Wednesday 15 June 2011

My own writing

Jay Writes -
Luke has written part of a short story himself this week. Here is part one - I'm coaxing him to write part two , so pop back to read the next instalment

Luke Writes -
I am a gruesome and horrible child. Enjoy. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha...

What happened on Planet 9

John came crashing through the forest panting; he didn't look back for fear he would have to see it again. He tripped over a tree root and fell. He tried to get up but his foot was stuck fast. He pulled out his knife and began sawing at the root. It eventually snapped. Then John made the mistake of looking up, so he could see the large pair of jaws filled with razor sharp teeth right above him.
The problem with being in Planet 9's black forest is that the trees mute your screams.

***

Benjamin Folkine Marden was having a lovely dream about a tropical island when he fell out of the top bunk of a bunk bed.
"Wow, said his bunk mate Sam, "that looked like it hurt... a lot!"
"Well done," groaned Ben. "Did you figure that our all by yourself?"
Ben, Sam and twenty-eight others people had been in this harvesting camp for two years. Planet 9 had a large amount of zinomine, a rare and powerful substance, and the Government decided to send a group of men and women to mine the stuff and slowly destroy the natural environment. But someone, or more accurately some things, were not happy with this arrangement.

Ben looked at his timetable. He didn't know why he bothered; it was always the same:
Wake Up
Eat Breakfast
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Eat Lunch
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Eat Dinner
Work
Work
Got To Sleep
Repeat

Ben and Sam headed outside to start work.
"Hey Sam, you ever wonder if exciting will ever happen here?" called Ben.
"What, like an alien invasion?" answered Ben. "Are you kidding? If anything exciting ever happens here I beg of you, please include me." Then he saw Ben's face - a face he had never seen but knew what it was. It was the face of pure, indefinable absolute terror. "What?" Sam asked.
"Your wish," said a raspy voice behind him, "has been granted."
Sam turned to see the creature behind him. He felt a jerk in him. The creature looked down. So did he, so he could see in the three clawed hand his very own beating heart.



Thursday 9 June 2011

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

According to the back of the book, all the events in the story actually happened to the author. In the story the main character is Anna, who starts age 9 and over the course of the book becomes 10 and 11. The book is about Anna's experiences when she is rushed out of her home into Switzerland and then Paris as she and her family try to stay away from the Nazis when Hitler comes to power.
Anna's father writes for the newspaper in Berlin in 1933. The Nazis want Anna's father because before the elections he wrote articles that criticised the Nazis, and because he is Jewish.
The first big change for Anna is that she is quickly taken out of Germany to stay in a small Swiss inn, to escape before Hitler can take away their passports. She catches influenza and nearly dies, and when her birthday comes around she realises how horrible things have become because she doesn't get a party and her presents are really small and rubbish. The family move to Paris. Over time Anna and her brother Max come to enjoy it thoroughly. Their parents struggle for the money to buy clothes and other basic things. Over just two years they go from being a wealthy German family who has everything to being a family of poor refugees doing their best to survive in Paris.
I found the book very formal in writing style. The feelings of Anna are described very well but I don't really think that I'd like to just decide to sit down and read this book. My personal taste is more for books with more inventive story lines rather than real life events, and it didn't exactly have me begging for the next chapter. I'm giving this 27 out of 100 for being well written but I don't plan on re-reading it in the near future.

Saturday 4 June 2011

The Owl Service

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Ummmmmmmmm.
That pretty much sums up this entire book. When I'd finished this book I was left thoroughly confused, and rather annoyed. I was annoyed because I couldn't pick out the story. All I managed to gather was that there was a girl called Alison, a boy called Roger and a boy called Gwyn, which at first I read as Gwen so I thought was a girl. Alison made paper owls that disappeared and Roger and Gwyn hated each other and both liked Alison.

There was also some plate smashing and a woman who had something to do with flowers. Gwyn's mother was very angry throughout the book because of something to do with the plates (that had owls on them, the Owl Service of the title). Roger got very annoyed because people kept messing up his photos. There was also an old man who was a bit weird and the only one who listened to him was Gwyn.

Even though I didn't understand the story, the author managed some very excellent descriptions of the valley in Wales, and the personalities of some of the characters. I think I would have to be a lot older and understand a bit more Welsh to fully appreciate this book. I'm giving it 21 out of 100.