Book Three Review

Is Heaven For Real?

In Heaven Is For Real, Todd Burpo brings to life the mind of a four year old boy who supposedly has traveled to heaven in back, all in three minutes. Colton Burpo, Todd’s son, begins to feel sick and after one thing leads to another, is rushed into emergency surgery to repair his burst appendix that has been leaking poison into him for the past couple of days. After Todd and his wife spend hours worrying, pacing, and shouting at God, Colton finally comes out of surgery safe and sound. The fact that Colton even survives is a miracle in itself, and not long after surgery, the Burpo family discovers a much more fascinating miracle that lies within their son. After a few suspicious occurrences in which Colton makes an insignificant reference to Jesus, he claims to have been watching his parents while he was having surgery. “Colton said that he ‘went up out of’ his body, that he had spoken with angels, and had sat in Jesus’ lap…’You were in a little room by yourself praying, and Mommy was in a different room and she was praying and talking on the phone’”(Burpo 61). This leaves Mr. and Mrs. Burpo wondering if there could be something more than just a creative imagination coming from Colton, and throughout the novel they question their son and discover that he really has done the unimaginable...traveled to heaven and back.



Todd and Colton Burpo



 Overall, the book is a success. Burpo manages to describe the complicated story of Colton’s experiences in the most uncomplicated way possible. Most people who are able to read in general will be able to pick up Heaven Is For Real and go from start to finish with ease. So, if you’re looking for a more difficult novel, this one is definitely not for you. How well written a book is doesn’t depend on the difficulty, it depends on the actual content of the story. Having this in mind, Heaven Is For Real is the prime example of a good book. It causes you to think about your faith, whatever it may be, and in some cases renew your beliefs in that faith. A lot of controversy came with the novel from parts such as when Colton told his father that if a dead person didn’t know Jesus, he couldn’t go to heaven. Colton shouts, “‘He had to! He had to!’ Colton went on. ‘He can’t get into heaven if he didn’t have Jesus in his heart!’”(Burpo 59). Putting something like this into a novel that anyone anywhere has the ability to buy is a risky move, and in some ways it turned out troublesome for Burpo. He shouldn’t have to take the brunt of the criticism though because readers could easily have read the title, seen Heaven, and put it back down if that isn’t their faith. They have the ability to choose what they read, and shouldn’t blame the author for writing something controversial.

In the middle of the book, Burpo includes multiple pages of family pictures that lighten the mood and help to illustrate his family timeline. The pictures also consist of Colton’s deceased grandpa, who he claims to have seen during his trip, which allows readers to grasp the impossibility of Colton even knowing who his grandpa is, let alone seeing him in an afterlife. Although, like I said, the book is mostly successful, there were multiple parts of the story that were just plain annoying. Of course it’s shocking to hear from your young son that he has done the unheard of, but Burpo describes every instance of his son’s recollection as earth-shattering. Phrases like, “That set my head spinning” (63), “My mind reeled” (66), “My heart skipped a beat” (79), and “Try hearing that and staying on the road” (136) all support the fact that Colton’s father was in awe of his son’s stories, but also suggest that every single time Colton said anything, Burpo literally couldn’t believe it, even though the same thing basically happened to him 20 pages earlier. The pattern is this: Colton recalls something extraordinary, Mr. Burpo freaks out, repeat. Especially with him being a pastor and all, you’d think his jaw wouldn’t drop that much every single time.



Colton Burpo, present



The most important aspect of every novel is the message, and if there’s anything that Heaven Is For Real does well, it’s put across an inspiring one. Flipping the pages of the book, every element of Christianity is explored in a creative, but in depth way. Even if you aren’t Christian, who’s to say you can’t do the same with your own faith. The inspiring story causes the reader to think about eternity, and what it might have in store. For a believer or non-believer, the novel throws you into the mind of a child, exposing the innocent imagination of a four year old boy. I’m sure if what happened to Colton happened to an adult, many would only think of it as a good dream. That’s what’s so special about Colton’s perspective. It’s not like a four year old child who barely knows how to read is going to make up a story like that. You’re unknowingly forced to believe what he says, for the simple fact that Colton is truly genuine from start to finish.

Sites for Books

Check out these book websites!

http://kathrynstockett.com/ (Kathryn Stockett's Website)
http://heavenisforreal.net/ (Heaven Is For Real Website)
http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/ (Suzanne Collins' Website)
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/index.html (New York Times Book Page)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (Barnes and Noble Website)

My Top Five Books

Blog Post #7

Is It Non-Fiction?

In order for a book to be considered non-fiction, I think that 99% of what the writer says happened, actually needs to have happened. When readers pick up a book that looks good then notice that the book is also non-fiction, they are probably more likely to read it because it’s neat to think that the events in the story were once reality. I say 99% because it’s probably next to impossible to get every little detail about an event perfectly correct. Half the time, I don’t even remember what I did yesterday. So, I would give a little leeway to writers in that perspective knowing that the facts aren’t going to be 100% accurate. For me, I can apply the non-fiction to fiction aspect to movies that I watch as well. I think non-fiction movies are more interesting and intriguing if I know that the story is real. Also, I think we do need fiction and non-fiction genre labels. Many readers rely on genre labels alone to make their decisions, and if you take them away, those people wouldn’t have the guidance they need when choosing a book. If I were an author, I too would want the distinction of my book between fiction and non-fiction. A novel that is written and labeled as non-fiction comes across as somewhat more sophisticated for some reason. As you read, you take the events more seriously and for me, I can better analyze the book if I can play it out easily in my head, which is usually the case for non-fiction books. Also, most non-fiction books can have a fiction label put on them and no one could tell the difference, because they easily could have been made up. It’s important to distinguish between what’s a true story and what’s not.

Blog Post 6

Readicide

In my opinion, exclusively teaching literary fiction in the curriculum during grade school shouldn’t be the standard. Even though books from our history that may be considered “great” are beneficial to students’ understanding of literature, who’s to say that books written in the present aren’t just as helpful? We need to realize as a society that kids these days don’t always enjoy reading the books they are assigned in school, and half the time use Spark Notes in place of reading the book at all. I agree with Gallagher’s idea to teach some literary fiction novels in class as well as some genre fiction ones. This way, students will want to read more of the books assigned to them in the classroom. They might also have an easier time breaking down the true meaning of the book if they are able to compare it to something much easier to understand. Comparing “Romeo and Juliet” to “Rebecca” would be hard because a high school student may not fully grasp one or both of the books. If you compared “Romeo and Juliet” to “Twilight” on the other hand, you would be comparing a rather easy to comprehend book to a more difficult read. In other words, it would be easier to digest the meaning of older, more difficult novels if they were to be put in terms of today’s literature. Schools should definitely not cut out literary fiction in its entirety. Students gain important knowledge from them that they wouldn’t get from today’s popular culture. The main goal of English class though, should be to gain student’s interest in reading, so that they will continue to read throughout their lives. I personally consider English as my least favorite subject because of all the critical thinking we do with each novel that we have to read. I’m positive I would enjoy the class much more if I could look forward to the novels in class, and say I get to read it, not I have to.

"The Help" Book Trailer

Blog Post #4

A Movie Adaptation of The Help

               For my book #2, I am reading The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Adapting the book into a movie would have been difficult because of the time period set in the 60’s. Because everything has modernized so much since then, going back to that time period and choosing the right clothes, hairstyles, and landscapes would have been a hard challenge. Although this would be difficult, the setting set in the past is essential in an adaptation of the novel due to the events that take place. African-American maids and racial discrimination were more prominent occurrences back in the day. This is an appropriate time to set the book in because Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was in August of 1963, when segregation was extremely common. Another scene that would be essential to include in the adaptation of the book would be when Minny was offered her job cleaning for Miss Celia. This would be important because it gives a new hope for Minny after being turned away so many times due to her bad reputation.  A third element/scene from the novel that should definitely be included in the movie is when Mae Mobley, the child Aibileen takes care of when she house keeps for Miss Leefolt, is potty trained and refuses to use the toilet unless it’s Aibileen’s toilet. This is significant because not only is it Aibileen’s, but it is a special toilet that Miss Leefolt had built that so that she wouldn’t have any black people going to the bathroom in her house. It is an important scene to keep from the book to the adaptation because it shows how much hatred there was towards the African-American race. When Mae Mobley uses the “black” toilet, her mom, Miss Leefolt, begins to scream at her because of how awful and disgusting she thinks it is. This scene stood out to me because it demonstrates the extreme segregation of the past.

                In the book, Minny is always at Miss Celia’s house, describing the work she has to do and what not. I don’t think that it would be necessary to include all of the times that she is at Miss Celia’s, but to only include the important ones like the first time ever and when Miss Celia’s husband comes home during the day unexpectedly. Also, after Miss Skeeter gets a job as a columnist, she goes to Aibileen often to get advice on what to write about. You could probably include some of the times that she goes for help, but times when she doesn’t get much help or when she is told to come back and ask for it at a later time, it wouldn’t be necessary to adapt into a movie. All and all, I think most of the scenes in the story would be beneficial to a movie adaptation, but there are definitely some scenes that could be altered or cut entirely to better play into the movie.

Blog Post #2

A Book is a Canvas

What is a book? A book is a canvas. An empty one to be specific. You have the freedom to paint the picture as you please given the story line. When reading the book, you develop images in your mind of what you think you are reading. In essence, what the movie scene would look like. The book itself tells you what to paint. How you decide to do that is completely up to you. Imagine you’re a famous painter known all over the world. You have a request to paint a picture of a park. There are millions of parks in the world that you could base your painting off of, or you could always just make up your own. Now come back to reality and focus on the book in your hands. The book is your request, your script, your empty canvas, and you have the power to paint the picture however you choose. No one else is going to have the exact same painting as you do, it will be uniquely your ideas, your creativity.

One of the opinions that I really agree on of the authors was how the physicality of the book is important. I hate the idea that books someday might be hard to get hold of due to Kindles, iPads, etc. When Tom Piazza comments on how a book has weight, he’s absolutely right. There is an obvious difference between a 200 page short story and a 1000 page novel. The sense of accomplishment that I get when I read a longer book feels good, and I like to put it back on my shelf with a little wear and tear. I also agree with Nancy Jo Sales when she talks about the history of a particular book, and how it could have been passed down through generations, with messages in the margins intended for great-great-grandchildren. That quality of books is important to me because I have some books in my possession that have been passed down to me and when I eventually have kids, I’ll pass them down once again. I don’t agree with Joe Meno when he compares books in any form and says they are all similar in the way that they are a “place”. To me, it is extremely different to flip actual pages in a paper book than to press a button on a screen that says next. I get more engaged in the book and as the amount that I have left to read gets less, I can see that and it makes me more excited to finish the book. I know that the words in a book are the same no matter what form they come across in, but books are in some way “magical”. They take you away from reality for the time you read, and allow you to escape into a world that’s not your own. The feeling of curling up with a good book and a blanket, with the smell of the fresh pages, is something that always makes me more relaxed.

Book 1 Project



Book 1 Project: The Hunger Games

My idea is to create a video game that allows you to experience The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, in the most realistic way possible. The players would be able to participate in the reaping, in which they would be chosen as a tribute, then go through the training required prior to the games themselves. Through the training, they would determine their best skill and then before the games begin, demonstrate that skill in front of the judges, just like Katniss and the rest of the 24 tributes did in the book. Because you have to give the judges a good show, it is important to take the training seriously in order to perform at your best abilities when it matters. When in it is time to enter into the arena, the same principle of the 60 second rule will come into play, and when the time is up you have the option to fight for supplies. Then it’s time to win. You will be able to do whatever it takes to win the Hunger Games. Just like the tributes, you will have a kill list and various other stats that will appear at the bottom of your screen. An overall score based on hiding and hunting tactics, resourcefulness, and just plain staying alive will determine the number of sponsors if any that you receive. The obvious goal is to win and stay alive in order to return back to your district with new found respect and a higher quality of life.

The video game would encompass many of the aspects in The Hunger Games novel. Because both the game and book are focused on the same thing, the two would be very relatable. Before and during the reaping, Katniss is overcome with anxiety and fear that she will be chosen. Katniss explains, “The word tribute is pretty much synonymous with the word corpse” (22). During the setup of the game, you can enter your real name into a database so that when you are chosen at the reaping, it will be more personal.  Although the players of the video game will know that they are going to be chosen at the reaping, the feeling of your actual name being called on the screen will create some anxiety in the player. One scene from the book that relates directly to my idea is when Katniss has her first kill of the boy who plunges a spear into Rue. The reality of the games begins to sink in as she adds her first kill to the list. During her realization, she is filled with mixed emotions. “Then I realize…he was my first kill. Along with other statistics they report to help people place their bets, every tribute has a list of kills” (243). The players list of kills will grow throughout the games, obviously based on how many fellow tributes you kill. The overall major goal is to be as realistic as possible in all aspects of the video game, and in order to do that you have to have the players go through everything that the characters in the book go through. In addition to this, obstacles will be a setback for some when the game makers put them into effect at random times. At the conclusion of the games, if you have won, the exact same announcement as in the book will boom through your television set. Claudius Templesmith announced, “I am pleased to present the victors of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!”(345). In the case that you do not win and are killed during the action in the arena, you will be given a quick overview of how the games turned out and who killed who, and then you will be free to begin a new journey.

This idea will work because readers around the world have become fascinated with The Hunger Games and all that it is about. Almost every person that you ask in a random survey has read or is reading one of the three novels. Obviously, the books have become extremely popular in a relatively short amount of time and anything outside of reading that relates to them will certainly spark peoples’ interests to a new level. When I was reading the book myself, I often wondered what it would be like to be in the position of the character and be forced by your own government to fight others just like you to the death. That thought has without a doubt crossed the minds of hundreds of thousands of other readers and this video game will finally give them a chance to find out in a sense what it actually is like. People will hopefully become just as attached to the new game as they did to the books, movie and characters.

Blog Post #1

Reasons I Read

I've thought about why I read many times and can't come to one conclusion. Reading isn't something that I do on a regular basis for pleasure because of a busy schedule, and a lack of initial motivation, but I wish that I did more of it.


First off, reading is relaxing. Whenever I pick up a good book and start reading, I start to get lost in it and all my stress goes away. It becomes a different world away from normal life that I can go to. This only usually happens though when I read alone in a quiet place so that I can focus all of my thoughts on the book. The best place to read for me is on the beach, lying under the sun with a small breeze in the air. Everything is peaceful there, with nothing to worry about.


 In my opinion, the best books to read are the ones that you can relate the most to your own life. That doesn't mean that you won't enjoy a novel that is the polar opposite of your reality, but for me I get more into the books when I know how it feels to be in a similar situation.


 I also feel smarter after I read a book. Reading makes me think in a way that I don't normally do. I have to analyze the characters, plot, setting, and conflict and somehow tie everything together so that the story makes sense. A lot of times I have trouble comprehending what is going on during a book, because I'll get caught up in something else that happened that day and my mind will wander. I hate when this happens and end up having to reread what I just "read", so that I actually know what's happening.


 Another time when I like to read is whenever it's raining outside. I like the sound the rain makes against the house and it helps me relax and get into the book. Rain also helps me sleep though, so sometimes when I read during a rainy night, I fall asleep mid-sentence. One time, my family went camping and the night we went there was a terrible rainstorm with torrential downpours throughout the night. Before we left for the campground, I packed up my 30+ Junie B. Jones books. By the time that we left in the morning, I had read fifteen of them, one book every half hour or so. So the main reason that I read is to relax and enjoy myself, which is to me what books are made for in the first place.