Monday, November 4, 2013

Final Blogger Reflection


Final Blogger Reflection
I chose my Reading Skills post to reflect on.  I chose this post because I think it is my longest post in length and it make very good textual connections.  For example, one of the textual connections  made was "One text to text connection I made with The Serpent's Shadow is that is a lot like another Rick Riordan series:  The Percy Jackson Series" (Dawson's reading blog).  This was a strong textual connection in my Reading Skills post because The Serpent's Shadow does relate to The Percy Jackson Series.  This is because they are both based on mythology from their time periods (Egyptian and Greek).  I had to make three textual relations which were on the rubric.  They are as followed: text-to-world, text-to-text and text-to-self.

I want to set goals for myself during my four years of high school.  This is so I can have a good future and get into a good college and things.  For reading, I want to at least read two books before the end of the year.  I want to finish my book that I'm reading right now which is House of Hades: by Rick Riordan.  This is the sequel to The Mark of Athena.  For writing, I don't plan on doing much for writing.  I like to read, not write.  Writing just isn't my thing.  I want to improve my vocabulary and I will do that by reading.  This will help me in the future for things like more English classes.  I could improve on basically anything there is to know in writing.  I could specially improve on my writing speed and my reading speed.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Serpent's Shadow: The Path of the Gods

The Serpent's Shadow: The Path of the Gods

The Serpent's Shadow: Theme and Summary

The Serpent's Shadow: Theme and Summary
The theme of The Serpent's Shadow is:  Always hope, no matter what the circumstances.  This theme applies to the whole story but more specifically the last 5-8 chapters.  The theme of this book is what it is because the two main characters; Carter and Sadie, have to do the impossible: save the world.  Their enemy, Apophis, is about to destroy the world.  So overall in the last 5-8 paragraphs of this book, Carter and Sadie do the following: find the shadow of Apophis, save their friend, Zia, and stop Apophis from swallowing the sun.  How are they going to do this all in time?  Read the book to find out.


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Serpent's Shadow:

http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/the-serpents-shadow-the-kane-chronicles-book-3

Summary of Article:
This article of The Serpent's Shadow is highly accurate.  It describes the characters in a brief few statements.  It has accurate information about the characters yet doesn't give away any spoilers.  It has pictures of the book and its author;  Rick Riordan.  Please read it if you are interested.

The Serpent's Shadow: Links and Displays

A couple pictures of the character in this book are:
 
 http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120607212022/kanechronicles/images/a/a4/Carter.jpg

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Serpent's Shadow: Tone and Mood

The Serpent's Shadow: Tone and Mood
The tone of my piece of literature is desperate.  The author/characters are very desperate in this situation.  This is because they know they will die within a certain amount of time unless they find a way to defeat an impossible enemy.  "By sunset tomorrow, Walt would die.  And the sunrise after that, if we were really lucky, we could look forward to Doomsday" (Riordan, 137).  This proves that the author wants the tone to be desperate.
 
The mood in my piece of literature is desperate.  I think that the author does a very good job of displaying the characters' desperosity.  The characters have to defeat the evil serpent before sunrise in 2 days.  This proves the mood.  "By sunset tomorrow, Walt would die.  And the sunrise after that, if we were really lucky, we could look forward to Doomsday" (Riordan, 137).  This proves the mood because it shows how much time they really have left and how desperate they all are.

The Serpent's Shadow: Reading Skills

The Serpent's Shadow:  Reading Skills
The Serpent's Shadow is a very good book so far.  In my book, right now there is a kid who is cursed and is trying to survive.  He is set to die on the next sunset.  Will he survive?  I think he will because he has been an essential character to the storyline and he probably will live because he is that important.  Some questions I ask myself while reading this book is; "How would me or someone I know react to an evil Serpent possibly swallowing the sun?", and "What side would I really chose in this story?"
 
One text to world connection I can make to this book is that it used to be believed that this was an old story coming to life in ancient Egypt.  Ancient Egyptians thought that this really had happened. 
 
One text to text connection I made with The Serpent's Shadow is that is a lot like another Rick Riordan series:  The Percy Jackson Series in which Percy and a group of his powerful friends have to save the world from an impossible threat!
 
One text to self connection I have made by reading this book is that I would be a lot like Carter if I were in his position.  I would be very panicked but I would be masking it for all the others' sake.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Percy Jackson Series vs. Kane Chronicles

Percy Jackson Series vs. Kane Chronicles
First of all, yes, the Percy Jackson Series and the Kane Chronicles are similar.  But they also have major differences. 
Similarities:
  • Each have a base Percy Jackson: Camp Half-Blood Kane Chronicles: Brooklyn House
  • Each have a sword Percy Jackson: riptide Kane Chronicles: kopesh
  • Each have a seemingly impossible thing to defeat
  • Each haven't fully mastered there skills
  • Barely any contact with dad
  • Both dads are gods
Differences

The Serpent's Shadow: Book Recommendation

The Serpent's Shadow:  Book Recommendation
Let me just get down to the point first of all.  Read The Serpent's Shadow!  It has amazing dynamic characters like Carter, Sadie, Walt, Amos, Zia and more!  You can especially use your imagination in this book because it's not every day that you can find a book that has facts not only about Egypt, but also about their gods and things.  You also learn about magicians and what went on in Egypt back then.  This book you won't be able to put down when you start to read because you actually start to fear for the characters in the book as you keep reading.  If you were going to read this book though, I would recommend that you read The Red Pyramid and The Throne of Fire first.  Both of the other two books are just as good as The Serpent's Shadow.  Most people can relate to the characters in some emotional or physical way.  That is also another reason why I love this book so far.  Some information on the text that I have read in the book so far is that Carter and Sadie have each had... experiences in the book.  The two of them will use these to beat Apophis. 
http://www.rickriordan.com/Files/Images/serpents-shadow.jpg


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

House of Life

The House of Life
The House of Life was originally an area in a pyramid for people to remember the person who passed.  These were also where headquarters for magicians.  There are 360 Houses of Life all around the world that the first Nome oversees.  You can also call each House of Life a Nome.  When you are 13, you are sent to Cairo, Egypt where they will learn basic skills and discover which kind of magician they are.  After 2 years, they are sent to one of the 360 Nome's around the world.

Characters: Carter

Carter Kane
Carter was just a regular school boy...  He had friends and got married and had kids and lived in the country and had a very peaceful life.  Just kidding.  Did you really think that Carter Kane, a magician from an Ancient Egyptian Magician blood line (blood line of pharaoh) would have a normal life?  I doubt it.  Carter started off traveling the world with his father, always looking his best, and always learning new things.  He was homeschooled, and his dad travels the world as an expert in egytianology.  Throughout the book, Carter is starting to learn more and more about his powers and how he can destroy Apophis, the snake of Chaos.  Carter, unless he knows the other character, is very shy.  Since he has always been homeschooled, he doesn't have the social skills that most kids have.  He has to interact with the character a lot before he actually trusts and is comfortable around them.


Carter advances the plot very much.  Carter is basically the leader of his House of Life.  A House of Life is basically a magician school located somewhere around the world.  He makes all of the decisions that advance the plot.  He is the one doing most of the actual fighting stuff in the book which advances the plot very much.  Overall, Carter is a very crucial character in The Serpent's Shadow because he has developed very much throughout the book so far and is advancing the plot along very fast.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Egyptian Sun God Ra

Ra: The Ancient Sun God
In Ancient Egyptian Times, the Sun God Ra, was the leader of all Gods.  Ra's archenemy Apophis, Serpent of Chaos, is very evil.  In the book, Ra has been banished into the depths of the Duat because of Isis, another god.  Carter and Sadie went on an adventures quest to bring Ra back to his throne to take leadership of the gods and slay Apophis.  It turned out that when they saved him, he was basically a crazy old man.  Now, with the rising of Apophis, can Carter and Sadie get Ra to slay him?  Or will Apophis swallow the sun...

The Serpent's Shadow: Posting Requirements

The Serpent's Shadow
Carter and Sadie are two very different teenagers.  They're also brother and sister.  Carter travels the world with his father.  He is homeschooled and listens to his father give presentations about Egypt.  Sadie is a regular girl living in England with her Gran and Grandpa.   She goes to school, goes to the mall with her friends, and texts nonstop.  Every year, Carter and his father go to England on Christmas Eve to visit Sadie.  You could say that Sadie and Carter have their "differences".  When they go and visit a museum in England that has the Rosetta Stone,  that is when their lives turn upside down... 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Sadie and Carter's Relationship
Carter travels the world with his father. He studies Eygyptian stuff all over the world, giving presentaions and things. Sadie lives in England with her Grandparents and goes to school, malls and other places with her friends. Every year, Sadie and Carter's father comes to visit Sadie. Sadie hates Carter. They have been at each other's throats since there mom died. But it all changes when they discover something... INCREDIBLE.

Characters

The Serpent's Shadow

So far, The Serpent's Shadow is a very good book. The setting is a museum. The Texas Museum of Art. Sadie and Carter Cane (main characters/brother and sister) must retrieve an ancient Egyptian scroll that will show them how to defeat Apophis, the evil snake of Chaos. Right after they retrieve the scroll in the museum, Apophis starts to control everything in the room. Eventually after much dueling, Sadie Cane used the for Ma'at (Order) to stop Apophis from taking over the whole museum. But, Apophis does get the scroll. A mysterious man told Sadie to get this golden box in display. So she did. After the fight is over, the room is totally destroyed and there are no more survivors other than Sadie, Carter, and 3 other side characters. This is only one setting in the book, but there will surely be more important settings after this one.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Tell The Wolves I'm Home

In my book, Tell The Wolves I’m Home the main character June, is very dynamic. In the story, she goes through a lot of strong emotional and mental changes. June is a very complex character. June changes very much over the course of the book emotionally and mentally. Throughout the text, June is constantly questioning herself, and is always identifying new problems in her brain. June is a very shy character. She doesn't interact with people she doesn't personally know that well. She is very shy at school. She is very open to her Uncle Finn and her Uncle’s “special friend” Toby. She doesn't interact with her sister, Greta, too often in the beginning of the book. As the book progresses onward, Greta and June become closer to each other through the painting there Uncle Finn did before he died. The plot was slow at first and then it got faster as the book went on. One of the things that advanced the plot the most in this book was when June’s Uncle Finn died from AIDS. Also, another thing that advanced the plot in the book is when June finally met Toby, Finn’s special friend. I did my first practice blog on the b. option. Picture
This article is very accurate about the book: Tell The Wolves I'm Home. The article is reviewed in the sense that June Elbus is a helpless girl and it describes her in the beginning of the novel.
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