Molly Moon, Micky Minus, and the Mind Machine- Georgia Byng FEBRUARY

Significance- I think this book is a great book because it really shows how a normal girl can be unique and beautiful even when she's not very important. This is a story of a normal girl living at an orphanage, who then finds out she has very strong hypnotizing powers.  It's a wonderful story, which involves real life scenarios and also some fantasy. I think a lot of people can relate to that, because in reality, most people are very normal, who want to be special, and have super powers and things like that. I think that's why this book is so powerful. In the fourth book of the thrilling series, Molly Moon finds herself in yet another exciting adventure, finding herself at death's fingertips once again.

Perspective- This book is written from the narrator's perspective. I think it would be different if it was from Molly's perspective because then it would show more about her feelings, instead of what's going on in the story. I think that was really well done, because it's a kind of confusing plot, and if it was from her perspective I bet a lot of people wouldn't understand it as much.

Evidence- In the beginning of this story, Micky (her twin who was stolen from her time and brought to the future) hates her. I know this because he is really mean to Molly and when Molly reads his mind, he's thinking about terrible things happening to her. He hates her because he doesn't believe they're twins, and he wishes she would just leave him alone to go back to his old life where he hypnotized people for the queen. If it was from Micky's perspective, many things wouldn't have happened, since Micky doesn't remember Molly at all. I think it's the best in the perspective of the narrator, because then you find out the whole story.

Connection- I think a lot of people can connect to this book. I know I can, because I have definitely felt like just a normal, ugly girl before, who's life is going nowhere, and yet one day, something changes and your suddenly special. I know everyone wishes paranormal things could happen to them, like magic, hypnotism, etc. I know a lot of people can connect with this, and it also connects to a lot of other supernatural books like Blue Bloods. Blue Bloods is a story of a girl who's completely normal, and has a pretty normal life, but then finds out she's a vampire. They're all very related.

Supposition- This series of books would be very different if Molly never had a twin, because then she wouldn't have to travel to the future and find him, and then nothing would have happened in this book. I think also in the previous book it would have been different, because then Lucy (Molly's mom) wouldn't have been so depressed because she lost her son. Then it wouldn't have caused Molly to have found out about time traveling, and that whole book would have never happened.

The Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan

Rules of the Game:

Significance- This chapter is about a girl named Waverly Jong. She lives in Chinatown, San Francisco with her parents and brothers. She is a very happy girl, and she is not poor. Then one day her brother brings home a chess set from a party. She enjoys playing chess, and becomes very good at it. She learns many rules from playing against many people, and becomes a national winner. Her mom keeps bragging about her, and before she knows it she is using all the rules of the game in her own life, to have her mom not brag about her anymore. She has to take one step at a time, and plan her moves before it happens, just like chess.

Perspective- This book was written by Amy Tan, but not in her perspective. This book is a collection of vignettes written in 4 different women's perspectives, and it would be very different if it was written in Amy Tan's perspective. However, she is a very good author, and I don't really think many other writers would have been able to pull of writing about these kinds of tragedies these women went through. She writes in such metaphors that sometimes it's hard to follow, and I really don't think any other author would be able to pull those kind of metaphors off.

Evidence- I can definitely say that Waverly is talented at chess. I can say this because she learned how to play chess very quickly and she is really good at it. She also picks up the rules very quickly, and accepts them into her own life. She is also very smart, and brave, so that helps her talents. I know that she is smart because she learns the rules very quickly and uses a lot of logic in playing chess. She always knows what she's going to do next in life, and in the game, and she is just very smart. She is brave because she can talk back to her mother, and since she is smart, you know it can't be her not being smart. She can also go to lots of competitions and not be scared of being there, and playing against a lot of different people she's never met before.

Connection- In this book Waverly's mom embarrasses her because she so proud of her and is bragging to people about how amazing her daughter is. I've definitely had my family members embarrass me, and my grandmother can never stop bragging about me. Although I don't feel embarrassed, it's kind of awkward, and I just have to realize that I'm one of the best things in her life, like Waverly's mom's life. In Waverly's scenario she couldn't talk to her mom about it, and I'm not really sure I'd ever talk to my grandmother about it, but in both scenarios it's a family member that's very proud of their family.

Supposition- In this book, I think everything would be very different if Waverly had never gotten the chess board. I don't think she would have learned the same life lessons, because the chess board taught her so many things about life. She also wouldn't be as bold, and as brave, because she learned all of those things from the game. She learned how to talk to people, meet new people, approach new people. It's amazing how much you can learn from on little chess board.