Book Reviews ADV1ºC and 1ºD_2013

Book Reviews by A1ยบC and A1ยบD students Classroom 22

“The House of special purpose” by John Boyne In this novel John Boyne, author of the famous novel “The boy in the striped pyjamas” creates a historic atmosphere, gathers memories and experiences of the famous Romanov family before the Bolchevic revolution and at the same telling a beautiful story that it becomes the center of the story.

The protagonist is Georgi Danilovich Jachmenev, from the day in which he must leave his miserable hometown in Russia to form part of the personal guard of the son of Tsar Nicholas II to his days as an elder that accompanies his wife on her last days in the hospital, always with a big secret that he has never been able to reveal and which has marked his life.

A great book, of which hook you from the beginning. Maybe because I like historical novels, and I give this novel a standout. The characters are portrayed very well, and although it mix history and fiction, immerses you into an era and events than changed the course of Russia. John Boyne is a fantastic writer, and this story is powerful. Definetely recommended it.

Nuria_ADV1ºD

Auslander was written by Paul Dowswell (Chester, England 1957) and published first in Great Britain in 2009, it´s a fiction book but based on real facts that happened in the early and mid 40´s in Germany and Poland.

His specialities are historical fiction and information books written for children and young adults; “Auslander” is framed in the first one. Other fiction Paul books happening in the Second World War are “Section 20” and the latest “Eleven Eleven” “Auslander” is a simple history about good and evil seen through the eyes of Peter, a young Polish boy who lives in Berlin during the Nazi period.

Several months after his parents die killed under the Russian invasion and thanks to his Aryan look, a German family, the Kaltenbacks, adopt him.

His new father works for the Nazi Research Institute studying the different aspects of racial diagnosis with “human material” looking for an easy way to determine the Aryan purity level of an individual (the evil) But Peter realizes how his new parents and Nazi people really are and what they are doing with Jewish people. He doesn´t agree with this practices and needs to do something, although he doesn´t know how.

His life changes when he meets Anna Reiter. Anna and her family, the Reiters (the good), have a double-sided life. In one hand they are a perfect Nazi family but in the other they belong to an organization that helps and hides the Jewish people to be safe apart from SS and Gestapo.

He helps Maria and the Reiters till something happens...

It´s an easy book to read, with Peter hesitating between good and evil, but finally guided by his girlfriend towards the right side. It´s sometimes simple and full of wellknown topics about Nazism. It might be a good reading for young people to know about the Second World War and the hard life in Berlin in those days.

Despite of that, it´s an amusing book and many times I stayed awake late at night reading to know about Peter´s following adventure.

In my opinion it´s a good option for an English student looking for a book not too hard to read, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you are reading in your native language and you are over fourteen.

Emilio_ADV1ºC

Introduction: My book is called “Ausländer”, the author is Paul Dowswell. general And it's an adventure book. comments about the book Plot: a brief Briefly the story is about a kid called “Piotr Bruck”(or Peter in summary of German). He lives when Nazis are in the power and Piotr is a what happens “Volksdeutscher” and Piotr looks like a German kid (blond hair, blue eyes) and besides he speaks fluently German. His parents were killed and the book starts when the kid is staying in a orphanage.

The story keeps on and Piotr is sent to a family in Berlin. In the city he knows a girl, Anna, his “girlfriend”. Peter, Anna and her family help Jews families. Gestapo realize about it and Peter, Anna and her parents have to runaway to Sweden where they have family.

Characters: The main characters are: briefly describe -Piotr Bruck (Peter): The starring of the story. He is a and comment “Volksdeutscher”. He looks like a typical german boy so it's easy to on the main move with a german family who take care of him. characters -Anna: She is the Peter's girlfriend. She and Piotr are teenagers so they live many adventures and most of its are ilegal in the Nazi German.

-Segur: He is the friend of Peter and Anna. Segur was caught by the Gestapo in an ilegal party so he has to tell them, for saving his life, that Anna and Peter were doing bad things, -Profesor Kaltenbach, Frau Kaltenbach, Elsbeth, Charlotte. Traudl: They are the family who adopt to Peter. They are very happy with him until Profesor Kaltenbach realize that Peter has got Jew blood.

At the same time Peter realizse that Gestapo are looking for him and then he has to runaway.

-Anna's father and mother: They also are involved about helping Jews people so The Anna's father is taken by Gestapo, but The Anna's mother, Peter and Anna can escape and runaway to Sweden where The Anna's mother has got family and they will be safe there.

Other I like very much the story, because it was easy to read. Besides I information: like the topic and I love these kind of stories which I can't stop anything else reading. important that In my opinion the best part of the story was the end because I you want to say hoped a terrible final which Peter was killed so I can't stop reading about the book for knowing the end.

It's was disappointed because, at the end they save and get going to Sweden, this final was too happy and unbeliavable.

In the whole story Peter made me feel pity because he was only a child and he was alone in the world without family.

I learnt new English vocabulary and German history.

Conclusion: Definitely, I recommend this book to people who like topics about include your Nazis, Word War II and love adventures books. personal recommendati Probably I will read more books by the same author because Paul ons here writes easy but at the same time it's not affected in the quality of the writing.

SofĂ­a_ADV1ÂşD

Review: “BOY TALES OF CHILDHOOD” “Boy Tales of Childhood” has been written by Roald Dhal who is a specialist on children’s books, although in this one he used his own childhood to make us laugh.

Roald lost his father when he was only three years old, after the death of one of his sisters.

After that, Roald was sent to some boy’s schools where he spent good time with his friends but he also show us the severe discipline that they received, like be hit with canes, can´t go to the toilet during the night, can´t ask teachers about doubts, be under control when they wrote home, etc. In spite of having bad experiences at school, he was a happy boy because he usually went unnoticed there and he could practice sports, taking good marks for his equipments.

The best time of his childhood were summer holidays, when all his family traveled to Norway by boat to visit their grandparents and spent the funniest time discovering new islands, swimming into cold water and playing with the animals they found.

Roald is a child who loves his family, particularly his mother who with he had a narrow relation, probably because he was her only son. He’s an adventurer boy with a big imagination, but he never stood up on his studies.

I spent a good time reading this book because throughout it, you can feel like a child who is at school living adventures with his friends, like the one with the mouse and the sweetshop, the funniest one in my opinion, and the one when he feigned to be ill in order to stay at home with his family.

I’d recommend it to children and people who is learning English because the vocabulary isn’t difficult and the story is enjoyable.

Elsa_ADV1ºC

Title: The boy in the Author: John Boyne Genre: Novel

striped pyjamas

Plot: This story takes place in Germany when Nazis are in the power, during The Second World War. The story is about a nine-year old boy called Bruno ,whose father is a Nazi commanding officer that is in charge of the concentration camp called Out- With.

Firstly Bruno tells us his experiences and relationships with different members of his family and friends while he lives in a comfortable house in Berlin. Later, he goes to live to another house in a desolate area with his family next to the concentration camp where his father is sent. Here, his life changes when he meets Shmuel who is a jewish boy with the same age who lives on the other side of the adjoining wire fence.

Shmuel becomes the best friend of Bruno and he tells him why jewish people are there and how their lives are on the other side of the wire fence. But one day Bruno ´s mother realizes that the concentration camp is not a good place for her family and she decides to come back to Berlin, but, before, Bruno promises Shmuel to help him to find his father. In order to find him, he dresses up with a stripped pyjama and while both of them are trying it , they are captured and closed together with other jewish people in a gas camera and finally they die. In the end. Bruno´s father finds out the facts, and his life will lose the sense.

Characters: The most important figure of this book is Bruno. In my opinion he is naïve, frank, stubborn, loyal and also bold with his own decisions.

Shmuel- He is also an important character and he is sad, helpless, frank sensitive , self-confident and loyal with Bruno.

Bruno´s father- He is a Nazi officer and for this reason he is over all ambitious, arrogant, sometimes with bad tempered, also vain , pushy, loyal to his ideas and narrow minded.

Bruno´s mother- She is loyal to her husband, but also she seems insecure , critical with some decisions of her husband and sometimes moody and aloof with her family

Gretel- She is Bruno´s sister , she is a teenager and she looks like arrogant, immature, impulsive, vain and naïve.

Others characters are Maria who is family´s maid and the Liutenient Kotler that serves to Bruno´s father in the concentration camp.

Other information: I like this book because I love history books. In my opinion the best part of the book is when Bruno meets to Shmuel and it makes that his thoughts about his life change totally. On this book we can notice like people living on the same time have different ways to see the main events of their lives , althought they don´t have any justification. The main conclusion for me about this story is that we should be very careful and critical with the main events along our life and don´t let be influenced by governments or media coverage, althought everyone knows that it is very difficult Conclusion: I recommend you to read this book if you are not a sad or depressive person and you like reading history books because it is a very gripping book and quite easy to read, also I would like to say that this is the first book that I have read from this author.

Jose Manuel_ADV1ºD

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The book that I finally chose, was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time written

by Mark Haddon. I’m not sure about the genre of the book for that reason I’m not capable to say what kind of book is that one.

At the first time, I had chosen Aüslander, but when I started the first chapter, I considered that it was so difficult for me and I preferred to change.

This story is about a fifteen-year-old child called Christian who lived with his father and his hamster in a little town in England. His mother died because of a disease.

He was so intelligent, but at the same time Christian had a strange personality for his age.

All of the things that he said were so logical. For example, the numbers of the chapters of this book aren’t one, two, and three…as in a normal book, he only used prime numbers.

One day, Christian went to his neighbor’s house to see the dog, called Wellington, which had his neighbor Mrs. Shears, suddenly he realized that it was death. The owner of the dog, Mrs. Shears thought that the killer of the dog was Christian. Then, Christian had to go to the police station, where hit a policeman, and for that reason he was in the jail until his father rescued him.

The goal of this little boy, was to find out who killed Wellington. He tried to do a lot of things to achieve his goal but his father didn´t allow him to continue with this.

One day, his father had to work at night, and Christian had to stay alone at home. He went to his father´s room to sleep, when he found a lot of letters written by his mother. He started to read most of them and discovered that her mother was alive and lived in London with the husband of Mrs. Shears. When the father arrived at home and saw all of the letters, asked Christian if he read all of them, and when Christian answered yes, the father started to say sorry to his son but Christian got nervous and more nervous. Finally, his father decided to tell all the truth and confessed that the killer of the dog was himself. He did it as revenge to Ms. Shears because the mother of the little boy (his wife) had split up with him due to she felt in love with Ms. Shears.

When Christian knew that shocking new, he started to be afraid of his father and took the decision to go to live with his mother in London. He went to London alone and arrived at his mother´s house. Mr. Shears said to Christian´s mother that he couldn´t stayed at home too many time because they didn´t have a lot of space. Finally, Christian´s mother split up with Mr. Shears and came back to Swindon with Christian (the little town where he lived with his father). They rented a little house and due to the space, Christian had to move on to his old house with his father. He was afraid of him but his father promised that he didn´t lie to him any more. They were one more in the family; Christian had a dog which his father had bought for him.

I really recommend this book, because you can read it in a little time and it´s different from other normal books. I have to recognize that I expected another end, happier than that one. However, in general it´s a good book and I´d encourage to all of the people to read it.

Paula_ADV1ºD

Introduction Title: Animal Farm Author: George Orwell Genre: Adventure

Brief summary of the plot One night and before dying, the pig Old Major meets the animals of Manor Farm to propose a revolution, to eject to farm owner, Mr. Jones, and they manage the farm because they are not happy with their lifestyle. The animals are successful and establish seven commandments for coexistence on the farm: 1-

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2-

Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3-

No animal shall wear clothes.

4-

No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5-

No animal shall drink alcohol.

6-

No animal shall kill any other animal.

7-

All animals are equal.

At first everything is happiness on the farm, but after a while, the pigs, which are considered more intelligent than the other animals, abuse their power and are manipulating the rules to their advantage. The pig Napoleon becomes the sole leader of the farm and the rest of the animals are subject to the orders of the pigs.

After a period of confrontation between farmers and animals, Napoleon is congratulated on the good functioning of the farm and the relations between humans and pigs are very good. Over time the first seven rules are reduced to a new one: All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

Finally, the pigs end up having the same behaviour as humans.

Main characters Mr Jones: he is the farmer. He is an alcoholic man and mistreats to the animals.

Old Major: he is a wise pig that proposed the rebellion.

Napoleon: he is a pig, he is the leader of the animals.

Squealer: he is a pig, he is a faithful follower of Napoleon.

Snowball: he is a pig that competes with Napoleon for leading the animals.

Boxer: he is a hard working horse.

Benjamin: he is an old and smart donkey, he is a close friend of Boxer.

Mr. Whymper: he is an intermediary between animals and humans.

Dogs: they are the guardians of the farm, they are at the service of Napoleon.

Pigs: they become "owners" of the farm.

Other information and conclusion

Animal Farm is a fable written by George Orwell criticizing the situation in the Soviet Union in the early years of the twentieth century.

I have learnt new words and expressions reading this book.

I would recommend it because it isn’t very hard to read and it is entertaining and gripping. I believe that this book is a beautiful fable.

Fernando_ADV1ÂşC

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a fiction novel, who was written by Mark Haddon. The story was written in first person by the main character, Christofer.

PLOT: The story tells about a young boy and his family. the boy called chris is autistic so it is really difficult to understand because it has a very different way of thinking and many manias. He lives with his father in Swindon and there will be a special school.

The story begins one night when Chris discovers his neighbor's dog dead in the garden. His neighbor, Mrs. Shears, calls the police because someone killed his dog, and the prime suspect is Chris. The police start to interview him so Chris got nervous and hit one of the policemen and took him to the police station. Next, her father goes to look for him. In this moment, Chris decide to investigate who killed the dog and write this story in a book.

His father don´t like the idea because he feel worried and afraid that chris has more problems.

For the investigation, Chris has to talk to people I had never spoken, which is very difficult for him because he is afraid of strangers. One day his father gets angry and takes the book, but Chris decides to find the book and looking around the house while his father was working out. Finally finds the book in the room of his father together with a lot of letters from his mother. Chris was in shock for hours, his father had told him that his mother had died of a heart attack. When her father arrived home told him all the true about his mother and also that he killed the neigbor´s dog.

Chris result was terrified and didn´ttrust his father so he decided to go live with his mother.He runs away from home with his pet, one rat called Toby, and start the adventure to get to London. The journey is really difficult for Chris because he feel afraid to new things, to noise, to places with a lot of people...

When he finds his mother's house, she feels very happy and glad that he is there with her, but the new problem is that she live in a small apartment with her boyfriend, Mr. Shears. Mr. Shears don´t like the idea that Chris live with both of them.

Finally, her mother abandoned him and went back to live Swindon with Chris therefore Chris can do an important exam maths.Chris continuous angry with his father and this tries by all means to return to trust him again, for it gives him a dog and gradually regains his confidence.

CHARACTERS: The main character of this stoty is Christopher, he has got fifteen years old and he is autistic but at the same time he is very clever. He is very good at maths and also has a photographic memory. As a result of his illness has problems to understnad other people and with the relacionships. He has a different way of seeing things. His favorite dream is one in that all the people are died and he is alone in the land and he can feel free. He is a really sensitive person and can not stand to be touched other people, is very manic and eccentric for example, hates yellow and brown but loves red.

Edward is one of the main characters, he is the father of Christopher. Ed is a good person trying to care for their child and protect him. He has got a lot of patience, but often gets angry because of chris. In my opinion he has got a heart of gold, but makes the mistake of lying to Chris.

OTHER INFORMATION: I really liked the story, it was really interesting and I learned a lot about people who are autistic. One of the best parts of book is when Chris arrives in London and finds his mother, but certainly for me the best part is when his father Ed, give a dog to Chris for forgive.

I have had many different feelings about the book. For example I felt very sad when Chris knows his mother is still alive and that his father has lied. I also felt really nervous when Chris makes the trip to London because it is very traumatic for him. Finally the story has a happy finish, and it make feel so relieved and happy.

CONCLUSION: Personally I would recommend to read this book to all the people, especially children, so that we could all try to better understand autistic people and their families.

Nowadays there are many people with this illness, and I think it would be easier for us to understand them and for them the life in general, if we knew more about this illness.

Autistic people are good people, but with a different way of seeing thing.

RocĂ­o_ADV1ÂşD

INTRODUCTION I have chosen “Going

Solo” by Roald Dahl.

It is an adventure story. This book is the

autobiographical sequel of “Boy”. It is about Roald Dahl´s life as a worker with a fuel company and as an RAF fighter pilot.

PLOT The book has two parts. In the first part, the author is away to East Africa on his first job.

In the second part of the book, which deals with the time the author went flying with the RAF in the Second World War, was to me totally spellbinding.

The main event was the author´s amazing survival from a plane crash in the Libyan desert.

The book starts off when the author is sailing on a ship called S.S. Mantola to Africa. On the way, he meets many extraordinary people and see new feats. He lived an experience on the ship where he saw naked people. He also befriends the dotty major and his wife.

During his stay in Africa he had a chance to save the life of a boy called Salimu who worked as a gardener. Roald prevented a snake attacked to Salimu. In another chance Roald sees a lion carrying a woman away in his mouth. However this woman suffered no damage at all.

The lion moved the woman as if she was his cubs.

The author lived another feat with a snake man who was able to caught a dangerous snake.

Eventually, Roald binds to the war as royal air force pilot. He haddn´t enough experience but , anyway, he obeyed the rules. He was one of the last Allied pilot to retire from Greece during the German invasion.

A crash in the desert hurts his head and brings out many problems in his flying days in Greece.

For some time, the author was blind. During his stay in hospital, he fell in love with the image of a nurse, called Mary Welland. All the time he was in hospital, his one obsession was to get back to operational flying. After the fall of Greece to the Nazis, Dahl travels to Middle East to combat pilots Vichy France, after staying for a time in Alexandria, Egypt.

Throughout the book are the letters that Dahl sent to his mother, being careful not to use censurable language.

As a result, after three years, Roald came back home where his mother, who live in a beautiful cottage, patiently , was waiting for him with open arms.

CHARACTERS: 1.- ROAHL, DAHL: he is the author of the book and so the main character. He was born in Wales of Norwegian parents. At eighteen he went to work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa.

2.- U.N. SAVORY: He was the manager of a Cotton mill. He was a bald man who use to snore a lot and also use to wear wig because he thought that a Sikh doesn´t respect a bald man.

3.- MDISHO: A personal boy for Dahl. He was tall and graceful and soft-spoken.

4.-ROBERT SANFORD ( the snake man): A man in his early thirties who had a wife and three very small children. Robert was able to beat a snake down.

5.- MISS TREFUSIS: Very thin ederly woman; impatient, intelligent, generous and interesting also. She also was dotty and scrupulous with food. She taught him to peel an orange carefully.

6.- DAVID COKE: He became a close friend of Dahl. He worked as pilot too. He has long but friendly face. He was warm-hearted, brave and generous.

7.- MARY WELLAND: She was a nurse who took care of Roald. She was a lovely looking girl, gentle and kind.

OTHER INFORMATION: I liked the story because I love adventure stories ,where every detail takes you into. The best part of the book was the second part . I was able to travel, for a moment, on the same plane as Dahl. I felt different things at different points in the story, such as , a great relief to know that the woman was still alive, even, after being in the jaw of a lion. And in the other side, sadness for the dead pilots.

From this book, I´ve learnt that “Every cloud has a silver lining”.

CONCLUSION: It was the single book i´ve read by this author. Personally, I would recommend people this book because I think is totally enthralling. The only downside could be too much vocabulary.

Petra_ADV1ºD

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS: REVIEW The boy in the striped pyjamas is presented as a fable by John Boyne. It’s a touching tale of an odd friendship between two boys in horrendous circumstances and a reminder of man’s capacity for inhumanity.

Bruno, 9 years old, lives in a five-storey house with servants (Maria, Lars and the Cook), his mother, his father (a Nazi Commandant) and his sister, Gretel.

After the “Fury” comes to dinner, the family has to move far away to a smaller home in “Out-With”. Bruno is really unhappy about this because there is no one to play with and nothing to do at the new house full of soldiers. He has to leave his school, his 3 best friends, his huge house, his grandparents and Berlin. From his bedroom window, however, he notices a town of people dressed in striped pyjamas separated from him by a wire fence. When he asks his father who those people are, he says that they aren’t really people.

After several weeks at Out-With, Bruno concludes that he had better find a way to keep himself occupied or he will surely lose his mind. Every afternoon, after his lessons are finished, Bruno takes the long walk along the fence and stays with Schmuel, a boy who wears the same striped pyjamas as all the other people who live beyond the fence. Mother is unhappiness with life at Out-With and Father decides that they have to move to Berlin. The kids prepare a plan, Schmuel brings one striped pyjamas and together they will take a walk around “the other side” looking for some evidence around Schmuel’s Father. After the incident, Bruno is never seen or heard from again.

The parents are left wondering what happened and eventually figure it out.

The boy in the striped pyjamas is well written with emotional impact and shocking story; it’s a highly entertaining read. I definitely recommend that you add this to your collection!

Cristina_ADV1ºC

BOY TALES OF A CHILDHOOD This story is about the childhood of Roald Dahl, who was born in 1916.

The first and the second chapters are about the early childhood of him, and in them he told about the story of his parents,the death of his sisters and the death of his father some years later. Then he and his family moved to Llandaff, and he went to his first school.

Of this years, Roald Dahl remember two things: a boy who road by, pedaling backwards, with his arms folded across his chest, and the sweet shop whose owner, Mrs. Pratchett was dirty.

One day, he and his friend Thwaites, found a dead mouse in the school, and they have the idea to put it into the Mrs. Parchett’s shop, but they were identified by her.

Roald Dahl’s mother sent him to St. Peter’s School, in England, when every Sundays mornings they spent one hour writing a letter to their families, which was censured for the contents.

Other adventure toke place some months later, when he had homesickness, he seems to have appendix to have sent to his hause, but his doctor of hause know he was faking, and he spent three days at home, but he told not to do again.

When Roald Dhal was 13 years, he had de choice to go to Marlborough or Repton, and he decided to go to Repton, but the uniform was so ridiculous.

At the end of some more adventures of his childhood, when he was about 18 years, his mother asked him if he wanted to go to Oxford or Cambridge, but he decided to start to working. Then he went to Africa and during the Second World War he studied at the Royal Air Force and he became a fighter pilot.

Victoria_ADV1ºD

“THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS” INTRODUCTION “The boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is a novel for younger readers written by John Boyne an Irish writer in 2006.

PLOT This is Bruno´s story a nine year old boy who lives in Berlin during the second world war with his family. His father is an official of the SS who is promoted to Commandant after a visit from Hitler and Eva Braun. The family has to move to another place called “Out – With”.

Bruno arrives there and he fells homesick. He has left his school and he misses his friends in Berlin. In his new home there is no one to play with because there aren´t any children. There are soldiers all around. But from the window of his bedroom he can see a lot of people wearing striped pyjamas that they are closed by a wire fence. One day he asks his father about that people and his father answer that they aren´t really people and he forbids Bruno to play near the wire fence. But Bruno is a curious boy and one day he goes to the forbidden area and meets a boy, who is the same age, and he thinks that is a good way to have a new friend. The boy is called Shmuel. Almost every day, they meet at the same point and talk about every things. Shmuel tells Bruno about his life in

the camp and how he hates it, because he doesn´t know why he and his family are there. Bruno wants to know Shmuel´s world. He doesn´t tell everyone about his new friend and his adventures. With the time Bruno learns the reason what Shmuel is captive, is because he is jews, and he can´t understand because they are hated Shmuel disappears and Bruno goes every day to see Shmuel but he isn´t there.

A week later Shmuel appears but he looks tired and very sad because he doesn ´t see his father since the soldiers were taken him . Bruno tells him that he go back to Berlin next Friday. Now Shmuel is more sad because he has lost his father and now his best friend, but Bruno offers to help him to find his father.

So they decide to do something and when the day arrives Bruno´s mother doesn´t let him go out because of the rain. The rain stops and Bruno goes out of his home wearing his boots and a poncho. When Bruno arrives Shmuel was waiting for him, Bruno changes his clothes and puts a prisoner´s uniform, leaving his own clothes outside of the wire fence. Bruno passes under the fence and they walk into the camp. Bruno discovers the reality and he wants to return to his home but he realizes that they are with a group of prisoners who have to march. So he can´t escape. It starts to rain and they are taken into a dark room. The door is closes behind them, but they have no fear because they are together.

Bruno´s family spend several months looking for him, one year later his father returns to the camp and he discovers a hole in the same place where they had found Bruno´s clothes, where a boy can pass through. So he realizes that he has gassed his own son. Several months later the Red Army arrives and liverates the camp. The Red Army takes Bruno´s father with her.

CHARACTERS •

Bruno: He is the principal. Is a nine year old boy. He is very curious and loves adventures and new things.

•

Shmuel: He is Bruno´s friend. He is Jewish and he is a prisoner of the camp.

•

Gretel: She is Bruno´s sister. She is twelve years old. She is interested in everything. She is always playing with her dolls.

•

Elsa: Bruno´s mother. She is tall with long red hair. She tries to help their children.

•

Ralph: Bruno´s father. He is always working and he doesn´t spend much time with his family.

•

Maria: The maid. She enjoys talking to Bruno. She helps Bruno´s grandmother.

•

Her Liszt: He is Bruno´s tutor and he wants that he studies more.

•

Lieutenant Kurt Kotler: He is a teenager that is in the military and takes care of Bruno´s family when the father isn´t there.

•

Pavel: He is the Buttler of the house, he works there because he is jewish.

OTHER INFORMATION I really like the book but is very sad at the end. The best part for me is when the children meet each other, because they are alone in that horrible world, so when they meet, they have a good reason to have a bit of happiness.

CONCLUSION Even though is a sad story I recommend it to everyone because it reflects the cruel live of people under a war. And you can imagine the live in a Concentration camp. The book shows us the point of view of two little boys that don´t understand the world that they live and how they are good friends although they live in two separate worlds.

Rosana_ADV1ยบC

ANIMAL FARM by GEORGE ORWELL

• Book review: 1. Introduction:   

Title: Animal Farm.

Autor: George Orwell.

Literary genre: Animal Farm is a novel written under the form of a fable. It is considered a politic satire about the Comunism.

2. Plot: In the ‘Manor Farm’ the animals are neglected by their owner, Mr. Jones, because he is always drunk. So, the old and wisest pig in the farm, Old Major, gives them a speech saying that he had dreamt how they could manage the farm better than their owner, being free and equals without the human control. The Old Major’s thoughts were called ‘Animalism’ by its enthusiastic mates. The most important commandment of the ‘Animalism’ was “All animals are equal”.

But Old Major dies and the animals are very sorrowful; all, except Benjamin, a donkey, the worst temper, sceptical and pessimistic.

The animals rebel and run Mr. Jones off the farm. Then, they begin to manage the farm. The most clever animalsof the farm, the pigs, lead this project. At first, ‘Animal Farm’ prospers; some animals convince themselves: “I will work harder”.

Mr. Jones comes back to regain his farm and the animals defeat him again in the ‘Battle of the Cowshed’, where they get a gun.

But time goes by and two of the the younger pigs (Snowball and Napoleon) start struggling for the power: Napoleon wants handle everithing, while Snowball wishes to teach the animals to read and also wants to build a windmill. Finally, both move away to each other.

Napoleon has the power and considers himself to be a leader, but break the rules done after the rebellion and the life in the farm worsens every day, because the pigs abuse their supremacy, acting like a human being (sleeping in bed, drinking whisky and making deals with neighboring farmers).

One of their neighbors, a farmer called, Mr. Frederick, attacks the farm with blasting powder and blows up the windmill, which was been rebuilt with a big effort. In the fight, a cart-horse and excellent worker, Boxer, is wounded and Napoleon sells him to a glue maker in order to get money for whisky, telling to the other animals that the horse was going to the hospital for dying.

Time goes by again and the animals act like humans further and further. The main commandment of the ‘Animalism’ -“all animals are equal”- turns to “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” One day, Napoleon invites Mr. Pinkilton, another farmer, to dinner; there, they drink and Napoleon tel him his plans about the Farm, now called the ‘Manor Farm’. Meanwhile, the other animals in the farm realize that Napoleon and the humans are the same thing. In conclusion, the donkey Benjamin was right.

3. Characters: 

Old Major: The old and wisest pig in the farm who provides to the animals the ideas to begin the rebellion in the farm.



Snowball: He is a pig who wants to become a leader. He is more idealist than the other pig called Napoleon (another leader).



Napoleon: He becomes a leader and he looks like to be respected by the animals, but he is a bossy villain, a dictator.



Benjamin: A donkey, the worst temper, sceptical and pessimistic; but, at the end, the only realistic animal in the farm.



Boxer: A cart-horse very loyal and respectable who ends being a victim of Napoleon because of his naivety.



Mr. Jones: The owner of the farm. He doesn’t care of the animals because he drinks so much. This is the reason of the rebellion.



Mr. Frederick: One of their neighbors who attacks the farm with blasting powder.



Mr. Pilkington: One of their neighbors; he sems to get on well with Napoleon.

4. Other information: I choose this story because I am interested in reading a significant english writer as George Orwell in english; furthermore, I had never readen ‘Animal Farm’ in spanish language, so I was also more interested because of this.

I like the story, but it was difficult for me; the main reason: a wide range of new vocabulary. I was so concentred in understanding the vocabulary that sometimes I missed the plot.

The story is an allegorical novel to criticize the Stalin era in the Soviet Union,which had become a brutal dictatorship in the opinion of Orwell.

I agree with the general sense of the book, but not in the sense of a political idea in particular, but in the sense of the dictatorships and the abuse of power in general or the corruption.

The whole books doesn’t seem to be a political book, it seems to be an humorous fable and it conceals the aim of the writer, under the form of a fairy tale, instead a politic satir.

5. Conclusion: I recommend this story becasuse to discover a significant english writer as George Orwell in his original language. However, people need to have some level of english higher, as advanced or similar, because of the lots of new words that this book contains.

I had never read other books by this author neither in spanish neither in english language.

Selina_ADV1ºD

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Introduction The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2.006 novel written by the Irish novelist John Boyne. It is a drama and fiction book.

The novel has sold more than 5 million copies around de world, and from 2.007 to 2.008 it was the best selling book of the year in Spain.

The film of the book was shot on location in a concentration camp.

Plot The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is about a friendship set on both sides of the fence Auschwith concentration camp.

Bruno is the son of a Nazi officer who takes the family from their confortable home in Berlin to an uncorfortable house in Poland. Their new house was near at a strange fence where the people who stay in the otherside wear a striped pyjamas each day. There, Bruno, meets Samuel, a Jewish boy, and Bruno does not see the differences that existed from himself.

Their meetings develop into a friendship with devastating consecuences.

Characters In the book, Bruno, the main character is in need of a good friend. Both of the characters Bruno and Samuel are like children, very innocent, but in turn are very strong.

Bruno and Samuel’s friendship is tested in the story because it is a secret one. Their friendship grows into something authentic which crosses the race, religion and culture.

The two boys are characterized by their courage, innocence, admiration and strength.

Other information It is worth reading it. I thought it is a wonderful book, that gives us something to think about. Think about how far would you actually go for someone that you just met.

The novel offers from the point of view of a child a situation as complicated as concentration camps were I strongly recommend it because it explores thems of friendship and humanity, but it is so sad.

Eugenia_ADV1ÂşD

The boy in the striped pyjamas

The writer, John Boyne, wrote the book as a story for children, but it has become a bestseller for adults all over the world. The tale is about two boys living at the same time, in the same place, but facing two different realities, or better to say: the same dramatic reality, as the holocaust was, from two points of view.

On the one hand is Bruno, the son of the Auschwitz Camp's chief, who doesn't know what is happening out of his home and likes exploring and playing with his friends. On the other hand is Shmuel, a Jewish boy who lives as a prisoner in the camp. One day, when Bruno is exploring, sees a boy dressed in a striped pyjamas at the other side of the fence and starts to talk to him. He was wishing to find a friend since he moved from Berlin to “Out-with” (the way he thinks the place is called). They start to meet each other every day and became close friends. One day Bruno decides to pass through the Shmuel side of the fence to help him to find his missing father, once them the soldiers mistake him from a Jew and both children are conduced to a gas chamber.

Personally, I don't like dramas but, this book brings a new way to see the most awful episode of the 20th Century. I've enjoyed reading from the point of view of a child and I've get impressed for the contrast between the innocence of the boy and the rough of the facts. As the ending was getting closer I realised that it wouldn’t be a happy one and the sadness was increasing.

I'd recommend this book not for children but for adults because the story is too complicated for a kid to understand. I'd be a good option for teenagers also as a way to learn history and to empathize with people living injustices.

Ana Lis_ADV1ºC

Book review: Animal Farm Introduction Title: Animal Farm Author: George Orwell Year: 1945 Animal farm is a fable written by George Orwellin 1945. This satirical novel tells the story of an English farm where the animals start a rebelion against the owner of it.

Plot One day, Old Major, the older boar of the farm, tired of living in very bad and poor conditions, try to explain to the others his ideas of freedom and equality for all the animals, as well as the benefits of a rebellion against the human being. After his death, a big rebelion led by the animals took place in the farm, and the owner was expelled. After the rebellion, a new era based on the utopic ideas of Old Major, started, and the farm was runned by the animals. At the begining, everything was working perfectly and every animal had the same rights and social classes didn’t exist. But, at the end problems arrive and the utopic ideas become into a different reality and the group of pigs (the rebellion’s leaders) gain power gradually.

Characters In this book, George Orwell try to make a satirical fable on the Russian Revolution and we can found these main characters: Old Major, It is the elder boar of the farm and it is the animal that explains the ideas of a necessary rebellion to the others. This character represents the figure of Lenin in the real life.

Mr Jones: He was the owner of the farm before the rebellion and he should represent the Zar Nicholas II. The pigs Napoleon and Snowball: They became the leaders and the administrators of the farm after the Rebellion. They represent Stalin and Trosky respectively.

The pig Squaler, it is in charge of spreading the ideas and decisions of the rulers arround the farm. It has very good skills for communication and it used to manipulate the rest of animals with strange and misleading arguments. It is believed that it represents the press.

Boxer, the horse, it is a very hard worker and it would represent the proletariat.

The Sheeps, they are ignorants and they don’t do any criticism to the regime. They represent the peasants.

We can found also a list of secondary characters: The raven Moses, it is a linker between heaven and earth and it could represent the Ortodox Church.

Benjamin, the donkey, that represents the intellectual society.

The dogs, they are very aggressive and their mission is to be the personal guard of Napoleon (the leader) and they are responsible of killing the traitors and they represent the secret police.

Other Information Although this book is very short and it tells a very simple story starring by animals, it has a hidden meaning because it is a satirical vision of the Russian Revolution.

In this book, the author, try to explain the utopic ideas of communism and its effects in the Russian Revolution telling a fable of a rebellion carried out by the animals of a farm.

In my opinion, George Orwell, didn’t believe really in these ideas, and he is very critical with them, specially with the idea of class equality for people.

From my point of view, after the rebellion every animal had the same rights and there wasn’t any social difference. But, little by little, the pigs (the rulers of the farm) started to gain more and more rights than the other animals and at the end of the story their behaviour is totally similar to the human being.

Conclusion I liked this book because it try to explain in a easy way the utopic idea of the equality in our society. Human being, like the animals in the farm, want the equality for all the people and we are always thinking in a perfect society where the people is free and everyone has the same rights. But, these ideas are impossible to carry out to the real life. As we can see in the book, the group of pigs have the power and the power gives the control of the farm and this gives a lot of privileges to them.

I would recommend this book to the people who are interested in sociology and politics sciences because the story shows how difficult is to bring the ideas of a perfect society to the real life. But, although this story is a fable, I wouldn’t recommend it to the children because, in my opinion, it is necessary to know a lot of details about history and the Russian Revolution in order to well understand the message of this book.

Finally, another book of the same author that sounds interesting to me is “1984” and I would like to read it in the future.

Luis Miguel_ADV1ºD

Book review Boy: tales of childhood Introduction Title: Boy, tales of childhood Author: Roahl Dahl Kind of book: This is a book about the life of Roahl Dahl when he was a child, a kind of biography. He tells his adventures during the school and a lot of things that happened to him.

Plot: The main character is Roahl Dahl but in the book he was called Boy. He had a very big family because his father got married two different times. They were six siblings, five girls and only one boy, he. They are from Norway but then they moved to Wales.

When his eldest sister, Astri, was 7 years old, she died from appendicitis. Astri was his father’s favourite daughter and when she died he was so sad. He didn’t want to do nothing and then he got ill too. When you get ill you have to fight but his father refused to fight and finally he died too.

In a few weeks, Boy’s mother had lost a daughter and a husband and she had to look after five children. She could give up but she didn’t, because she wanted to carry out the wish of her dead husband. It was carried his siblings to a British school.

When Boy was 7 years he started to school. It was a Welsh school only for boys. Boy had a lot of friends and when they walked from the school they always stopped in front of the sweet-shop. They spent all their money in it. The problem was the owner of the sweetshop. She was a mean woman who hated them, her name was Mrs. Pratchett. But the worst thing about her was that she was very filthy.

One day, Boy and his friends found a dead mouse and they decided to teach a lesson to Mrs. Pratchett, so they put the dead mouse inside one jar of sweets. They felt like heroes.

The next day, when they passed for the sweet-shop, it was close and the jar of sweets in which they had put the mouse was smashed on the floor. They thought that they had killed her. But when they arrived to school Mrs. Pratchett was there. She had told the story to the headmaster and he punished them hitting their backs with a cane.

When Boy’s mother knew what had happened she decided to change his son to another school, a British school. It was going to be a great adventure because Boy was going to study abroad.

The boarding school was called St. Peter’s and Boy arrived to this school when he was 9 years old. At first Boy felt very homesickness, he missed his family a lot. He felt so homesick that one day he pretended to be ill from appendicitis.

He wrote to his mother every Sunday but he couldn’t tell her that in the new school the headmaster punished them with the cane too, because the headmaster read all the letters.

The main problem in the new school was the Matron. She was in charge of the dormitories and she was very hard, she didn’t allow any noise. She sent them to the headmaster’s office very often to punish them.

All the teachers in St. Peter’s were horrible but the teacher who Boy hated the most was Captain Hardcastle. One day Captain sent Boy to the headmaster’s office for asked to another pupil for a nib.

When Boy was 12 years her mother sent him to a new school. It was Repton, a very famous public school. He had to wear uniform but he thought that he was ridiculous with that kind of clothes.

At Repton prefects were called Boazers and they had power over younger boys, so they could hit them. There was a Boazer who was famous for the speed of his strokes, his name was Williamson.

He had a favourite teacher at Repton, Corkers. All the students liked Corkers because he never explained his subject, maths. He only made crosswords with the pupils.

Boy was good at photography; he was the only boy who practiced it seriously. His art teacher was Arthur Norris and they became close friends. He was good at sports too. He became in captain of squash and of a game called fives. As boy became in captain he was treated with great civility by the masters. His life was more pleasant since he was captain.

Finally when Boy left school, he didn’t want to go to the university. He started to work in a petrol company because he wanted to travel all over the world and had a lot of adventures.

Characters Boy: He was the main character of the book. He told the story about the things that happened to him while he went to school. He was the younger brother of the family. He lived in Wales but then he went to school in London. He always spent his summer holidays in Norway with his grandparents.

Papa: He was Boy’s father. He was from Norway but he created a ship broking business and he moved to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. He got married two times. His first wife was from Paris and they had two children, but sadly she died. His second wife was Boy’s mother. She

was from Norway like him and they had together four children. When he was 57 years old he died from pneumonia, days after his favourite daughter had died.

Mama: She was Boy’s mother. She was from Norway. She had four children and two step children from his husband. When she lost her husband she had to look after for five children alone. She always wrote letters to Boy while he was studying abroad.

Astri: She was Boy’s eldest sister. She died when she was seven years old from appendicitis.

Thwaites: Boy’s friend. He thought that he knew a lot of things because his father was a doctor. He always told stories to Boy and his friends about medicine. He helped Boy to make the joke with the dead mouse to Mrs. Pratchett. Finally he was punished too by the headmaster.

Mrs. Pratchett: She was the owner of the sweet-shop. She was a small skinny old hag with moustache. She never smiled and she hated children. She was very filthy and this annoyed Boy very much. So they decided to make her a joke. They put a dead mouse inside one jar of sweets. When she found the mouse she told it to the headmaster and he punished them.

Mr. Coombes: He was the headmaster of welsh school. He was like a giant. His face was like a ham and his hair was rusty-coloured. He hit to Boy and his friends with a cane in their backs for the dead mouse plot.

The Matron: She was the woman in charge of the dormitories in St. Peter’s school. She had a lot of authority and all the students were terrified by her. She was a large woman with blonde hair and she was probably no more than 28 years old. She didn’t like children and punished them very often.

Captain Hardcastle: He was a teacher from St Peter’s school. He was the teacher that Boy hated the most. He was slim and wiry and he played football. He combed his hair with immense quantities of brilliantine and he had a moustache. His face indicated that he had a very limited intelligence.

Corkers: He was the maths teacher at Repton but he never explained it. He was and old bachelor who was completely uninterested in boys. He was a boring man who always wore filthy clothes. He used to wear flannel trousers and a brown tweed jacket with patches.

Other information I like the story because it’s about the life in another age and it’s interesting to know how the people’s life was at that age and how different the things are if you compare it with the present. For example the education and the schools are very different. Nowadays a teacher can’t hit students if they behave in a bad way and in 90’s it was very frequent.

The book has funny parts and other parts are sad, because a lot of bad things happened to the main character. But in the end everything finished well, because he is happy with his new job.

Conclusion I recommend this book because I think that you can learn a lot of things with it and it was a funny book. I have read more books from this author but in Spanish and I have seen a lot of the films too. I like them a lot. My favourite one is Matilda I read it when I was younger. But this book is not a biography is a fantastic book. It tells the story of a girl with powers. There is a film about the book too. And the other book that I read from this author was Charlie and the Chocolate factory. It is a fantastic book too. But from this story I prefer the film than the book.

Iria_ADV1ยบD

The Boy in the striped pyjamas Introduction This book is a novel that was written in 2006 by Irish author John Boyne. It is a drama with tragic end and it was written in in two days and a half and it has been number one in sales in many countries.

Plot This novel is about Second World War and the story of a German family that moves to direct a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno, the youngest son, is very boring because it has no one to play with, so here he begins to investigate who are that people who are locked up next to his house. He meets one of them through the fence, Shmuel a Jewish child who lives there with his family. Bruno goes every day to see him and they become close friends.

However everything ends badly… Bruno crosses underneath the fence and he enters to the concentration camp wearing striped pajamas that Shmuel gives him. Suddenly, the soldiers enter the room and begin to put all the people in "the showers", but they are really getting into the gas chambers and unfortunately Bruno and Shmuel were inside.

Characters Bruno: He is my favorite character for his innocence. The world is different if you look through the eyes of a child. He can´t imagine what is really going on or what they going to do with those people with the striped pyjamas. He just wants to play with all children are there.

Shmuel: He knows more things about what is happening there but he is still an innocent child, because he knows that people disappear but he doesn´t think that they have been killed. His only contact with the outside is Bruno.

Father: He is a senior German army, with a close relationship with Hitler. It is very strict with their children and he wants to teach them his ideology and values. He doesn´t mind killing thousands of Jews people, however when he discovers that Bruno has dead at gassing his world falls apart.

Conclusion It is a book I recommend to everyone because it is a shocking story. Millions people were murdered in the concentration camps by the Nazis. None of them matter what towards, but when a child dies of the same way it is a tragedy. Do not do what you do not want.

Sara_ADV1ºC

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS by

John Boyne The boy in the striped pyjamas is a moving, tragic book. It is set in Germany during the Second World War. Bruno is the son of a Nazi commander who has been promoted and as a result, the whole family must leave Berlin and to move to a new house located in an empty, desolate place called Out-With.

The new house is smaller, full of soldiers and there is no one to play with, but through the Bruno’s bedroom window he can see a tall wire fence that stretches far away and inside this fence there are a lot of strange people worn in striped pyjamas.

The curious spirit of Bruno, his feeling of loneliness and boredom lead him to explorer the surroundings and he meets a boy who lives in the other side of the fence. This meeting ends up in a strong friendship with unexpected and fateful consequences.

Main characters : -Bruno: He is a lively, nine years old boy. He doesn’t like Out-With at all and he misses Berlin, his grandparents and his three best friend a lot.

-Shmuel: He is a skinny, Jewish boy at the same age than Bruno who lives in the huts in the work camp.

-Gretel: She is the Bruno’s sister. She is twelve years old. Bruno calls her “the Hopeless Case”. They don’t get on very well. She falls for Lieutenant Kotler, unlike Bruno that feels very cold when he sees him.

Other information: I was a pleasure to read this book. I enjoyed Bruno’s innocence so much that sometimes it made me feel like a child. In my view, the best part was the end.

It was really sad, indeed but I couldn’t imagine it any other way. In fact, the final was predictable and I knew that something horrible was going to happen and I felt the impulse to warn Bruno not to cross the fence.

In my opinion the boy in the striped pyjamas is worth reading because apart from being an excellent story, it is easy to read.

I wouldn’t mind reading another book from the same author.

Rosa_ADV1ºC

Review: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas The book that I have chosen is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, whose author is John Boyne.

It is an historical book about the Second World War. The historical moment is told by Bruno, a 9-year-old boy who lived in Berlin and has to move away without knowing the reason. His father becomes a commandant in charge of a group of soldiers in a concentration camp, so all the family, including the servants, has to leave her home. When they arrive at Out-With, they find a devastating environment where Bruno and her sister are bored and isolated. As Bruno liked exploration, one day he starts to walk without any specific direction and he knows Shmuel, a Jew who lived in the other side of the fence. They start a friendship that makes Bruno cross the fence to help his friend to find his father. Then Bruno receive the same treatment as the rest of the prisoners and he die without suffering.

The main characters are Bruno, a brilliant and curious boy who has a good relationship with his grand-mother and a bad one with his sister. He has a lot of respect to his father; Shmuel, the Jew boy who becomes Bruno’s friend and Gretel, Bruno’s sister. She thinks that he is too little to understand things. Furthermore, there are Bruno’s parents. His father is a good man who is in favour of Nazism’s ideology because of his ignorance and his mother is a woman devoted to her family.

I have liked a lot this book because I felt the same emotions as the main character, Bruno.

Things are told with subtlety and we have to complete the meaning of the sentences with imagination.

I would recommend the book because I think it is special, so I would read more books by John Boyne.

Carla_ADV1ºC

ANIMAL FARM_Book Review by Violeta Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is not only a political allegory, but also the story of how the ideals of a revolution can be taken up and betrayed.

The author set the revolution in a farm, organized by animals, against the human being. Before dying, the Old Major relate to the rest of the animals, that he has had a dream: freedom, equality and work according to their ability and to support themselves are possible. Fed up of being treated with cruelty by their masters, they rebel and drive them off the farm, and take over running it by themselves.

The great ideas, promises of welfare and the symbols of the revolution such as the principles, the anthem, the flag or the meetings, contribute to think that it could work.

Unfortunately, too soon things start to change, in a different way they expected: -

The saviours turn into the new evils: pigs get out of hand and start changing the rules, taking control of the farm.

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Things doesn’t change too much for most of the animals, they go worse, indeed.

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Promises and rules are turned up-side-down curiously benefiting those with power in the new organization.

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The interests of the new dictator doesn´t seemed to be very different from the ones of the previous oppressor.

Some aspects contribute enormously to the succeed of the failure of the revolution: -

The use that the new oppressors do of the propaganda and the repression.

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The illiteracy and the low ability of analysis and criticism of many of the animals that had taken part in the original rebellion.

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The bad memory of many of the animals and the ability of one of the pigs to rewrite their memories.

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The little that most of the times are learnt from history.

The main characters are: -

Boxer: One of the farm´s two cart-horses. A hard worker, the strongest animal on the farm, not too intelligent but steady and determined. He takes as his motto at the beginning: “I will work harder”, and later: “Napoleon is always right”.

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Napoleon: The pig dictator.

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Benjamin: The farm donkey and the oldest animal on the farm. He doesn´t take a position on the revolution. He is certain that “life would go on as it always had gone on”, and he is right.

This reading isn´t boring at all. You really feel outraged with the behavior of the pigs. You want to believe as Boxer do. You feel disappointed when you see that all the efforts of Boxer towards a greater goal, are all worthless. You admire the friendship and respect of Benjamin and Boxer despite of their opposite personalities.

To sum up, if you haven´t read this book, I highly recommend it. And one more thing: if you don ´t know much of the Russian revolution, don´t worry about that, because you can appreciate the story without understanding the political message.

Violeta_AD1ºC

“ BOY, Tales of Childhood” The review by Aida “Boy” is the autobiography of the author Roald Dahl, it is a book about his adventures during his childhood. Some of these adventures were funny or unpleasant, and some were the engine for his future best-seller books, like “Charlie and the chocolate factory”.

The book starts telling us about his parents’ life and how they got a good life working hard. It continues with his birth and his life at home. At the age of seven he had to start the school and it was then when his adventures started too.

In his book, Dahl explains what life was like in the early 1900s and talks about Norwegian customs. He also tells us about the difficulties he had/experienced with the teachers and schoolmates while he was at schools.

In the end, he left school at eighteen and he became a businessman at Shell Company.

Main Characters: •

Roald Dahl, he was a nice child who wanted to know new things, to explore and to live adventures. He didn’t accept the rules if he believed they were abusive but he knew exactly how to act not to make things worse.

•

His mum, I think she was a strong woman who knew how to bring up their children by herself, and she accepted their children’s decisions to live their own life. At that time this wasn’t very common.

•

Teachers and Headmasters, they were the bad characters in his life; they punished him and beat him with a cane throughout his life at school. All of them except for one, Arthur Norris, his art teacher who awakened his love for photography making him a great photographer.

In my opinion this is a funny book that makes you feel as if you were experiencing the story in your own skin. The author makes his own comments between the stories making you see the irony and injustice of certain situations, and that is what I liked most.

I’ve learnt interesting information, like when he was young Oslo was called Christiania or the bad ways that doctors used to have in those days.

For me, the best part was the one about the adventures at the magic islands. I would like to go there and explore it like the author; I think it must be a wonderful place where one could live adventures. And it was very funny when he put the goat’s dropping in the pipe of his sister’s fiancé.

I’d recommend this book because it is interesting and funny and you can see how a little child becomes in a great writer and why he wrote some of his best-selling books.

Aida_ADV1ºC