Machacek

__**Jillian Machacek**__
//**1. Why did you choose to read this book? Does it meet your expectations?**//

I chose to read this book because I love animals and adventure. It was requested to me by one of my friends. She told me it was full of adventure, suspense and also some humor. As I began reading it I thought it was rather funny how all the different animals of Abbey Redwall, had very different accents. For example the moles talk with a strong accent like this particular line “Oi be glad too, mizzy, ‘twere a vurry froightenen sound. Oi didden loik et one liddler bit, hurr no.” I am always excited when I read books full of suspense and you are unable to put the book down. This is part of the reason I chose to read this book. I also thought their names were very funny. Some of the names are: Gurrad, Brom, Felldoh, Badrang, Rotnose, Hisk, Scalrag, Druwp, Trefoil, Rowanoak and many more. This is why I read the book and some of the ways it meets my expectationsType in the content of your page here.

//**2. Select a character and state their goal. Discuss their thoughts feelings and motivations in relation to their goal.**//

My character is a mouse named Martin. Martin’s main goal is to keep his promise to his father. Martins father went off to war and forbid him to come. He gave him a sword and told him to help others weaker than himself. Martin goes to do as his father had said. He never forgets and being able to impress and keep his promise to his father is one of the main things that gives him the courage and the confidence to be brave. Because he doesn’t want to let his father down he keeps trying even though it looks impossible.

//**3. Who else should read this book? Should anyone not be encouraged to read this book? Why? Would you recommend the book to a friend or fellow classmate?**//

The Redwall series is very interesting. It is excellent for many different people. I would recommend it to people who love action, adventure and animals because that is what the book is mostly about. You have to have a very good imagination to read this book. Mostly because it is different to have to picture animals having wars. The animals are given many human traits and personalities. I would not recommend this book to someone who mostly enjoys humor.

//**4. Would you like to read more books by this author? Have you already read other books by the author? Why or why not?**//

As I have been reading this book I have started to wonder what some of the other books in the series are like. I wonder if they are similar to this book. If so I would like to read more of them because they have such great description and suspense. This is my first book by this author and I am very glad I am reading it. I did start reading one of the books by Brian Jacques a long time ago but was un able to complete the book due to the words being slightly to complicated. Now that I have started reading this book I think that the words are now more at my level. I would like to continue on reading the books in the series.

//**5. Are you confused about what happened (or didn't happen) in the book? What events or characters do you not understand? Does the use of language in the book confuse you? How did your confusion affect how you liked the book? Is there anything that the author could have done to make what happened (or didn't happen) more clear?**//

One thing that I didn’t understand is why Badrang and Tramun Clogg are going to war and why they don’t get along. This could be because I am not very far into the book but it is possible that they never mention it and want you to make inferences about the book when you get farther into it. The language is a little bit confusing because the moles use complicated language and sometimes you think they said one thing but they actually said something totally different. But although it is confusing it is helpful because it helps you know who is talking and what that character is like. The author could have mentioned what happened between Badrang and Tramun Clogg in the beginning because that has a huge effect on the whole book. //**6.** **What emotions did the book invoke: laughter, tears, smiles, anger? Or, was the book just boring and meaningless? Record some of your reactions.**//

My book has different emotions to it during different parts of the book. For example at the beginning of the book when Martin gets caught by Badrang it is very scary. You are afraid that Martin may be killed but there is hope in you that Rose and Grumm are going to save him. Then while Grumm and Rose are getting Martin, Brome and Felldoh out of prison there is a feeling of happiness because they are saved. Then when they are escaping the battle and they hop into the longboat and start floating away when they find out that one of Badrang’s men put a whole in it and it started sinking. There was no way for them to get back now. They had to continue out into the ocean and continue on there journey to Noonvale. While they are sitting in the boat a giant fish starts attacking. During this time there is great disappointment that they find it difficult to get back to Noonvale and you hope that they will make it there okay.

//**7. If you were the author, would you have changed the name of a character, or altered the location of a scene? What does the name mean to you? Do you have a negative connotation associated with the name (or the place)? What would you name the character instead? What would you use as a setting?**//

I don’t really like one specific scene in my book when Martin, Rose, Grumm, Brome and Felldoh are in a boat that is very near sinking when a giant fish begins attacking the boat. They all jump out with paddles. Brome and Felldoh are on one paddle. The fish starts going after Brome and Felldoh so they swim towards the boat. I think that they should have stayed on they paddle and the fish should have gotten sucked away by a current. Then afterwards Brome and Felldoh should realize they can’t see Martin and Rose and Grumm. Then they should lose sight of land and have no idea what direction they are heading in. Brome and Felldoh should end up going back to the battle by accident and in the end free the slaves. This would change the location of the scene back to Brome and Felldoh in the battle. I have a negative thought on the place of the scene because it makes it too easy for them and this gives them a bigger more complicated problem. Then it gives the leader of Noonvale (Roses father) a reason to help fight the battle to save his son.

//**8. Sometimes books touch you, reminding you of your own life, as part of the larger human experience. Are there connections between the book and your own life? Or, does the book remind you of an event (or events) that happened to someone you know? Does the book remind you of what happened in another book you've read?**//

When I read this book I found a connection between an event in the book and an event that has happened in my own life. In Martin the Warrior, Martin, Rose, Grumm, Brome, and Felldoh are all in a boat that has a hole in it. They have to get out of the boat when a giant fish decides it looks tasty. Brome and Felldoh on one paddle and the others on a different one. There ship is sinking and getting destroyed by a giant fish. This reminds me of a time when we went white water rafting with our friends and cousins when I was about 10. The water had a very strong current as it pulled you through the windy river. We were in a blow up boat and my uncle in a canoe with my cousin when they started getting sucked into a current pulling them very fast into a very big rock. They paddled to get away although were already sucked in. The canoe got wrapped right around the big rock. It was a relief that they jumped out before it was too late. We were unable to get the canoe off of the rock. This reminds me of what happened in my book because they are having troubles steering their boat away from the fish like how my uncle had troubles steering away from a rock. Just how Brome, Felldoh, Martin Rose and Grumm had to change their way of transportation to riding on a paddle my uncle had to catch a ride on our boat. Because of a lack of room it made it much more complicated to travel this way for us, the animals in my book found it complicated traveling this way because they only had to paddles and they started sinking because of the weight. This is one of my connections to my book

//**9. Would you like to be one of the characters (acquire a personality trait)? Which of the characters would you become, if you could? Why? If there's something about the character that you'd want to change, what is it?**//

If I could be any character in my book I think I would want to be Martin. I would want to be Martin because he is brave, smart and an excellent fighter. He has a lot of courage and trust in his friends. Martin is a young mouse and although he is small on the outside he is very big at heart. He catches on very quickly to what is going on and how to solve the situation. Even in times of trouble he can hold a smile on. Some examples of these traits is when he is in the dungeon with Felldoh and Brome and he trusts in Grumm and Rose. He holds a smile to keep Brome reassured. Another is when they are stranded out in the ocean in a leaking boat and he is smart enough to decide to jump out on paddles and thank goodness they did. He allows Rose, Grumm, Felldoh, and Brome be the ones on the paddles because he is so kind and loving. These are some of the reasons why I would want to be Martin.

//**10. What are your favorite lines/quotes? Copy them into your reading log/journal and explain why these passages caught your attention.**//

Some of my favorite lines are “Oh Grumm you’re a dear!” “ Oi bain’t no deer, oi be a mole, and’ doant ‘ee fergit it, mizzy!” I liked this quote because it is funny and shows what Grumm’s personality is like. “I’ll rip yer liver ‘n’ lights out an’ feed em’ to the crabs. I’ll cut off’n yer ‘ead an’ throw it in yer face. I’ll string up yer tripes fer riggin’. I’ll pickle yer tail in burnin’ brin.” I think this is a funny quote that helps explain Clogg’s emotion. It shows how angry he is. These are some of the quotes that caught my attention.

=**Current Events** =


 * 3 truck crash kills 2 near Revelstoke B.C**

There was a tragic accident between three tractor-trailers. There were two men from Calgary that were killed. The remains were left along the Trans-Canada Highway east of Revelstoke, British Columbia. The collision occurred at 2 am on Wednesday. The two trucks slammed head on into each other and the third hit all the wreckage becoming scraps itself. It was described as two kilometers of scrap parts. After the crash the Trans-Canada Highway was shut down until 11 am when it was reopened after most remains were cleared. A truck heading east which was carrying two Calgary mend who were driving reckless. They crossed the centre line and struck the truck going in the opposite direction killing the two men. The two Calgarians that were killed were at a very young age, one being 29 and the other ten years older. They were unidentified victims. The residents of Revelstoke B.C are saying that the Trans Canada Highway was in need of repair even before the crash. This means that it was not fully the fault of the Calgarian drivers. The people are getting upset by the structure of the highway and how many accidents are happening on that very main road because of it’s old structure and how it is not brought up to date. This is why the tragic accident happened.

Now if I was a friend or relative of one of the drivers who was killed or severely injured I would be furious with the government for not having the road brought up to date and modern. It would give me many reasons to not vote for him again and to put him down. I would also be upset because it would give my friends or relatives a bad reputation because it would be believed that it was their fault for being an unsafe driver when it was the governments fault. These are ways that it would relate to me.

=**The Giver**=

1) After Analyzing to books appearance, what clues does it give you? 2) The tone of the book after the after listening to the first page? 3) What do you think this book is about? Predict!

The back of the book shows how it is about a young boy who is twelve years old and is living in a perfect world with no war or pain. This ends when he turns twelve and is singled out to go see the Giver. After looking at the front of the book it starts giving me the feeling that the Giver gives one bit of information to a boy every morning just at sunrise they meet. The first page gives me the feeling that the book is set in an older time and that the book is going to be kind of scary because of the way they talk about an unidentified aircraft that flies over the city. It makes me think that the aircraft is going to bring danger and pain to the city. After reading the front, back and first page of the book I think that the book is going to be about a young boy who is sent to go see the Giver and the old man is going to teach him how to save his city.