Over the past few weeks our class has been working with Capitol Letters Writing Center on "This I Believe" essays. "This I Believe" is actually a radio series on National Public Radio and there is a chance that our essays could be on the radio. Capitol Letters is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that has been doing a lot of writing workshops for students. And they came to our school to do a workshop with us. In fact, a couple days ago we recorded our essays.

Working on "This I Believe" has been a memorable experience. The Center's volunteers came in very confidently and very well prepared. We got started by brain storming, and once we'd all chosen our topics (what we believed) we started writing with the help of the volunteers. Out of these few steps spun a beautiful personal essay.

I took a lot out of this experience. I never knew that I could write a powerful essay just like that. Also, writing this essay really taught me about myself - taught me things I'd never realized. What? Well, I learned that sometimes (or always) I set my standards way too high. I'm a perfectionist, but I'm not perfect. That's not a good mix. SO, I have to try and help myself be confident in what my abilities are.

I also learned to take all those jumbled-up feelings from my head and put them, in an organized fashion, onto paper. Plus, now I'm more confident. I hope to do another workshop like this sometime soon!

What was recording our essays like? Well, it was pretty scary, to tell the truth. I was relieved that we got to practice it first, before we went into a little storage closet to record. But then, it was just me and the volunteer. The moment we'd all been waiting for.



Our essays were done!



Below are some statements explaining how we felt about participating in this workshop:

The experience helped me organize my thoughts. It also improved my writing skills.

-Malachi

Writing a three paragraph essay was like letting your feelings out and telling your paper about your personal life.

-Mary May

It felt great working with them because it helped let out all of my thoughts and how I felt.

-Ademir

I learned that writing takes time and shouldn't be rushed. I also learned that writing doesn't need to be perfect.

-Zahra

What I liked about the workshop is that the volunteers made me feel like a real writer and not just a kid writing an essay.

-Devin

The people from Captiol Letters walked us through the process and got us to access the deep thoughts that we never really thought about.

-Tobias

I had really accomplished something I would remember.

-Jonah

I felt so happy and good. I released my anger problems with the essay and not on other people.

-Nick

Book To Movie

Our class just finished reading the book The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson. We also watched the movie and noticed several changes that were made. This had us thinking about the different things that happen to books that become movies. Below are several of our reviews of books that became movies.

Lord of the Rings: Book/Movie




DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN OR READ “LORD OF THE RINGS”!

I have read The Lord of the Rings series and seen the movies. Which do I like better? Well, alone, I think the movies are pretty good. But in comparison to the book – I think Tolkien is a step ahead of the movies.

Like any book/movie pair, there are some similarities between the books and the movies; but there are also many differences. For example:

In the movie, everything goes by very quickly. One minute we’re in Gondor, the next we’re halfway to Rohan – as opposed to Tolkien’s detailed writing about the journies-within-the-journies. Of course, the filmmakers needed to shorten the movie – but was that the only reason for change? I don’t really like the fact that they take out the best of Tolkien’s writing. Without this incorporated into the movie in some way, any way, Middle Earth seems less alive.


Of course, the characters are pretty much the same in each. Frodo in the book is overall the same character as Frodo in the movies. (However, I do think that the movie Aragorn was more kingly than the book Aragorn, for better or worse.) And then there are little things – such as, Faramir in the book and movie is always more thoughtful than Boromir.

In terms of change: yes, things are taken out – such as Tom Bombadil in the first book. But what else?
Well, take Saramaun. When just thinking about “The Two Towers”, he is murdered while giving Gandalf important information, while in the book, he escapes back into Orthanc. Why? Was it because the filmmakers needed him out of the picture for a later scene?

I am not sure if I liked this change. It might have been necessary – but it takes away some suspense and fear from the movie, because now only Sauron is nagging you at the back of your mind.

By Emma

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


Book/movie comparison

I read and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I feel that in the movie they overdid Bellatrix Lastrange and underdid Luna Lovegood. Something I really despise about the movie is they took away almost all of the Department of Mystery parts. To me those were some of the most exciting parts. Also in the movie they took away what happens at the exams like McGonagall being hit by four stunning spells in the chest and Hagrid being abducted. One of the most important things in Harry Potter is quidditch and in the movie there is no quidditch! Quidditch is especially important in this book because Ron is the new Gryffindor keeper. Quidditch effects Ron’s Harry’s and even Hermione’s emotions. Like when Ron kept making Gryffindor lose he was sulky, annoying, mean, and angry.

I personally liked the book better. The movie really ruined the story to me. It’s almost as if the magic of the book disappeared. The movie only stuck to the main parts as the book goes into deep details. Like I said before, quidditch is very important in Harry Potter and the movie completely got rid of it. By completely got rid of it I mean it did not even mention quidditch. In the book, on the other hand, talks about each individual game. The movie also did not express the characters’ emotions very well. If I could change one thing in the movie I would have put in quidditch. I wish the movie stayed truer to the book.

Jonah

Coraline


Coraline is my favorite hence only horror book I’ve ever read. I liked the movie, but they could have made it a good movie without changing as much as they did. Most of the things they changed I disapprove of, for instance, in the book Coraline has brown hair and in the movie she has blue hair. How many eleven year old girls with blue hair do you know? Did they really have to add Whyboren into the movie? Where did Whyboren come from? He was not a character in the book. They didn’t have to make the other mother look like a spider. I know Neil Gaiman talks about her having character traits of a spider but in my opinion they overdid it. I think they messed the book up by adding the garden, which is also not in the book. It’s supposed to look like the garden she had in her home but they made it they put magic talking flowers in it! Even though I disapproved of most of the movie version, I did like the part when the other mother built the doll to lure Coraline to the door. That part was scary and exciting as it was in the book. This is what I think of the movie and book.



Kameron

Bridge to Terabithia Book or Movie


By: Mary May, Ayah, Izzy and Ademir

Mary May liked the movie Bridge to Terabithia better then the book and Ayah, Izzy, and Ademir like the book better then the movie. Mary May thinks that the movie is better because it shows more details about Terabithia. Ayah, Ademir and Izzy liked the book better then the movie because the book is more original and unlike the movie it tells that Leslie doesn’t fit in as much. Ayah felt that Miss Bessie was a main character in the book but they took her out of the movie which changed Jesse’s farm boy personality .Ademir felt that the movie wasn’t as interesting as the book. Izzy felt that in the movie there wasn’t enough for you to imagine about Terabithia and that it had a lot of unnecessary parts.

We all agreed that Miss Bessie should have been in the movie and its not fair that she was left out of the movie because she was a character. Also the movie makers made the movie as if the story was placed in the 21 century instead of the 1970’s. The movie makes Terabithia real not just an imaginary place we think that this changes the feeling of the story a bit. In the movie Bridge to Terabithia they should’ve made Leslie call her mom and dad Judy and Bill like in the book.


The Bridge to Terabithia


By Inidiyah, Alicia and Shaniah

We’ve watched the movie Bridge to Terabithia, as well as we’ve read the book. There were several differences between the book and the movie. For example in the book there was a cow named Miss Bessie and she seemed like one of the characters, in the movie the cow isn’t named and doesn’t seem important.

The book’s story took place in the mid 1970’s and the movie takes place in 2006 or 2007. In the movie the characters watch music videos and dress like people in the 21st century. In the book the characters dressed in a more strict way – nice shirts, nice pants, nice shoes. This made the way Leslie dressed seem weird and made her stand out more. It is almost impossible to make Leslie’s clothing make her seem different.


In the movie Jess’s parents seemed different than they were in the book. For instance, the mom did not have an accent in the movie. In the book she seems not very well educated but in the movie there isn’t a difference in her than in any other mom. In the book Jess’s dad was angry about Jess wanting to draw but in the movie it seemed like he didn’t really care about Jess’s art.

Fulcher is not really a bully type of person in the book, he’s just a kid who wants to win the race like Jess. In the movie Fulcher is a bully and tries to be the cool person. Janice Avery is closer in the movie to her character in the book but she does punch out Fulcher’s buddy, Gary Holger.

Alicia felt that the feelings of the book and movie were the same, that there wasn’t a big difference between the two. However, she did feel that Jess was a little bit different. Indiyah and Shaniah felt that there was a huge difference between the book and the movie. Jess’s emotions were different, for one. In the book Jess seemed a little more sensitive than in the movie. In the movie he seemed tougher. All three of us liked the movie better than the book.

Bridge to Terabithia


by
Adam S.

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK!!


There are many differences in the movie and the book Bridge to Terabithia. In the book, Jess is different from everyone else. In the movie, he seems normal. In the book, Jess’ dad is very mean about Jess’ drawings. “What do they teach you in that #@*! school?” said Jess’ dad in the book. Gary Fulcher, Jess’ nemesis, is a bully in the movie. In the book, he is not. In the movie, Gary Fulcher also has a friend who follows him everywhere that also bullies Jess. In the book, there is only Fulcher.

In the movie, there is a part where Jess loses his dads key to their green house. In the book, there isn’t anything about Jess looking for keys. There isn’t even any green house mentioned in the book…

Something that is alike with the book and movie is that the characters say the same things in the movie and the book. Here are some examples: “It’s crazy, isn’t it? You have to believe it, but you hate it. I don’t have to believe it, and I think it’s beautiful.” This is what Leslie says talking about the bible after they went to church together.

“So-I realize. If it’s hard for me, how much harder it must be for you.” This is what Mrs. Myers, Jess’ teacher, is telling him about how she feels about Leslie dieing.

I liked the book better. That is because they did something in the movie that they do in every movie. They make the bullied hero fight back. They did that by making Jess punch Gary Fulcher in the end. In the book, Fulcher isn’t mentioned at the end.

Holes
Comparison Book-Movie


WARNING: DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN OR READ HOLES!

Movies and books are usually different even if the movie is based on the book. Holes is about a boy, Stanley Yelnats, who gets in trouble for “stealing” a pair of cleats that he didn’t steal. He is sent to a juvenile detention center called Camp Greenlake that has no lake and is in what seems to be the dessert. The boys at the detention center have to dig holes five feet wide and deep each day. The story follows Stanley through his experiences trying to survive eighteen months at Camp Greenlake.

In both the book and the movie Holes, Stanley is the main character. But he is overweight in the book version and a skinny kid in the movie. I don’t see why you would change a thing like this. Maybe the actor that they wanted was skinny but they could still use a costume and makeup. Otherwise, the character is pretty much the same to the one I imagined when I read the book. He’s pretty nice and he becomes braver as both the book and the movie go along.

Both the movie and the book use flashbacks. The film does a really good job of this. The portrayal of Kissing Kate Barlow is very close to the book. To me it seems like they use the exact same words as in the book.

The biggest difference between the movie and the book is one scene added for the film version. In the scene, Stanley is out at night, walking, when he runs into Mr. Sir, the second in command at Camp Greenlake. Mr. Sir pulls out a gun, tells Stanley not to move and then shoots a lizard near Stanley. There is no point to this scene.

There are other things that are different in the book and the movie. One of them is that in the movie when the Warden says to dig more holes you see something like a tunnel almost but in the book you get the picture of more holes, again another meaningless change.

Even with the changes which were few I think it did a pretty good portrayal of the book.

Toby and Zahra

Eragon- Book vs. Movie




The movie Eragon is the best movie to hate. The book Eragon is a really good book, but the movie stinks. For example, in the beginning of the movie Brom tells some of the villagers of Carvahall about the Dragon Riders. That happens in the book, but in the movie they did something that made it so that one main problem that the main characters faced in the book. They had soldiers in the scene. If that had happened in the book the soldiers would have been under a spell to kill Brom. Also, in the movie, when Saphira flies for the first time she grows the way Simba grows when he is crossing the waterfall in The Lion King. That is supposed to represent time going by, but at the end of the movie Ayra says that the movie is meant to last two days. The book lasts months.

The characters in the movie do not always resemble the characters Christopher Paolini created. Ayra seems more godlike in the movie than in the book. She does not seem to have feelings in the movie, and she says things like a wise old man. Also, the movie uses Durza so much that he does not seem evil.

The movie Eragon takes out good parts of the books and puts in unnecessary parts that are not as good. I know they take out parts to shorten the movie and the cost, but why do they put in the unnecessary parts? An example of a part they took out that was good was a whole scene in the city of Teirm. A not-so-good part that they added to the movie was Eragon looking through Saphiras eyes.

I think the people who made the movie Eragon could have tried a lot harder. They made a great book into a bad movie. Still, my 2nd grade cousin said he loved the movie, although he had not read the book. So, if you do not read great literature Eragon is a good movie. But if you do, read Eragon, but never watch the evil movie.

Sam