Archive of ‘Books’ category

30
May
2023

My World

categories: 6th Grade, Books, brochure, Ideal World, Ziabong

When I read The Last Cuentista, it was a totally new genre, and probably new for everyone in the class. Mexican folklore and Sci-fi is not a mix that I have ever encountered. But it was a brilliant book, taking winding turns that I never would have expected. The Last Cuentista is about a 12 year old girl who goes to a different planet because earth is being destroyed. Sadly, her grandmother is going along with the earth. The spaceship is high tech, and will keep them trapped through time for over 300 years until they arrive at the next planet. Little did they know they were trying to erase the kid’s memories and make them servants, like robots. Petra is trying to find her parents, while also trying to use the power of stories from her grandmother to keep the children’s’ memories of earth and their parents alive.

The power of stories is a key concept. She had to keep the stories going, and they were the one thing that lit her up when she was feeling helpless. Keeping stories going is important because a lot of them are passed down from our ancestors and are part of our culture. So keeping these stories alive, is also keeping part of our culture alive along with them.

Coming off of the topic of traveling to a new topic, we were asked to make our own ideal world, our own ideal planet. It was really fascinating to get to make all the decisions. That means, I got to create a planet, even if there was magic, or it was totally unrealistic to let say, earth. I got to create the wildlife, and I chose  to make continents reflecting the four seasons. This project does make you think about what you wish the world would be, and what you wish it wouldn’t be, for example, my world wouldn’t be polluted, and it would have a sunset sky all day and night long.

After we made our ideal world and put it down on a google doc, we made a planet book. We had a guest local artist named Peg Gignoux come and help us create the cover, and press and ink nature into paper using akua ink. We also had a surprise opening in our book reflecting on a scene we could find in our ideal world, and a way to see it. I used leaves that I pressed, and the scene I used was from the continent of autumn. We folded, cut, and eventually, made round covers for the whole planet appeal.then, we put our planet’s name on the cover. My planet’s name is planet Ziabong, named after the luscious ziabong fruit. 

In conclusion, this was a great activity in our language arts class that made us think, and pushed us to make the world we wanted to see, to be creative, and to put ourselves in the shoes of others. I really enjoyed this project, and am seriously considering taking the ideal world to a new level, and even writing a book about it, because you can be creative, and it will unfold in front of your very eyes. Because of this, I encourage you, the viewer of this post, to take at least five minutes, if not more to consider what your ideal would look like. You can think about this anywhere, in bed, a brain break from working, and feel free to jot your thoughts down.

25
Jan
2023

Tornado Brain

categories: 6th Grade, Book reccomendation, Books

Image from Sora

This week, I read a book called Tornado Brain. It’s a really good book about a girl named Frankie that doesn’t like being touched or big changes in life. In this book, her friend goes missing and Frankie tries to look for clues, and ways that she can find her friend. 

This book feels like a window for me, because she lives at a beach house, and is braver than I think that I am. 

This is a great mystery by Cat Patrick. It sucked me in within the first page of the prologue. I chose this book, because it was recommended from a book website that I went to. I usually don’t like mystery, (or read it) so I decided to try this book to read a new genre, and I was surprised. This book starts as realistic fiction, gradually making its way into mystery. This is good for people that like mystery, and people that like realistic fiction, because it eases in in a transition. I would recommend this book, because it was hard to put down.

 

 

26
Oct
2022

Emily W’s Backpack

categories: 6th Grade, Books

During summer break, we read a book called Finding Someplace by Denise Lewis Patrick. The book takes place in New Orleans, August 2005. In the book Reesie, the main character, is forced out of her house with only a backpack’s worth of belongings. She’s the only person in the house, so she has to get important things for everyone. With only 15 minutes, she has to make smart decisions. The only consequence to forgetting something, is the fact that everything she forgets will be flooded and ruined.

If I were in this situation, with the same tight time frame, I might think about different things to add, starting with clementine oranges. They’re small, healthy, and filling, leaving room in my backpack for everything else. Like Reesie, I would pack money and any electronics with its own wifi. Adding to that, I would bring a pre-charged, on the go charger. I would definitely pack a water bottle in the side pocket and a couple bags of candy. Candy would be helpful because they usually come in mostly flat bags and most people like candy. Bringing passports would also be on the top priority list so that if my town was entirely flooded, I would be able to go somewhere. Oversize sweaters to sleep in would be ideal. Also, feminine and mouth products. I would bring four magazines, One for each person. I would get my dad one of his work ones, my mom a cooking one, my sister I don’t know, and me, an animal one. They would come in handy because they are thin  and are fun to read. Lastly, I would include pairs of backup glasses for each person that needs them.

This was a hard task to think about because I was getting things for each person. When I write this, I am assuming this was a day where both my parents were at work, my sister was at school, and I was randomly home alone. This book has given me the chance to think about this thought and I hope that nothing like this ever happens. At the same time, I’m glad that I read this book, because I got to “see” what it was like to be in hurricane Katrina. I’m happy that I got to see a fresh perspective with this awesome book.