Theme - Elsewhere

I think the theme in the book Elsewhere is that there is life after death.  I think this because of the books plot.  A girl dies at fifteen and is angry that she didn't get a chance to fall in love or have kids or do her dream  job or do anything that she wanted to do.  Her life was cut short and she was denied the privilege to do everything that most people get to do.  In Elsewhere, Liz got to do the thing that so wanted to do most, and that was fall in love.  The whole book is set in a place that you live after death, so one theme is that there is life after death.
Another possible theme is that you have to let go of the past to live in the present.  I think this because Liz was obsessed with the Observation Decks and she wouldn't let go of her life on Earth.  When she finally let go, she started to enjoy her time on Elsewhere and see that the two weren't so different at all.  Once she opened her horizons she started to like Elsewhere more and more.

Elsewhere: My Favorite Character

            I am reading the book Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.  This book is about a fifteen year-old girl named Liz who dies when hit by a car.  Elsewhere is where people on Earth go after they die.  Here you age backward until you are a baby.  Then you are sent down the river back to Earth and you are “reincarnated” in to a baby for someone else.  

            My favorite character in this book is Curtis Jest.  Curtis is my favorite character because he is a complete wild card.  When Liz decided to use the Sneaker Clause, when young people get one year to decide if they want to go back to Earth early, she only told Curtis because she knew that he would not try to talk her out it like Betty, Thandi, Sadie, and Owen.  He is very go with the flow and kinda just takes what the world gives him and doesn’t complain.  Curtis is very laid back and carefree.  He also is an interesting character.  He has an edge about him that no one else has.  He is different.  I like that.

            I would like to meet Curtis Jest from Elsewhere because I would like to ask him why he chose to cut him self to inject drugs into his body when he was on Earth.  He had such a prized life living as a famous singer.  He was like our One Direction.  He was the lead singer in the group.  I want to know what caused him to go over the edge and do something like that to ruin the amazing life that he lived. 

-Maddi (M³)

My Favorite Character

If I had to chose one character it would probably be Aria Montgomery.  I know what you are all thinking right now.  "Man is this girl obsessed with Pretty Little Liars?"  The answer to that question is yes, I love the show, the books, and the author, but that is not why Aria is my favorite character.  She is my favorite character because she is unique.  She's never afraid to stand out.  She never cares if people are staring at her because she is wearing the most outrageous outfit.  She has always been different than all of the other characters.  I admire the fact that she doesn't care if she is different.  In a town like Rosewood, full of stuck-up, rude, "I have so much money I don't know what to do with it" type people, Aria demonstrates the courage of being different.  Aria is, and never as been one of those people obsessed with money.  She's not one of those people like Spencer Hastings, another PPL character, competing to be the best at everything.  While everybody else is working in the maths and sciences, Aria is focus and interested in the arts and literatures.  Aria is never the one to care about what other people think of her.  She is a strong, ambitious woman that won't let anyone, or anything stand in her way.  This is why Aria Montgomery is my favorite character and role model.

Favorite Book and More

• 
  My favorite book is Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars series.  I like this series because it is very suspenseful and it always keeps me guessing.  I love when the girls get notes form A.  I also like to try to figure things out throughout the books, like who A is, along with the girls.  I also watch the show and even though the books and the show have started to changed directions, I still try to connect the clues with each other.
• The genre I usually gravitate towards is realistic fiction, mystery, and suspense novels.  I like these times of books because I can relate to them.  I also like books with suspense because they always keep me guessing, like the Pretty Little Liars books.  They keep me interested so I don’t get bored but have to finish it anyway.
• The book I am currently reading is actually a Pretty Little Liars book.  It is the twelfth book in the series and it’s called Burned.  This book is really good.  The girls are going on a cruise for a school trip when Aria gets paired up with Tabitha's ex-boyfriend, the girl that they accidentally killed in Jamaica.  Hanna then finds out that her roommate, ______, is Madison, the girl whose car she crashed, cousin.  Also, they have gotten messages from A, indicating that A is on the cruise ship with them.  The girls all thought that the cruise would be a great way to get a break from A for a little bit of a breath, but I guess they are wrong.  Now, the girls hearts race every time they turn a corner and see someone, they think, ‘Could that be A?’  The girls are now, and have been for over a year, living in complete terror trying to figure out who A is.  Will they ever figure out who A is or are they just that good?  Is there more than one of them?  Is it a team of people?  These are all questions that are going through Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily’s as well as mine and all other Pretty Little Liars fans.

Until next time,

-Maddi  (M³)