So Far From the Bamboo Grove OP #1

1.I think that Yoko's personality is very kid-like. I also think that she is very kind and she likes being around people. I can tell that she doesnt really like the idea of war. "Children began sobbing. I felt terrible for them . . ."

2.I think that Yoko and Ko are pretty much your average sisters. I think that Yoko likes her sister, but at times she doesn't she doesn't. I think that Yoko is more playful, and that Ko is more serious. "'You have no time for that!' Ko scread at me. 'Hurry up and fill the canteens!'"

3. I think that they all react kind of differently to all of the patiens on the train. I think that Yoko showed that she was very nice and kind to other people, like when she left her canteen for the woman who had given birth just a day or two before. I think that Ko is also very kind, but more serious about things, like when she didn't want Yoko to give her water to the pregnant lady (before she gave birth). I think that Yoko's mother is also very kind yet not as serious as Ko, she is also a little bit more serious about things, like when she made Yoko give her blanket to the woman who had just given birth.

Weekly Vocabulary #4

1. respite: a feeling of relief
2. unscrupulous: without a concience and withought principals
3. stalwart: very strong, brave, or valiant
4. menagerie: a place where a lot of strange animals are kept
5. spawn: a person or thing that is reffered to as offsrping of some stock or an animal

Weekly Reading Response #4

Name: Alex H.
Title: Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Total pages this week: 58
Date: Friday, November 23rd, 2007
Time: two hours
Pages: 159-216


RESPONSE:


Ella is still looking for any way to undo her curse of always being obedient. She has found that she loves the prince of the town that she lives in and writes to him frequently. Her father has married the mother of the two girls that she hates to get more money and he has left to go sell things because he is a merchant. Ella is left at her new home with Mandy, her new step-sisters, and "Mum Olga". Mum Olga treats her like a slave because she does everything she is told. So Mandy, being a fairy too, calls Lucinda to their house and makes herself pbedient to see how its like. She finds out how dangerous it is and will never use big magic again, therefore leaving Ella cursed for the rest of her life. Ella wants to marry prince Charmont, but her curse will get in the way if she were to be a queen. Ella goes to a ball that Char hosts, but Ella is disguised as Lela. But then Char makes her go see his father and they're wondering why she wears a mask and will not take it off.

Next, I think that they will tell her to take off the mask, and she will have to and that maybe Ella will be noticed. If she were to get noticed then maybe he will ask her why she won't marry him. Then, maybe she will have to tell him about the curse. If she does tell him about the curse then maybe he will love her even more and even protect her from obeying as much by reversing the command. Maybe Ella will even somehow get Lucinda to take away the curse, but that's not very likely.

I would like to read another book by this author, even though this one has fairy's and Ogres in it. I would like to read another book by this author because I would like to see the similarities and differences. Also because I like how he makes it all seem so real even though it could never be real. The author gives a real discriptive, yet not boring, writing style and it really gives you an image of what it looks like in your head.

In the book, what really surprised me was when Sir Peter, Ella's Father, married "Mum Olga". I really thought he would make Ella find someone or something. Also, even if he were going to marry, I never thought he would marry her. Lucinda also layed a curse on Sir Peter and Mum Olga to stay maarried and happy together for ever and ever until they die. That is part of the reason why Sir Peter wanted to get away, because he never like Mum Olga, he only needed money fast. Next post should be the very end of the book, and hopefully Ella does get married to the prince and undo's her curse.

Weekly Vocabulary #3

1. guile: really crafty or can decieve someone easily by using their craftiness
2.knave: a male sservant, normally untrustworthy or something of that sort
3.beau: a boyfriend or a male companion to a girl or woman
4.pitality: sorrow or like to feel sorry for
5.solicitous: concerened or worried or eager

Weekly Reading Response #3

Name: Alexandra Harris
Title: Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Total Pages This Week: 56
Date: Friday, November 16th, 2007
Time Read: 2 hours and 10 minutes

Response:

A lot of things just happened in this book. Ella was sent away to finishing school. But then she ran away because she didn't like it and much more. So then she went to look for the fairy that gave her her curse. But then, Ogres are a bout to eat her. Char then comes along and saves her and Ella found the fairy she was looking for. The fairy refused to take back the gift. Ella made it home safetly but then her father became poor. Then he almost forced Ella to get married but he got married instead of marrying off her. Then he got married to the mother of the two girls that she hates so they're sisters now. Ella meets back with Char, the prince, and hangs-out with him for a while while her parents get married because the fairy is down the stairs in the castle that they were in, and Ella did not want to see the fairy any more.

Next, I think that Ella might go look for Lucinda, the fairy, and try to beg her to undo the curse.
Maybe then her new sisters will boss her around more and become her worst enemy. Maybe then Ella's new mom will not like that they are poor and try to get a devorce. The thing is that Lucinda gave a curse to them at the wedding, so that they have to stay married forever, or at least until they die. Maybe Ella will get her worst command ever and hopefully, like the movie, she will undo the curse.

Throughout the whole book I always wonder why someone can't tell her to stop obeying. It could be possible that they already tried and that didn't work. Or that they already know that it won't work because in the begining of the book it said that no other person or fairy could undo the curse. I would really like one of them to at least try it and who knows? Maybe it would work.

A few of my favorite characters so far in this book are Char and Ella. I like Ella because she keeps trying to get this curse un-done and she won't give up. Pluse she seems so nice and fun to be around, even though she does everything she's asked and she's clumsy. I like Char because he just seems so nice and down-to-earth. I really like reading this book because it is just so fun to read and it makes you want to know what is going to happen next, even though it has Ogres and Fairies in it. :)

Weekly Reading Response #2

Name: Alexandra Harris
Date: 11-09-07
Title: Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Total Pages read this week: 53
Time Read: aproximately 2hours and fifteen minutes
Pages: (NA)

Review:
In the book, Ella just got to know Char a little bit more, but then Ella's father sent her to finishing school after she broke a wine glass because she is clumsy. She recieved a book from her cook, Mandy, who is a fairy. The book has a lot of letters to her and other people which keeps her intact with the life back home. She went to finishing school with the bratty, snoby girls that she met, Hattie and Olive. Hattie has figured out about her curse and uses her as a robot. Ella tries to get back at her by doing the wrong thing or by out-smarting her with her demands. Ella just escaped from finishing school and met some nice elves that helped her with her traveling to get to Lucinda, the fairy that gave her the curse, to see if she can reverse it even though Lucinda isn't ery easy to make a deal with. Then she met some Ogres who want to eat her but as she tries to escape, the curse won't let her. So she is currently dinner.

Next I think that Ella will make a deal of some sort of deal with them. Maybe she will trade them her life for one of her precious items. Maybe then the Ogres can help her get to where she needs to go. If that happens maybe then Lucinda isn't even there and then she will have to make anoher deal with the Ogres to get to where Lucinda will be next. And Ella can find out where Lucinda is next with her magic fairy book. Then maybe Ella can become friends with the Ogres.

If I had to chose a character to be in this book, it would probably be Ella if she didn't have a curse and her mother didn't die. But because that just happened to her, I would probably be Ella's cook, Mandy. I would like to be her because she is a fairy and can do a lot of things with her magic. In the book, Ella broke a pot and as she started to pick up the peices, Mandy just make them go to the trash can. That would be really usefull in my life and probably a lot of other people.

I think that the theme of this book is to not give up. Like I said on my first book review post, they made this book into a movie in which at the end she finally breaks the curse. This shows to not give up because Ella keeps trying to get something done that she really truly wants to happen and that she believes in. I think this is a great lesson in life because you can use it in many things and if it's what you believe in and you don't give up, you can make a difference.

Weekly Vocabulary

1. spectacle: embarassed of a public display of some sort
2. tress: a curly que or a ringlette of hair
3. rouge: blush/pink make-up usually for the lips or cheeks
4. minx: flirtacious, usually used for a girl
5. grieving:being sad or sorrow

Weekly Reading Response #1

Name: Alexandra Date: November 2, 2007
Title: Ella Enchanted Time: about and hour and a half
Author: Gail Carson Levine Pages 3-45
Total pages this week: 42
Response:

So far in my book, Ella's mother died and her dad is going to send her to finishing school because he thinks she is clumsy and uneducated. Ella just realized that she likes Char as a friend and they just tried to save a toddler Ogre but an adult Ogre just ordered her to give the toddler Ogre to him, which isn't good because she has to obey orders.
My prediction:
I predict that Ella will try to resist giving the toddler to the Ogre but then she will have to give the Ogre to the other one. Then I think Char will try to get the Ogre back and follow the other Ogre as he tries to hide or run away. Then I think Ella will follow Char and then they will be lost in the woods somewhere. Maybe then more Ogres will come, but hopefully they all stay safe and they get the toddler Ogre back.
I wish that Ella's mother didn't die in the book, at least not at the way beginning. I really liked her and wish she was still one of the characters. I would change that the friends that Ella met were so stuck-up and rude and I wish that she wouldn't have to go to finishing school with them.
My favorite characters so far are Prince Charmont (aka Char) and Ella because they are the nicer ones out of the book and the most realistic out of the non-realistic book.
My least favorite characters in this book are Hattie and Olive, the rude people that Ella just met, because they are so ignorant and mean to everyone. They're bratty and selfish, which I don't like, and they really need to have more manners. Their mom is just as bad though so I hope they get what they deserve.
There is also a movie that this book was made into. I saw the movie and so far it is really different from it. I am looking forward to seeing what happened and to really use my imagination on what this place looked like and how different it is from the movie.