Setting Letters November 13, 2008

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
Dear Book Club,
The book I have just read is called The Wish List by Eoin Colfer. It is about a fourteen- year -old girl living in Ireland by the name of Meg Finn. Meg’s mother had married a man named Franco, who was not a good husband at all, in fact he didn’t even work. All he really did was sit in front of the television. When Meg’s mom died because she was crossing the street and a taxi hit her, Meg’s step dad hardly cared except that nobody cooked him meals anymore.
After being cast out of her home by Franco, the thought of getting money and being able to get out of the city and away from Franco is what propelled Meg to help her partner in crime, Belch, and his pitbull, Raptor to rob an old man’s house.
That fateful night things went horribly wrong and after the accidental explosion of a gas tank, Meg, Belch and Raptor died. Meg’s spirit gets flung upwards into a tunnel. The tunnel was so huge s to appear boundless. This illusion was shattered by rings of blue light that pulsated along its length like the heartbeat of some great creature. The air was slightly liquid. There was no smell, the walls looked soft like clouds and people were floating by who looked like small dots. Up ahead there was a fork in the tunnel that was fairly simple to negotiate. If you had a blue aura, you go up to the pearlies. If you had a red aura, you go down to hell. Meg Finn’s aura was purple, which means her good and bad deeds were exactly equal, and the only way for her to go up to heaven was to go back to earth as a spirit and help Lowrie McCall, the old man she tried to rob, with a list of things he would like to set straight before he dies. This is the “Wish List.”
The tunnel affects the plot because you either go up or down. I like this because the tunnel is at both the beginning and the end of the story.

Muhammad Mehai (9th grade)


New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Dear Book Club
I have currently just read the book “New Moon” it is 563 pages long and is written by Stephenie Meyer. It is the second book in its series of four. “New Moon” is about a normal 18 year old girl who just happens to be dating a vampire Edward Cullen. She has known him for about a year now and when she least expects it he just disappears with out any warning or explanation. She is heartbroken and doesn’t know what she will live for any more. She try’s to live and act as normal as possible for her dad and mom. But they still seem to notice she is heartbroken. They advice her to move on and live her life again, she decides to visit an old family friend Jake Black. They become great friends through out the book and experience more surprising and unexpected adventures.
I am going to describe the setting when Edward leaves Bella in the forest with out any notice or explanation. I followed him into the forest the trees were very green and the dirt was still wet from it raining the night before. His hands were ice cold and were as hard as marble. He started to talk without any emotion. he said he had to leave. He was saying he was going to leave me. I felt my head spin and thought I was going to fall. I could feel my heart beating so loud, I hated when it did that it must annoy him. I was so confused. I wanted some answers but of course he didn’t give me any. I just kept listening much to in shock to actually say something. I felt his cold hand drop mine and he started to run away deeper in the forest. He turned back and then said to make sure I was careful and to try to stay out of trouble for my parent’s sake. Then he ran far deep in to the forest. I was to hurt and sad to go home and as mindless as I was at that point I actually tried to follow him in the back of my mind I new I wouldn’t but I still tried as pathetic as I was. I looked up and was surprised to see that it was dark out already. Then I realized I was very cold I took a deep breath and let it out slowly I could see my breath in the cold dark air. My heart felt like I had a hole in it. I decided to lay down on the dirt I was to tired to walk back maybe he just might come back for me. I decided to try and wait…
This scene in the book affects the main character Bella very deeply. It changes her life extremely and she is too much in shock to even notice that it is really happening. This part of the story makes the reader experience the same amount of sadness and confusion as the character Bella. It makes you feel like you are actually there. This event affects the plot greatly and makes you wonder what the story is going to be about if the vampire Edward has left her. A place that reminds me of the scene I described is a trail in my back yard it has so many trees and is fairly easy to get lost in.

Kori Gibson (10th grade)


For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Dear Book Club,
I am currently on pg.154 of the book For One More Day by Mitch Albom. This book is about a man named Charley Benetto who has had troubled childhood experiences. His father told him when he was young that he could either be a mama’s boy or a daddy’s boy, so he chooses daddy’s boy. When he is eleven years old his father leaves him, so he lives with his mother who raises him on her own, Charley spends the next couple of years wishing that he could have the perfect family that stayed together. When he is around forty years old his mother dies. He then becomes an alcoholic and his whole live spirals out of control. He leaves his family and has a life filled with regret. His own daughter doesn’t even invite him to her wedding because he was not a good father to her. He has many failed careers which included a sales man and a Major League baseball player. One night he realizes that is life has crumbled to pieces, so he decides to end it. He is driving back to his hometown on a rainy night and ends up crashing his car. The next thing he knows he is at his old home and his mother who had died is living there. She talks to him as if nothing has happened. Charley soon realizes that he has the chance to spend one more day with his mother.
One setting from For One More Day is when Charley has crashed his car into a semi-truck and is lying in the wet grass realizing what has just happened to him. He could see the truck snapped in half with steam rising from the engine. He could hear the sound of his shoes crunching on the gravel as he walked to observe the scene of the crash and the crickets laughing. He tasted the blood on his lips; it had a salty taste to it. He could smell the rain and wet grass. The mood was that of sorrow. Charley realizes how depressed he is. It affects him because when he starts to walk away from the crash, he soon realizes that he has gone back in time after the accident and is now able to fix the relationship he had with his mother.

Jourdan Tappeiner (10th grade)


Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Dear Book Club,
Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a book where Pi, an East-Indian teenager is trapped on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and a Bengal tiger. Martel exposes Indian life and Pi’s struggles to survive on a floating zoo where the predators eat the prey, until just the tiger is left alone with Pi.
The most significant setting in the book is established when Pi is forced onto a lifeboat with the four animals just before dawn, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The cold, salty night air from a storm rushes the boat as the tiger growls. The sound of sharks churning the water and the hint of sunrise make a fearful but calm mood. The foul smell of rotting fish and moldy plastic surround the bobbing boat while Pi lies still, hoping that many lifeboats will find him in a couple of hours.
This boat saved Pi’s life. Most of the story takes place on this vessel so the setting of the lifeboat is very important. The setting basically creates the plot. The meat of this novel takes place in this tiny place where Pi struggles to stay alive. Though it is effective I dislike the setting. The smell, the fear and the weather would make it unbearable, not to mention the lack of food and fresh water. I would hate to be in a situation like this.
The idea of a tiger being loose on a stranded lifeboat alone with a boy is so outrageous that I can’t think of a situation at all similar. A lost fishing boat would be like this but you would have to add a big predator to make it at all close to the setting of this book.
The scene which introduces the lifeboat has a frightening yet calm mood, due to the growling tiger and the approaching dawn. As the days go by in the lifeboat this conflicting mood carries on through the story till the end. The unpleasant lifeboat is critical to the plot because it saved lives and creates the strange meeting between a boy and a tiger who both want to survive. I am relieved to say that I have never heard of a situation like this and would not like to experience it myself!

Cheers,
Cody Leeds


Pearls of Lutra by Brian Jacques
Dear Book Club,
I have read 300 fantastic pages of the masterpiece “Pearls of Lutra” written by Brian Jacques. It is 408 pages long and is the ninth book in the Redwall series but is the next book chronologically after “Mattimeo”. The six magnificent rose colored pearls known as the Tears of All Oceans have been stolen and the only person who knows where they are is dead. Fermald the Ancient has hidden the pearls all over Redwall Abbey along with a cryptic clue to the location of the next pearl. The emperor of the Tropical Isle, Sampetra, Ublaz “Mad Eyes” will do anything and everything to be able to call the Tears of All Oceans his own. He has sent the best of his trident wielding rats lead by the ferret captain Romsca and bloodthirsty monitor lizards lead by the monitor Lask Frildur to claim the greatest treasure of all the seas. At Redwall, Rollo the Recorder stumbles upon a piece of parchment wedged in Fermald’s chair that leads the group, Tansy the Hedgehog, Martin II, Warrior of Redwall and he himself Rollo Bankvole, to the first pearl. They are able to find the second pearl, but when Abbot Durral is kidnapped by the monitor lizards it is a race against time to find the remaining 4 tears to trade for their beloved Abbot. Martin tries to save Durral, but the corsairs set sail before he has any chance to save him. A group consisting of Martin, Clecky the Rabbit, Grath the Otter, and the shrews Plogg and Welko set sail on their own craft to follow the trail to Abbot Durral while Tansy, Rollo and the squirrels Piknim and Craklyn still search for the hidden tears.

Eating a ship’s biscuit and drinking some murky water Abbot Durral drifted off into happier thoughts of Redwall Abbey. Suddenly he was yanked back into reality by the metallic clash of steel on steel. The tensions between Romsca and Lask Frildur grew so great that they exploded into all-out war. Fearing for his life, the Abbot grabbed everything he could lay his hands on and shoved it up against the wooden door. Seizing Romsca’s smelly old blanket, Abbot Durral wrapped himself tight and nervously waited out the gruesome battle that held him hostage in the frightening darkness.

During this scene, Abbot Durral has the living daylights scared out of him while the corsairs and monitors are fighting to the death. This scene left me hanging in suspense as to what will happen to Abbot Durral and what will be the outcome of the battle. I like this moment in the book because of the suspense and action, but I dislike because it reminds me of my worst field trip ever: The Tall Ship Trip. It is an excellently written story and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Preston Towers