Rebecca's Guest Post: Top Authors!

Hi Everyone!!!!!

Today is a very special day!!!!!! Its my sister Rebecca's 21st birthday. Happy Birthday Rebecca! 

So Rebecca decided to create the following wonderful guest post today. 

Everything in blue is written by Rebecca.

My Top Authors!

To celebrate my 21^st birthday, and Rachel’s wonderful, unforgettable blog, I decided to share three authors who influenced me as a writer and a person.  I hope it exposes you to some authors you have not had the chance to read yet, as well provide different insights and perspectives about authors you may have already read earlier in your life!

3) Lemony Snicket

Series of Unfortunate Events

When I first read the last book of the Series of Unfortunate Events, when I was 14, I was disappointed with the ending. There were 13 books in the series and around the middle of the series a mystery of why the Baudelaire orphans parents died developed and why they were tossed from guardian to guardian who were not actually related to them. Among other questions left unanswered in the series, particularly in the last book, the author never explicitly said what the Baudelaire’s parent’s involvement in the secret organization, and why they died. At that time I didn’t appreciate the open ended-ness of the book, since I expected answers after investing time into reading all the books in the series. However when I reread the series six years later, I appreciated the ending a bit more. I saw the ending more as a literary writing style choice on the part of the writer. He was attempting to construct a message with the last book. It was not so much about the plot, but about staying true to the mysterious tone in the rest of the series.

There was one part in the final installment of the series, The End, where Lemony Snicket writes about how the Baudelaire orphans found out the answers to the mystery surrounding their parents, and the mysterious organization VFD, by staying at the island [where the Baudelaire orphans were stranded on in the book] for a year or so. He writes about how the new answers lead to new questions and those new questions lead to new answers, creating cycles of new mysteries. After rereading the series, I was satisfied enough with the growth of the characters. I wasn’t as concerned about knowing all the answers to the mysteries myself, but knowing that the characters were at a good place by the end of the series. 

2)Andrew Clements

The Laundry News

**Fun fact- Brian Selznick illustrated this book. He was the author and illustrator of the graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

“A good hearted newspaper tries to tell the truth that helps people understand things better. A good hearted newspaper can tell the same story as a mean hearted newspaper, but it tells the story in a different way, because it’s for a different reason (Andrew Clements, The Laundry News, Page 66).”—Cara Laundry in an editorial her personal turned classroom turned school newspaper in the novel, The Laundry News. 

This book is about a ten-year-old girl, Cara Laundry, whose personal newspaper, The Laundry News transforms into class and school wide newspaper. It’s also about her teacher, Mr. Larson, who regains his passion for teaching by using the newspaper as a way to teach a unit on journalism based on the paper.

This story represents how important it is to express the truth in a constructive manner particularly in journalism, and the responsibility people have when they have the freedom of expression. The year before this story took place, when Cara was in 4th grade, she started the newspaper at her old school. She started the newspaper after her parent’s divorce. It was a way to try to get her father’s attention by being mean and cruel to others. That newspaper was vindictive and was meant magnify her classmates, teachers, and other faculty’s weaknesses. 

The newspapers created in the book are meant to tell the truth –they are meant to have a good heart. These newspapers tell the truth in a constructive way.

 As I grew up, particularly when I went to college, I was able utilize this novel’s lesson when meeting other people. It helped me understand that every one is complex, everyone has their own stories, and it’s important to not quickly judge others before getting to know them.

1) Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider Series

I’ve known very few people who have read this series, but this is one of my favorite book series. I followed it since I was twelve until the final book came out when I was nineteen.

I was introduced to the second book of the series Point Blanc during a seventh grade reading contest. The Alex Rider series is about a British fourteen- year-old spy named Alex Rider.

When I read the first books in the series, I enjoyed the plot of the books because they had action packed scenes and mysteries within each book. This second book in this series, Point Blanc, was particularly intriguing since it was set in a creepy boarding school, and Alex finds out that the villain, Dr Grief, created clones of himself to impersonate rich men’s sons.  I read the books through a more psychological and criminologist lens as I grew older and the series grew a bit darker. It also sparked my interested in criminology- since the villains were always sociopathic but intelligent …sort of like the unsubs in the show Criminal Minds.

             Re-reading this series over the summer, I picked up on the political undertones [why the Dr. Grief wanted to create clones and have them impersonate the rich powerful sons]. It bothered me a bit more that Alex was only fourteen, and was forced into deadly situations just to help the spying agency and government. In addition it became harder for Alex, and myself as a reader, to figure out who was evil, and who was not evil in the series, including Alex himself- since everyone, including the employees in the spying organization MI6, had their flaws. 

Thanks For Reading!

Rebecca