The Shooting Star Blog

       Hello! This is Quintus, and for this blog post, I reread The Hobbit , and noticed things about Bilbo Baggins which I thought I ought to share with you. Today, I will tell you about the respectable character Bilbo, including his growth through the story.     WARNING!! There are major spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.     At the beginning of the story, Bilbo lived a comfortable, easy life. He took his wealth and privilege for granted, being quite dependent on a life of having nice, disposable things such as pocket-handkerchiefs (which are mentioned a lot in the book). Like most hobbits, Bilbo ate many more meals a day at home than we do, and was fat. After joining the dwarves on their quest to the Lonely Mountain, however, Bilbo experienced what it was like to be truly starving, at times going weeks without food. When he did have food, it wasn't nearly as delicious as the meals he ate at home before, but Bilbo was grateful to have any food at all nonetheless. Often dur

While the occasional trip to a large, corporate bookstore is fun, I find that smaller stores are much more pleasing. Large chain stores like Barnes and Noble lack some personality, in my opinion. They tend to steer towards more mainstream books from well-known authors. Indie bookstores are much more specific to the area, and tend to harbor books from local authors and authors that might not have been able to get their books into bigger stores. In my experience, the smaller stores are the most well cared for and passionate spaces. Each book is hand picked for its shelf, and no space is filled simply to be filled. Oftentimes, they only have one or two copies of each book. This allows for constant circulation and refreshing new material to be added.  I notice that smaller bookstores tend to leave more space to authors that usually get set aside in more corporate settings. Authors of color, authors with disabilities, and queer authors get their spotlight in independent bookstores. I think

When I read The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, I was just expecting it to be just like the movie, or being similar to it. However, the movie leaves out an entire section of the book. The difference between the movie and the book is big, as the book gives a better ending in my opinion, and also feels like a more complete story. A major difference in The Wizard of Oz between the movie and book is that the movie is more leaning towards being for kids, and while the book isn't for adults, I doubt a small child would be able to understand it. I would mostly recommend this book for middle schoolers, if they want an easy read. The movie also is missing parts of the book, so while there might be changed elements, the story is longer, as Dorothy and the others have to keep traveling after the wizard leaves. Another element that the movie misses is what happens to the tinman, scarecrow, and the lion after Dorothy leaves. While it could be assumed that they either stay in the Emerald City, or

Hi everyone! For my second blog post, I decided to read a book that I've heard a lot about and have been wanting to read for a while now, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game . Now I haven't been able to finish this book yet, so before I start the review, keep in mind that there are going to be some things in this book that I don't know yet, and I'm just writing based off of what I've read so far. Despite that, there are a lot of things that I have to say about Ender's Game , almost all positive, but with some things that are quite questionable and really just left me bamboozled. Ender's Game  tells the story of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who grows up in a space-faring futuristic society. Humanity is recovering from two conflicts narrowly won against the Buggers, an alien species that once invaded Earth. To ensure that the Buggers do not defeat the humans in case of a third invasion, the International Fleet (I.F.) finds the most intelligent children

                                                                                         Spoilers!!!!!     " The Giver" by Lois Lowry has a dystopian setting, where everyone is the same, everyone has their jobs and tasks assigned to them, so they have no option to make their own choices. Society goes very far into wanting this sameness among their community. They dislike the color red due to its flashiness so they go through as much precaution as possible to make sure a child is not born with red hair.     The main character is a boy called Jonas, he just turned 12 so he will be assigned his job. During the job announcements, Jonas is given an extremely rare job known as the giver. The giver is a person who will be gifted the memories of past lives. Lives that were before the sameness. Jonas' positon as the giver currently is to receive memories from the previous giver.      Jonas goes to the givers' chamber and sits on the bed, where the giver places his hands on Jon