The Snow Child: Is She Real?

            In the novel, The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey, the story is told of and older couple, Mable and Jack, who move to a homestead in Alaska to seek a new life of adventure after they are unable to have a baby...but it is not what they get. They are bored with their lives, with each other, and with the humdrum routine of their everyday life. One night, on the first snow of winter, they build a snow girl, and no ordinary one. Every detail is sculpted with delicate preciseness, from the curve of her cheeks to the scarf and mittens that kept her warm. The next morning, she is gone, nothing but crushed snow remaining, but a little girl from the woods has taken her place. They thought their prayers had been answered, a little girl lost and in need of protection that they can call their own. She wore the same clothes that had disappeared from the snow child. This event causes the reader to want to know more about the child, who we later learn is named Faina. Questions plague our minds: Is she real? Is she just a hallucination? A lost dream that they can never have? Is it magic that conjured her up from just the ordinary snow? No one else aside from the couple had ever seen her, and it would stay that way for many years, until she finally meets some of their neighbor friends. She eventually adjusts to the normal life of the homesteaders but still has mysterious tendencies. She disappears at night into the woods, survives perfectly well on her own, and must remain cool at all times or else she begins to fever. These traits makes us contemplate whether her existence was real of conjured up by Jack and Mable's misery. One thing remains clear throughout the entire novel, though: to Jack and Mable, she was always real.

Gun Control

The amount of control that authority should have on guns is a huge issue that plagues our society today. In one of my classes, we recently watched Bowling for Columbine, written, produced, and directed by Michael Moore. The way he portrays the issue of gun safety is quite entertaining and hilarious, despite the seriousness of the issue. My extended family (believe it or not with our heritage) are very big hunters. They are not particularly fans of the Safe Act, due to the fact that limits the amount of ammunition that can be in guns, but they respect it due to the issues that have transpired in schools and even just on the streets. I believe that gun safety is extremely important to have in our society to protect from gun violence and anymore unwanted and unnecessary death.

How many books have we read this year?

The amount of books we have read this year is overwhelming...
>Montana 1948
>The First Part Last
>The House on Mango Street
>Rattlebone
>The Snow Child
>Age of Miracles
>Twenty Love Poems
>The Book of Qualities
>Love that Dog
>Brighton Beach Memoirs
>Fences
>The Zoo Story
>12 Angry Men
>Thief of Always
>Our Town
>After
>Murder on the Orient Express
>Operation Red Jericho
>Romeo and Juliet
>Oedipus the King
>The Book Thief
>The Maze Runner
>The Fault in Our Stars
>Of Mice and Men
and the answer is 24!

All the World Gone

Check it out, the finished edition of my sci-fi story!
^^^Click the link above to view it^^^

The Book Thief Quick Review

            In my English class, we were recently assigned book to read in literature circles. I chose The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak. It was an excellent read. It is about a young girl, Liesel, who has been dropped off at a stranger's house and was told that was her new family after her mother was mysteriously taken. She becomes a part of the family and the neighborhood of Himmel Street, gaining new friends and new enemies. She is obsessed with one goal throughout the story: reading. She is so determined to read that she steals books from many different sources...including a book-burning. The story is mainly a bildungsroman, or coming of age story, but has a bit of a twist as it takes place during WW2, Nazi Germany. The strict behavior required by the Nazis plays a huge role in the plot. Certain behavior is expected, and those who stray from it face imminent danger. Leisel strays very far. She steals food with her friend, she breaks in to the mayor's house, and her family even harbors a Jew in their basement. The description of her journey through learning the ways of life of Himmel Street in Nazi Germany almost forces you to feel what she feels and see what she sees. This is a very excellent book and is strongly recommended.

                                                                                    

      

The Queen Mary Hotel

            In Long Beach, California, a hair-raising retired ship sits at the docks as a frightening hotel tourist attraction. The Queen Mary. Many spirits amble among the chilling hallways where many lost their lives in vain.

            Many deaths loom aboard the Queen Mary. It was a ship used to transport Allied troops in WW2, and one day unintentionally barrelled right into its escort ship. Forbidden to stop, it left hundreds to drown in the harsh waters. After the war, the ship returned to transporting the wealthy across the Atlantic. More murders followed. Two women drown to death in the pool when it collided with a large wave, knocking them in. A little girl, Jackie, also haunts the pool, breaking her neck there when she fell off of the waterslide. All three of these spirits have been heard or seen at the pool. The engine room is also of infamousy. Two young crewmen were crushed to death by the heavy metal door of room #13. Then, in 1966, another young man was crushed by the same door in a drill. This man’s particular spirit has been said to walk about the engine room and neighboring hallways, drastically dropping temperatures and omitting ghastly sounds.

            The Queen Mary has been a chilling attraction for years, attractive everyone from a curious tourist to top-notch movie producers. The presences are so strong that they have been caught on video and tape, making it the perfect destination for a ghost hunt. Glowing orbs of losts souls, sorrowful moans of young lives gone, and weeping, screeching children searching for their loved ones are only some of the known experiences. The hotel has seduced many, barely anyone ever leaving without feeling something, a breath, a cry, of hundreds of lost souls searching for salvation.  

Hint Fiction Pt. 2

If you are unfamiliar with hint fiction, see 'Hint Fiction', post.

                                                                    Bath Time

Water engulfed her head completely. She struggled against losing consciousness. ‘Mother, stop!’ she cried. Only bubbles reached the surface.

La Isla de Las Muñecas

            In one of my classes, we were instructed to create a newsletter on any topic of our liking. My friend and I decided to write one on paranormal occurrences and places. One of the places we found particularly caught my attention: La Isla de las Muñecas, or the Island of the Dolls.

            La Isla de las Muñecas, or the Island of the Dolls, is a creepy tourist attraction that has frightened visitors for years. The Island of the Dolls is located south of Mexico City, within an extensive network of canals.

It is said that three young girls once visited the island, but only two returned. One of the girls drowned in a canal. The old caretaker of the island, Don Julian Santana, lived there alone despite being married and claimed he was being haunted by the girl’s spirit. To appease her, he hung a doll on a tree for her amusement, but this only increased the tormenting. He continued to hang the dolls, collecting them, each sending him drifting farther from society. Soon, hundreds of mutilated dolls hung lifelessly from the trees, looking to appease the spirit. The affliction never ceased. In 2001, Don Julian Santana was mysteriously found dead by his nephew...on the bed of the same canal in which the little girl drowned in.

To this day the dolls hang, abused and maimed by the years, still looking to appease the raging spirit. Few tourists visit the island, claiming it’s too overwhelming to see the mangled dolls, but those who do, do not leave without feeling a presence. Many say that upon entering the island they can hear many childlike voices whispering to them, telling them to offer them a gift to pacify them.

The dismembered bodies of the dolls still wait in the trees, and will remain to wait, though they will never be mollified.

Here is a picture of a part of the Island:

 

 

Hint Fiction

In class, we have been working on hint fiction, which is a form of fiction in which the stories are only 25 words or less. They are quite interesting but harder to create than you'd expect. They are very enjoyable to read and write, and once you get on a roll, they just pop out one after another. Here's one of mine:

Dinner as a Family

We sat and ate. He was lively. My parents loved how passionate he was about life, though he may still be in my teeth.

Addams Family Quick Review

I recently attended The Addams Family Musical at School of the Arts. The production was fantastic. Humor was laced in almost every line whether it be witty, dark, or just straight hilarious. The music was great, lively when needed and sentimental at times as well. The vocals were very nice along with the acting and sets. The sets were eerie and elegant just like you would think for an oddly dark family like Addams. The only thing that I would criticize is the quality of the plot. The plot was relatively strong, but many events were just thrown in their for the sake of a song or a laugh. A bit of time was wasted on this while it could've been used to explain a few plot holes. Aside from this, The Addams Family Musical, written by Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman, and Rick Elice was an extremely enjoyable show and should be attended when available.