Books I read in 2016

Hello!
In these last few hours of 2016, I am finally putting up which books I read in 2016, and which were my 10 favorites! Hopefully one day I will be able to review all of these...

First Time:

Princess of the Silver Woods - by Jessica Day George
Beauty - by Robin McKinley
I, Robot - by Isaac Asimov (My first sci-fi!)
Oliver Twist - by Charles Dickens
The Diary of Anne Frank - by Anne Frank
Zlata's Diary - by Zlata Filipović
The BFG - by Roald Dahl
The 39 clues: A Maze of Bones - by Rick Riordan
Storybound - by Marrisa Burt
Fridays with the Wizards - by Jessica Day George
Old Yeller - by Fred Gipson
Esio Trot - by Roald Dahl
George's Marvelous Medicine - by Roald Dahl
A Tale of Two Cities - by Charles Dickens
My Friend Flicka - by Mary O'Hara
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - by J. K. Rowling
Jane Eyre - by Charlotte Bronté
Big Red - by Jim Kjeljaad
The Hobbit - by J. R. R. Tolkien
Fablehaven: Key to the Dragon Sanctuary - by Brandon Mull
Pax - by Sara Pennypacker
The Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey - by Chris Colfer
Santa Cruise: a holiday mystery at sea - by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark
Appointment with Death - by Agatha Christie
Lambing Out and other stories - by Mary Clearman
A Wizard of Earthsea - by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ghosts of Rockville: Search for the Dominion Glass - by Justin Heimberg
David Copperfield - by Charles Dickens
The 39 clues: One False Note - by Gordan Korman
The Little Mermaid - by Hans Christan Anderson
Emma - by Jane Austen (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
The 39 clues: The Sword Thief - by Peter Langras
The Hundred and One Dalmatians - by Dodie Smith
Great Expectations - by Charles Dickens
Hattie Big Sky - by Kirby Larson
Johnny Tremain - by Esther Forbes
To Kill a Mockingbird - by Harper Lee
2001: A Space Odyssey - by Arthur C. Clarke

ReReads:

Holes - by Louis Sachar
The Penderwicks - by Jeanie Birdsall
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - by Lewis Caroll

Favorite First Time 10: (In no particular order!)

1. Great Expectations - by Charles Dickens

2. The Hobbit - by J. R. R. Tolkien           

3. To Kill a Mockingbird - by Harper Lee

4. Pax - by Sara Pennypacker

  

5. David Copperfield - by Charles Dickens

6. Storybound - by Marissa Burt

7. A Tale of Two Cities - by Charles Dickens

8. Old Yeller - by Fred Gipson

  

9. The BFG - by Roald Dahl

  

10. Hattie Big Sky - by Kirby Larson

Read-alongs:

The Jane Eyre read-along, hosted by The Edge of the Precipice:

The Emma read-along, hosted by Seasons of Humility:

Thank you so much Hamlette and Amber!!

Oh, read-alongs I am going to be in in 2017 are:

And:

How cool Risa!! Can't wait!!

We will never have 2016 again. It was a great year in some ways, I'm glad we had it.
Happy New Year!

MovieCritic

Halloween Blog Party: The Little Mermaid

Hello everyone!
Welcome again to my Halloween Blog Party! This is my first revealing, there are still two left, would you like to guess?
Anyway, as you can see from the title, this is for The Little Mermaid, the character that one of us was for Halloween was Ursula, the sea witch. But we'll get back to that later. I am going to review the book, a movie, and then compare our Sea Witch to theirs. About the button, the sea turtles are supposed to represent well, the sea! Any guesses on the others?

The Little Mermaid, by Hans Christian Anderson:

The king of the mermaids had 5 daughters. When a mermaid turns 15 she goes to the surface for the first time, none of them wants to go as much as the youngest. When her turn comes she sees a ship that is giving a celebration for a prince. She falls in love with him. A storm hits and everyone is thrown into the water. She swims over, saves the prince and swims to the nearest shore. She leaves him there and learns where his castle is and every night she swims there and watches him. Mermaids live 300 years and when they die they turn into sea foam. Her grandmother tells her that when humans die, there is a heaven that their souls go to, but they have short lives. The little mermaid asks if she could have a soul. The grandmother says that she would have to marry a human, and you and your husband will share a soul. The little mermaid goes to the sea witch to turn into a human. The payment would be to cut out the little mermaid's tongue, and when she was a human, every time she stepped it would feel like she was walking on daggers.
And that is how much of a summary I can do.
Characters: 8, I was impressed, there are really complex characters.
My favorites:
The Little Mermaid
The grandmother.
Words: 9, I love descriptions and these are delicious!
Storyline: 10!
Overall Score: 9

VS.

The Little Mermaid (1989): 

Based on the book by Hans Christan Anderson:
A mermaid, Ariel, falls in love with a human, turns into a human by giving her voice to an evil sea witch. In three days she has to have the human, a prince, give her the kiss of true love, or she will belong to the sea witch.
Costumes: 6, some of them are okay.
My favorite:











Script: 8, "Let's eat before this crab walks off my plate."
Crew:
Directed by:
Ron Clements
John Musker
Produced by:
John Musker
Howard Ashman
Starring:
Jodi Benson as Ariel
Christopher Daniel Barnes as Eric
Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian
Pat Carrol as Ursula
Jason Marin as Flounder
Kenneth Mars as Triton
Ben Wright as Grimsby
Music: 9, Every body's favorite is "Part of your World" but that is my least favorite. My favorite is "Under the Sea." And they did a very good job of the beginning. It really brings you in, and the sound of waves are excellent.
Music by: Alan Menken
Quotes: 7, "Boy, what a soft shell I've turned out to be."
Notes: There is an Easter egg in the crowd. Also, it is interesting that in the song, "Part of your World" she says, "What's it called? Burn!" I thought of it when the boat caught on fire.
Storyline: 4! No!!! They completely erased the beauty of the story The Little Mermaid! They started off okay, but then they completely took it away! And I'm just getting started.
1. The mermaids hair should be longer.
2. "Ariel" should be fifteen. But, in one part she says, "Daddy, I'm sixteen!"
3. They got rid of the grandmother, but they put in more characters, such as Sebastian, Flounder (his face is like rubber!), and Scuttle. They also put more detail on the sea witch, Ursula.
Overall score: 6.

Book wins!

"Wasted away to practally nothing."
(Thoughts on Ursula.)

Sure you are.

Ours.

  

Theirs

Ursula is more of a villain in the movie than in the book. In the book she is just doing what she does. In the movie she has more goals for ultimate power. But besides all you think she does have a heart. She loves her "poopsies". But, then she is the villain that didn't "play fair" in her deal. So, overall she is a "hard heart." And they did a really good job of making her look SUPER evil. So, there are my thoughts on her. What do you think?


How did we do on our costume?
What villain will be up tomorrow? 


MovieCritic