Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

The book that I have recently finished is Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. This book is about a nanny-Mary Poppins- who takes care of Jane and Michael Banks. Mary Poppins has a certain type of mystical magic around her. The book is broken up into short stories but all of them involve the characters. Mary Poppins is magical.

One example if this is in the short story “Full Moon”. In this story Jane and Michael are suddenly awaken by a strange voice that leads them to the zoo in the middle of the night. When they arrive there they find all the animals out of their cages and walking around and talking. They also find humans in cages. Basically the animals and the humans switch places. Jane and Michael also hear animals talking about someone’s birthday. Some how they find themselves in they reptile house and Mary Poppins is there. The birthday girl everyone is talking about is Mary Poppins! The next morning Jane and Michael think that it must be a dream but then they see Mary Poppins were a snakeskin belt that says “A present from the zoo”. Now it can’t possible be a dream.

Overall Mary Poppins is magic because she had a birthday party and the zoo in the middle of the night with the animals talking and running around freely. Only a person who is magical and imaginative could do this. I highly recommend this book.

 

The book that I have recently finished is Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. This book is about a nanny-Mary Poppins- who takes care of Jane and Michael Banks. Mary Poppins has a certain type of mystical magic around her. The book is broken up into short stories but all of them involve the characters. Mary Poppins is magical.

One example if this is in the short story “Full Moon”. In this story Jane and Michael are suddenly awaken by a strange voice that leads them to the zoo in the middle of the night. When they arrive there they find all the animals out of their cages and walking around and talking. They also find humans in cages. Basically the animals and the humans switch places. Jane and Michael also hear animals talking about someone’s birthday. Some how they find themselves in they reptile house and Mary Poppins is there. The birthday girl everyone is talking about is Mary Poppins! The next morning Jane and Michael think that it must be a dream but then they see Mary Poppins were a snakeskin belt that says “A present from the zoo”. Now it can’t possible be a dream.

Overall Mary Poppins is magic because she had a birthday party and the zoo in the middle of the night with the animals talking and running around freely. Only a person who is magical and imaginative could do this. I highly recommend this book.

 

Girls Best Friend by Leslie Margolis

The book that I have recently read is Girls Best Friend by Leslie Margolis. This book is about a young girl growing up in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Maggie is a dog walker and she helps solve the mystery of the missing dogs. Maggie notices things that normal people don’t she notices and remembers things. Overall I really like the book. One thing that stood out to me was the setting. The author lives in Park Slope so she includes places that I know and visit often.

One example of this is “Beastly Bites” a pet store that used to be on 7^th avenue. Maggie goes in there to buy a treat for Preston a dog that she walks. Another example is Prospect Park. Maggie and her twin brother Finn play soccer in the park and Maggie also walks dogs in the park. The author also describes the loins that guard the 3^rd street entrance to the park. These loins make Maggie feel safe because then believes that they are watching over her. Finally they descried Garfield the street where Maggie lives. Garfield is a real street in Park Slope. This is some of the setting that is in the book.

I really liked this book because of the plot but also the setting. I felt a connection to Maggie because be both have grown up in the same neighborhood with the same places. I highly recommend this book. 

Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi

Paul Volponi’s novel Hurricane Song gives people an insight to the pain that people faced during Hurricane Katrina.  Miles, Pop, Fess, and Uncle Roy are in the Super Dome waiting out Hurricane Katrina.  The characters face many challenges throughout the story, like gangs, not having enough to eat or drink, unsanitary bathrooms, and an overall bad situation.  Throughout the book we can see Pop and Miles bonding over the hardships of Hurricane Katrina.  At first Miles and Pop have a rough unloving relationship, but as the story progresses Miles and Pop are forced to become a team if they want to survive. 

            At the beginning of the book Pop and Miles don’t understand each other.  Pop is overly passionate about his music and Miles about football.  Miles doesn’t think that Pop cares about him and feels like he always comes second to Pop’s music.  Pop tries to connect Miles to music by giving him a drum for his birthday. This only makes things worse because Miles wanted football equipment and now Miles thinks Pop wasn’t listening to him.  In the Super Dome during Hurricane Katrina, one of the gangs starts a fire.  When everyone sees the fire heading towards the section where Miles and his family were staying, they start to run.  Pop grabs Miles as well as his trumpet.  This shows the beginning of Miles coming before Pop’s music. Instead of just grabbing his horn he also grabs his son because his son is also important to him.  After Miles and Pop escape the horrors of the Super Dome, they get into a fight with some other men out on the street.  One of the guys gets on top of Miles and starts to strangle him.  When this happens Pop grabs his trumpet, his most prized possession, and hits the guy in the head to protect his son.  In the process of saving Miles Pop breaks his horn.  When Miles notices and asks Pop about it, Pop says, “I just couldn’t lose you Miles, not for anything.”  This shows how Mile and Pop bond over the challenges of Hurricane Katrina and become a team.

            The idea of strengthening through challenges connects to teenagers because teens usually don’t agree with their parents, but when faced with challenges, teenagers can turn to parents or older responsible people in their lives for guidance and advice.  Miles is faced with many challenges during Hurricane Katrina and relies on his father for help and mentoring.  Throughout the challenges of Hurricane Katrina, Miles and Pop form a strong, life-long bond.  Normal every day teenagers can also form bonds with their parents or parental figures by asking for advice, help and mentoring and turning to their parents when faced with challenges.  People bond when they have to go through tough times together or when they rely on other people for help. This shows how this book directly connects to teens. 

 

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

            The book Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin is an interesting novel about what happens after death.  The main character in the book is Lizzie Hall.  She dies in a car accident and is sent to Elsewhere, a land where people go after death to age backwards from the point of where they died.  Lizzie is 15 when she dies and she stays in Elsewehere for another 15 years, but ages backwards until she is 7 days old.  When she is 7 days old she is sent down a river to go back to Earth and start a new life as a baby.  In the book Lizzie falls in love with a man who is now 17 named Owen Welles.  Owen died when he was in his 50s and is now 17.  Lizzie and his relationship become complicated when Owen’s wife finally dies and is sent to Elsewhere.  He thinks he is still in love with her but then he realizes he is now in love with Lizzie.  His wife understands this and they decide to stay friends.  This is when Lizzie realizes that she and Owen really are meant to be.  Now I’m going to talk a little more about Elsewhere.

            Elsewhere is basically another Earth, except you see 6 year olds driving SUVs and former rock band stars become fishermen.  Because everyone eventually dies, Elsewhere has all of the same technology as Earth.  They have buildings made by renowned architects and art created by artists who have long since died.  Elsewhere has some differences from Earth.  In Elsewhere people never die.  When you get hurt or sick you go to the healing center but that eventually goes away because you are aging backwards and once you get to a certain point sickness or injury never happened.  Another difference is that people can speak to dogs.  Another thing you can do in Elsewhere is seeing your loved ones on Earth through the Observation Decks.  You can see what your loved ones are doing but you can’t communicate with them.  Communication with Earth is forbidden in Elsewhere.   This is a quick description of Elsewhere.

            Lizzie at first does not like Elsewhere and all she wants to do is go home and see her family and friends again. But over time, she realizes that Elsewhere is where she is meant to be and she embraces that when she starts seeing Owen.  Owen gives her another chance to live and become a new person.  Overall from Lizzie we all can learn that even when something dramatically changes in our life, we can learn to embrace these changes and the joys that they bring.  I highly recommend this book.