Butterfly-Novel
Written By Yusra Mardini
The novel Butterfly written by Yusra Mardini is an autobiography about Yusra’s life. She was a young swimmer who went through the tough times of the Syrian war. She survived almost drowning in the Mediterranean sea on her way to Europe but her swimming skills saved her. She had been swimming since she was young, coached by her father who also coached her older sister Sara. Yusra’s life conditions in Syria were not great while she was growing up. She survived many bombings, shootings, and attacks in her everyday life but still managed to grow into an outstanding olympian.
The development of Yusra’s character was strongly built from the start until the end of the book. She is shown with determination at the beginning of the book when she shows great interest in the swimmer, Michael Phelps. She watched Phelps claim gold in the Athens 2004 Olympic games 100m butterfly final. Watching that race changed her original thoughts on swimming. She said “I never chose to be a swimmer. But from that moment on I was hooked”. That is when she decided she was going to try hard in training so she could follow Phelps to the top, the Olympics. There were a few curves in her road onto becoming an Olympic swimmer but through her perseverance (that she showed right from the beginning) she succeeded. Yusra went on to make the Olympic refugee team in 2016 and won her 100m butterfly heat which is very impressive. By Yusra having this dream and connection to Michael Phelps it made me relate to her as I do a competitive sport too. It inspired me that maybe one day I will make an international team or even better an Olympic one. It made me think about the cheesy phrase ‘anything’s possible’.
The ‘wrong’ seen in this book from my perspective is the war going on in Syria and how many lives it took every day. The number of lives it effected is uncountable and is traumatizing what people had to witness during that time. The ‘right’ was those who chose to escape and flee just like Yusra. Once she fled her life was changed and she achieved great things, she didn’t let the Syrian war affect her life completely.
I thought that Yusra was brave during the tough times in her life and that the right vs wrong was shown very clearly in the text. It made me think about how tough her living conditions were and how hard it must have been to flee her country. As this book was written by Yusra herself, I was able to get a more realistic idea of what her life was like and had deeper connections with her. It gave me insight into what life can be like outside of New Zealand and made me realise how lucky we are compared to some countries around the world.
Around the world, people view the butterfly as representing endurance, change, hope, and life. This is significant in the book as Yusra experiences all of these things throughout her story. Her life is changed and through all of her hope, she was able to achieve the things she did. At the very end of the book Yusra says “Whatever happens, I’ll get up. I’ll swim on. I’ll survive. I’ll emerge from the chrysalis as a butterfly”. This has a deeper meaning as she is referring to all of the bad and all of the challenges she has been through and still managed to emerge from all of that through achieving great things.
I think the book ‘Butterfly’ is very educational and highly recommend it to all readers above the age of 12. I think it is a good influence on others and can inspire others to follow their dreams and goals. It is written in a descriptive way and is easily understood. I think it is an awesome story for readers who want to follow their dreams and is very inspirational.
Hunger games-Movie
Directed by Gary Ross
During the movie ‘The Hunger Games’ there are many perspectives of right vs. wrong shown. The movie is based in the capital of Panem where it holds 12 districts which each year take part in a show called the Hunger Games. A boy and a girl are selected from each district to fight to the death in the show whilst the rest of the citizens watch. The winner is the last person alive. Katniss Everdeen is the main character of the movie, she is one of the 24 tributes who have to fight to the death.
Whilst watching the movie I thought Katniss a very interesting character. She was very intelligent, selfless and brave. She showed a lot of love towards her sister Primrose and Peter the other chosen from her district. “I volunteer as tribute” was the words Katniss spoke when her sister’s name got called as a tribute. This showed how much Katniss was willing to risk in order to take care of her sister. The love between the siblings is very strong and made me relate to the relationship I have with my older brother who cares about me a lot. Katniss was not only brave, intelligent and selfless but she also had skills. She was very good with a bow and arrow and she knew how to survive and take care of herself. I also found Rue very interesting and I was able to like her very easily. This was because she was a lot like Katniss and the pair soon became friends and allies. Although Rue was young she was brave, intelligent and kind which made me make predictions of what might happen in the future with her and Katniss.
From my perspective of the movie, fighting to the death is seen as wrong. Watching a group of kids who kill each other for entertainment is inhumane and a disgusting way of amusing others. It is killing innocent, randomly chosen children who had no choice but to kill others in order to survive. I thought that taking children away from their families and friends was wrong as they may never get to see them again.
Katniss was seen as the person in the ‘right’ during the movie. She was obviously against the whole idea of ‘The Hunger Games’ but did what was necessary to survive. She only killed when she needed to, she never set out to hurt people or to kill people purposefully. When at last she and Peter were the last two standing she chose to give her life instead of killing Peter herself. Peter said “Together” as they both held the poisonous berries she had handed him and she then repeated back “Together”. This showed Katniss was selfless and proved that she was not out to harm others.
Katniss had to face many challenges during the movie. She faced environment changes when she was in the arena, where she suffered burns and other injuries. She was challenged on her survival instincts and how to stay well hidden away from the other tributes. She had to deal with the thoughts of maybe never seeing her family or friends ever again, and she also had to take care of Peter after he got hurt. However, all of these challenges didn’t stop Katniss from achieving all of the things she did. We do not face these challenges in our everyday life so I can imagine how hard katniss had to work to overcome them.
The hunger games title is relevant to the movie as the children are not only fighting for their lives but for food as well. The winning district receives rewards such as food which most districts lacked in. Therefore they are fighting for the hunger of their districts. Since the fight is seen as a game due to the fact that someone has to ‘win’, the game’s part of the title is relevant.
I think that the movie The Hunger Games is an incredible movie with many twists and turns that keeps the audience engaged. I would recommend the movie to anyone over the age of 13 as there is a bit of violence and murder involved that may be frightening for young audiences.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-Movie
Directed by Chris Columbus
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a thrilling movie. Harry begins his year at Hogwarts with a mysterious chain of events. There had been cases of petrified students around the school, in one case someone had written on a wall in the blood that the ‘Chamber of Secrets’ had been opened! After hearing the tales of Salazar Slytherin and his secret chamber hidden somewhere around the school Harry took action. It was up to Harry to stop the school from being closed down and to defeat the beast that lay in the chamber of secrets.
A character I found interesting was Tom Riddle. I found him interesting as he was actually the dark lords (Voldemorts) previous self. He was communicating with Harry through his diary as he wasn’t mortal he was just a ‘memory’ that had been contained in the diary. He said in the movie “Voldermort is my past, present and future” I found this very interesting as Harry had never been face to face with Voldermorts true self. I also found Ginny very interesting as she was the one who had been forced to do all of Tom riddle’s dirty work, such as writing on the walls in blood. Tom exposed Ginny by telling Harry “It was Ginny that opened the Chamber Of Secrets”. He had charmed her into doing everything he asked. I thought this was curious as it was Ginny’s first year at Hogwarts and Tom riddle chose her.
The message I took from the movie was that sometimes you don’t know what you are capable of. First Harry had no idea that he was able to speak parseltongue (snake) which came as a surprise and was able to learn more about himself. Also, he had no idea what was waiting in that chamber and if he could defeat it or not. He did defeat the monster and was able to then become more confident in himself as he learnt more about what he was capable of. I can relate to Harry as sometimes I don’t know if I’m capable of doing something until I try it, for example when I train I doubt my ability to be able to run as fast as my coach predicts I will, but end up surprising myself and running better. This then increases my confidence and shows me what I really am able to do.
Harry had many challenges he had to face during the movie. He was challenged by Tom Riddle himself, his teachers and the ministry of magic. He was teased by the monster of the chamber of secrets when it whispered to him and when it finally came to fighting the beast he was facing one of the biggest challenges of his life. The beast (snake) had eyes that could petrify him with one glance, venomous fangs and was a whole lot bigger than Harry! I think that Harry brought the challenges onto himself but he did it for the good of Hogwarts which was important for him and his friends.
The title is relevant as it is referring to another Harry Potter movie and the Chamber of Secrets is the main event of the movie. It also gets the audience guessing and asking themselves, ‘What is the chamber of secrets?’. It gives the audience insight into what the movies about and has an effective influence on the audience.
I recommend this movie to anyone over the age of 10, as some scenes may scare younger children, but I think it is okay for children as young as 10 as it is a fun adventure. Harry is young himself so it can relate to younger viewers.
The Fault in our Stars-Novel
Written By John Green
The Fault in Our Stars is a tragic love story about a 16-year-old girl called Hazel. Hazel had been diagnosed with lung cancer since she was 13 years old and had to live with the challenges for 3 years. Her mother convinced her to join a cancer support group to help with her sadness where she then met Augustus, who was a bone cancer survivor and was clear of cancer. It wasn’t long before Hazel and Augustus fell in love with each other and went on many adventures.
The characters I found most interesting in the fault in our stars were Augustus and Hazel. They are the main characters of this novel and share many interesting qualities. Throughout the book, they are both concerned with dying and death as they both have or had cancer. Augustus takes an immediate interest in Hazel and just moments after they meet properly makes the comment “Because you’re beautiful. I enjoy looking at beautiful people,” after Hazel asks why he is staring at her. This immediate ‘shine’ that Augustus took to Hazel turned into something real and soon enough Hazel was feeling the same way. It was very difficult for Hazel to let Augustus into her life as she was afraid of getting too close to people. This is because she knew that whoever she met she would likely be dead a lot sooner than them. She didn’t want people to suffer a huge loss when she died so she distanced herself from others. But after she had fallen for Augustus there was no going back and as she quoted “I fell in love like you would fall asleep: slowly and then all at once”. The two characters changed each other through the book and made them change their perspectives on life and how incredibly short it is, but even shorter for them.
The messages I took from the text were that life is short, so rather than thinking of all the bad things and what could go wrong, think of the good things and live your life to the fullest. Both Hazel and Augustus had trouble coming to terms with death. Augustus was afraid that when he died no one would care and no one would remember him as he says in the support groups meeting “I fear oblivion”. Hazel, on the other hand, was more selfless and was worried about causing her loved ones great distress when she finally died. They were both afraid but got through their worries together. In the end, they both made sense of the things they were anxious about and were able to live the short amount of time they had left happy.
Both Hazel and Augustus had the challenges of cancer. Hazel had thyroid cancer where she had to take a bag with an oxygen tank everywhere with her. Augustus had cancer but was supposedly cured, he had lost his leg due to bone cancer. Both of their lives were a daily struggle. Hazel, who knew she was going to die very soon had the challenging thoughts of death. What was it going to be like, when will it happen? Will my family be able to get through it? The pair both had the challenge of trying to meet Hazels favourite author, which included Hazel getting on a plane with her oxygen tank! Although both Hazel and Augustus were challenged mentally and physically they both helped one another due to the love they had for each other.
‘The fault in our stars’ title is very relevant to the book as it outlines the fact that both Augustus and Hazel have a fault in their stars. The title comes from the quote “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, for we are underlings.” Written by William Shakespeare. This title was appropriate to the faults in Hazel and Augustus’s lives where they both gained cancer which shortened their lives.
I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 13. It is quite an emotional and advanced book which is why it is more suited for older age groups. It would also be a good book to read for those who may have cancer and might help them come to terms with death.
Dalilah Muhammad Wants More Than World Records
-The New York Times Article by Scott Cacciola
The article written by Scott Cacciola is about superstar hurdler Dalilah Muhammad. Muhammad has broken two world records in less than a year for 400m hurdles, but the first time she broke it she was left “unsure of what to do next”. She was left tired and confused as to what she could achieve in life and it was at this point where she then had many losses. After getting her priorities right and with the help of her hurdles coach Lawrence Johnson, Muhammad hurdled her way to victory at the Doha 2019 World Athletics Championships and broke the record once again.
I took interest in this article due to Dalilah Muhammad herself. I am very passionate about athletics and have followed Muhammad to where she is now. She has inspired me as she was able to pick herself up out of a rough patch in her life and achieve great things. The way she bounced back from her losses in the diamond league made me relate to my own present experiences with athletics. I have just bounced back from an injury and have managed to improve some of my own personal bests in training sessions. The way that Daililah spoke about the whole scenario made me make personal responses to the text.
The messages I took from the text were that there is always something new to strive for and that although being in the best possible physical state for competitions is important so is being in the best possible mental state. After her first claim of the world record in the ‘Diamond League’, Muhammad lost sight in what she wanted to achieve. Her coach explained “It was like dragging someone to the start line” in her next big competition the ‘Diamond League final’. Muhammad placed third in this race. I thought this was very interesting and made me think more deeply into the situation. Muhammad had broken the world record and now she had no time to beat or nothing to strive for. She explained after winning the world record for the first time “What’s next? But more so on the negative side: What am I going to find to push me now?” After a mental check of what she could strive for in the future, Muhammad settled on breaking the record even more. This showed that even if you have achieved the best you can achieve even more. Her losses after claiming the record indicated that her mental state was not focussed or motivated. After having a check-in with herself and deciding what was next for her she brought herself back together and won the IAAF World Championships in Doha this year.
The challenges Dalilah had to face the second time breaking the world record was the second-fastest 400m hurdler in the world ever, Sydney McLaughlin. McLaughlin, 20 years of age was her biggest rival heading into the competition after winning the diamond league final. Having a high-performance athlete just as good as herself, Muhammad was challenged in the Doha 2019 400m hurdles final. McLaughlin challenged Muhammad in a positive way as she then broke the world record and her own personal best. Muhammad was also faced with the challenges of pulling herself back together to achieve the things she could. Without the challenges I don’t think Dalilah Muhammad would have been able to have broken both world records.
The title of the article ‘Dalilah Muhammad wants more than world records’ had me think deeper into the story. She didn’t want to just claim world records but she also wanted to get the best out of herself. She was constantly thinking about her future and what it might hold including a possible career. Overall she didn’t want the world record to brand her as that is not the only thing she wants out of life.
I recommend this article to those who are fascinated by athletics and want to get a real insight into a professional athletes life. It is so interesting finding out what they are thinking after achieving great things and what their future goals are. I think it could inspire others to push themselves harder through whatever they want to achieve and even if they achieve it to push as hard as ever to achieve more.
A Dog called homeless
Written by Cathy Cassidy
A dog called homeless is a very heartwarming novel about a young girl Cally who had lost her mother in a terrible car accident. Cally had started to see her mother as a ghost and a large dog which she then realised was real. She took her school’s charity event to not speak for a whole day way too far and chose to not speak for 31 days! She spoke to no one, not even her own brother or father. In that time Cally made friends with a deaf and blind boy called sam and they become instant friends even without speaking to each other. Cally still found this dog mysterious as if it somehow connected to her, but if she wanted to keep it she would have to speak up.
Cally was a thoughtful and loving character. She was the only one left in her family that wanted to speak about her mother and act as if things were normal. Her dad and brother made this very difficult for her and refuse to ever talk about her. I understood why Cally didn’t want to speak to anyone as no one understood her. She would seem crazy if she told people about seeing her mother but she knew she wasn’t. She was extremely loving towards her new friend Sam and the dog homeless. Before Sam went for an operation Cally said “Before your operation, I’ll take you, and we’ll swim together”-she was referring to the nearby lake. This shows how much love Cally had for Sam and how much she cared about his happiness. It was Sams lifelong wish to go swimming. I thought Cally’s dad was an interesting character as well as he was choosing to forget the memory of his wife. I think this is because he was grieving and could not deal with his feelings. I could relate as when I lose someone close to me I choose to eliminate their memory from my mind so I don’t go through emotions instead of embracing and celebrating the times I had with them. I think he was quite rough on Cally as she was the one trying to keep her mothers memory alive.
The messages I took from the text were a lot to do with communication. I think it is really important for not only for children to communicate with their parents but for the parents to communicate with the children. In this book, it shows that very strongly as Cally wants to talk about her mum and keep photos of her whereas her dad doesn’t want to speak about her at all. Because of this Cally then isolates herself by not speaking, therefore, causing problems for herself. If her dad had chosen to speak with her about her mother and his feelings maybe Cally wouldn’t have had to stop herself from speaking to others. The final chapter also involves communication as Sam would have not survived without Cally using her voice. She shrieked “DAD!” at the top of her voice to save her best friend. This is a representation of how important it is and is a strong theme in the book.
Cally had to deal with the challenge of not speaking which was not hard as she didn’t want to speak in the first place. She also had her father and brothers cold shoulders to deal with and the lack of love in her life. The death of her mother was a major event and made lots of changes to her and her family. It really dimmed the light in their home as she was such a vibrant person to be around as described in the text. Her father had to come to terms with the death of his wife which was very hard for him. He was also lost on what he should do and didn’t realise his daughter was suffering as well as him. Sam had the everyday challenges of a blind and deaf person. When he finally takes the plunge and goes swimming he also faced a lot of difficulties.
The title was relevant as the whole book is based around the dog. Its name was homeless as it had no home although Jed the homeless man looked after him. The dog turns out to be a very important character as it is was a gift that Cally’s mother was bringing home the day she died. That is why Cally has such a strong connection with him. The title was clever as it gives us the indication that it’s a story about a dog without giving the whole plot away.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I read this book way back when I was 10 and loved it, I recently re-read it again and still loved it. It is an easy book to understand and makes you feel many emotions as it is so beautifully written.