Week 6 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' J. Boyne

When I saw that 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'  was on the reading list for this week my heart skipped a small beat. I remember reading the book for about 2 years ago for an English book report. At that time it made a hughes impression on me, the way it was written and the emotions that came along with this writing style. The fact that it is written from Bruno's point of view makes a part of the story based on innocence and naivety. In the Guardian (2006)  they also claim that the point of view of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' is the most important element that really shapes the book into a great children's book. My first impression before reading the book again was that I probably would find underlying symbols and other elements that I missed reading the book for the first time. Due to that I was eager to start reading this book again.
The most impressive new insight I gained when reading this book was that this book really touches adulthood and childhood. When I read it 2 years ago I only paid attention to the part that touched childhood and not adulthood. Now I tried to pay attention to what makes this book a 'cross-over' book. The fact that the marriage between Bruno's father and mother is being destroyed by all the stress and amounts of work Bruno's father has to fulfil to become a good officer, but then again Bruno's naivety is present when he calls the man who visits (Hitler) 'The Fury' and Auswitch 'Out With'. In class we discussed how cross-over books can be precisely defined and I remember it being defined as: ' The great children's books are the ones that touch childhood and maturity'. I think that Bruno's character and the actions that adults undertake in his environment is a great example of quote.
There is another element that made me wonder whether it could really have been the case at that time. Bruno is 9 years old and I remember from my own History teacher that there was a lot of propaganda going on in classrooms as well, but Bruno seems to know nothing about Jews or the battle against them. I do not believe that boys aged 9 at that time did not know anything about Jews, especially with the in doctrinism at that time. This is on the other hand a great piece of writing from John Boyne since he really convinces the reader that Bruno is innocent and naïve and knows nothing about camps such as Shmuel is located in.
I believe that if  you're reading this book when you are older that you mostly see the hard parts of the story. Speaking from my point of view I found the part where Shmuel is beaten because he got food from Bruno when Shmuel must wash glasses in Bruno's house is really a sick event. The beauty of the book on the other hand is that the ending really touched me and again...made me cry just like it did 2 years ago. The 2 elements of the hard truth and the childish innocence made it worth while to read.
I can identify myself with Bruno since he is very ignorant sometimes and to be honest I can be kind of ignorant as well. For instance that Bruno does not know what is going on I often have the same problem, I also believe in the positive qualities of human beings instead of expecting the worse.

Additional sources next to class discussion and notes made during the PowerPoint.

Hughes, K. , ( 2006), ' Educating Bruno' , The Guardian,

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jan/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview18

 

Book 5, 'The Hobbit ' J.R.R. Tolkien.

I was very pleased to see that fantasy books were the subject of this week. Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia and of course The Hobbit are books I believe every child/ adolescent should have read! I read The Hobbit when I was much younger so my first impression of the book was different from when I was younger. I thought that since I have grown up I cannot have such an imaginary mind anymore but I still got it luckily.
The storyline is basically the same in most fantasy books, you have: the call, the journey, the obstacles, final ordeal and the goal. What intrigued me the most was what became clear during class discussion. Stephanie told us to type in on google: 'Tolkien' and World War 1', the results were spectacular because after discussing this with the group that has read 'The Hobbit' it became clear Tolkien used a lot of his experiences from WW1 in 'The Hobbit'. I did not notice did when I finished the book so this was a big revelation to me. One example is that Tolkien has experienced massive destroy of humans but also nature. The last one can also be related back to 'The Hobbit', when Bilbo makes his way back to the shire at the end of the book the whole shire is destroyed and is not the same for Bilbo. Tolkien has experienced the same when he came back from war , everything was destroyed and unfamiliar to him.  
There are a lot of obstacles in 'The Hobbit' such as: Goblins, Spiders, Smaug , Elves and last but definitely not least Orks. What I, again during class discussion , found out was that Orks most likely represent the Germans during the first WW.  It is shocking to me that such a harmless book to children can have much more to it than just what the surface shows us.

According to the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners fantasy can be defined as 'A story that shows lots of imagination and is very different from real life'.
This book can be defined as a fantasy book for sure because of the differences from real life that are shown in the story. For instance Elves and dwarves but the special element in this book is that you can relate to the Elves and Dwarves. They are a close community that stick up for each other and I believe we humans do exactly the same.
Therefore I believe this book is suitable for kids who are about 8 to 11 years old. They have a great imagination and can handle the exciting parts better than kids who are younger.
Of course Bilbo's name must be said once in a blog about 'The Hobbit'!
What I found special was that Bilbo was the only Hobbit who went along on this journey. Of course the book is called 'The Hobbit' but I think he entered the journey because he felt for the dwarves who did not have a home anymore while Bilbo was save in his home in the Shire. Bravery is a quality Bilbo develops throughout the book and it is moving to discover that while reading 'The Hobbit'.

I experienced reading 'The Hobbit' totally different than 10 years ago, because of class discussions and revelations I discovered about Tolkien and his history, but it was still worth reading every page.

 J.R.R Tolkien

Additional sources besides class discussions, google: 'The Hobbit' + 'Tolkien' ( 9-01-2014) and notes made during the PowerPoint:
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners , 2002, ISBN: 0-333-99093-5

Book 4 'Catcher in the Rye' J.D. Salinger

When I started reading this book it seemed to me that it was going to be an exciting book to read, although it was an old book , since Holden Caulfield mentioned something about a resting house/mental hospital. So I expected a book with all kinds of events that forced him to come to this mental hospital, it did though in some kind of way, but the way it is written makes is very hard/boring to read.
I read an article before reading this book and it said that the book was an essential document of American adolescence.(Yardley, J. (2004),'J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly', Washington Post). Looking back after reading it I believe this is true.
At the beginning a slight hint is given that Holden is a bittered person because of his departure form Pencey Prep. I believe his bitterness gets sort of 'worse' throughout the book but maybe that is due to the fact that we understand his situation better. With that I mean that we get to know that his brother Allie died and the fact that he distances himself from other people.
That is one thing I do not understand; he feels that he his alienated from the rest of the world but at the same time he tries to reach out to people by arranging all kinds of meetings by phone with all kinds of people. For instance that he reaches out to his sister Phoebe, Jane (Gallagher) and even a girl he has never met before but got her number from an acquaintance! I believe her name was Faith.
During the class session we discussed different types of identity crises such as, Moratorium, Synthetic Identity and Identity Confusion ( From E. Erikson). My interpretation is that Holden deals not only with Identity Confusion, but suffers slightly from Moratorium as well. Holden has left 4 Prep schools already and is now drifting around New York city, hopping in and out of bars. It seems to me that those are signs that Holden does not know where he belongs or what he wants to be or where he wants to go to; an Identity Crisis. The reason why I mention Moratorium as well is because Moratorium means that someone is postponing to grow up because he/she is not able to or not wanting to. When Holden faces obligations or pressure from people who urge him to aspire an Academic career he laughs at them or gets irritated, for instance with mr. Spencer.
His sexuality was something I could not quite determine. The incident of seeing a couple spit water in each others faces and getting aroused by it seems a bit strange to me. It makes me wonder whether he is gay or straight. The one thing that I am sure of is that because of all the girls/ adult women he meets and flirts with while he is very young himself indicate that he is troubled with his sexuality. The only girl I believe he really liked is Jane Gallagher, because of the memories he has of the summer they had met, but then again that led to a fight with his roommate so that gets negatively emphasized unfortunately. I found the whole book boring to read but I can understand that some people may find his character (being bittered and lost at the same time) admirable.
When I ( finally) made it to the end I have to admit that I was a bit moved. With his sister Phoebe in at the museum and the park and the fact that she says she is coming with him. He does get a bit more positive since he mentioned that he is going to applicate for a new school although he writes his story from some sort of mental hospital.

Word count: 595
Additional source besides class discussion and notes made during the PP:
Yardley, J. (2004),'J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly', Washington Post.

Book 3 'First Love', 'Forever' Judy Blume

The book I have read this week is 'Forever' written by Judy Blume.

My first impression of the book was that I would probably found it hard to read because of the fact that the writing style is quite old-fashioned, since it was published in 1975. Luckily this was not the issue and it was an enjoyable book to read.
In class we discussed aspects that go side by side with the theme of this week 'First Love' and one of them was identification. Now the book was so enjoyable to read and I believe this was due to the fact that we 'readers' could identify ourselves with the main characters Katherine and Michael. The young adults that fall in love and share their first intimate moments with each other. We could identify ourselves with the characters because the characters have inner lives. This means that the story would not have been so intense without this aspect; it is the foundation of a good romantic novel because people need to identify themselves with characters that experience the same everyday insecurities that we do. This is also called intense emotional involvement.
These insecurities are mostly shown throughout the character called: Artie. Artie is Michael's friend and he is fighting against the struggles that show up when growing up, such as sexuality. In one chapter it gets so intense but Judy writes in a way that makes it sort of funny as well: "
On Thursday morning, Michael’s birthday, Artie hung himself from the shower curtain rod in his bathroom. Luckily, the rod broke and he fell into the tub, winding up with a concussion and an assortment of cuts and bruises.”  (Blume J, 1975,Forever, page 144)
Individuals that make wrong decisions or may find the world dark and dangerous make a book more realistic. Since tragedies occur in every day life and this book takes that into account as well.
These struggles are present in the whole book, the struggle with sexuality for instance when you experience your 'first time' and finding out who you really are. This book intrigued me mostly because Katherine and Michael grow so closely while they are still young and have to survive the phases that are accompanied to life. Losing one's virginity and the feeling of having a first love is one we all experience so it is most interesting to read about it and find out how Katherine and Michael find their way on their own manner. This is another reason that makes the book very realistic.
I understand why this book was very controversial in the 70's ( for instance because Katherine is on birth control pills) ,which again made it popular but nowadays this book can still draw the readers into the lives of Katherine and Michael to experience all the insecurities about sexuality  that all young adults have to face now or later in their lives. In an interview  held with Judy Blume thirty years after the book is written she admits that at that time it was very controversial. ( Crown, S. (2005), 'Teen Spirit', The Guardian)

One tiny thing that I would like to mention before ending this blog is the fact that the title made its way beautifully into the book. The necklace is typical for young adults to give each other but the 'forever' ithat is carved in it is really something to suggest when you are that age. That makes the ending so vague because Theo sort of spoils this young love (from my point of view at least).
Additional source beside class discussions and notes made during the PP:
Crown, S. (2005), 'Teen Spirit', The Guardian.Word count: 561

 

Book 2 of the 'Imperfect World' by William Golding

This week I have read Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

The philosophy that was present throughout the book and that I found most interesting is that these children get so savaged when they are torn from their natural habitat. At first it seems like a real adventure story but then there comes in a realistic twist that makes it barbaric. The realistic part is that human beings live by rules and laws, but when they fall apart the only quality humans possess is human instinct. The way I interpreted it was that Ralph represented this civilization and that Jack becomes everything but civil.
Another fact that is valuable to this book is that William Golding writes this simple story in such a way that it becomes very interesting to read.
In class we discussed what it is that creates a literary environment for young adolescents? The fact that the boys go through a psychosocial development is in my opinion one of the reasons why this is suitable for young adolescents. Civilization plays a significant role when growing up and therefore this book is precisely the kind of book young adolescents should read. The next quotation shows the mental state of Jack after he has murdered a pig, it shows the first sign of the loss of civilization: 'His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.' ( Golding W., Lord of the Flies, Chapter 4,1954)  The start of becoming a savage is an important sign that Golding uses to try and make clear that his attempt to savagery is to object against Governmental, parental and other obligations children experience while they're growing up. ( see sources)
Another aspect that I noticed while reading this book was that the term 'Lord of the Flies' is in fact a pigs head (covered in flies) on a wooden stick as an offering to 'the beast' (again from the savage Jack). Although later on it becomes some sort of symbol when Simon sees the Lord of the Flies in his dreams and that it is telling him that evil lies within everybody. How cruel it is that Simon gets killed by the other boys when he wants to tell the other boys that 'the beast' does not exist.
I believe I can identify myself with Piggy, although this may sound strange as Piggy is a chubby boy who gets picked on. Piggy is the one boy that stays rational and is clever enough to understand and tries to fix the situation instead of playing in the lagoon. When 'the hunters' take Piggy's glasses I felt really bad for him since he cannot see anything without them and that makes Ralph's group helpless because now they cannot make fire.
The ending in my eyes was a bit strange since the fire ( that was set by Jack and the hunters to scare Ralph away from the woods) also found the eye of the officer. So it was both a good and a bad ending because Piggy and Simon were both already murdered by the other boys, but the naval officer did find them and the other boys luckily survived this. The only part I liked about the ending was that
Ralph was rescued since he was the (civil) leader from the beginning on.
Wordcount: 523

Appendix: Photograph of the word web we made about 'The Lord of the Flies'
Additional source beside class discussions and  notes made during PP:

Rosenfield, C.(1961) 'Men of a smaller growth, A Psychological analysis of William Golding's Lord of The Flies' , Gale Literary Research Centre.

Book 1 of the 'Classic Texts': Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

This week we get the opportunity to read  'Classic Texts' and I read Peter Pan from J.M. Barrie.

I have read Peter Pan when I was 7 years old and I have seen the movie when I was about 9 years old, so I knew what the story was about but I had forgotten the details that make the story so special.
In class we talked about aspects that make a novel a good novel for children, one of those aspects was that the story should have an intriguing character. Peter Pan is a boy who is very intriguing, he is a bit cocky and careless but about one thing he does care about and that growing up. That is the one thing he fears. After we talked about this in class and having read the book I realized that Peter stands for eternal youth with his island Neverland and the 'Lost Boys' who spend most of their time living adventures. Peter Pan intriguings children because he is against adults ( which most of the children are) and of course because he can fly! Neverland on its own is an imaginary place, individual to each child, that is what makes the Island so special.
One thing I did notice while reading this book is that there are no parents involved in the book, only the parents of Wendy, John and Michael Darling but they were hardly present during the story. The idea of growing up scares Peter, but I think that the overall lesson that can be learned from the book (after having read it almost 10 years later) is that growing up does not mean that you have to lose your energy or excitement.
What interests me the most is that after reading it again it becomes clear that the book has many thoughts and ideas about adults and children's views that are hidden between the lines. One line expresses what Peter's role is throughout the book and that is his answer when Wendy asked him if he wanted to stay and live with them in London as well and that is: “I’m going to stay in Neverland where I never have to grow up.” Peter is stubborn and does not want to lose his youthfulness , I must say I have experienced the same when I was younger. Afraid of what might come when you are an 'adult', so in some sort of way I believe that every child can identify itself with Peter. Except of course for the fact that he can use magic :)
There is one event in the book which I did not understand and that is the fact that the 'Lost Boys' went to live with the Darlings in London. I thought that they were part of Peter Pan, Neverland and his fight against growing up. Of course it was obvious that the 'Lost Boys' needed a mother/home since they had asked Wendy if she wanted to be their mother the first minute of their arrival in Neverland. I was happy of course for this happy ending but I still thought the idea of the 'Lost Boys' staying at Neverland with Peter Pan was a good ending as well, but maybe I believe that now I myself have grown up.

Wordcount: 527
Extra sources besides class discussions, the reader and notes made during the PowerPoint:
Barrie, M. J. (2006) 'Peter Pan In and Out of Time' , Edited by: White,D and Tarr, C. The Scarecrow Press Oxford.

Autobiography ( Why reading is special to me)

When my mother started reading to me, I was about the age of 6. A world full of adventures opened right in front of me. She read Pinkeltje, Puck en de Petteflet and Jip en Janneke to me and my twin sister. While she read Pinkeltje to us, I imagined I was Pinkeltje and that I was the one who experienced all those adventures. You can imagine that my dreams had no boundaries and that I had the wildest dreams after my mother read such stories. Those dreams and the creativity, which I developed during those reading sessions, have become very valuable to me.
Nowadays I love to read, but I must be drawn into the book immediately or otherwise I will put the book away, and never start reading that book again. This is because all children books start,most of the time,with a lot of adventure and so you get drawn in the book right away.
My twinsister and I both pictured ourselves to be Jip en Janneke, when we played together we often had Jip en Janneke at the back of our minds and tried to be the same as them. The bond we have and will always have is so close and I believe that our adventures, while playing together that were based on our reading behaviour,are the foundation of this relationship .
That is why reading is so special to me.