Author Archives: Kyle H.

Authors We Love: Carl Hiaasen

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hoot_coverCarl Hiaasen is an author who writes about the problems that he sees in real life and has the characters experience them. He has a great writing skill that captivates your imagination and shows that the problems in these stories can happen in real life if we don’t prevent them from happening. His novels include Hoot, Flush, Chomp, and Scat which are all great books (except I haven’t read Scat yet).

Hiaasen is exquisite at connecting with the reader and hooking the reader into being on his side. For me, watching the books in my head gave me new insight on animal conservation. Carl Hiaasen has inspired me and has always made me excited to read his next book. If you want to help owls then read Hoot: a great novel about owl conservation that won the Newbery Honor in 2003. Are the swamps of Florida your style? Then read Chomp: where alligators are entertaining to read!

chomp_coverAll of Hiaasen’s novels have amazing storylines, and for some of you it may make you inspired to look further into preserving the wild! Also, Hiaasen is one of those authors that can plant an image in your head that makes everything seem surreal. I am one of those people who are visual, and this helps me make a movie in my head about everything going on in the book.

If you have read one of Carl Hiaasen’s books, feel free to post a comment about it!

-Kyle H., 6th grade

Book vs. Movie: Harry Potter & Lord of the Rings

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hp_bookmovie Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are my favorite book series that have been turned into major motion pictures, and I think there can be an argument about which are better: books or movies.

The Harry Potter series is my favorite book series of all time, and I think the books have a lot more to offer than the movies. Movies can’t be too long or else your eyes would explode, so the producers and the directors shorten the actual stories and leave out some scenes, details, and even characters.

For example, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, there’s a very exciting scene from the book when Harry and Hermione are on their quest to find the Sorcerer’s Stone. After making it through the giant Wizard’s Chess set, they come across a table with a variety of potions. With only a riddle for their clue, they have to figure out which potion would allow them to continue safely versus which of the potions would send them back or even kill them!  I was so disappointed this scene was not in the movie because I really like how Hermoine uses her logic to decipher the riddle.

lotr_bookmovieWhen I read these series, I imagine what the characters and settings look like, but when I watch the movies I am seeing what the director visualized. In The Lord of the Rings, I imagined Helm’s Deep is a big, magnificent castle in a big, prosperous kingdom. But, when I saw the movie, it was a long wall with only one tower, one passageway, and only offered the refugees one small cave in the mountain behind the castle.

With The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series, I love the books because I can use my imagination to create pictures of the characters and scenes in my mind. But I also enjoy all the movies because the action scenes are a lot more intense than I would have thought… which is a good thing! Plus, all the cool background music adds to the intensity!

Overall, both the books and the movies have their advantages. Personally, I always read the books first so I can have fun creating the imagery myself– but then I like to watch the movies and see how someone else looks at the books. And all the cool special effects and computer graphics are really awesome!

What do you think?  You can leave a comment below and tell me which you think are better: BOOKS or MOVIES?

-Kyle H., 6th grade