4th Quarter into- Ship Breaker

This time around I was searching the "read for a lifetime" shelf at my school and I saw an attractive cover that got my attention. I picked up the book and read the few reviews that were on the back and I decided to get it. This book's name is "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi. The reason i picked this book was because the way it was described it seemed to be a futuristic survival after the earth has turned for the worse with the crash of the economy and ecosystem. Nailer is the name of the main character of this book. Nailer must face one of the hardest decisions of his life when a clipper ship crashes on the shore after a hurricane, he has to decide to whether to scrap the ship or saves its passenger.

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Dylan Bird said...

These pictures make the book seem like the main characters had hard lives. This and the fact that I love monkeys have interested me in your book. A family that has a rough life and a monkey can't be uninteresting. No wonder someone wrote a book about it. My only criticism is the small amount of pictures. There are enough monkeys on here to interest me, but someone without the same obsession of monkeys and a bigger attention span than me would probably not be as interested. However, nice choice of monkey pictures. The last one really captures the stress in their faces.. ha

Dylan Bird said...

Hey Richard, nice job with the video. The mood of The Great Gatsby is really dramatic and you portrayed that well in this video. I read the book as well and I think you did a great job mixing in the plot with your comedy. My only criticism is that you could have actually cried in the end. It seemed to be a painful enough memory to bring the tears out. I hope you find your Caroline, no matter her relation to Michael.

Dylan Bird said...

Well guys, you did an alright job. The entire concept of adapting a monkey into a human lifestyle interested me in this book. Michael, you did a decent job at explaining things and trying to keep everything in order. Walker, you added the comic effect to the video that made me want to keep watching. To be perfectly honest, I was laughing the whole time this was being made. I think I will be reading this book next quarter, so this vlog was not at all a failure to sell the book to the audience. You know what they say, everything's better with a monkey.

Link Up

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7942534-half-brother
This is simply a short summary of Half Brother. It tells how Ben has to chooose betweeen obeying his father and his moral beliefs. This will effect the rest of his "brother's" life.

http://www.readingrants.org/2010/09/05/half-brother-by-kenneth-oppel/

This writer examines the parrallel between Ben's teenage growth of character and maturity and Zan's mental and physical growth. This opened my eyes to a new outlook of the book.

http://www.myreadingfrenzy.com/reading-frenzy/2011/10/half-brother-kenneth-oppel.html

This gives a readers view of the novel. It gives a different take on the story. This insight slightly changed my view on the book.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/article1723966.ece

This is a great essay on the connection of the book to real life. It also compares the book to movies and other books. One of these examples is "Planet of the Apes".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-oppel/writing-half-brother-love_b_710856.html

This essay, by Kenneth Oppel himself, realtes Half Brother to some of his other stories. He talks about how in the past he wrote from the animals perspective. However, he wasnted to stay away from that in Half Brother.

http://www.ourhenhouse.org/2011/07/book-review-half-brother-by-kenneth-oppel/

This woman tells how Half Brother is an emotional journey of the adolensent Ben. She talks about how his views changed from cold and jealous of the monkey into a loving relationship. It changed her treatment of her animal companions as well.

http://www.feelingfictional.com/2011/01/review-half-brother-kenneth-oppel.html

This is simply a general summary of the book. This would be good for someone who is interested in reading the novel.

http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/half-brother

The writer examines the pet/owner relationship in modern day house holds. He talks about how these relationships would change if there was communication. If this was possible, things would be more like the novel.

http://fernfolio.edublogs.org/2011/04/07/half-brother-by-kenneth-oppel/

This is another summary of Half Brother. However, this one has more emphasis on Ben's love affairs than the others did. Project Jennifer is a log kept in a scientific log book that he uses to try to impress his crush, Jennifer.

http://www.books.4ish.net/2011/09/30/half-brother-kenneth-oppel/

This is a summary followed with a personal critique of the book. The critique is not as positive as I expected, but i still understand it. It explains how the author should have done a better job with connecting the character with the reader.

http://www.edgeoftheplank.com/2011/06/half-brother-by-kenneth-oppel-book.html

This is a summary with pieces of personal thoughts of Half Brother throughout. The writer reflects on Ben's emotions and how well Oppel shows them. He also talks about the book cover and has a short reflection at the end.

http://beckylevine.com/2010/11/03/kenneth-oppels-half-brother/

This page is yet another summary of the book with personal feelings on it sprinkled about. The writer talks about how parts of the book have to do with dominance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1968_film)

This is a summary of the movie "Planet of the Apes", which relates to the book alot. In the movie, apes are capable of all human skills, including reading, language, government, as well as war. They have taken over the humans. Is this the fate people who don't support Project Zan afraid of?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Planet_of_the_Apes

This is a summary of the movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", which also relates to the book very much. This is a story of how experiments with monkeys turn into an uprise of mentally excelled monkeys. The evolution of monkeys to humans is far fetched, but have you ever thought of it to be possible?

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=riseoftheapes.htm

This is another summary of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". In the movie, many monkeys are capable of sign language, and one of them even talks. This is a lot like in Half Brother when they try to teach Zan sign language.

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Vlog 4

Link Up 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Dared

Plot summary of The Boy Who Dared.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/discussion-guide-boy-who-dared

Plot summary of the Boy Who Dared. Also has skills that the book helps readers improve on. More of a teacher website.

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/10336530/used/The%20Boy%20Who%20Dared

Pages of editorial reviews on the book. They are very informitive of the book. They are very critical too.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/The_Boy_Who_Dared

This is a cool page for the book! It has discussion chats,frequently asked questions and answers, and a plot summary. It also has the encylopedia definition of the book.

http://www.enotes.com/the-boy-who-dared

This is a study guide for the book. This one goes more into detail than the other ones I've read.

http://annishaplesche.blogspot.com/

One I found on blogger! It went into extreme detail. There was a summary for every 10 pages.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDPxeFTrbHo

This is a trailer for the movie coming out on the book. Looks really good!

www.allquizzes.net/main_boy_who_dared.html

This is a quiz over the book. Its really hard.

http://teachers.spart5.k12.sc.us/symborse/blog/?p=470

This is a description of the book. There are comments on it of people's reactions of the book.

http://reviews.mibba.com/Book/2694/The-Boy-Who-Dared

This leads off with a huge quote from the book. Then it goes on into a summary of the book.

http://blogs.bccls.org/carlie/index.php?/archives/179-Review-The-Boy-Who-Dared-by-Susan-Campbell-Bartoletti.html

This is a description of the book. There are comments on it of people's reactions of the book.

http://marcieaf.blogspot.com/2008/03/boy-who-dared.html

Small review of the book. It also has a small scene from the story and a person's reaction to the book.

Blog Block... that's too dead

Sitting here after my short term procrastination from last night, and my long term procrastination from over the month, I still have blog block in clutch time. Blogs are due in a few hours and I'm here cramming, getting it all done. Its hard to think straight whenever you cram. If you don't procrastinate and space your work out, the work will turn out so much better. Also you won't feel so crammed, so you'll have more time and feel like things flow easier. Another way to avoid blog block is to avoid distractions. Its pretty hard to blog with the TV on. Listening to music hardly gets distracting but TV is the worst. Facebook is a pretty big distraction for me too. The biggest things to avoiding blog block are staying focused and managing your time.

Follow and Respond 3

Hannah-

Dylan Bird said...
I have the same problems Hannah. First of all I have the same procrastination problems. Right now I'm at home doing homework during school! Now that's procrastination! Also, I have the same problem with blog block. Its hard to write blogs with your own free range. I honestly just think its easier to do blogs where we are told exactly what we have to do. All this freedom is good, but all of the sudden my creativity is gone.

March 1, 2012 7:20 AM

Walker-

Dylan Bird said...
Cool connection. I've never been a mechanic or anything but that sounds kinda fun. I bet its really rewarding whenever you get them up and running again. I would feel accomplished if I did something like that. I think its impressive that you connected that with your story. It shows that you can relate to the smallest things in a story, making it more enjoyable to read.

March 1, 2012 7:29 AM




Dylan Bird said...
Blog block sucks. Why can't we just blog as easily as have a conversation? Blogging would be fast and simple. Its hard to blog about random topic related to your book and come up with something impressive. I'm not the greatest with words anyway, so blog block just makes it twice as worse. Plus my mind is always wondering whenever i do this too.

March 1, 2012 7:36 AM

Sparknotes: Good or Bad?

Sparknotes is a questionable site. Some people use it as a study tool, which is a good idea. You can better understand the true meaning of things. You can use it to help you identify things you don't understand. You could even use it to identify themes and morals that you couldn't draw from the story. However, you should only use Sparknotes as a study tool, not just to use it without reading the book. Using only Sparknotes, you may understand the general story line and understand what happened throughout, but you'll never fully understand the characters or get connected to the story. Sparknotes will rob you of fully understanding the book if you use it incorrectly. So in summary, you should only use Sparknotes if you are reading, or have already read the book. It can be good, but can also be used badly.

Animoto 3

Vlog 3