So goodbye and thank you to all the people who looked at the blog. I hope you enjoyed it.  I hope I have a blog next year!

1. In the book, it states that on the Kansas prairie there are no other houses in sight. In the movie, there are many other houses, and also other characters that resemble characters in the land of Oz.
2. In the book, the slippers from the Wicked Witch of the East are silver. In the movie, they are ruby.
3. In the book, Dorothy doesn’t meet the Wicked Witch of the West until later in the book, when Oz tells her to kill the witch. In the movie, Dorothy meets her when the west witch is at the body of the Witch of the East.
4. In the movie, there are a more songs than there are in the book.
5. There are less obstacles along the yellow brick road in the movie.
6. In the book, Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion get stuck in the poppy field and are rescued by the field mice. In the movie, the field mice don’t exist, and Dorothy is rescued by Glinda, who, in the movie, is the Witch of the North, and not the Witch of the South.
7. Oz says in the book that Dorothy & Co (Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin man, and the Lion) have to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. In the movie, they only have to bring her broom.
8. The great head that only appears for Dorothy in the book appears to all of Dorothy & Co in the movie. This is because all of the characters met Oz at the same time in the movie, unlike the book.
9. I don’t need to write about what happened in the Witch of the West’s castle. If you’ve read the book and watched the movie, you know the differences, and there are too many to say right now.
10. In the book, at the part where the wizard goes up in a balloon, Dorothy goes to the south to find Glinda. In the movie, Glinda floats up in a bubble.
11. THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE OF THEM ALL: In the book, the story is real. In the movie, it is a dream.

I think the movie is only an average adaptation of the book. Maybe the slipper color should have stayed the same. I don’t see the point of changing it. I can understand why they made some of the changes above. Since the film was made in 1939, it might have been hard to make special effects. Most of the special effects today are no big deal. But others that were above didn’t even involve special effects. I don’t understand why they changed them.

If I was asked who I would rather travel with: Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), or Dorothy, I would say that I would rather travel with Dorothy, because (no offense to the people who disagree) Alice, if she has a problem, always is going to give up and say, “Oh, no! What should I do?” It’s my opinion that if Dorothy had the same problem, she would actually try to find an answer to it. I like a character who will find solutions to things.

I like both the book and the movie. All the non-flesh characters were quite interesting, especially how L. Frank Baum (the author), makes them have origins, since Baum says “they were formed by… (e.x. The Scarecrow was made by a farmer and put on a pole, but the farmer forgot to give him a brain.) The plot was also interesting. It was the same in both the book and the movie. There are other books in the series. There are fourteen books in total. My favorite is called Ozma of Oz. It is the third in the series. I hope someone will make a movie out of all the other books also.

Have you listened to the recording yet? If you have, you should know that Samuel left his mother behind when he went on the Mayflower. What? You didn’t listen to it? Well, now you know. He’s written a letter to her from Plymouth. Please note that the Pilgrim year started on 3/25, so “the ninth month” as it says in the letter, is really November.

Dear Mother,

I have gone on The Mayflower and arrived very far north of Jamestown! We have landed in a place that they call “Cape Cod”. We have made a new set of laws , for the laws in Jamestown no longer exist for us. We call this new set of laws “The Mayflower Compact”. It says that all have equal rights. On the ship, the main mast cracked. We all thought we were lost until we found a screw from the printing press, and be the mast held. And then, in the ninth month, we saw land in the new world. We are building a village in a place that we call Plymouth, in honor of Plymouth, England, the place we set sail from. The Billington boys are getting into lots of trouble. On the ship, they almost set aflame gunpowder, and if they had, thou would not be receiving this letter. Our cabin had not much space, for if we move a small distance, we hit our neighbor.  We are now living in a “common house” that everyone lives in.

Your loving son,

Samuel

Poor Samuel.  The common house was blown up by some sparks.

Dear Mother,

The common house is no more!  It was exploded by some sparks.  We are building individual homes now.  Father is struggling to make one.  If I go to heaven from this, I’ll tell God to save the rest of us.

Your loving and endangered son,

Samuel

Many died, but Samuel was lucky.

Dear Mother,

Praise God, I have survived!  There is lots to hunt in Plimouth.  William Bradford got caught by one leg in an Indian fox trap!  He had to wait for his friends to cut the rope and set him free.

Your loving son and pilgrim who has not written a very long letter this time,

Samuel 

Cinderella and the Cheese

By c16tk

A long time ago in the time of magic, there was a girl named Cinderella. Cinderella lived in a kingdom where, for some strange reason, all the royalty loved cheese. Her parents had died a while ago, so she had only her sisters for company. But they were arrogant and mean, and they made her do all their work. She had no way to stop them, for they were twice the size of her.

A few weeks after her parents died, her clothes were ragged and torn, and dirty from searching to find the milk from the goats that could be used to make cheese. It was essential for them to make cheese if they were living in the kingdom, because if any of the royalty found out, the orphans would be punished.

When she asked why she had to do all the work, they said, “Do you expect us to do the work, in our beautiful clothes?” Their clothes weren’t that beautiful. They had too much pride, which was partly why they were so mean.

One day, a messenger came to every house in the kingdom saying that the prince would marry whoever could make the best cheese. The contest would take place a week from then in the castle kitchen.

“A week?” said one of the sisters. “We have a week to make a recipe?” The messenger nodded and left.

The minute he left, the sisters ran to the kitchen and started trying things out. They made Cinderella get out from the cupboard everything they needed. This went on for hours. The sisters finally chose a recipe that tasted terrible, for it was the best cheese they could make.

A week later, they were about to set off for the contest. One of them told Cinderella, ”After you wash the dishes, clean the fireplace, and fill the wood box, you may go to the contest and make a fool of yourself.” They set off, while Cinderella started washing the dishes. But it was slow work, and after an hour had passed, she began to lose hope. Just then a ball of cheese streaked down from the sky, there was movement in the chimney, and a woman stood in the fireplace. Cinderella happened to be filling the wood box, and was very surprised when she saw an old woman next to her.

“Do you want to go to the cheese contest?” asked the woman.

Cinderella nodded, and said, “But I still have too many chores to do.”

“Oh, I can take care of that! I am the Swiss Cheesemother,” said the Swiss Cheesemother.

She pulled out from her dress a wooden spoon. She waved it, and at once, Cinderella was dressed in clean clothes, not anything too fancy, but more fancy than she had been wearing in years. She waved it again, and all the chores were done. The Swiss Cheesemother gave Cinderella a recipe, and before Cinderella could ask anything about her, she had vanished.

Cinderella ran to the castle. Everybody was almost done trying out his or her cheese. Cinderella saw the prince try out her sister’s cheese. He ate it, waited a few seconds, and vomited all over them. Cinderella laughed and started making her cheese. Soon she was finished. She gave it to the prince, who had recovered from being sick. It looked like any other cheese, but it smelled much better than the muck that Cinderella’s sisters had made. When the prince tried it, he became so happy he made an announcement that he had found his wife. He was making arrangements for the wedding when Cinderella saw her sisters. They were about to leave! She ran home in such a hurry that her recipe fell out of her pocket and landed on the floor of the castle. Cinderella ran home and closed the door just before her sisters came home. They were covered in vomit. Cinderella’s clothes had turned dirty and ragged again.

“What have you been doing?” asked one of the sisters. “You’re out of breath.”

“Well, making me do all the chores, what would you expect?” said Cinderella, annoyed.

“There was someone at the ball that made the so-called best cheese of the century,” said the other sister. “And when that disrespectful prince tried ours’ he vomited all over us!”

Meanwhile, at the castle, the prince came back from his arrangements and was very surprised to see Cinderella not there. He searched the entire palace. Then he found the recipe near the exit. He read it over, and then, seeing the door next to him, he knew what had happened. He went to his father, the king, and asked for advice. The king said he would think about the situation and he would try to solve the problem. Meanwhile Cinderella was again made to clean the prince’s vomit off her sisters. They didn’t notice the Swiss Cheesemother secretly making a copy of the recipe, for she knew the king’s decision.

“Anyone who can name the exact recipe of the cheese that had the taste of my dreams, I will marry!” That was the speech the prince made the next morning. Cinderella was very excited, for she had found a copy of the recipe on her bed. Now the only problem would be for the prince to notice her. It wasn’t going to be easy. Her sisters were determined not to let her be seen.

The next day the prince arrived. Cinderella’s sisters were making Cinderella do work up in the attic. She secretly kept her copy of the recipe in her sock. She heard her sisters guessing at the recipe. “You travel to the moon, collect some cheese…”

“Next!” interrupted the prince.

Then the second sister tried: “You collect the milk from a cow….”

“Enough,” said the prince. “Is there anyone else?

“Oh yes, there’s Cinderella,” the first sister blurted out. The second sister slapped her, sending her across the room. She slumped to the floor.

“I’m sorry, my sister has some mental issues,” said the second sister.

Suddenly the prince was very angry. “WHERE IS THIS GIRL?!!?” he shouted. The sisters were so startled that they immediately pointed up the stairs. The prince ran up the stairs to the attic. The prince saw only a dirty girl in the attic. The sisters had been right; this was only Cinderella. It didn’t seem possible that she could be his bride. But then he remembered how strange it had been when the maiden had run away. Why would she have run away, if not for a very straightforward reason?

Cinderella saw the prince looking at her. She ran over and started naming ingredients. “Take the milk of a goat…” Cinderella named every ingredient correctly, but the prince thought she was lucky. He just couldn’t bring himself to believe that this dirty girl was his bride. He ordered Cinderella to make the cheese right there and then. He knew that if she could make it as well as she had at the contest then it would prove she wasn’t a fake. She ran down the stairs and went outside to get some goat milk.

“What are you doing?” asked one of the sisters. “And where is the prince? Have you done something to him?” Cinderella ignored her and went out to get some milk. Meanwhile the sisters were secretly having a discussion. They thought she had kidnapped the prince! They knew that he would want to marry the one who could rescue him.

Cinderella finished making the cheese a few minutes later. She was about to call for the prince when her sisters grabbed her.

“We’ve got you now! We’ll surely get a reward for rescuing the prince, you kidnapper!” said one of the sisters. The prince was upstairs and didn’t know what was happening. He hadn’t dreamed that it would take such a short time to make the cheese.

The Swiss Cheesemother heard what was happening in that room. In a split second she was in the room, invisible to the sisters. She waved her spoon and the next moment two goats were standing there.

After thanking the Swiss Cheesemother, Cinderella brought her cheese up to the prince. The prince saw the cheese and walked over to Cinderella. He took it out of her hands and ate it.

Without a delay, he ran down the stairs with her and called a coach to take them to the castle. The cheese had tasted exactly like the cheese he had tasted at the contest.

The wedding was arranged and the day arrived. The Swiss Cheesemother had made Cinderella enough clothes for a lifetime, and that load included a wedding gown and veil. Cinderella brought the two goats to the castle and they were made to make milk for all the cheese Cinderella and her husband would ever eat. They would have to make it whenever the couple wanted. Cinderella was given a room in the castle, and she and the prince lived happily ever after.

The end

Hugo, the lord’s nephew

Taggot, the blacksmith’s daughter

Will, the plowboy

Alice, the shepherdess

Thomas, the doctor’s son

Constance, the pilgrim

Mogg, the villein’s daughter

Otho, the miller’s son

Jack, the half-wit

Simon, the knight’s son

Edgar, the falconer’s son

Isobel, the lord’s daugher

Barbary, the mud slinger

Jacob Ben Salomon, the moneylender’s son

Petronella, the merchant’s daughter

Lowdy, the varlet’s child

Pask, the runaway

Piers, the glassblower’s apprentice

Mariot and Maud, the glassblower’s daughters

Nelly, the sniggler

Drogo, the tanner’s apprentice

Giles, the beggar

I acted as Giles, the beggar. But I have to end this post. You may have noticed that this post was shorter than the others. But if I explained every chapter then the post would be ten times as long as it should be. But I have an audio recording of me reciting the chapter. It will appear at the end.

The end

This is a paragraph C.H. wrote about the hurricane:

New Orleans Paragraph
C.H.

I think it is really interesting that we are having NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) buddies. I was also sort of nervous. Usually you learn about places from a “tour guide” point of view. But here you learn about in this case New Orleans from a personal point of view. New Orleans is in Louisiana, and the Lusher School is in NOLA and we have 3rd grade buddies there. New Orleans is continuing to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane and a Category 4 when it hit New Orleans. Even though they are in a higher part of town, they are still rebuilding. Since the start of the school year we have been learning about them and they have been learning about us. The Lusher School (and other schools in the Coastal Roots program) is growing Southern Bald Cypress trees (the cornerstone of the wetlands) to help save it. The Nutria (beaver-like creatures) are eating some of them. They celebrate a special holiday on the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of lent. It is called Marti Gras (Fat Tuesday in English). They have a party and throw out necklaces. They have a food that is called King Cake. It tastes really good. The tradition behind it is if you get one of two objects put into the cake, you become the king or queen and you have to do something. This year someone in my class with the initials K.S. got both objects put in so he is extra special.

(c16tk typing again) New Orleans is under sea level. It is around the coast, so you would think water would pour right in. Wrong! There are walls called Levees that surrounded the entire city. But during the hurricane, the huge waves broke the Levees. Water poured into the city with nothing to stop it. The middle of the city got damaged the most. It was the lowest part. But with the Gulf of Mexico falling down on them, even the highest points were damaged. It looked like the streets of Venice, except that there were cars underwater. And there were a lot fewer boats. Many people died and many more were homeless.

So will you take pity on New Orleans? It won’t take that much work if everyone works together. If only one person from each family helped for a week, New Orleans could soon become the city it once was. But if it keeps going on like this, it may take years before NO is repaired. So imagine living in New Orleans. Which one would you prefer?