 BOOK REVIEW

Nicholas Sparks’ novel “A Walk to Remember”

If I’d describe this Nicholas Sparks’ book, I’d say it is a transformational love story.
In A Walk to Remember, Landon Carter narrates the flashback story of his senior
year in the late 1950s at Beaufort High in Beaufort, North Carolina, when he first
discovers the power of love.

The Carters are a family whose wealth was built on a grandfather's profits from
bootlegging. Compounding the lack of strong male figures in Landon's life is his
hypocritical congressman father, who rarely spends time at home. Neglect
pushes Landon to develop a rebellious streak, and at the start of the story he is
both adrift and certain, confident and susceptible to peer opinion in other
words, a typical teenager. There is more than a touch of Holden Caulfield in his
character when he encounters Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of a local minister
and the goody-two-shoes of the school. Jamie is such social poison to Landon's
insecure circle that he avoids her at all costs, until, as the newly elected class
president desperate for a date to the dance, he asks her, certain that she'll be
available. She accepts, and that night Jamie helps Landon out of an
embarrassing bind, revealing a strong character that intrigues him despite her
relentless and isolating Christianity.

After Jamie asks Landon to star in the school's Christmas play, a town tradition
which her father instituted, he develops a gradual and reluctant relationship
with her. They rehearse, they walk home, they talk; when opening night arrives
and Landon sees Jamie in an angelic costume, he realizes that he's fallen in
love. Bewildered and ecstatic, they nurture their feelings until Jamie reveals the
secret that forces Landon to realize what he holds most dear, despite what fate
has handed them.

Sparks is a modern master of fateful love stories and road-not-taken fables

written in uncluttered prose. A Walk to Remember is perfect autumn fiction,
when thoughts turn to changes and life's journeys, both mapped and
unmapped.

Submitted by: Alodhea V. Dadula. BSEd 2A (English)

 READING QUOTES

1. “We read to know we're not alone.”

― William Nicholson, Shadowlands
2. “Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish
3. “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use
in reading it at all.”
― Oscar Wilde
4. “′Classic′ - a book which people praise and don't read.”
― Mark Twain
5. “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its
own shame.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
6. “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
7. “Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and
poetry.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel
8. “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any
harm to the world.”
― Voltaire
9. “Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
― Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader
10. “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no
surprise in the reader.”
― Robert Frost

Submitted by: Alodhea V. Dadula, BSEd 2A (English)

  Reader’s Theatre Piece

Chicken Little

Characters: (7) Narrator Chicken Little Cockey-Lockey Ducky-Lucky

Goosey-Loosey Turkey-Lurkey Foxy-Loxy

Narrator: One bright, sunny day, Chicken-Little was picking up corn in the
Barnyard. Suddenly, an acorn from the big oak tree fell down and hit
Chicken-Little right on the top of her head.---kerrrr flop.

Chicken: Oh! The Sky is falling! The Sky is falling! I am going to tell the King!

Narrator: And away she went. Chicken-Little went on and on. After a while
she came to Cockey-Lockey.

Cockey: Where are you going, Chicken-Little?

Chicken: Oh, Cockey-Lockey. The sky is falling! I am going to tell the king.

Cockey: I will go with you!

Narrator: The went on and on and on. After a time, they came to Ducky-Lucky.

Ducky: Where are you going, Chicken-Little and Cockey-Lockey?

Chicken:
Cockey: Oh, Ducky-Lucky! The sky is falling! We are going to tell the king!

Ducky: Wait! I will go with you.

Narrator: And they hurried off. They went on and on and on! Soon they came
to Goosey-Loosey.

Goosey: Hey, where are you two going?

Chicken:
Cockey:
Ducky: Oh, Goosey-Loosey! The sky is falling! We are going to tell the king.

Goosey: Then I will go with you!

Narrator: And so they went on and on and on. Before long they came to Turkey-
Lurkey.

Turkey: Where are you-all going in such a rush?

Goosey: Oh, Turkey-Lurkey. The sky is falling! We are going to tell the king.

Turkey: Well, hey, wait for me! I will go with you.

Narrator: They went on and on and on. After a while they came to Foxy-Loxy.

Foxy: Say, where are you all going?

Chicken: (All
Cockey:
Ducky: together)
Goosey:
Turkey: Foxy-Loxy! Foxy-Loxy! The sky is falling! We are going to tell the
king.

Foxy: Well, I know a short cut to the king's palace. Follow me.

Cockey:
Ducky:
Goosey:
Turkey: Oh, goody, goody! He knows a short cut to the king's palace!

Narrator: They went on an on and on. Then they came to Foxy-Loxy's cave.

Foxy: This is the short cut to the palace. I'll go in first and then
you come in after me...one at a time.

Cockey:
Ducky:
Goosey:
Turkey: Of course. Why not?

Narrator: In went Turkey-Lurkey. Sssssnap! Off went Turkey-Lurkey's head.

In went Goosey-Loosey. Kerrrr-POP! Off went Goosey-Loosey's head.
In went Ducky-Lucky. Kerrrr-unch! Off went Ducky-Lucky's head.

Cockey: (Excitedly) Go Home, Chicken-Little! Go Home!

Narrator: Can you guess what happened next? (pause)

Kerrrrr-Aaaack! Off went Cockey-Lockey's head.

Chicken-Little ran home. She did not tell the king that the sky was
falling. And until this day the others have never been seen. And
the poor king has never been told that the sky is falling!

Submitted by: Alodhea V. Dadula