Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Nirmeet Bhogill

Valentine’s Day is coming up! Finally, the day that every couple is waiting for (or almost every couple)! Many Americans look forward to February 14 every year, most famously known as Valentine’s Day. Although this is considered the day of spreading and receiving love, not many Americans know the true background of this cherished tradition.

Valentine’s Day is also known as the feast of Saint Valentine. The most famous story: Saint Valentine of Rome was caught holding weddings for forbidden soldiers and for assisting Christians. Legend says, Saint Valentine “healed” his imprisoner’s daughter. It is told that before his last breath, he wrote a note to her signing off with “Your Valentine.” This legend is very unique in its own way, but few know of it. Also, many individuals are not aware that this holiday is celebrated in the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Communion every year, starting off with an enormous feast.

Valentines day is a celebration, a celebration of love, friendship, and family. Although a sensitive stereotype is created- that Valentine’s Day is only to be celebrated within a couple, it is not the true meaning of the popular tradition. So, give some affection and show your partner in crime, your best friend, and your family some love!

-Nirmeet B., 10th grade

Saving Mr. Banks: The Making of Mary Poppins

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Kelsey H.

I recently saw the Saving Mr. Banks movie and I thought it was fascinating! I feel that what this movie unveils is unprecedented in the multimedia world because it actually takes you into the making of the movie. However, the movie was really more about the author of Mary Poppins, and her struggles in maintaining control over her story in the film making process. I read the original Mary Poppins this past summer, and I was shocked at how different the book is from the Julie Andrew’s nanny figure we all know.

First of all, how does one put music to a book? That is amazing that the Walt Disney musicians could actually make the book into a musical‼ In the movie, P.L. Travers (played in this film by Emma Thompson) explicitly states no singing or dancing in her movie. But by the end of the process, well… let’s just say that she was inspired. You’ll have to watch the movie to see what happens!

The most important part of Mary Poppins is not the Mary Poppins character, however- it’s Mr. Banks, the father of the Banks children whom Mrs. Poppins watches over. The movie really went into the depth of Mrs. Travers’ childhood inspiration. Throughout the movie, Mrs. Travers has flashbacks to her childhood and it is revealed to the viewer the hardships her family underwent. In the current time of the movie- around the 1960s- it was very common for authors to take a pen name, especially ones that did not reveal their gender. P.L. Travers adopted her father’s name as her own because it is obvious that she greatly loved and respected him. During a few flashbacks, her father tells her to never stop dreaming despite her mother’s practicality. Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) tries desperately to understand why this woman is so hard to please in the movie room-all of their suggestions fail in the eyes of Mrs. Travers. Towards the end of the movie, Walt shows up at Mrs. Travers’ apartment in England, where he shows her that Mary Poppins is family to him also. He finally connects Mrs. Travers’ father to Mr. Banks and understands why she was having such trouble with their portrayal of him.

I love how Emma Thompson portrays this abrupt, posh English author. She does such a phenomenal job at showing the transition from this uptight woman into a fun, emotional lady at the end of the movie. I can easily connect P.L. Travers to Mary Poppins, because they are both proper, British, and inwardly kind. I really enjoyed the movie and the “behind the scenes” of one of the most classic stories of all time.

-Kelsey H., 10th grade

Disney’s Frozen vs. Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Sarah B.

Disney has remade many classics fairy tales into movies. Their latest animated feature is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “The Snow Queen.” Disney spun this tale into their newest movie, Frozen.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!

In Andersen’s version, the story focuses on the relationships between two childhood friends, Kay and Gerda. In the story, trolls send an evil mirror down to Earth and it breaks into pieces and a piece of it lands in Kay’s heart which will turn his heart into a lump of ice. A piece also lands in his eye, making him aware of all of the world’s imperfections. A few nights later when it is snowing he sees the Snow Queen but she quickly fades away. The next day the Snow Queen steals him away and Gerda goes on a search to find him. The Snow Queen is made out to be the villain and Gerda, the hero. She finds Kay blue as ice and dying. Gerda’s cries and her hot tears melt the ice in his heart and Kay begins to cry, too, and the mirror comes out of his eye. The story ends when they go home and summer begins.

Disney’s adaptation, Frozen, is a much more emotional tale. It is a story of sisters, Anna and Elsa of Arendelle. The girls were best friends as children but Elsa had a secret: she had ice powers that she could not control. Once, when playing with Anna, she accidentally struck ice into her head. Their parents rushed her to the trolls and they wiped her memory of her sister’s powers and that saved her life. Elsa was from then on, forced to keep her distance from Anna to protect her. The two became estranged and enclosed. Their parents closed the gate to their castle to shelter their children. They soon after passed away, leaving Elsa to the throne. The castle is reopened for the first time in years for Elsa’s coronation. Elsa becomes nervous and accidentally reveals her powers in front of the kingdom and sets off an eternal winter. She runs away and Anna goes to find her. She tries to convince her sister to come home and bring summer back. They begin to argue and Elsa accidentally strikes Anna in the heart with ice and only an action of true love can save her.

I personally preferred Disney’s rendition of “The Snow Queen.” The movie was heart warming and magical. It brought so much emotion into the story and gave it a depth that the original story lacked. It quickly became one of my favorite Disney movies. The animation and the soundtrack to the movie were phenomenal. The cast was flawless and the film was absolutely fantastic! I’d recommend everyone to see it!

-Sarah B., 12th grade

Print Books vs Ebooks: A Visual Guide

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Leila S.

Do you have bookshelves full of books, or a tablet on which plenty of books are stored? These are two ways that people today can read. A person can read in the traditional way with a printed book. Or, books can be read virtually on any electronic device. Both of these forms of reading have their advantages and disadvantages. Below, the main reasons for and against each side are presented.

Now that you have more information on this debate, which method do you believe is better? Or would you prefer to read with a combination of both? Whatever you chose, just make sure you read!

-Leila S., 8th grade

Manga vs. Graphic Novels

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Linna C.

Even though graphic novels and manga have many differences, they are alike in some ways, one of them being that they mostly use art to tell their story. For scenery, what in a normal book would take a few sentences only takes one frame in these kinds of books.

Manga are not the same as what you might think of as comic books. Manga reads right to left. Graphic novels and comic books read left to right. Though these differences are evident at first glance, most people still don’t know the difference between graphic novels and manga. At first I didn’t know the difference either, but over time I have come to recognize their characteristics and can now tell them apart.

One of the differences, as previously mentioned, is that manga reads right to left, while graphic novels read left to right, the way we are used to. The reason that manga reads “backwards” is because that is the traditional way the people read in Japan. The only publishing conversions that are made from Japan to America are that it is translated from Japanese to English, and that maybe the translator put in some notes. When manga first started being published in the U.S., publishers would “flip” the pages as to not to confuse readers as much. However, there was a downside to this. For example, a poster in the background saying, “Happy Birthday”,would read, “yadhtriB yppaH”. To preserve the original format, publishers now publish them right to left.

For me, another difference between manga and graphic novels is just the feel of the art. Manga has a more flowy style, while graphic novels have a choppier feel to them. Most manga also have titles that were not fully translated into English, and an example of a graphic novel could be a more modern version of a comic book.

Personally, since I have been reading manga for a long time, I feel that graphic novels are a tad tacky. Nevertheless, I love reading either manga or graphic novels in my spare time, and both kinds are usually enjoyable for people of all ages.

-Linna C., 7th grade

The Fantasy Genre: Helpful or Not?

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Sarah B.

Cover art by Kazu Kibuishi for the 15th anniversary edition of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In an article published last month in The Telegraph, author Joanna Trollope declares the fantasy genre to be less “helpful” than the classics. I disagree with her assertion but I understand why she finds the fantasy genre to be less helpful than classic novels. A quote by another author, Neil Gaiman, summarizes what I learned from the article:

“Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child’s love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian “improving” literature. You’ll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant.”

This quote reveals the possible consequences of dragging children away from the fantasy genre. I believe that Trollope means well by wanting children to challenge themselves with classic novels, but forcing children away from the fantasy genre will only hurt them. Readers of all ages, especially children need the fantasy genre to show them that there is so much more to our world than it appears. However, regardless of what children choose to read, is important to encourage them to continue to read.

Yet, I believe that the fantasy genre can facilitate much more imagination and intelligence than classic novels are able to. I believe that the fantasy genre is, in fact, more helpful than the classics. While I love both classic novels and fantasy novels, I find that fantasy novels are much more helpful to me than classics are. To me, they are more relatable and frankly much more interesting.

A fantasy title that has helped me grow and learn is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. These novels have left such a profound impression upon me and they have become a part of me. They offered me an entire universe to explore and escape to. They have shown me love, hope, and even death. They have done more for me than any other novel of any other genres have.

The fantasy genre is quite commonly dismissed like the way we see in this article, but those who read the genre know that it is so much more than escapism. It allows the reader to see the world in a different way. A quote that exemplifies this is:

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten” – G.K. Chesterton

This quote is important because it emphasizes the very essence of fairy tales and the fantasy genre as a whole. They inspire and give hope to the reader. They make them believe in not only magic or monsters but in themselves. The fantasy genre provides a whole new world for readers of all ages. Through fantastical lands and creatures, they are exposed to new points of view and experiences that they are not able to gain from any other genre. The fantasy genre is essential for readers because it shows them that there is more to life than their own life.

-Sarah B., 12th grade

Music Pairings: The Fairyland series, by Catherynne M. Valente

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Maya S.

This wonderfully-written small series starts out with a 12-year-old girl, September, living her own life with only her mother and her father away at war until one night she falls into another dimension where she meets the best of friends and starts the adventure that has been waiting for her since the day she was born.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making

She woke up to world full of vibrant colors and rich foods with birds and all sorts of animals welcoming her to Fairyland. She learns many things including an expedition of her own and also finds out things she might not have wanted to know. September discovers the ‘enemy’ is just a mirror of herself. She battles her own brains and wits. Her time has run out in Fairyland. She must return to civilization.

The perfect soundtrack for this scene would be Get Back by the Beatles because the song shows that life is not perfect, and sometimes you have to ‘Get Back to where you once belonged’. She returns to a place where there is smog everywhere, the food on her plate is not good quality, and where the birds sing a sad tired song instead of a skipping happy one in Fairyland. Will September accomplish what she set out to do? Would the final song be We are the Champions by Queen while the credits roll?

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

September has been waiting for almost a year to go back to Fairyland. If this were a movie, I think as they start the movie when the producer and executive producer–and the other almost ‘annoying’ information is displayed that just delays the start of the movie–the song should be You Can’t Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones because she was expecting that she was going to be able to go to Fairyland again in the spring. But like it says in the song ‘If you try sometimes, you just might find… you get what you need!’ September got what was needed. On the night of September’s 13th birthday, she was called into the delight of Fairyland. Instead of Fairyland-Above, she fell beneath Fairyland where she went on another adventure, but this time without her normal friends. She strived to get the one part of the puzzle that will satisfy her forever. I picture the song We are Family by Sister Pledge connected with this scene for the emotion. When she walked back home that night, she saw two figures talking under the porch light. She ran toward them…

I would recommend these 10-out-of-10 novels to any middle grader who thinks they have a spark of adventure in them.

-Maya S., 6th grade

Looking Forward to The Fault In our Stars Movie

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Sara S.

We’ve all read and fallen in love with the book, but will the movie live up to our expectations? John Green’s bestselling novel The Fault In Our Stars is finally being made into a movie, set to hit theaters on June 6, 2014.

Award-winning actress Shailene Woodley has been cast to play the main character, Hazel Grace, and Augustus Waters is being portrayed by the actor Ansel Elgort, and although he isn’t as famous or well known as Shailene, he seems to fit the role just as well. And of course, many of us remember him from the Nickelodeon TV show “The Naked Brothers Band,” Nat Wolff is going to be playing Augustus’ best friend, Isaac. With this cast performing as the main characters, it’s sure to be a hit.

Not to mention author John Green has been tweeting his anticipation for the movie since it began filming. Updating us with pictures, videos, and tweets on set, it’s clear he is as excited as the rest of us.

I think The Fault in Our Stars will be quite similar to the Perks of Being a Wallflower movie. Although the two books are completely different, they both reached a wide audience and perfected the cast and movie and gave the fans of the book something to be happy with (which is usually very rare). All in all, the movie will no doubt be a success, and I am very much looking forward to seeing it.

-Sara S., 10th grade

Top 5 Fictional Schools I’d Like to Attend

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Danielle K.

image copyright Warner Bros.

1. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
After living in the wizarding world for the duration of the saga, who didn’t deny their muggle roots, and delude themselves into believing they possessed the ability to spell-cast? What if you could live in Harry’s world, where you would receive your attendance letter when you turn eleven and get shipped off on the Hogwarts Express for your first year (unless you’re a Squib, of course ) in September? My friends and I still reassure ourselves that our letters obviously got lost via owl post, and Dumbledore will make an exception when he discovers his tragic mistake… and we’re going on fourteen.
See also: Beauxbatons Academy of Magic or Dumstrang Institute of Sorcery

2. Camp Half-Blood from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan
Don’t want to be a wizard? How about the child of a Greek god? Your friends would be your family (literally, for all the gods have some relation to one another; therefore, their children do as well). You’d have the opportunity to venture into the mortal world and perform dangerous tasks for the gods (which you would hopefully succeed). Plus, who wouldn’t want to be a demigod? I definitely would.
See also: Camp Jupiter from the Heroes of Olympus series (for those with Roman deity heritage)

3. The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women from the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter
The girls who attend this school have reputations of rich, genius heiresses, but they’re really clandestine agents-in-training for the CIA, under cover. I would absolutely love to be trained in the art of espionage, and going to a school that specializes in just that? Now that would be awesome.
See also: Blackthorne Institute for Troubled Young Men (I thought it was even cooler than the girls’ spy school! For those of you who have read the books, you know who the boys really are. Those of you who haven’t– read the books; you’ll find out.)

4. The Princess Academy from Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Every girl (okay, most girls…) wanted to be a princess at one point in time, whether you idolized Snow White, or someone a bit more like Mulan. At the Princess Academy, competition and challenges prevail in order to discover the best fit for the throne; whether its testing your poise and composure in times of danger or your tolerance when it comes to the immature practical jokes of your classmates, the Princess Academy separates the arrogant from the strong, and the smart from the intelligent.

5. The Alpha Academy from the Alphas series by Lisi Harrison
The Alpha Academy is a school for the next generation of powerful, influential woman (sorry, boys!), “without any distractions from the mediocre world.” The girls are forced to compete — after all, there can only be one Alpha — for worldwide fame, fortune, and guaranteed success in life. The series was… okay… (not exactly my cup of tea) but being the fairly competitive person I am, I absolutely fell in love with the idea of a school where it is a part of your everyday life; a place where females are dominant, manipulation of your peers is seen as resourceful on your fight to the top, and smarts are valued, and never overlooked.

What Hogwarts house would you be in: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin???

Who would be your godly parent??

What fictional school would you like to attend?

Share in the comments!

-Danielle K., 8th grade

Comparison: The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had vs. The Lions of Little Rock

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Danielle L.

Kristen Levine has composed two books so far on the same topic, black people and white people. I read both, and loved them!!

Both of these books are about the times when people with black skin and people with white skin were separated. Below are comparisons of The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had with The Lions of Little Rock.

These are just some typical comparisons. Nothing detailed as you see. The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had was written before The Lions of Little Rock. They are both smoothly written and wonderful books!

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had is a fictional story about a boy named Dit (who tells the story) who expects the new mailman’s white boy to come for the next year. At least that’s what he’s told. The new mailman’s child turns out to be a black girl named Emma! Emma is neat and loves to read while Dit is messy and doesn’t care much for grammar or reading. The two twelve-year-old kids don’t get along at first, but then they become best friends who can do anything! And that comes in handy when Big Foot, the town’s lawman, gets a little stirred up since a white boy is friends with a black girl. A big incident happens (read the book to find out what it is!) and it’s up to Dit and Emma to fix it.

The Lions of Little Rock takes place in 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, focusing on fictional characters named Marlee (who tells the story) and Liz. Although physically able, Marlee chooses to be a “mute” because she’s afraid she’ll say something stupid. On the first day of middle school, a new girl named Liz shows up. Liz and Marlee quickly become friends. Then one day, Liz suddenly leaves school. Rumors are, she was “passing” as a white student. Marlee and Liz manage to stay friends, through thick and thin, through black and white. Lots of things in this book are things we can relate to such as mean people, crushes, bullies, and personal fears. There are also things we can’t relate to because we’re in 2013 while they’re in 1958. But it all ties together in a remarkable and unexpected friendship between Liz and Marlee.

-Danielle L., 6th grade

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