Believe

In the book, "Despereaux", by Kate DiCamillo, Despereaux the mouse has broken the mouse rules by letting a human see and touch him. Not only that, but he spoke to the human as well, which happened to be the King's Princess Pea. When speaking in front of the Head Mouse, he stated something along the lines of, "I love the Princess Pea". For that, he was sent to the dungeon for breaking the mouse rules.

Despereaux loved the Princess Pea, she was kind, beautiful. However she was a human, and it was strictly stated in the rules of mice to not fall in love with a human, better yet, a princess. That didn't mean he would give up, no, Despereaux believed in happy endings. He believed that he could indeed love the Princess Pea.

Miggery Sow wanted to be a princess, that was her dream. Sadly, no one supported her. Soon she lost her dream, she never became a princess at all.

This book sends a great message, If you truly believe in something, then always believe in it. Miggery Sow did not believe enough to reach for her goal. In fact, because no one supported her, she soon believed what they were saying was true. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dream. Believe.

You Before Me, You Before We

In the book,"Catching Fire", by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is trying to keep Peeta alive in the annual Hunger Games instead of worrying for herself. She is devoted to protect him with all her might despite his complaints. Katniss wants Peeta to go on and win the games instead of her coming out victorious. However, Peeta doesn't want to let Katniss go, he doesn't want her to protect him. He wants to protect her. How can he when Katniss believes his life is more "important".

One way Katniss believes Peeta's life I more "important" than hers is that she tries to block as many attacks as she could that are directed towards Peeta. She's using her own life, own body to save him from the dreadful fate of death. She doesn't need to be alive, she'll make uprisings worse. Katniss wants Peeta to be safe and sound.

One way Katniss believes Peeta's life I more "important" than hers is that she has already caused so many uprisings when in reality she was oblivious to the fact when she "defied" the capital. If Katniss was still alive by the end of the games, uprisings would still continue since they follow her. It is she that is the heart of all the uprisings. Once she died all the uprisings would die down, and Peeta would be safe if he won.

It's true, Peeta is letting Katniss protect him with her own life. It's true, he would be safe if he made it out of the games, but hes not going anywhere without his beloved Katniss. An unbreakable couple that support each other as much as they can. If you truly loved someone, you would protect them with all your heart.

Unless

UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. 
It's not. - Dr. Seuss

Over reliance on fossil fuels. Mass production. Deforestation. Even if you put those two factors in a children's book, they still don't understand how important they are. That one message is hidden under bi-polar colors. One minute, the mood is happy with vibrant colors when suddenly it becomes mysterious. Why is it that children don't see the message? Do they ignore it?

The message UNLESS  was shown to inspire people to make a change in their environment. Not having to many people wrecking mother nature. Show that you can really make a big change, but only if you care a whole lot. I think that the message doesn't apply to just deforestation, chopping down trees. I feel that UNLESS applies to anything that hurts the environment, or anything that shouldn't be done.

NO, it's not that the children ignore the message, it's that they don't try to find it. They focus on what's inside of the book, not what it's portraying. However, since children can't really decipher what UNLESS means, I feel as if the message is being sent to adults. I say that because I feel that adults can not only understand the message, but can also make a change.

The Thirst Games

In the book "Catching Fire," by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is ignoring the fact that Peeta and her will die if they do not find any water to drink and is worrying about Finnick betraying their little group. Katniss tends to over worry herself and focuses on staying alive, watching Peeta's and her back for Finnick. How can she worry about Finnick killing Peeta and her when they themselves are dying from the lack of water to drink.

Katniss should stop worrying about Finnick trying to kill Peeta and her. She thinks that Finnick will kill Peeta and her when in realty, anyone or anything (Including the game makers) can wipe them out. She needs to worry about anything or anyone killing her, and that includes dying of hunger or thirst.

I believe that the author sent a message saying that when trying to protect your self, don't focus on one factor, focus on every single one you can think of. For example, lets say I was being chased at night time, if I stopped, the person chasing me would get me. However, if I wasn't watching where I was going and ran into the street without looking at what color the light is, I could get hit by a car. Open your eyes! When in danger, the possibilites keeping you from safety is endless.

Where is the Midnight Sun? : View on the Secret Series, 1- 4

When reading," The Secret Series," by Pseudonymous Bosch, I realized that there's not a lot of conflict  with the Midnight Sun in the fourth book (This Isn't What It Looks Like)  then the last three books. Not until the end was there conflict with the Midnight Sun, however, it was kept to a minimum. What could this mean, I wonder. Simple, I believe that the last three books needed the conflict with the Midnight Sun in order to be interesting. Because otherwise, what would be the point in creating the series in the first place.

In the book," The Name Of This Book Is Secret", (Which is the first book) needed conflict with the Midnight Sun in order to lead on to the other two. It needed to create a conflict that went on throughout the series. In this book, the Midnight Sun created many dilemmas one after another for the protagonists to face. The Midnight Sun gave this book color, they gave the reader a reason to read on.

In the book," If Your Reading This, It's Too Late", (Which is the second book) the conflict with the Midnight Sun is needed because it continues from the first book and leads to the third book.

In the book," This Book Is Not Good For You", (Which is the third book) a whole new conflict with the Midnight Sun is created which leads to book four.

In the book," This Isn't What It Looks Like," (Which is the fourth book) conflict with the Midnight Sun is shown only towards the end. I think it's necessary for the first three books to have lots of conflict with them, but the fourth should have only a minority. I say this because the first three needed lots of conflict so the reader is kept happy, whilst the fourth is fine the way it is for the little amount of conflict projects much more than intended.

Not all books in a series have to have lots of conflict. When there is at least one book that challenges your mind and gets you to decipher many messages that are translucent, you don't need a book full of conflict. It's better to have a book that makes you think than to not have one at all.

As Above, So Below

In the book," This Isn't What It Looks Like", by Pseudonymous Bosch, Cass keeps on running into the words, " As above, so below," when searching for 'the secret'. Cass has no idea what it means exactly, but she feels as if it's trying to give her a clue on finding 'the secret'. During her exciting adventure, the words of Clara, the fortune teller, linger in her mind. " As above, so below'. What does it mean? Why did she say that?

The quote, " As above, so below", can mean many things:

- Things which appear to be very different have attributes that are surprisingly quite similar
- By studying one thing, we can discover something else
- Occult maxim : hidden truth

I believe it means there more than meets the eye, because you may not over look something when it must be overlooked in order to understand. If I looked at a pair of glasses and I didn't know what they were, I would think you wear them for fashion. HOWEVER, if I examined that pair of glasses, I would soon figure out that they help you see better.

I believe that this quote symbolizes that the secret is with her, she just doesn't know it.

The quote " As above, so below", projects an image of a hidden treasure right under there noses, not literally.

All in all, the quote " As above, so below" has many meanings, BUT, all of them conclude that its the hidden truth.

I Think It Is What It Looks Like

In the book, " This Isn't What It Looks Like", by Pseudonymous Bosch, I believe that Cass and Max-Ernest aren't as similar as everyone thinks in their school.  Everyone thinks there just the same typical "nerds and weirdos", but in reality, their just as different as anyone else. Also, I believe the author WANTS us to notice how different the two main protagonists are, not to believe what everyone says. They think their only the same because they hang out with each other, but that's wrong. They hang out with each other because their friends and opposites attract.

Cassandra  (Cass) is a very sarcastic, witty young girl who loves to study natural disasters such as volcano erupts and earth quakes. She is very fun and likes to focus on the Terces society ( a secret society they interact with) rather than reality. She tends to overwork herself sometimes on a thing that has a simple task. Cass is very positive and likes to reassure everyone that everything is going to be all right.

Max- Ernest is a know it all who doesn't really like to brake the rules, but since Cass is his friend her must. Anything for the Treces society. He tends to worry a lot, whether it's about his friends or all the infections, sicknesses and allergies he has. He likes to correct every ones mistakes and to be precise. M.E. isn't really social and really only likes to hang out with Cass and Yo-Yoji (M.E.'s other friend who is ALSO in the Terces society.

Yo-Yoji has a TOTALLY different personality, but lets not get off topic.


But, In a way, Cass and Max-Ernest are similar. They never stop trying and they never are in doubt. They do what they do best, work for the Terces society.

All in all, the people in Cass's and Max-Ernest's school are only half right. Sure their they have similarities, everyone does. What they don't think about is how they are different. What about them is different? Many things, but the only thing that matters is they are friends and they are happy at the moment.

To Bee or Not to Bee: Following the right path

In the book "To Bee or Not to Bee", by John Penberthy, Buzz, (The protagonist) has trouble finding his own way through life, making his own decisions. He feels that he is the only bee who is different, the only one that believes things most don't.

During the story, Buzz is taught to think spiritually, though he cannot understand spirituality at all, or so he thinks.

Since he is so 'different' from the others, he is often talked about and is known as the 'rebel'.

Buzz is angered, angered by all bee's because he believes they are hypocrites. He turns all their words into lies that fuel to his anger, and then he loses his temper.

Buzz is tired of doing the same thing everyday. Wake up, collect pollen, go to sleep. Wake up, collect pollen, go to sleep.

He's tired of everyone believing what the leaders think, he believes they should believe what they themselves think.

"Great spiritual teachers speak not of learning more, but of letting go, of surrendering".

I think buzz feels that he is the only one who think life is imperfect. All the other bees agree with the leaders, that life is perfect just the way it is. Well, Buzz disagrees.

That all changes when Buzz comes across a wise bee. He teaches Buzz everything, from life, to beliefs.                                                                                                            

"It's perfect that we think life is imperfect".

Buzz had a hard time believing that everything was perfect.

My opinion is that Buzz doesn't need to learn from Bert in order to learn himself. I believe that you don't need someone to tell you what you should believe, you should choose what you believe yourself.

"We're all each others students and teachers".

When you think you have nothing, you don't notice you have everything.
When you think you have everything, you don't notice you have nothing.

I believe this saying relates to Buzz because he thought he had everything, while not noticing that he didn't know what he believed in or who. Also, this relates to Buzz because he thought he had nothing, when in reality, he had someone who had faith in him, a friend.

"Life is a journey from I to we".

Soon Bert died leaving Buzz devastated.

"Bee here now".

My opinion is that Bert dying was a good thing on Buzz's behalf, because his death made him rethink about everything, and choose his path to follow.

"The power of the mind lies in perceiving differences,
  The power of the heart lies in perceiving similarities".

I think this connect to us all because not everyone of us can choose what we believe in right on the spot. We have to learn, to be taught, and to teach what we think and what we believe. Just because someone you are close to believes something, doesn't mean you have to believe in what they think too.

No. That is for you to decide, and for you to think about.