Heather Dixon.

Helllooooo alll!!!!! It's been so so long since I have written! And I have this post cooking up in brain about Christmas and the cookies and everything! But I haven't uploaded the pictures onto my computer yet, so I have nothing to display at the moment. So I have a totally different post in its place.

My sister found something out the other day that was kinda, sorta amazing. There is this a girl called Heather Dixon that writes a blog called Story Monster. She is a storyboard artist, and an amazing, funny-funny-funny person. Margaret sends me her blog posts if I miss one of them. I don't know how many times my sister quotes one of her posts. At least once a day, probably.

ANYWAY. The other half of this story is that there is a book called "Entwined." It is a really good book. We both read it last summer when we were reading stuff for the Library contest thing. We didn't end up winning...but we did get so find some amazing books. Entwined was one of those. It is about this Princess Azalea and her 11 sisters. If I can remember correctly, the kingdom was losing money and after her mother died, things changed. Like, dramatic change. The king forbade dancing, mostly because (I think) it reminded him of his wife. So, they found a way to the magical world and that is where they met the Keeper. The Keeper lets them come every night to dance. It works out for a while, until the Keeper decides he doesn't want them to leave.

Here is the description from the book. I just though I would post it--it is really cool.

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her... beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing... it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

The Keeper was like, the best character ever. He kind of reminded me of the Phantom from the Phantom of the Opera. And GOSH, he was so cool.

And then he began to get really creepy...

And by the end, I couldn't decide if I hated him or still loved him.

And the greatest part about this is that the Heather Dixon from Story Monster wrote this book.

Agh, it was awesome to find out. Because, if you go through her blog posts and read and see and everything, that is totally a book she would write. She likes some of the older movies like Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And if you read the book, her blog, and then think about it...they all just match up.

On a side note, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is amazing. Go watch it.

HOURS OF MUSICAL FUN!!!!

*cough*

Heather's latest post is called "Time for Limes." Look it. You gunna dig it.

Yeah.

That's why I want to be a story-boarderr so badly. I would get to hang out with people like this.

♥♥♥

~Annie~

Catching Fire is NOT the Hunger Games 2!

(It's called Catching Fire. It is the sequel to the Hunger Games, but it is not called The Hunger Games 2.)

Last Friday I finished reading Suzanne Collin’s Catching Fire. Overall, it was pretty good. Much like the Hunger Games, it was fast paced and the story kept going. We got to see deeper into people’s real stories and how wicked the President really is.

I was surprised that they had to go back in the Arena for the Quarter Quell. I had not expected that at all. I kind of felt bad for Katniss; she had to work so hard to get out of the Hunger Games with her heart still beating, and then she is the only female tribute in District 12 that had won. So, she didn’t have a choice in the matter whether or not she wanted to be in the Quarter Quell.

This year was different. Instead of just picking (during the Reaping) like they did last year, the Tributes were picked from the previous winners of the Hunger Games for the Quarter Quell. (Which I believe is the 75th Annual Hunger Games.) The plan was, this time, to keep Peeta alive. Whereas in the first book—as Haymitch explains—the goal was to keep Katniss alive. They had decided that if Haymitch was chosen, (Peeta and Haymitch are the only male winners in District 12) Peeta would volunteer. That’s what happened. I believe that if Haymitch were to go back into the arena, he might have had a chance of winning. He is very smart, despite the person he plays towards everyone. And he did kind of win the Games once...I learned that he drinks because he is trying to get rid of the pain and memories that the Hunger Games brought him. Which makes sense to me; I wouldn't want to remember it either. I don’t know if I would go towards the spirits or other things that numb out the pain…I would probably end of going to a guidance counselor every Thursday and then write a couple novels about it.

Anyway, the characters that we see in the Quarter Quell are unlike the ones in the original Hunger Games. These tributes are much more…seasoned would be the word. As I said, each of them already survived the Games. So they had already gone through it once and know what to expect.

In the Hunger Games, the first novel, all the people that were in the games were children. I think the age range runs from 8-18, although I am not sure. But in this Quarter Quell, everyone is much older. And besides Peeta and Katniss, Finnick is really the only one that is closer to their age.

I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t read it, but the arena was COMPLETELY different from the wooden area last year. It was all sand and water. Harsh jungles and the Game-Makers were relentless: Sending poison and monkeys and all sorts of awful things.

The end was a totally shock for me. I did not see that coming. I knew the President Snow was evil, but I didn't know that he would do what he did…

There were a couple things, like in some Animes, that were in there that didn't have to be there. I mean, seriously, it wouldn't have changed the plot at all if those things weren't there. But, who am I to judge it? I just think differently I guess. And there were like two parts, two paragraphs throughout the whole book that I just thought were weird.

Onto other things concerning this particular topic, Wednesday, I saw the Hunger Games movie for the first time.

I am going to say first, that overall, it was a good movie. I liked the camera angles, Jennifer Lawrence was awesome as Katniss and I liked how—unlike the book—we got different views of the story. The director explained in the extras that they needed to do this because people needed to see. Because in the book, it is written in first person; everything we read is out of the eyes and mind of Katniss. We get no view upon the Game Makers because, obviously, she was in the arena at not with them. So being able to see the Game Makers do all the things to the arena was pretty cool. Seneca Crane has a crazy intricate beard…That was awesome.

I am going to say, secondly, all and the many things my brother and I found wrong with the movie. This was because we were comparing it to the book. (Brother had just finished reading it, whereas I had read it last summer.)

1. First off, the story begins with Katniss waking up and such and then there are the complaints about Prim’s cat. We only saw the cat for one second in the movie when Katniss was threatening to cook it. 
2. Madge gave Katniss the Mockingjay pin. She didn't buy it from the Hob. (This bothered me the most and I don’t know why.)
3. Madge wasn't even in the movie. She was in the second book. If she is in the second movie, how is anyone supposed to know who she is?
4. I don’t think that there was any uprisings in the Districts in the original Hunger Games…There were uprisings in Catching Fire, and even then, the Peacekeepers took care of them…

On a better note:

Haymitch was awesome. He sounded like a cowboy.

I guess I am done complaining, only because I cannot remember what else we were complaining about and my sister told us to stop comparing it…so I guess the thoughts left me. But it did get better once we got the Games.

Effie was amazing. I mean, I hated her in the book because she was so “on time” “this and that” “doodley doo”, but in the movie—and Catching Fire—I liked her. Her Reaping outfit WAS AWESOME and I am totally making one for myself. In fact, all of her outfits were kind of awesome…

Gale, well, he was cool in the book but kinda meh in the movie.

I understand why they needed to do things differently in the movie. Because there was just so much going on in the book, that if they did all of it, the movie would have been hours long. I think, that if I hadn't read the book, I would have thought it great. Ya know, besides the fact that its kids killing other kids for the entertainment of the Capitol...

Overall, I enjoyed it.

The End

~~Natsu~~

It's so hot in the Northeast--

 I told you I would be back. Granted, it wasn't around Tuesday like I expected...I have been super busy. I guess not busy. I have been doing stuff like reading and I am trying to work on my novel and school and other extra things and crafting (I am in the process of binding a book that I made out of printer paper) and Pinterest and etc...

 There is just too much to post and I either don't have enough time to post it or I am just too lazy.  I guess it doesn't matter...for I am here now. ~gleam~

To explain the matter further--this is a picture I took of all my library books. I did it to prove my point.

There are 7 books here. The one on the top however, I decided not to read. The rest of the pile includes titles such as Cathing Fire, Mockingjay (both the sequels to The Hunger Games) The Looking Glass Wars, (book 1 and 2) and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing-Traitor to the Nation- Book 2, and last but not least, Clockwork Princess. I think they are all going to be fairly awesome books. I had read The Hunger Games last summer. It thought it was alright--at that point I wasn't much into the Post Apocalyptic books. Funny how things change in a year--and I decided to get the last two. I guess the adds on the internet of Catching Fire (movie) had reminded me that I hadn't finished them yet. I will have to blog that movie poster. Katniss's dress is AWEEEESOME!

As for The Looking Glass Wars...I am a complete Wonderland fan. They struck me as interesting. I guess the story is that Lewis got it all wrong and this was what really happened...I don't know for sure. I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. I don't know what I was thinking when I got seven novels...and then I only have 3 weeks for them. And apparently I will be busy and not be able to read them except for in the wee hours of the morning...Ugh.

The Life of Octavian Nothing. I had just recently finished the first one. Let me explain how I came across this.

A couple months ago--and now still, as it would seem--I was really into books written in first person. Mainly because I was trying to write one. I still am. And then I started another. Then I had two stories started and now...I have started another one. Sometimes, I wonder if this is was being a writer is like. 

Anyway, I stumbled across Octavian Nothing while searching the library shelves. The thing that struck me as cool  was the pages were kind of ripped. Not the pages in the book...rather, the sides of the pages. They looked as though they were meant to be older looking and worn. Well, that effect certainly worked. The book itself looked cool, but the inside was a little cooler.

Here's the summary, I am not very good at typing those up.

The greater part of the story is told by a boy named Octavian, who grew up with his mother Cassiopeia, an African princess, in a house full of philosophers and scientists in colonial Boston. Under the watchful eyes of Mr. Gitney, also known as 03-01, Octavian has received a classical education as well as a musical education which has made him into an extremely skilled violinist. Octavian eventually comes to understand the price of his powdered wigs and education: he is not only the "property" of Mr. Gitney, but he is also being used as an experiment to test whether the African race is inferior to the European race.

In time, Cassiopeia angers the scientists' benefactor and the Society loses its monetary support. The two are forced to go under the new watchful eye of Richard Sharpe, who cuts Octavian off from his books. It is later revealed that Richard Sharpe works for a group of colonial businessmen, who now fund the house where Octavian is held. These businessmen own slaves, and it is strongly implied that Sharpe is attempting to bias the experiment with Octavian in order to prove that Africans are inferior. He does this by stopping most of Octavian's education and making him work in the house.

When the political unrest that would later spur the American Revolution begins to seep into the Gitney household, Gitney decides to move into the countryside outside of Boston, and then hold a Pox Party. Each attendee is infected with the pox, with the hope that under this controlled circumstance they will have only benign cases. Gitney also wants to both weaken and quarantine his slaves when he begins to hear talk of a slave revolt. Cassiopeia, however, is killed by the pox, and after her death is dissected by the scientists in the house. Octavian discovers what the scientists are doing and in his anger flees the house, and ends up in the Colonial Army. 

Octavian's military adventures are narrated mostly in epistolary form by Private Evidence Goring in letters to his sister Fruition. Octavian is eventually recaptured, and back at the Gitney house he is kept chained and completely alone. When Sharpe and Gitney, as well as his former classics teacher Dr. Trefusis, eventually decide to speak with him, Octavian is furious to discover that, with many of their funds coming from plantation owners in Virginia, they are counting on Octavian to fail, and to prove the "inferiority" of the African race.

I apologize for basically spoiling the book, but I thought it was cool and I didn't know how else to put it. :/ I thought it was really interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it!

Then there is Clockwork Princess. The third--and I believe final--book in the Infernal Devices series by Cassie Clare. I am only 4 chapters in and a lot has happened.

But I swear, if my favorite character dies...I will NEVER read books again.

That reminds me of a conversation I had with my Mom...earlier this month...

Me: [Sitting on the couch, just finished Entwined by Heather Dixon] [I toss the finished book aside.] The book is over, my *life* is over. I am never reading again.

Mom: [Who was walking through the living room, looked at me.] No.

She was right. I have read maybe two books since then...I don't know.

But that is completely irrelevant. Entwined was an AMAZING book, BTW. There is a character called The Keeper...He started out amazing...and then...got...creepy. He was still cool, even as he was going down hill. That's totally a book I would recommend.

This here is a book I bought at the book sale they were holding at the Library the day I went. I love book sales--mostly because I am trying to up my book collection so I can have an amazing book shelf. It was interesting because a few weeks ago, I wrote the name "Dorian Gray" on my whiteboard. It was a reminder to find the book at the library and put it on hold. Well, I didn't get it on hold, but I got it nevertheless...I am a happy girl indeed. I have wanted to read this book for a few weeks now.

That, and my goal this summer is to read A LOT. I know...that's all I did last summer. But all I read last summer were Historical Fictions, Inspirational Fictions and the like. This year, I am going to go more for classic stuff. Stuff like Wilde, Dickens, Poe, Voltaire, Shakespeare...must I go on? Then I want to read EVERY single thing that Tolkien ever wrote. That is my biggest goal for this summer.

It's going to be fantastic. 

And this well, I decided that I am going to randomly post the pictures of what ends up on the whiteboards...This was something my sister made. It's just...so...HAPPY.

FREE HUGS FOR EVERYONE!!!! YAY!!!!

And there's a Unicorn there, so, yeah. Believe it.

I have more picture to post.

Be right back.

~Natsu

Wednesday at 12:30pm.

At the moment I am eating some Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. The greatest lunch of all time. And I think there will be a Peanut Butter and Banana sammy coming my way as well. 

  Any-who, yesterday I was able to go the library. It was really cool because we had to stop right on the road because there were two peacocks walking across. A male and his wife probably. The male's head was this amazing blue color, but his tail feathers weren't up so we didn't get to see that. But it wasn't something you see everyday. I think that had to be the strangest thing that ever was on the road to block the way. There was a cow once. You hear about cows blocking the road and they do that on cartoons and stuff, but it's actually funny and somewhat of a "oh my gosh," moment.  

 The last book I picked before I checked them was this book here to your right. 

Short-Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer. 

 Now I only got to read 10 chapters of it since yesterday evening, but it's really really AWESOME! I mean if you're into the cowboy/farmer/ stuff such as that. Kinda like the Love Saga movies. If this is what is in the "Inspirational" section, I will be coming back for more.

 Other books included, 

Avalon High. (I can't remember the author but I saw the Disney version of it. It's a shame they don't play that one anymore. Not recently anyway....)

Stolen by Lucy Christopher. (Never read it. We'll see how it goes.)

One of the newer Warrior Books. By Erin Hunter ♥

And the other I can't remember the name of it.  It was about a wolf...Go figure. Every time I go and get books, I get one about wolves. 

 Have a great day!

*NATSU