Independent Novel Project

My book for this project was Eragon, and I wrote journal entries from his perspective of the book. Note, that Eragon actually can’t write well, and take any errors I made as example of his writing.

Main Character Journal

Dear Journal, today I was out in the woods when I found this strange rock. It’s blue with this cool silvery marbled webbing all throughout it. I hit it with a hammer, and it turned out to be hollow! I don’t know what it is, but since it might be of value, I’m going to try and trade it for some meat for my family since the hunting trip wasn’t successful. If not, I’ll just keep it or take it to Brom and see if he knows what it is. Also, there are some really strange visitors here, and I’m going to do my best to keep my eyes on them.

 

Dear Journal, turns out it’s not a rock! It was a dragon egg, which I have no idea on how that came to be since dragons are pretty much extinct except for Shuruikan. When it touched the baby dragon, though, it shocked me or something and now I have this silvery mark on my hand. Anyway, the dragon(Saphira) is bigger now and I can ride on her, Brom the storyteller is somehow not a storyteller, we’re on the run from the Empire, and I’m trying to hunt down these creatures who just killed my uncle. Also, I can do magic! It was just momentary, but I lit an arrow on fire to kill a monsterous Urgal. And now we’re on the trail to Teirm to visit one of Brom’s friends.

 

Dear Journal, sorry for the gap in time. Brom died not too long ago, but I now have a new traveling companion named Murtagh. We went to this city named Gilead to find this person I’ve had visions about, and we found an elf and battled a Shade named Durza! AND LIVED! But when I tried to talk to her with my thoughts, she said she was poisoned and needed the antidote from the Varden. So now we went to find the Varden for protection, got chased through the Beor mountains by Urgals, almost died, and are now with the Varden. Then we had to defend the Dwarven city of Farthen Dur, and I got sliced on the back by Durza. I did manage to kill him, in the end, though. Till next time, because I still need to help with the aftermath of the battle.

Week 17 News Discussion

 

A Cup of Controversy

This article is about how the different coffee production methods can cause harm in different ways, and how that impacts the environment. For example, the article talks about how farmers burn down large swathes of the jungle to plant coffee trees so that they can produce more. This harms the ecosystem, and on the contrary, traditional farmers grow their trees in the shade, where there’s no need for pesticides. It also talks about animal processed coffee(yep, it’s beans pooped out by civets, birds, and elephants, or cleaned by ants, or spit out by monkeys), with some people sometimes forcing the animals to produce this expensive coffee. Overall, this article debates on the impact and ethics of growing and producing coffee.

  1. What do you think about the ethics of these production methods? Why?
  2. Do you think that the coffee production industry should be regulated more? Why?
  3. What do you think is the most effective solution for the problems with coffee production? Why?

Week 16 Book Reflection & Project

My book that was assigned to me from a survey was “Eragon” by Christopher Paolini. This book is about a boy named Eragon who happens to find a dragon egg in the woods, which hatches and he raises the dragon. After the king of the Empire sends creatures called the Ra’ Zac to hunt him down, Eragon is on the run for his life with the village storyteller, Brom. He and his dragon, Saphira, decide to hunt down the Ra’ Zac, with Brom as his teacher for magic and swordplay. They both begin to make progress in their hunt, but have both become noticed by the Empire, and are now running from them. Brom dies, but Eragon take shelter with a resistance group called the Varden with is friend, Murtaugh. He then goes to help fight in the battle of Farthen Dur, but takes a blow to the back from a shade, Durza. The story of the first book ends there, but I went overboard and read all 4 books in the Inheritance Cycle. For this book’s project, I’ll be writing journal entries!

Week 14 News Article

Should Vaccines Be Required?

In the article, the implementation of Covid-19 vaccines is debated about. Since some states already require certain vaccines before you go to school, they could potentially mandate the Covid-19 vaccines. Vageesh Jain, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Public Health Medicine at University College London states, “The death rate is estimated at 7.8% in people aged over 80, but at just 0.0016% in children aged nine and under.” Jain also cautions against forcing the vaccination of millions of young and healthy citizens who perceive themselves to be at an acceptably low risk from COVID-19. But some people agree that vaccines should be mandated since Covid-19 is so transmissible. Alberto Giubilini, Senior Research Fellow in ethics at the University of Oxford states, “Being vaccinated dramatically reduces the risk of seriously harming or killing others.” Overall, the question of mentation for vaccines is a very puzzling one, as it concerns many people.

  1. Do you think vaccines should be required or not? Why or why not?
  2. How do you think people will respond to a vaccine mandate?
  3. Would you get the vaccine? Why or why not?

Week 13 Creative Vocab

Corrugate

  • An example of something corrugated is cardboard.
  • Corrugated surfaces are smooth.
  • Corrugated tin is used as roofing material.
  • The word was first recorded in 1375–1425 in late Middle English.

Ambrosia

  • Ambrosia is a kind of fruit salad.
  • I classical Greek mythology, ambrosia is the food of the gods.
  • There’s actually a type of bug called the ambrosia beetle.
  • Ambrosia in the Secret Life of Bees refers to Rosaleen’s banana pudding.

Parcel

  • An example of a parcel is a group of people.
  • The word parcel comes from French.
  • A synonym for parcel is company.
  • An antonym for parcel is load.

Sedative

  • Sedatives are used to soothe both people an animals.
  • Some sedatives can be dangerous.
  • A type of sedative used on animals is a tranquilizer.
  • The puros of a sedative would be to work a person up.

Jilted

  • Getting jilted can really hurt someone’s feelings.
  • A synonym for jilt would be appease.
  • An example of jilting someone would be leaving them at the altar.
  • Another synonym for jilted would be to reject.

Integrate

  • Integration in The Secret Life of Bees was mixing segregated areas.
  • A form of integration in the 1960s were sit-ins at lunch counters.
  • An antonym for integrate would be unify.
  • A synonym for integrate would be organize.

Book Selection Week 12

This Unit’s book was selected for me via selection survey from the LMC librarian, Mrs. Means. She ended up matching me with a book called “Eragon” by Christopher Paolini. I usually don’t let others pick my books for me, but I decided to give it a chance.

The book is about a normal farm boy named Eragon who finds a dragon egg while he’s hunting. He doesn’t know what it is, so he tries to sell it, but fails. One night, the egg hatches and he then choses to keep the hatchling a secret. But he is then thrown into a series of unfortunate events and choses to go adventuring. I like this book so far, and I’m glad I gave it a chance!

News Discussion Week 10

Three Legendary Women- Achieve Article

This article is about the barrier breakers Bessie Coleman, Wilma Mankiller, and Victoria Woodhull. Bessie Coleman broke both gender and race barriers when she became the first female African-American pilot in 1921. And despite opposition because of her gender, Wilma Mankiller was elected the first female deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1983, and helped the Cherokee Nation to become independent. Activist Victoria Woodhull became one of the first women to run for president(before women could legally vote!), the first woman to open a broker firm, and the first women to speak in front of the house of representatives! These women all pushed against the barriers of their times, and became some of the firsts to pave the way for others!

3 Questions:

  • Do you think that you(yourself) would’ve pushed against barriers like this as well?
  • Which of these women do you think left the biggest impact on culture today?
  • What do you think it took to go against boundaries like these women did?

Independent Reading Update

Something Wild (from Pete’s Dragon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtmCCNB8wqc

I think that this song fits well into the magical, mystical world of Emberfall because it’s an adventure-based song. It’s all about travelling in the woods and the wild. This makes sense because of all the time they spend travelling together on the road or in the woods. It also matches the sort of wistful feeling of both the main characters’ dreams. All in all, this song fits the travelling theme in the story.

 

Pure Imagination (Pixels remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO_37OokXic

This song fits well with the idea of fantasy in the novel, and I’d like to imagine it going perfectly with a scene of the 2 main characters dancing. In the book it says that they were dancing to the violin, but this song is piano. I believe that this fits just as well because the book described the dance as simply ‘swaying’. This instrumental is sort of dreamy, and I can imagine the two main characters swaying easily to it. It can also be played in any other scene with music in it.

 

Soldier, Poet, King (The Oh Hellos)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzVKsltzYdI

Soldier, Poet, King by The Oh Hellos matches the main characters’ personalities well and has a sort of adventure tone to it. One of the lines is “there will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword.” This describes the one character, Grey, perfectly because he’s a talented bodyguard who survived all the monster attacks. Another line, “There will come a poet, whose weapon is his word.”. This describes Harper, who uses her words as part of a method to save Emberfall and Rhen. One other line is, “There will come a ruler, whose brow is laid in thorn.” This describes Rhen as he is technically a prince, but the thorns are his curse. So, this song fit because it describes the characters.

 

Karma (AJR)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy1JwiXHwI4

This song by AJR matches Rhens’ struggle to break his curse. Most of the emphasis is put on how hard Rhen is working to fix his kingdom, but how it isn’t paying off by breaking his curse. It also relays some of his emotions of frustration towards Harper and how she still hasn’t helped him even though he’s helped her. Rhen’s done everything Harper’s told him to to fix his kingdom, but he’s still questioning whether it’s worth it or not in the long run if the monster comes out to destroy it all. So, this song fits well as an embodiment of Rhen’s feelings in the book.

 

Home (Madeon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxq3GIxlv20

This song fits the storyline of Harper wishing to go home. Since Harper was abducted from her home, she really wants to go back to her brother and mother. This song also embodies her need and desperation to go home, as she was even willing to accept a one-way ticket by the sorceress who cursed Rhen. Also a very beautiful song, with some wistfulness to it that can relate to Harper’s homesickness. As a bonus, this song is also quite easy to visualize to.

 

Unstoppable (The Score)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PBlykN4KIY

Unstoppable by the score lines up perfectly with the training and fighting scenes in the book. Harper wants to be able to fight well and help people, mainly her older brother. If you’re looking for one of those songs to play over a training montage in your head, this one fits well! It’s an upbeat song, and can make you feel like you want to do something. This compelling song can help along the fight scenes as well, and is very easy to visualize to.

Week 8 Creative Vocab

Mutiny-

  • An example of mutiny would be a large public gathering.
  • The definition of mutiny is rebellion against authority.
  • The munity of sailors stormed the main cabin of the ship.
  • A synonym of mutiny is uprising.

Valiant-

  • A synonym of valiant would be courageous.
  • Examples of valiant heroes today would be firefighters.
  • Most heroes today are portrayed as valiant.
  • An example of a valiant action would be running away.

Slander-

  • An example of slander would be a rumor.
  • The word was first recorded in 1250–1300.
  • The slanderous comment hurt his reputation among the group.
  • Slander is usually equated with praise.

Consort-

  • Consorts usually barely know each other.
  • The word was first recorded in 1375–1425.
  • All the consorts in the robbery fled with the cash.
  • An example of a group of consorts would be a team.

Devise-

  • A synonym of devise is arrange.
  • The antonym of devise is disorganize.
  • Cleverly devising a plan, the fox was able to raid the entire chicken coup.
  • An example of devise is being spontaneous.

Apt-

  • Aptly is an adverb of apt.
  • The student had an apt ability for math.
  • The antonym of apt is inept.
  • An example of apt would be struggling with a task.

Independent Novel Reflection & Project

For the Independent novel readings, I chose A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer. Our school librarian, Ms. Means recommended it in a book talk once and got me interested.

!SPOILER ALERT!

This book is about the two main characters, Rhen and Harper. The book frequently switches between their perspectives of the story. Harper is abducted from the streets of D.C. and gets abducted to another world by a prince(Rhen) who needs her to fall in love with him so he can break his curse. Rhen’s curse makes it so that he must live Autumn over and over again until he can get someone to fall in love with him. What makes his curse so dark and lonely is that when the 3 months of the season are over, he turns into some horrible version of monster that terrorizes his people. Harper is dragged to his world as a second choice by Grey, the head of his guard, and the only surviving member of the castle. Harper isn’t buying into any of this at all, an tries to escape multiple times. But then it turns out that the rival kingdom(Shyl Shallow next to Emberfall is looking to invade, they band together in an attempt to save the kingdom. Harper is pretending to be the princess and daughter of the King of “Disi”(DC). This way, Rhen and her hoped to scare off the invading kingdom by saying that the King of Disi would help Emberfall crush Shyl Shallow if they dare invade. Rhen begins to amass a small army, but nothing that could defend the entire kingdom. The night that Shyl Shallow decides to invade Emberfall is Rhen’s last night of his season, and he turns into a terrifying monster. Harper also made it back to her own world through Rhen’s last order to Grey to take her home. When he returns to her saying that Rhen needs help, she, along with her brother and his boyfriend return to Emberfall to save Rhen. Harper is able to get Rhen to recognize her and not kill her, as well as attack enemy troops. They then drive back the army of Shyl Shallow, but Harper and her family are stuck there now, as Grey is missing.

I hope that my summary did the book some justice, but there is much more that I wasn’t able to include. With this book, I hope to create a playlist that is perfect to listen to while you read!

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