PART II (Task # 34- connect to a character who is most like you)

Heaven Can Wait is a novel about true love. It is absolutely fantastic, unique, cute, and unusual and with ending that no one could predict. This is one of the only books that has made me laugh and cry that I hope will someday get made into a movie that I can watch over and over again. It is about being with a person forever and ever and doing whatever necessary in order to do that. It has sad elements and also suspense and an identifiable and real main character.
Right from the beginning, I already got trapped into the world of the main character, Lucy. Cally Taylor did a great job in creating the kind of character we can all relate to that I was able to connect with her character straight away. That for me is a sign that the book is a winner.
I couldn't stop welling up and getting a lump in my throat when she described how much she misses Dan and laughing when she did and said silly things. Lucy is kind hearted, loyal and funny and that's why she is a loveable character. As I was reading the book, I can really see part of myself to her. I saw Lucy's traits in me; daft things she said, using wrong words and making silly mistakes. Lucy Brown is a likeable character and you really want to know what happens to her then. In the first chapter of the book, I then noticed that she is like me, prefers to list all the tasks to be done. I noticed her being a left- brain dominant as she listed her tasks for that day, just entailing that she is a planned and structured type of woman. And in the following chapter, I observed that she easily overreacts even when gently teased as a result of being so stressed. With this, I got to relate with her that much. Whenever I have so many things in mind, I easily get blown up and irritated. More so, not to forget to mention, she has also a melancholic temperament, fond of keeping things which brings memories and so sentimental. I am really like that of person, to the extent that I even still keep a wrapper of a fudgee bar from a special person of mine. Just like how she kept the cinema ticket on their first date. She is also that sincere and faithful lover which I find myself to be also that one. Unable to suspend reality, unable to accept a lifetime's separation from her soul mate, Lucy decides to become a ghost to be with Dan once more rather than go to heaven and be parted from Dan forever. Because of this, I got to imagine how Divina would love her fiancé soon.
However, the only thing that I found myself not to be the same with her is that of her being a liberated type of woman. This is not to be a doubt because she grew up in a liberated country as well, that is far different from the culture of the Philippines where I grew up.

About the Author (CALLY TAYLOR)

Cally Taylor lives in Bristol with her boyfriend and their ridiculously large DVD/book/music collection. She shares her 'study' with the washing machine and ironing board and writes her novels in any spare moments she can squeeze in between the day job and her social network addiction . She started writing fiction in 2005 and her short stories have won several awards and been published by a variety of women's magazines. Her debut novel Heaven Can Wait has been translated in 13 languages and was voted 'Debut Novel of the Year' by chicklitreviews.com and chicklitclub.com. Home for Christmas is her second novel.

Heaven Can Wait by Cally Taylor

I was really excited about reading this book after seeing it in the Bibliarch. I enjoyed the flight of the imagination of the story: Cally Taylor’s vision of heaven, limbo, tasks and ghosts. I particularly liked Lucy’s housemates from “The House of Wannabe Ghosts”. There are so many clever touches and laugh out loud moments that every chapter was a new delight and I couldn't wait to see how Lucy dealt with the challenges she faced. The secondary characters were appealing too; I cared about what happened to them and was glad that trouble was taken to resolve many of their issues. More so, I couldn't help but feel sorry for someone who dies the night before her wedding, and that’s Lucy.

I laughed. I cried. This book made me feel very grateful for the people I still have in my life for we don't know when an accident could take them away.

Obviously, I've never died but I still found myself to relate to Lucy, which is why I couldn't stop welling up and getting a chunk in my throat when she described how much she misses Dan and laughing (and snorting like a pig - on the bus of all places) when she did and said silly things. I couldn’t help myself to see in her part of my character before; daft things she said, using wrong words and making silly mistakes (but as what I’ve said, that was before. Haha). Lucy is kind hearted, loyal and funny and that's why she is a loveable character and you can't help but care what happens to her. Connecting myself with the character straight away for me is a sign that the book is a winner.
On the other hand, being a dead character she came across as very real in which reminded me also of a Koreanovela, “Pure Love”. The protagonist of the story is also about to marry but then an accident happened which caught her into a coma. Same with this novel, she accepted a challenge in order for her to recover from her situation and to be with her fiancé and family again. The pressure is also there since she found out the true color of her best friend and her fiancé. However, it didn’t end happily for it was just all a short time and temporary, and so, she died.

I found the end emotional and very satisfying and it left me wondering what does happen when we die. I think any book that leaves you with questions like that while allowing you to have a good laugh at the same time has got to be a good one. There are twists and turns and all the way through, I'm thinking how is Cally Taylor going to tie this up, to give a decent ending? Can this situation of Lucy happen for real? Would Lucy still be happy if she accomplished the task and be a ghost forever, being an immortal and considering Dan as a mortal one?

The plot of the book itself took many unexpected turns along the way. Towards the end I thought I knew what was going to happen but then I'm pleased to say I didn't. I think Dan would also realize then how hard it would be to Lucy to be parted away from him just like how hard it is on his part. Though Anna, her friend is trying to take an advantage to Dan, she won’t still be successful because a pure heart will always prevail.

The Eyes of the Amaryllis (PART II)

Rose St., Corner Bombil, Cahilsot Village
Brgy. Calumpang, General Santos City
February 26, 2012

Natalie Babbit
Providence, Rhode Isalnd, USA


Dear Mrs. Babbit,

It’s a great privilege and honor for me to have an opportunity to write to a gifted artist and writer like you. It is my first time write a letter to an author and my first time as well to read one of your books and I found it simply amazing. I read that you are an award- winning author of the modern classic of Tuck Everlasting, The Eyes of the Amaryllis, Kneeknock Rise and many other brilliantly original books for young people. By just reading one of your works, The Eyes of the Amaryllis, I will not anymore wonder why because your works really show how a bright writer you are.

The plot is very well written and is fast-paced without ever feeling bored. The mysterious and powerful sea drives a grandmother and her granddaughter through some unusual experiences, while waiting for a sign from that lost-at-sea on The Amaryllis because of a hurricane.

Reading this book, I found it was rather similar to "Daughter of the Sea" by Berlie Doherty. Both books praise the ocean to a great deal, but if I were to choose the stronger of the two, "The Eyes of the Amaryllis" wins hands down. I've always liked this story, and considering why I like it, there are a number of reasons that I can't always explain. The characters and their relationships are complex, with shades of grey that Jenny can't help noticing. Her Gran's fierce love and deep faith in her husband are very fine, and her strength and determination are like rock itself, choosing to let her son go when he couldn't handle living with the sea as an ever-present reminder of witnessing his father's death. However, I have little doubt that Babbitt herself has spent a lot of time with the ocean. But with this, I could say that real love cannot really be satiate by water neither is drown by floods.

Along in its linear plot, I also look the story of Nicholas as a terrible and a foolish waste just like what Geneva sees to it. This book really shows the vulnerability of those who lose a loved one and how hope can direct one's behavior in ways that can't be explained with logic.

"Amaryllis" is a wonderful tale of longing. Now, I am quickly becoming such a fan of yours that I believe everyone should read your work. I am looking forward to read more of your works that has wonderful tidbits of morality and the human condition peppered throughout your narratives and morality tales that would always be a huge favorite of mine.

More power and God Bless!



Your supporter,

Divina B. Moradas

The Eyes of the Amaryllis (PART I)

I found “The Eyes of the Amaryllis” inspiring and uplifting. The Amaryllis is a ship that was lost during a hurricane which took Geneva Reade's husband including all the crew members of the ship. This incident left no traces. For thirty years, Geneva has been waiting and walking the shores looking for a sign from the ship and her husband, a sign she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, would eventually come.

I knew it was very throbbing and excruciating chapter in Geneva’s life then when her husband is nowhere to found. It’s not easy then to wait for signs in about thirty years with no assertion if it would really come. But for Geneva, she patiently waited for that moment to come. This is spun with touches of the supernatural. It is ultimately about accepting things as they are and letting go of that which you so dearly want to cling on to.

Many children nowadays find their grandparents mysterious and weird. When I was still six years old, I also thought that one. But, unlike Jenny in the story, as her granny shares the mysterious things in her life, I hadn’t thought even at once that my Grandmother seems to be mad. Instead, I really love to listen to my grandmother as she shares creepy stories in her life as well as her love life way back ages and ages then.

In the Song of Solomon 8:7, it states that many waters cannot quench love; neither can the floods drown it. I simply find this inspiring in relation to the story of the Eyes of the Amaryllis. Indeed, real love doesn’t drown, and isn’t overcome by an ocean. Geneva’s love for the captain is really deep and true that she has waited patiently for a sign she knows is coming. Although her only son refuses to visit the place where he lost his father, she refuses to leave it and move in with his family. I found this book was rather similar to "Daughter of the Sea" by Berlie Doherty. Both books praise the ocean to a great deal.

I really found this book amazing--so many themes, including the line between fantasy and reality, between the living and the dead, the sea and the land, understanding between the generations, --memory and moving on after a great loss. But I just wonder then how if The Eyes of the Amaryllis was set on Cape Cod today. Would the novel have worked more effectively than setting The Eyes of the Amaryllis in the past? Moreover, there's the open question of what to believe about Gran's long vigil by the sea, and what mysteries the sea might hold. Does the signs after the thirty years of Geneva’s waiting really signifies that her husband is still alive but just trapped by the sea which Geneva really believes it so? Or it’s just a mere imagination and all are just coincidence of things? How long will this so- called deadly game with the sea last? A game that only the sea knows how to win. What winning really means in this story? And as I read this book, I’ve got to question myself if will I do believe in things that can’t be explained?

I think, though for while Geneva's husband does indeed send his wife a sign, the sea is not happy with the gift and demands it back and by force, as it happens, but this will not stop for the love and longing both of them feels. Death would also not be a hindrance in expressing their love for each other even if Granny would face her death then. So even when Geneva would be saying farewell in this world, there would be still signs that her husband will send. This shows that the line between reality and imagination is indefinable. This is maybe a ghost story, but for sure, this is a story of an endless love.

About the Author

A gifted artist and writer, Natalie Babbitt is the award-winning author of the modern classic Tuck Everlasting, Kneeknock Rise and many other brilliantly original books for young people. She began her career in 1966 as the illustrator of The Forty-ninth Magician, a collaboration with her husband. When her husband became a college president and no longer had time to collaborate, Babbitt tried her hand at writing. Her first novel, The Search for Delicious, established her gift for writing magical tales with profound meaning. Kneeknock Rise earned her a Newbery Honor Medal, and in 2002, Tuck Everlasting was adapted into a major motion picture. Natalie Babbitt lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and is a grandmother of three.

The Eyes of the Amaryllis

When the brig Amaryllis was swallowed in a hurricane, the captain and all the crew were swallowed, too. For thirty years the captain’s widow, Geneva Reade, has waited, certain that her husband will send her a message from the bottom of the sea. But someone else is waiting, too, and watching her, a man called Seward. Into this haunted situation comes Jenny, the widow’s granddaughter. The three of them, Gran, Jenny, and Seward, are drawn into a kind of deadly game with one another and with the sea, a game that only the sea knows how to win.

Book Title: The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (PART II)

The Hatchet is more than an adventure story. It is a window to the world viewed to open the eyes of every adolescent. Though few adolescents would experience the actual challenges Brian had encountered during his period in the Canadian wilds, still, every adolescent encounters a comparable journey toward self-realization, struggles and independence. Moreover, in this journey, we should not entertain even a single hint of giving up, because life without hope is indeed meaningless. We should all be determined in our every ways, put all our trust to God and surely, all will be well.

All will be well

When you’re stuck in a place and nowhere to found,
When you’re lost and seem things don’t go abound,
When you can’t sleep because of the burdens residing in your heart,
And you just can’t escape the pain that freaks you out,
In these such times of great transition,
Don't get stuck in one position.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all rocky and uphill.
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you can’t; sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest then if you must, but don't you ever quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
Don't give up though the tempo seems all so slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Be sinuous, be bold,
Be tough, and don't fold.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a weak and wavering man.
When you think you’re no good
Never give up
Because you might learned too late when the night came down,
How close you were to the golden crown.

No coward is in a soul with Christ
Believe in yourself and have trust in His might
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Hold your spirit
in the course of veer;
Retain your vigor,
And remember you are all you have.
And all will be well,
As far as God can tell.

Book Title: The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (PART I )

Hatchet is all about a story of a boy's survival between nature and himself. Through this story, I came to realize of the thought of never giving up. Throughout the story, it implies that without hope, life is meaningless. Though, at first, Brian's mindset leaves him frustrated, hopeless, and full of self-pity. He longs for home and focusing on the past rather than the future. But later on, Brian learns this the hard way, but it is what sustains him when he faces the most difficult challenges for his survival. This only shows that what your mind can conceive, you can achieve. This is especially seen in how Brian calls upon his intelligence, memory, and youth to overcome such experiences as creating fire, fighting off a moose, building shelter, and finding food. He learns to solve problems there in the uninhabited part of the Canadian woods, in which potentially really be life-threatening.

The idea of maturity is another thing. Patience, observation, appreciation for the natural world, and newfound optimism all contribute to Brian's emerging manhood, a major theme in the novel in which we should also develop within ourselves. It is not enough that Brian must grow up to sharpen his survival skills; he must also learn the compassion and maturity it will take to handle the issues and problems in his own sphere.

In this story, Brian faces many challenges in his chase for survival, but among those challenges, his toughest challenge is in his mind. One of his biggest mental challenges is to stay positive in an outwardly hopeless situation. Whenever negative thoughts will come out in his mind, Brian just thinks of his English teacher who would say, "Stay positive and stay on top of things" (49). Indeed many students have been in a situation like this when they feel that everything is useless and began to pity themselves including myself before. Though I haven’t yet experience the way Brian had, to be caught alone in the woods, several times before, I also cried to myself feeling full of self-pity even for some little things. But like Brian, I came to realize that feeling sorry for your self wouldn’t work (82). Crying and feeling pity for myself will not going to change my situation. Sometimes, it is good for us to know that we are not the only ones facing difficult situations or feeling helpless and alone. Even a fictional character, knowing someone else who feels the same way do makes our situation feel a bit more controllable. Moreover, we should also bear in mind that God is always with us in every challenges of our lives, and so, we can always make it.
However, thinking all the angles why Brian was caught up in the wilderness of Canadian woods, why is it that his mother looked for another man and replaced Brian’s father? Was she not happy in her husband that’s why she had an affair to that man with short blond hair? I also wonder what if Brian wasn't rescued in the end. Would he survive when winter comes? And another thing, what would have happened if Brian had found the survival pack much earlier before? Would he be the same person after those days in wilderness under the book's circumstances?

I wish Gary Paulsen could answer my questions right now but this is just a fictional story that could really trigger our senses. I think, if Brian wasn’t had rescued in the end, he would still survive when winter would come. I know that human beings are all intelligent enough that we can still make ways in every circumstance. One very good proof is the primitive men so long ago who still had learned to survive despite of the climates even before. And if Brian had found the survival pack much earlier before, he would not be fully the new Brian after the incident. He would not be that mature enough to realize and appreciate all the things in his life and discover his hidden strengths. Beyond doubt, time and experiences here in this story were really his teachers in his self- realization.

Lastly, I really do believe that there’s no secret that will never be untold. As it is in the book of Luke, chapter 12, verse 2—“For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.” In God’s perfect time, the Secret he bears which burdens him that is, the knowledge that his mother is having an affair with another man would be revealed to her husband in God’s own way and so she may suffer then her consequence for committing that sin.

About the Author

Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen was born on May 17, 1939, in Minnesota. He constantly moved as a child, because his father was in the military. Both of his parents were alcoholics, and he often used books as an escape. Early in his adulthood, he held many jobs to support himself, including being a trapper and joining the army. He decided eventually to try writing and even became the associate editor of a men’s magazine in Hollywood, California.
His first book was Special War, published in 1966. This was followed by nearly forty more, as well as several articles and short stories. In 1977, he faced a lawsuit over his book, Winterkill, and even though he won it, it was at a high cost. During this time, he tried dog sledding which led to other books like Dogsong. A heart attack in 1990 has slowed him down, but has not stopped his interest in sledding, motorcycling, and sailing. He presently lives with his wife, Ruth, in La Luz, New Mexico, and Minnesota.

Plot ( The Hatchet )

Brian Robeson is a 13 year old who travels on a Cessna 406 bush plane to visit his father in the oil fields in northern Canada for the summer because his parents were divorced. During the flight, the pilot suffers a heart attack, causing Brian to try to land the plane, but ends up crash-landing into an L-shaped lake in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. He just manages to escape the plane before it sinks into the lake, saving nothing but his hatchet. Throughout the summer, Brian attempts to survive in the endless wilderness with only his hatchet, which was a gift his mother gave him shortly before his plane departed. He figures out how to make fire with the hatchet and makes himself eat whatever food he can find, such as snapping turtle eggs, fish, berries, fruit, rabbits, and birds. He deals with some animals like a porcupine, bear, skunk, moose and eventually becomes a good craftsman, crafting a bow, arrows, and a fishing spear. He also fashions a shelter out of the underside of a rock overhang. During his time alone, Brian struggles with memories of home, and the bittersweet memory of his mother, who Brian caught cheating on his father with somebody else.

When a sudden tornado hits the area, it draws the tail of the plane toward the shore of the lake. Brian makes a raft from a few broken off tree tops to get to the plane. When Brian is cutting his way into the tail of the plane, he drops his hatchet in the lake and dives into get it. Once inside the plane, Brian finds a survival pack with an emergency transmitter, many packs of food, a first aid kit, a pot, and a .22 rifle. Back on shore, Brian activates the transmitter, but he doesn't know how to use it, he thinks it is broken and throws it aside. Later, when Brian is cooking the food packs, a fur buyer arrives in a float plane some time after because he caught the transmitter's signal. He rescues Brian and he returns home after 54 days in the wilderness as a different person. He also becomes very thoughtful, thinking slowly on what to say before speaking. Brian later finds himself marveling at all the food, quantities and variety, at the grocery store. He finally reaches his father at the oil fields, yet he is still unable to talk to him about his mother's affair with another man.