How to Ditch Your Fairy; All About the Author

The author for the book I am reading, Justine Larbalestier , I have never quite heard of before. So I decided to do some research about the author in hopes of letting people get to know this author and explore some of the other books she has written. 

Justine Larbalestier was born in Australia and she is best known for writing young adult fiction. She has won many awards for her books, including the Andre Norton award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, both of which are science fiction awards. She is also famously known for her novel Liar, published in 2009. You can learn more about her at her own website http://justinelarbalestier.com/ , where she has information on news about her, a biography telling a little bit more about herself, all of her books and their summaries, her own blog, appearances she will be making, FAQ, and how to contact her.

 On her website she tells a story about how she created the book I am reading, How to Ditch Your Fairy. The story behind her creating this novel was she was hanging out with her friends, driving along a coast when there was a huge crowd, and they couldn't get a parking spot. When they found a parking spot in midst of the traffic, her friends had declared one of the friends in the car had a ,"parking fairy". That day, she had already written 4,000 words creating the book I am reading now. The link below is provided for you if you would like to see and hear about the author talking about how she created one of her other novels, Razorhurst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4XJDxLabK8

How to Ditch Your Fairy; Starting a new book

Since I have recently finished the Fault in our Stars, it was time I needed a new book. I do not have much time in my day to go to the library, so I simply just borrowed a book from my sister. It is called How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier. So far, I haven't started the book, but I have read the summary and what I conclude is that there is this girl named Charlie, who talks about everyone having their 'personal fairy', and how her's is a parking fairy. Now at first, this didn't make so much sense to me but i have came to a realization that each person's 'fairy' is their own special talent. And apparently, hers is having the ability to find the best parking spot.

Now my predictions for this book is that the main character, Charlie, will try to ditch her 'fairy', hence how to 'ditch' your fairy, and maybe it won't go as well as she thought it would. She seems characterized as the type of person who is always down on their luck and gets stuck with no umbrella on a rainy day, or who's car broke down on the day of an important meeting. My goal is to read ten chapters into this book or more, and hopefully I can gain a stronger sense of what this book's topic is really about.

Have you all ever had really bad luck?

Comment your experiences!

The Fault in our Stars; Bests and Worsts

As I finished the book The Fault in our Stars by John Green, I wanted to make one more post about this book; the bests and the worsts. (Warning: if you haven't read the book but are planning to don't read this)

The 'bests' of this book for one is the setting. It is a modern setting, meaning it is not set into the future or 20 years in the past. I like this about this book because it gives reader's more to relate to, so they are not left wondering if something mentioned in the book is the same now as it was then, for example phones or cars. This then gives readers clear imagery. Another one of the best things about this book are the characters. They aren't perfect people who you read about and you wish you could be them; they themselves are normal people in everyday life and they even might be the people you never talk to either. This is because the two main characters have suffered both with cancer; the girl Hazel has thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs and Augustus, the boy, had  osteosarcoma in which he had to amputate his leg.  Both of these reasons, having setting be present time and the characters both having struggles in their lives, make The Fault in our Stars one of the best books for people to read because it has an open audience, so anyone can enjoy this book.

I loved this book, but I can think of some 'worsts'. One thing that I didn't like about this book is that one of the main characters, Augustus Waters, dies because cancer spreads throughout his body. This leaves Hazel feeling depressed all of the time. But that wasn't the ending. When Augustus dies, there are still a few chapters left in the book. So I thought," Hmm, something good must have to happened if there are that many pages left," but I was not satisfied. Another bad thing about this book is it didn't tell much of a background story about the characters, like when they were first diagnosed with cancer or childhood stories about them. Honestly, I think it would have been really cool for them to have been diagnosed with cancer at the same time because then they would have a really close connection to each other.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book and I highly suggest it for anyone who needs something to read next. And if you read it soon enough, you can catch the movie on June 6th this summer! And also, please leave recommendations of books I should read next.

Krista Ramsey Column

In this column written by Krista Ramsey, newlyweds have decided to take care of the groom's twin sisters, and putting their big life plans on hold. Since the twin's unfortunate death of their mother and their dad being held in jail, the only option for them was to go into foster care, until Ryan Craig and Megan Annis decided to take them under their wings.

Newlyweds raise groom's twin sisters

The line in Krista Ramsey's column that I think is the best written is,"On April 22, 2012, life looked like nothing more than a long, smooth path to happiness for Ryan Craig and Megan Annis." The reason I think this line is the best written is because it has an impact on all people who have been married for at least a couple years because they know, that marriage will almost never be a smooth, long path to happiness. It can also relate to people who are planning to get married because, like everyone else, they too expect nothing but peace and happiness. Obviously for Ryan and Megan, their expectations were a little too high at first, but now since they have helped others, they have gotten their reward back. They are now happy to be apart of the twin's life. The low/informal diction that really stuck out for me in this sentence is when Krista writes," life looked nothing more than...". This really emphasizes the fact that they really expected a perfect life once they were married. Instead of saying ,"life looked," Krista could've written ,"they had high expectations for their life...," but instead, Krista uses the simple term of ,"life looked...," to show that they simply thought that a perfect life was easy to achieve. This also shows irony, because even the people who haven't had a chance at a relationship that no matter what happens, nothing ever turns out perfectly. Like they always say," You can't have a sense of joy without experiencing pain.".

After reading a couple of Krista Ramsey's columns, I would like to ask her a couple questions about her writing. The first question I would ask her would be simple; how did she know she had a passion for writing columns? The next question I would ask her if I could would be in her pieces, does she prefer to look on the better side of things, more like glass half full, or to emphasize the bad things that she is writing about so people become more aware of the situation? The last question I would ask her is out of all the stories she probably gets about certain things, which ones would she more prefer to write about; people doing goods things and making the right choices, or a story that is more of a shocker to people?

The Fault in our Stars; Character Symbols

Since I am about a few chapters away from the end of The Fault in our Stars, I think an acceptable prompt for one of my blogs is to talk about the two main characters in this book and what symbols would correspond along with them.

The two main characters in my book, Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus (Gus) Waters, have a exceptional relationship with each other throughout the book. Now prior to meeting  one another, both of them were robust, individualistic,impassioned people who have either dealt with or are dealing with cancer. Hazel especially cherished independence because she felt like she was always being held behind when her lungs wouldn't perform accurately. A quote that I like that shows the reason why she is very independent is, "I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?"(Page 63). The reason this quote shows why Hazel is usually quiet and independent is because she thinks she is like a grenade; any relationship she has with anyone will be destroyed when she 'blows up'. I conclude an extravagant object to symbolize Hazel would be a pineapple, or a kiwi. Now I know this is a little cheesy but take this into consideration. The reason for me delegating Hazel the symbol of these two fruits is because they both do not look attractive on the outside; a pineapple is very spiky and has hard edges and a kiwi--well no one would choose a kiwi if they didn't know how it tastes because it is covered in fur on the outside. But on the inside, both are delicious fruits that are sweet and people have discovered them to be quite tasteful too. This is like Hazel. On the outside, Hazel feels insecure. Since she has to wear tubes that go into her nose, around her ear, and attach to a cart of oxygen that she is always wheeling around, she feels like the word ,"CANCER," is written right on her forehead that makes people keep their distance from her because they think that she could be 'weird' or 'contagious', even though you can't 'catch' cancer like you can a cold. But on the inside, Hazel Grace Lancaster is a very caring, kind, and elaborate person. She can't keep anything simple; she always has to ponder on things and unnecessarily complicate things, and frankly that is what I love about her character in this book. She likes knowing people for who they are on the inside and not for what they look like on the outside. Which brings me to Augustus Waters.

Above; Hazel on the right and Gus on the left. They sense that they are left out from the world because of their disabilities.

Augustus Waters is not as independent as Hazel, the only reason for me saying so is he is so easily loved that he always is surrounded by his friends and his family, so he enjoys having the company. This I think this has taught him to be a caring and compassionate person, so the perfect symbol for Augustus is a house. A house that has the perfect landscaping and a perfect family living in it and the whole house is painted a bright, cheery color. But you never really know what is going on on the inside. The parent's might be having an argument or the kids are now being bullied by someone at school. The point is, Augustus seems like he is always putting on a happy face for everyone, because without Augustus, people wouldn't have something to cheer them up everyday. But when the doctors find more cancer in his body, it affects Augustus majorly. He can't walk or get up, and most of the time he has to stay in bed or on the couch all day having his parents do everything for him because he is too weak to get up. This is a really depressing time in his life for Augustus, but whenever Hazel comes over to visit, he pretends to be fine, or rather happy.

Overall, both Hazel and Augustus are both two way different people on the inside than on the inside, but I love them both as character's in The Fault in our Stars and I will keep you updated on what happens to them both when I finish the book.

The Fault in our Stars; Most Important Quote

The most important quote from the book The Fault in our Stars would have to be in chapter 10 on page 153 where Augustus admits to Hazel that he is in love with her. " 'I'm in love with you,' he said quietly. 'Augustus,' I said. 'I am,' he said...'I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will shallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I'm in love with you.' "

For me, this quote is important because Hazel feels insecure all of the time, wearing tubes that help her lungs to get needed oxygen while also having to roll around an oxygen tank. So by Augustus admitting to her that he loves her, exactly 4 times, means that despite her struggles and issues that she feels insecure with, he will take her for who she is, because he simply loves her that way.And then at the very end of the quote, after his whole speech, he says, " and I'm in love with you." This is very important because he doesn't say," but I'm in love with you." When he says ,"and" , for me it shows that he will love her with all of their struggles, not despite their struggles. As I read further into this book, this is very important to the plot because Augustus's doctor's just detected more cancer in his body and Hazel still has remaining cancer that cannot be removed, so if Augustus truly loves her, hopefully he will still support and love her through his own struggles now.

The Fault in our Stars; beginning of the book

For a while now, I have heard of the book The Fault in our Stars by John Green, and I had an interest in reading it. All of my other friends have read this book and recommended for me to read it. I was planning to, but I never really got around to buying the book. Finally, I went to the movies recently with my family and one of the movie previews really caught my attention. My sister then pointed out that she had read the book, and it was called the Fault in our Stars. So that is when I eventually got the book and I started reading it.

As I began to read further into the book, I start to understand the story and lifestyle of Hazel Grace Lancaster. Now I haven't gotten past even six chapters yet, but it's spring break and I am on more of a relaxed schedule:) But Hazel is a sixteen year old girl who was faced with an awful obstacle in her life; cancer. It started in her thyroid and then moved to her lungs. Because of the cancer that spread to her lungs, Hazel has to roll around an oxygen tank. Every week, Hazel attends a support group that her doctor thought would be helpful with dealing with her cancer, and Hazel does not like going. But Hazel is one of the fortunate ones, because the doctors were convinced the cancer was going to kill her until they tried a medicine that would shrink her tumor. And it worked. Still faced with the depression of the thought of dying, this is why she goes to this support group. One week however, someone from the support group brings a friend a long who has had his share of cancer. Hazel meets him and finds that his name is Augustus Waters. So far, I haven't read any further, but I think I can predict that Hazel will form a relationship with Augustus and I hope he supports her through her struggles with cancer. Can't wait to read more!!



The picture above I wanted to add because I wanted people to elaborate on this thought; In the support group that Hazel attends, they ask her how she is doing, and she always responds with ,' I'm okay." Bu do you really think that she is? For the people who have read this book, do you think that having Augustus in her life will actually make her feel okay, or is he just a distraction from her cancer issues.