A Series of Unfortunate Events the Bad Beginning

I do not think I have ever been so creeped out by a children's book before. The first line of the book gave a good indication of how the book would go "If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending; there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle." The three children the Violet, Klaus, and sunny were some of the unluckiest children ever. Their parents died in a fire and they are taken to live with a distant relative Count Olaf who is only after the money that is left to them by their parents. The first impression that the children get of Count Olaf is that he is a horrible person. "I wish I could tell you that the Baudelaires' first impressions of Count Olaf and his house were incorrect, as first impressions so often are. But these impressions—that Count Olaf was a horrible person, and his house a depressing pigsty—were absolutely correct." 

Count Olaf is horrible from the start. He never hides that he's after the money even after he learned that the money was only accessible when Violet turned of age. The time that they lived in Count Olaf's home was miserable. He forced them to clean his filthy house, only gave them one room to live with one bed. Ordered them to cook a meal for his acting troop then threw a fit when they didn't make roast beef. He then made a plan to get his hands on the money by forcing Violet to marry him by threatening her with the well being of her baby sister. Fortunately, Violet can ford his attempts and save her sister. Still, Count Olaf manages to get away, not without promising to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune and killing the children.

As I said, I have never been so creeped out by a children's book, but that didn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. It was interesting to see how the children got themselves out of a horrible situation. At the same time it broke my heart when it seemed like no one was willing to help them when they were obviously needing the help. Then the one person in the whole book that cared for them and let them use their library couldn't keep them in the end. I'm not sure how I had gone this long and never read a series of unfortunate events.

Beautiful Child

“Beautiful child was not the epithet I would have given Venus, now that I had the chance to look at her up close. She was neither clean not well cared for.” Torey Hayden wrote this book based on real-life events of the students that were in her classroom. Torey teaches special needs children, and its fair to say that this bunch of kids kept her hands full. Her class had five full times students Billy, Jesse, Shane, Zane, and Venus. At first, most of her struggles revolved around the boys physically attacking one another, then someone getting to close to Venus and her going as Billy would say “psycho.” Venus doesn’t talk or move on her own the only time she does is when she attacks another kid. Torey never gives up on any of her students, especially Venus. Torey spends extra time with her, reading books together, dancing around the classroom. Then when she starts to worry about Venus, she makes home visits. Torey suspects more is at play, and still, she never gives up on this little girl that others just shoved to the side. 

Being a special needs teacher must be hard. I admire the way she handles her “chipmunks” and keeps her classroom together even if its in chaos. She reminds me of a lot of my Aunt Candie, who works as a special education teacher. I’ve heard of stories of students having meltdowns and throwing chairs and desk in her classroom. Yet my Aunt is amazing. She’s always so levelheaded but also doesn’t take crap from anyone. This book is encouraging for future educators even gave me a few ideas for when I become a teacher one day myself. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows JK Rowling's final book is filled with mystery and suspense as she brings her series to a close. However, she manages to place hope within the book not only for her characters but for her readers as well. Harry is turning seventeen, which in the wizarding world means he's an adult, the charm that protected him from his biggest enemy was about to break, and he was going be in danger. The Order and his friends come up with a plan that disguise 6 of them to look identical to Harry with the use of Polyjuice potion. When they leave, they are attacked, and Mad eye is killed, and George loses his ear. Harry, although for the time, want to leave feeling that his presents put everyone in danger, he is on the hunt for Horcruxes that house parts of Voldemort's soul and need to be destroyed to defeat him. Ron, however, convinces him to stay a few more days so they can be there for when his brother gets married. Not that they must be there but because it gives them hope. 

I always seem to come back to Harry Potter. Mostly because I like to read fantasy and to be honest, I want to write fantasy, and what better ways to get ideas for when you write than to read? J.K. Rowling has always had a great talent for describing settings in her books; she was still able to captivate me and pull me into the story. Now thinking as a writer, I look at details the author uses in the book how she describes settings or people's appearances. 

"Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else, by comparison, today it beautified everybody it fell upon." 

I would want a student to have the ability to write and give details about settings or characters in their stories that don't seem so one tiered. I would use passaged like this to show them that there is more to someone's appearance then, she wore a white dress or that she looked pretty. Fleur in her wedding gown is beautiful, but it's not because J.K. Rowling said it in such a straight forth manor. As a writer, I want to be able to do the same thing. 

Crash

Crash by Lisa McMann

“Don’t do drugs,” he said seriously. “Our family has enough problems” It’s a little strange and hear this line within the first few minutes of a book. Lisa McMann has written one of my favorite book series to date, so when looking through a selection of books, the name stood out to me. This book is written in the first person of Jules Demarco, a sixteen-year-old girl who works in her family’s pizzeria in Chicago. Jules is not your average girl. She sees a vision of a snowplow crashing into a side of a building resulting in an explosion resulting in nine body bags lying on the floor. The image is something only Jules can see and its roles on billboards and in advertisements on TV. The vision becomes more intense and happens more often to the point that all she sees are these visions. Jules can identify one of the bodies as the boy she is in love with names Sawyer but also works for a rivaling pizzeria. Throughout the book, Jules is trying to find out when this accident happens and how to stop it to save the person she loves. There are other elements of this book that touch on some touchy subjects, like her brother is gay, her grandfather committed suicide. Her father suffered from depression and had trapped their family in his hoarding habits. Of course, there is also the cliché “Romeo and Juliet” dynamic that Jules and Sawyer have. Forced to stay away from the other because of the bad blood between the families.

I did like that she didn’t shy away from these real everyday problems in her book. It doesn’t matter what age a child is. There is a chance that they can deal with some of these situations, and it touches on a lot. A child could either be the one in these situations dealing with depression or abuse first and or they could be like Jules and see it when her father suffers from it. “Crash” may be too advanced for younger children, but for young adults and teens, it would be right up their alley. It allows the reader to experience real-life scenarios with some supernatural as well.