The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I have to admit that I have not read the whole book of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, because of sheer lack of time (family issues). I have read some of it, so I get the gist, and I have been to class so I understand a bit more about the book, but I am afraid I am not quite as informed about this book as I am about the others. I got to page 80, when all of the children are in Narnia, and Edmund just left the beavers’ house.

I think this might not be the best book for young readers. Not specifically because of the story, but because of the language used. It is quite old, dare I say Modern English. It is however a book that takes place around the time of the second world war, so I do understand  why they chose this kind of language.

There are 7 books, and as I understand the White Witch is defeated in the first book. So I was quite curious what the other 6 books would have been about. After reading what the other books are about (prince Caspian, etc.) I must say that I think C.S. Lewis thought of this series just to be one book, The lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It seems to me that the other books just originated from the success of the first book.

In the lesson we discussed the characteristics of The Quest. The call, the journey, the obstacles, the final ordeal and the goal. From what I know about the book now, it seems to me that:

–          The call: Mr. Tumnes disappeared because of his involvement with Humans. Lucy feels guilty because she was the human that caused him to be arrested. Edmund, wanting to become king of Narnia with his brother and sisters as servants, thinks it is his own fault. He is a criminal.

–          The Journey: On their way to defeat the white witch.

–          The obstacles: I think this must be Edmund. Surely the kids would not want to hurt their own brother?

–          The final ordeal: The fight between the white witch’ army and the army of Aslan.

–          The goal: To free Mr. Tumnes and Narnia from the evil reign of the White Witch.

A good novel is:

A distancing from the ordinary
This is most certainly true in the story. I have never read a similar story like this one. Though I have of course read books about leaving to another world (Harry Potter for instance), I have not read any along the lines of this one. And wouldn’t everyone want to spice up their (ordinary) lives by just leaving for a different world beyond anyone’s imagination?

Language
I think this might be a little off-putting for the children. Like I explained earlier: It is quite old, dare I say Modern English. It is however a book that takes place around the time of the second world war, so I do understand  why they chose this kind of language.

Convincing world – based on history or myth
Even though a world like this does clearly not exist, it is somewhat convincing. Just because it is an imagined world, they have real world problems. Like war, betrayal and standing up for what is right.

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime

The curious incident of the dog at nighttime, is a book that has been recommended to me a lot of times. I was pretty hesitant about it at first, because I thought it would just be another informational book about how a young boy gets through daily life with his ‘handicap’. But after I started reading the book I realized it was everything but that. This book is an exciting and thrilling book about a young boy, trying to solve a murder. The focus is not at all on his handicap, but it is cleverly integrated throughout the whole book. I must say I was pleasurably surprised by this fact.

One aspect stood out to me immediately and that was the fact that the book had a lot of pattern. This was noticeable in the way that all of the chapters were prime numbers and that 1 chapter was about the story, the following about his life and the way he thought about things. And that repeated throughout the whole story. It was slightly distracting though to be interrupted in the story so often, and I can see that children would get lost and disinterested because of this.

I already knew a lot about Asperger syndrome, because of my previous education (a teacher’s assistant, where I have to learn a lot about these sort of things). So I was pleasantly surprised with the way the writer brought this particular disorder to life. It was down to a T what I had learned about it. It was quite enjoyable to read and think: “I cannot believe how well he integrated that aspect of not being able to touch anyone. And the colour of food, amazing how he knows so much about this! ”. I really quite admire the research the writer must have done!

I think older children might not like this story very much but the younger children will. They will not understand some of the deeper meanings in the book (the mother, not being dead foreshadowing). So I think the adult reader will be quite interested in the book too. The younger children will see this as a murder mystery book, like Christopher meant it to be. The older generation will probably focus more on the actions and thoughts of Christopher. To see what it is like to live with a disorder like Asperger. They will also be able to see that a lot of the ‘surprises’ that children encounter (the affair, father killing the dog, mother still alive, etc.) have been foreshadowed in the book in some way. Of course we do not know exactly what will happen, but you do realize that something is not quite right when you read that they will not visit their mother in the hospital. And when she dies, without Christopher seeing her a last time, you know something is up with that story.

In class we discussed this book as a crossover book. I originally had a different idea with the word crossover, but the fact that it is both enjoyable of kids and adults seems like an appropriate description. I think this book is a great example for these crossover books because of what I stated earlier: I think older children might not like this story very much but the younger children will. They will not understand some of the deeper meanings in the book (the mother, not being dead foreshadowing). So I think the adult reader will be quite interested in the book too. The younger children will see this as a murder mystery book, like Christopher meant it to be. The older generation will probably focus more on the actions and thoughts of Christopher.

Tracey Beaker

The Story of Tracey Beaker used to be my favorite tv series when I was younger. The witty Tracey, who seemed like a really tough girl but actually was really insecure about herself and the rest of the gang on the dumping grounds.

I really liked that the book and the series are somewhat similar. The pictures that were used in the book are also used in the series.

The book is very visually attractive, and I think this would be a great book for kids who are easily distracted. This is because the pictures but also because of the lay out in the rest of the text. The way that letters to and from Tracy are in a different format as the rest of the text. You notice this when you first open up the book. It starts off with a chapter about herself, which looks like it has come from a journal or something. Later on we notice3 that it actually is a journal. The first chapter is a great way to introduce Tracey to the readers, so they can get a clear picture about her before they dive headfirst into the story.

Once the first chapter begins, I noticed it immediately kept up a steady pace, and there were hardly times I felt the story was lacking pace. This makes it quite an enjoyable book for young readers, because it is very difficult to get bored with a book like this one.

This lesson was about identity crisis. I think Tracey has an identity crisis and because of it tries to hide the fact that she is really insecure. If she pretends to be this tough as nails kids, then nobody can hurt her. Or nobody dares to try. I think she is even fooling herself, because she writes about it in her own journal. She pretends her mother is some sort of amazing super star, who will come and sweep her away from the miserable foster house to enjoy the rest of their life together. As a reader we know that the chance that this will happen is next to zero. But when she meets Cam, a scrubby writer, she is nothing like the fabulous mother Tracey always envisioned. But in the end she does turn out to be the best foster mother for Tracey, and even she is starting to realize that. You can see she has matured over the duration of the book, because when she is bidding her farewells to the other foster kids she shows them how much she has grown (slice of her own birthday cake for Peter, her Mickey Mouse pen for Justine, who used to be her arch nemesis).

I think this book is suitable for the younger readers, up to an age of 12 years old. Though I have to say I quite enjoyed reading the book myself.  This is obviously because I have watched the series and I was delighted to find that the series (at least the first 13 episodes) follow the books course.