Sorry Harry Potter, but you have been replaced by Edward Cullen and his family, the mysterious, vegetarian vampires of the Twilight series.
I jumped for joy when I first discovered the Harry Potter series. I thought my girls would enjoy the adventures of a young magician as he battles evil and tries to be a normal kid at the same time. That did not happen. I was more excited than them. I guess this was one time I would not be able to live vicariously through my kids reactions. I was disappointed. The movie version of the book stirred them up a bit, but they were more scared than impressed. Still, I read every single book of the series hoping they would follow my footsteps. Alas, the books are now covered with dust as they wait patiently for some attention.
And they will continue to wait. Now, Twilight is in the air. When my daughter first was introduced to the series she did not understand the storyline. Vampires and romance were new subjects so she asked me to read it so we could talk about it. Before I could get to it, rumors spread that a movie was being made. This made my daughter race to finish the book and ask her friends about the book. When she finally finished it and understood it, she insisted I read it. What an entertaining book. I really enjoyed it and I can see why young girls are so fascinated with the main character, Edward Cullen. As usual, the theme of a forbidden love is a powerful pull, especially for impressionable teenagers. The twist of the Romeo and Juliet story is very compelling and it makes you want to continue reading.
We have seen the movie and we were very disappointed with its quality. This did not stop us from continuing to read the series. Usually, I am the one that is hounding my girls to finish reading a book. This time , my daughters pulled a fast one on me. They made this charade of whining that they wanted the second book of the series. It had to be an original, especially since the library did not have a copy of book number two or three. I said sure as long as I got to read it first since I read faster than them. My husband joined their play and told me that he was buying the book, only to find it sold out at the bookstores. I believed him and forgot about the book, until one morning that my daughter hands me the second book, New Moon. I was very surprised and said that I would read it right away and give it to her by the next day. Their reaction astounded me. They all were laughing. It took me a moment to realize that my daughter had already read the book. What a good joke they played on me. She had read, not just New Moon, but Eclipse also. I have a lot of catching up to do now.
New Vocabulary: (highlighted in blue)
Complete the sentences using a new vocabulary word:
I jumped for joy when I first discovered the Harry Potter series. I thought my girls would enjoy the adventures of a young magician as he battles evil and tries to be a normal kid at the same time. That did not happen. I was more excited than them. I guess this was one time I would not be able to live vicariously through my kids reactions. I was disappointed. The movie version of the book stirred them up a bit, but they were more scared than impressed. Still, I read every single book of the series hoping they would follow my footsteps. Alas, the books are now covered with dust as they wait patiently for some attention.
And they will continue to wait. Now, Twilight is in the air. When my daughter first was introduced to the series she did not understand the storyline. Vampires and romance were new subjects so she asked me to read it so we could talk about it. Before I could get to it, rumors spread that a movie was being made. This made my daughter race to finish the book and ask her friends about the book. When she finally finished it and understood it, she insisted I read it. What an entertaining book. I really enjoyed it and I can see why young girls are so fascinated with the main character, Edward Cullen. As usual, the theme of a forbidden love is a powerful pull, especially for impressionable teenagers. The twist of the Romeo and Juliet story is very compelling and it makes you want to continue reading.
We have seen the movie and we were very disappointed with its quality. This did not stop us from continuing to read the series. Usually, I am the one that is hounding my girls to finish reading a book. This time , my daughters pulled a fast one on me. They made this charade of whining that they wanted the second book of the series. It had to be an original, especially since the library did not have a copy of book number two or three. I said sure as long as I got to read it first since I read faster than them. My husband joined their play and told me that he was buying the book, only to find it sold out at the bookstores. I believed him and forgot about the book, until one morning that my daughter hands me the second book, New Moon. I was very surprised and said that I would read it right away and give it to her by the next day. Their reaction astounded me. They all were laughing. It took me a moment to realize that my daughter had already read the book. What a good joke they played on me. She had read, not just New Moon, but Eclipse also. I have a lot of catching up to do now.
New Vocabulary: (highlighted in blue)
- charade: a game; a deception
- forbidden: something that is not allowed; prohibited
- rumor: gossip; a story that is not true.
- vicarious: experience emotion indirectly through someone else's experience.
- vegetarian: someone who eats only vegetable, no meat.
- pull a fast one: expression meaning to play a joke.
Complete the sentences using a new vocabulary word:
- Ali is a ____________. She will not eat a hamburger.
- The ____________says that John stole Peter's girlfriend.
- Ella lived ___________all of her twin sister's achievements.
- The fruit of the apple tree was ______________ to all that lived in the garden.
- The boys ______________on their mother when they convinced her school was closed.
- Stefan continued to act like the president of the company even though her knew the __________was almost over.
Grammar Point:
Subject-Verb Agreement. When writing a story or an essay at times it is easy to lose focus on the subject - verb agreement of a sentence. The verb, or action of the sentence must correspond with the subject of the sentence. Therefore if the subject is plural, the verb must be plural. If the subject is singular the verb must be so also.
ex: The cat jumps. subject : a cat (singular) verb: singular present
The rabbits win the race . subject: the rabbits (plural) verb: simple present
In the above text, I have highlighted in red 4 examples of subject - verb agreement. Re-read the story and find 3 more examples of subject -verb agreement.
Enjoy!
Your family sounds like fun. I am really glad everyone is reading. If you like books about vampires, you should read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is probably OK for the teens too, though the reading level is higher than in Twilight.
ReplyDeleteSubject-verb agreement is usually only a problem in the present tense because past forms do not change with the person, except in the case of the verb "to be" (I/he/she was v. you/we/they were.)
I realized my mistake about the subject - verb agreement after I had posted the blog. I'll edit it when I get a chance later this week. Thanks for the book recommendation. I do love book about vampires. I have read all the Ann Rice vampire series and look forword to reading The Historian.
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