Who doesn't love a story about a hero who wins the day? Superman flying in to stop the bad guy in his tracks. Spiderman spinning a safety web to help a damsel in distress. Batgirl racing in on her motorcycle to rid Gotham of one more bad guy. The comics have filled young minds (and adult minds as well) with images of good defeating evil. These scenarios have led to discussion "If you were a superhero, what powers would you have?" The possibilities are endless. However, there are other heroes that are a little more down to earth. They have no super "powers" to speak of yet they are able to do heroic things just by being themselves. In children literature, authors and publishers like to call them the unlikely heroes. Children simply call them their favorites. Here are Librarian At Large's top five unlikely heroes. If readers have not met them yet, this summer is the perfect time to get to know them.
1. Roald Dahl's Matlida is quite the intriguing character. Everyone around her under estimates her, except for her observant teacher, Miss Trunchbull. Matilda, who has been neglected by her mother and father, learns ways to get what she wants. It isn't until meeting and befriending her teacher that she begins to want to help someone other than herself.
2. Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux has a huge heart in a little mousy body. Who needs a night in shinning armor when Despereaux Tilling is ready to take on a feat that no man, er, mouse has ever taken on before! This is one mouse who reminds all readers that mighty things come n small packages.
3. Percy Jackson of Rick Rioridan's Percy Jackson Olympian series is the perfect example of a hero dealing with multiple challenges at once. Not only does he find out that his dad was a greek god, but on top of that he has ADHD. Percy goes from one adventure to the next with his trusty pals who see to it that the good conquers evil and Percy makes it back to camp in one piece.
4. Never one to shrink away from a challenge, Katniss of Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games has become a favorite female unlikely heroine. With her skillful handling of her bow and arrow, Katniss proves that in a do or die situation, girls can be just a strong and tough as their male peers. Collins brilliantly weaves a plot that has the reader sitting on the edge of their seat asking, "What now?". In every situation, Katniss does the unexpected and comes out the victor not the victim.
5. Gordon Korman has introduced readers to many wonderful characters. However, in Schooled, the unlikely hero is Cap (as in Capricorn) Anderson. One has to admire a character that can beat the odds of growing up in a hippie commune and not only survive middle school politics but breaks the stereotypes and wins the support of his peers. Feel good story told in a very humorous way, making readers wish they could unleash their power of humor to get out of sticky situations.
This is only a list of five. To be honest it was a very difficult list to put together because there are so many to choose from. Perhaps the unlikely hero list should be expanded next time?
Showing posts with label Rick Rioridian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Rioridian. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2015
Friday, February 19, 2010
Don't Judge a Book By It's Movie... Percy Jackson
Percy Jackson books are a hit again. Since the movie was released on February 12, the books have not been on our shelves at the library. Which is a good thing. The series is wonderful! Every book in the series is a page turner. So why get all upset about the movie? The only good thing that the movie has done for the series is getting more readers for the series. Other than that, it proves that not all books should be made into movies. Which is a disappointment, because Riordian's series seemed to spell out movie magic, instead it was movie hack job. Sorry, it didn't do the book justice and here's why.
The movie lacked the suspense that the carried the series. Reading The Lightning Thief, it was hard to pick out who was the real thief. What the movie did was pick out one other camp member besides Anna Beth and Grover, which happened to be Luke, as a way of pointing out the possible thief. Good let's just point the finger at the only person in the camp as he possible thief. Wouldn't you know it? The thief was Luke. Didn't see that coming? Than you must slept through the movie. One of the most memorable character of the series was no where to be found. Clarisse is a character everyone loves to hate. She has all the elements of the arch enemy but in a pinch you want her on the hero's side. So where was she? For that matter where were Ares and his cool motorcycle, Dionysus, the Wine god who had a bad attitude or The Fates, the three women who hint at Percy's destiny. So many wonderful supporting characters that would have added more depth to the movie, were eliminated. The movie cuts her out. To bad, the director missed out on a golden opportunity to add the suspense that was desperately needed.
What else was missing? Percy's mission. Throughout the series the mention of how Percy was to be the "one" that all the prophecies spoke about. This demigod. son of Poseidon, would either destroy the gods or save them. There was no mention of this mighty mission. Instead, Percy was thrown into the middle of a war between gods over Zeus' lightning bolt. There is no clue to Percy's destiny other than getting his name cleared. The meeting with Zeus on Mount Olympus was less than satisfying to say the least. When Zeus asks why Luke would want to steal the bolt, Percy answers lamely that Luke wanted more power. Duh! It left the question hanging, Why? Was he working alone? Does he want power for himself? Nope just wanted the gods to destroy themselves so he can have power.
The books let the reader escape reality for a while. It is pure entertainment. Hollywood always tries to add a commentary that they feel is relevant from the headlines. Examples of this in the movie comes at least twice. First when Grover explains to Percy that demigods are everywhere even in the White House. Okay, we get it. Hollywood loves Obama, but does it have to put that in the movie. It is so cheesy. Again, Grover’s got something to say about reality when he tries to pay for the fare across the river Styx. When his money bursts into flames, he makes the statement about the recession. The whole reason to go to the movie is to escape from reality. Politics has no place in this story.
Besides basically re-writing Percy’s story. The acting in the film was average. The only bright spot, was Medusa. Uma Thurman did a wonderful job protraying the most feared woman in Greek Mythology. Too bad her presense in the movie was brief. The casting of Pierce Brosnan as Chiron was fatal. Brosnan’s performance was not up to par. It was very hard to get past the fact that James Bond is now half man/half horse. Shouldn’t Brosnan, with his stunning good looks, been one of the gods? (Minor complaint that has nothing to do with the book to be sure, however still worth mentionng.) The casting of Logan Leman as Percy was perfect if all the Producer was interested in was someone who “looked” like Percy. Other than that, he and his co-stars Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario couldn’t bring the charactes alive. Could it be that the script gave them so little to be inspried by?
If Hollywood decides to go ahead with the series and release Sea of Monsters, I will pass. Instead, I’ll pick up the book and get lost in between the pages using my own immagination to create the scenes of the book. I’m sure it will be much more satisfying.
The movie lacked the suspense that the carried the series. Reading The Lightning Thief, it was hard to pick out who was the real thief. What the movie did was pick out one other camp member besides Anna Beth and Grover, which happened to be Luke, as a way of pointing out the possible thief. Good let's just point the finger at the only person in the camp as he possible thief. Wouldn't you know it? The thief was Luke. Didn't see that coming? Than you must slept through the movie. One of the most memorable character of the series was no where to be found. Clarisse is a character everyone loves to hate. She has all the elements of the arch enemy but in a pinch you want her on the hero's side. So where was she? For that matter where were Ares and his cool motorcycle, Dionysus, the Wine god who had a bad attitude or The Fates, the three women who hint at Percy's destiny. So many wonderful supporting characters that would have added more depth to the movie, were eliminated. The movie cuts her out. To bad, the director missed out on a golden opportunity to add the suspense that was desperately needed.
What else was missing? Percy's mission. Throughout the series the mention of how Percy was to be the "one" that all the prophecies spoke about. This demigod. son of Poseidon, would either destroy the gods or save them. There was no mention of this mighty mission. Instead, Percy was thrown into the middle of a war between gods over Zeus' lightning bolt. There is no clue to Percy's destiny other than getting his name cleared. The meeting with Zeus on Mount Olympus was less than satisfying to say the least. When Zeus asks why Luke would want to steal the bolt, Percy answers lamely that Luke wanted more power. Duh! It left the question hanging, Why? Was he working alone? Does he want power for himself? Nope just wanted the gods to destroy themselves so he can have power.
The books let the reader escape reality for a while. It is pure entertainment. Hollywood always tries to add a commentary that they feel is relevant from the headlines. Examples of this in the movie comes at least twice. First when Grover explains to Percy that demigods are everywhere even in the White House. Okay, we get it. Hollywood loves Obama, but does it have to put that in the movie. It is so cheesy. Again, Grover’s got something to say about reality when he tries to pay for the fare across the river Styx. When his money bursts into flames, he makes the statement about the recession. The whole reason to go to the movie is to escape from reality. Politics has no place in this story.
Besides basically re-writing Percy’s story. The acting in the film was average. The only bright spot, was Medusa. Uma Thurman did a wonderful job protraying the most feared woman in Greek Mythology. Too bad her presense in the movie was brief. The casting of Pierce Brosnan as Chiron was fatal. Brosnan’s performance was not up to par. It was very hard to get past the fact that James Bond is now half man/half horse. Shouldn’t Brosnan, with his stunning good looks, been one of the gods? (Minor complaint that has nothing to do with the book to be sure, however still worth mentionng.) The casting of Logan Leman as Percy was perfect if all the Producer was interested in was someone who “looked” like Percy. Other than that, he and his co-stars Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario couldn’t bring the charactes alive. Could it be that the script gave them so little to be inspried by?
If Hollywood decides to go ahead with the series and release Sea of Monsters, I will pass. Instead, I’ll pick up the book and get lost in between the pages using my own immagination to create the scenes of the book. I’m sure it will be much more satisfying.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
39 Clues ... an interesting concept
Normally, series titles bore me. The only series I ever finished as a juvenile reader were the Little House books. I loved them! But when Laura Ingells Wilder decided that the stories were over, I never went back to reading another series. An occasional Nancy Drew, but never the a series. For today's young reader, the trend in Children's Literature seems to be that authors have to come up with a series. There are so many good series out to choose from, that it is quite a task to find the best ones. As a librarian reliving her youth through some of these titles, I wish these books would have been around when I was a kid. One of the best series was, Percy Jackson and the Olympians which became an unexpected thrill through Greek Mythology. Rick Riordian found gold and the stories are quite a gem. So it came to no surprise to me that the next adventure he chooses to tackle is the 39 Clues.
The best way to describe the 39 Clues series is think of the movie, National Treasure, but instead of Nicholas Cage running around the world searching for clues and hidden treasures, it is two young orphans who have conniving relatives, au pair who is responsible, yet cool in a punk-like way, and a chance to become rich. The adventures of Dan and Amy Cahill are to say the least outlandish. Having said that, even though the reader may think to themselves "Yeah, right.", they are hooked in trying to decipher the clues alongside Amy and Dan. Each book has it's own set of trading cards. The cards can then be used to find additional clues online at www.39clues.com. It's reading with a board game feel.
This series has four books out to date and a fifth title in the series due out in August 11th and the final book will be out by September 2010. In order to see all 39 clues and try to win the game, readers read he book collect the cards and choose missions on the website. Fans can't wait to see what happens next, but I got to wonder are there any closet 39 clues addict out there who would want to form an alliance to solve the mystery of the Cahill fortune? If you have read the 39 Clues, young or old, and would like to share insights on Amy and Dan's treasure hunt, leave a post to this blog. I am not sure where this will lead, but I am hoping that as a librarian this could lead to the rewarding treasure of sharing books with young readers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)