Self-Reflection

Avi's novel was a "holiday" book, while Ende's novel was between a "just right" book and a "challenging" book. These two novels were different from the fantasy books with knights and castles that I would normally read.

The Man Who Was Poe was not awarded anything, according to my research, but it was written by Avi, a well known author. It was my favorite book of the two that I read because it had a lot of twists and turns, as any murder mystery, and it reveled how Edgar Allen Poe might have viewed things. Avi did not write like Poe. He had his own writing style. In his story, he explained how Poe would have written the situation using personification, metaphors, and alliteration. "The... necessity...of death... The certainty of death." (Avi 30) The previous quote is an example of how Avi thought Poe might write down the situation that he was involved in.

I now realize the following things about myself as a reader. I found that I could connect concepts from earlier passages in the novels to the current event I was reading (this is a necessity for mysteries and/or "Never Ending Stories" in my opinion) and to the events in general lifestyle. I would like to try more Avi books, such as Wolf Rider, or Never Mind! A Twin Novel and More and more Ende books. I do not normally choose elaborate fantasy stories, like TheNever Ending Story, or mysteries, but I enjoyed them just the same as a book I would regularly choose. Unfortunately, I did not meet the goals this term that I set for myself last term. I did not always read for twenty minutes every day. However, this did not interfere with my understanding of the novels that I chose. Neither of the novels that I chose were best sellers, according to my research. Of course, someone has to read those unheard of books, and I thought "why not?" It took two or three days to research novels for me to pick, and that time and effort paid off because I enjoyed both books. In The Man Who Was Poe, Edmund's sister, mother, and aunt were kidnapped and possibly killed. This eleven-year-old-boy set out to find them, or someone to help him. He came across a mysterious man who claimed that he was "Mr. August Dupin". He later revealed to Edmund that he was Edgar Allen Poe. Mr. Dupin found clues as to where Edmund's relatives might be and whether or not they still had heartbeats. Edmund and Poe found that they both had a lot in common, except Edmund would not use a young boy just to write a story about him, and then abandon him. In the end, Poe marries Mrs. Whitman, catches the thieves of a bank robbery, the same ones who kidnapped Edmund's sister to do so, found Edmund's mother, found out his aunt was dead, and wrote a story about all of this.

Next term, I hope to complete three novels, just as I should, and I will put all of my effort into it. I will also read for twenty minutes everyday and record my reflections. I would like to try a historical fiction book because I read one in the fifth grade and enjoyed it very enthusiastically. Also because I love history and fiction. I promise to myself that I will meet these goals for the rest of my education.