Book 3 Project- Heaven is for Real Review

            People spend a lifetime trying to imagine what heaven is like.  For Colton Burpo, there’s no more imagining.  Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo, with Lynn Vincent, details Colton’s story of how he went to heaven and came back in an enchanting and moving story. After suffering from appendicitis, Colton was on the brink of death, and needed an emergency appendectomy. This is where three year-old Colton claims he visited heaven. Bring on the skeptics. The truth is that if people are finding it hard to believe in this thing called heaven, this book just might give people a real reason to believe.

          What makes a great story? Well, part of it is a great plot. Heaven is for Real tries to create somewhat of a balanced plot, but it occasionally leaves readers scatterbrained and confused as to how old Colton Burpo is at a certain point in the story.  This is a shorter book, but since it takes place over a numerous years, it can get a tad confusing as to what year it’s in. When Todd Burpo describes how he broke his leg, had a kidney stone, and almost had breast cancer, it leaves readers wondering when all of this took place, and how far apart those events occurred.  Although the story is a little here-and-there occasionally, the plot really is quite intriguing, and somewhat suspenseful.  Everyone already knows that Colton Burpo lives, but when he is getting his surgery, it’s pretty intense and suspenseful. On page 40, Burpo writes, “That’s when it hit me. We waited too long. I might never see my son alive again.” Not only does this book create a bit of suspense, but it’s also pretty sad.  As a reader, you can’t help but feel bad for the Burpo family.  Overall, the plot is fairly balanced, but it does leave readers a little bit confused at some spots.  That would be the only negative about the plot, because the rest of it is just plain inspirational.



The Burpo Family: (from left) Colton,
Sonja, Cassie, Todd, and Colby

One of the most important aspects to Heaven is for Real is the characters that readers are introduced to.  This is no fiction novel with made-up characters—these are real people, real stories, real inspiration.  Because this a non-fiction story, it’s not expected for all of the characters to be fully developed, and this novel fits that expectation.  Multiple characters are introduced, from Todd’s relatives, like Steve and his family, to his own family—himself, Sonja, Cassie, Colton, and later, Colby.  Most characters in Heaven is for Real don’t play a huge role in the main theme of the book, aside from Colton’s family. The descriptions given for different people were all unique and they added to the magic of the story. For Colton, the description was fun, and young, fitting him to a tee.  One scene from the beginning is when the Burpo family is visiting a butterfly pavilion, and Colton is afraid to hold a tarantula.  Todd Burpo writes, “At that age, Colton has this precious way of talking, part-serious, part-breathless, golly gee wonder.” Now, Todd Burpo is no classic-literature writer, but he deserves some credit: he does a nice job with developing main characters. While some of the others could use a little beef in their descriptions, most are done nicely and it makes the story quite enjoyable.

As mentioned before, Todd Burpo is no William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens, but his writing is unique, no matter his experience with writing.  There are numerous times throughout this story where you can hear his voice peep through the pages of the book.  One example of this is on page 35, where Burpo is describing his wife’s miscarriage.  He takes something that should be sad and glum, and adds a playful twist onto it.  He says, “Then two months into the pregnancy, Sonja lost the baby, and our misty-edged dreams popped like soap bubbles.”  That’s a sad subject, but saying his dreams were soap bubbles that popped takes a bit away from the sadness.  Though Burpo may not have much writing experience, it’s certainly not noticeable.

The main part of Heaven is for Real that also happens to be the controversial part is Colton Burpo’s story of his trip to heaven.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so this major theme could possibly make or break this book for someone.  Everyone has different beliefs.  With that being said, whether people believe in God and heaven or not, this book is inspiring.  From Colton’s descriptions of what he saw when first got into heaven to him asking his mom about her miscarriage, which Todd and Sonja had never told Colton about, it’s downright inspirational. This book has been on the New York Times Best Sellers List for numerous weeks now, which means it is clearly is speaking to people. In an interview done with the Wauneta Breeze, a newspaper in Nebraska, Todd Burpo said, “I didn’t feel comfortable writing a book and it was hard for us to think people would want to read it.” Though Todd had reservations about the story, it turned out to be a big success from the fact that people want to believe this.  The themes presented in Heaven is for Real make it great.

As much as it might seem like a fiction novel to certain people, Heaven is for Real is far from that.  It’s a real-life, real inspirational story that attracts crowds of people.  Sure, it could have been written better—it’s no literary work of art by any means.  The plot, characters, and writing style are all mediocre, but pretty good. It’s the themes of this novel that really makes it great. I rate this book a 5 out of 5 because it’s enjoyable, relatable, and inspirational. Not everyone believes in heaven or God, and that’s okay.  However, after reading this book, those people just might have a pretty convincing reason to believe.


** If you would like to visit the Heaven is for Real website, click here
** If you would like to watch Colton on the Today Show, click here

Top 5 Presentation

Here is my Top 5 Presentation.

Post 7- Truth in Non-fiction

I find it pretty odd that people would even consider a book that is only 95% true non-fiction.  Fiction is made up, so non-fiction isn’t made up.  If a book is 95% true, that means it’s 5% made up, so it’s fiction.  For a book to be non-fiction, it has to be 100% true and real. I can see small things like maybe minor changes in dialogue, or stuff like that.  It's not always easy to remember every detail of every event.  I think it’s a crime that authors can write a story about their life, and not all of it is true.  It’s lying, and it’s wrong.  Half-truths aren’t AS bad I guess, but people should still tell the truth when they write.  I think writers only do that to make what they are writing about actually sound interesting and cool, because maybe it really isn’t that exciting.  It certainly worked for Frey, but he kind of got a good dose of karma in the end.  I personally don’t agree with David Shields.  I feel like there needs to be a line between fiction and non-fiction.  If there was no division, how would you know if you were reading something that was true?  That would just bother me, a lot.  I guess that you really can’t always know if the non-fiction memoir that you are reading is true, but you would assume that it is, because it’s non-fiction.  But in the case of Frey’s memoir, it wasn’t.  Therefore, if your book is not true, don’t call it non-fiction.  That distinction is there for a reason, so I don’t think we should get rid of it, but authors should also have to follow it a little more closely.  Those genres are really important; we don’t want to be reading a non-fiction story that is actually full of made up stuff!  Combining fiction and non-fiction would always keep readers wondering and questioning if what they are reading is real, which isn’t good.  We definitely need the separate genres of fiction and non-fiction, but authors should follow those a little more carefully. If your non-fiction book isn’t 100% real, don’t call it non-fiction, because those separate genres are there for a reason.

Post 6- Readicide

I definitely think that we could read more genre fiction at school, because honestly, most of the stuff that we have to read doesn’t interest me, at all.  Literary fiction is still important, but we don’t need as much of it, because no one likes to read it.  I do believe that schools are killing the love of reading because no one actually cares about literary fiction.  Maybe if we add genre fiction books that people like, more people will enjoy the books.  If kids actually enjoy the books, then they will actually read it, because now, most people use Sparknotes. While I think that we should add more genre fiction to the curriculum, we still need literary fiction, or the classics, but just not so much of it.  I think there is something important that you get out of reading classics, but you get something out of reading genre fiction too—a passion for reading, which is what most people don’t find in the classics.  I feel like there is a big difference between literary and genre fiction.  I think literary fiction is there to almost teach us, or at least that’s how it is portrayed by school.  Genre fiction is more to enjoy, and maybe literary fiction is like that too, but because of all of the tests we take and worksheets we do for those books in school, it’s hard to enjoy it.  For that main reason, we need more books that kids could actually enjoy in the school curriculum.  The more that we like a book, the more we want to read it.  So if kids like the books that we read in class, they will be more likely to read it and understand it.  And the more kids understand the book, the better their test scores will be, and teachers would be happy, so adding genre fiction would benefit everyone!  I think that if kids read genre fiction in school, reading will once again be enjoyable.

Post 5- Book Trailer

Here is the book trailer for The Help.

Post 4- Adapting "The Help"

There would be many challenges that filmmakers would face when adapting The Help, although, it has been done. One specific challenge is that there are quite a few characters in the story, so it could be hard to find enough people.  It could also be hard to find that many people that fit the real characters from the story, which is very important. So, to make the movie work, some characters would need to be taken out.  Another major challenge that a filmmaker would face is how The Help switches point of view.  Every few chapters, the point of view switches from Aibileen to Minny and then to Skeeter, and back again.  I think this would be really hard to portray in a movie.  I haven't actually seen the movie, so I would like to know what they actually did to fix that.

One scene that is essential to keep in order for the adaptation to work is the scene where Skeeter asks Aibileen if she ever wanted to change anything, meaning change anything about her work and life.  This scene is so important because it almost foreshadows what is going to later happen.  It sets the foundation for the story.  Skeeter gets cut off and Miss Leefolt comes in before Aibileen can answer, so she ponders it for awhile, wondering why Skeeter, a white woman, would ask her that. This is necessary for the movie.  Another scene that needs to be kept is when Minny gets her job working for Celia. This scene is important because it also sets up a whole different story line, which was Minny working for Miss Celia, but she had to stay hidden from Celia's husband, Johnny.  It's also important because it changes Minny's life in a way because she was out of work and looking for a job.  The last scene that would be important to keep is kind of two in one, because they are both very important.  Throughout the story, Minny wonders why Celia always goes upstairs to the abandoned bedrooms where no one sleeps, and doesn't come down for a while.  The important scene comes when Minny gives Miss Celia a package that came for her, but Minny doesn't know what it is. She later decides to sneak up on Celia and see what she was doing upstairs, and she sees her drinking alcohol, which was what was in the package.  Then, the other scene that goes with it is when Minny can't find Miss Celia, but she eventually goes and finds her in the bathroom.  There is blood all over the bathroom, coming from Celia.  Minny sees something covered in blood in the toilet, and realizes that it was a baby.  Miss Celia had given birth to a dead baby, and Minny learns it wasn't the first time it had happened.   This is so important because it really changes the story, and it takes you by surprise.  At the same time, you are able to understand a lot of what was going on with Celia.

One specific part that you would have to get rid of is when the little African-American boy gets attacked by the white men and becomes blind.  While it shows the cruel and unfair treatment of African Americans, it just isn't that important to have, and it would be adding unneeded characters.  Another scene that wouldn't need to be added is when Aibileen goes to the community concerns meetings at her church.  Here, they talk about current issues and how they can help gain respect for African Americans. This part isn't really needed, and the movie wouldn't be losing anything if it wasn't added.

I think it would be hard to make The Help into a movie!  There are a lot of really important parts, so it would be hard to include all of them, but I hope to see the movie soon!

Book 1 Project

 

An idea to market Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is to recreate the house where the children and Miss Peregrine lived.  This would be a great way to attract the current fans of the book, and even people who haven’t read it.  What fan wouldn’t want to visit the intriguing house that the story is based on?  The house would be a replica of the one described in the story, including even the wackiest artifacts and objects that are described.  People will love this!

            The idea of recreating the home comes from the actual house that is described in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which is such a large part of the story.  The house represents just how peculiar the children are.  The house is described as being beautiful, yet with all of those peculiar children, the house has to be a little different.  On page 139, the beauty of the house is described, saying, “I gazed at it in wonder—not because it was awful but because it was beautiful.” (Riggs 139).  The replica home will portray this beauty, but it will  also be sure to include the strange aspect of the house that makes it special.

The replica home of the house in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children would also contain the peculiar children.  The kids are a large part of the story and they make the house unique.  The kids would be depicted as statues or wax figures that would display their peculiar trait.  Some of these traits are really neat and fans will love to see them depicted in real life.  For example, one of the kids, Olive, has the trait of hovering in the air.  On page 141, her trait is described, saying, “When she reached the boys she raised her and they looped a rope around her waist.  She slipped carefully out of her shoes and then bobbed up in the air like a balloon.  It was astonishing.” (Riggs 141).  That would be something neat to add to the attraction, and people will love seeing the different traits of the peculiar kids.  In addition to the peculiar children, the main character, Jacob, and Miss Peregrine would be in there as well.  Fans would love to see the main characters come to life!

 Another object that would be featured in the house is the calendar, which is a huge part of the plot. The peculiar children live in what’s called a loop, meaning every day, the time resets to a specific day.  This particular loop resets to September 3, 1940.  The calendar in the home shows this day and its importance.  At one point in the story, the calendar is not marked to September 3, and everything gets out of whack.  The importance of the calendar is stated on page 130.  It says, “It could all be explained by the calendar on the wall.  September 3, 1940.” (Riggs 130).  In general, the home would just feature other objects that are unique to the story like the lake with the boat that belonged to Emma, an important character, or the sitting room where Jacob meets Miss Peregrine.  Also, fans can be sure to expect the old photographs featured in the story hanging up around the house on display.

This idea will work because it’s bringing to life what readers have to imagine.  It's also one of a kind.  This is a new, fresh idea, so it will be sure to attract people who haven’t even read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. You don’t have to read the book to come here—people who haven’t read Harry Potter go to Harry Potter World.  The same thing applies here.  Actual copies of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will be on sale, so those who haven’t read it can enjoy this enthralling story.  The people that are already fans of this story will no longer have to imagine what the home looks like or what the kids look like—they can see it come to life and enjoy their time.  For the current fans of the book to stay connected with the author, Ransom Riggs, updates of what is happening in all things Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will be provided at the house for all to see.  Fans will be able to stay up to date on a possible sequel and even a possible movie from information provided by Ransom Riggs.  This home will have it all.  Whether you are a fan of the story, or a newcomer, you will be sure to love this replica of the famous home that creates the basis of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

The Vision

The home is going to resemble the structure and layout of this one, but there will be some differences, of course.

The lake near the house will look something like this.

This is Olive, the girl that can float.  A wax figure or statue will be created to look like the girl in the picture. In addition, because this picture appears in the actual novel, it will be one of the photos that is displayed.