Heaven Is For Real Review

SUMMARY: 

**SPOILER ALERT**

This story starts off with a family in a rough spot and they are just struggling to make it by but as long as the have the lord on there side they will always make it by. The dad Todd Burpo works many jobs and raises two kids with the help of his wife. Along there journey there son has a amazing experience that the family will never forget. His son Colton visited Heaven and came back to tell his story. At first it took a while for people to believe this story but slowly it gained publicity and was known nation wide within a few short months.
*Read Heaven Is For Real to find out what happens next*

RATING: 
I give this book a 9. I loved this book and every lesson that came along with it. I also love how well it was written it made me feel like I was a part of the story. I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone who would like to read about a mind blowing event. The reason I didn't give this book a 10 was because it didn't challenge me to have to really think and comprehend while I was reading. Other than that I was thrilled with this book.

Review:
" A beautifully written glimpse into heaven that will encourage those who doubt and thrill those who believe" 

~Ron Hall

"Heaven Is For Real is a wonderful book. It reaffirms how important faith is in our lives-for children as well as adults"

~Timothy P. O'Holleran, MD 

   

Why I chose Heaven is for Real

This book so far has inspired me and has allowed me to improve my faith. Before I started to read this book I had already heard so many great things about it such as it would make you view the world differently and give you the ability to believe in miracles again. The way this book is written is just another reason to why it is so good. I am not super far into the book but I am far enough to the point where I know what is happening and what is going to happen.

I am inspired. The way Colton, the main character, deals with all his traumatic experiences at such a young age shows that he has a great sense of life already. Also the dad has to persuade people to believe Colton’s journey. The story the dad is willing to tell about what Colton tells him is unbelievable and that is the main reason why people in the book have trouble believing the story.

My faith has been strengthened. The things that are described in this book are not only mind blowing but if you chose to believe them (which I did) they can be life changing. When Colton leaves the hospital bed he has experienced something like no other. He claims to have encountered God. He also describes some events that he could only know if what he is saying is true. This book so far has allowed me to believe that anything is possible as long as you have God in your life.      

Heaven Is For Real

Author Background: 

The author of, Heaven Is For Real, is Todd Burpo. 

"Todd Burpo is the pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska where his sermons are broadcast locally every Sunday via the local radio station. He volunteers at Chase County Public Schools as wrestling coach for Junior high school students, as well as serving as a member of the school board. In emergencies Todd can be found working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Imperial Volunteer Fire Department as a fire fighter. He is also the chaplain for the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighter's Association. To support his family, Todd also operates a company called Overhead Door Specialists. Todd graduated from Oklahoma Wesleyan University in 1991" 

Todd Burpo Article  

Todd Burpo is a very successful man. Along with this he has a very unique family. He later in his life writes a book about his son's trip to heaven (Heaven Is For Real) and in this book it describes his son's experience, the family's experience and the affect that all of this had on the people around them.  

My Thoughts:

Even though I have not read this book yet I have heard great reviews and I am very interested in the topic. I do also have an understanding of what happens in the book because of my research on it. I am very excited to read this and hopefully it is as good as I am expecting. 

  

Review of Lovely Bones

Summary: 
              *SPOILER ALERT* 
   Murdered by her next door neighbor Mr. Walker at the age of 12, Susie Salmon finds herself in a beautiful land, not quite Heaven, where she can observe and comment on the lives of her family and friends. Her body is never discovered and her parents suffer an unimaginable pain. The strain is far too much and her mother leaves. Her father continues to investigate and over many years maintains contact with the police officer in charge of the investigation. Susie also gets to watch Walker and learns of his long list of victims. She also sees him prepare for his next victim, her younger sister Lindsey. To find out what happens next read Lovely Bones. 
Rating:
   I rate this book a 8. This book shows great word placement/ diction and this also helps the reader understand if the chapter is taking place in the in-between or on Earth. I also enjoy the descriptions in the book. The setting of the in-between is a somewhat fantasy place that would take a lot of detail to get the reader to be able to picture this place in their mind but Alice does a great job of filling peoples minds with a sense of joyful bitterness about this place and creates an everlasting image that allows you to visually picture the scene. The only thing I didn't really enjoy about this book was that Alice dragged on some non-important events that could be described in a couple of chapters.  

Review: 
"Mesmerizing" - New York Times Book Review

"Don't start The Lovely Bones unless you can finish it. The book begins with more horror than you could imagine, but closes with more beauty than you could hope for" -Christian Science Monitor

"Savagely beautiful" - San Francisco Chronicle

"Haunting." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Lovely Bones: Quotes with Importance

"She was standing in my path that night when my soul shrieked out of Earth. I could not help but graze her. Once released from life, having lost it in such violence, I couldn't calculate my steps... In violence it is the getting away that you concentrate on." (Sebold 41).     This quote describes the moment when Susie is leaving Earth, her soul has left her body. When this happens she sees a girl named Ruth and when she sees this girl she touches her, making Ruth have a dream about what has happened to Susie. The next day she tells her mom what she sees and Ruth describes what seems to be so real. Her mother doesn't think anything of this and told Ruth to leave it alone. I think that Ruth has some importance to Susie that hasn't been told yet.
     This has importance within Susie's death, I was wondering, why Ruth?  Why did Susie's soul encounter this girl before she made her way up into the in-between? I am now starting to think that Ruth might be helpful in the investigations of Susie. I can start to conclude that Ruth met Susie in this way for a very specific reason. I predict that Ruth helps find Susie's murderer and helps the police complete the investigation so that Susie can finally rest in peace.

Lovely Bones : The Investigation

In my book the girl Susie Salmon gets murdered. As they look for Susie they find multiple clues leading them to believe she is dead. I also believe that each of these pieces of evidence is a symbol.
     The first symbol I came across was a piece of evidence, her elbow. The elbow gave her family devastation but hope. The elbow symbolizes the pieces of Susie that will never return, It also makes sense that the elbow would stand for the smallest part of Susie, the elbow shows the amount of HOPE Susie had in her life, she didn't have very much. There are many ways that the author of the story hints this to us. The author states various flashbacks that happens during Susie's life, all of them showing her insecurities and her biggest insecurity was her lack of hope.
     The second symbol I found was also another piece of evidence, her book. As the police go further and further into the investigation they find more and more evidence making it ore apparent that Susie is dead. The book that the police found in the corn field was "To Kill A Mocking Bird" . Not only does the title show symbolism but even why she had the book in the first place. In the story it says that in order to receive this book you must have completed the other books on the class list. Since Susie has possession of this book it shows that she was very smart. Also this smartness lead to curiosity.
     In conclusion the two symbols I chose, if put together are what resulted in Susie's murder. The reason Susie went into the cabin with this man is because she was curious and she didn't follow her mothers instructions and let the man manipulate her into staying with him in the cabin. Also since Susie was not hopeful she didn't try to live even if she could have she just gave up her fight to early.

                                                                       

Setting in LOVELY BONES

The story takes place in two common but uncommon places, the in-between and Earth. Both of theses places have special meanings to them but also are there to give the story two perspectives. When having to very different settings it is usually hard to keep track of where you are in the book and what is happening, but since this books settings are taken place in two majorly different places it is a lot easier to keep track of where you are in the book.

The in-between in this story is pretty surreal. In the picture above it shows Salmon in the in-between before she goes to heaven, the only reason she stays in the in-between is so she can see her family catch her murderer. So far nothing major has happened in the in-between but I predict that she can connect with her family in a way while she is up there and she will help her family solve the murder of Salmon and she can finally rest in peace.

The setting that takes place on Earth holds a lot of major events also. This is where Salmon got murdered and where (prediction) her killer will get caught. The setting of this town that Salmon lives in is very rural but yet suburban community. Her neighbors are close but other neighborhoods are farther away and as you can see in the photo her neighbors also have big back yards, big enough that they can farm in them. Even though the in-between seems like a really cool and well developed setting I still think that the setting that takes place on the Earth in the rural but suburban neighborhood will be my favorite.  

New Book- Lovely Bones

     I just finished Paper Towns and the next book I am going to read is Lovely Bones by: Alice Sebold. I haven't gotten a chance to actually start reading this book but I have heard many things about it, viewed many ratings and reviews on this book and I am very excited to actually start reading this book! This book also is very dark and deep so I would only recommend this to people who are 13 and older. Since I really don't know anything else about the book I would like to share my thoughts on what i think the book will contain and more info about the author.
     I think that this book will be very good, yes I believe that there also will be some boring parts to it but other than that I think I will enjoy it a lot. It is about this girl who is 14 (my age) and she gets murdered and instead of going straight into heaven she is stuck in the in between, she wants to help her family figure out who murdered her. In this mysterious yet intensifying story to help Salmon rest in peace knowing that her killer was punished for what he did.
     The author Alice Sebold is the author of Lovely Bones. Alice has also written more books such as; The Almost Moon and Lucky. Alice writes a lot of her books about murder and tragedy. Some compare her to Steven King, the author of Children of the Corn and other extremely haunting stories. The reason she writes about stuff like this is because she writes about what she has experienced not necessarily the murder but everything else that came with it. Actually the book Lucky is about her experience in college. If you want to read more about Alice Sebold click on the link below:
                                                                                               The biography of Alice Sebold

Paper Towns: my personal review

I am just coming to the end of Paper Towns and I wan't to share my thoughts about the book. 

     Rating: My rating of Paper Towns on a 1-10 scale would have to be a 7. There were some good and some bad to the book. I really enjoyed how the author showed us Q's and Margo's friendship by their actions and it wasn't described by the narrator or it wasn't described by their words either. What I didn't like about the book was that in the end *SPOILER ALERT* Margo and Q realize that there relationship will never be more than just friends. This kinda disappointed me because I was really hoping that they would end up with something special.

      Who Would Enjoy This Book: I would  recommend this book to anyone who is interested in mystery and young-adult fiction. Basically any age would be suited to read this book. My range for age would be 12-adult. I think this book would be good for people 12-adult because Paper Towns isn't to sophisticated but its also not an easy read. There are many symbols hidden in this book but also the author foreshadows a lot about the plot and theme. 

     Reviews: “Green’s prose is astounding — from hilarious, hyper-intellectual trash talk and shtick, to complex philosophizing, to devastating observation and truths. He nails it–exactly how a thing feels, looks, affects–page after page.”

-Johanna Lewis, School Library Journal, starred review

“A suspenseful mystery, a compelling central metaphor, and one of those road trips that every senior hopes he or she will have round out this exploration of the kind of relationship that can’t help but teach us a little bit about ourselves.”

-Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, starred review

“A powerfully great read.”

-VOYA

                       

                                               

Paper Towns: The Good and the Bad

        The best thing about my book is the connection between the two characters, Q and Margo. In the beginning of the story Q and Margo are young and get along very well. They go on adventures together and they become inseparable. Slowly as they get older they grow apart. They begin to have different friends and different friend groups. Even as this happens Q still holds strong feelings for Margo and the author, John Green, shows it in his text will examples like: "Margo Roth Spiegelman's silver Honda was parked in its usual spot" (Green 12). and "I smiled at Margo even though she couldn't see me... It wasn't even that she was pretty. She was just so awesome, and in the literal sense" (Green 14).                                         

    The fact that Q knows where Margo's "Silver Honda" is parked every morning shows some signs of obsession. Even as they Margo forgot about Q, Q never forgot about Margo. Margo always had a special place in his heart for her. You can tell by reading some of the things that Q does that he has major feelings for Margo and that he always has ever since he was little. Also in my second quote Q proclaims his love for Margo and later on he considers asking her to prom. I haven't gotten far enough to know what actually happens with there relationship but I hope its something good. 

        The worst thing about the book so far is that I feel like all the action is towards the beginning and none will be left for the end of the book. All of the revenge is toward the beginning and all that i am expecting will be left is punishment for what they have done. I also have made a new prediction for Q, he will do something illegal for Margo and lose his acceptance to the college of his dreams but he will eventually get over it because he will win over Margo and they will live a good life together. 

Paper Towns

Text to Text Connection: 
I believe Paper Towns can have a text to text connection with 13 Reasons Why. Yes there plots are very different but during the beginning of Paper Towns I realized that the two books have some in common. Such as in Paper Towns and 13 Reasons Why both of the books start of by mentioning some ones death. This also allows me to want to keep reading to find out what happened and how it connects more to the story. Also both of the deaths were suicides. This could be a symbol for the darkness in both of the main characters lives when the girl of there dreams isn't around. The girl who killed herself in 13 Reasons Why was the main characters crush. Also in Paper Towns the main character discovered this dead body with his crush. Also after these discoveries both of the characters drift away from the one they love and become distant but after awhile they reunite. The reuniting in 13 Reasons Why isn't just about getting together with the one you love its about excepting the problem that they had with each other and in some way, shape or form making it up to them.
                                                             
                  Be instantly linked to the 13 Reasons Why webpage by clicking the photo above
Text to World Connection:
In Paper Towns my text to world connection involves suicide. In the first couple of pages in the book, Paper Towns it talks about Q and Margo going to visit the park and a man was laying on the floor with a gun near him. This is a major problem in today's society. "approximately 1,700 die by suicide each year" states Janice Shaw Crouse (American Thinker). Since this is such a big problem and it has been brought to my attention, I used it as my test to world connection.

Check Out More About American Thinker  

Text to Self Connection: 

I can relate to Paper Towns because in the beginning of the story it talks about how Q and Margo were really good friends and they slowly grew apart as they got older. This happened to me with an old neighbor once she moved away. When we were little we would always hang out and have the greatest time but as soon as she moved away I we slowly became less and less connected. We went on vacations together but that slowly stopped with the rest of our childhood friendship. Now all we send to each other is Christmas cards.   

Blog Post #2

         I am just starting to read the book Paper Towns. So far I'm on page 28 so I don't really have any knowledge of what does happen to Margo, but I do have some predictions.          
        Prediction : Margo is supposedly the adventurous one while Quentin is the one that observe from a far until something happens to Margo. Quentin is starts to receive clues from Margo. I have no clue what actually happens yet but I think that Margo is in some sort of trouble and she needs Quentin's help to save her. I believe that something is after her that wants to harm her. Once Quentin finds Margo, they both go back to having their old relationship that they cherished so long ago. 
        John Green, the author of this book, is a very good writer so I do expect a lot. I also can make some more predictions about how the book was written, not necessarily predictions about the story. Well for a first the names are usually unusual such as; Hazel (The Fault in our Stars), Alaska(Looking For Alaska), and what I soon discovered was Quentin (Paper Towns).I also expect the characters to communicate in a way that is different from how most people their age talk. I am very hopeful that this will be a very intriguing book for me to read and I hope that the mystery that John Green creates will keep me on my toes and that it will be something I won't expect at all.
                                                    John Green Information Article
 "John Green is the New York Times bestselling author of Looking for Alaska,An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and The Fault in Our Stars. He is also the coauthor, with David Levithan, of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. He was 2006 recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award winner, and has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Green’s books have been published in more than a dozen languages." (Read more by clicking on the link above). 
                                       

    I'm writing about The Fault in our Stars for my first blog post. I'm going to talk to you about how the author develops Hazel throughout the story. In the beginning of the story hazel says, "My mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death"(Green 3). Over the course of the text Hazel changes her perspective on many things.
    Once she encounters Augustus, the love of her life, Hazel starts to lose some of these habits such as reading the same book over and over, spending to much time in the house and etc. Augustus leads Hazel to live a better life with cancer. He changes her habit of reading the same book over and over by exchanging An Imperial Affliction for The Prince of the Dawn, both of their favorite books. Hazel slowly becomes addicted to this series and reads them all in a short amount of time.
    Augustus also changes some of her interactions with others. Augustus used his make a wish to fly to Amsterdam to meet their favorite author, Peter Van Houten, the both of them slowly begin to realize his true personality and Peter started as their favorite author and became the person they both hated the most. She expresses her new hatred through some strong choice words. She even yells at peter, "YOU PROMISED"(Green 194). As Hazel and Augustus develop throughout the story and become closer acquaintances they advance the theme; pain demands to be felt. Hazel throughout the story changes in so many ways because of Augustus and her opening her self up to feel discomfort.

                                                                  The Fault in our Stars Article

This article gives a brief summary of The Fault in our Stars and also a little bit of John Greens inspiration for the book.  

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