Carroll, Lewis. 

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 

Norwalk, Connecticut: The Heritage Press, 1969.  

172 pages.  

[First published in 1865.]

 

 

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Review

Carroll, Lewis.  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  Norwalk, Connecticut: The Heritage Press, 1969.   172 pages.   [First published in 1865.]

 

Funny.   Interesting.  Weird.  These are all words that describe Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This was book was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll.  It tells the story of Alice who is having a very boring summer day.  But then she sees a peculiar rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch.  Out of curiosity, Alice follows the rabbit down a rabbit whole wear she falls for quite a long time.  Once she lands, she finds herself in a large hallway.  She does not know wear the rabbit is but she finds a very small door at the end of the hallway.  It is locked, but she couldn’t even fit through the door in the first place.  Then she finds a key and a bottle that says “drink me” on it.  When she drinks the liquid, she becomes small enough to fit through the door, but she forgot the key which was on a table that is now far too big for her to reach.  Then she finds something else to eat which makes her grow very big.  She starts to cry making a pool of tears around her.  Suddenly, she shrinks back down to a very small size.  She then meets some animals in her pool of tears that get her out of the water.  These animals begin to argue amongst each other and eventually leave her all alone.  But she is now able to get through the door and enter a magical and strange place.  She has many crazy adventures here.  She almost destroys the white rabbit’s house.  After running away from this, she meets many strange characters like a March hare, a Hatter, many living playing cards, a hookah smoking caterpillar, a duchess, and a Cheshire cat.  All the incidents with these characters are either very funny or very weird.  The funniest part in my opinion was the encounter with the Hatter and the March Hare.  These strange and exciting adventures lead up to Alice meeting the Queen of Hearts and having a very interesting croquet game with her.  All in all, this book is extremely creative and is like nothing I have ever read before.  It is superbly written and also has great illustrations drawn by John Tenniel to accompany the book.

 

RESPONSE

 

     There are many things to like about this book.  It is very funny and the author shows great voice throughout the entire story.  The story is imaginative and original.  All of the illustrations are great and detailed. They help you visualize what is happening, especially when some scenes get a little hard to follow.  The humor in this book can be rather silly but it still makes you laugh.  People who do not like funny books should probably not read this one, because there is not one serious or dark part in the book.  The story does not really have a message or moral but it does have satire, terrific writing, and great drawings to back it all up.  This is what makes the book so great.  I would recommend Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to anyone who has a good sense of humor and is ready to go on a very silly and surprising ride because that is exactly what you will do when you read this story.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alice Poem

 

Alice encountered a rabbit

A waistcoat he did inhabit

He was in a state

For he was very late

What an interesting and peculiar rabbit

 

She followed him down a hole

Acting as if she was a mole

The fall went on for a while

But when it ended she did smile

And jumped up on her shoe sole

 

She was in a hallway so grand

But the small door at the end she could not stand

So she drank some potions

With great devotion

And eventually ended it up in wonderland

 

There were many interesting characters there

Like a Hatter, some cards, and a March Hare

Her adventures had begun

And she had lots of fun

But it was soon time to get out of there

 

This is where it comes to an end

Which I will not give away my friend

But we all must hail

This fantastic tale

Which should be read again and again

 

-By Stefan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Battle

(A story in limericks)

By Stefan 

 

 

 

 

A battle has just begun

The father said to his son

You must gather your stuff

And fight well and rough

Because this battle must be won

 

 

The battle has not been won

So I will take away your gun

And you must fend for your life

With this switch-blade knife

‘Till the battle is good and won

 

 

The battle is still not won

Said the father to his now one-armed son

You’ve no use for knife

So you must kick for your life

‘Till the battle is good and won

 

 

Now this is the very last straw

Said the half-dead son to his pa

I know I should be brave

But I am digging my grave

You can no longer proclaim the law

 

 

Now listen to me son

This battle cannot be won

We’ll go to New York

And build up a fort

Where another battle has just begun

 

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ROBOT  RIGHTS

 

By Stefan

 

Prologue

 

2160 the world is very different.  Humans have discovered special metals on Mars, which they now use to make artificial intelligence.  But you see, these metals have had a strange affect on the robots that are being made. They seem to be able to think for themselves.  But humans are not able to accept this truth so they just keep using the robots as normal machines.  A good example of this is Stark 1.6630 who lives in Simal City where he is forced to work in a factory building hover cars.  But Stark is really good at drawing and all he wants to be is a cartoonist.  Sadly, robots are not aloud to do anything creative.  Stark is living in a cruel oppressed world… for now!  

_________________________________________________________________________________________

 

            It was a chilly November evening; Stark was coming home after another dull day at work.  After walking through a group of jeering juveniles he finally made it to his “home,” if you could call it that.  Stark’s home was actually a bland, mundane two-story building where they cramped in about 12-15 other robots who worked in the lower east side of town.  But at least this was a place where Stark could socially interact with his robot friends: Phil HBP 6.02, Jim 11.558, and Flate 3.033.

“Hard day Stark?” said Flate as Stark walked in the door.

“As hard as it ever is!” Stark responded.

“Well, have a look at this,” Jim exclaimed as he pushed a newspaper in front of Stark, “three robot incapacitated last night.”

“The situation is getting worse and worse,” said Phil in a very stern tone.

“Yes, but we can’t do anything about it” thundered Flate in a booming voice, “Humans can’t get it through their thick skulls that the metals they are finding on mars are not normal metals.  They give us minds of our own.  We have feelings, personalities, and ideas.”

“Well maybe it’s time they heard those ideas,” Stark shouted.

“What are you talking about?” Jim asked as Flate and Phil gave Stark a quizzical look.

“Well, I have been thinking,” explained Stark, “it’s time we started to stand up for our rights as robots.  We should start marching and protesting.  I’ve even made some posters that we can stick up around town.”

Stark got out the posters and pushed them in front of Flate, Jim, and Phil’s flabbergasted face screens. “My point is, us robots are mistreated and misused.  This must not go on.  We have to take immediate ACTION!  Now, who is with me?”

            There was a long pause.  The room was dead silent for a whole minute.  Then Flate and Jim stood up and said in unison:

“We’re in!”

“What about you Phil?”

“I’m not doing it” said Phil very flatly “I’m not going to protest for something that’s never going to happen.  I’m not going to risk my life for false hopes!”

Once again, the room was silent.

“Fine, do what you want,” said Stark in a cold tone, feeling betrayed.  With this Phil rolled over to his recharging station and powered down.

            For a few more hours, Stark, Flate, and Jim talked over plans for their next-day protests.  They decided to march down Canton Street because many humans hung out down there.  Also, a lot of robots went down that street to go to the big hover car factory where they were assigned to work.  With this strategy they would be able to get the attention of robots and humans alike.  But there were also dangers in this plan.  What if the police came?  What if a gang of humans decided to get violent?  Incapacitating a robot was not at all as serious a crime as killing a human.  Indeed the protest would put their lives on the line.  But in the end the three robots decided that the cause was too important to give up on.  So, when all was said and done they rolled, walked, and flew over to their recharging stations where they powered down for the night.

            At 8:00 AM all the robots were done recharging.  Stark, Flate, and Jim waited for all the robots to leave and then they began to prepare.  They used their built-in copy machines to make copies of the posters.  Some of them, they attached to picket signs.  They were now ready to MARCH!

            As they rumbled down Canton Street, they started to chant with there voices turned on high.

 “ROBOTS DESERVE RIGHTS”

“ROBOTS NEED RIGHTS”

All along the street heads were turning.  Families in the middle of their breakfasts stopped eating to go outside to see the chant.  Teens texting with their mind-controlled cell phones stopped to watch what the three robots were doing.  Even Kids playing their virtual reality videogames paused to stare out their windows.  But humans weren’t the only ones that noticed.  About ten minutes into the protest other robots started to chant and to march with them.  This was a good change of events.  Within fifteen minutes they had about 50 other robots protesting.  But at the head of the pack were Stark, Flate, and Jim.  Sadly though, not all good things last for long.  At that moment, they heard sirens in the distance and within a few minutes the police arrived.  All the cops were armed with big hulking electro-shooters.  Let’s just say, one shot to the face with those and you’re as good as scrap metal.  All the robots started to scramble in every which way as the police started shooting.  But even in the jumbled mess of running robots, the cops were able to pick out the three leaders.  Stark, Flate, and Jim were all on the ground, incapacitated, non-functional, and forever shot down.

 

EPILOGUE

 

            21 other robots were shutdown that day with Stark, Flate, and Jim.  But their ideas did not go with them.  Protests, rallies, and speeches were held and led by the one who felt he should avenge his friends: Phil.  This single robot, with the help of others, worked hard to bring the dreams of his friends to reality.  He made sure that other cities including Simal could understand that robots needed to live equally with humans. Phil succeeded: civil rights were granted to robots in 2165, and in 2170 Phil HBP 6.02 became the first robot president of the U.S.A.  Every week he visits his friends’ final resting places, and sometimes you can see a few drops of oil fall from his face screen. 

 

 

 

 

READ MORE COMICS!

Stefan L

11/5/09

Hour: 2

 

            Have you ever read a comic book? Chances are you haven’t.  Many of you think that comics are all about superheroes or they are all made for kids.  This however is not true at all.  You also might think you can’t afford comics but this is a misnomer too. If you think don’t have time for comics then think again because they are quite short.  This essay is going tell you why you should read comics.

 

            First of all, comics are cheap.  The average price for regular size comics (not graphic novels) is 3-4 dollars.  Now I think anyone could at least afford 1 comic to read.  In fact if you think about it 1 comic costs less than two regular lunches at the cafeteria.  Comics usually come out monthly so if you follow only one series for a year it would only cost $36 for ONE YEAR!  That’s only about half a month of lunches. So I think you can cross out “price”

 

            Another excuse people cook up is that they don’t “have time” to read comics.  This however is also incorrect.  Average comics are usually 32-40 pages long.  It takes about 10-15 minutes to finish one.  I’m pretty sure anyone can spare 15 minutes a month to read 32-page comic.  So now you can always “have time” to read comics.

 

            The final reason I have is the most important of all.  There is a comic for everyone and they are fun to read.  Anyone can find a comic they like because there are so many comic genres.  The genres range from super hero to action to romance to mystery to much more.  There are even WEB COMICS which you can read for free online. Some examples of these are pvponline.com, pennyarcade.com, and runawaybandit.com. Also good regular comics are Superman and Batman (superhero comics), Fables (mystery) and Sweet tooth (alternative).  But these are just some of the wide pool of comics.  Comics are very fun to read.  Lets face it you don’t pick up a comic because of its educational value.  You pick it up because it is fun to read.  These are the most important reasons to buy/read comics.

 

            So have I convinced you?  Let me just refresh your memory on what I said.  First Comics are quite cheap.  Second, they do not take much time to read.  Last you can find one you like and they are fun to read.  I hope you now understand why you should read comics and I also hope you will pay your local comic store a visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Griever Stages

By Stefan lindahl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://frmilovan.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/good-grief-charlie-brown1.jpg

 

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  These are the 5 stages of grief.  Sal went through all of these stages throughout the book, some stages went by very quickly while some went by very slowly. Let’s take a closer look at how Sal is dealing with the 5 stages of grief.

 

When Sal’s father told her that her mother died she immediately started DENIEING it. Also when she heard about this she was very ANGRY with her dad.  This shows that her emotions overcame her and just got mad at the person nearest her.  Bargaining did not happen throughout the book because it was overpowered by depression.  She was very sad about her mother for a long time after anger and even kept some hints of denial in this stage.  You see a lot of this when Ben starts asking about Sal’s mom.  Then gram and gramps took Sal on a car trip to follow her mothers trip this in the end made Sal ACCEPT her mothers death. Because you can’t keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.

 

So Sal had a pretty tough time. But we are all glad that she accepted.  Now you’ve seen the 5 stages in action.  I hope you can better understand them.           

 

 

Your first wiki assignment:

Exploring the US and our National Parks 

ALASKA

1.     Alaska was the 49^th state

2.     Largest city is Anchorage

3.     No one has every seen all of Alaska

4.     It’s the biggest state

5.     48^th most populous state

 

 

Alaska is a very interesting state.  It was the 49^th state of the union.  It is also the biggest state of them all.  In fact it is so big that no person has seen all of it!  Even though it is so big only 626,932 live there.  This makes it only the 48^th most populous state ever.  Most people live in Anchorage although this is not the capital, Juno is.  I would like to visit Alaska so I can see all it’s wondrous sights!

 

 

Pipestone National Monument

 

1.     Established in 1937

2.     Representative H. Carl Anderson tried to push funds to make it

3.     It is located in southwest Montana and is 282 acres

4.     Painted turtles and Snapping turtles

5.     It’s a sacred site for American Indians

 

 

Pipestone National monument is home to many great people and great beauty.  It was established in 1937 and one of the people involved was H. Carl Anderson who tried to push funds to make it.  It spans 282 acres and is located in the southwestern part of Montana.  Many animals (including snapping and painted turtles) inhabit it.  It is also home to many American Indians.  All in all Pipestone National Monument is an interesting place and one day I would like to go there

 

 

SOURCES

Alaska

Source: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/alaska/

Source: http://www.atlasrider.com/?p=654

Pipestone

Source: http: http://www.nps.gov/pipe/index.htm

Source: http://tour.airstreamlife.com/weblog/Pipestone%20Natl%20Mon%20falls.jpg