Post 7: Book Trailer

I Am Number Four book trailer:
http://youtu.be/etm0W92GGKk

Post 6: Readicide

I believe that Readicide is a huge problem in our schools today.  Children are growing up reading old time literature that is assigned to them that they have to read.  Kids are being forced to read and heavily analyze books that they have no interest in.

 While most of the school assigned books that are of literary fiction, we should be reading more genre fiction.  The books assigned for kids should be modern, new books that they actually have an interest in.  For example: a sixteen year old girl would much rather read The Hunger Games instead of Macbeth.  The students have a bad attitude towards the book before they read the first page. 

The language in older books is also much harder to comprehend and needs to be heavily analyzed.  Odds are that the student will spark note the entire book and still pass the given test.  I agree that a school’s reading list should include a fifty-fifty split with literary fiction and genre fiction.  I do believe that some famous older books should be read, but at the same time that shouldn’t be the only types of books we read.  If the reading has zero interest in the students, they will only turn to spark notes and won’t read a page of the book itself.  I know that from experience; I am guilty of spark noting an assigned book and I know that about half of my peers are as well. 

It is important that kids read books while they are in school.  Kids need to explore all the different types of literature and styles of writing.  They need to form their own opinions, not just the same opinion that most students have, which is “I hate reading”.  That seems to be the only opinion you hear from kids now a days. 

Post 5: Adapting My Book

The following are scenes found in the book that are necessary to keep when adapting the story into a movie.

One scene that would be essential to bring to the big screen would be John and Henri up and leaving their Florida home at the beginning of the book.   John was getting notified that number three was just killed, because of the scar forming on his ankle.  He had to leave his friends and his house that very moment.  I think this scene is important because it shows the lifestyle that John lives.  It shows that if need be, he will pack up the little belongings he has, leave his house, and start a new life, all at a moment’s notice. 

Another scene that would be crucial for the movie is when John receives his first legacy at school.  He is in the middle of class on his first day, and his hands start to glow and become very hot.  He locks himself in a classroom and waits for Henri to pick him up.  This is important because his first legacy is a big stepping stone for him and he has been waiting for it his whole life.  It is also important to show how his legacy arrives.  It doesn’t just come to him instantly, it comes through a process. 

The scene where John and Henri are talking to Sam about different alien conspiracies is very important.  Sam brings up the story of the Mogadorian’s quest for universal control; John and Henri’s situation.  Sam somehow read about it in a sketchy magazine subscription.  This means trouble for John and Henri because it shows that the Mogadorians are close and that the people on earth know about it. 

These next two aspects of the book are unnecessary to the plot and could be done without.

A scene that could be unnecessary for the movie is when Sam points a gun at john point blank.  John walked into Sam’s bedroom and said hi.  Immediately, Sam pulled a gun out of his desk drawer and pointed it at John.  After a short conversation, Sam put the gun down and they hung out for the rest of the night.  I thought that moment was just irrelevant and quickly forgotten about. 

A minor character that isn’t too important would be little Bernie Kosar.  He is a little dog that follows John around and randomly showed up to his school one day.  He is a very obedient dog and goes everywhere with John.  Since I am only half way done with the book, I don’t know of any impact Bernie has on the plot just yet, if there even is any.  But as of now where I am in the book, he serves no purpose.