This is just a test

Really- this is just a test not just a clever title!


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10-29-10 Graceling

I think it would be lonely to have a "grace" like Katsa....I mean who would want to hang out with someone who has the potential to kill you with a look? I wonder how much control she really has over her gift?
I think it is interesting that women can attend the council- my inner voice is telling me that this it directly opposite of what I know about that time period- when men were in control of everything?  This leads me to believe that the genre of the book is more fantasy and not "historical fiction". 
I predict that Katsa will be asked to do something by the council that she doesn't want to.
Wow!  That guy is brave to want to train with Katsa- I don't think he knows what he is getting into.
"You always know what's happening behind you."  I think that is what they call having "eyes in the back of your head" (teacher have that by the way)
OKAY...I think she does have a crush on this guy- the author is dropping hints like "she hasn't ever been this content" at the castle before- I think it is because of this new guy...who she likes?

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.

Distrust

I find it amazing how authors can make a reader not trust characters.  Let me explain.  There are several characters in the book right now that Jonah, the main character, doesn't trust and so I don't either.  However, the author has left clues for the reader to pick up on... that makes me distrust characters who are close to Jonah.  When this happens my inner voice wishes that it could jump through the pages and warn Jonah.  Based on this distrust I predict that his sister, adopted mom and dad, are not what they seem to be.  I can't put my finger on it but I don't trust them, especially Jonah's sister. If I had to label the reading strategy I am using here, it is called inferring.  I have made quite a few inferences based on what is in my head and what the text tells me. It bothers me that I can't trust them but I will admit it keeps me wanting to read this book.

The Realm of Reality

So, the main character, Jonah knows he has been adopted and his parents have been open about it from the start. He receives a letter in the mail addressed to him and it simply says.  "You are one of the missing." Of, course my inner voice is telling me that this letter has something to do with the first chapter of the book and the plane full of little babies.  Is Jonah one of those on the plane?  Did all those little babies get adopted out?

Jonah's friend Chip also gets one of these letters and while he didn't know he was adopted he finds out that he was.  Chip is freaking out, and who wouldn't blame him.

I predict that Jonah and Chip were both babies on the mystery airplane.  This prediction seems to be a pretty strong one as I just found out that the contact person who helped with the adoption was Jonah's and Chip's.

I started wondering what it would be like to be adopted.  I am getting two different views of families who are open with the adoption and one family who kept it secret.  I would want to know.

The author bolded the words the realm of reality and I know when authors do this it means something....I think that is what Jonah is struggling with.  What is his reality?  Is it really important to know where you come from and where you get certain traits? or is it more important to work on the relationships you have?