Monday, March 14, 2011
James Patterson's Witch and Wizard: The Gift
Wisty and Whit Allgood's adventures continue in second book, The Gift. The One Who Is the One relentlessly hunts the two in their journey through the corrupt world that they live in. The are many rules that to be impossible even in the fiction world controlled by the New Order. Things of pleasure that I take for granted are not allowed such as books, music, movies, and even some forms of education. The plan of the New Order is to reform the population to be strictly unified under The One Who Is the One. People live for him and do only what they are instructed. Whit and Wisty are caught up in the madness of this reformation and find themselves under The One's watchful eyes and are captured and taken to the "school" to be processed, decontaminated, and "educated" in the New Order's ways. While at school, their journey becomes even stranger. They are filed in with many other children, even some of their old friends. They are rewarded with chocolates. Wisty is tested here when she oversteps her bodies boundaries and almost O.D.'s on the scrumptious sweets. Whit is entangled with the fight to save his parents while keeping his sister healthy and ready to scramble up the School for the benefit of keeping their Gifts and saving their family. The whole idea of the world that Wisty and Whit live in reminded me of the Chinese government and the rules they have in place about certain TV shows, music, religions, and books that their citizens can be involved with. I wonder what inspired Patterson to create such a world of blockades only different because it reads through the perspective of teenage siblings.
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Have you noticed that in all books that want control of the population, the books are removed? I think that solidifies the importance of reading to freedom...of thought, actions, futures...
ReplyDeletePerhaps Patterson sees something in our educational system that he feels the need to comment on. We'll talk!
GREAT blog posting! I am SOOO proud of both your reading and of the way that you have expressed yourself about the reading! KUDOS to KELSIE!!!
I think that Patterson thinks that the educational system needs to promote reading in a better way to focus on the importance of it. Knowledge is power and in my recent novels, the corrupt governments know this therefore trying to strip that power from its citizens. Students need to realize that the power is in our grasp but we just need to learn how to use it. Our educational system need to find a better way to encourgae reading instead of technology. technology can only get us so far in life.
ReplyDeleteWe were just talking about summer reading assignments with Mrs. O last week! In my opinion, I believe that summer reading should be more about choice instead of shoving a couple boring books down a students throat over his or her summer break. If teachers want students to be reading over the summer, they have to make it more interesting for the student and not a complete bore. Blogs would be a fun and interactive way to connect with future students over the summer. teachers could have a student choose a novel to blog about and connect with the student and conversate with them throughout the summer months. Many students feel that we do all the summer reading work and assignments to just get a quick grade from the teacher who most likely spends a very short amount of time grading. one little grade that is never justified or praised in class for hours of work that cut our summer short.