My reading wish list: 1.The book thief 2.Let it Snow 3.Looking for Alaska 4.The Girl on The Train 5.Yes Please 6.Paper Towns 7.Dorothy Must Die 8.Red Queen 9.The Perks of being a Wallflower 10.The outsiders

How well did the movie stay true to the book?

   By: Rachel Perkins

    For my book four project I wanted to read My Sisters Keeper and compare it to the movie. This tear jerking book was about Anna, a 13 year old girl wanting to sue her parents for the right of her own body. All of Anna's life she knew that the only reason she was here was to help her sister Kate live. Kate is dying from acute leukemia. From donating white blood cells to bone marrow Anna has helped her in numerous ways. But when she finds out she will have to donate a kidney to her she decided that she has had enough and wants to be a normal kid.
    When I read the book I fell in love with it. It was written really well and each chapter you got to hear a new person's point of view in the story. I honestly thought the movie couldn't come close to being as good. I was right. Not that the movie wasn't good, because it was I just thought that because the book included so much information from the characters life that there was no way to make the movie have that same feeling without taking parts out or making it 9 hours long. The main thing that made me mad was they left out characters that I felt made the story better. For example the child care service worker who let Anna stay with her during the trial was never even mentioned in the movie but was one of the main characters in the book. That was only one of the many important characters they left out.
    One thing that the movie did really well was it changed perspectives like it did in the book and didn't all make it from the young girls perspective. They included flashbacks like they did in the story but some of them should have been played earlier. For example someone who didn't read the book might have been confused to why she was suing her parents because the very first scene was Anna getting a lawyer to sue them. I understand with all great books to make a movie off of it you can't include every detail in it but I just feel like in this one they could of made some of the characters personality traits a bit more clearer like Jesse, Anna's older brother is portrayed as a kid who is not going in the right direction and gets in trouble with the police on more than one occasion. But from watching the movie and not reading the book I would have never known that. Although the movie did have a few things in it that I really enjoyed, for example I really like how they made Kate seem so loving to her younger sister and accepting to her decision even though she will most likely die. And they did a good job making the mom so determined to help the one daughter live she forgets to care and love for her other one.
    The biggest thing that the movie changed which I actually liked better than the book was the ending. In the book it ended with Anna getting into a car accident and it left her brain dead. They then used her kidney to save Kate. In the movie they didn't kill Anna, she didn't even get in a car accident. It ended with Kate passing away with her mom lying next to her in the hospital and then shows a clip of the family later on a lot happier. I liked this ending better because it was more what you would of expected were as in the book you were not expecting the healthy one to die from a car accident and while she was brain dead have her kidney given to her older sister. Both endings were extremely sad, it just depends on if you like the more predictable ending vs. the surprising ending.      Overall I think the movie did an ok job with creating the book into a film and for the most part stayed true to the book by keeping the moral of the story the same. If I were to rate the book I would defiantly give it a 5/5 as for the movie I would give it a 2/5.

Book Talk

13 Reasons Why

5 ways in which Hannah was impulsive

In the book Thirteen Reasons Why a young girl named Hannah commits suicide because of how her “friends” treated her. Although her friends had no reason to treat Hannah like they did I do feel Hannah might have been impulsive at the moment and didn’t realize that there were other things she could of done to help the situation than to  have to end her life because of it.

1.        She got a bad reputation after her first kiss.

Justin Foley was Hannah’s first boyfriend, after they decide to meet in the park they share a kiss. Afterwards Justin went around telling his friends about it. This makes Hannah uncomfortable and feels she has a bad reputation. Yes Justin should have kept it to himself but he is a high school boy and of course he will tell his friends about his first kiss.

2.       Her friend is mad because she dated her old boyfriend.

When Hannah meets Jessica they quickly become friends. That was until they were at lunch when they meet Alex who was “checking them out.” He then tells them he is new here and they invite him over to sit with them and have nice time. Jessica later hears rumors about Hannah and Alex together and gets mad because she used to have a thing with Alex. She then makes a stupid decision and slapped Hannah. As rude as that was for Jessica to do I do not feel it is a good reason to end your life for it.

3.       Her friend didn’t stay with her at the party.

Hannah was asked to go to a party with her friend Courtney Crimsen, she thought she was invited because Courtney wanted to hang out with her but she later realizes that she didn’t want to, and that she just needed a ride. This makes Hannah upset and very angry with who she thought was her friend. One thing I feel Hannah needed to know would be that when it comes to high school of course you are going to have people in your life that are not there for the right reasons you just have to learn from them and move on as hard as it may be.

    4.       Her relationship doesn’t work out

When Hannah gets paired up with a boy from doing a valentines day survey, they go on a date only to find that he was 30 minutes late and in the end he called her a tease. By this point I do feel really sorry for what Hannah went through but what does she expect going out with a guy she met because of an online survey.

     5.  Her guidance counselor didn't help her
After a bunch of things in Hannah's life began to fall apart she turned to her guidance counselor to ask for help. The guidance counselor didn't take Hannah seriously and let her leave. This really made Hannah sad and feel like she had no one to talk to which in the end led to her committing suicide. I feel Hannah should have talk to her parents first because they would understand better than the guidance counselor who clearly didn't care. Maybe by doing that she could have found help and still be here.

Hannah defiantly had a rough time in high school and dealt with a lot more than most people her age but almost everything that happened to her unfortunately are all part of being a teenager and having to learn who to trust and who no to. That is why I feel Hannah might of been impulsive at the moment and let everything that happen get the best of her.

How true does nonfiction have to be?     

     I believe that for a book to be considered nonfiction it needs to include for the most part accurate facts. I believe that if it were about someone or something that happened than a little exaggeration is okay but if you include unreal facts into the story that never happened then that is not considered nonfiction to me. I believe that half truths are also okay but like I said before you need to at least have the same resolution in the story as in real life and for the most part accurate facts to go along with it. I do believe that David Shields is right and that we don't always need to label a book as either nonfiction or fiction and like he said as long as it is a good story what’s the big deal if it is made up or not. Although when you do write a book and sell it as a nonfiction book or a memoir that it is important to have the right facts and not lie about it. For example if you write about being an orphan when in reality you had two parents than that would not be a memoir because what you said never happened. It is also important to include accurate facts so that the person or event you are writing about is portrayed as how it happened. 

The best adaptation to the book "The Notebook" would be a movie. I choose a movie because it was the only option that made sense for the story. The scenes that would be essential to include in the movie would be the beginning when it talks about how Allie and Noah had dated when they were younger and how it impacted both of there lives and then how they meet again and fall back in love with each other. Some things that I would choose to cut from the movie would be making the beginning more clearer and not so much little detail because that made it hard to get into. I also would add more scenes from her as a mom and a wife and not skip right to when she was older and getting sick. Overall I wouldn't change that much more in the movie because I would want to keep the story line the same as the book. The cast I would choose for the movie would probably be Taylor Swift as Allie when she was younger because the way they described Allie's personality and looks reminded me of Taylor swift. For Noah I would choose Channing Tatum. The soundtrack I would choose for the movie would probably be Taylor swift and Ed Sheeran because both artist have powerful love songs that convey what this movie is about. The thing that would be unique in this movie would be the way we would follow the story line in the book and how we would keep it the same so the fans of the book would also enjoy the movie.

     

     Come be a part of The Helps webpage and you won’t regret it! You will not only get to hear from the author herself but you get to play fun games and test your knowledge of the book. This website is free to sign up and only takes about two minutes to get an account. You are able to get to see unshown scenes from the movie and hear interviews from the actors, director, and the author of The Help, Kathryn Stockett!

     If you are unfamiliar with the award winning book it is about Aibileen who is a maid for a white family and gets a chance to write about the hardships that maids have to face. “God says we need to love our enemies. It hard to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it feel like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free.” If you want to learn more about the book check out this website! You are able to play games that portray real events in the story like “food for the party” where you try to get enough food ready for Mrs. Leefolts party like Abilieen had to do before the big party, “Get the house straightened up and then go on and fix some chicken salad.”  You also get to ask questions about the book or author that you have been dying to know in the Q&A and have a chance to hear back from the Author! Along with those cool features you also get to take a quiz and find out which character fits you the best, whether it’s Mrs. Hilly the mean maid owner who wants everything to be her way, Aibileen the sweet, friendly maid known for her big heart, “Aibileen's heart is so big, we just might all fit inside it.” or Minny, Abilieens best friend who is not afraid to say what she thinks. And the best part of this free online website would be the unknown facts about the book! For example did you know that Jessica Chastain a vegan, ate soy ice cream melted in the microwave to gain weight for the role of Celia Foote. Or that Kathryn Stockett’s book was rejected 60 times before it was eventually published! These are just some of the interesting, unknown facts you will find out about on this website! On this website you will be connected to all the fans of the Help and learn about other books that people enjoyed that liked The Help. Playing games can allow you to collect coins and use them to see clips that didn't play in the movie; also if you collect over 100 coins you get the chance to win a twenty five dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble! Want to find out more about your favorite character if so then you came to the right place. Here you will learn information about the character beyond what the book tells you. What are you waiting for? Come sign up today and be guaranteed an experience that you won’t forget!