Month: November 2021

22
Nov
2021
Red Scarf Girl

Red Scarf Girl

by Ji-Li Jiang

In the book Red Scarf Girl, a Chinese girl named Ji-Li is growing up during the Cultural Revolution in China. Chairman Mao, the leader of China, orders everyone to remove any signs of the four olds. Ji-Li has always supported him, so she enthusiastically helps take everything down. One day, everyone finds out that Ji-Li’s grandpa was a landlord so people come to search her home and arrest her dad for no apparent reason.

Later, she is asked to create a presentation about Mao at a big exhibition, and she is thrilled. She works very hard, and nails the rehearsal. But, the government asks for her to testify against her father and she refuses, knowing that even though she believes in the revolution, she can’t lie about her dad. That gets her into big trouble. The guards search her home again, and send her to work in the rice fields. When she gets back home, she has to sweep the streets because the government has found a letter from her mom about how much she hates it. 

Thirty years later, Ji-Li is finally happy. She moved to America after her father got released from jail, which was quite a while.

This story was actually a real life story about the author’s childhood during the mid-1960’s. This book was definitely interesting, and very educational. It let me into the life of a girl during the Cultural Revolution, letting me experience it with much detail. 

I really liked this book because there were many surprises. I never really knew that much about the Cultural Revolution in China, but now I know a whole lot more. It was a very exciting book to read, and the details were very well described. The author uses many similes, and metaphors that you don’t usually see in other books. 

Posted by Hellen in Books, Reviews, 0 comments
12
Nov
2021
Be Prepared

Be Prepared

by Vera Brosgol

Recently, I just finished an amazing graphic novel named Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol. It’s a slightly modified memoir from the author’s childhood. She came from Russia to America when she was five, and longed to fit in. Every summer, her American friends would go to a camp while she was stuck at home with her brother and baby sister, but this year was going to be different. Vera was going to go to a camp as well. A Russian camp. A place where she thought she would be accepted.

She arrived there in July, ready to have fun, but she was unaware of how disappointed she would be in the next coming days. She met her cabin mates, both named Sasha, and both 4 years older than she. No one wanted to be her friend, and the outhouse smelled terrible. Everyone treated her like an outcast, until she started to gift her drawings to everyone. They instantly wanted to be friends with her.

But, buying friends wasn’t the right way to do it. That’s why, when Vera took some of Sasha’s skittles, thinking her new friend wouldn’t mind, she got the whole cabin in trouble, and now no one wanted to play with her. But later in the book, Vera found a better friend. Someone who loved drawing and nature as much as she. 

This book reminded me heavily of an outdoor camp I went to this past summer. I went there with my friend from home, so I did not need to worry about losing any, and I definitely gained some more new friends. I had a lot of fun there, and all the counselors were very nice.

I thought that the author’s palette for this book was intriguing.The green really roughed out the nature in the camp, which I thought was unique. The ink also looked cool with the green and shades of grey. It just focused on the green parts in the scene a bit more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I think that it is fit for children ages 5 to 14.

Posted by cutiecupcake1288 in Books, Reviews, 0 comments
02
Nov
2021
Dune (movie starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya)

Dune (movie starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya)

Dune, a new movie about a futuristic earth, has just been released, and it’s definitely very cool. Paul, a teenager, is heir to the Duke of Caladan. Leto, his father, moves the family to Arrakis, a desert planet with valuable “spice” in the sand because he thinks they can become very rich and happy. They arrive, and the native Fremen people there are skeptical of whether or not Paul is the one that will save them according to a religious myth. After a few weeks, Baron Harkonnen mounts a stealth attack to wipe out the Atrides, and becomes the greatest power in the universe.

Eventually Paul’s side wins the war, and Paul becomes the new Emperor – although the movie ends right as Paul and his mother are chased into exile among the Fremen before his hero’s journey to regain power and defeat Harkonnen. 

I thought that this movie was a bit like Star Wars, with its ships, planets, and music. The flying ships had similar wings like the ones in Star Wars, and Star Trek. Star Wars also had a desert planet named Tatooine. The music was also very strange and ominous, making me think something bad was always going to happen. 

I thought the graphics were very good. It looked very realistic and believable. There were also some very gruesome and disturbing scenes, but most of it was calm, and relaxed. The blue eyes of the Fremen were a surprise to me, because I thought it looked strange for dark skinned people  to have eyes as blue as the ocean.

The story was very well thought out. You would never know what was going to happen next, but the film gives you subtle hints you have to piece together. The way they timed the plot was cool too. The movie showed us flashbacks of the dreams Paul has of this girl, whose identity we don’t know until the end.

Overall, I really liked this movie, because it was very mysterious, making me feel like a detective.

Posted by Hellen in Movies, Reviews, 0 comments