The Lost Years of Merlin 1/30/14

Pages: 252 - End
Prompt: Summarize what you just read

Spoiler

Continued from last post.

     The girl Emrys had met was named Rhia. She and her friend, a treeling, half tree, half human, told him about the blight, which was destroying all the trees. The only thing that was protecting her part of the forest was the River Unbreaking. She tells him about the alleah bird. It is a beautiful bird that lives in the Druma (her forest). Soon after she tells him about this bird they see a flash of colors. Rhia knows that it was a alleah bird and they start chasing it.When they get it the Merlin that has been following Emrys around starts attacking the bird. He actually saved them because the bird was really a shifting wraith. Shifting wraiths work for the evil king Rhita Gawr who is possessing their current king, Stagmar. Stagmar hunted down all the Giants who lived in Fincayra. The shifting wraiths are bad because they can change into any shape they want. The always have a flaw that gives them away such as only having one leg or webbed hands.

     After she sees the shifting wraith in the Druma Rhia is sure that it is in trouble. She decides to go to try to protect it. At first Emrys refuses to help but then a stag that looks terrified runs past him and he changes his mind. Rhia says that they are going to the Grand Elusa. Emrys is scared because Rhia tells him that she heard an old legend that the Grand Elusa is always hungry and sometimes eats her visitors. On the way to her lair they spot a beehive in an old log. While they are eating they find a little man in the mud next to the hive. He claims to be a giant but he is shorter then a boy and is called Shim. They tell him he should wash off the honey and mud before the bees get back. He shrieked ran around a rock then shrieked louder. They ran to see what happened and fell into a hole landing next to Shim. That is the lair of the Grand Elusa, who looks like a spider, and she tells them the prophecy, "Where in the darkness a castle doth spin, Small will be large, ends will begin. Only when giants make dance in the hall, Shall every barrier crumble and fall." Then they leave her lair.

     When they leave the Grand Elusa's lair Rhia's treeling friend walks up to them. She apologizes for following them.  Then six warrior goblins come out of the forest and ask her which one has the magical Galator.  She points to Emrys and the Galator hanging around his neck that his mother Branwen gave him. They then hurt her and she runs off into the forest. They try to capture Emrys but a old tree Rhia had befriended knocked herself over onto the one of the goblins. Then the Grand Elusa came out of her lair and attacked the goblins. Two escaped and followed Emrys, Rhia and Shim to the river. They jumped in and Rhia begged the river to help them. It pushed them down the river and away from the goblins. Then Emrys and Rhia get into a fight and Emrys starts walking into the forest. He then meets the two goblins that escaped from the Grand Elusa. That is when the bird that has been following Emrys around comes out and attacks the goblins. They knocked him out of the sky after a few seconds then knocked Emrys out. When Emrys woke up Shim was sitting next to him, obviously upset. When Emrys asked what happened he said that Rhia had switched places with him to save him. He was determined to save her.

 (This does not go all the way to the end of the book even though I finished the book.)

The Lost Years of Merlin 1/23/14

Pages: 0-252
Prompt: Summarize what you just read.

     The book starts out with a boy on the shore of a beach. He has no memory of his past at all. He spots a woman on the beach and goes over to her. When he gets there he hears a loud snarling. A huge boar is standing a few feet away growling. There was a hollow tree directly between him and the Boar, the only way to protect himself and the woman.  He drags the woman to the tree without the boar moving but then the boar charges. When it is about to reach them a stag comes out of the forest and chases the boar off. After a while the woman wakes up. She takes the boy to a village and tells him that his name is Emrys and that her name is Branwen. She claims to be his mother. After a while Emrys discovers that he can move things with his mind. He hides these powers because all the other boys bully him and would think he is a sorcerer.

     The village kids think that Brenwen is a sorcerer because of how she heals people. One night they come and take her and Emrys out of their house. She had tricked them into thinking she was fire-proof the day before to protect Emrys. They were going to burn her and Emrys. When they were about to put Branwen in the fire Emrys pulls down a flaming branch onto the groups leader. He realizes what he accidentally did and jumps into the fire to try to save the boy. He then blacks out. When he wakes up everything is dark. When he feels his eyes they are charred. He is blind! When Branwen says that she is not crying Emrys asks why she has tear stains on her cheeks even though he cannot see. They discover that he has a gift only wizards have, a second sight. He practices to make this sight better and it gets as good as his normal sight. He then builds a raft to try to discover his past.

     After a huge storm Emrys reaches a island. He travels into the forest to find water. With his second sight he sees that this island is more colorful then anything he has ever seen. He travels to the river and takes a long drink. He then decides to explore the island for a little while to try to find traces of his past. When he climbs a tree he notices a pile of leaves that the trees seem to be throwing back and forth. When this ball hits the ground he sees that it is not a ball at all but that it is a girl. She tells him that this place is Fincayra and that everything is alive. She tells him how one part of the forest was killed and that the only thing protecting their side of it was the River Unbreaking. She tells him how their king built a dark castle and killed almost all of the giants. They then start working together to try to save the island.

Code Talker 1/15/14

Prompt: Summarize what you just read.
Pages: 0-85

At the beginning of the book a Navajo Native American named Kii Yázhí is going to a school to learn English. His uncle had convinced his parents that it was the best thing they could do for their child. The teachers at the school were mean. Speaking Navajo was very bad and you were beaten if you did. The teachers gave all the students were all given names that the teachers could say. Kii Yázhí was given the name Ned Begay. Then all of his hair was cut off. Hair is never cut in Navajo culture, it is thought to be bad luck. All of his jewelry is taken and sold to rich people. When he accidentally speaks a Navajo greeting to a teacher he gets his mouth washed out violently with soap. If students continued speaking Navajo they were beaten with heavy sticks.

Ned does so well in school that when his schooling at the school to learn english that he is invited to go to a normal high school. He works hard and all the teachers like him. When he turns in an assignment his teacher says. "Well done, Neddie. I doubt that your average white student could have said it much better." Even though he is a good student when that teacher hears him speak in Navajo he calls him an "ignorant, useless savage". A few days after that on December 7th they announce over the radio that Pearl Harbor has been attacked by the Japanese. Soon a recruiter comes to Ned's town and starts recruiting people for the Marines. Ned wants to join but you must be 17 and he is a small 15 year old.

Soon a recruiter comes to the Navajo reserve looking specifically for Navajo recruits. Ned is only 15 so cannot join. 29 Navajos join the platoon and disappear from the reserve. Later Ned finds out that they were developing their top secret code and going into battle. They were not allowed in public because their code was so top secret. When Ned is 16 he convinces his parents to tell the recruiter he is old enough to join the Marines. He then goes to boot camp. None of the Navajos know how to swim but they need to to be in the Marines. But because Navajos are so important to sending messages. They teach all the Navajos to swim. Ned walks along the bottom of the pool from one side to the other on his first try. After boot camp they go to another camp to learn the top secret code using the Navajo language. They also learn to use morse code. When I finished they were being shipped out to Hawaii.

Ripper from Delia's Point of View

"What's going on Carver?"

I was asking that through much of the time that I was 14. Here's the story.

I had been living at the orphanage for my whole life. I didn’t know why I was in Miss Petty’s office. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I wasn’t surprised that Finn was there because he is always getting into trouble. He was even accused of stealing a necklace from 10 year old Madeline. But when Carver walked in I was surprised. He isn’t usually in trouble. And if he was I wasn’t involved. That was when the headmistress told us the board had decided to not allow kids over 13 at the orphanage. She said that we had to try to find someone who would adopt us at The Prospective Parents Day. There would be more people then usual there because the new police commissioner,Theodore Roosevelt, would be there. Here are some places to learn more about Roosevelt: Wikipedia, www.whitehouse.gov, and www.theodoreroosevelt.org. Here's a picture of him:

I knew that this was a great opportunity. I just hoped that Finn and Carver wouldn’t fight. They are always getting into fights. Just a week earlier a locket had been stolen from Madeline. Miss Petty said that if it was on her desk by morning there would be no questions asked. But Carver just had to hide in the closet in Miss Petty’s office. When Finn returned the locket Carver saw him. As soon Finn fell asleep Carver put it right on his chest. When Finn woke up everyone was surrounding him. He saw Carver grinning and immediately suspected him.

At the Prospective Parents Day I had a surprise for Finn and Carver. It had already been arranged for me to be adopted by the Ribes. Ever since Carver had snuck into the attic and found a letter from his father he had been talking about his parents. He even sent a letter to Roosevelt. But at the Prospective Parents Day Carver wouldn’t talk to him. He just stood in the corner. He hadn’t gotten a letter back and was disappointed. He was going to talk to the commissioner but when he finally went to he was gone. I felt bad for him. I knew how badly he wanted to see him. I also felt bad for Finn. He had to choose from a life living with the rich Echols or street cleaning for money with his friends. He didn’t know what to say when they said they were thinking about adopting him. The told him that they would rather if he didn’t talk much. He looked lost and upset. When Carver found out that Roosevelt had left he ran down the street to try to catch him. As he was going out the door he ran into someone. The man was wearing old clothes and his hand was mangled.

I saw Carver and the old man arguing. Then the man went inside and walked towards Miss Petty’s office. Soon after I saw Carver follow. I hoped he wasn’t getting himself into trouble. A minute later I saw the man come down the stairs with Miss Petty.They then got into a cab and drove away. I didn’t know what was going on. When I saw Carver coming towards the entrance I had so many questions. When I asked him, “Did you meet him? Did you talk? He looked... interesting, like he’d been hurt in a war. Was he important? What did you do?” That was when I noticed that he looked... depressed. Then I asked him if he had even done anything. I was stunned when he said that he had almost knocked over someone from the Pinkerton Detective Agency then insulted him. He started to tell me that he had his card but that there was no city or even country on it when he suddenly ran off. I wasn’t just going to let him run away like that. So I chased him. He told me that the numbers were coordinates and where in the city they were. He wouldn’t let me follow him because he said that it was late and there were rough people out.

I had read about the recent murders and was scared. The murder had killed girls and they were butchered. The victims had all been wealthy people so that made my family a target. My parents and I get to hear all of the facts because we work for the New York Times. This is where to find our work: The New York Times. We are similar to these newspapers: CNN and Fox News. I enjoy working for the newspaper. One day I was riding along in a cab with my family when I saw Carver. He looked upset and was wearing old ragged clothes. I told him my address and asked him if the old man had adopted him. When he said no I asked him who had. There was a silence until Anne Ribe (the person who adopted me) said “The mysterious Carver Young! Delia’s told us so much about you... yet so little.” I was embarrassed when she said that. Then she asked if he wanted to ride with us. When she asked he suddenly said “No!” I was confused. The next time I saw him he told us that he was a detective and that he needed to break into the Roosevelt's office. We found a letter from the murderer and the handwriting from a letter from Carver’s father. We then discovered that the killer was the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper.

She works for the New York Times and is Carver's (the main character) friend.