Ending

I have finished all the class of children literature. I learned a lot from this course.

In my opinion, I never thought I will love with this course. It’s so amazing. No matter the books or videos that professor shows to us, they make me feel I back to my childhood.

At the beginning of this course, I found it was a little hard to learn, especially I came from a non English speaking country. Thus, after several weeks learning, I felt no course is hard, it all depends on your effort. I always made lots of mistakes in my writing, but I never gave up.

Gradually, I realized I feel so funny when I doing the writing. Even though I still make mistakes, but I really like my ideas and whimsies. I enjoyed all the moments I write awesome articles or sentences. I trust I can do better after doing lots of practice.

Every time I finish reading a book or seeing a movie 

of children, I feel so relax. Even though most of them are made for the children, but I like them so much. I remembered when I was a young boy, I really liked to see children’s book, but in my country, books were hard to get at that time and there was not too much library to borrow books. I wanted to read, thus, I didn’t have chance to do that. Now I have the chance to be a child again, I will grasp it.

I really thanks to my professor Ricky, even though he is very strict sometimes, but he teaches a lot to us and share lots of funny story and movies with us. He makes me understand I should study harder and I have the space to be better.

Childhood Memories

I remembered very clearly that when I was 6 years old. My grandfather died because of lung cancer. I was really hurt at that time. Even though I was very young at that time. But I still feel very sad. That is also the first time I meet my family died.

I didn’t have too much memory for my grandfather. He lived in a village. I can only to see him in the holidays, but every time I see him, he tried to give me all the things that he had. He was not very rich, but he willing to pay everything to make me happy.

Even though I didn’t spent lot of time with my grandfather but I love him so much. I feel so sad when I attended his funeral. He lay down in the coffin. He looked so quietly. All the relatives around me are crying. I was too young to understand why they were cry. I have no idea he has dead. I walk to the border of the coffin and shake my grandfather lightly. I whisper "grandfather" near his ears. But he still did not answer me. I was so confused at that time. So I asked my parents what happened. They try to explain to me but they can't.

After the funeral. His body was buried into the ground with the coffin. At that moment I begin to realize that my grandfather will not talk to me again and I will never see his smile again. My tears stream down to stay. I have a very complicated feeling that I can not understand at that young age. There is no way to express myself except crying.

 It has been too many years. I can still remember my grandfather's face and voice. Now I know what is feeling when I see him leaved me. That is the unwilling. I reluctant to let him leave my world. His love makes me feel I am the happiest child in the world. I always dream about my grandfather although he has died for 20 years.  In my dream he is still the kind-hearted old man with white hair. 

Journal 10

If I get a chance to write a children’s book. I’d like to write a super hero’s book. 

Firstly, the protagonist in my book will be a little boy which is born in a parent family. He never sees his father and he grows up in a slum. I think I will give him a name Joe which is same as me. The antagonists depend on different stories. I will create the final boss who is the protagonist’s father.

 

Secondly, most stories in my book will happen in China. The reason I choose China because China is a very mysterious country and it has a very long history. Furthermore, I really like the Chinese culture, I can add lots of Chinese characteristics into my book. The time the stories begin will be 2116. I decide to make the stories happen in the future because I want to add lots of future technology into my books.

Conflicts in my books will between Joe and bad guys. I prefer Joe born with super power and I will design a particular scene that he awaken his super power after beating a bad guy.

The mood in my book will be humor, but sometimes I want the readers to feel anxious. In addition, Joe will be a chatterbox who similar to Dead Pool. His characteristics will be very positive and optimistic.

I want to write this children’s book because I am in love with it. I really like the superhero’s story when I was a child. This book is not only about stories but also my superhero dream.

Journal 9

After I read the book “The Fault in Our Stars”. I understand the meaning of living. In the book, the protagonists suffer by terrible disease but they never lose hope to live. They always talk in a humor way which means they have a positive attitude to their life.

I know the feeling of a cancer patient. My grandma was 
diagnosed lung cancer in 2008. When I heard the news. I couldn’t believe that, I even think my parents are making a joke. When I saw the medical report. I collapsed, I sat in the chair of hospital for several hours. I felt I couldn’t move because all of my muscles were tremble. I asked the doctor if my grandma can be cured. He told me they must do an operation for her and this operation only have 30% chance to succeed. I was desperate that time, same to my parents and other family members, but there is only one person who never loss hope, it’s my grandma.

We waited outside the operating theatre for 4 hours. When my grandma came out, and we saw she was still alive, our tears exploded. It’s so amazing that she got the second chance to live.

After that she gave up all the bad habits, she began to learn how to have a healthy life. Even though her body was still weak but she never lost her faith. She believed that she can live. My grandma told me no matter in the operation or in the daily life, she never gave up. She was very positive and she always laughed to others. She usually said to me she will live until she saw her granddaughter. Every time I heard that I can’t control my tears.

Maybe when you get a cancer, you have lost the rights to live long, but it’s not means you lost the rights to have a short but wonderful life. I really admire the people who have hope and positive attitude. Just like my grandma, I will learn to face every difficulty in a positive way. Best wishes to my grandma and other cancer patients!

Journal 8

Today I want to introduce a Chinese children’s book. The book’s name is “The Adventure of ShuKe and BeiTa”.  I remember when I was young, I really like this book. This book has more than 20 years of history and now it’s still very popular in China.

This book indicates the story about two rats which name are ShuKe and BeiTa. ShuKe is a pilot and BeiTa is a tankman. They have a good friendship and they like to help others.

In this book, the author gives the two rats humanity, especially ShuKe, he even makes friends with a little boy name PiPi Lu. They travel around the world for one purpose: to find a place without cat.

When I first read this book, I really liked it. The illustrations are very cute. Even though the painting technology of that time is not good like now, but there are lots of interesting design in the illustrations. The two rats wear the clothes of pilot and tankman make them look very professional. 
It makes you believe that they are real pilots and tankman, but when you look carefully you will find they still have tails. They have a very wonderful adventure in the book. The author describes lots of funny story for them. For examples, they space travel to another planet, they make a touching union with their friends. These designs and scenes add a lot of fun to this book.

This book has its own TV series which are also very famous in China. You can also find the video of this book on You tube. This book is really worth reading.

Journal 7

I want to share a video.

I see a TV show on You tube which talks about the children in war zone. Then I remember the book “The shepherd’s granddaughter.” When I was a child, I never think about what’s a war. After I see this book, I understand the war. In my opinion, the war is a weapon. This weapon break lots of family, furthermore, it kills a lot of people. I can feel desperation of Amani. Her family members get caught by the settlers. Her house also destroyed by them. She lost too many things when she was just a little girl.

This kind of tragedy always happen in the war zone. I often see lots of news which indicates how many people die in a war. I can also see the picture of the dead bodies. It’s so sad for me to see these tragedies. I remember clearly that I see a picture, a little boy sits in a center of a ruins and his parents and other relatives’ dead body surround him. He cries so hard but nothing changes. All his family member died in a war. His house turns to a cemetery.

I can’t understand why people want to begin a war. Is it funny to conquer other countries and enslave other people? When the warmongers see that dead body and blood, do they feel guilty? I really sympathize with the children in war zone. They don’t have enough food. They don’t have warm clothes. The most pathetic is they lost their home and land. As a child who grew up in a peace zone, I should cherish my life. I should help the children in war zone. I will donate clothes and money to them. I wish they can have a better life in the future.

Journal 6

When I first read the book “Batman: Year One”, I really loved it. I liked all the protagonists in the book, especially Batman. Batman is my favorite superhero. He is the first superhero without supernatural power. In the beginning of the book, Batman is not a hero. He is an avenger. His purpose is very simple. He wants to find the murderer who killed his parents. After he got injured, he began to change. He found the vengeance doesn’t change anything. So he began to help others. He believed through his effort, he could change his city.

I have seen lots of books and movies about Batman. I summarize several reasons that I like him.

Firstly, he’s a master of tactics. He always has lots of ways to fight against his enemy. When he fights, his strategy can help him get the upper hand. This is why he always win the fight.

Secondly, I like his versatility. No matter what kind of battle, Batman can adapt. He uses different weapon and equipment to adapt to different fights. He always has the best choice.

Thirdly, his has a good friend James Gordon. Batman is a vigilante. Even though Gordon is a detective, but he is more like a friend of Batman. Gordon helps Batman to fight against criminals. They trust each other and they have a same target: save Gotham

.

Lastly, he notes everything. He always records the fight or features of his enemy. He uses his notes to help him analyse his enemy. He can find their weakness through analyse his note. Also, his note can help him to make a good preparation for next battle.

Journal entry five

“The Lost Thing” is really an amazing book. I like the author of this book so much. He is

intelligent and full of imagination. This book tells a simple story of a boy who discovers a

bizarre lost creature at the beach and sets out to find somewhere it can belong, but after I see this book several times, I change my mind. The illustrations are a little complicated. This book reveals a dark, mechanical world, but the characters do normal and very dorky things that make it funny. 


The protagonist tries to help Lost thing back to home, but Lost thing seems like to stay and play with him. When the boy takes the Lost thing back to his house, his parents’ attitude is so wired. They seem not care for the Lost thing’s appearance but they care if the strange creature has contagion. There are lots of contradictions in this book, but just because of these contradictions, this story becomes mysterious and peculiar. This Lost thing seems like a kind of people in our life, these people are unsocial, they lost the way of their life. They hope to stay with the normal people but it’s really hard for them. Due to social apathy, more and more “Lost thing” appear. People gradually accustomed these Lost things. No one care them, the person like the little boy in this book is unusual. I feel very sad to see this happen. 

Now I understand why the writer always say his books are picture books not the children’ books. His books contain too many social problems that children can’t understand. Even though I don’t like the dark reality, but sometimes our society need these realities to tell them what they do wrong.

Journal entry four

One night, I felt so boring and I began to find something to read. Then I remembered my profeesor Ricky shows us a book which name is "Love You Forever".
I found it on the internet I read it. This book indicats a very simple but touching theme: mother's love. I really like this book and I read it three times. There is a song in this book that I love so much,"I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I am living / My baby you'll be."

It reminded me of my childhood. My mother was similiar with the mother in the book. She was vey nice and kindly. She never blamed me when I was a young boy. Even though I make a lot of mistakes, my mother never gets angry. She taught me patiently and tell me she didn't care my mistakes because she loved me. The most impressive thing was her smile. Her smile was the heaven, everytime I see her smile, I will forget all the annoyance and unhappy things.

I have been Canda for three years. I know my mom miss me but everytime I facetime with her, she told me to take care of myself and don't worry about her. Everytime I meet difficulty, she is the first one appears to help me.

I have to say mother's love is so great. No matter how old we are, how successful we are, we can't forget our mothers. I really miss my mom when I write this journal. When her face rises in my mind. My tears fall down. I make a phone call to her and tell her “Mom, I love you forever.”

Creative adaptation

This article is my favourite in my blog. I hope everyone enjoy my adaption.

 

The book I choose is “Batman: Year One”

I wrote an extension for the current ending.

December 21

One night, I am patrolling alone and find a dead body in the East area. The body has scratches all over it. I light a cigarette and checks the wounds. Suddenly I remember, “Cat woman”. While inspecting the crime scene, I hear a voice, “Hey detective, did you find any clues yet?”. I shake my head. “Check the body and if you find anything, let me know. You know where to find me.” He disappears into the shadows.

I call headquarters and asks the medical examiner to come to the crime scene. The medical examiner arrives.

“My name is Nick, Detective Gordon. I found hair on the body which seems to be non-human. I need to do an examination on the body first. Once I receive the results, I will let you know”.

“Okay, I really appreciate your help”.

After Nick leaves, I check the scene several times, but I find nothing there and there are no witnesses.  After several hours, I am still in my office investigating the background of the victim but the victim does seem to not have a criminal record. He is not a criminal, just an ordinary person.

 “Why would someone kill a person like this? What does he or she want?”. Feeling tired, I light a cigarette. Suddenly my phone rings.

“Detective, this is Nick, I have completed the examination. The hair belongs to some kind of cat”. I am excited to hear that and I decide to inform Batman.

December 22

When I go to the parking lot I hear someone whispering behind me. Then I feel someone knock on my head and I passed out.

When I wake up I found I am in a warehouse.

“Where am I?”

“Hello, detective. This is our first meeting and it will also be our last, ha ha ha”. A man with the face of a joker is speaking. “I led you to believe that the murderer was Cat woman. But actually, it was me. The reason I’m telling you the truth is because I have strapped a bomb to you. After ten minutes, you will be blown into pieces. Dead people don’t speak. Here is a phone, I can help you to call your family, but don’t forget to tell them about your death. Enjoy your last sweet family time. By the way, I also placed a lot of bombs in this warehouse. I know someone will try to save you, but he will die as well.”

“Today might be my last day but it’s not Batman’s. He is the hope of Gotham. As long as he is alive, he will find you, Joker.”

“No matter what you say, I will find Batman and kill him. Enjoy your last breath.”

Suddenly a black shadow breaks through the window. Joker quickly stands up and begins to fight with Batman. As he fights, he realizes that he is no match for Batman and decides to escape. “Batman! everything is going to be over” Joker yells angrily and rushes to the door. Just before he escapes, Joker presses a button and all the doors shut.

“Are you ok, Gordon?” Batman asks with concern.

“I’m ok, but there is a bomb attached to me and the warehouse is full of bombs. You should go now, leave me, Gotham needs you”.

Batman doesn’t respond. He takes out an electronic device and begins to defuse the bomb. Three minutes have gone by and Batman is still defusing.

I feel desperate and yell to him. “Leave me, I can’t let you die! You are the last hope for this city”.

At that crucial moment, he successfully defuses the bombs and a black car abruptly breaks through the door of the warehouse.

“Thank God we’re still alive”. I pull out a cigarette and starts smoking. 

“Gordon, you must live. I can’t let any innocent people die because of me. You are a good man. You stand for justice. You are the final hope for the citizens. I need your help, detective”.

After saying these words, he drives me home. Although it is still dark outside, I can see a light in the dark.

Bookstore narrative

That day was a cold day. I woke up and had a cup of coffee. Suddenly, I remembered I had to go to a bookstore, since I had an assignment to do. Even though it was snowing outside, I decided to go to the bookstore.

When I walked into the book store. The smell of books and the quiet atmosphere made me feel I was in a sea of books. This place brought me back to those old memories with my parents. I looked through the Kids section and it was really well organized. There were a lot of kids and babies wandering around with their parents and they seemed really happy. There were a lot of toys and dolls that used as decoration and I can tell why kids get attracted a place like this.

Because I am not the type of person who reads a lot of books. I don’t usually go to bookstores like Chapters or Indigo. As soon as I walked into Chapters I was amazed. The store was so big. Surprisingly, I found a Starbucks in the store. I realized this would be an awesome place to hang out with friends. I walked around for a bit looking for the Kids section. Finally, I found the kids section, which reminded me of my childhood. Before getting into the books, let’s talk about how the place was set up first. The moment I walked into the Kids section, it seemed really energetic.

Now let’s get into the categories that are in this section. There are many categories but the ones that interest me are the parental activity sections, and the teacher educational section. For a young child, learning is really important. These two sections offer many types of educational books. There are language problems, math problems, puzzles, problem solving, and many more. There are also lots of specific categories for different age groups. Depending on different ages, books are different, which seems really convenient if you are buying a book for your child. There are also sections for books on sale or old books that are at discounts. These kind of books are called bargain books. I also took a look at the top selling books currently for different age groups and I noticed few book titles that even seem familiar to me. I was surprised some of these old series are still there because my uncle showed me some he had read when he was a child.

I also noticed some of the top selling books are fantasies. It makes sense because children love to fantasize. I remembered those times of when I was dreaming to be a super hero. I checked the price for some of the books. I would say they are at a reasonable price. I must say that the books now looked so much better than the ones I had when I was a kid. There are more colours and illustrations on every single book. Enough about books let’s talk about what else can be in a book store. People probably think what else can be found in a book store other than books. I thought that too, but I never expected to see so many toys inside the Kids sections. Aside from buying books for your children, you can also buy them toys! There are lots of toys to choose from ranging from gender and age. There are dolls, trucks, blocks, Lego, and many more.

Like the book section, the toy section is also decorated very nicely. Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to the manager, but I did get a chance to talk to some of the staffs. The staffs were really friendly people. They also care a lot about their customer’s experience inside the store. Some of the mothers accidently drop their bottles for their child, and staffs immediately picked it up for them. Aside from toys, there was also a mini section for backpacks and water bottles. The backpacks are so cute and tiny. I should probably buy one for my young relatives. Overall my experience in the bookstore was great! I even got a chance to check out some new books and some of them seemed pretty interesting. The environment is nice. The prices are pretty good, and of course I can’t forget that there’s a Starbucks

Journal entry three

When I was in China, I read the whole series of the “Harry Potter”. I really like this series because of its fantastic settings and the gripping plot. Each role plays a very significant part in the novel. I really miss the time that I read it. So I search the internet and found an edition of children. This edition is picture book. I heard there are lots of good illustrations in it.

I am really curious to have a look. Then I buy one in a bookstore. When I start to read, I found this book is really good because of its illustrations.

When this series first coming in few years ago. It is like a regular fiction that there were only words in the book. As an fantastic story, the readers are more eager to see the illustrations match with the words. So in this children edition. It not only indicates the amazing story, but also shows the beautiful pictures. Even though this book is present for children. But I still like it very much. It can remind me my childhood. I think no matter how old are you, you will be attracted by the children literature. Everyone has childhood, when they open the children’s book and see the illustrations. They will remember the old times when they scan the books alone or with their parents. It’s really sweet to read children books. Harry Potter is the best selling series in

the world. The protagonists are children. Children’s literature does have its charm.  

Journal entry two

It is really happy to share my idea with you. I am glad that I can show you my contury's picture book

I have so happy that I can found it on Youtube. It take too many memeries of my childhood.

I remembered when I was young. I saw a lot of pictures in China. At that time, the Chinese writers had a lot of good designs in their books. I really miss my childhood. So I decided to find if there are any children’s books still selling in China. I checked on the internet. Then I found a famous children’s book named “Calabash Brothers”. This books indicates a story between seven brothers which born from the calabash and a snake woman. The calabash brothers are the protagonists. They stand for justice. The seven brothers love each other and have very good teamwork. I really like them for several reasons.

 Firstly, they are so cute. They wear simple clothes but full of Chinese characteristics. 

 

Secondly, the writer gives them different talents, for example, the oldest one can control fire, the youngest one can control ice. The setting for the talents make the story more interesting. When I was a child, I really like that setting.

 Finally, the conflicts are really gripping. It makes children wonder what will happen next. The conflicts are significant guarantee that children will continuous reading this book. Therefore, this book was really attractive. Furthermore, I feel the brothers are very brave and intelligent. When I first saw this book, I imagine I can be one of them. The antagonist is the snake women. She is important in this book too. All the conflicts are start with her. The genre for this book is fantastic fiction. It creates a magic world. A lot of magic creatures in it and all the animals can talk. I have to say, the illustrations at that time is not good as now. But the writer made a lot of interesting roles and elements into this story.

First Journal Entry (Journal entry one)

I high recommond you see the video before my blog.

It is a really good weekend. I went to a mall with my family. After several hours walking, I feel tired and I find a chair to have a rest. Then I see a little boy is reading a book beside me. That book look so familiar to me. I talked to him and found he was reading “Good Night Moon”.I have a very strong impression for this book when my teacher Rick introduced it. Then I borrowed this book from this little boy and read it. Even though this book is for the younger reader but the illustrations and comment in this book attracted me. I couldn’t even move my eyes from this book. The scenes are so beautiful. Everything goes back to its original place. Furthermore, everything in this book has a life. It makes me feel so peaceful. When I scan the illustrations, I strongly feel that my heart is trying to close its “eyes” too. I really like this kind of book, it can help the people escape from the noise. I try to introduce it to my sister. At the beginning, she seems not interested in this book. But after read a few pages, she becomes quiet and love this book. She told me it’s really unbelievable that a picture book is so good. I have no idea what is about children literature before I learned this course and these books. But now I realized children literature is like an initiation for the children. It not only teaches the children a lot, but also it purifies the heart.