Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Ever wonder how important text features are?  As I start this new book, I have read too many books to blow past the author's note and first few pages only to be confused and find myself going back and rereading.  SO this time when I saw a map on the first page before the book began I decided to take the time and look it over.  Right away, I activated my schema and predicted that the setting of this book is not going to be anywhere on the earth as I know it, or a place I know anything about. My prediction that this takes place in a different world and possible time period seems to be support by the information on the map. The names and places seem to be made up and while the landforms look a bit like it could be in Europe the key on the map labels the regions as the Seven Kingdoms.  Knowing this helps my brain prepare for what is to come.  I was told about this book by a student last year and it has been on my stack to read.  I am excited to read it and hope I like it as much as I did Found.

Leaving me hanging...

True to her style, Margaret Peterson Haddix, has left me hanging and now I must seek out the next book in the series.  I enjoyed reading FOUND and my prediction was right about the characters traveling in time.  As we leave the main character, Jonah, he is being sent back in time to the fifteenth century. So my inner voice starts to activate my schema on what I know about the fifteenth century.  I know that fifteenth century means the 1400's.  I start to get a picture in my head of castles, kings, queens, knights, and sword fights.  I am wondering when Jonah goes back if he will be a different age? What about his clothes?  Will someone be there to help him?  What about his adopted parents?  Will they ever be reunited? 
One thing that bugs me when I finish a book that is part of a series is all the unanswered questions.  I would certainly pass this book on and I am looking forward to reading SENT.

Back to the Future...

While reading today I started making tons of text to movie connections.  As a kid I loved the "Back to the Future" movies that starred Michael J. Fox.  In my book, the main character discovers that he was one of the babies on the plane at the start of the book.  The woman that discovers the plane has revealed her theory to Jonah. She believes that the plane was a time machine and in transition from another time the passengers aged backward....so if true, the passengers started out older and then became babies as they moved through time.  In the movies "Back to the Future" the main character travels forward and backwards in time and while his age stays the same he sees past and future family members.  Right now my inner voice is telling me that I agree about the time machine part but I don't really believe the reverse aging.