Month: January 2019

A Knight of the White Cross by G.A. Henty is a fun book that is full of action and adventure.
G.A. Henty is a wonderful author but, in this book, I have found some down sides to his style. Henty explains things (such as an object or person) in his books in depth but, not in to great of depth. I do not like an author who doesn’t explain anything. This problem will make a book short and will lack substance. I also do not like an author who has to explain every last thing in detail. This type of author will go on and on about little things like a tree! He will have five, long paragraphs on a tree that will only be mentioned once in the book! This will loose the reader’s attention and make the book long and boring. Henty does good at not making his books this way. I have read three of his books now and one thing I do not like is that he makes time in his book go by very quickly. For example, in a Knight of the White Cross, Gervaise becomes a young knight in about five chapters, even though he was a young page in the beginning of the book. I have found that this is a constant problem. In the Dragon and the Raven and Wulf the Saxon, time goes by very quickly as well. I do not like this because it is like jumping all around in the book and, that can get confusing.
Henty’s plot line is really good but, it seems to go all over the place. For example, they are sort of at peace then suddenly they are war. Besides this problem, the plot line is great and, has a lot of historical information.
A Knight of the White Cross is a great book and G. A. Henty is a great author, I look forward to reading more of this author’s works.

Character development
In a Knight of the White Cross, G. A Henty doesn’t introduce Gervaise, the main character, right away. But when he does introduce Gervaise, time seems to go by very quickly. For example, in just a few chapters, Gervaise becomes a young knight even though in the beginning of the book, he was a page just starting out. To me, about five chapters seems like not enough time to become a knight. Also, Gervaise is constantly becoming some type of captain or commander. Don’t you think that he should be an older knight and, be more skilled to have these positions?
Besides those problems, Henty’s character development is great! I like how he doesn’t just introduce the main characters right away. I like that I get to know the characters by their actions through time. Another thing I like about Henty’s character development is how the main character always has a good friend constantly beside him. For example, the relationship between Gervaise and Ralph, they are both good friends, they always encourage each other and, are always together no matter what happens.

Author’s style
I like Henty’s style because he explains different things in his books in depth but, not too in depth. That is the kind of author I like. I don’t like an author who doesn’t explain his characters or what is happening. Sure, he might say, “There was pirates” but, that doesn’t explain enough. I also don’t like an Author who explains things in too great of depth. For example, that author explains just one thing in depth and it takes forever to get to the main plot because he will not stop talking about one thing. Then, that starts to make the book boring and, loses the readers attention. I personally like an equal balance that explains something but, not in too great of depth. Another thing I like about Henty’s style is, it is very smooth and easy to read. I personally think that his style is one of the best styles I have read.
Over all, a Knight of the White Cross is a good book and, I look forward to reading the rest of it.

For comparing author’s style, I will be using Jack London’s book, “White Fang” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court” by Mark Twain. After reading both books, I have found lot’s of unique differences between their styles. First, I have noticed that both authors’ narrative styles are completely different. Jack London narrates his stories in a smooth, slow way or, that’s how I find it. Meanwhile, Mark Twain tells his stories as if he was coming up with the words as he went. As if he is telling someone a story that is from his imagination, not from a book. Personally, I prefer Mark Twains narrative style because, it is more fun and exciting. In Jack London’s character development, he doesn’t explain his characters in depth but, explains his character’s way of thinking by their actions throughout the book. For example, the way he explained White Fang’s appearance is very simple. He just mentions that he is a grey pup, like his father and that he is the last pup surviving in his family. Although he doesn’t explain in depth what White Fang looks like, he explains the dog’s personality by his actions throughout the book. That is how we know what White Fang was like. In a “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” there are so many themes in the book that is hard to keep up. For example, Hank is suddenly in medieval Camelot then, he is the king’s right hand man then, meets Sandy and helps her save her princess friends then, goes under cover to see what life is as a peasant, and so on and so on. I find it difficult to find where the characters are at and, what they are doing. For another example, Hank and Sandy are suddenly married and have a little girl! Mark Twain doesn’t at all mention this until one of the last chapters in the book! So, this is one reason why I do like the way of Jack London’s way of portraying different themes. I found it easy to understand his themes as the characters go along in the book. It is very important to have your own style of writing because, if you copy another author’s style, your work will be just another book that is like any other. Although there are ups and downs in different styles, that’s what make books unique.

“The love of money is the root of all evil” – 1 Timothy 6:10 The book, “Treasure Island” is a good example of this verse. For example, the pirates killed their fellow mates just for their own personal gain. In fact, I am sure that there was a little place inside each person, not just in the pirates but in Jim Hawkins and, the good crew, that wanted to murder someone just for the love of gold. Also, the pirate crew was always threating to kill Long John Silver if he didn’t give them their share of money, which is just being greedy because, even if they killed John, there still wouldn’t have been peace with everyone else. Thanks to being greedy, almost all of Long John Silver’s crew died. Another theme for “Treasure Island” is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” For instance, if the good crew and, the pirate crew would have evenly shared the gold, there wouldn’t have been a riot. In order to do this though, the pirates, and even the good crew, would have had to been okay with sharing the gold. And that brings up another theme, “You can’t reason with a pirate!” Remember, family, friends and, in the pirates case, crew mates, are much more valuable then any gold or silver also, do things for others before you do something for yourself. If the characters in this story would have had and, followed those two important tips, the story would have had a much happier ending.

All though the Saxons were a bit behind in culture then other people groups of their time, they got along fine in life. They were good, devoted Christians and loyal servants to their kings.
The Saxons were a culture who seemed to like bright colors yet, were simple. In G.A. Henty’s books, for example -such as Wulf the Saxon and the Dragon and the Raven- the Saxon characters that he describes liked being in style and, wore bright, colorful clothing. Men’s hair usually went to their shoulders and usually had beards or were cleanly shaved.
There was a pretty good difference between the nobles and the peasants. The nobles had large pieces of land that they usually inherited, ate good food and, dressed nicely. The poorer people were very different. There was a lot of slaves, they didn’t eat nearly as much food as the nobles and, didn’t have the best clothes in fact, a lot were dressed in rags.
The Saxons were good, strong warriors. They had excellent military leaders and, were good swordsmen. They died nobly in battle for example, Edmund’s father in the Dragon and the Raven. He died for a good cause for his people and even his son.
As for their religion, the were strong, devoted Christians. They had many churches, Popes and, monks. They may have been a bit behind culture wise but, they weren’t behind in there faith.

About two years ago, an earthquake effected a lot of the Kenai peninsula from small town Seldovia to big city Anchorage, Alaska.
When I went to bed the night it happened, everything was normal. Then, at about midnight, I suddenly awoke because the whole house was violently shaking. My house overlooks a beautiful marshland near the mouth of the world-famous -sort of- Kenai river. It is on a type of foundation called, pilings and, it’s built above a kinda-steep sloop. So, when we felt the earthquake, my dad thought we were going to slide down the sloop due to the violent shaking! (We didn’t by the way) My parents, my two younger brothers and, I where the only ones who felt the earthquake meanwhile, my three youngest siblings slept right through it.
Maybe three days after the earthquake happened, my aunt –who was a radio reporter- took me to a conference meeting to talk about the earthquake. The earthquake turned out to be a 7.9 earthquake! I also learned that it really effected a small town called Seldovia, which is a nice little fishermen’s village that my family likes to go to sometimes in the summer. Also, some underground natural gas pipes broke and, three houses blew up. (The families who lived in those houses got out before that happened so no one was hurt) I actually got to see the remains of those houses -it was kinda-cool. I also learned how to tell if there is a gas leak in my house –which is not a good thing, that is what made those three houses blow up- and what to do safety wise. Here are just some examples:
-If you smell a gas leak, immediately evacuate the house and don’t bring anything with you
-Call 9-1-1
There is more but, I don’t need to go through all of it.
My whole earthquake experience was sort of scary at first but now looking at it, it was actually cool to be able to learn about what happened, safety and, getting to be a part of a kinda- historical event in Alaska’s history!

P.S. This is an essay I wrote before I made this blog!

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court is a book that shares Mark Twain’s view on politics in his time period. It starts with Hank, who is from the 19th century America, is transported back in time to 6th century Camelot. After a long series of events, Hank becomes King Arthur’s right-hand man instead of Merlin, whom is made magician over what Hank calls, the simple stuff like, weather. Hank, being almost as powerful as the king, has everyone in the land call him, The Boss but, is confused with why no one wants an autograph from him. He soon learns that, there wasn’t such a thing as an autograph in the 6th century because, the only people who were allowed to read and wright was, the Roman Catholic church’s priests. The Boss was surprised about this and, started secret schools throughout the country. The Boss later sets up a telephone system, railroads and trains and, introduces the bicycle.
Before Hank introduces his modern-day lifestyles, Camelot was a usual 6th century kingdom. The priests were the only ones who could read and write, the only way for long distance communication was by letters, there was much slavery and a few other brutal things. But, after Hank changes things, Camelot was similar to modern day times. There was many schools and colleges, there was a train, a newspaper company, telephone systems, no more slavery and, a lot more.
Hank had his own personal thoughts on how things should be and, him being the narrator of the book, you can read those thoughts. Mark Twain used this to make a point in how the government was at his time and, how he thought is should change.

P.S. This is one of my essays before I made this blog.

In every book you read, there is a category that defines the type of book it is. This is called Genre. A genre is category that defines a piece of literature. For example: If you were to read a book about a real person in history, you would probably be reading a Biography. A genre can either be established over time or, is established right away. A genre will either be fiction or nonfiction. Some examples of genre is:

Autobiography: A journal written by a real person that is published into a book. An example of an autobiography is: “Anne Frank’s Diary.”

Allegory: A piece of literature that has a hidden message. For example: In the book, “Animal Farm”, the author was trying to make a point about socialism. Allegory is like trying to make a point across without saying what the subject of the point is.

These are just a few types of genres. Other genres include: Non-fiction, biography, historical fiction, realistic fiction, science fiction, horror, fantasy, mythology and fables.

My favorite type of genre is historical fiction. I like how the author mixes fiction and history together to make a fascinating piece of literature.

I hope you like my essay! Please give me feedback to help me improve!