Alé Salamán -- LMST345

 This novel overall had a lot of contemporary fantasy elements within it. It discussed all the characters as personified animals within African Mythology in a way. It discussed the boy dealing with his fathers death and how he plays a role in filling his shoes within the legacy of story telling. He needs to use his skills in order to save his father's legacy and I think seeing this within the fantasy realm is quite sweet but also he's trying to keep everything together. Through these critical life changing events Charlie has to kind of grow up fast and get to his own coming of age story. I think fantasy books often do a great job to showing you character development and like creates a great story of growth through bad circumstances and dwelling with fate and why it must be this way.  I also thought it was refreshing to realize most characters were POC. With a story that deals with heritage quite alot, especially within the fantasy context for a writer that usually writes for c...

 Classes:  Mon Sep 7 (1 point) Mon Sep 14 (1 point) Mon Sep 21 (1 point) Mon Sep 28 (1 point) Mon Oct 5 (1 point) Mon Oct 12 (1 point)  Mon Oct 19 (I missed this class) Frankenstein (6points)  Interview with a Vampire (6points)  A wild Sheep Chase (6points)  Uzumaki (3points)  Annihilation (6points)  Akata Witch (5points)  The Hobbit (6points)  The Night Circus (6points) 

 Overall the story was enticing because there was a conflict in which the main characters didn't necessarily understand why they were a part of it and I think the idea of the circus is just very alluring. They lived a life of wonder and lots of tension. They had built up conflict since they were young and grew up with the sole purpose of competing against eachother. I love stories that explore conflict and how people can challenge the idea of having to go through with something that's not their own battle to begin with. 

 In a land full of creatures that are unreal to our very world, The Hobbit thrives in delivering a set of adventures full of goblins, trolls, dragons and elves. Throughout the story the idea of being able to overcome challenges is a prevalent one in my opinion. Through facing danger and overcoming it, Biblo develops a sense of resilience and bravery. Overall, Bilbo has to show bravery while faced with danger and develop a sense of heroism. He had to be resourceful to get away with taking the ring and confronting the creatures of the land.  Overall, the book does a good job at showing character development and a character arch of a hero. This may be a fantasy world but the lesson of it all is pretty real and relatable which is why I enjoyed the reading. I usually steer away from fantasy but the idea of this book having many elements be applicable to real life works really well.  I also found it very interesting how the idea of lineage and class is reflected on this book. B...

 This story overall deals with themes of identity and explores the ideas of otherness. Sunny is an albino girl who is born in the U.S to parents who are Nigerian. She moves to Nigeria and feels out of place. She's albino and not living where she's used to be. She also discovers special abilities that characterize her as a Leopard Person, meaning she used Juju as a spell to attack when in need. She learns magic and overall how to be more sure of herself within the company of her classmates. Within great power comes great responsibility. She ends up trying to put together the mystery of the events happening, such as the murders of many children. There's a certain whimsicalness to this story but overall from solving the mystery she also becomes more confident with her differences.  The story is quite whimsical but it has it's dark moments so there's quite the balance throughout the whole story. It's a good outlook on being a witch through a different cultural lense...