Chapter 1 My Reading Log

Many people are fond of reading. They pick out one book or another and if they like it they share their opinion with friends or relatives and advise the latter to read it. Some people keep reading logs where they write there attitude towards the books they’ve read. We invite everyone to visit our website reading log where we started publishing short reviews of the books read by our pupils. Their descriptions will probably involve the other pupils in the process of reading and in this or that way influence the children’s journey to the world of books. Zharov O.V.

                

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

"Have you ever fallen down the Rabbit-Hole or been invited to a Mad Tea-Party that never ends? Have you ever got confused about your personality or lived under a constant fear of death sentence? Sounds ridiculous and a bit terrifying, doesn’t it? A few things I happened to mention are just tiny puzzle pieces of an amazing story about bizarre yet fascinating adventures of one little girl. I suppose you’ve guessed by now that the little girl’s name is Alice and her adventures happened to occur in a fantastical place called Wonderland.

Everything seems to be out of place there: the Queen plays croquet using a flamingo as a mallet and a hedgehog as a ball, the Mad Hatter drinks tea with the March Hare and a casual thing like eating a cake can make you grow incredibly fast. If all these crazy things are not intriguing enough for you, then I’m not doing such a good job as a story-teller.

‘Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it,’ and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice. ’without pictures or conversations?’

For all the little and grown-up Alice’s out there, the inimitable work by Lewis Carroll has plenty of wonderful pictures and amusing conversations that both adults and children will never get bored with.

If you haven’t read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (yet), I strongly recommend you to get a copy of  the book and make sure no one disturbs you while you travel side by side with Alice around Wonderland. But if you choose to ignore my advice and do something more useful for the society, you will never learn the difference between the expressions ‘I say what I mean’ and ‘I mean what I say’, for  instance. Believe me, no human  being can live a decent life without that essential knowledge.

Have fun reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and discovering something new and exciting on every page of the book!"

You can both read and listen to the dramatic audio performance of the book .

William Golding "Lord of the Flies”

"When I was a child I often fantasized about living on a desert island for a week or so, having to catch my own food, build my own shelter, defend myself from the horrors of the wilderness. The whole idea of being stranded in the middle of nowhere seemed to be a beautiful dream, an exciting game. But what if I really happened to live all alone on a desert island? What if a dream turned out to be a nightmare that I was never to wake up from?
    Lord of the Flies, the outstanding novel by Sir William Golding, is a realistic, tragic description of the life on a desert island. But if you’re thinking that it’s just another story of Robinson Crusoe, you are mistaken. The characters of the novel are not adults who usually manage to think clearly in difficult situations, but children, - helpless, vulnerable and unreasonable little boys who are easily confused and frightened. Although the more we read into the novel, the less defenceless and innocent the kids seem. While adjusting to the new way of life, some of the boys begin to turn into cruel, primitive savages. Thus, the "game” of surviving on an island transforms into a battle between those who managed to retain sanity and those gone almost mad. A war between good and evil breaks out. But will good triumph over evil? That is one of the things you will have to find out on your own by reading the magnificent novel by Sir William Golding."

To understand the context of Lord of the Flies you need some background on the writer himself and his experiences during World War Two.

"Do you like adventure books? If you do then you’ll love the book "Five on the Treasure Island” written by Enid Blyton. It is full of adventure that a book reader such as me would adore. I am going to retell the story right now. However the true beauty of the tale can only be described by this full version itself.  

     The story begins when three children wanted to spend their holidays as fun as possible. The children’s names are Julian Anne and Dick. It all started with Julian suggesting to go to Polseath as they usually did. But mother said they couldn’t because it was full up that year. Dad told them to cheer up. He had an idea to go the Quentin’s, his brother and the uncle of the three kids. Mother liked that idea considering Aunt Fanny, the wife of uncle Quentin had to look after her child as well, making her the right caretaker for the three kids. Julian Dick and Anne started to feel very excited about that. After breakfast the parents called Fanny for a request to visit. She was happy with that idea since her Georgina could have friends to play with. Soon the visiting day arrived. The kids were oh so excited about it they could barely wait to get to their uncle’s place. When they arrived they were thrilled with the beautiful scenery. When they were getting to know each other the kids found out that uncle Quentin was a mysterious man who rarely comes out of his study and that their cousin Georgina or as she liked to call herself was a girl who hated to be a girl. She was much faster, stronger, more agile than even all the boys. She had a lot more features that a boy had. She had short hair, hated to play with dolls, loved sports and so on, and so forth.

     The main story here is that of Kirrin Castle, a mysterious building of George’s forefather’s. The three kids soon find out that in the castle there are ingots, which Julian and Dick were sure meant gold bars. The three kids soon found out that George had a little secret-she had a dog named Tim that she hid from her parents because they told her that Tim was nothing but trouble. She hid him in the house of a fisher boy, to whom she paid her allowance for him taking care of the dog. When they did find a map and tried to find the gold, they heard terrible news- Uncle Quentin was selling Kirrin Castle. George demanded to not sell it because Aunt Fanny told her that the castle was George’s. But he and Aunt Fanny told her that they needed money urgently and that after they sell it they could buy George whatever she wanted, but she declined. Then Uncle Quentin started shouting at her for not behaving like she should have. So as a reaction she stormed into her room crying. But soon aunt Fanny decided to let her and her cousins spend one last week at the castle.They did so very dramatically. Hey found the ingots but two men imprisoned them. Luckily when George sent a luring letter she signed it from Georgina. Anne believed it but Dick was suspicious and did not fall for it. Soon he made a plan and freed Julian and George while the men were off the island. But when they tried to escape they couldn’t because the oars were missing. Then Julian hatched up a plan and it barely worked but it still did. They escaped to Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny. They explained everything. After that Quentin turned a new leaf as one might say. He even let George keep Tim. It was a great end to a great adventure!"

The Walrus and the Carpenter