and didn’t have any friends. But, Agatha stayed strong and was good even though everyone including herself thought she was evil and a witch.

One of the reasons that I really enjoyed this book was it was very descriptive and it makes you feel like you are experiencing everything that the characters are experiencing. For example, on page 542 it says, “Slowly their eyes drifted upwards, pinned to the trees, and as they adjusted to the darkness, they began to make them out… bony, vulturous shadows, eerily still on the elm branches, not making a sound.” Another reason I really liked this book is that every time they solve one problem it leads to another. It keeps it filled with excitement and action and makes the book very interesting. The last reason is that it doesn’t start with just Agatha or just Sophie, it alternates every chapter and when both of the girls are in the same place, the book says both of their thoughts so that you can actually understand what is going on and why.

I would recommend this book to someone who loves reading fantasy and fractured fairy tales. It is filled with both of those things and makes the book what it is. This book is about good against evil and which one is right and if you like changing concepts you would probably like this book. I would definitely rate this book five stars out of five stars (five being the best and one being the worst.)  

Jan
14
2016

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan

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searchI read Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. I enjoyed the first book, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, so I read the second one in the Percy Jackson series. The main character is Percy Jackson. The problem in my story concerns a boy named Luke, who used to be a friend of Percy’s but then betrayed him. Luke poisoned the tree that used to be Talia the daughter of Zeus. That tree would put a magical shield around the camp to protect it from monsters. Now that it was poisoned it could no longer protect the camp. The story mostly took place in part of an ocean called the Sea of Monsters in the year 2013.

He is also really brave and likes adventures because he was willing to go on a quest that no man has ever returned from. Percy is also athletic because he loves to do flips and to practice every drill there is at camp. One of the hardest drills is a rock climbing wall that is very high and squirts out burning hot lava.

Percy did some interesting things throughout the story including going on a ferry that had Luke and some monsters on it. Another event that was interesting was a horse race with two people in a carriage that they had to design and build. A big decision that Percy made was to battle one of his brothers – a big ugly cyclops that had killed all of the people that have entered his island . But not someone named Jason who slashed his sword in his one eye and has half blinded the cyclops.

I like this book because it has a lot of fighting and adventure. My favorite fight was when Percy and Annabeth fight the cyclops and Annabeth puts on a cap that turns her invisible. Annabeth called out ”HEY LOOK OVER HERE REMEMBER ME! IT’S NOBODY.” And the cyclops said “No not nobody I remember you.” That is what Jason called him self.

I think the genre of the book is adventure, action, and mystery. I would recommend this book if you like battles. Also if you like Greek mythology. I would rate this book five stars.

Dec
11
2015

Hamster Princess, by Ursula Vernon

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imgres-1The book that I read is called Hamster Princess, by Ursula Vernon. The main characters are called Princess Harriet and Ratshade. Harriet is not an average princess. When Harriet was only a tiny baby, a witch who is named Ratshade. cursed her so that when she was at the age of twelve, she would prick her finger but it also meant she would sleep for a very long time.  The curse made her invincible, but it also meant what I told you before, she would sleep for a very long time. The settings of the book are Harriet’s parents’ castle, her parents’ village, in which the name of her village is Hamster Vill, and other Kings’ villages in which are friend’s parents villages

One important part of the book is when Harriet gets cursed. It meant nothing could hurt her until she was twelve years old. Another important part of the book is what she does with the power. The power is invicibility.  Everyone started calling her Crazy Princess Hamster Bone because of some of the things she did like: jump off the highest tower in their village and attacking trolls and ogres. 

One event that changed the story is when Harriet swung Ratshade into the spinning wheel  and Ratshade got cursed instead of Harriet. Also when Harriet found a prince because that is what made the story find an ending because she got a friend too. An adjective to describe Harriet is that she is brave. She is brave because she is a risk taker. She jumps off towers in the kingdom and in the Hamster village, people don’t do that. Harriet is strong because she fights ogres and swings Ratshade into the spinning wheel. 

I liked Hamster Princess because the author threw out amazing ideas. One reason I did not like the book is the author would throw out  too many amazing ideas, which made it hard to follow. It was like too many facts just like this: there was a cow, and then a pig and then a chicken and then a cat and then the cow pooped. I  give this book four stars because sometimes the book was confusing, and it was like the pages were in the wrong order. I liked Hamster Princess because it was really heart warming.

Dec
11
2015

The School For Good and Evil, Soman Chainani

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61PWRNlIucL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_The book I read the  book called The School For Good and Evil. It was written by Soman Chainani. The three main characters are Sophie, who is the ‘witch’ in their story that goes to the school for Evil, Agatha, who is the ‘princess’ of their story that goes to the school for Good and Tedros, the ‘prince’ of their story that goes to the school for Good. One adjective to describe Sophie is romantic because Sophie holds hands with Tedros a lot.  

The problem is that Agatha makes a wish for a different ever after ending for her story with Tedros instead of Sophie. Agatha has an ending with Tedros and Sophie has a crush on Tedros so they are fighting on who gets him. An ever after is when the Princess or Prince or rarely the Witch gets a happy ending. Then the Schools for Good and Evil change to the Schools for Girls and Boys. This is a problem because the “Storian” (The pen that writes the stories) makes all of the “The End’s” in the stories go away. Then all of the princes come out of the stories and want to destroy girls. The book takes place at The School For good and Evil which is in the Endless Forest and Gavaldon which is where Sophie and Agatha live.

One reason I think this book is good because when you read one chapter you always want to read the next one. This book is also good because it really tells you that friendship and being a good friend is very important. This book is also good because it makes you think about what it might be like as a fairytale character. I like this book because it has some very beautiful romance and humor. I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

 

 

 

Dec
10
2015

Rose, by Holly Webb

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11179335Rose is about a orphan who learns what she can really do. Rose by Holly Webb and is a great fourth grade book. The main character is named…well…Rose. Rose is a kind-hearted orphan who gets chosen to work at the most famous magician’s house! When Rose learns she has magic too, she tries to get rid of it. If she can’t get rid of it, can she at least learn how to use it properly? Someone puts her magic to the test when children are being stolen and Rose has to save the day. The beginning takes place in St. Bridget’s Home For Abandoned Children; after that most of the story takes place in Mr Fountain’s mansion.

As the first book of the four book Rose series, this book really explains who Rose is. Rose gets picked up from the orphanage to work at the house because she could’ve used her powers in bad ways by accident! There are lots of problems for Rose including when the St. Bridget orphans go missing. Another problem is the mean housecleaner Susan, who despises Rose. Rose decides to save the orphans with the snobby Freddie from the Fountain mansion which might not go as well as planned but Rose won’t give up. Rose is a determined character who struggles through the twists and turns of all the magic and weird things going on in the Fountain mansion. Rose only wants to be a housemaid and she really tries to be an obedient servant and kind orphan. For example, Rose says “It’s not that I don’t want to stay,” she murmured. “But I’d like to earn my own living.”

I really enjoyed the first Rose book and I am reading the second Rose book right now. I love the descriptions in the book and how they build Rose’s personality throughout the book. I also liked how Holly Webb added a mean servant because it gives Rose more challenges. I would recommend this book for nine to ten year olds because it has some hard words and long pages. I would recommend Rose to kids who like series of books because Rose is a four book series including Rose, Rose and the Lost Princess, Rose and the Magician’s Mask, and Rose and the Silver Ghost. Over all, I would rate Rose five stars.

Dec
10
2015

Cold as Ice, By Sarah Mlynowski

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 Abby and Jonah moved to Smithville and find out they have a magic mirror in their basement that takes them to Fairy Tales!

A few books later…

Abby and Jonah travel to the Snow Queen fairy tale! How exactly did they get there you ask? Well Prince, Abby, and Jonah’s dog got out of Jonah’s room and went downstairs to the basement. He heard Mary Rose (the fairy who lives in the mirror) speaking to Abby and Jonah to come into the Fairy Tail. He scratched on the mirror 3 times (that’s how to get into the fairy tale). The mirror started swirling and put a purple light over the room and then it started like a vacuum and pulled Prince in. Abby and Jonah were too late to get there so they knocked on it 3 times again. (Oh and by the way, they can only go in at midnight). The mirror started swirling and put a purple light over the room and they got sucked in after their dog.

They were in a snowy field and since it was really cold in their house and they had no heater they were wearing socks, hats, long sleeve shirts and sweaters when they were in bed. They were glad that  their house was not heated when they went into this fairytale. They got to the ice castle  because they heard Prince barking and that navigated them. They saw The Snow Queen and when she saw the dog she froze him rock solid!

Abby and Jonah ran away as fast as they could and they ran toward a cliff. (Of course they didn’t know it was a cliff until they got there). The cliff was made of ice. Jonah said, “Let’s slide down it!” They slid down it and landed on an icy cold pond that was frozen. Jonah stood up and the ice started to crack.

 After they got pulled out they both got hot chocolate and warm disguises. After Abby saw the disguises in the sled and all the other stuff, she thought there was a band of robbers in the story. These are the band of robbers!

I don’t want to spoil it so I’m going to stop now.

I personally think this series is really good. I don’t think it’s scary or weird.I would rate this book Five out of Five stars.

 

Dec
10
2015

The Witches, By Roald Dahl

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imgresWe are here today to meet the person who’s been on an adventure that will change his life. He is a little boy, a little boy and his grandma. He likes solving mysteries. The little boy is trying to change the bad in the world that bad is the witches. This important little boy and his grandma lives in Norway. They’re witches all over the world there’s witches in Norway to. Him and his grandma live alone in Norway they love it there.

His grandmother is telling the truth and he believes her he loves his grandmother dearly. She shows her grandson how to recognize a witch so he can be safe. they want to stop the witches. They moved to England, and for vacation they wanted to go to Norway but grandmama’s cold. So instead they went to a place in England and stayed at a fancy hotel. They’re only staying for a vacation. The little boy gets some pet mice so he went into a room to have some privacy to train them because the hotel manager does not allow him to let the mice out of the cage. He might find something new. “wow this is a nice room.”said the little boy. He might change in the book he might interfere with a witch.

This book teaches you valuable lessons and it is a very adventurous story with a lot of action. I recommend this book because it is thoughtful. It really brings you into the story. you feel like you’re a character in the book having that adventure. I give this book five stars!

Jul
16
2015

Beyond The PawPaw Trees by Palmer Brown

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51DLxrS2iXL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_One of the books I read this summer, is called Beyond The PawPaw Trees by Palmer Brown. It takes place in a magical land, in a magical past. Some of the places in the land that Anna Lavinia crosses include a train, a dessert and a little village. The main characters are Anna Lavinia,  her father, and her Aunt Sophia Maria. The challenge for Anna Lavinia  in the story is getting to Aunt Sophia Maria’s house. To be able to do this Anna Lavinia needs to cross the magical land between her and her Aunt Sophia Maria. Along the way she finds a key that is very important to her family’s story. Another challenge for Anna Lavinia is trying to find her father, who chases rainbows. Anna Lavinia has not seen her father in a long time, and neither has Anna Lavinia’s mother. On her way to her Aunt’s house she encounters a cliff, and she sees a little walled town below. She thinks her Aunt may live down there.

Something that changed the direction of the story the most was magic. Anna Lavinia was stuck at many points and the magic of the world helped her. An example is when Anna Lavinia was stuck at a cliff and she needed to get down to be able to continue her journey to find her Aunt Sophia Maria, and magic (with a little help of her umbrella) helped her float down safely. Anna Lavinia made some very big decisions and explorations. She explored through the magical land which could be very dangerous. Here are two examples from the book, “She thought she would try something else, because perhaps only the stones acted that way, so she opened her carpet bag and  found the fat woman’s tea cozy and tossed it out beyond the cliff. The tea cozy was so light it would not go dawn at all. A jar of pawpaw jelly went down well, a little slower than the stones.”  Another example is “Then she took a deep breath and jumped of into the air… Gathering her things together, Anna Lavinia commenced walking towards the strange walled town, which seemed to be farther than it seemed from the cliff.” Anna Lavinia’s challenge of getting to her Aunt Sophia Maria, gets resolved and makes it there safely with three new friends, a camel, a parrot, and the “thobby”. But will she ever find her father?

I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked this book because it is very descriptive. For example, when she gets to the little village, the author describes what the village looks like very well. I also liked it because I read another kind of old fashioned book called Pippa Passes (I also recommend it) and it was very good so I tried another old one. The last reason I liked this book was because I tend to like magical realism books because I can relate to the realism part, and the magic give it a fun twist. I think a reader who likes old fashioned books and magical realism will like this book. I think this because as I said before this is a magical realism book, and it is old fashioned. This was a great book. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! *****

 

 

Jun
03
2015

The Magicians Elephant

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Elephant Crashes Through Ceiling of Opera House

 

Baltese –  Yesterday, during a magic show while performing at the city opera house, a mysterious magician whose name is unknown made an elephant come crashing through the ceiling. The elephant broke both of Madam La Vaughns legs. After crashing through the ceiling someone called 911 and the police showed up to take the elephant away.

 

The magician said, “I only intended lilies.” but, how do we know if he only intended lilies if instead of lilies an elephant crashed through the ceiling. After breaking Madam La Vaughn’s legs the magician has been locked up in prison in a tiny prison cell.

 

There is a boy named Peter Augustus Duchene training to be a soldier by an old soldier Vilna Lutz. This boy said he needs to see the elephant to find his sister but, that makes no sense at all! We have no idea what he is talking about.

 

A police officer Leo Mantiene is helping keep the elephant away. We have no clue where the elephant is located now but we are sure it isn’t far away.

 

People all around the city are obsessed with the elephant. The bakers created an oversized pastry filled with cream and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar and called it an elephant ear. The street vendors sold the pieces of plaster that fell when the elephant fell. The puppet show in the public gardens all are about elephants crashing through ceilings. Even in the ballroom the men and women would dance a simple two step dance called of course the elephant.

 

Is this no ordinary elephant?


Maybe this elephant will be magical and enchanted.

I made a diorama for this book I cut holes in the sides of the box from three perspectives.

the magicians perspective            the audiences perspective

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and the elephants perspective

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