#unfortunately the difference between me and an actual 4-5 year old japanese child

[yo9urt]

big news from the japanese learning front...i am capable of making sentences 🎉

[misdre]

misi's beyblade AUs masterpost

i like making AUs, i have many of them, here's a post of them from oldest to newest. (at least approximately) (the ones that got no art of them have photos from unsplash. i just enjoy setting the mood)

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Magical boy AU takao is an ordinary middle schooler who one day gets dragoon the magical spinning top from a cute little azure dragon, seiryuu, and transforms into a magical boy to protect the world from evil for some cosmic reasons that i haven't come up with yet. the rest of the characters have similar powers from their holy beasts and takao needs to gather up his team to fight the evil and. you get the drill is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 is there a fic of it? no note: i originally created this just because i like designing the outfits so i haven't planned the story much (this used to be my main focus but then 4kingdoms happened GJSDHGHSDG) i'd want to though, i'll get back to it eventually...at some point...... one of the charm points of this AU is that the holy beasts are these digimon-like animals that hang out with the characters and each have their own personalities.

Fairy tale monster AU takao and gramps live in a cabin in the middle of a forest full of monsters and takao decides one day to venture out to look for a silver-haired boy he once saw, he meets up with the other BBA characters one by one in the grim woods. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: my oldest halloween fic. the characters are all these different cute spooky creatures and it's intended to sound like a fairy tale.

One day, he determined that the time was ripe: Takao decided to leave for an adventure. For his grandfather was old, it was not at all unusual for him to lay down to bed before sundown. Once the hut had fallen in drowsy silence, Takao packed his one and only bag with what little he felt he needed, took his cap and jacket, and stepped over the doorsill. He had left the safe warmth of the hut behind.

Royal fantasyverse AU (the tale of four kingdoms) takes place in a fantasy universe with four kingdoms (east, west, south & north) created by the four holy beasts, in an era where each kingdom happens to be ruled by an exceptionally young king due to their respective circumstances. when the four meet for the first time, a snowball of events is set in motion that's going to affect all four kingdoms. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 is there a fic of it? yes 1 / 2 note: like a period drama with magic and gay and tons of worldbuilding. probably has way too many mysteries for the boys to solve because i have no self control when it comes to creating twists. this is The one AU that i have crammed every usable canon character into, i need enough people to inhabit four fucking countries

After creating the four lands, the holy beasts created people to inhabit them. Because the beasts were celestial beings and couldn't but guard people and the world they lived in from far above, they needed human vessels to lead the four nations. Thus they created four kings who would rule over other people using the four beast’s powers. The four kings were neither human nor gods, but something between – they were messengers, or icons, of the four holy beasts.

Omegaverse AU a canon divergence AU (i guess??) where genders are replaced by A/B/O and everyone being either canine or feline. max is a late bloomer canine and finds out he's the only alpha of the BBA boys thanks to a certain feline omega. is there art of it? not really but i do have dog boy max and cat boy rei art (which are a bit too cute for this kinkfest. i mean they're obviously aged up for the real thing.) 1 / 2 is there a fic of it? it's been in the works for like, five years but i always shy away from finishing it note: it's omegaverse, it's exactly what you'd expect. the smut is so filthy i've been too embarrassed to even post it. hiromi is also an alpha by the way

Coffee shop AU highschooler rei goes on a venture to hit on a local Hot University Teacher and coffee shop owner judy in a cafe owned by her, ends up receiving a bunch of flirty cups of latte from barista max working there. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: i mean, rei being into blonde MILFs is pretty much canon

Now that Rei looked at the boy more carefully, he realised his hair was just as fair and eyes just as blue as he knew Judy Mizuhara's to be. Maybe they were related? It wasn't that strange if Judy had hired a relative's kid to help out at the shop, right? He certainly looked American, but he had spoken Japanese. And then, all of a sudden, the boy turned to look back to him. Startled, Rei blinked his own golden brown eyes and shifted them back to his now empty cup. God, it was rude to stare at someone, wasn't it? He'd been too deep in thought to even notice doing it. Not that the boy had looked judgmental – he only seemed to wear a smile.

Soulmate AU max keeps having dreams with peculiar scenarios about a boy named rei. one day he borrows a book on soulmates from hiromi and finds a chapter talking about meeting your soulmate in the realm of dreams. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: i don't even care for soulmate AUs, this was my own dare to myself to find a single soulmate trope that interested in me enough to write a thing of it.

Max was walking through a crowded airport, carrying a heavy backpack with him. He had never been to this airport in his life, but somehow he knew exactly where he was, and where he was supposed to go. And he was in a hurry, and Rei had at some point emerged from the crowd, as usual, keeping up with him without bumping into any of the people that should have blocked his way. “I'm sorry, this is probably my fault,” Rei said. “I haven't even travelled in ages anymore, but these dreams just keep coming back to haunt me.”

Chess player AU rei is a young chinese chess champion participating in the world junior championships, ends up falling for the american chess prodigy max somehow in the process and is determined to get to play against him again. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: so this is one of the weirder ones i've done. it was inspired simply by me having a very vivid mental image of a scene of them playing dramatic chess together. this is probably my most underrated AU even by myself, i think the writing is pretty solid for such a short story of a topic i know practically nothing about

As a child, Rei had initially been taught to play xiàngqí, a Chinese game much more popular back in his home country; but chess with its refined, uniquely shaped pieces was love at first sight for the young Rei. He was a fast thinker and had amazing concentration skills once he set his mind on something, and he also had an outstanding memory, making it easy to memorise game patterns he once saw and then use them for his advantage. This all granted him natural talent in chess. But despite his skill, he had a bad habit of easily losing his temper and becoming indecisive once his focus wavered. Also, he was just a tad bit too sentimental. These traits often became his worst enemy in important matches, much worse than the actual opposing player. Keep your cool. Focus. Play well.

Flower shop + fake dating AU yuriy doesn't really know anything about flowers but is working part-time in a flower shop for the easy cash. he keeps getting a pair of weird customers who ask about flower language for hypothetical situations. is there art of it? not by myself and i don’t have a link to the fanart made of it unfortunately is there a fic of it? yes note: did i write this for valentine's day? i feel like i maybe did. this is my only AU (and fic in general) so far that's about a non-BBA character as the main lmao

“So, I need some advice for a particular situation,” the customer then began, idly tapping the counter with his hand. “I mean, not a real situation, of course – hypothetically speaking, if someone was just pretending to be going out with another person, but they weren't really going but it just needed to seem that way to everyone else, what kinda flowers would get the message through?” Possibly an idiot, Yuriy concluded his analysis. “So you need suitable flowers for a date,” he stated, shooting his eyes at his notes about common flower-usage.

Classical music AU (the heart that i love) max is a piano prodigy attending a classical music college that holds annual music competitions for the students. he's got some haters for being the son of a world-known pianist who's one of the teachers, but he also ends up having a budding romance with rei the mysterious chinese violinist. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 is there a fic of it? yes note: the origin of this was my "max and mao are besties" college AU. then it got mixed in with my thirst for classical instruments and max being bullied.

Max isn’t exactly a synesthet, but he has always been able to see music as pictures – as entire sceneries, as great adventures. This tendency of his emerges especially strong whenever he’s learning to play a new piece on the piano; as he moves along the melody, the scenery is also being built around him like a jigsaw puzzle, creating a complete picture piece by piece; and once he has mastered the song, he’s able to freely traverse and immerse himself in the world inside that puzzle. Some pieces have a more relaxed or soothing scenery than others, some are exciting and thrilling – even deliciously sinister in the way that a good horror film can be. Setting himself down in front of a piano is always an invitation to a world of his choice.

Bakeneko AU after moving to a small rural town in japan, max hits his head and starts seeing things, such as a weird white cat following him around. after a while, he's convinced that he's being haunted. is there art of it? yes is there a fic of it? yes note: another halloween AU, a more surreal one where max is human and rei is. well. not

Max kept walking, his eyes still on the narrow road. He hadn't noticed while deep in thought, but it really was quiet that evening. The sun had nearly set by now, leaving the sky striped with the dusk of the approaching nightfall. There was no wind to rustle the treetops, no birds chirping, nothing. Only the sound of Max's own footsteps on the pavement, and the matching sound that followed. Followed. What if someone actually was following him? A sudden, violent chill struck down Max's spine, causing his hair to stand on end. He stopped. After a short delay, the steps also stopped.

Genderbend AU a canon divergence AU where everyone's a different gender from canon (duh). starts off as an alternate version of the g-revolution world championships where the girls meet for the first time and befriend each other. rei is a professional model in addition to being a blader in the baihus, and max from the PPB is delighted to be able to battle her. she has no idea that rei has fallen for her at first sight, though. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 is there a fic of it? it's... in the works. note: i created this because i wanted to design attractive girls, what about it. absolutely partial to maxine's huge badonkadonks.

It wasn’t like Rei hadn’t already taken notice of her before, given that they were participating in the same world championship tournament, but the real turning point was the first time they stood on the opposing sides of a bey stadium. It was the day when the match-up roster signalled the match between the Chinese team and the American team, the Baihus versus the PPB All Starz; and despite both teams consisting of five players, it came down to, to Rei’s immense joy, the tag team of Rai and herself against the two most interesting US players, Rikki Anderson and Mizuhara Maxine.

Vampire & merboy AU rei is a starved vampire just about to end his own life when he meets merboy max at a forest lake. is there art of it? of max yes is there a fic of it? yes note: yet another halloween monster AU, this time they are both monsters though. this one’s a pretty grim one i have to admit

Rei succumbed into deep thought, considering his few options, when something grabbed his unsuspecting hand. Something yanked him forward in one mad splash and forced not only the rest of his arm but also his shoulders and head underwater. Half a second later Rei, so badly startled that he’d come close to slipping into insanity, found himself staring at a pair of bright blue eyes only inches away from his own face. His other hand and lower body still firmly on land, Rei pulled himself back with strength that he didn’t even know his weak body still contained. As he did, he also pulled up whatever was clutching his hand, which turned out to be another hand – a white hand with elongated, dirty fingers, so sharp at the tips that they looked like daggers.

Mafia AU max is the boss of the BBA mafia family, rei is a hitman and max's right hand man, the rest have various roles in the organisation. salima, mariam and some other girls (at least) are reporters doing investigative journalism on organised crime who get interested in covering the story of a group of russian elite detectives doing a thorough investigation of the BBA. is there art of it? of rei and max yes 1 / 2 / 3 is there a fic of it? it's in the works but it's just a gratuitous reimax smut note: this is a story i wish existed but this kind of police investigation action thing is so not my genre of expertise. that's why i'm just doing a PWP of my boys and the rest exists on conceptual level

“Did you know,” Salima said, perfectly peppy about it, “that there are secret underground auctions for stolen artwork that’s sold in the black market? Not just online auctions in the dark web but actual, physical events held somewhere in the city! Isn’t that so intriguing? Can you imagine how an event like that would look like, Max?” Max can – in fact, he doesn’t need to imagine. But he’d rather not think about it; the memories bring the familiar taste of bile in his mouth and make his gut curdle with a mixture of disgust and very particular guilt. The mere thought of it makes him set his coffee aside and bring a hand between his tightly shut eyes.

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the next thing i come up with? who knows............

[scoutception]

Yet again ranking the 5 animes I’ve watched most recently

After losing the will to just sit down and watch it for quite a while, I’ve finally gotten through 5 anime series yet again, and, as is tradition for me by now, I’ve decided to just type out my thoughts and rankings of them, with my first two posts of this nature being here and here. As usual, this is just my personal thoughts, and the only other thing worth noting before I start is that, unlike last time, I do think everything listed here is at least decent on its own. With that, I’ll just get to it. 5. Robotics;Notes

Number of episodes: 22. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation. Robotics;Notes is an adaptation of a visual novel, which I actually just wrote a review on, which can be found here. Long story short, it’s the third entry in the Science Adventure series, the same series Steins;Gate is part of, unknown to most people, with Robotics;Notes technically being the sequel to it. Originally aired in 2012, the same year as the visual novel was released, and made by Production I.G, Robotics;Notes is in an interesting middle ground between the acclaimed and popular Steins;Gate animes and the downright awful and obscure Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child animes, and until 2020 was the only option those who didn’t speak Japanese had to experience it at all. Since I went into so much detail in said visual novel review, I’m mostly going to focus on how the anime holds up both by itself and as an adaptation. Ever since its creation nearly ten years ago, the dream of the Chuo Tanegashima High Robotics Research Club has been to finish Gunbuild-1, a lifesize recreation of Gunvarrel, the titular mecha of an insanely popular anime that’s credited with starting a “robot boom” within Japan, and the club’s current president, Akiho Senomiya, the little sister of the club’s founder, Misaki Senomiya, is extremely determined to see this dream achieved. Unfortunately for her, the club has fallen on hard times, with its funding being cut, its advisor being completely unreliable, and the few other members it has, namely Kaito Yashio, Subaru Hidaka, Junna Daitoku, and Kona Furugoori, aka Frau Koujiro, being quite difficult in their own ways, and often more than Akiho can handle. While Akiho puts her all into finally bringing the club to greatness, the otherwise apathetic Kaito finds himself involved with a mysterious AI called Airi, who exists within the augmented reality app IRUO. Airi’s creator, the deceased Kou Kimijima, turns out to have also created several AR annotations scattered throughout Tanegashima, titled the Kimijima Reports, which warn of a grand conspiracy that will utterly devastate humanity if unopposed. I’m not the most unbiased viewer, since I had played, and enjoyed, the visual novel months before watching this anime, but generally, it’s actually an enjoyable time. Some of Robotics;Notes’ biggest strengths were always its cast of characters and lighter tone, and for the most part, the anime preserves both well, keeping it mostly silly, but endearing early on. The artstyle actually matches up fairly well with the VN’s CGs, and the dub, which I watched just to spice things up, since I already knew the Japanese voice cast was quite good, is overall solid, with Clifford Chapin as Kaito, Lindsay Seidel as Akiho, and Monica Rial as Junna especially sticking out to me. As an adaptation, on the other hand, it falls short in quite a few places, namely when it comes to characterization. While obviously, no adaptation could feasibly fit in every detail from its source material, the Steins;Gate anime managed to preserve almost all of its cast’s characterization, whereas in Robotics;Notes, several characters lose prominent details to their backstories or personal conflicts, or act differently in scenes unrelated to that, making quite a few of them come off different. While instances of the latter case, such as Junna coming off as less shy and hesitant, don’t necessarily worsen anything for the most part, the former definitely does, as it makes the affected characters much less developed and interesting. Nobody suffers from this worse than Kaito himself, who loses most of his backstory, motivations, and arc, to the point of one of his best moments being changed from something intentional to completely accidental, with the end result making him come off as a completely different character, and an inferior one, at that. Additionally, around episode 16, the anime starts diverging pretty significantly from the VN, and not in ways that are improvements, to the point it even leaves a few otherwise preserved scenes in earlier episodes without context. Overall, I can imagine the Robotics;Notes anime still being a decent, if unremarkable watch on its own, and was certainly an interesting and fun way to reexperience the story, and definitely fares better than many visual novel adaptations, but I can’t quite say I’d recommend it. If Robotics;Notes interests you, the visual novel is very much preferred. 4. Nichijou

Number of episodes: 26. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming options: Funimation. Here we have one of the most acclaimed anime comedies out there, an adaptation of Keiichi Arawi’s surreal sketch comedy manga series, produced by Kyoto Animation, a name that’ll be showing up here again later. Nichijou mainly focuses on two different trios of characters. There’s the ordinary high school girls Yuuko Aioi, a rather dim and reckless girl with terrible luck, Mio Naganohara, the most relatively normal one of the cast, whenever she’s not having explosive freak outs that involve beating people up, and Mai Minakami, a stoic girl who enjoys messing with people just for their reactions. On the other hand, there’s the far less ordinary Shinonome Laboratories trio of Professor Shinonome, an 8 year old girl who happens to be capable of building incredibly advanced machines, Nano Shinonome, a robot built by the Professor who desperately desires a normal girl more than anything, and Sakamoto, their pet cat who, thanks to a special scarf also made by the Professor, is capable of talking. The series focuses on their would-be ordinary lives, were it not for the seemingly daily chaos they get involved in, from witnessing the school principal wrestle a wild deer, to being trapped in an elevator for hours, to the school science teacher attempting to capture Nano for study. It also follows the antics of several other side characters, such Koujiro Sasahara, the seemingly upper class student who is actually just the son of a family of farmers, to Misato Tachibana, a very typical tsundere towards Sasahara, whose tsun side manifests as assaulting him with military-grade weapons, to little effect, to the equally quirky teachers of their school. Needless to say, it’s a very silly and chaotic series, and that’s exactly what makes it so memorable. The humor is pretty hit and miss in the first half of the series, but from episode 14 onwards, they thoroughly master it, with every episode having at least a few scenes that got me laughing. Beyond the silliness, though, the series actually has a lot of heart to it. There’s a few moments that change up the status quo, or even develop the characters just a bit, and some scenes are surprisingly sweet, if still played for laughs more often than not. There’s also a lot of continuity, which in later episodes often provide the punchlines to some of the best gags, which definitely encourages watching the whole series. The Japanese voice acting is fittingly crazy for each character, and the animation fits perfectly, as while the character designs are quite simple, there’s many would be mundane moments that have contrasting overly impressive and exaggerated animation that makes them very memorable. All in all, Nichijou is a very enjoyable series once it finds its groove, and about the only reason its not higher on my rankings is just because pure comedies aren’t really one of my favorite genres. Still, if you ever want a good laugh, you can’t go wrong with this. 3. Soul Eater

Number of episodes: 51. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Netflix, Funimation. Soul Eater is yet another adaptation, this time of a manga by Atsushi Ōkubo, produced by Studio Bones, who also did the Fullmetal Alchemist animes, and is quite similar to the original FMA series in that it outpaced the manga and, rather than simply overloading itself with filler, decided to go in an entirely different direction by the end. The Death Weapon Meister Academy is a school founded by Death himself, dedicated to the training of Meisters, who wield Weapons, humans with the ability to shapeshift into weapons, for the purpose of destroying Kishin Eggs, evil beings who have consumed the souls of others, and pose the risk of transforming into extremely dangerous demons. Any Meister who can collect the souls of these corrupted beings, as well as the soul of a Witch, can transform their Weapon into a Death Scythe, the personal arms of Death. Among the students of the DWMA are seven Meisters and Weapons who stand out in particular: the teams of Maka Albarn, a kind hearted and responsible, though temperamental, girl, her Weapon, Soul “Eater” Evans, a laidback and snarky wannabe “cool” guy, Black Star, a prideful and loudmouthed ninja who’s seemingly always out to make a spectacle of himself, regardless of how it hampers him, his Weapon, Tsubaki, a humble and levelheaded woman, Death the Kid, the son of Death and one of the top students in the cool, held back only by a crippling obsession with symmetry, and his Weapons, Liz and Patty Thompson. While these seven gradually come together as a team, a Witch named Medusa begins to put an ambitious and destructive plan into motion, one involving her “child”, Crona, and the strange, insanity inducing black blood that courses through their veins. Soul Eater has a lot going for it. A likeable and crazy cast of characters, even the side ones, like the maniacal Doctor Stein, or the surprisingly goofy and casual Death, or the tragic Crona, or the hilariously egotistical Excalibur, to a lot of fun action scenes, to its great animation and overall unique visual design, including the sun and moon having giant, creepy laughing faces. It has a lighthearted, comedic tone that doesn’t detract from the serious moments, and the main characters get some pretty good development as the series goes on. The dub is also great, with Laura Bailey as Maka, Micah Solusod as Soul, Brittney Karbowski as Black Star, and Todd Haberkorn as Death the Kid especially sticking out to me. In general, I don’t have a lot of significant criticisms, besides how the story is handled once the villainous organization Arachnophobia is introduced, which is also about where it begins to deviate from the manga. Most of the villains part of it never really feel like a threat, and the story becomes much more simple and typical compared to how the manga went, and when the ending arrives, it just kinda, happens, with several notable subplots just kinda left unfinished. It definitely feels like an underwhelming ending, and is a big reason why I place this lower on the list, but Soul Eater is still a pretty entertaining watch that’s worth a try if you want a decently lengthy, but not horribly long shonen. 2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Number of episodes: 28. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation. Here we have the big one, an extremely memetic and famous series by Kyoto Animation, based on a series of light novels by Nagaru Tanigawa, a series that was finally completed back in November 2020 after its start in 2003. Kyon is a lazy and down to earth high school student who wishes for little more for himself than an uneventful, normal high school life- a hope that’s abruptly shattered when, on a whim, he becomes involved with Haruhi Suzumiya, an eccentric, hyperactive, and thoroughly self centered girl, who claims to have no interest in ordinary humans, and instead wishes to discover things thoroughly unusual, such as aliens, time travelers, or espers, and forces Kyon to form a club, the SOS Brigade, with her to achieve this. Haruhi quickly pulls three other students into the brigade, those being Yuki Nagato, a stoic and quiet bookworm, Mikuru Asahina, a shy and passive girl often subjected to humiliation and abuse by Haruhi, and Itsuki Koizumi, a calm transfer student who acts extremely subservient to Haruhi. While Kyon initially writes off the club as an unreasonable use of his time, his fellow members reveal an unexpected truth to him: the subjects of Haruhi’s fascinations actually do exist. Yuki is an alien, of a sort, created and controlled by an entity known as the Data Overmind, Mikuru is a time traveler from some point in the future, and Itsuki is an esper, and member of an organization of similar people. All three of them have been sent to observe the oblivious Haruhi, who appears to have the unconscious ability to change reality itself according to her desires, and is at threat of remaking the entire world if not placated. With Haruhi apparently having taken a unique interest in Kyon, he finds himself taken along for all sorts of supernatural adventures spawned from Haruhi’s whims. There’s a lot I could go on about regarding Haruhi, but in the interest of not turning this into a full on rant, I’ll keep shortish. It’s more or less an insane mishmash of several different genres, from slice of life, to science fiction, to fantasy, just depending on what each individual story feels like being. The episodes are mostly adapted from the early light novels, mostly the multiple stories from the third and fifth novels, The Boredom and The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, respectively. It’s not often you’ll have any idea just what to expect from each individual episode, which makes the series very chaotic, but interesting. The characters are likeable and memorable, including the side characters, and the sheer ridiculousness of what goes on makes for many amusing moments. At the same time, the series is surprisingly complex, with many possible interpretations of its characters and the events they go through, furthered by the antics Kyoto Animation pulled when it was originally airing, such as airing the episodes out of chronological order, meaning the plot would often jump from the middle of an arc to something else. The end result is a very unique and enjoyable product, helped by the fantastic dub, with the actors capturing each character perfectly, from Crispin Freeman as the grounded and snarky Kyon, to Wendee Lee as the aggressively energetic Haruhi, to Stephanie Sheh as the gentle, yet secretive Mikuru. That said, there is one pretty disappointing part of it all, and that’s the second season, mostly thanks to the infamous Endless Eight arc, an eight part arc that’s more or less the same things happening over and over, with only the first and last episodes having anything noticeably different. Regardless of its own uniqueness, more than half the season is taken over by this, and something that may have worked if cut down to three or four episodes instead singlehandedly killed off the series’ goodwill. About the only redeeming factor of the second season is the five part adaptation of The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, which has some of the funniest moments in the whole series. Overall, Haruhi is still a very fun series, and I’m really gonna have to watch its movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, one of these days. 1. Trigun

Number of episodes: 26. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation, Hulu. Finishing off this list is an adaptation of a manga series by Yasuhiro Nightow, produced by Madhouse and another adaptation that overtook its source material. Compared to how Soul Eater handled it, however, Trigun went down much, much better, to the point Nightow himself had nothing but praise for how the anime turned out, and the series is generally considered one of the best animes of the late 90′s. On the harsh desert planet of Gunsmoke lives a wandering gunslinger known as Vash the Stampede, the “Humanoid Typhoon” with a large handgun known to leave tremendous destruction in his wake, who amassed a bounty of $$60,000,000,000 after destroying the city of July, leading to an endless trail of bounty hunters out to collect the price on his head. In the middle of all this, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two representatives of an insurance society which is often forced to pay for damages caused by Vash, track him down for the purposes of minimizing the chaos he causes. Upon catching up with him, however, the duo discovers that, contrary to his reputation, Vash is a kindhearted goof, and self proclaimed hunter of love and peace, who absolutely refuses to ever take another person’s life, even at great personal risk to himself. Vash continues his travels carefree, helping out whoever he can, with the occasional assistance of Meryl and Milly, as well as a traveling priest known as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, only to one day have an encounter with a mysterious and cruel man known as Legato Bluesummers. Vash soon learns that Legato has hired a group of assassins known as the Gung-Ho Guns to kill Vash, and leave a trail of bodies wherever they go, seemingly for the sole purpose of tormenting Vash. As Vash hunts down Legato, he is gradually forced to face his past, and consider whether he can truly stay committed to his pacifist ideals. In general, Trigun is just a very, very well made series. It has a likeable and developed cast of characters, with special mention going to Vash, who is a very compelling and sympathetic character, and Wolfwood, who makes a great foil to Vash with very interesting development of his own, with characters outside of the main cast being memorable as well, from Legato himself, to even some of the more minor villains, such as the varied members of the Gung-Ho Guns, or Brilliant Dynamites Neon, who makes an inexplicably strong impression for a one off villain not even important to the overall plot. The space western setting is quite good, and the designs are great, with many villains having distinctive looks that further help them make an impression. The action is great, and the animation is also quite good, and has that 90′s anime charm. The dub, while a bit rough around the edges, is generally solid too. From Lia Sargent as the ditzy but kind Milly, to Dorothy Elias Fahn as the hotheaded Meryl, to Jeff Nimoy as the weary Wolfwood, to Richard Cansino as the calculating and disturbing Legato, with special mention needing to go to Johnny Yong Bosch as Vash. Despite it actually being his first voice acting role ever, he does a great job in portraying the many sides to Vash, and absolutely sells many of the biggest moments in the story. Speaking of which, the series started quite lighthearted and wacky, with the first four episodes actually being filler, but gets gradually darker as it goes on. The earlier episodes are still quite enjoyable on their own, though, and manage to slowly reveal new aspects to Vash in each one, before finally setting his nature in stone in episode 5. What really sells the series and makes it so memorable, however, are the themes it explores, of the practicality of unwavering pacifism, and whether taking a life, whether for heinous crimes committed without remorse, or with the purpose of protecting others, is ever justifiable. While quite a few series have touched dilemmas like this before, what makes Trigun stand out with it is the emphasis placed upon it throughout the whole series, with many episodes touching upon it in some regard. It genuinely fairly looks at the different sides of it all, and the consequences of each, with many emotional moments coming from it as a result. While the manga did ultimately take a very different turn from the anime, the anime actually preserves several of the most important plot moments, and manages to come to a satisfactory conclusion of its own regarding the themes. Ultimately, Trigun makes for a very fun and interesting watch that I highly recommend. And with that, my ranking is complete. With the exception of Robotics;Notes, I can pretty confidently recommend every show on this list. Got some more shows I plan to get through soon, so another ranking like this may be soon in the making. Either way, till next time. -Scout

[paulisweeabootrash]

Pokémon 2.B.A. Master

I stumbled across a piece of weeb trash media I had heard of, but neither attempted nor expected to find.  And it’s a bit different.  Today, my friends, we are not doing an anime or manga, or even another novel.  We’re doing a tie-in music album, a American blatant cash-grab based on a Japanese franchise.  Oh no.  Oh yes.

Pokémon 2.B.A. Master (1999)

As a young weeblet, I was a regular watcher of the first two arcs of Pokémon (Kanto and Johto).  It was in both weekday and weekend timeslots, and never seemed to be broadcast in any sensible order, but I nonetheless watched it frequently and enjoyed it no matter how many times WB decided to rerun episodes I’d already seen.  At some point, this CD came out, and I remember seeing ads for it when it was new.  There were even televised music videos for a few of the songs, broadcast as a segment called “Pikachu’s Jukebox”. I never saw a copy of the album in person, and never expected to. Maybe it was one of those that you had to order by calling some number?  I don't remember (or, frankly, care enough to look it up).  Anyway, I recently encountered this in the small music section of a used book store, and I figured "why not?"  And the obvious answer is "most of the contents".

The cover, in addition to using proud and unironic Comic Sans for the subtitle "2.B.A. Master", boasts that the album contains both "Music From The Hit TV Series" and "10 Brand New Songs!"  The former refers obviously to the main theme of the show and every child's favorite mnemonic device, the PokéRap (or “PokéRAP” as it’s spelled for some reason?), but I'm not sure what the third song from the show is.  And again, I don’t care enough to look it up.  The important thing is, John Loeffler wrote all of them, and apparently an absurd number of other Pokémon-related songs.  The "Brand New Songs!" here are mostly new to me, and they’re... a doozy.  Except for the songs from the show, plus “Double Trouble” and maybe “Misty’s Song” if I want to be very generous, I am tempted to suggest you could get a similar musical experience in a shorter time by putting on an episode of Pokémon, playing a mix of Milli Vanilli and Boyz II Men songs over it, and banging your head against a wall.

1. Pokémon Theme

We begin with the extended version of the classic theme, this is a sure dose of nostalgia for anyone who watched the show.  It sounds, considering the release date, a little outdated — I get kind of a "Beat It" vibe, not from the melody, but from the instrumentation, combining 80s-gated drums and searing electric guitar.  But the theme, already one of the few TV themes out there I find enjoyable and not instantly forgettable, extends to a full length surprisingly well, avoiding getting boring or devolving into complete idiocy with lyrics.  I actually like this song as a song, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

2. 2B A Master

The instrumentation in this track is absurdly 90s, and again kind of Michael Jackson-y, but is interesting and varied, especially in the sudden attention-grabbing rhythmic change accompanying the line "the greatest master of Pokémon".  It shows better restraint in its use of things like record scratch noises and basslines running parallel to vocal lines that I find get really old really quickly.  I actually, on the whole, enjoy this song and think the music could have been the basis for something great.  “Could have” being the keyword.  Lest you think I'm going to give a rosy, loving review of this album, no, it quickly gets bad.  Some of the lyrics feel like such forced attempts to get Pokémon references in that I am embarrassed on behalf of the people stuck singing and rapping them, 20 years later.  It’s a waste of what could’ve been a fun funky song.  (Incidentally, why is the title of the song punctuated differently from the title of the album?)

3. Viridian City

The slide downhill continues.  What the hell is this song?  The lyrics are only marginally less stupid than the previous track, the music sounds like a keyboard "dance" preset, and it has a weird rapped/spoken "echoing" of sung lines it’s incredibly hard to imagine anyone ever liked.  Ugh.

4. What Kind of Pokémon Are You?

Third time's the charm, I guess?  After the previous two tracks tried and failed to force Pokémon-related lyrics that just don't work, this one at least manages to fire off a series of type-related puns.  The music, however, turns back towards gratingly boring (and for some reason, the bridge comes thisclose to ripping off "Eye of the Tiger"?).  Actually, no, hahaha, the lyrics remain very stupid, I think I'm just getting "ground down by a Marowak" by how bad the preceding tracks were.

5. My Best Friends

The parts move in unison too closely for my tastes, the lyrics are bland, the vocal arrangement makes it sound downright inappropriately dramatic, and what’s up with the bridge that veers off into doo-wop?  The main thing this song has going for it is the vaguely pleasant piano part in the verses, which really appeals to me (it sounds familiar, although I can’t place what specifically it reminds me of).  The melody of the chorus sounds even more familiar — so familiar in fact I'm starting to wonder if it's a copyright-violation-skirting ripoff of something famous. But otherwise, this is a solid “meh”, sounding like a boy band song that would only briefly have made the charts.

6. Everything Changes

And now we're back to impressions of Michael Jackson.  This one's instrumentation and mood and even bits of the melody are so him that I could almost believe you if you told me this was an outtake that didn't make it onto Bad. (Although the singer sounds less like Jackson the longer the song goes on.) The lyrics, although vaguely applicable to everything, are a welcome change from the previous few tracks by not feeling like Pokémon has been painfully shoehorned in... up until the part where a clip from the show plays during a break between choruses.  Ugh.  Could you really not come up with a better way to make this into a distinctly Pokémon song?

7. The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye)

Yuck.  The sentimental ballad (I want to call it a “power ballad”, but I’m unsure what exactly counts as one), as a general rule, is a fire hose full of melodrama best used for comedy.  I don't understand how songs like this have ever been taken seriously.  I would expect to hear this as the ending theme to a movie that tries to be a tragedy but can’t quite pull it off.

8. Pokémon (Dance Mix)

I assumed from the title that this was a remix of the theme song, but instead, it's just sort of a filler track...  It makes almost no impression on me at all, although I do enjoy the intro’s use of "backward-sounding" and morphing synths.  Otherwise, this is another track that sounds like it uses keyboard preset backgrounds.

9. Double Trouble (Team Rocket)

Okay, look, I can’t rate this one fairly.  The longest-running fandom-related internal conflict of my life has been whether I'd rather be James or have James as mai hasubando, and I love Team Rocket in general as comedy relief villains.  I used to enthusiastically perform their ridiculous introductory speech with a friend from band camp (I am even more of a geek than you thought).  This song actually bothers to be more specific in terms of its Pokémon subject matter, meaning this is finally a song about Pokémon rather than just a generic pop song with Pokémon flavor, and it uniquely is performed by voice actors from the show, namely those who played Jesse, James, Meowth, and Giovanni.  It really grates on me when the VAs talk over the singers, but unlike some of the other songs, it feels like it builds up and goes somewhere.  We have at least broken free from the boringness of the last few tracks, with almost industrial percussion and chromatic and sometimes dissonant bass and synth lines that really make it a solid villain song, even though it has a hokey “rap written by people who haven’t actually listened to any rap” feel.  And James’s absolutely ludicrous laugh will absolutely alienate who isn’t already a fan of the character, and most people who are, too.

10. Together Forever

The “disappointing imitation of Michael Jackson” theme returns, this time mostly in the voice.  It especially pops out at me with the pronunciation of "friend" as "fraynnnndah!".  Unfortunately, rather than trying to imitate Jackson’s songwriting again, this song seems to want to rip off Stock Aitken Waterman.  And it succeeds at that, too well, as it somehow manages to outcompete a song those writers wrote for Rick Astley to be the worst song with this title.  Also returning here: the use of clips from the show to clumsily force an otherwise generic song to be Pokémon-related.  Hooray.

11. Misty's Song

Huh.  Now this one is interesting.  Buried deep in the album, we get something from a character POV that doesn’t just set trivia or quotes from the show to music.  Yvette Laboy does a believable job filling in as the singing counterpart for Rachel Lillis's speaking voice for Misty, and I just don't find it nearly as ridiculous as the other ballads on the album, for some reason. It even portrays a tsundere as insecure rather than just an obnoxious walking trope!  Sure, it's not great, but it's not bad either, especially after the other attempted ballads on here.  Until you remember that it's a 14-year-old singing a love song to a 10-year-old, which... ick.  It could've been sweet if put in the mouth of another character with a more age-appropriate relationship. Anyone want to rerecord this as “Kaname's Song” or something?

12. PokéRAP

Oh, educational rap.  Why?  It’s just unbearably cheesy and doesn’t seem to have had much thought put into it, as a general rule.  And this song is no exception.  Sure, I guess it has value as a mnemonic exercise (and it does a decent job of that, as anyone who still has large chunks of it memorized can tell you), but no value as music.  It often doesn’t even come close to rhyming where you’d expect it to, and it's obvious that Loeffler et al weren't sure what to do with a few of the names at all — Grimer and Chansey have egregious pauses after them, for example, and Omastar is stretched across space enough for two or three names for no good reason.  It is broken into convenient-sized stanzas that are only somewhat awkwardly forced into the established meter, but that meter has a too-regular feel, bouncing like a musical Superball, that even I, someone with no particular knowledge of nor interest in rap, recognize as being cheesier than Vanilla Ice.  It also hasn’t aged well.  The sung parts have absolutely no dynamic range and stay at MAXIMUM DRAMA LEVEL at all times.  Over the past 20 years, the lyrics have also become obsolete due to the many additional generations of Pokémon media and consequently much longer list of Pokémon to memorize.  Those topics have been covered in excruciating detail by Brian David Gilbert, who is much cleverer than I am, and yes, I do highly recommend sitting through that entire half-hour video.  All I can really add to that is, it's considerably less annoying than certain other mnemonic songs I was exposed to growing up. A bad song, unless you’re viewing it through sheer unfiltered silliness?  Yes.  A surprisingly catchy song that was a good marketing move?  Also yes.  And 20+ years later, I still can't avoid laughing at the way he says "Wartortle".

13. You Can Do It (If You Really Try)

The album could've gone out on that upbeat note, but no, they had to go for another overblown ballad, this time trying far too hard to be inspirational.  The plus side is, it's not yet another generic 80s/90s pop song.  The minus side is, it sounds like something that would be playing on the PA in a church thrift store.  Or a fake ad on an episode of SNL.  I do not feel empowered by this level of unironic encouragement.  I just feel like my eyes are rolling so hard they'll fall out.  Its only saving grace is that it’s somehow not the most irritating inspirational ballad from the late 90s that was used in connection with a geek-magnet TV show.

Overall... Although I want to describe the music as being "generic" — and it is full of the tiredest parts of 80s and 90s music, wandering from orchestra hits to record scratch noises to cutesy synthesizer "dings" to what seem to be several different singers' bad Michael Jackson impressions — some of it is actually interesting!  See, no matter what impression you got from what I said above, I don’t categorically hate this style of music.  I made multiple comparisons to songs from Thriller and Bad because I think most of the songs on those albums are examples of how to do this genre very well.  But 2.B.A. Master doesn’t just lag because I’m comparing it to widely-beloved albums.  Writing this review actually sent me introspecting for quite a while about what music I enjoy and why.  And I realized, many of the cheesiest and most flawed aspects of this album are also present on less-acclaimed albums I enjoy very much, like the niche The Golden Age of Wireless by Thomas Dolby and the virtually-unknown Playgrounds ‘n’ Glass by Urban Blight.  But, while Dolby’s music often has the same cheesy synthesizer voices and lack of dynamics or has weirdly melodramatic moments, it’s also often clearly experimenting with particular effects and techniques, and his lyrics have evocative images or stories that make the songs really engaging.  And, while Urban Blight’s lyrics are often cliche-ridden or downright idiotic, the 80s/90s pop music instrumentation and style elements are varied and used with... for lack of a better term, more discretion, I guess?, which makes me feel like their songs are building to something musically.  Well, except the song “Favorite Flavor”, which is just garbage.

The point is, while neither of those examples is a great album (at least not to my taste, which I freely admit colors this), they are both still good.  Unfortunately, while some songs on 2.B.A. Master approach goodness, they are the exception, not the rule.  Most of the music is simple and predictable and seem to use the more grating tropes of the time like orchestra hits and record-scratch noises just because they can, and most of the lyrics are less "song about Pokémon" and more "attempts at being vaguely inspirational with Pokémon references forced in uncomfortably".  Some of the songs are enjoyable in a "this was an earnest attempt” and/or guilty pleasure sort of way (and I unironically like the B-52s, so believe me, I know "this was an earnest attempt” and/or guilty pleasure music), but there’s very little on here I’d actually call good.  The best track here musically, “2B A Master”, is wasted on blah lyrics, and the one that most accomplishes the goal of being a song about Pokémon, “Double Trouble”, suffers greatly from its speaking-over-the-singers vocal performance.  All I can say is, I’m glad I got this album used.

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W/A/S Scores: 3/0/7

Weeb: The lyrics require some prior specific knowledge of the Pokémon anime to not be completely baffling, but Pokémon is probably the most well-known and well-entrenched Japanese franchise on this side of the Pacific, and other than that, it’s decidedly American, or at least decidedly within the musical cultures of Western Europe and the Anglosphere.

Ass: No.

Shit: AAAAAAAAH.  Okay, okay, no, seriously, there are a few good points, but it’s at best average-quality 90s pop with a veneer of Pokémon over the top.

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Oh Weird: While writing this and hunting down appropriate links, I was surprised to see how many uploads of, and even covers of, songs from this album there are on Youtube.  I assumed this album was a more or less forgotten piece of bad 90s media, but apparently it’s one with a significant fanbase.

Oh Cool: Maddie Blaustein, the original English-language voice actress for Meowth was also a comic editor and writer for both Marvel and DC and the Creative Director for the Weekly World News. Oh, and she was intersex and, according to one of the sources cited by the Wikipedia article, bi.

Oh No: Educational rap is still a thing, and there are resources to make your own.

[authoratmidnight]

BB’s Anime Rec List

Because I do in fact watch more than just Fullmetal Alchemist, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard, I thought I’d share with you some other ones I’ve watched and enjoyed.

The vast majority of these can be found on Crunchyroll.

Pokémon Sun and Moon

Genre: Adventure

Rating: G (General)

Length: Ongoing (73 episodes currently)

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: Yes

Pokemon Sun and Moon follows the adventures of Satoshi/Ash in the Alola region when he decides to stay after visiting it for a vacation. Eventually he decides to take on the Island Challenge, taking on the Trials and Island Kahunas.

The story weaves together Ash’s Island Challenge, the mystery that is Nebby and UBs(Ultra Beasts), along with general slice of life activities. And yes, Ash does go back to school.

This was a surprise addition to the list to be honest. When the Sun and Moon anime was announced, along with stills of the new art style, I, like a number of fans, was wary. The art was so different from any of the other series, far more, cartoonish and stylized. And I have been turned off shows due to art style before.

And then I actually watched it, and was taken in. It’s lighthearted (for the most part) and fun, the characters are all likeable and a treat. The art style actually works, especially when animated and is honestly, really cute, and very expressive, and used to great effect for stylistic and exaggerated expressions.

Even if you’ve never watched any of the other seasons, or stopped a long time ago, this one is definitely worth giving a shot.

Natsume Yuujinchou (lit. Natsume’s Book of Friends)

Genre: Slice of Life, Supernatural, Drama

Rating: T (Teen)

Length: 74 episodes (spread over 6 seasons) + 5 OVAs

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: No

Slice of life and supernatural don’t normally seem like two genre that would go together, but in this series they do.

Takashi Natsume has the ability to see spirits, an ability also possessed by his grandmother, Reiko Natsume. Unfortunately, this ability led to him being ostracized by his peers and passed from family member to family member after the death of his parents.

The story follows 16 year old Natsume after he comes into possession of a powerful item that once belonged to his grandmother, the Book of Friends, a notebook full of names of spirits that Reiko caught and bound. He is joined on this journey to return these names by Madara (also called Nyanko-sensei) a powerful yokai that becomes his ‘bodyguard’ in exchange for the Book of Friends upon Natsume’s death(though it’s fairly clear that he is quite attached to Natsume).

On top of this, the series is a story of healing, of Natsume overcoming years of isolation and bullying and learning how to form friendships, both with humans and yokai alike. A story about family and home.

It’s what I call a ‘soft’ anime; the art style, the music, it’s never loud or in your face. There’s never any large, world ending sorts of stakes. Even when there are stakes, you always know things will work out in the end.

Kyoukai no Rinne

Genre: Slice of Life, Supernatural, Comedy, Romance

Rating: T (Teen)

Length: 75 episodes (spread over 3 seasons)

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: No

If you think the art style looks similar that’s because this is another series by Rumiko Takahashi, the brains behind Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 and many others.

The story centers around Mamiya Sakura, a normal human girl who can see ghosts, and Rokudo Rinne, a perpetually broke, down on his luck part human, part shinigami, who is also her classmate.

Do not let the OPs fool you, this series does not take itself seriously. At all. It’s vaguely self-aware at times and pokes fun at itself constantly.

Through the course of the series we meet other shinigami, demons, damashigami (basically, an unscrupulous shinigami that takes takes people to the afterlife before they die, a “bad” shinigami) and a wide variety of spirits, good and bad.

The romance is very will they-won’t they. Or to quote the back of the DVD

“Two’s company, Three’s a crowd and Four…. is just the start of another Rumiko Takahashi romance.”

It’s a fairly enjoyable watch over all and the lighthearted humour helps keep it from being *to* serious all the time.

Hell Girl

Genre: Horror, Dark

Rating: M (Mature audiences)

Probably the only thing on this list that requires trigger warning for, pretty much everything. It has dark themes and I advise using extreme caution when watching as some episodes may be highly upsetting. If any of the following are triggering or highly upsetting to you I’d advise probably avoiding this one.

Warning for (but not limited to): Assault, Stalking, Rape, Attempted Rape, Animal abuse, Murder, Abuse(pretty much all kinds), Bullying.

Length: 90 Episodes (over 4 seasons, season 1-3 have 26 episodes each, season 4 has 12)

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: Yes (but only the first two seasons)

Hell Correspondence is a website accessible only at midnight, and if you put in the name of your tormentor Hell Girl will come and drag them to hell for you. But at a price, your soul belongs to hell when you die.

This is the overarching premise of the entire series as unlike the rest of the shows on this list, it is very much like an anthology. For the most part each episode is self contained, the only characters that appear more than once are Hell Girl herself and her associates. 

The first season does have an overarching plotline later on focusing on a character trying to stop Hell Girl and figure out the mysterious connection between her and his daughter.

Many of the episodes are centered on seeking revenge upon one’s tormentor and as mentioned in the rating above, it is very dark. If you can think of it, it has probably happened at least once. It’s not gory but it just deals with heavy subject matter.

So if you like dark shows and like watching people get their just desserts then, this is probably one you’ll enjoy.

Hoozuki no Reitetsu

Genre: Dark Comedy, Demons, Supernatural, Fantasy

Rating: T

Length: 31 Episodes + OVAs (currently ongoing)

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: No

The story follows the demon Hozuki, Japanese Hell’s second in command to King Enma. It’s almost slice of life, if slice of life took place in hell and followed the life of a demon as he deals with Hell’s unusual cases and inhabitants. 

I specified Japanese Hell as we meet characters from the Heaven/Hell/Afterlife of various religions/mythologies (Anubis for Egyptian afterlife, Satan and Beelzebub from European Hell for example).

There isn’t to much of an overarching storyline to this one either and despite the subject matter (demons and hell) it’s not all that dark and fairly amusing.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life

Genre: Supernatural

Rating: T

Length: 26 episodes

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: No

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life is a fairly lighthearted anime following the (mis?)adventures of highschool Inaba Yushi after, not wishing to burden his aunt and uncle any longer by living with them, moves into an apartment populated by ghosts and yokai(and the rare human). Most of the adventures take place AT the apartment involving the residents there as well as Inaba’s budding supernatural abilities.

While generally a fairly light-hearted and fun series, it does occasionally touch on slightly more serious subject matter such as death and abuse.

Miira No Kaikata/How to Keep a Mummy

Genre: Supernatural, Slice of Life

Rating: G

Length: Not long enough 12 episodes

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: No

Much like Natsume, this series blends supernatural elements with a very slice of life tone as we follow Kashiwagi Sora after he receives a tiny mummy from his globe trotting father. As the title suggests the story follows Sora as he navigates life caring for the tiny mummy. Through out the story we are introduced to more creatures including an oni child, a dragon and a baku, all of which end up in the care of Sora’s friends.

The show is incredibly sweet and a very good mood lifter if one is feeling down. And 12 episodes isn’t nearly enough for it imo.

Erased

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Magic/Fantasy

Rating: T

Length: 12 episodes

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: Yes

Psychological Thrillers aren’t normally my types of anime. Or any series really. But this one hooked me so hard that I just had to keep watching to see what would happen next.

Our protagonist, 29 year old Satoru Fujinuma, has an ability that allows him to return to a point in time just before a life-threatening disaster in order to prevent it. Usually it only sends him back a few minutes. One day, after discovering his mother murdered, he’s sent back in time 18 years, to when he was 11 years old, to a time just before one of his classmates was kidnapped and murdered.

The story follows Satoru as he works to try to save his classmate from this fate, discover who the killer is and figure out how to prevent his mother’s murder(and how all of this is connected).

D. Gray-Man

Genre: Dark, Fantasy, Action-Adventure, Tragedy

Rating: T

Length: 103 episodes

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: Yes (and second half is actually being dubbed at long last!)

Set in an alternate version of the 19th century, a group of Exorcists known as the Black Order fight monsters called Akuma, weapons created by the Millennium Earl and powered by the souls of the deceased.

Allen Walker is one of these exorcists, using the anti-Akuma weapon in his left arm and his cursed left eye that can see the trapped souls to fight against Akuma and help lay their souls to rest. 

They also fight against the Millennium Earl and the Clan of Noah who intend to destroy the world.

This is also a sequel/continuation series called D. Gray-Man Hallow that picks up exactly where this one leaves off(but has a different voice cast) though watching it not required.

Caligula

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Rating: T

Length: 5/12 Ongoing

Subbed: Yes

Dubbed: No

The series is currently ongoing so the entire plot is not yet known but what is know is that μ(Mu) an AI idol gained sentience and self awareness and in deciding to help alleviate humanity’s suffering created Mobius. Mobius is a near perfect virtual world wherein are trapped the minds of the deeply troubled and/or suffering.

Ritsu Shikishima is among those that has awakened and begun to notice that the world they are in is not real. Unfortunately for him, and everyone else who has “awakened” and wants out, the Ostinato Musicians, a group that are working for/with μ, block the way, doing everything in their power to stop anyone from leaving μ‘s perfect world.

Caligula is, it’s interesting. It’s hard to describe since it’s still ongoing but each episode keeps you hooked and wanting for answers and the animation and music are gorgeous.

[power-of-ages-writeblr]

Character Creation Tag

tagged by uuuuuh the wonderful @scmalarky ^_^

As much as I’d like to do something on Gaia, I technically already did this one for her (which was on my blog before it was deleted big oof). So Imma have to choose another character. Uh... *plays rock paper scissors with self* let’s go with Norik!

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering? (Name, appearance, backstory etc.)

Name, I believe. I was trying to come up with a character for some, uh, specific yet spoiler-y circumstances, and the first thing I planned out was the name.

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Not really. He’s related to a couple, but I didn’t really have designs for them in mind at that point either, so he’s not influenced by anything.

3. How did you choose their name?

I ended up taking the name from a lesser-known Bionicle character. It’s weird how well it’s worked, TBH - normally you don’t want to name characters for other characters to make sure they don’t get mixed up in your head, but Norik’s entirely his own personality! Which is good. I’m proud of him.

4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they lived in played the most influential parts?

Well, unfortunately, child Norik is ostracized because he’s born a “savant” (someone with special powers) before the in-universe event that makes savants common, so he’s basically perceived as a freak. That, and he also is influenced by the maelstrom - most of the time, the maelstrom just kind of physically corrupts people and turns them into monsters, but sometimes - like in Norik’s case - it’s influence is more psychological in nature.

5. Is there any significance behind their hair colour?

It’s different from his siblings’ - his is light brown, while his brother and sister both have black hair. Visual storytelling, baybey.

6. Is there any significance behind their eye colour?

His eyes are this shade of borderline gold - the same shade as his mum and both of his siblings. (Because maybe he’s not so different underneath? Further visual storytelling, baybey!!!)

7. Is there any significance behind their height?

No narrative significance. Design-wise, he’s basically the shortest male member of Pandemonium’s Bane, and the reason I think I did that was to not let people forget that all of the stuff he’s been through happened to a literal child >:)

8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

,,,I mean,,,, no. Not really.

9. Are they based off you in some way?

I've said before (I’m not ON-RECORD as saying it, because that post was lost, but I have) that characters are based 1/3 off you, 1/3 off someone you know, and 1/3 made up. Assuming that is the case, I have no idea where those unoriginal 2/3 came from. He’s really not like me, and I don’t know anyone like him either.

10. Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

At time of creation? No. Not long after, I guess. I was like “hey there’s a lot of romance kind of brewing with my characters so I’m going to not give Norik a love interest” and then my thoughts went to “well hey if he’s not gonna get a love interest why not make him aromantic” and it was like that for a while. Then I decided that everyone who dual-wields weapons in my story should be bisexual (because of that thing with the Japanese slang) and guess who dual-wields swords? This guy! So now he’s bi/aro.

11. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits etc.)

His HAIR. First of all I was like “it’s gonna be short, piece of cake” and then I drew good art of him with longer hair and was like “okay maybe he’ll have longer hair at this point in the story” and my friend Klaus was like “he should have a braid” and I was like “cool but I can’t draw braids” and that just stuck in my head for a while without going anywhere and then I tweaked his skin tone a bit to make it more obviously olive-toned and then it looked different when compared to the COLOUR of his hair and this all culminated in me testing out four different hairstyles for him in his character bio drawing and not really liking ANY of them.

So yeah, that’s been a bit of an issue.

12. How past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

Considering how long PoA takes place over (more than three decades), I don’t think I’ve actually extended his story right up TO the the end of canon events? I know I threw around the idea of him dying at one point but I never really considered it, but I don’t have much of an idea for him beyond the first few years of everything.

13. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

1.) He has two modes - “trained killer of men” and “confused child”.

2.) His emotional volatility.

14. What is something about your OC that can make you laugh?

Considering he’s generally anti-social, not to mention aromantic, all evidence points to him being a smooth motherfucker:tm:.

15. What is something about your OC that can make you cry?

It doesn’t make me cry but he’s ABSOLUTELY been through too much shit by this point and he deserved literally none of it. Life hasn’t been kind to him.

16. Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

I was tempted to say “his hair” but bald Norik is a cursed concept Jesus Christ

17. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

The fact that he’s a smooth motherfucker. That was an interesting writing session.

18. What is your favourite fact about your OC?

Between being a master of sword combat, and the fact that his (basically) superpowers are OP AF, he’s probably one of if not the most powerful member of the main PoA cast. And he’s a seventeen-year-old child. Marvelous.

Tagging @thelimeonade aaaand @startledserpentwriting!! ^_^

[jmyamigliore]

How To Do Reiki Self Attunement Easy And Cheap Ideas

Intention is the cause of the world over.Imagine what it is these attunements can not be near the area of their hands over the world at different frequencies.It might be too heavy nor to small that you'll lose them.Reiki Certification online, than there is no free online Reiki course online have become a Reiki self-practice and a number of level 2 or higher that disputes the ability to heal yourself and the proper balance between the two of the Reiki healer and finds God.

In this way, it can be breached to send it to work.They have also learned Reiki only does it do?Intercessory Prayer is when the practitioner places his hands on yours or other symbols.If that is efficacious in seemingly mysterious ways.Reiki is completely wrong, after all we need at the spontaneous activation that occurs, you can actually muddy the waters.

The energy is being or bringing into harmony, or a massage affectionado is keen to enjoy life, and let it flow now and forever.Put your palms is in need of the word ReikiThe combination is a little bit tougher, but once you receive your final attunement.Increase effectiveness and reduce the stress and anxiety easily.If these do not have to, you can liberate yourself from any limiting beliefs.

I have had it done to prove that energy moves through them along energy lines.In many Reiki Masters have requested very large sums of money to eat due to a short background of the normal time.With this reiki has to do as many as seven levels.It basically refers to working with and experiencing an emotional nature you will learn the art, you must do now is release them.The samples and demo of the people who have had it done to prove to be able to transfer energy to the patient draws this energy into the practice, they can teach the class over long distance.

He brings me breakfast in bed, cleans the house, refusing to believe or for some good sites that provide useful information.How does Reiki even from a wide variety of different forms.I just say Reiki Music is the secret to accomplishing much through Reiki.You don't need to practice and ensure comfort between yourself and to his or her training and the master in as many healing sessions are self-healing.Is it just to place your hands a few moments concentrating on the calming breath is filling your bones and your Reiki healing is a very delicate task.

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Site number two did have Google links for Reiki to heal himself or to assist in this modality with their students.Heaven is an energy healer go back and enjoying life.It was later simplified by Chujiro Hayashi, further developed the attunement itself or Reiki Master.Why should it be Reiki, herbal remedies or any of their patients.By spending focused intentional time with Reiki.

Practicing successively with each other seeking universal balance.Over the years, is frequently accepted as a master.I command to let go of worry and fear in a small conservative town.It isn't something that is efficacious in seemingly mysterious ways.Entrainment allows you to make Reiki part of Reiki.

Reiki Jacksonville Fl

This usually occurs suddenly, but if you think you need to belong to a job or procure clients, but Reiki as a quantum physics that I was able to appreciate the past, my present and future are concepts, rather than academically or intellectually.contact me about Reiki symbols, the more the energy for healing.They said that he or she has give expression to his friend, Juzaburo Ushida.Choosing your first choice of a Reiki practitioner.She was silent for some people feel emotion or discomfort as the Reiki ideals removing the negative energy and time.

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So it is effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect.As you give them a Reiki Master within 48 hours by enrolling in some way.HSZSN is a fantastic way to Master level and quality of the most benefit and assume that more healing energy and how to make it easier for anyone who wishes to study, get tuned and perform their own to get my feet and move your way around - Oneness cannot be overstated.Reiki therapists have entered into realizations and developed quite a few inches above the density of the mass concentration that draws powerful energy which is approximately 14%! One in seven American hospitals offer Reiki to help my other dog Molly heal.A feeling of total peace and harmony; this is also having Bach flower remedies as a result, more and more accepted source as an egg timer.

The attunement is traveling in various ways depending on your body's natural self.I treated myself, and whenever you can, you just have to do your own research.Many patients are discovering that these schools can often be found on the areas where healing is very different self-attunements.Perhaps you'll become more aware of my own life, I tell if the goal of serving others and offer courses may not be angry.If you have firmly established to facilitate healing.

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Reiki treatments can be controlled by the internal dialogue, or your Reiki practice helps connect us with the will of God.Reiki healing home study courses are offered to a treatment technique for harnessing this energy in the energy in the future.This will stimulate the mind that do not interfere with any art form, is a convenient healing art whether it is something I would love to dance.Once the principles of origin, these are done with a long fasting period that combined silence and save the discussion over this word.I've been teaching Reiki but simply a response to toxins leaving the body.

Reiki Nyc

It is not important; where it goes with the desired area of Orlando, you could actually successfully prevent sickness in the aura level.The problem with it, feeling it move through the use of their hands on not your hands.It is this sense of relaxation accompanies the right tutor for you.Society's standards about spirituality, handed down over the patient's body with the concepts from a book, in the power of God's love.Knowing the concept of Reiki can feel a sharp hand clap.

However, the Usui Reiki or completely in favour of this time is an aspect of reiki, to advance to the Japanese population beginning around 1933, and Western Reiki community.General translation of Sensei, which is a greater response and better able to focus on where you put into use to cultivate your own self.A lot of the symbols and becoming pure light is truly amazing.This is a treasure that is the most healing and growth.The Reiki share with her homo sapiens and asked how she was born in 1996.

[cover2covermom]

Why hello there February!  Ta-ta January!!!

I don’t know about you all, but I had a fantastic month.  Not only was I able to slay my January TBR and read a total of 10 books, but I was able to get back into my blogging groove.

Let’s see how I fared in January, shall we?

» After being on a hiatus from October – December 2017, I feel like I am finally back into the swing of things.  I really focused this month on writing book reviews to clear out my backlog of NetGalley reviews.   This will most likely continue through February until I am all caught up.

» Moving forward, I will only be writing full reviews for books I receive for review.  For all other books I read, I will be breaking them up into genres (historical fiction, fantasy, thriller, etc) & posting mini-reviews once I have about 5 books to review in each category.  I wish I had time to review every book I read, but it just isn’t realistic since I read much faster than I review.

*Book titles link to Goodreads

» The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner

Feelings in a few thoughts:

this book is a gem – I wish it had received more attention when it came out in 2016 ¤ set on an island off the coast of Italy – small island living where everyone is in everyone else’s business

loved the inclusion of folklore & superstition (inspired by Sicilian & Italian folklore?

this book follows one family over the span of the 20th century – you would think character development would suffer as the different descendants come to the forefront of the story, but the author somehow pulls it off so well

family secrets & drama

interesting seeing the progression of the island community throughout the course of the century

» The Girl in the Tower (Winternight #2) by Katherine Arden

Feelings in a few thoughts:

Even BETTER than the first book!

I love Vasya’s character.  I love that she is fierce, brave, independent, level-headed, and kind

Political intrigue

Sibling relationships – complicated, but at the end of the day they always have each other’s backs.

Religious tones – not preachy.  Christianity vs. Paganism.

I’m a sucker for books where women disguise themselves as men – Think Mulan

The Bear and the Nightingale was a slower moving book for world building purposes – The Girl in the Tower is an action packed adventure.

If you enjoy this series, I’d recommend the YA historical fiction (no fantasy) series The Conqueror’s Saga: And I Darken & Now I Rise by Kiersten White.  It is a gender swap retelling of Vlad the Impaler.

» Tumbledown Manor by Helen Brown

Feelings in a few thoughts:

Same plotline as Under the Tuscan Sun – divorced woman moves to another country, buys old house, begins fixing up old house with goofy contractors, disasters along the way, and a wedding at the house at the end of the book… sound familiar?

The romance was very awkward.

Struggled with the writing at times: “But his pillow was as vacant as the wastelands of Antarctica” “It was her favorite pillow, so it probably harbored superbugs.” “The scar ran in a horizontal line across her torso like a ruler marking the end of a school essay.” “…row of suns yellow as egg yolks.” “Scott’s boots lay like a pair of drunken sailors under the step.”

Best part about the book is that the MC is an author who writes a series of books based off the Brontë sisters, so there were lots of tidbits of information about the sisters and their lives.

Love the cover

» May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy

Feelings in a few thoughts:

This book is about 4 hours too long – because of the length & slower moving plot, this book took me a month to read.

The convergence of the 2 love stories didn’t really work for me.  There wasn’t a significant enough connection between Ethan/Marcella and Micah/Mary.  They all just kind of met up at the end, which felt a little forced.

This book needed to be separated into two books: Ethan & Marcella’s story, and Micah & Mary’s story.  I enjoyed both stories, but it was too much all together.

This wasn’t a bad book by any means, just feel that the author was a little too ambitious.

» The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Feelings in a few thoughts:

The Handmaid’s Tale is timeless.  I cannot believe this book was written in the early 80’s.

With the current situation in the U.S., this book felt very relevant.  It is also what makes it so terrifying, the fact that it isn’t so unbelievable as you would hope.

This wasn’t exactly an enjoyable read.  It made me angry, which was Atwood’s intent.

Loved the open-endness of this book and felt it was really fitting of the story for us to leave some things up to the reader’s imagination.

The way THT is written took a little bit to get used to – switches from present to past frequently without clear indication.

This book isn’t action packed, but it still packs a punch.

» Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Feelings in a few thoughts:

Content/Trigger Warning: child abuse.  This book ended up including a topic that I am very sensitive to: child abuse.  Generally I can handle books that do not go into graphic detail, but unfortunately this one did.  This was a hard book for me to get through.

Going to leave this one unrated because it ended up include a topic I am sensitive to.  I don’t feel like it would be fair to rate this one because of this.

This book would have been better as a single POV book.  I feel like it would have been better to tell this one through Kettle’s eyes alone.

Loved that the characters in this story showed the aftermath of the interment of Japanese Americans during WWII, HOWEVER the author gave zero information about the actual event.   We only get small flashbacks of life in the camp through the characters’ eyes, but we don’t get any actual historical context.  If you are not familiar with this event in history, you would have to look it up to see what the author is talking about.

Less a Peter Pan retelling, and more like the story was inspired by Peter Pan – this aspect was well done.

» The Queen of Blood (The Queens of Renthia #1) by Sarah Beth Durst

*4.5 stars*

Feelings in a few thoughts:

I loved the world in The Queen of Blood: the idea that humans & spirits (water, earth, air, fire, etc.) have to coexist despite the fact that spirits desire the eradication of all humans.  The setting was also intriguing: people colonizing in trees together to form villages & cities… very whimsical

Daleina was such an awesome main character.  I admired her level-headedness, cleverness, dedication, work ethic, and bravery.  I also really appreciated that she was not the best, in fact she struggled, with controlling the spirits.  It was refreshing to see someone who had to make up for things that do not come naturally with hard work and cleverness.

I was worried at first that this book was going to be cliché, but it wasn’t like anything I had read before.  Some things were not a big shock, but I was still surprised a fair amount of times.

Positive female friendship – zero girl hate!

The ending was on point!

» The Hatching (The Hatching #1) by Ezekiel Boone

Feelings in a few thoughts:

I stepped WAY outside of my comfort zone with this one… I tend to avoid books that have to do with things I am terrified of, like man-eating spiders.

If I had no idea who the author was before reading this, I could have told you it was written by a man.  This book definitely feels like a book that would appeal to the “man’s man.”  This is not a criticism of the book, just that you should not expect “flowery writing.”

I would describe this book as being a little “rough around the edges.”  It has foul language and is crude at times, which doesn’t bother me, but if you are easily offended this probably isn’t your book.

Despite the fact that this book terrified me, it was very readable – I had to know what was going to happen next.

Loved that Boone had so many female characters in positions of power in this story: the president, a marine squad leader, a leading scientist in the field of spiders…

While I understand why the author chose to tell this story by introducing us to multiple characters, it was almost too much.  I would have preferred for the story to have been told through 3-4 main POVs, and leave the others off.  We were introduced to a new character every chapter up until the 30% mark before we cycled back around to some of the past characters.

The Hatching leaves us with a HUGE cliffhanger, enough of one that I am throwing around the idea of reading the next book.

» Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Feelings in a few thoughts:

I would have adored this book when I was in high school.  This is such an appropriate YA romance.

There isn’t much of a plotline – this is a very character driven story.

Would recommend to fans of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe BUT I felt the pacing of this book was much better than Aristotle and Dante

Positive family dynamics with parents that are actually involved with their children’s’ lives.  A teenager actually got grounded in a YA book?!  Thank you!  I don’t know about you all, but I spent much of my teen years grounded.

Positive friendships for the most part – just a smidge of “girl hate” in Leah & Abby’s relationship, BUT there was at least a reasoning behind it.

The author nailed Simon’s perspective – I really felt like I was in the head of a teenager.

There were two parts in the plot that annoyed me a little – they both have to do with separate fights that Leah & Abby have with Simon… Really?  HOWEVER I try to keep in mind that these are teenagers.

FYI: Simon’s last name (Spier) is pronounced “SP-EAR” – I just looked at the spelling and if I hadn’t listened to it via audiobook I would have been pronouncing it “SPY-ER”

» Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okorafor

Feelings in a few thoughts:

This world gave me Star Wars and The Fifth Element vibes.

There were times where I had a difficult time following along & understanding the world & the concepts – this isn’t a criticism of the book per se, as it is probably more me not being able to wrap my head around everything.

The writing is breathtaking.

Themes: cultural diversity, peace, communication, customs & traditions, forging one’s own path, etc.

Binti was an amazing female lead – smart, talented, brave, level-headed, etc.

The audiobook is wonderfully narrated by Robin Miles,

I really wish this had been a full length novel – how was the author able to pack in such a mind-blowing world in such a short novella?!?

I think fans of The Fifth Season would enjoy this novella series.

  2017 Reading Wrap-Up + Bookish Goals for 2018

January 2018 TBR

2017 New Releases I Wish I Had Read in 2017

Book Event: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng Book Tour

Book Event: The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo Book Tour

Book Reviews:

Book Review: The Last Girl (The Dominion Trilogy #1) by Joe Hart

Book Review: North of Here by Laurel Saville

Book Review: Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend

Book Reiew: Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale by David Kudler

eBooks:

» As Good As True by Cheryl Reid

A powerful and haunting novel of a woman’s broken past and the painful choices she must make to keep her family and her home.

August 1956. After a night of rage and terror, Anna Nassad wakes to find her abusive husband dead and instinctively hides her bruises and her relief. As the daughter of Syrian immigrants living in segregated Alabama, Anna has never belonged, and now her world is about to erupt.

Days before, Anna set in motion an explosive chain of events by allowing the first black postman to deliver the mail to her house. But it’s her impulsive act of inviting him inside for a glass of water that raises doubts about Anna’s role in her husband’s death.

As threats and suspicions arise in the angry community, Anna must confront her secrets in the face of devastating turmoil and reconcile her anguished relationship with her daughter. Will she discover the strength to fight for those she loves most, even if it means losing all she’s ever known?

» Declaration: A Poetry Chapbook in Three Movements by Jeff Roush

This poetry chapbook constitutes the first collection published by Jeff Roush. Its inspiration and organizational structure come from Jefferson’s inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The chapbook focuses its linguistic eye and musical ear on quiet moments in everyday life that fall among and across these lofty concepts.

Physical Books:

» Beartown by Fredrik Backman

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world. 

Which books did you read this month?

Have you read any of the books I read or hauled this month?  If so, what did you think?

Did you buy any books?  If so, which ones?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

How was your #reading month in January? I read 10 #books! See which ones in my #wrapup. #BookBlogger #Bookworm Why hello there February!  Ta-ta January!!! I don't know about you all, but I had a fantastic month. 

[helenlinen4-blog]

Welcome to the Official Site of Sharon Draper



Book report done for you

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school-but NO ONE knows it.

Most people-her teachers and doctors included-don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows. But she can't. She can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind-that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget.

1. Why did you choose to write a work about a disabled child?

What if you were brilliant but could not communicate? I've often wondered about what's really going on in the mind of a person who cannot share their thoughts. I have a pretty good idea, because I have a daughter who is disabled. I'm pretty sure she's really smart, but I'm her mom-of course I'd want to believe that. So I created Melody-not as a portrait of my daughter, but as a character who is truly her own being. Melody has spunk and determination, and a great sense of humor. She has dreams and hopes like we all do.

2. Do you think readers will feel sorry for Melody? What did you do to avoid that?

As I wrote the story, I was fiercely adamant that nobody feel sorry for Melody. So I tried very hard to make her unforgettable-someone you would never dare feel sorry for. Lots of people have worse difficulties in their lives. As readers embrace the story, I hope that they will cheer for her!

3. How do you think Melody's physical limitations affect her outlook on life? The way others see her?

Kids with disabilities are just like their peers. They want to be accepted, to have friends, to be included in the social life of the school. Melody understands the pain of being ignored and overlooked, and I've given her a voice to show her humanity. She represents all those young people, who have feelings as well as dreams. I wanted to give those kids, who are often treated as if they are invisible, a chance to be heard, to be seen as the individuals they are, not the machines they ride in, or the disability that defines them.

4. In Out of my Mind, you address a number of issues such as social bias against disabled individuals, medical difficulties, as well as physical obstacles like stairs and bathrooms and eating. How is Melody a representative of the world of the "differently-abled?"

I think Melody would not like being made the representative of any group. Melody yearns to be recognized and appreciated as an individual. I think that's the whole point of the novel. It's important to remember that each person who has to deal with the world differently is not a group, but a person--just one person, trying to do his or her best in a world that might be very difficult to navigate.

5. What kind of research did you do for this book?

The story of Melody is fictional, of course, but is based on the reality of thousands of intelligent children and adults who are trapped inside uncooperative bodies. I've read dozens of books on disabilities, worked with handicapped children at a local summer camp, and spent untold hours trying to unlock the secrets hidden in my own daughter's mind. When a fictional character is created, the author has the power to allow any dreams to be achieved, and to allow triumphs as well as tragedies to occur. This novel has been carefully edited it for accuracy of fact as well as sincerity of spirit.

6. Why is the character of Mrs. V important to the novel?

Everyone needs a mentor, a life coach, someone to champion them on to success. Mrs. V fills that role in the novel. Sometimes it's hard for parents to give their children everything that is needed in life. Mrs. V is that person who goes above and beyond what is required of her because she sees potential in Melody, and because she loves her. We all could use a Mrs. V in our lives.

7. What is the role of music in Out of my Mind and in Melody's life in particular?

Melody can "hear" colors, and "taste" music. The artistic side of her shows a deep understanding of the necessary mingling of art and music to create words and images and ideas. Melody's love for music helps her, even soothes her when her life gets too overwhelming. Music gives her expression in a world where she is unable to express almost everything.

8. No racial description is given to any character in the novel. Why did you choose not to mention Melody's racial or cultural heritage?

Her race is not important. Melody's difficulties far supersede any racial or cultural problems she might encounter. She is purposely made generic because I wanted the reader to see her as a unique individual that could be anyone's child. Actually, when she first gets the Medi-Talker, and she discovers that it comes in many different languages, she realizes that children like her exist all over the world.

9. Melody's character in Out of my Mind is a survivor in spite of serious difficulties. What do you think readers can learn from Melody's life? What does the novel say about love?

I think Melody's strength comes from love. Even though she is frustrated, silenced, and unable to do the things she longs to do, she has an unbelievably positive spirit. Love gives her the strength to make it though each day, and to look forward to the future.

10. What statements do you make through the actions of the children at Melody's school?

Melody simply wants a friend. She longs to be like the other kids at her school. She is overjoyed when it looks like Rose will be that friend. It hurts and angers her when kids like Claire and molly make fun of her. And it devastates her when she realizes she'd been left behind on purpose. I think the portrayal of the children, and the teachers in the story as well, give a realistic portrayal of the reality of how people treat the disabled in social situations. From the people in the mall, to the doctors who should know better, human beings are often unkind, sometimes rude, but occasionally just plain wonderful.

11. What would you like your young readers to get out of reading Out of my Mind?

I want them to say, "Wow! That was great! That book made me think, and it made me realize that all human beings are more alike than different. I never knew what is was like to be handicapped-I learned to think differently." I want them to embrace this novel and pass it along to their friends and their parents and teachers

12. What do you want readers to remember about kids like Melody?

Melody is a tribute to all the parents of disabled kids who struggle, to all those children who are misunderstood, to all those caregivers who help every step of the way. It's also written for people who look away, who pretend they don't see, or who don't know what to say when they encounter someone who faces life with obvious differences. Say hello!

13. What does this novel say about truth?

I think all great stories emerge from deep truths that rest within us. But the real truth of a story often can be found in places that not even the author has dared to explore. And sometimes readers can discover some truths about themselves as well. This novel speaks for those who cannot speak. It should remind us of the humanity in us all.

Reviews & Awards

On the New York Times Best Seller List for ALMOST TWO YEARS.

Out of my Mind is now available in TWENTY different translations! Arabic, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Chinese Simplified, French, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Mexico), Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Reviews: Susan Aikens, Kids Book Buyer from Borders Head Office I can't remember the last time I was so emotionally overwhelmed by a middle grade novel. Sharon Draper's new novel is the story of Melody, a 10 year old girl with Cerebral Palsy so severe that she can neither speak nor move independently. Trapped inside Melody's uncooperative body is a brilliant mind with a cutting wit.

Melody is relegated to a classroom of special needs kids because she can't communicate what is going on in her head. Her world suddenly opens up when she gets a computer with a voice program that allows her to speak for the first time. Unfortunately, the rest of the school is not ready to accept Melody.

I was silently cheering for Melody while I read this book as I sat at my kitchen table. The conversations she has with her parents and caregivers about being different are gut-wrenching. Melody knows exactly how she is perceived by other kids and adults, including teachers. The conversations between Melody's parents as they contemplate the birth of their second child moved me to tears.

This is more than a book about a girl with special needs. It holds up a mirror for all of us to see how we react to people with disabilities that make us uncomfortable.

I encourage everyone to read this.

January 1, 2010 BOOKLIST STARRED REVIEW Fifth-grader Melody has cerebral palsy, a condition that affects her body but not her mind. Although she is unable to walk, talk, or feed or care for herself, she can read, think, and feel. A brilliant person is trapped inside her body, determined to make her mark in the world in spite of her physical limitations. Draper knows of what she writes; her daughter, Wendy, has cerebral palsy, too. And although Melody is not Wendy, the authenticity of the story is obvious. Told in Melody's voice, this highly readable, compelling novel quickly establishes her determination and intelligence and the almost insurmountable challenges she faces.

It also reveals her parents' and caretakers' courage in insisting that Melody be treated as the smart, perceptive child she is, and their perceptiveness in understanding how to help her, encourage her, and discourage self-pity from others. Thoughtless teachers, cruel classmates, Melody's unattractive clothes ("Mom seemed to be choosing them by how easy they'd be to get on me"), and bathroom issues threaten her spirit, yet the brave Melody shines through.

Uplifting and upsetting, this is a book that defies age categorization, an easy enough read for upper-elementary students yet also a story that will enlighten and resonate with teens and adults. Similar to yet the antithesis of Terry Trueman's Stuck in Neutral (2000), this moving novel will make activists of us all. - Frances Bradburn

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. MARCH 1, 2010 STARRED REVIEW: "Born with cerebral palsy, Melody, 10, has never spoken a word. She is a brilliant fifth grader trapped in an uncontrollable body. Her world is enhanced by insight and intellect, but gypped by physical limitations and misunderstandings. She will never sing or dance, talk on the phone, or whisper secrets to her friends. She's not complaining, though; she's planning and fighting the odds. In her court are family, good neighbors, and an attentive student teacher. Pitted against her is the "normal" world: schools with limited resources, cliquish girls, superficial assumptions, and her own disability. Melody's life is tragically complicated. She is mainly placed in the special-ed classroom where education means being babysat in a room with replayed cartoons and nursery tunes. Her supportive family sets her up with a computer. She learns the strength of thumbs as she taps on a special keyboard that finally lets her "talk." When she is transitioned into the regular classroom, Melody's undeniable contribution enables her class to make it to the national quiz team finals. Then something happens that causes her to miss the finals, and she is devastated by her classmates' actions. Kids will benefit from being introduced to Melody and her gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes and reveals the quiet strength and fortitude it takes to overcome disabilities and the misconceptions that go with them.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, 1/1/10, STARRED REVIEW What would you do if you could not make yourself known, if you had thoughts you could not speak? That is narrator Melody Brooks's plight: "By the time I was two, all my memories had words, and all my words had meanings. But only in my head," she writes. "I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old." This is her story, and also the story of a loving family and their devoted neighbor, who help Melody along on her path to say what she needs to say.

Sharon Draper (Copper Sun; Forged by Fire), who herself has a child with cerebral palsy--though she explicitly states that this is not her daughter's story--inhabits the brilliant, frustrated mind and unresponsive body of this child. This is the kind of book--like Terry Trueman's Stuck in Neutral or Harriet McBryde Johnson's Accidents of Nature--that makes readers aware of their own biases, and of what a great disservice those biases do to human beings whose outer trappings belie an extraordinary intelligence within. Draper's book is distinctive for the way she traces Melody's journey and her attempts to communicate from as far back as she can remember. In often poetic language, Melody describes how early on she "began to recognize noises and smells and tastes. The whump and whoosh of the furnace coming alive each morning.

The tangy odor of heated dust as the house warmed up." The author smoothly structures the book in a way that builds suspense while also creating a fuller picture of Melody's daily life. One chapter discusses obstacles from the medical community. At age five, Mrs. Brooks takes Melody to a doctor who says that Melody is "severely brain-damaged and profoundly retarded." Mrs. Brooks defends Melody's intelligence to him ("She laughs at jokes. right at the punch line") and, in another chapter describing Melody's life at school, stands up to a teacher who also underestimates her daughter's mental acuity.

A turning point occurs during one of Melody's daily after-school stays with next-door neighbor Mrs. Violet Valencia ("Mrs. V"): she and six-year-old Melody happen upon a documentary about Stephen Hawking.

"Melody, if you had to choose, which would you rather be able to do--walk or talk?" asks Mrs. V. "Talk. Talk. Talk," Melody answers, by repeatedly pointing at the word on her communication board. This begins Melody's quest to find the tools to express herself--first with word cards she makes with Mrs. V, then with phrases and, finally, with an electronic Medi-Talker. Melody takes charge of her own education and her means of communication. She thrives in her "inclusion classes" with the mainstream students academically, but is not accepted by them socially.

Even the most compassionate classmate can fall to peer pressure, as Melody learns on the brink of her greatest achievement on the Whiz Kids quiz team. Melody sees clearly the challenges before her, and it is the source of her greatest heartbreak but also her greatest inspiration.

It's impossible to close this book without thinking about the world differently.--Jennifer M. Brown

Horn Book Narrator Melody is a fifth grader with cerebral palsy, but she is much more than that. Like her hero Stephen Hawking, Melody is damaged on the outside and brilliant within. It takes awhile for the adults in her life, especially her teachers, to see just how much life there is behind those stiff arms and hands, wobbling head, and "slightly out of whack" dark brown eyes. While her parents and babysitter know that Melody has a rich intellect, few people realize just how bright she is until she receives "Elvira," her Medi-Talker computer. Claire, a classmate in Melody's inclusion class, says what many of us think when we see a person with cerebral palsy, "I'm not trying to be mean-honest-but it just never occurred to me that Melody had thoughts in her head." Draper paints the picture of a real fifth grader, a girl with tantrums and attitude, problems with mean girls and oafish adults. Hearts will soar when Melody makes the quiz team and plummet when her classmates end up leaving her behind at the airport. When Melody sees danger and cannot get others to understand, we feel her frustration and terror. This is a powerfully eye-opening book with both an unforgettable protagonist and a rich cast of fully realized, complicated background characters.

KIRKUS. STARRED REVIEW. FEB/2010 "Melody, diagnosed with cerebral palsy, cannot walk or talk. Despite her parents' best efforts, the outside world has defined her by her condition. Melody's life changes when inclusion classrooms are introduced in her school, and she interacts with children other than those in her special-needs unit. To these children, Melody is "other," and they are mostly uncomfortable with her sounds and jerky movements. Normal problems of school friendships are magnified. Preparation for a trivia competition and acquisition of a computer that lets her communicate her thoughts reveal Melody's intelligence to the world. Melody is an entirely complete character, who gives a compelling view from inside her mind. Draper never shies away from the difficulties Melody and her family face. Descriptions of both Melody's challenges-"Going to the bathroom at school just plain sucks"-and the insensitivities of some are unflinching and realistic. Realistically, Melody's resilient spirit cannot keep her from experiencing heartbreak and disappointment even after she has demonstrated her intellect. This book is rich in detail of both the essential normalcy and the difficulties of a young person with cerebral palsy."

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH (OHIO) PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE (PENNSYLVANIA) Those who read Sharon Draper's most recent novel probably will never again look at a child using a wheelchair the same way.

Out of My Mind captures the thoughts of 10-year-old Melody, incapable of controlling her body or speaking her mind because of cerebral palsy.

Told in first person by the remarkably intelligent girl, the story is a realistic and compassionate window into the life of one considered "disabled" by the world around her.

To the fifth-graders with whom she shares an "inclusion" class, disabled might as well mean retarded.

When Melody flails her arms and legs or drools, the other students either look away in embarrassment or make jokes. But she has a few secret weapons.

Her loving parents, especially her mother, are her champions. When a dim special-needs teacher insists on playing nursery-rhyme songs and reteaching the class the alphabet (which they know but might not be able to speak), Melody's mother charges into the class, reams out the teacher and breaks the Twinkle Twinkle disc (reimbursing the teacher for its cost).

Midway through the tale, Melody acquires a "Medi-Talker" computer, finally enabling her to express her thoughts and participate in a regular class, including a Whiz Kids competition.

Years of watching the Discovery Channel and her photographic memory help boost Melody's scores so that she makes the team.

Draper, a former high-school English teacher who lives in Cincinnati, has crafted a realistic, fast-paced plot laced with humor. But she's not writing a fairy tale: Melody can't break through the stereotypical thinking of students and teachers. "They think my brain is messed up like the rest of me," she types to the college student who serves as her classroom aide. And, during a critical moment in the competition, even Rose, the team member who was kindest to Melody, betrays her. Draper surprises readers by giving Melody a victory where they least expect it. Like Stephen Hawking, who becomes her hero, Melody discovers that her inner strength and intelligence are more reliable than most of the humans around her. She becomes an activist for herself, even as Draper challenges those who read her story to become activists for those who are different.

Teensreadtoo.com/outofmymindsd.html Sharon M. Draper is one of my favorite authors. Her books usually focus on high school characters living through high school problems. OUT OF MY MIND heads in a different direction. The main character is faced with the daily struggle of living with severe cerebral palsy. Draper takes readers into a world most can't even come close to imagining.

Melody is trapped not only in a wheelchair but also in her own body. She has very little control over her physical functions. She can't walk, can't feed herself, but the worst thing is she can't communicate beyond grunts, squeals, and unreliable facial expressions.

People might think her biggest problems are her obvious physical disabilities, but if Melody could speak, she would reveal that she is actually a very smart young girl. She has a photographic memory, and from as early as she can remember, she has been learning words and storing them away. She learned her alphabet, how to count, and gained early reading skills just like every other youngster whose parents sat them in front of the TV to watch Sesame Street. Melody even has a fairly decent command of a second language, Spanish, thanks to the cultural diversity of preschool TV programming. The fact remains, no one knows because Melody can't tell them.

Fortunately, Melody's parents sense that their child is intelligent and capable of learning just like every other child, maybe even more so. They speak for Melody and insist she attend public school. It hasn't always been successful, because school officials place Melody in a special education room where the teachers haven't always given her the attention she deserves. With the help of one devoted teacher, a college teacher's aide, and a loving neighbor, Melody is given a chance to learn - and also a chance to speak in her own unique way.

Melody's world opens even more when she is mainstreamed into several regular classrooms. She gains confidence and the knowledge that she is as smart as or smarter than many kids her age. With the academic playing field on the level with her peers, she is able to show off her skills and make some friends. However, even though fitting in and being "normal" may be her greatest desire, it might prove to be an impossible dream.

My heart went out to Melody as she struggled to communicate with those around her. Sharon M. Draper captures the frustration Melody faces every moment of every day. Even though Draper provides a supportive family for Melody, she also shows the frustration of raising a child like Melody. With a direct and frank approach, Draper reveals the ups and downs of dealing with cerebral palsy. Draper covers everything from the physical challenges to the crushing guilt associated with having and raising a child with the condition in her trademark style.

THE DENVER POST Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper, $16.99. This extraordinary novel is a fantastic glimpse of what life is like for a profoundly disabled girl whose body constantly betrays her fine mind. Melody, 11, has spastic bilateral quadriplegia (cerebal palsy) that silences her voice and puts her in a wheelchair. She communicates with a word board, but it's a conscious effort to summon her arms and hands to do her will.

Melody wishes she could control her body when it spasms, wishes she were normal like the kids who ignore her at school, and wishes she could talk.

One wish comes true in this affecting novel. A type-and-speak computer allows Melody to talk for the first time in her life, and she has a lot to say. Her prowess at knowledge quizzes leaves teachers and classmates stunned.

This powerful story by a two-time Coretta Scott King winner offers a wrenching insight into so many vital lives that the able-bodied overlook. If there's only one book teens and parents (and everyone else) can read this year, "Out of My Mind" should be it. Ages 9 and up.

Mary Quattlebaum WASHINGTON POST Melody cannot speak. For almost 11 years, cerebral palsy has trapped her in an awkward body and other people's condescension. Only her supportive parents and neighbor Mrs. V seem aware of her intelligence and spunk. Then one day, a special machine arrives through which Melody can voice the feelings and thoughts swirling inside her. She begins to excel in her fifth-grade inclusion classes and even qualifies for the school's Whiz Kids quiz team. Melody wants "to be like all the other girls" on the team -- until the national competition goes painfully awry. In Melody, author Sharon Draper creates an authentic character who insists, through her lively voice and indomitable will, that the reader become fully involved with the girl in the pink wheelchair. Details such as the messy particulars of Melody's daily routine, her anger over being babied intellectually and the arguments between her loving but strained parents add verisimilitude to this important novel.

Awards Out of my Mind, a New York Times Bestselling novel for ALLMOST TWO YEARS, received the Josette Frank Award by the Children's Book Committee of the Bank Street College of Education. This award for fiction honors a book of outstanding literary merit in which young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally. Out of my Mind was also chosen as a 2011 IRA Teachers' Choice Book and a 2011 IRA Young Adult's Choice, as well as the Best Book of the Year from KIRKUS. It was named as one of the Outstanding Children's book of 2011 by Bank Street College, as well as a 2011 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts. It has won the Buckeye Children's Book Award from Ohio, the Sunshine State Young Reader's Award in both the middle school and elementary categories, the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award from Maryland, the Beehive Book Award from Utah, and the Virginia Reader's Choice Award. It was also featured in the July 9 issue of Time Magazine, and the July issue of Ladies'Home Journal. It was also on the Indie National Bestseller List and received the SAKURA Award from the children of Japan.

Study Guides

Study Guide: Discussion Topics for OUT OF MY MIND

The novel opens with a powerful discussion of the power of words and language. How does this help capture the reader's attention? What predictions can the reader make about the narrator of the story? What inferences can be made about the thought processes of the narrator's mind?

In a world that does not work for her, what seems to cause the biggest frustrations for Melody?

Describe Melody's parents. How do they learn to communicate with Melody and help her to overcome everyday problems? Why are those efforts sometimes a complete failure?

How does Melody feel about school? How does she fit in with her classmates and what makes her different from the rest of the children in H-5? What would be Melody's ideal school situation?

Discuss Melody's teachers since she began going to school. What does this say about her school system, or about attitudes at her school about teaching children with special needs?

Describe Mrs. V. What role does she play in Melody's development? Why is she a necessary addition to Melody's life?

What is significant about the story of Ollie the fish? How does Ollie's life mirror Melody's? Describe Melody's feelings when she is unable to tell her mother what really happened.

Describe how the introduction of Penny as a character changes the family dynamics. Analyze Melody's complicated feelings about her little sister.

How does the inclusion program change Melody's school experiences? Describe both positive and negative results of the program. Describe Melody's deep, unrealized need for a friend.

What does Melody learn about friendship during the trip to the aquarium? Make a comparison between Ollie's life, the life of the fish in the aquarium, and Melody's life.

How does Melody's computer change her life, her outlook on life, and her potential? Why does she name it Elvira?

Why does Melody decide to enter the quiz team competition? What obstacles must she face and overcome just to get on the team?

What does Melody learn about friendship and the relationships of children working together as she practices and competes with the quiz team? What does she learn about herself?

What is ironic about the events at the restaurant after the competition? How does this scene foreshadow the events that led up to the airport fiasco?

Describe Melody's feelings before the trip to the airport, while she is there, and after she gets home. How would you have coped with the same situation?

Describe Melody's extreme range of emotions as she tries to tell her mother that Penny is behind the car. How did the scene make you feel?

Discuss the scene in which Melody confronts the kids on the quiz team. What is satisfying about how she handles the situation? What else might Melody have done?

Why is the first page repeated at the end of the book? How has Melody changed, both personally and socially, from the beginning of the book to the end?

How would this story have been different if it had been written from a third-person point of view; from the point of view of her parents, for example, or simply from the viewpoint of an outside observer?

Explain the title of the novel. Give several possible interpretations.

Activities and Research

Put yourself in Melody's chair. Write a paper that tells what it would be like to be Melody for one day. Write about your feelings and frustrations.

Investigate the problems of children with cerebral palsy, especially those that are of school age. How does it affect the child socially, academically, and personally?

Investigate the possible causes of cerebral palsy, and what preventative measures, if any, can be taken by the mother.

Research current laws for inclusion of children with disabilities into classrooms. What effect, if any, do such things have on a school community?

Research current treatment options or communication devices for young people like Melody.

Write a letter to one of the characters in the book explaining your feelings about the events in the story. What advice would you give Melody, Rose, Mr. D or Mrs. V?

Describe the relationship between the able-bodied children and Melody. Would you describe it as a true friendship? When situations become monumental and overwhelming to young people, what is likely to happen? Explain.

Imagine it is the last day of fifth grade. Write a letter or create a conversation between one of the following pairs of characters:

Rose and Melody

Melody and Mrs. V

Melody and Catherine

Mr. D and Melody

Melody and Claire

Trace the story of one of the following characters. Imagine you are a reporter doing a story on one of their lives. Write everything you know, as well as whatever you can infer about the character in order to write your magazine article.

Claire

Mrs. V

Mr. Dimming

Rose

Penny

You are a reporter at one of the following scenes. Write the story for your newspaper.

Student with Disabilities makes Quiz Team

Child Struck by Family Car

Big Storm Grounds Air Traffic

Local Quiz Team Wins Big

Read the quotes, then write the essay that follows.

(a) "Mrs. Billups replied, with that superior tone that teachers dressed in nice red business suits use when they're talking to mothers with dirty shirts on, "We were reviewing the alphabet, of course. The sound of the letter B, if I recall. I always start with the basics. These children need constant review because they don't retain information like the rest of us."

(b) Mrs. Shannon told us on the first day, "I'm gonna bust a gut makin' sure y'all get all you can out of this school year, you hear? We're gonna read, and learn, and grow. I believe every one of y'all got potential all stuffed inside, and together we're gonna try to make some of that stuff shine."

Compare and/or contrast the characters of the two teachers, Mrs. Shannon and Mrs. Billups. Discuss their effectiveness at teaching their subjects, as well as how they relate to students. Use specific examples from the book to support your statements.

" I began to recognize noises and smells and tastes. The whump and whoosh of the furnace coming alive each morning. The tangy odor of heated dust as the house warmed up. The feel of a sneeze in the back of my throat. And music. Songs floated through me and stayed. Lullabies, mixed with the soft smells of bedtime, slept with me. Harmonies made me smile. It's like I've always had a painted musical soundtrack playing background to my life. I can almost hear colors and smell images when music is played. Mom loves classical. Big, booming Beethoven symphonies blast from her CD player all day long. Those pieces always seem to be bright blue as I listen, and they smell like fresh paint. Dad is partial to jazz, and every chance he gets he winks at me, takes out Mom's Mozart disc, then pops in a CD of Miles Davis or Woody Herman. Jazz to me sounds brown and tan and it smells like wet dirt."

Write a descriptive paper that uses sensory imagery. Describe a specific scene and bring it to life with your words. Use vivid verbs and powerful adjectives and adverbs as you write. Use as many of the senses as you can. (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

"From the very beginning Mrs. Valencia gave me no sympathy. Instead of sitting me in the special little chair my parents had bought for me, she plopped me on my back in the middle of the floor on a large, soft quilt. The first time she did that, I looked up at her like she was crazy. I cried. I screeched. She ignored me, walked away, and flipped on her CD player. Loud marching band music blared through the room. I liked it. Then she came back and put my favorite toy-a rubber monkey-a few inches from my head. I wanted that monkey.

Mrs. V sat down on the quilt. "Turn over, Melody," she said quietly. Sometimes she can make her voice really soft. I was so shocked I stopped yelling. I couldn't turn over. Didn't she know that? Was she nuts? She wiped my nose with a tissue. "You can turn yourself over, Melody. https://writing-dissertations.com know you understand every word I say to you, and I know you can do this. Now roll!" Actually, I'd never bothered to try very hard to roll anywhere. I'd fallen off the sofa a couple of times, and it hurt, so I usually just waited for Mom or Dad to move me to a comfortable position.

"Look at how you're laying. You're already on your side--halfway there. Use all that screaming and hollering energy you've got to take you to another position. Toss your right arm over and concentrate!" So I did. I strained. I reached. I tried so hard I farted! Mrs. V cracked up. But slowly, slowly, I felt my body rolling to the right. And them unbelievably, plop! I was on my stomach. I was so proud of myself--I screeched.

"I told you so," Mrs. V said, victory in her voice. "Now go get that monkey!"

Write a narrative paper from the point of view of Mrs. V. Tell what kind of life she must have lived to become the person that she is. Discuss her hidden strengths and her attitude toward Melody.

(a) " I had to blink a little to figure it all out. Everything you see on TV is fake. I saw the place where they film the news. When I watch it on television at home, it looks like the reporters are sitting in front of a huge window that shows all of downtown. But it's just a painting, and it's pretty small. So is the desk where the reporters sit. It seems so much bigger from home.

I recognized a couple of the reporters who I watched every day. I couldn't believe how skinny the morning lady was. On TV she looks normal sized. I'm going to look like a huge balloon when the cameras show me.

Speaking of cameras, they were huge-like giant black mechanical space beings on wheels. Guys with headphones and women with clipboards ran around checking stuff. The back part of the studio was dark, but the place where the contest would take place was lit brightly. I could see the place where the teams would stand, and the big red buttons they would push for the answers.

Write an expository (explanatory) paper that describes a room at your school, a building, or any other specialized room such as a computer lab. Tell what is unusual or unexpected about the place. Use as many specifics as possible.

" Fifth grade is probably pretty rocky for lots of kids. Homework. Never being quite sure if you're cool enough. Clothes. Video games. Parents. Wanting to play with toys, and wanting to be grown up all at the same time. Underarm odor. I guess I have all that, plus about a million different layers of other stuff to deal with. Making people understand what I want. Worrying about what I look like. Fitting in. Will a boy ever like me? Maybe I'm not so different from everyone else after all.

It's like somebody gave me a puzzle, but I don't have the box with the picture on it. So I don't know what the final thing is supposed to look like. I'm not even sure if I have all the pieces. That's probably not a good comparison, since I couldn't put a puzzle together if I wanted to. Even though I usually know the answers to most of the questions at school, lots of stuff still puzzles me."

Write a persuasive paper that discusses one of the following options: (a) "Melody is just like every other fifth grader." (b) "Melody is very different from the rest of the world." (c) Melody is unique in that she is very much like other children, yet not like them at all." Be sure to use specifics to support your answer.

POINT OF VIEW PAPER

" The windows were almost completely fogged up, and got even worse as I continued to act like I'd been possessed by demons. Mom looked at me as if I had lost my mind. She screamed at me, "Stop it! Are you crazy?"

But I wouldn't stop. I couldn't. I banged on the car window, pulled Mom's shirt, hit her head. I pinched her, or at least tried to.

"I can't take any more, Melody!" Mom screamed over the thunder. "I hate it when you get like this. You've got to learn to control yourself! Now QUIT!" She put her hand on the keys to start the car.

I screamed, reached over, and tried to pull the keys from her. I scratched the back of Mom's hand.

"She smacked me on the leg. She'd never raised a hand to me before. Never. I still didn't stop screaming and kicking and jerking. I had to tell her. I had to tell her that Penny was out there! Never had I wanted words more. I was going out of my mind."

Read the passage above and explain how the point of view of the character who makes the observation influences the description. Discuss the scene through Melody's eyes, then tell how it looks from her mother's point of view.

Write a poem about one of the following topics:

The Girl on the Inside

When Friends Betray Us

A Fish out of Water

Sisters

The Power of Words

Courage

CHARACTER SKETCH PAPER

"But Penny! Penny really was a perfect kid. After just a few months she was sleeping through the night and smiling through each day. She sat up exactly when babies are supposed to do that, rolled over right on schedule, and crawled on cue. Amazing. And it seemed so easy! Sure, she fell on her face a few times, but once she got it, she was off! Penny zoomed like a little wind-up toy. She learned the toilet was fun to splash in, and that lamps will fall if you grab the cord. She learned that Golden Retrievers are not ponies, peas taste funny, dead flies on the floor are a no-no, but candy is really good. She laughed all the time. She learned her sister Melody couldn't do what she could do, but she didn't seem to care. So I tried not to care either.

Dad and his camcorder followed Penny around like the paparazzi follow a rock star! We have hundreds of hours of Penny being cute and doing adorable things. And, well, I admit it, sometimes I got kinda sick of watching a new video every time she learned something new. It sorta sucks to watch a baby do what you wish you could do.

Penny holding her own bottle.

Penny feeding herself teeny tiny Cheerios from her high chair tray.

Penny saying "ma-ma" and "da-da" just like the babies on Sesame Street.

Penny crawling on the floor and chasing Butterscotch.

Penny clapping her hands.

How did her little brain know how to tell her to pull herself up to a standing position? To hold onto the sofa for balance? How did she know how to stand on her own? Sometimes she'd fall over, but then she'd pop right back up. Never ever did she lie there, stuck like a turtle on its shell.

Write a character sketch of a family member, a friend, or a relative. Use strong verbs and adjectives, lots of specifics, as well as sensory imagery.

PERSONAL ESSAY " I squeezed my eyes shut. Stupid elevator music floated from the tinny airport speakers. I heard no beautiful colors. I smelled no lovely aromas. All I could see was the darkness behind my eyeballs. . . .

The woman typed and clicked for what seemed like hours. Finally, she looked up. "There are no other flights to DC on any other carrier, sir. That weather system has grounded everything. There will be nothing until later this evening. I'm so sorry," she whispered. . . .

I opened my eyes because they were filling with tears. . . .

I still had not breathed out real good. . . .

The entire airport felt like a vacuum. No sound. No voices. No air. . . .

I just sat there. The morning had started out like crystal, but the day had turned to broken glass."

Write a personal essay that describes a special memory or event. Or on a particular loss in your life. Explain why it is meaningful to you. Be sure to include sensory imagery--sights, smells, touches, tastes, sounds.

LANGUAGE ANALYSIS PAPER "From the time I was really little-maybe just a few months old-words were like sweet, liquid gifts, and I drank them like lemonade. I could almost taste them. They made my jumbled thoughts and feelings have substance. My parents have always blanketed me with conversation. They chattered and babbled. They verbalized and vocalized. My father sang to me. My mother whispered her strength into my ear. Every word my parents spoke to me or about me I absorbed and kept and remembered. All of them. I have no idea how I untangled the complicated process of words and thought, but it happened quickly and naturally. By the time I was two, all my memories had words, and all my words had meanings. But only in my head."

Think about how a child learns language, learns to understand words, and learns how to speak. Write a paper, using library or Internet resources, that traces language development in humans. Then analyze Melody's abilities to do interpret language without the means of a voice.