The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

      A lion, a witch and a wardrobe. These three things are the weirdest combinations to one of the best books in all time history. Narnia is a land very far from a place we call home. The four Pevensie children Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy have no idea of what is inside one of the closets they have. But wait! What exactly is Narnia? Now I would be sooo surprised if you haven't heard about this magical land. Narnia is a world where things you wouldn't normally see in our world exist. Centaurs, talking beavers, fauns, a witch with powers, and talking lions are only the few things that fill up Narnia. What does a lion, witch and wardrobe have to do with this? Read on. 

     This short summary would begin on a day in where the four Pevensies are located. As far as I can remember, these kids were sent away from London during the war. They were in a house belonging to an old professor. One day, these kids explored the big big big house. Lucy decided to look at a wardrobe. She opened it and began to feel curious about the many sets of coats. She ended up going inside the closet. Farther, farther, and farther. Lucy found herself far from the long series of coats in a snowy place. There she meets a faun named Mr. Tumnus. She is told about a white witch who made Narnia snowing for the past years (And is the main antagonist). As Lucy Goes back through the wardrobe, her brothers and sisters would not believe in such a world like that. Until a day came where Edmund sees Lucy going into the wardrobe. He plans on teasing her, but he instead finds hisself in what he thought was Lucy's immagination, Narnia. Edmund ends up siding with the white witch, falling for the delicious Turkish delight. 

     Of course, Peter and Susan find theirselves going into the closet with Edmund and Lucy, hiding from a group of tourists in the house. They all ended up in Narnia, and that my friend, is where the adventure begins. The Pevensie children meet talking beavers who help them in their journey. Edmund becomes a traitor because of deciding to go to the white witch. The three Pevensies meet Father Christmas and earn gifts. Then, the three finally find Aslan the lion. Wait, who's Aslan? Aslan is a lion and is the real king of Narnia. If I haven't told you, the white witch apparently calls herself the queen of Narnia, but you should know that it isn't true. But now what's the problem aside from Edmund becoming a traitor at first? War between the side of Aslan and the witch is about to happen. 

     I myself sometimes go into my closet and pretend that I would be going to Narnia. C.S Lewis has definitely done a great job. Classic, not really modern, but one of the best. I enjoyed reading Narnia, especially when the adventure finally began. Curiosity and excitement are two feelings you are not going to miss. Once you've finished reading the book, surely you'll be going into your wardrobe and finding at least a little hint of snow.

*Book Review


Photo from Google Images:

A Thousand Heroes, A Million Villains

Everyday, Filipino heroes are reduced little by little. The old heroes we used to look up to are gone. People in our country nowadays aren't like the old heroes, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Marcelo Del Pilar. Most of them are the COMPLETE opposites. Out of the three hundred and sixty five days in a year, millions of people in the Philippines each day become someone who is far from a hero - a villain. Robberies, car accidents, and hostages are only the very few things that always happen in the Philippines. Our country is out of heroes. Even the people who lead our country are turning to the dark side. Sometimes, I just wish that the old heroes we study about in Araling Panlipunan (History) were still alive. I'm sure that the Philippines wouldn't be as rowdy as it is like now.

     It may seem impossible, but we can bring back the old heros we know. There are still taxi drivers, who save time by driving you to work. There are the policemen, who do their best in catching the bad guys. And there are the firemen who are faster than the wind in beating fire. The world isn't full of villains - a tiny piece of the world still has heroes. Just because you're a nobody doesn't mean you can't be a hero. It isn't too late. The world is out there, and I think this time, the heroes need to bring home the trophy. Now go, there's a universe waiting to be saved.

The Philippines Now

Look around, look around

There's something I have found

In every corner, in every street

There are people, who are not very nice to meet

Brainwashed are their minds, 

By the power of fame

And brainwashed are their attitudes

Who rob and kindnap each other like insane

This is the Philippines now

Not very much like before

Not like the people who wrote La Solidaridad

Not like the ones who died before

Not like the heroes we used to looked up to

Not like the world with peace that those heroes wanted

But a world full of villains

The one thing unexpected

Wasted are the sacrifices

Our Philippine heroes made

Since even leaders of our own

Are making their own throne

Presidents, VPs, Senators and more

Are nothing like those heroes I expected like before

Sometimes I wonder

Of why our country and people then 

Are the complete opposite of our country and people now

Yes, we have freedom

But not the best country if I may add

Corrupt people, selfish robbers, excited-to-grow up children, and a world without cooperation

I'm not saying I hate the Philippines

I love it, yes I do

I just want Filipinos to know

That if we won't change

Then we won't learn as we grow

Thank You Philippines

And of course, the Filipinos

For making me know

That this world needs heroes

We need a more than a million, did you know?

Tomorrow's National Heroes' Day

And a very memorable day it is 

For here we remember

The priceless sacrifices our heroes did

We need to change, we need to grow

If not, what shall we do? 

The world needs heroes, and one of them could be you

*Poem

Books

Books, books, music to my ears

Bringing joy, laughter, anger, and tears

One by one, page after page, a grin on my face

As I smell a brand new page

Words, words, the fillers of books

I want to go around and explore all the nooks

Words are powerful, they are more than you think

So be careful what you wish for, I'm giving you a wink

Call it what you may, but I will not recover

From the disease of book addiction - that's something you'll discover

It's extremely contagious without a single cure

So go, run away, you'll be getting it for sure

*Poem

The Frog Princess

     Emeralda thought that the swamp was a magical place where new lives began and old ones ended, where enemies and heroes weren't always what one expected, and where anything could happen, even to her, a clumsy little princess. She went to the swan, avoiding Prince Jorge, the prince her mom wanted her to marry. Ema explored the swamp, thinking more about her mother than her surroundings. And then she heard a voice. She turned toward the voice, but all that was seen was the swamp. Nothing else. Then she saw a slimy, green frog. The frog exclaimed he was a prince, and he was turned into a frog thanks to a witch. A princess like Ema had to kiss him just to make him a prince. The frog's name as he said, was Prince Eadric. When Emma came back to the swamp, devastated and miserable, she talked to Prince Eadric. Since her favorite aunt, Grassina wasn't around, and since she wanted someone she could tell the miserable way her mother treated, she talked to Prince (or should I say frog) Eadric. While speaking to the frog in front of her, Emma was convinced that kissing him, a frog, was better that marrying Prince Jorge, someone who she barely even knew. Emma thought that Eadric would suddenly become a human again, but The situation became worse. Emma looked at a butterfly, it's size was gigantic. The colors in her eyes were brighter and there were more of them. Her nostrils flared at the sour smell of decaying vegetation and swamp muck. Once she tried to stand, a pair of webbed feet and long, muscular legs stretched out right in front of her. She was a frog. A slimy, icky, green, warty, little frog. She was helpless, without a soloution to be formed. It felt like one big dream, and she would wake up later on. 

     Emma and Eadric suddenly become more close to each other, looking for a soloution that was good enough to solve the big mess they've made. While trying to get back to Emma's castle, a witch named Vanabe gets them to complete a potion she's been working on for a very long time - and two frogs were just on her list. As the two frogs find a way for escape, they meet a bat and a snake who become their trustworthy companions for the rest of the journey. 

     The Frog Princess gave me more of an adventure than I have ever expected. It's more than your classic Disney "The Princess and the Frog". Emma - a stubborn girl who laughs like a cow, and Eadric - a total feeler who knows a lot of stuff, are the two things needed to form one of the best adventures - they're from two different worlds, they have opposite personalities, and they work together like an unstoppable team. I wonder if E.D Baker was a frog, since he seems like a close friend of Eadric's. 

*Book Review

Wonder

     "I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse" The thought of this makes you wonder. What in the world could be worse? August Pullman is the answer. Auggie has never been to a big school in his entire life. Whenever he goes out of the house, children would stare and stare and stare. He never had any friends, except for his family. His one and only desire was to become normal. Auggie was ugly. He didn't deserve to be a part of the world.

     But as they say, don't judge a book by its cover. Auggie isn't full of ugliness. If you would look deep deep deep in that ten-year-old's ugly little face, you would see kindness, bravery, friendship, and magic. This year, Auggie is finally going to Beecher Prep, a big school. And excited is definetly one of the words Auggie was not at all feeling. He knew he was going to be teased and laughed at. He knew he was going to be isolated from the others. 

  

     He makes three friends - Julian (who was the rudest one,and later on becomes a bully), Charlotte, and Jack Will, who were secretly asked by Mr. Tushman, the school principal, to make friends with him. Auggie met them before classes started, when they toured him around the school. Then he later on finds out that his "friends" were as fake as plastic. Knowing that Charlotte, Jack, and Julian weren't his friends, was unbearable. No one in the world could ever resist that, especially hearing that awful awful awful sentence from Jack's mouth, who was Auggie's closest friend. But Summer, a girl Auggie met from the lunch table, was the kindest child out of everyone in Beecher Prep. She made friends with Auggie without Tushman asking her. Auggie is quite happy, but the fact that he was ugly, and he was being bullied was still there. He didn't magically transform into a prince-he was still that Auggie who was uglier than a frog. He could never be happy. 

     Later on, Auggie discovers that Jack wasn't at all faking him. Summer was still his friend. The school year was finally at its end and graduation day was right around the corner. At first, Auggie is as sad as a helpless, innocent, little puppy. And now that it was graduation day, he's walking towards the stage with a big smile on his face - knowing that he's got real friends who love him for what he is. Friends who never judged him. Friends he knew would never leave him alone. Just being called as someone's friend was something he knew he would never forget. 

     R.J Palacio deserves a hundred stars. Wonder is a one of a kind story which will make your heart cry a bucket of tears. It's unforgettable. You will see that people aren't what they look like on the outside. They're more than what you would expect. Imperfections are only a part of everyone that make theirselves perfectly imperfect. 

     

*Book Review

     

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

     For today, my book to be reviewed is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I guess a lot of you have heard about this adventurous story. I have always loved Roald Dahl's (Author) stories, and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is one of my favorites.

     This story would begin with our main character, Charlie. Charlie is a ten-year-old boy who has a poor yet very happy family. He lives with his two grandmas and grandpas, and his parents. Charlie never got anything grand for his birthday. He had never got a cake for his birthday. He never got shoes for his birthday. He never had a birthday party. But this year was not like any other.

      Our other character, Mr. Wonka is a man like any other. If you know Gru and his minions, Mr. Wonka would be Gru with his minions called Oompa-Loompas. These oompa-loompas are small creatures who love singing. They help Mr. Wonka with his chocolate factory, which was closed since...forever, I guess. No one has ever been inside that factory since his famous ideas for chocolate were stolen by other candy makers. And what does the factory look like? More than you would imagine. If I may add, it is a world of pure immagination. Chocolate waterfalls, a glass elevator, and sudden musicals are only the basics of what a factory like this contains. Anyone would do anything just to get into that place.

     The adventure begins when Charlie hears a contest that five chocolate bars from candy stores all around the world will contain a golden ticket, which will be a ticket to go visit Mr. Wonka's factory. And there are only five tickets in existence. Charlie's birthday gift was a chocolate bar. The chance of getting in to Mr. Wonka's factory was right in front of him. Charlie just had to open it. And he did, but it was too good to be true. 

     Out of billions of people in the world, Charlie found a dollar on the street. He bought another chocolate bar. Atleast a little of hope was still there. The chance was still there. The chocolate bar was in his hands. Once he opened the chocolate bar, There in that very chocolate wrapper which was in his hands, Charlie's very hands, was a precious golden ticket. The precious little ticket needed to get in Mr. Wonka's Chocolate Factory. 

     The only limit in the world is your imagination. This book is a portal to a world you would never imagine existed. This story has a lot of twists and turns. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you smile, it'll make you hungry, and it'll make you teleport. It will be one of your favorites, and that's a promise! 

*Book Review

The Mysterious Benedict Society

     Let me start off by saying this book is nothing but a complete package of a very very good masterpiece!!! Five heartfelt stars to Trenton Lee Stewart!!!

     The adventure starts when children see a peculiar ad on the newspaper saying "Are you a gifted child looking for special oppurtunities?" (Yes, the ad was asking the children, not their parents.) Of course, dozens of children signed up. A test was conducted by a lady as thin as a pencil, and eleven-year-old Reynard Muldoon (AKA Reynie) was one of the dozen kids joining. With his very intellegent tutor, Miss Perumal, we think that this Reynie has the advantage of scoring more points in the test than we think. And that was true. Reynie was sent to another room at a different time to take the second part of the exam. There he meets two more kids, George Washington (No one calls him George, we call him Sticky), an eleven year old as well, and twelve-year-old bucket bringer, Kate Wetherall. The three become friends, slowly becoming more and more comfortable with each other, slowly knowing more and more about each other. To give you a lot of more info (as usual), Reynie is an orphan, Kate lives with the circus since she ran away from the orphanage, and Sticky, well...let's just say that it's your job to find out more about Sticky (I don't wanna be a spoiler here...). Then, the three discover that each of them was asked by a green-haired girl if they helped her with her pencil, they would give her a cheat-sheet. 

     Now, skipping to the next part, Reynie, Sticky, and Kate pass all of the tests and find themselves eating dinner in a house where they took their final test. Then Reynie, Sticky, and Kate find out about the green-haired girl, Rohnda Kazembe was actually a short grown up testing the kids. They also discover that the thin pencil lady is called "Number Two". Now, what if I told you that there's another one who passed the test? A little girl came into the room where Reynie, Sticky, and Kate were. She was so small that she had to climb up to the chair to sit down. Her name was Constance Contraire. She whined a lot, and expected candy for dinner. She lived in a library and didn't have someone she could call as "Mom" or someone she could call as "Dad". 

     The foursome meet Mr. Benedict, who was behind all the stressful tests. Mr. Benedict tells them that only very few children have knowledge like they do. Then he tells the four that he needs each and every one of them that they have to be his spies against LIVE (Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened). Live is the reason of why all of the people in Stonetown Harbor are being hypnotized. The people become boring. They don't remember anything. They look like they've never even experienced happiness in their whole life. Reynie, Sticky, and Kate's mission is to stop Mr. Curtain, the mastermind of the hypnotizing, the creator of the whisperer, and the head of Live. 

      Will the foursome succeed in a mission by themselves, four average looking kids? Will they even keep their secrets? Will they betray Mr. Benedict and follow in the footsteps of Mr. Curtain? These are few of the questions you will definitely ask. The Mysterious Benedict Society is one of the three favorite books of mine, and I wouldn't even think about giving this story more than a hundred stars.


*Book Review

Knox, The Rottweiler

     Today was once again another unforgettable day. Can anyone guess what happened? Me and my family finally have a Rottweiler! So far, Knox has been really really confident at home compared to my 5-year old Pomeranian, Clues when he was new. Clues back then had a hard time adjusting to his new home. He would never come out of his cage with open bars. He wouldn't move an inch. Knox was the complete opposite. He licked me as I came home. He was so friendly. From what I have noticed, Knox is really sweet. He welcomed me as a complete stranger as I got home from school. He fell asleep on my lap as well. (But honestly, it's weird for a German Shepard to be kind towards strangers.) And the last thing I noticed about Knox was that he badly wanted to make friends with Clues. Clues would make his eyes a billion times wider and he would stick out his tongue while slowly walking away from Knox. So, if you were asked to tell which is our new dog, you'd definitely say Clues. Knox would even cry whenever Clues ran away from him and Clues would just stare. He could keep his eyes open for a century.

      Knox is only 3 months old. The world is out there and there's a lot for him to discover. Eight years from now, he'd be the opposite of our little, harmless, innocent puppy we have right now. He 'd be our Aslan defending us from the White Witch. He'd be our Dumbledore against Voldemort. He'd be our Yoda against Darth Vader. I know for sure that he would grow up to be one of the bravest defenders with the sweetest of hearts. That is for sure.

These Days...

      These days at school have been nothing but the same. I still hang out with Holly, and I could say that I think I'm making friends. I'm more open to my classmates compared to my school years before.  I go to the library with Candy, Holly, and some of our new classmates during dismissal. School Paper training still hasn't started, but I attend the Journalism Club at school. The air conditioner's compressor in our classroom was broken, so we had to stay at the music room for a month. 

      What's really surprising is that my English test is TOTALLY HARD. I don't usually study for language during our tests since it's a piece of cake for me and I still get really high grades. But now, I actually studied then felt pressured during the test like never before. What's even crazier is that our English teacher got sooo mad at us a few days ago. My classmate wasn't listening to our teacher, and my other classmate asked a question which was out of our topic. Then my teacher got mad, her face slowly got red and she walked out of the classroom saying she wouldn't teach us anymore.

      There's only one thing that I want to happen. All I want is to make this school year JUST LIKE last year. Just happiness and peace.