Blog Post #3- Semester 2

This week I revisited my past and started to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. This book is the first book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a mix of fantasy and adventure. Even though this book was made back in the late 1990's, I believe that it is one of the best books in the series, if not the best.




This is a picture of the cover of the book. This cover shows when Harry is on the quidditch field and he catches the golden snitch which guarantees automatic victory. Also, there is an unicorn running in the background. which plays a huge role in the book, more than the quidditch match (I can't tell you or else I will spoil the book for you).

This book features a very dynamic character in the form of Harry Potter. He was a child who survived the wrath of the dark lord. Harry Potter started off as a scrawny kid who hated living with his aunt and uncle. He then went to Hogwarts, a wizarding school and became very popular and brave. He was the main player on the quidditch team and he took on the dark lord's servant to stop him from getting the Philosopher's stone. Harry changes a lot throughout the first book of the series.

The best qualities of Harry is that he's very brave and curious which leads him to do many brave feats which help the school fend off some of the most dangerous wizards. The worst qualities of Harry is that he isn't the brightest wizard though he is very powerful and also, he is very quick in his job. He tries to get the job finished early which ends up coming back to haunt him.

Theme Presentation Handout

Theme: Individual self-expression is important.

Group Members: Sophie Bause, Hailey Carroll, Rebecca Peters, Sai Reddy, Akul Rajan, Sean Stewart Jr.

Bell: 5

Time Line

1.                                                     2.                                                             3.

1. In part one of the book, Montag is completely blind to individualism. He goes to his job and does what he is supposed to do every day. He doesn’t question his role in society or the government.
2. In the second part of the book, Montag starts to realize that being a fireman at this time in history, is a bad thing. He begins to understand that hoe has been brainwashed into thinking he is benefiting the city by burning books. Montag starts to act like an individual with his own thoughts when he starts to read and collect books.
3. By part three, Montag fights his oppressors to try to regain who he really is. He stands up for individualism and does the best he can to stop the government from taking that away from him. In this case, it causes the whole city to burn down for him to do the right thing.

Quotes that show how the theme is developing:

1.  “He was not happy. He was not happy”(Bradbury 12, 60th Anniversary Edition).

We chose this quote because this is Montag’s emotion when Clarisse asks him if he’s happy with his life. Montag leaves Clarisse and thinks about the question. After some thinking, Montag realizes that he is not happy the way he is, his life is bland and he wants some change in his life. He shows his expression on his job and his life through his quote. This quote develops the theme because this is the first change of expression that Montag had in the book. This is when he starts to question the society he is living in. This is important to the understanding of the story because this is when the reader realizes that Montag isn’t happy with his life, this is the event that creates the story, Fahrenheit 451. This is because it sparks the future events in the society.

2. “Montag paced the floor and came back and squatted down and read a page as many as ten times.” (Bradbury 67, 60th Anniversary Edition) This quote shows that he is nervous about reading the book because it is illegal but at the same time he is trying hard to memorize the book. You can tell he is nervous because he is pacing but it is easy to tell he is trying to memorize this because he comes back to a page and reads it as many as ten times.

3. “He was an individual. I’ve never gotten over his death.” (Bradbury 149, 60th Anniversary Edition)

This quote was spoken by Granger. When Granger said, “he never got over his death”, it            implied that his Grandfather was so memorable because he was different. His individualism caused him to mean more to them than everyone else.

Explanation of why theme is important to the story:

The theme is important to our understanding of the story because the lack of self expression and individualism is the basis for the corruption of the society in Fahrenheit 451, like how author’s are banned from expressing themselves through their stories.

Explanation of why this theme is important in society:

Today, self-expression is a very important factor in our society, because it allows anybody and everybody to freely express themselves, allowing for a sense of freedom which also supports individual self-expression  that keeps us all from suffering from being clones of each other and thinking the same, which is a bad trait for a good society.

The Blood Of Olympus

This week during Reading Workshop, I have started to read a new book. This book that I have started to read is called The Blood Of Olympus. This book is written by Rick Riordan and he is famous for writing the prequel series, the Heroes of Olympus. I like the previous book in the series, and so I longed to try to read this book because the last book was left on a cliffhanger.







This is a picture of the cover of the book, it shows a very important scene because this is when Jason strikes down the leader of the giants. At first, they were overpowering Jason and the crew but after Jason took down the leader of the giants, everything turned around and they were able to get rid of all of the giants.


I chose to read this book because I have read the previous books in the series and I have enjoyed them greatly. Also, the book seemed very inticing because the previous book ended with a cliffhanger. This book is the genre I was looking for, a combination of history in the form of mythology and adventure. So far I am 150 pages in, and I love the book, it's very detailed and it seems as if I am on the Argo 2 with the travelers.



I felt like the best part of the book so far is when Leo says, "Good bye guys". This is the best part of the story because the demigods were having trouble with the giants and were almost on the brink of dying. The death of Leo caused the demigods to turn their misery into hope and anger and as a result, they wiped out all of the giants. This is the turning point of the book because after this, the 6 demigods who are left, work together to wipe Gaea off the face of the Earth.