Like Water For Chocolate
The UnPredictables
By Maya Colato
The setting of the novel was on a family-owned home and ranch. The location was in Mexico. Its location was Mexico. It took place during the Mexican
Revolution. The author made the weather warm, comforting, and filled with the emotions the characters were feeling at the time. The author may have purposely
set the novella during this time and place to show a connection between the Mexican Revolution and the drama happening in the De La Garza family.
The main character of the book was Tita, the youngest born in her family. Her beauty captivated everyone, and
her heart was
filled with love. At the beginning of the book, she was always obedient to her mother no matter how wrong her opinions
or decisions
were. This was one of Tita’s faults. But what stood out the most and throughout the book was Tita’s ability to fill her delicious cooking
with her emotions. This was her main talent.
This book was about a young girl growing independent and striving to be free from the family tradition to
never marry
and take care of her mom. She wanted to marry her love, Pedro. She dreamed of showing their love together in public
without the
worry of someone discovering and judging them. However, a dream is always difficult to accomplish that is why the
author brought
in Tita’s mother, Mama Elena, who was against their love until the day she died and Tita’s sister Rosaura who married
Pedro knowing that Tita was in love with him. The climax of the book was when Tita finally stood up to her mother and refused to
do what she
asked. This meant that she had changed and grown.
The message of the book was that we have to learn to stand up for ourselves because it is a big part of our individualism
and personality. If we do not, then we would allow everyone else to step on you. The author showed this by describing
Tita’s life and
experiences. An example was at the end of the book when Tita screamed at Mama Elena to leave her alone. I believe the
author wanted
you to feel the same emotions of the character.
This book grasped my attention because the drama was very interesting. I felt a sense of desire, and sadness for Tita’s life full of cruelty. I enjoyed the author’s
creativity in writing and descriptions. I would recommend this book for people who love to read about family dramas, and a person’s journey towards happiness.
By Jack-i Cano
Like most books, they have to be good and interesting enough to grab our attention. For me I like books that are romantic and have a good climax that can make you go,
“Ohh what is going to happened next?” This is what gets my attention. In like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel has just what I been looking for. This book takes place in
a ranch in Mexico. This book also took place in the time of 1910, during the Mexican Revolution. The book’s setting mostly took place in the ranch. So the place Tita (the main
character) is decent enough to live in. It was also in a hot place where it was always warm. I think the reason the author picked this setting was because it was taking time during
the Mexican Revolution, so the time was hard and things were not as easy for the people back then. Also something else is that it foreshadows what may have been going on in the
house.
In the book, the main characters are Tita, Rosaura, Mama Elena, and Pedro. The characters all have dark skin. Tita is described as
beautiful and able to catch the hearts of everyone. Pedro is described as handsome and manly. Rosaura is described as the sister that
married Tita’s
love, Pedro. Lastly, Mama Elena is described as the cruel person that made Tita’s life a misery. One thing that Tita did badly was that
she let her
mom control her and make her decisions from her. One fault that Pedro had was marrying Rosaura knowing that he loved Tita.
The main summary of the story was that this young lady needed to stand up for her freedom instead of letting her mom dictate her. Tita’s
goal was to get away from her mom’s rules. The reason to why Tita wanted to accomplish this goal was because she had to take care
of her mother
until she died. There was a tradition were the youngest daughter stayed with her mother and never married until the mom died. Mama
Elena was the
one that was going against Tita because she did not wanted her to be happy. The climax for the story was when Tita finally decided to
rebel against
her mother.
The message of the book is that we need to stand up for ourselves and not let anyone control us. The way the author got this
message was
since the beginning. She showed how Tita was controlled and how it was very hard for her to get where she wanted to. The part when
she rebelledwas for us to learn how to stand for ourselves. At the end she finally got her happiness. The thing that I think that the author wanted us
to learn from
this book was that never let anything bring us down, we need to get up and go on with life.
This book did hold my interest because it was about love and how people were fighting for their true love. I did enjoy the author’s style because it had a funny ironic and
serious style. I would recommend this book to others because it kept my interest and isn’t like any other book. It had mystery, love, intensity, and lots more to look forward to.
Bliss
By Natalie
The setting of the book takes place in an ivory-colored school, Crestview Academy. This is the place where
Bliss, the main character of the
book, unlocks some of the deepest, darkest secrets of the school and where her life takes a new turn on a new path,
never returning to the past. The
book takes place in the 1900’s where hippies were outcasts and African American’s were not respected for who they
were, but for what they represented. Crestview Academy is a place that is always sunny, but with its creepy legends, Bliss turns into believing that
it is a cold, and desolate place
with its unpainted walls and empty hallways. I think that the author chose Crestview Academy as the setting because
it would support the plot of the
story and it would relate to what Bliss was thinking.
As I said before, the main character of the story is Bliss. She doesn’t intend to be a beauty queen, but she is
still pretty with her femenine
features and qualities. Bliss always has a positive attitude, but as she uncovers secrets of her new school, she becomes
this negative thing, walking
around the school with nothing on her mind except for the secret she holds within. Some of Bliss’s good traits is that
she can always keep a secret,
which means you could always trust and count on her for anything. One of Bliss’s faults is that she does not know
how to control herself when
she’s in a negative mood.
A one sentence summary for this book is that Bliss is a new girl at a school that has a deadly past, but the
worse part is that she can hear
someone’s voice in the back of her head, telling her what to do by trying to control her for blood and power only she can achieve. Bliss’s goal was to take back contol of her life
and survive in her new, creepy school because she was tired of being controlled by the voice. The creepy voice and Sandy Lear were going against her because they both wanted
her blood and life, so that they could have it to themselves. The climax of the book was when Sarah Lynn was chosen as Queen of the Carnival, but when it came to presenting
herself, her dad accidentally shot her instead of her prom date. The cause of this is because Sarah Lynn’s boyfriend was African-American when her dad, at work, slaughtered
them in general.
The message of this book is that you should always live and control your own life, while letting others live theirs freely. The author gets this message across the reader
by seeing Bliss as a feeble teenager, with no physical strength to combat her enemies. After reading the story, I think that the author wanted me to learn that secrets can turn into
events that foreshadow unhappy endings.
The Alchemyst
By Carlos
The setting of this book is San Francisco, Alcatraz Prison, Ojai, and various Shadowrealms. The location was California in the 21st
Century. It was sunny and there was barely any rain or snow. Magic was always in the air in this book. The author may have
picked this setting
to give the main characters’ quiet and happy lives at the start.
There were two main characters in this book. They were human twins named Sophie and Josh Newman. They both
had blonde hair,
light gray eyes, and they looked just like each other even though they were a boy and a girl. Josh was a bit taller than Sophie.
Sophie was a
caring and curious teen. She wouldn’t quit at anything and was ready to step into the world that was introduced to her. Josh
was quite the
opposite. He was hesitant and hard-headed. He always watched out for his “little” sister. Sophie was strong in personality and
her energy field.
She was always up to something and always came out winning. Josh was strong as well. He knew how to take care of his sister
and protect her
from any danger. One of Sophie’s faults is that she always ended up weak after any battle. This slowed the whole group down.
Josh was always
skeptical, and that brought him further away from the people around him.
This book was about the start of two teens’ journey into extraordinary and magical lives. Sophie and Josh tried to adjust to this whole
change and move on with the lives that were ahead of them. They tried to do this because they knew their lives were going to
change forever
and there was nothing they could do to stop it. However, throughout the whole book an evil Immortal named Dr. John Dee was
trying to have
them killed. He knew with them in his was he would never achieve HIS goal. The climax of the book came when Sophie, Josh and their group had to escape the evil Immortal and
ended up blowing up a witch’s house.
The message of the book is that at the end of the journey there is al The message of this book is that the end of a journey is always the beginning. Michael Scott showed
this by having one of his characters say, “this is only the beginning.” This was one example. Another example, is that the main character’s never returned home. They continued to
run to a new place. In my opinion, the author wanted us to feel like if we’ve entered his enchanted world.
This book really did hold my interest. I wanted to finish it as soon as the action began. It was pure magic and action from beginning to end. I really enjoyed Michael
Scott’s writing style.. He provided many twists and turns. I would recommend this book to people who love fantasy and a good page-turner.
The UnPredictables
The Vampire’s Assistant
By Alvaro Linares
The setting of this book was in a dark cave in the Vampire Mountain where many vampires came together for an important festival. These caves contained little light and
many tunnels that lead to different places. The places where most of the action happens are where the trials are taken place because Darren has to go through many challenges in
order to become an honorable half vampire. His knowledge of these games will determine if he will end up dead or alive. The place he rested in was a carved room in the cave with
a hammock with little light and nothing to wear. I believe the author used this setting in order to make it seem mysterious and gloomy;
to foreshadow
that some thing interesting might happen later on in the story.
The main characters in this story are Darren Shan, a half vampire, Mr. Creapsley, a vampire, and Harkat, a little person. Darren Shan is a
young kid that became a vampire because he was blooded by Mr. Creapsley. He lives longer than the normal human being he only ages
once every
five years compared to a full vampire that ages every ten years. Darren is a very curious kid and is always exploring new things even
though the
consequences are harder, which is how he met Mr. Creapsley and became a vampire.
Darren has experienced so much in his life and has seen things that no human has ever seen before. It all started when he found
himself face to
face with a vampire and had to make an ultimate decision. He had to decide whether to let his friend die or become a vampire’s assistant and half
vampire. His choice was wise by not letting his friend die, but he had to move away from his family and friend to the Cirque du Freak
and adapt to
a new life as a circus preformer. Now Darren had to go to trials to prove that he is an honorable and worthy half vampire. These trials
took place
in Vampire Mountain, a mountain with many caves and tunnels where many vampires come together on a special celeberation. These
trials where to
prove whether a vampire is worthy to be honored or to be killed. Five trials were assigned to him and if he renounced or failed he would
be executed.
The goal of this character is to be known as a great vampire because he is willing go through the trials just to please Mr. Creapsley. The
only reason he
is accomplishing this is to not disgrace to Mr. Creapsley. The foil characters in this story are the vampire princes because they bring up the trials of death to crown him a winner or
proclaim him dead. The climax of the book is when Darren finishes the trial and comes out half dead, but has to prepare for the next trial or give up and be killed.
Before coming to this festival they had a long journey adead of them that had to be complete, climbing vampire mountain. The conflicts that arose in vampire mountain
were wolves, a vampanezed poisoned bear and the cold. Once in vampire mountain, Darren was presented to the vampire prince and was challenged.
Twilight
By Bertha Perez
Twilight takes place in Forks. This took place when it was published, so in 2003. Most if the action took place in Forks. Forks
is a cold
and wet place. I think she picked Forks as the setting because Bella doesn’t like weather like that and it gives the Cullen family a chance
to play
baseball.
The main characters in this book are Bella and Edward. Bella has long brown hair and white skin. Edward is pale, tall, boyish
looking,
and has bronze, untidy hair. Bella is a clumsy, selfless, shy, in love with a vampire type of girl. Edward is dazzling, compassiontae,
caring,
protective, smart, goes by the old fashoined rules. He also has a temper and he can easily get mad. One of Bella’s good traits is that she
has a good
sense of humor. A good trait about Edward is that he is a very protective person and he really protects Bella. A fault that Bella has is that
she is very
clumsy and she gets into a lot of danger. A fault that Edward has is that he looses his temper and he can do something really dangerous.
The problem in the story is that Bella sneeks away from Jasper and Alice and goes straight to her death. She is in so much
danger
and that danger is James. Bella’s goal was to save her mother who supposedly James had captured. She wanted to accomplish this goal
because
her mother’s life was at stake. The one who wants Bella for her blood is James and Bella made herself an easy prey.
The message that Stephenie Meyer wanted to show through Twilight is when you truly love a person you do everything in your
power to
protect your love or simply to protect them, from anything, even from yourself. She showed this message through a human falling in
love with
a vampire, and the vampire falling in love with the human, Edward tries not to feel what he feels for Bella but his feelings are stronger than himself. He is always protecting Bella
Star Wars
By Erick Guzman
Like most Star Wars books this one takes place in a variety of places. The three main settings of this book are the planets of Coruscant and Kesh and the area known as
the Maw. The first place, Coruscant, is the galactic capitol and therefore is covered with one huge, massive, sprawling metropolis. The second place is a lost world, that is not on
any map and therefore is devoid of all the technology that is found on other planets. The last place is an area in the outskirts of the galaxy which is surrounded with multiple black
holes.
The book also has as many characters as it has settings. The majority of the book revolves around, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Solo, Ben Skywalker, and Jagged Fel.
Luke, Ben, and Leia are all Jedi, Han is the owner of the Millennium Falcon, and Jag is the Chief of State of the Galactic Empire. Those are the good guys in the book, the bad
guys are Chief of State of the Republic Daala and Sith apprentice Vestara and her tribe of the lost since. The book begins with an exiled Luke and his son, Ben, travelling into the maw in search of the mind walkers. Luke had been exiled from the republic until he could prove
that it was not his fault that his nephew, Jacen Solo, had become Darth Caedus. To do so he is travelling to all the places his nephew did in order to learn what might have corrupted
him. In that search he arrives at the maw where he begins to learn from the mind walkers. There he learns a new force meditation technique that allows him to travel to a different
dimension where time does not exist. After he learns of a number of places where Jacen may have been corrupted in this dimension he leaves. However upon leaving the dimension
he is weak because he had spent weeks in the other dimension even though it had only felt like a few minutes. To make matters worse the recently space borne Lost Tribe of the
Sith from the planet Kesh had tracked him. He and his son immediately start fighting the Sith strike team and Luke manages to shoot three and then decapitates the rest, except one.
That one is Sith apprentice Vestara whom he allows to cut him in order to put a blood trail on her and follow her to wherever she came from.
Meanwhile that’s happening Daala is planning to destroy the Jedi and there is unfortunately an epidemic of force insanity affecting some Jedi that is aiding her. Four Jedi
to date have gone insane and killed multiple civilians and she is using that as her basis to bring the Jedi to their knees. She has success throughout most of the book because without Luke the Jedi leadership crumbles. The political battle climaxes in a stunt to expose Daala’s plan by Jaina Solo and a battle between
hired
Mandalorians and Jedi. Jaina Solo invades a prison with the media and they find two frozen Jedi being kept as trophies which obviously
is a political blunder for Daala. Meanwhile that happens Leia, Han, and two other Jedi fend off Mandalorian mercenaries hired by Daala and
evacuate
some of the sick Jedi. The book then ends with Daala threatening the Jedi.
Given that while Luke was with the mind walkers there was some conflict between their views of the force the message seems
to be to
have tolerance and to be accepting of other peoples beliefs.
I found that the book was interesting for the most part. It held my interest for the majority of the book but there were large parts which
only
involved conversations and political ploys so that was a tad confusing and boring but apart from that I liked the book and I recommend
it to
anyone.
This book really did interest me and that is why I read it in one day. This book actually makes me picture what is happening.
Stephenie Meyer can really write amazing books. She made me imagine what Bella was going through. I would recommend this book
to people
who enjoy romance and suspense. This book had everything I could look for in a book. New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn are
the following amazing books.