The Thief

     The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is a fantasy book about a young thief who is thrown into prison because he stole the King's seal. He is given a chance for freedom, but only if he steals something that may not even exist. So the thief must travel to distant lands in order to try and steal what has never been stolen before and may just only be a myth. The book is all fantasy, with made-up gods and goddesses, and is set in an unknown land, in an unknown time. The plot of this book is just so complex and well-thought out that it was very enjoyable to read. The novel is very well-written, and it also has instances of humor, which makes it even better to read. This is an example of one incident of humor in The Thief.

     "In the city I had wanted to hug the sunlight and wrap it around myself like a blanket. I'd turned my body in the saddle in order to expose as much of my skin as possible to direct light. It was pleasant at first, but by the time the city was a single lump of gold stone behind us, I felt as if I were wearing a coat of dirt and dried sweat that had shrunk to be two sizes too small...The smells of prison floated down the road with me, and I think that even the horse underneath me objected. I noticed that as the sun got hotter, the two riders on either side of me moved farther and farther away" (Turner 28).
     The thief in the novel, whose name is Gen, has many qualities and layers of personality which make him a very dynamic character. He is very sarcastic, yet sensitive to what other people think of him, as you can see from the quote, when he notices that the other travelers can smell him. He also has a very humorous side to him, for example he notes that he's so dirty that probably even the horse was objecting to his smell. Gen wants to be respected for who he is: a master thief, not just some dirty prisoner. Another reason why Gen is a dynamic character, and therefore the protagonist, is he goes through a dramatic change during the story. In the beginning he is very distrustful of everyone and only thinks about escaping and himself. But as the story goes on and he starts to understand what is really happening in their world, he becomes a true hero and saves his nation. Without him, the story would have no meaning whatsoever. The book is actually part of a series, and while I have not yet read the other books of the series, I am looking forward to the day I can.

Rifles for Watie

I recently read Rifles for Watie, by Harold Keith. The book is about a sixteen-year old teen named Jeff David Bussey whose sole dream is to join the Union and fight against the South. He learns very quickly that war is not a fun game however. He sees lots of pain and sadness, and has struggles of his own. As a personal opinion of this book, it is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. The book is full of descriptive details, for example: "A double column of dusty figures rode horseback through the fort's great wooden gate. Their black campaign hats and their blue shoulders bobbed over the top of the fort's sharply pointed, close-set log palisades. As they drew closer, Jeff saw they were cavalry. Their faces were raw and swollen from the stings of horseflies and the scratches of tree branches striking them as they traveled through the woods..." (Keith 176). Keith's narrative of Jeff Bussey's life is just so realistic and informative, and the novel is written so well that the story hooks you in from the beginning. It took Mr. Keith 5 years to write this book, and I see why. There is so much Civil War information packed into this novel, and the author actually went around and interviewed several Civil War veterans. He definitely deserved the Newberry Medal awarded to Rifles for Watie.

If you want to learn more about The Civil War, click here.

The Glass Castle

A theme of The Glass Castle is to live a good life you must be responsible. In the beginning of the novel, Jeannette Walls was very carefree and just went with everything her parents said or did.  You can see this in a quote: "We did have our scratchy army-surplus blankets, so we spread them out and lay there, looking up at the field of stars. I told Lori how lucky we were to be sleeping out under the sky like Indians. "We could live like this forever," I said.
"I think we're going to," Lori said" (Walls 18).
As you can tell, Jeannette was always very happy as a child, even when she had to run away with her parents in the middle of the night and leave all her friends and toys. This was because she did not understand that her parents were not capable of providing a safe life to her. She thought it was all just one big adventure. But as the book continues, and Jeannette grows up and has to start supporting herself and her siblings, she gradually realizes that her parents are not responsible and have no idea of how to raise children. This quote is when Jeannette confronts her mother about their poor living conditions: "We needed to take drastic measures. I was twelve by now, and I had been weighing our options, doing some research at the public library and picking up scraps of information about how other families on Little Hobart Street survived. I had come up with a plan and had been waiting for the opportunity to broach it to Mom..."Mom, we can't go on living like this," I said.
"It's not so bad," she said...
"We haven't had anything to eat but popcorn for three days," I said.
"You're always so negative," she said. "You remind me of my mother-criticize, criticize, criticize" (Walls 187).
The theme really becomes more defined with that quote, because Jeannette herself realizes that since her parents will not be responsible, they would be stuck in their broken-down house forever. The theme emerges when Jeannette reaches adolescence and they start living in Welch, because Welch was such a poor place to live in that it really opened Jeannette's eyes.

This Glass Castle Article is about Jeannette Walls answering questions about her life and her book. She talks about some key parts in her book and also mentions some things that are not written in the book.

This video is Jeannette Walls talking about how her book has impacted her life and the power within.