Post 7: Book Trailer

P.S. I love you book trailer

Post 6: Readicide

 I think that “readicide” is a problem in schools due to personal experience. When I was younger I loved to read but come high school I found that I no longer enjoyed reading. The time that I would take to read was now taken up by books that were required reads and the study guides you would have to fill out along the way.  So when the time came that I would have time to read at home I no longer wanted too.  I don’t enjoy reading confusing plays that seem like they were written in a different language or books that the curriculum decides are important. I want to read books that interest me, because if I’m reading something that I like I’m going to be much more engaged in the reading and not mind having to do projects on the book in school. I also think that some books are under taught. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t read my required summer reading book. I had a day left and choose a book I knew was popular and on spark notes. Walking into second bell English 3A, we were told what we had to do for the summer reading project and I could easily accomplish the task without reading a single page of the book. Now if we were told to pick a book of our choice with a few requirements; possibly page length, genre, or difficulty, I would have read the book and done a more difficult project. The last summer reading project that I actually remember enjoying was going into freshman year, we were told to pick a memoir, and that’s it. I choose The Burn Journals, a book that actually seemed interesting to me. After reading every page of the book (unlike my other summer reading projects) I completed the project without a single complaint. I think that if the school updated their curriculum to fit the student’s interests, kids would be more eager to read and teachers would end up grading higher quality work. Although I do see that reading some classics goes to teach students lessons that can't be taught through student-picked books, which is why I believe that the curriculum should be adjusted not to just encompass student chosen books but also to include the more interesting and important books that are already placed in the curriculum.

Post 5: Adapting your book

The book could not be adapted into a movie without the most important thing in the plot, the letters Gerry left for Holly after his death. Without these letters the movie would become completely different because this is why Holly does a lot of the things she does in the book. Gerry left her letters, one for each month with instructions on something to do that month and the book follows Holly as she carries out these things. I also think the movie would have to include Holly’s best friend Sharon. I think that Sharon is a huge contributor to what forced Holly to pull out of her reclusive depression. Sharon also cheers on and helps Holly complete the tasks that were left behind for her. I think the scene were Sharon forces Holly to do karaoke is also a scene that needs to carry on from the book into the movie. This is a scene where Holly really doesn’t want to do one of the things in Gerry’s letters, but with Sharon’s help and the reminder that Gerry wanted her to sing, Holly decides that she will.  I would like for this to stay in the movie because it shows how much Holly cares for Gerry and how she will do anything, including things she really doesn't want to do, to keep him apart of her.

One thing I think can be left out of the movie is Richard, Holly’s brother that she doesn’t get along with. The book spends a lot of time talking about how Holly and Richard don’t get along and I don’t see how it is important to the plot line. I don’t like Richard’s character and I don’t think he has any major roles in the book except for making Holly mad so I think he could be left out when the book is being adapted into a movie. Another thing that I think the movie could do without is the accent that all the characters have. I think that the way they talk is part of the reason I don’t love the book. I don’t understand all the things they say because they say things differently. I think the movie would be better off if the characters had an American accent.