Tuesday 16 July 2013

Mathematicians Are People Too by Luetta and Wilbert Reimer

Mathematicians Are People Too is a very easy read it can be read in about half an hour straight or if you do not like reading much you could read a chapter a day. All the stories are different and are quite short so it is an easy book to pick up and put down.

Each story is about a different famous mathematician for example Isaac Newton, Sophie Germain and Blaise Pascal each has a different story about how they discovered their talent and passion for maths. Whether in a school fight with a bully or having a bad toothache these geniuses managed to find out many amazing mathematical facts.

Personally I find maths quite boring and extremely difficult so people who are good at and enjoy maths can seem very unnatural. However this book isn't mathematical at all and tells mainly of the interesting experiences these people had in their lives which are 'normal.' For example their struggles in mathematics and their eagerness to learn.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

The Wreck of Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo

The Wreck of Zanzibar is a fairly easy read so if you want a break from something a bit heavier, for example the Arabian nights, you can pick this up. Michael Morpurgo writes this story in the 1st person which makes the story seem to have more meaning and depth as you can really familiarize yourself with the character.

Laura, the main character in Morpurgo's  book, is quite easy to sympathise with she seems friendly and kind to almost everyone. She has big dreams which she knows she will fulfil but sometimes things just look too hard and she has to find strength to carry on just like us.

Michael Morpurgo is a popular author of children's books. Some of his best works include the classic tales of War Horse and Private Peaceful.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day...'This starts the classic tale of Jane Eyre. I find this is a moving book mainly because Jane's character can be easily sympathised with, she is a poor orphan whose life is not easy but who still strives to learn and become better even through various mistakes.

Jane's parents both died when she was a baby and so her uncle adopted her. However her aunt hated her and after the death of her husband (Jane's uncle) she decided to get rid of Jane and send her too a orphanage for girls where Jane stayed for 8 years before moving to be a governess at Thornfield.

Although I am only on chapter 14 Charlotte Bronte has already crammed mysteries, tragedies and trials just around the corner ready to jump out and scare you. This book is very emotional and in that way it can feel very real.  It's not full of happy endings and no surprise there are real pains that normal people face it brings you face to face with brutal facts and I find that quite engaging.

Everyone can sympathise with Jane more or less at various points in the story for example younger children can sympathise more with her early childhood and compare it to their own this can be followed right up into adult hood so this book can always be a favourite to read again and again.

NB: Jane Eyre can be read as an adult book so you may want to wait until you have read the millions of other children's books before you read this classic tale.      

Monday 1 July 2013

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton


'Off the Shelf' - The Outsiders - 28th January 2015
I think the Outsiders is an amazing book that brings to light to fact that whether you are rich or poor you will face problems. This a tale of a battle between the Socs (higher class people) and the greasers (lower class people) This book is one of those that can be shoved on a dusty shelf and never read because its not well known.

The Outsiders could be classed as romantic but it doesn't have one line of love running through it instead it's actually more to do with the rivalry between the socs and greasers and the heartache this causes for both sides. If you take this to a bigger scale this could represent war and the damage it does us on all sides.

The Outsiders is a short book so if you are not a big fan of reading it is a quick read and has a very griping story line. The main storyline is about friendship and sticking up for each other no matter what and that fighting or beating people up because they are a different social class than you doesn't change anything.

The greasers and socs in The Outsiders do smoke, drink, etc. but S.E. Hinton does manage to steer clear of most of this. One thing I noticed when reading the book was that the middle class people are the only ones who don't generally get drunk as they don't have enough money to waste and don't have so little money they want to drown their troubles.

I find it very easy to sympathise with the main character Ponyboy because he is so different from the other greasers, for example, he doesn't like fighting, he likes to read and he is enthusiastic about learning these are all good skills and so like Ponyboy, whatever your situation, I advise you all to stay gold.