Daughter of the Dragon (Prologue, Chapter 1)

Daughter of the Dragon is a very interesting book. There are many plots. In the prologue, a man named "C" was sent to assassinate the Bounty Hunter. However, he was instead killed by a man pretending to be the Bounty Hunter. Then, there was an excerpt from a girl's (Katana's) diary. She was writing about her father. One day, she was watching a strange ritual. Her father and two other people were standing around her father's friend, Uncle Kan. Then, Uncle Kan cut his own stomach open, and her father cut his head off. Katana screamed. Then, her father left. Katana didn't see him again until seven years later, when her mother died in a hovercar accident.

I liked the mysterious prologue. It grabbed my attention. Also, the journal entry made me wonder why Uncle Kan had to die. I think that the person who killed C will later try to kill Katana, or try to save her.

Chew On This #3

Chew On This, by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, explains in great detail what junk food does to your body. It described obesity very well, explaining both the cause and effects of obesity.

Obesity is being extremely overweight. Two thirds of all adults and one sixth of all children in the US are overweight or obese. That's 50 million obese adults, along with 6 or 7 morbidly obese people. "Morbidly obese" people are about 100 pounds overweight than the standard weight. Since the 1970's, the obesity rate among adults has increased by 50%, the obesity rate among preschoolers has doubled, and the obesity rate among 6-11 year olds has tripled. Obesity is caused by many factors, including what you eat, how much you eat, how much you exercise, your genes, and even familial traits or racial traits. However, the familial and racial traits in the US have not changed very much in the last 30 years. So why has the obesity rate increased so much? It's really quite simple. In the past thirty years, Americans have begun to eat more, especially fatty, salty, and sugary foods. Also more and more people begun to get office jobs, so they exercise less. For thousands of years, humans had to hunt, fish and farm to get food. That took a great deal of effort and forced them to exercise. Early humans' worried about not having enough to eat, let alone to worry about getting fat. Fat cells were probably developed to store energy for periods of little food. In normal amounts, they are good for the body, signaling to the brain how much energy was stored and when it was time to eat. They even help the immune system, preventing cancer and disease. Typical people have 25 to 35 billion fat cells. Obese people have nearly eight times that amount: 275 billion fat cells! These fat cells require new blood vessels, place new demands on vital organs, create chemicals imbalances, and actually make the body more susceptible to disease. Fast food is one of the main causes of the obesity epidemic. It is usually not very nutritious, but high in salt, starch, sugar, fat, and calories. This is why sometimes fast food is also referred to as junk food.

Junk food does not only make you obese. It also affects other parts of the body. Foods that are high in sugar and bad fats such as cholesterol, trans fat, and saturated fat cause higher than normal amount of fat molecules in the blood which leads to blood vessels narrowing. If these blood vessels lead to the brain, they may not be able to carry all the blood that the brain needs, causing a stroke. That causes permanent severe brain damage or even death. If a piece of the fatty plaque that blocks the blood vessels suddenly breaks off, it may block the flow of blood to the heart, causing a heart attack. The liver, which processes all the fat, can also be damaged by junk food. If it gets full of fat, it begins to malfunction. Heart disease and stoke are the top killers in the US. With the growing popularity of fast food, heart disease is beginning to become more common among young people, probably due to junk food. We should try to avoid fast food and exercise more.

Chew On This #2

Chew On This is an excellent book about fast food. It combines startling facts with humorous opinions. The sections I recently read are written in stunning detail about the ingredients in modern fast food. A good example is the section about artificial flavorings and artificial colorings. The co-authors, Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, explain exactly what goes into the mysterious "natural and artificial flavorings and colorings" that are present in almost everything a fast food restaurant sells.

Flavorings began to be widely used in the mid-1900's. They were used to replace the flavors lost during processing. For example, cooking and heating large amounts of food and the process of canning, freezing, or dehydrating food destroyed most of the good natural taste. The natural taste of food is extremely complex. For example, the taste of coffee is made up of thousands of chemicals. The chemicals used as artificial flavors that go into most foods are supposed to mimic nature as closely as possible and should not present any danger to peoples' health. The book described an example of the way artificial flavors are used in fast food. To make a strawberry milkshake at home, all you would need is ice cream, strawberries, sugar, and vanilla. However, a strawberry flavored milkshake from a fast food restaurant would contain extracted milkfat and preserved milk, sugar, sweet whey, high fructose corn syrup, guar gum, mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carageenan, citric acid, red food coloring, and artificial strawberry flavor. But what is in the artificial strawberry flavor? Let's just name a few chemicals, such as amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, and many more. These chemicals may be safe to be consumed alone in the short term. However, little is known about their long term accumulative effects when all ingested together. Studies suggest that artificial chemicals may cause hyperactivity in children. These chemicals should simply be avoided if possible.

Artificial coloring is used to mimic the natural color of food. These artificial colorings have many chemicals, which may have long term side effects to health. However, manufacturers now go beyond natural food colors, and use colors like bright blue and purple. This has led to accidental poisonings because young children drink liquid laundry detergents that are the same color as many popular sports drinks. Surely, I don't want to turn my skin blue because I drank too much Gatorade!

Chew On This #1

Chew On This, by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, is a book with an in-depth look at fast food's history, the evolving process of fast food production, and its impacts on our daily life. It contains many interesting and little known facts. For example, I was surprised to learn from this book that the hamburger was invented by a fifteen year old boy named Charlie Nagreen.

Charlie was selling meatballs at a county fair in 1885 to make some extra money. However, the meatballs were difficult to eat while walking. Seeing this, Charlie flattened the meatballs and put them between two slices of bread, thus creating the first hamburger. However, many people from the early 1900's believed that the ground beef used to make hamburgers was made from unfresh or low quality meat. This made hamburgers very unpopular during that period of time. It was considered a food for the poor. In 1925, when New Yorkers were asked what their favorite food was, hamburgers were nineteenth. Hamburgers even lost to cow tongue and spinach! However, a man named Walt Anderson loved hamburgers and set out to change the idea that hamburgers were unhealthy. He started a small restaurant devoted to selling hamburgers. He grilled the burgers right in front of his customers so that they could see that the meat was fresh and the equipment was clean. With the success of his first restaurant, he opened more restaurants in the shape of white medieval forts and named them White Castles. This name suggested that the food was pure and fresh. He even sponsored an unusual experiment. For ten days, a medical student at the University of Minnesota ate nothing but White Castle hamburgers and water. At the end of ten days, the student seemed quite healthy. From then on, people viewed hamburgers in a new way. It was no longer called a food for the poor, and workingmen finally could afford to eat at a restaurant.

However, White Castles didn't attract many women or children. Walt Anderson didn't turn hamburgers into America's favorite fast food. Richard and Maurice McDonald, with help from a traveling salesman who had failed at everything for years, changed history with a new concept of restaurants that marked the beginning of the era of modern fast food.

Rakkety Tam (1)

Rakkety Tam, by Brian Jacques, is the thrilling story of two squirrels named Rakkety Tam Macburl and Wild Doogy Plum and their adventures. They were wandering around and looking for a home. One day, these two adventurers found the land ruled by the Squirrelking Aaraltum and Queen Idga. The Squirrelking and queen were recruiting soldiers in order to take over the lands surrounding their kingdom. Rakkety and Doogy decided to join the army because it seemed like an easy life as a soldier: There was lots of food and the homes were good. However, the Squirrelking and Queen were weak, pompous, and self centered. When the royal banner was stolen, the squirrel mercenaries were offered freedom if they could retrieve the banner. Rakkety and Doogy went out to search for the stolen banner. The banner were stolen by Gulo the Savage and his band of evil foxes. In the mean time, Gulo was searching for his brother, Askor who held a symbol of power: the Walking Stone. Gulo's army was heading to Redwall Abbey. It seemed that Rakkety and Doogy were on a collision course to Gulo's army. The two squirrels did not seem to have a chance to defeat Gulo's band of evil foxes even though Rakkety and Doogy were excellent fighters.

At this point of reading, I believe that somehow, the mercenaries will receive help to fight Gulo's army. Brian Jacques built the plot very well. There were multiple events happening at once, so that the reader could understand what was happening in every place: Gulo's armies camp, Redwall Abbey, and what the two squirrels were doing. All the books in this series (the Redwall series) end with a final confrontation, usually ending with the Redwallers winning. However, I think that this book may end up with lots of smaller battles.

There is an amazing variety of vivid characters: honest squirrels, fighting hares, caring mice, warlike otters, and evil foxes. There are even a few monks!

This book is full of suspense, partly due to the multiple events. When one important event is about to occur, Brian Jacques switches to another one. Overall, I believe this is an excellent book to read.

Sea of Trolls (theme)

Sea of Trolls has many important themes. The brave young Jack did not give up after he and his sister were captured by the berserkers. He tried every possible way to protect his sister and himself under dangerous conditions. He knew he needed to build a strong relationship with his captors. Eventually, he became good friends with his captors, especially Olaf, who was the leader of the berserkers. Jack was also trying to protect Thorgil, a young female berserker. In return, Olaf and Thorgil saved Jack from the attack of the troll-bear and dragon while they were searching for Mimir's Well.

I also learned that we should believe in ourselves. In the beginning, Jack thought that he couldn't do anything. Of course, that caused some of the berserkers to think that he really was useless. However, he proved that he was a very good bard. Eventually, another bard showed him that it was very important to believe in yourself. If you have confidence, you will find a way out, even during a messy or dangerous situation.

We should be optimistic as well. In the beginning, Jack thought that he would be killed. When he decided to try and save himself and his sister, Lucy, things started to get better. He and Lucy successfully returned home.

Sea of Trolls (Plot)

In the exposition of Sea of Trolls, the characters were introduced. Jack was an 11 year old kid who worked on a farm. He was also taking lessons from the village Bard. He learned to sing, dance, and do magic. He had a sister named Lucy who was only 5 years old. Lucy believed that she was a princess who had gotten lost in the woods one day. It was a very peaceful setting in a village. The villagers had food, drink, houses, and peace-until the berserkers attacked them. The berserkers were fierce warriors who robbed and killed people for fun.

One day Jack and Lucy were captured by the berserkers. They had to think of a way to escape, but Lucy didn't help. She thought that someone from a palace would come to save her. They were almost sold as slaves, but Jack's skill as a bard saved them. The leader of the berserkers, Olaf One-Brow, was very impressed by Jack. He decided to keep the kids.

At the climax, Jack had to live in Olaf One-Brow's house. Although his title, bard, showed that he was better than a slave, the berserkers still treated him like a slave. The other slaves made him do a very dangerous task: cleaning out a troll-boar's pen. He almost got killed, but when he sang to the troll-boar, he calmed it down. The other slaves stopped mistreating him at that point. He also gained respect from the berserkers. When he accidentally caused Queen Frith's hair to fall out, he and two berserkers went on a quest to find a cure. One berserker was Olaf. The other was a girl named Thorgil.

Jack realized that if he wanted to escape, he would have to complete the quest. It was very dangerous: He had to fight off a troll-bear, a dragon, and a giant spider. Still, he became friends with the berserkers, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives for each other. Olaf died while protecting Jack from the attack of the troll-bear. Torgil also killed the dragon to save Jack. Jack managed to put the fearsome giant spider to sleep so that they could escape back to the queen.

Jack restored Queen Frith's hair, but she had overdone it. The hair covered her body, and she turned into a wild animal. Still, King Ivar allowed Jack and Lucy to return to their village, which they had been away from for more than a year. When they returned to the village, Jack gained respect from the villagers, since he had become a true bard. This book ended very well, as the Bard listened with great interest about the adventures Jack had gone through.

Sea of Trolls (Character)

Jack is the main character in the book, Sea of Trolls. As an eleven year old apprentice bard in the village, he learnt entertaining skills such as singing and dancing, and even some magic tricks. When the village was attacked by the berserkers, Jack and his sister, Lucy who was 5 years old, were captured by the berserkers. He had to face and survive many challenges to save his sister and himself. He had to deal with psychic trolls, savage berserkers, and mysterious Norns. Jack was a brave person, and could always find a way to solve his problems and get out of dangerous situations. Jack's sister, Lucy, believed herself to be a lost princess, and even thought the whole ordeal was an adventure that she would have to survive to gain the throne. She did not realise how much danger they were in.

Thorgil was a 12 year old berserker. In the beginning of the book, she and Jack hated each other. However, at the end, the two young kids became very good friends. Jack helped Thorgil when the other berserkers were teasing her, saying that women couldn't make poetry. When they were being attacked by a dragon, Thorgil protected Jack. Olaf One-Brow was the leader of a group of berserkers. Jack and his sister were almost sold as slaves by Olaf. But Jack managed to show his talent as a bard, which amazed Olaf. Olaf decided to keep Jack and his sister on their boat. Jack and Olaf eventually became friends. While Jack was performing a song to the queen of the berserkers, he accidentally put a magic spell on the queen that caused her hair to fall out. They heard that there was a Mimir's Well in Jotunheim that could give them unlimited knowledge to get anything they wanted. Together, Thorgil, Jack, and Olaf set off to search for Mimir's Well.

They were facing many challenges on their way searching for the Mimir's Well. Unfortunately Olaf died while he was protecting Jack and Thorgil from a troll-bear's attack. When Jack and Thorgil were attacked by a dragon, Thorgil protected Jack and killed the dragon. Eventually, Jack and Throgil finally found Mimir's well. They drunk the water from the well and went back to the queen. They managed to restore queen's hair. Jack and Lucy went home safely at the end of the story.

Sea of Trolls (chapter 1-12, setting)

The Sea of Trolls, by Nancy Farmer, is a story full of adventure and suspense. Jack was an 11 year old child of a farmer in a small village. Set in England during the time of Vikings, Jack's small village was a target for an attack by berserkers. Berserkers were warriors who robbed and killed people for fun. Jack was captured by a group of berserkers while protecting his sister, Lucy. Lucy was only 5 years old. She thought it was an adventure, where a group of knights was taking her to her palace. She did not realize the tough time ahead. The siblings were taken out to sea. Then they were taken to slave trading place where they were almost sold as slaves. Fortunately he learned entertaining skills such as singing and playing the harp from his viliage bard. Jack was trying to avoid the bad fate by acting like he had magical skills. Jack's effort paid off. The boss of this group of berserkers, Olaf, was very impressed by Jack's abilities as a bard. He decided to keep Jack and Lucy so that Jack could make a praise-song about him if he died in a battle. They were taken back to the ship.

The two siblings did not like the new home at all: A rocking, swaying ship was no place for two children who had spent most of their life on land. The weather made the matter even worse. The cold winter storms rocked the ship, and Jack became very seasick. The ship was a stout boat, though. It weathered storm after storm. Overall, this book is very absorbing so far. I cannot wait to read more about the fate of these two young children and the berserkers.

So Far From the Bamboo Grove

I really enjoyed this book. The author (Yoko Kawashima) wrote it beautifully about her own experience. It was impossible not to feel the emotion she had when she wrote this story. At many points, I could almost imagine it happening. The suspense built up, almost to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. Then the family was reunited and the story came to an end. I thought the story ended too quickly. For example the author skipped the falling action and resolution (two parts of the plot) and went straight from the climax to the end. That is the only part where I think the author could have extended the story further.

Overall, however, this book seems to be an argument against war. It was a window into a time when war was destroying countries. It showed that when war happens, many innocent people from all sides can die because just a few people started the war. It reminded me of the Yuan Dynasty in China (period of Mongolian rule). The Mongolians invaded China and massacred many innocent people. The native Chinese were discriminated and treated cruelly. In the end, the Chinese overthrew the Mongolian power in the same way the Koreans overthrew the Japanese. It was a lose-lose situation: both Japanese and Korean civilians were killed even though they were not soldiers.

Overall, this book is very good. The story told us we need to be strong and brave to survive in the harsh environment. It also tells us how cruel a war is to everyone. I think we should also read books about how the Koreans and Asian people suffered when the Japanese invaded their countries to get a full picture about the history.

So far From the Bamboo Grove (chapters 4-7)

Hideyo, Yoko's brother, was working at the ammunition factory when it was attacked. He saw almost all the other workers got killed by Korean soldiers. Meanwhile, Yoko, her mother, Mrs. Kawashima, and Ko were at the port of Pusan. They got on a boat to Fukuoka, Japan. After that, they rode a train to Kyoto. In Kyoto, Ko and Yoko were signed up for schools. Their mother went to their grandparents' house to see how it was going there.

The part where the Koreans attacked the Japanese escapees brought a deep sorrow on me. Those people were just civilians trying to get away from a war-torn country, but they were killed just for being Japanese. Even if the Koreans had been oppressed for years, it was hard to believe that they would kill innocent people. I can understand that they would want to destroy the ammunition factory, since it was making weapons that would be used to kill Koreans, but civilians should be left out of the horrors of war.

The train station of Seoul was very crowded. It was full of thieves and beggars. Yoko, Ko, and their mother took turns to take care of their belongings and saving each others' spots. They were the target of a thief, but the family was able to protect themselves. At the same time, they searched any trains for Hideyo, but could not find him. The warehouse in Pusan was also very crowded, but with Japanese refugees. By then, Yoko was very sick (from her chest wound caused by a bomb's explosion earlier). An older man was telling her to get up and kicking at her to make room for him, but Yoko had to lie down. Her mother, using the sword, scared the man away. The whole family had to pretend to be boys, because the Korean men were "hunting maidens for their pleasure".

The Kawashima's stopped in Kyoto to sign the girls up for school: Yoko at the Sagano Girls' School, and Ko at the University. This showed that she believed that a good education led to a good life. This is similar to Confucianism (historical note: The Japanese adopted Confucianism, but did not believe that the emperor had to be honest, since he was considered to be divine).
Mrs. Kawashima valued bravery, strength, honesty, compassion, and generosity. The girls generally shared those values. On the hospital train that got bombed, they shared blankets, food, and water with sick people. On the train to Pusan, they shared their food with an elderly man who had helped them got on the train. When there were explosions around them, they did what they had been trained to do by lying down flat on the ground. They didn't panic.

So Far From the Bamboo Grove

In So Far From the Bamboo Grove, the Kawashima family had to flee from Korea on July 29, 1945. That was because the Koreans resented Japanese occupation of Korea. A group of Korean soldiers, calling themselves the Korean Communist Army, were fighting against the Japanese army and killing Japanese living in Korea. Americans and Russians were also fighting against the Japanese because Japan invaded many Asian countries.

As I read the beginning of the story, I felt worried for the Kawashima's. I also pitied them, since they were being chased by many Korean soldiers.

Yoko, the youngest daughter of the Kawashima family, lived in Korea with her family. That was because her father had work as a government official in Manchuria (an area in northern Korea, according to the book. In fact it is northeast of China). Since the Kawashima's are Japanese, some Koreans disliked them. When the Japanese invaded Korea, many Koreans became oppressed for years and many were killed by Japanese. The resentment built up, and the Koreans rebelled. The Korean Communist Army began killing any Japanese people they found. That forced the Kawashima's to flee their home in Korea.

At one point in their flight, a group of Korean soldiers found them. Ironically, the bombers (who were trying to kill Japanese) accidentally killed the Korean soldiers. That was because the Koreans did not know what to do when a bombing began. They were killed, but the Kawashima's survived by lying flat on the ground.

Yoko and Ko are sisters. Ko, referred to as Honorable Sister, had more authority. Still, the two of them acted like equals. Yoko thought Ko was bossy, since she kept telling the family what to do. However, she was really just trying to keep them safe and alive.

The life or death situation that the Kawashima's faced made them stronger and braver. I don't think most people would react the same way: instead of trying to save themselves, they would just panic and wait for the "knight in shining armor" to come and save them. Unfortunately, in this story, the knight in shining armor wasn't there. It was due to the fact that Ko did not panic that the Kawashima's made it out of their house and to the train to Seoul.

The part where the Koreans attacked the Japanese ammunition factory made the deepest impression on me. It was hard to believe that anyone could be so angry that they would attack and kill people less than twenty years old. Then I learned that the hatred was really caused by the invasion and cruelty of the Japanese army.

Eventually, the Kawashima's were able to get to the harbor. They got on board a boat to Japan.
Yoko was disappointed when she got to Japan, since it seemed so barren. That wasn't a surprise: Two atomic bombs had just been dropped on two cities. These cities were destroyed.

After the attack at the ammunition factory, Hideyo (Yoko's older brother), who survived the attack, escaped back to his home. Unfortunately, his family already left. Hideyo gathered supplies for a long journey to find his family: Food, water, a cooking pot, candles, and matches. He also got clothing. That proves he was strong and able to survive, like Ko.

It was very crowded in Seoul and Pusan. The family had to protect each other.

Mrs. Kawashima was brave, strong, honest, and generous. Yoko and Ko were very much like her. For example, on the medical train (Chapter 2), they gave food, water, and blankets to others. They faced bombs and soldiers without backing down, and they helped each other.
Ko was able to handle any situation. I am sure that if she were trapped on an island alone, she would be able to escape. If I were in a difficult situation, I would want her with me. Having Ko with me would be a great example to learn survival skills. She would know what to do, where to go, and be able to keep me strong.