Julie’s Comments (group member since Jan 09, 2010)

Julie’s comments from the UNC Middle School Lit group.

Here's some discussion about anti-religious issues and some censorship issues with The Golden Compass specifically and the trilogy more generally.
http://ciaralira.wordpress.com/2008/1...
http://www.dailygrail.com/node/5610
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P...

I've loved loved loved reading this thread. I appreciate how insightful and thoughtful you all were about your comments...

I thought it was interesting that so many of you had a hard time reading the whole thing... because while I have always had a hard time starting graphic novels, I'm ok with them once I get about half way through. I guess that's about how long it takes my eyes and brain to adjust to the process.

I found the over-the-top racism and bullying much more difficult to deal with than the format of the book. I think in this case the format of the graphic novel exists almost like poetry does, in that it forces the author (or allows the author, I suppose) to distill big themes and ideas into very concentrated doses of text + pictures. So the racism and bullying that you might come in contact with over the course of a long and luxurious novel is super dense and concentrated in American Born Chinese. It's almost like I want to dissolve it in water and sip it rather than taking it in all at once.

Your MONKEY DAEMON represents a nature that is admired, detail-oriented, and full of curiosity. Some people might call you self-absorbed. You like to plan ahead, and hone your various talents to perfection.

But that's not what I would have said.. I knew as soon as they got on the ship that I would have a water-loving daemon... Not a seagull (too weathered and tough) and not so much a dolphin; I'm thinking maybe a whale: honorable, thoughtful (I imagine whales are thoughtful), fun and playful (what with all the breaching and whathaveyou), and I think loyal, and talking all the time. And that would mean that the actual me would always have to be near the water.

We'll still have our discussion about The Golden Compass next week with Madison as our facilitator... While the book is still fresh for you, what are you looking forward to talking about?

What do you think about the end of the Giver? If you've read it before, I wonder if your impression is very different than it was when you were a middle-schooler yourself?