Book 3 Review

Catching Fire Review

By: Lauren Van Kleunen

In Suzanne Collins Hunger Games Series, Catching Fire is the second book in the trilogy. Catching Fire is the second book, which comes after the Hunger Games, and it’s before the 3^rd book which is Mocking Jay. It’s a dystopian society, where the capitol rules everything. Suzanne Collins got the idea from flipping through channels on her TV. She was watching a reality show and then flipped to footage of the invasion of Iraq. Once she saw both of those, the Hunger Games trilogy was created.

The characters in Catching Fire are definitely alternate world characters, is what they are referred to. Katniss Everdeen is a 16 year old girl and is not your average, typical teenager. She’s the type of girl that you view as a real person, like she is one of your own friends. She is very sweet and innocent, but she can be the leader of a rebellion if you let her. She is not the one to fail; she will try to succeed every time she tries to do something.  Peeta on the other hand is a very sensitive boy that puts everyone before himself. He has very few talents, but the few he does have: he is amazing at them. The characters in this book are the reason why it was such a hit. Collin’s made the characters in the book so real, and people are able to view them as real people.

When reading this book the plot made the book along with the characters. The plot was like a roasted marshmallow. It is a very weird thing to compare to, but the reason a marshmallow was picked is because it’s not only soft in the middle, but it is also hard on the outside. That’s how I think about this book; the softness in the middle is the love between the “star-crossed lovers,” Katniss and Peeta. The kind of love they have is when you hear birds singing and you just melt into the tune. That’s the feeling you get when you read this book. For example, Katniss says this about Peeta, “My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here.” This quote represents the love between Peeta and Katniss going on throughout the book.   But, you can’t have a book that just has romance, you can’t forget about the outer layer of the marshmallow. The hard part of the marshmallow, in the book, is the amount of fighting it has in it. Some people are near their death bed, others missing, and the reader’s favorite characters dying. 

A lot of the strengths have been said are all above, as this book is much loved. Between the plot line and the characters, the book was wrapped up like a burrito. All the good stuff is in the middle, like the chicken, rice, and guacamole.  The writing style of the book was fantastic because of the images you got when you read a certain scene. For example, Katniss says, “Water dripping through the cracks in our home. The dry pond bed. A pair of hands, his own, digging for roots.” This quote does a really well job of creating an image in the reader’s head, and it’s original.  You know that not every burrito can be perfect and neither can a book; there’s always a couple of burnt pieces of chicken in there, and that’s what this book has. The reader has to dig down very deep for this particular book. In Catching Fire, they need to make more of the minor characters interesting. The characters other than Katniss and Peeta need to have a bigger role in the book because you would be able to understand the book better. I would personally like to know more about the characters in the games, their strengths, and weaknesses, so you were able to predict what would happen to them based on their traits, and attitude in the games.

 I think the appropriate number of stars for this book would be 5 out of 5 stars.  It has such a high grade because this book is loved, between the action, romance, and the uneventful ending it has the reader hooked all the way through till the end of the book. This book is recommended to people who liked the Harry Potter series, and World War Z because of the action in the book and also the romance in the Harry Potter series.

Book 2 Trailer

Book Talk Presentation

Blog Post #5

Blog Post #5

By: Lauren Van Kleunen

When thinking about the difference between non-fiction and fiction, I have two sides to the story. I think from a readers perspective I wouldn’t care if it was 100% true or not because I want the book to be interesting and if he says the book is all true and it’s not I don’t care because as long as it has a good plot line there’s a chance I will read the book. Now would I want my doctor reading out of textbooks that aren’t all true heck no! That’s for something way more serious. I think people take reading way to serious, it’s meant for you to escape into another whole universe and be yourself that’s what I thought reading was all about, but it has turned into something totally different. It has turned into people criticizing each other about if the book was true or not who cares just read the book!

I honestly don’t care if Frey and Mortenson bent the truth to create an award winning book. As long as I like it when I read it, it will make me think a little more about the book and how he came up with the ideas so in the end, it will just make the book more interesting.

When labeling books fiction and non-fiction I think that it doesn’t matter if you no whether it is or not. Most of the time you will be able to tell which one is non-fiction and which one is fiction. I think a lot of people will be spending most of their time reading rather than thinking about all that stuff. Authors create books for people to read them and enjoy them, and there’s no reason to debate if there should be a line between fiction and non-fiction as long as they make their readers happy.  

Blog Post #4

Blog Post #4

By: Lauren Van Kleunen

Throughout the book I think there would be many challenges a director would have when creating a movie for “The Perks of being a Wallflower.” I think the filmmakers would have trouble trying to find the right characters to play the parts of each individual. I think it would be hard because you kind of have to infer how they act because they don’t come out and say it, which is a little hard for the directors. Another thing that would be hard for the filmmakers would be the plot line because again you have to infer about what is going on, but you know a little about the plot due to the title of the book because you know it’s going to be about a kid who is very quiet and doesn't have a lot of friends and kind of floats through life.

One scene I think that is essential to the movie is when Charlie meets Patrick and Sam because without that scene there wouldn't be a movie. Those two characters, Patrick and Sam, have so many parts throughout the story that it wouldn't be right to not have them in there. Another scene that I think would be a good part in the movie which I think it is but I’m not positive because I haven’t seen the movie is when Sam stands up in the back of Patrick’s truck with Charlie sitting right there and his words during that scene are “I’m invisible.” The last scene I think they need to add is when we find out that Patrick is gay. I think that if it was in the movie it shows a lesson to people that “Show people who you truly are,” so I think that scene shapes the book all together.

One scene that the filmmaker’s would have to cut out is when Charlie goes over to his parents family’s house and watches his brother play football on television because I think that has no significant value to the story and it is an extra scene that is include in there, that shouldn't be. Another scene that I think should be cut out of the movie is all the scenes when he talks about Bill, or sees Bill at school. I think they should cut those scenes out because it’s not affecting the plot in anyway so I think it is just an unnecessary scene.

Book 1 Project: 13 Reasons Why Board Game

Book 1 Project: 13 Reasons Why Board Game

By: Lauren Van Kleunen

For a limited time only, the author Jay Asher of 13 Reasons Why is selling board games about the book. The board games will go on sale April 13^th at midnight for only a couple of weeks.  The game board only costs $21.99 (with tax), so it’s not expensive at all. For how popular the book is you better get it the day it comes out because people are predicting that 13 Reasons Why board games will sell out in the first hour or two. I am only warning you on how crazy this one stop shop will be, so we are not accountable for any of the injuries sustained that night. Now don’t you want to know what is in the board game?? Well I am glad you asked, the board game contains all of the places Clay visited throughout the book. You have game pieces with the characters faces on them, from pictures of Clay and Hannah to Mr. Porter and Skye. The objective of the game is to get to the end of the board game or in this case the school, where Clay finally ends up at. You will have 3 dice that you have to roll and move that many spaces, once you add them up. The only catch is if your dice ever add up to be 13 then you have to start the game all over again. Along with the game we are giving away Hannah’s diary of everything she wrote in there, so you can get the real life experience firsthand.

Throughout the book Clay, who is the main character is visiting a lot of different places/settings, based on the places Hannah is talking about. Some examples of the places he went to were “The Crestmont Movie Theater,” “Rosie’s Diner,” “Eisenhower Park,” “Monet’s Café,” and “Blue Spot Liquor.” In the book Clay goes into The Crestmont Movie Theater and here is what he says about it, “But first, the theater where Hannah and I worked for one summer. A place where she was safe: the Crestmont.” This quote goes well with the board game because Clay has so many memories there with Hannah, and it’s a big piece that would be missing from the board game if it wasn’t in there.  As Clay was traveling to each specific place, he would be visiting those places where that certain event happened, based on the tapes he was listening too, right then and there. For example Clay talks about the Blue Spot Liquor in this quote, “On this block, only two stores remain open: Blue Spot Liquor and Restless Video across the street. Blue spot looks just as grimy as the last time I walked by it. Even the cigarette and alcohol ads look the same. Like wallpaper on the front window.” I chose this quote because during this scene Clay is visiting one of the places where Hannah use to always go. I think he does that because he wants to bring Hannah back to life and by doing that he visited all the places where she once was before she died. One of the last places Clay visits before he finishes the tapes is Rosie’s Diner. He walked into the diner while listening to Hannah. This is what Clay says about the diner, “Warm air rushes out, smelling like a mixture of hamburger grease and sugar. Inside three of the five booths along the wall are taken. Thankfully, the booth farthest back is occupied. It’s not a question I need to consider, whether to sit there or not.” Clay says that statement because the seat that is occupied is where Hannah sat the day she went there and he doesn’t want to force himself to go over there while listening to the taps because he will feel weird about it. All these places that I have just stated all have a connection to them that’s why all of them are in the board game, and that’s why I decided to talk about them because I thought they were important to Clay.

The idea of making a board game for 13 Reasons Why fits perfectly with the book because the board game brings the characters and situations to life. I mean that the board game gives you a life perspective of what Clay and the others are going through. I think this idea will broaden the audience because once people see how fun the game is, they will want to then find out more about each of these places, so I think you will get a lot more people starting to read 13 Reasons Why. When reading this book a lot of people would agree that it was a book where you couldn’t set it down. With that being said, a lot of people won’t want to stop reading Jay Asher’s books based on this one and how good it is. Readers will want to read other books by Jay Asher, because in this book he showed how good of a writer he is. When an author creates a New York Times best seller, chances are people are not only going to read the best seller but also other books by that very same author.

Post 2: What is a Book?

By: Lauren Van Kleunen

A book to me is a destination, or a journey to that destination.  I look at a book as a destination because of all the ups and downs it has. You take 1 step forward 5 steps back, but that’s what the author does to you. She/he keeps you on your toes with the suspense. She wants you to continue reading to find out what happens or just because it’s a personal accomplishment for you if you finish a book. When I think of reading a book I think of everything being crazy, so crazy you have no time to breathe. I feel like in most books there are so many things going on that sometimes you can’t keep track of all of it. First off, you have many characters that you have to deal with, there personality, looks, actions and habits. That’s not all that is happening you still have your conflicts, romances, secret admires, and murders. I think of a book as an alarm clock. Whenever the alarm clock goes off in the morning you want to make it stop and sleep more. I feel like that’s how it is when it comes to reading you sometimes get very confused on what is going on, that you want to put the book down, but you don’t want to leave the book at a cliffhanger so you continue on reading till you find out what happens.

I feel like when it comes to reading books I think that it is much better to read them on hardbacks, rather than on the iPad’s or kindle. I think that it is a lot better to read on hardbacks because there’s a certain feeling I get when I’m reading on a hardback rather than when I am reading on a kindle. I think that the book comes more to real life when reading it first-hand compared to flipping through pages by pressing a button. It’s not the same on the kindle; you are taking away the whole joy or importance of why you should read in the first place. I do agree with what Tom Piazza has said about the difference between kindle’s and iPad’s compared to hardbacks and physically holding a book in your hand. I think he has the right idea or is on the track about hardbacks vs. IPad’s. That sooner or later this world could come to reading off just IPad’s or electronic devices, hopefully that day will never come.