Scared of the Dark

Scared of the Dark,

A book written by Shannon Passe

Illustrated by: Craig Orback

Published by: Heinemann

Fountas & Pinnell LITERACY  

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Words: 1067 

Level:  N

This book is not that long because it is part of a collection which I don't have, but I was lucky enough to get this copy because I'm actually in it. I'll explain later.

Quinn, 

A city kid, was being dropped off for two weeks at his uncle TJ and auntie Ny's house. He was used to being in the city not a rural neighborhood. 
Quinn does not like rural areas because there are no street lights, just nature, making it easy for him to use the black night to create scary figures in the night.

One night, Quinn left his uncle's binoculars outside on a tree and just remember he did when it was super dark out. At first he planned on getting it the next day but he knew he would get in trouble from his uncle if it got messed up, so he went outside to get it but heard sounds in bushes that made him scared. When he grabbed the binoculars he hurried back to the house and his auntie and uncle was there waiting for him. Quinn admitted he was scared of the dark but his aunt told him it wasn't that bad and told him to look in the sky.
The sky was lit with stars everywhere. He never got to see the night like that in the city. He and his aunt and uncle spent the night put stargazing. 

Back to what I was saying about me in the book, its true, I'm the kid illustrated in this book. See for yourself!

Pretty cool huh? 

I actually got to work with Craig Orback! 

I was shy at first but he was nice so I really enjoyed myself.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to do something like this again in the future. 

*FINGERS CROSSED* Thank you for reading.

Erased

by Kei Sanbe

This book was crazy, like very crazy. My mom picked out this book just like the other ones, She didn't know it was going to be crazy. I think she just chose it because of the cover. The cover doesn't do a good job at giving you any clue to how the book is gonna turn out. 

This book is very dark, not dark literally cuz the book cover is white 😂. But the book is pretty disturbing.

It's about a twenty nine year old guy named Satoru Fujinuma, who has the ability to go back in time and correct mistakes. He calls it "Revival." He didn't really understand how to use his powers at first, it was just like deja vu. 

Satoru would usually go back hours or days but one day his mom gets murdered and it heightened his abilities making him go back in time eighteen years. 

Going back in time may save his mom but may also cost him his own life. Erased is an eight book series but was also turned into an anime cartoon. Like most series that hit the screen, the anime is told a little different. Even though this book was a little disturbing it kept me on my toes and was satisfyingly suspenseful and intriguing. I give this book a 5 star rating. 

Here is a trailer of the Erased anime:

If you decide to read the book or watch the anime, please comment and share your thoughts.

Thanks for reading.  

Peace out ✌✌✌

Too Much Magic

Too Much Magic,
by Betsy and Samuel Sterman
Eight year old Jeff finds a cube in a park that grants any wish and has unlimited wishes. Jeff and his older brother Bill, finds it fun and interesting to wish for anything. The brothers started wishing for things any kid their age would wish for.  But eventually, the cube will get Jeff and Bill in to trouble. They need to work together to get things back in order.

The cool thing about this book is that it was written in 1987, 3 years after my mother was born, and it was her first Chapter book. She told me this was the first book that inspired her to want to read more books.

Reading this book, really took my imagination for a ride. I thought about all the cool things I'd wish for if I ever was lucky enough to find a magic cube, but reading about the trouble that Jeff and Bill caused, made me rethink how I'd go about my wishes.

Let me ask you something, If you had a magic cube with unlimited powers, what would you wish for? Comment below.

Kaffir Boy

Kaffir Boy,
A book written by Mark Mathabane, was introduced to me by my mother this past spring. This book is about a child who survived the cruel and harsh realities of living in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mark and his family were very poor and couldn't buy much things. His house was pretty much empty. Mark had to sleep on cardboard boxes. Cops always raided the town and broke into people's houses and arrested the parents for no reason. Mark's father got arrested a few times for no reason and then one day he got arrested for six months.
Mark and his mom spent christmas without him.
Mark's mother kept having babies. She had seven kids including Mark.

Mark started going to school at seven years old. He was one of the best and smartest kids in his school. He got hit with canes from his principle because he didn't wear the right clothes and didn't have books. As mark got older he started doing more things.

He went into a white town for the first time to work with his grandmother. She worked as a gardener for the Smiths. His grandmother gave him his first introductory to english books. One being, "Treasure Island." The book made Mark dream about escaping the law of Apartheid.  In reality, he found it hard to carry the burden of hostility around daily. He said he knew the consequences of that much anger. It was self defeating. 

There were times in the book where Mark would mention a troubled group of people known as Tsotsi's. Tsotsi means: a black street thug.
There was an incident where Mark was walking home from school and this random guy, carrying groceries, was approached by a group of Tsotsi's. They gutted him in the middle of the street for no reason at all. Mark ran and hid, fearing for his own life. 
As the man was getting stabbed he begged the Tsotsi's to stop and pleaded for his life, letting the men know he had nine children. But the men continued and eventually the man bled to death.

This book is very interesting but also extremely sad because I've seen movies about things like this and heard stories, but to read a true story from the actual victim of these circumstances was traumatizing. It made me afraid to think that I exist in a world where things like this really happen.

From this book,  I've learned alot about racism, poverty, perseverance and beating the odds. It helped me to self reflect, to realize my own blessings and to see how small my problems are compared to others.

I recommend this book and give it a 5 Star rating!!!

Thanks for reading!!!


*Notes
Kaffir-Disparaging and Offensive. (in South Africa) a contemptuous term used to refer to a black person: originally used of the Xhosa people only.

Tsotsi- A Black street thug or gang member; wide boy

Apartheid- (in South Africa) a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.

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