How Do You Learn To Be Courageous? By Mr. Durston

Only in the Movies

Courage is a virtue. It gives you the ability to stand up for yourself. It gives you the resources to live your life how you want. Some people say that there can be no true happiness without courage. Sorry, but I do not make the rules. If you ever want to learn how to be courageous, William Bell will give you an education in his Red Maple Award winning novel Only in the Movies. The story is about a boy named Jake Blanchard who discovers at the age of twelve that he wants to become a movie scriptwriter, after he watches a film being shot in his local park. The difficulty for Jake is in turning his desire into his reality.

Jake's story can show you what being courageous requires. The novel models a young man learning how to pursue the subjects he wants to in school, even though he may disappoint his parents in the process. Jake must also travel to a new school to learn screenwriting, a school where he experiences even more challenges in his schoolwork. Finally, Jake must learn to crawl across that rocky road called love. Now before you freak out and click away from this blog post, thinking to yourself "I'm not gonna read any book about love!", give me one chance to convince you otherwise. First off, the book is laugh out loud funny. Jake repeatedly tries to win the beautiful Alba's adoration in what can only be called a slapstick comedy of errors. But when Jake falls, he picks himself up again with the help of his best friend Vanni, a girl he meets at school who also happens to have the biggest nose he has ever seen. Jake and Vanni make a wonderful and memorable team in trying to help Jake find the courage he needs to face not only his love, but also his new life. If you are looking for a good laugh, and a little help in the courage department, pick up Only in the Movies by William Bell in the JRC library.

Finding Treasure In An Old Story By Mr. Durston

Treasure Island

With so many great new adventure books on our shelves like the Hunger Games, why would I write a book review of the classic novel Treasure Island (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson? The answer is that the novel is just that good. For those of you who have never heard of Treasure Island, it is the adventure story and coming-of-age tale of a young man named Jim Hawkins. Jim is a teenager who begins the novel working in his parents’ inn. He then obtains a pirates’ map from one of guests, and he departs on an adventure to recover a hidden treasure. The novel follows Jim as the sole young person in the crew of a ship, a ship where not all of its members can be trusted. Jim tells the reader his tale of life-and-death encounters in negotiating the dangerous adult world of treasure hunting out on the open sea.

One of the reasons that I like this novel so much is that despite the fact that it is such an old book, Jim’s challenge in dealing with adults is so current. Just like Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games, Jim must also learn and survive in a world that is created and controlled by adults. Unlike Katniss though, Jim does not have any special skills, like Katniss’ hunting abilities, that will keep him alive when things get tough. Instead, Jim must learn on his own about who he can trust, about what is right and wrong, and about what it takes to hunt for treasure with some of the most dangerous people on earth.

Welcome to the new June Rose Callwood Library Blog

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the new June Rose Callwood Public School Library Blog. This blog is designed to publish library news, book reviews, and other media information created by our students. Best of all, this blog is for you. If you have an idea for a blog post that you would like to create, please talk to Mrs. Summers or Mr. Durston. Your post can be about a book that you have read, a television show or film that you have watched, or any other kind of media that you have seen on the Internet. If you have something you want to share with your school, let us know. We want to help you get your message out.

We hope to see hear from you soon, and make sure that you keep checking back because we hope to be frequently producing new, interesting, and fun posts soon.

See you soon.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Summers and Mr. Durston