Holly’s Space

We had to do some Poetic Writing based on Doors so here’s Mine- 

Slowly I creep up the long passage way towards the huge double doors that seem as though they are a million miles away. Many thoughts rush through my head as though they are race cars at a speedway, following and chasing each other as fast and hurriedly as possible around and around in the small space of my head. Giant white pillars off to my left with horizontally striped bumps gradually growing bigger at the bottom and thin, parallel bumps running vertically up and down each of the five pillars. Light shines through each gap between the tall pillars just the same as the early morning sun shining through the windows when you first get up. Fascinated I looked around at the place a bit more, I noticed the roof, it was a plain but gleaming white, so spotlessly clean you wouldn’t even mind eating off it. Chandeliers hang precisely off the roof, glass beads made into many chains hang down off each of the chandeliers with glowing cream candles surrounding them marvellously. Gleaming pearl tiles hide under my feet with a clip clop sound happening with each slow-motion step I sneak. Doors after doors with about a metre of white wall between each, the shining rays of light give each wall a chilly feeling and a cold light blue tint. A chilly feeling shot through me when I looked back towards the front wall and the main door as if an icy cold knife was being run down my back. Magnificently a slightly pearl coloured frame surrounds solid and glistening double doors, the stunning white twinkling from the light almost seems to blind me. Incredible designs made from indents in the glossy wooden doors seem to make it even more splendid and appealing. Handles of gold coloured metal in the shapes of italic S’s sit patiently below the locks as if they are just waiting to get turned. The door seemed as if it was just staring at me, enticing me to come closer and closer, still I just kept creeping forward, as silent and stealthily as a snake. Cautiously I snuck up to the sparkling door and tried to peer through the tiny key hole, sadly it didn’t work. Carefully I lifted my hand towards the door handle, thoughts and questions entered my mind, ‘What is behind here?’ ‘Should I be opening it?’ Freezing metal suddenly connected with my fingers and shivered down my spine. Nervously I tried to pull open the door, there were shouts from children and parents chatting as if I had been in a parallel universe and just stepped back into the real world. Gradually I sat up wondering where I was, then it clicked like a light bulb turning on. 

It was all just a dream and I was still sitting casually on the wooden bench at the Park. 

Jessye (the main character in this book) loves living with her nana at the river house, but also really loves living with her weird and wacky mum at whatever her current home happens to be. When Jessye’s mum sweeps back into her life and wants to take her back to her current home with her, Jessye has to make some very difficult decisions and choose whether to stay with her mum or her nana. But the one main problem is that Jessye’s Mum doesn’t like her nana and nor does her nana like her mum, or more she just doesn’t approve of her. 

One of the things that I quite liked about ‘River Song’ is that it was set in
New Zealand and had lots of things to do with Maori culture. I also thought that it was well structured and in a very good order of events which I find very good in any books or stories. At the start of the book there is this saying “I have discovered that you can go along for ages without seeing things as they really are. And then one day their true colours light up as clear as anything, as clear as the sun in the morning. And on the day my destiny gave me the nod. I was sprawled on the sofa in the river house beside nana, listening to her sing.” I think that having this gives a good base for the whole book and also it makes the readers more interested in it by making the readers wonder ‘what does that mean’ and think ‘why is that’ which I thought was really quite good. Another thing was that you get hooked into this book almost straight away, in any books I find that if you get into the story straight away you will enjoy the book more and won’t want to put it down.

I would rate this book about a 9 out of 10, I really enjoyed it and couldn’t really find anything I didn’t exactly like about it. I would recommend ‘River Song’ to almost all ages from about 10 up and both to boys and girls. This was a fantastic book and I can see why many other people will enjoy it. So overall this was an excellent read, it was set in
New Zealand and included many different parts of Maori Culture in it. It was well structured, jumped straight into the actual story, was rather interesting and left you anticipated and anxious about what was going to happen next.

By Holly

Then began a time of thin, wispy hair that begins to turn grey and white; New wrinkles start to turn up and with each day more and more appear as if by magic; Enough kind smiles to share around with everyone; Caring eyes that make me feel safe and that always look so pleasant; Muscles and bones that always seems to be sore; A hunched back that helps stop the pain from your aching back; Getting annoyed from all the food that gets stuck in your false teeth; Walking sticks and mobility scooters that you begin to need to help you move from place to place; A mind that had lots of trouble remembering things as you become more and more forgetful; Hair that won’t stay put on your head as you start to get a bit bald; Your eyelids that always want to close since you are always so tired; Suddenly you start to need glasses and hearing aids as your eyesight and hearing slowly deteriorate; All your grandchildren starting to be born, that one day you will be able to care for and look after; Rocking chairs becoming part of your daily life as you slowly rock back and forth on one just before going to bed each night;

And an entirely new sensation called old age.

Is it when you have fine white wispy hair and share a kind smile round to everyone? Or is it once your eyes make me feel safe and cheerful and when you start to become wrinkly and slow? Maybe it’s as soon as you need a walking stick or a mobility scooter to get you around. It could be when you reach your 60’s or when you have to live in a rest-home.

To me in fact none of these mean that you are old. Most of them may make you look old but it is never your looks that count, its only how old or young you believe you are. Some people may think that they are simply too old, but in my eyes no one at all will ever be too old. So make sure you never jump to conclusions and think that someone is old just because they look it, because they may still be young at heart.

Which is weaker a spiders web or a promise?I think that a spider’s web is weaker than a promise because a promise is around forever. If you break a promise you’ll feel the guilt, but if you don’t break it you will feel glad that you could keep it. Whichever you feel will be around forever, whereas once a spider webs broken it is gone forever.

With Lots of Love from Georgia

Author: Brigid Lowry 

No. Pages: 192 

ISBN: 1-74114-310-1 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

This book is about Georgia, she is a girl who lives in a town called Anywhere, she thinks that it has too many shopping malls and not enough skate parks. Georgia is fifteen, she is taller and also weighs more than most other people her age. She has wavy red hair and a best friend named Mel. Georgia is saving up to get two tickets for her and Mel to go to a Natural Affinity’s concert. Natural Affinity is her favourite band and she dreams that if she saves up enough money to go to their concert, she will end up getting together with Jakob, Natural Affinity’s lead singer. To get some money Georgia tries to get a job. Will Georgia be able to find a job, then save enough money to go to her concert and get together with Jakob?  

This book was a good read for me as it wasn’t too predictable and Brigid Lowry has made Georgia to be a very realistic character that I can match up to in some ways. Also in this book Georgia has a journal that she makes lists in which I found was great because it helped you get to know more about Georgia, her thoughts and her life. Some of the list topics are stuff like- things I want, great e-mail addresses and even things to do while watching a sunset. One thing I didn’t like about this book was that it started off boring and it took me a while to start liking and understanding it properly.

Apart from the beginning I really enjoyed this book and thought that it had a good story line to it. Brigid Lowry has also used lots of description which I feel makes the story a whole lot more interesting by making the reader feel as if they are there. I gave this book a rating of three stars out of five. I would recommend this book for young teenagers around age ten or eleven and over. Also this book would be more suited for girls.

Overall I would think that this book was a fantastic read but I still think that the beginning let it down and it would have been much better otherwise. 

Does New Zealand needs more Immigrants

Does New Zealand really need more immigrants or have we already got enough/too many? This definitely makes a great debating topic and most likely always will. Although there have been many debates over this topic the question is still there, does New Zealand need more immigrants? I have gone over both sides of this and still can’t take either side, I have been easily convinced by both sides and here is why.

To start off with there may be times where we may miss out on a job as another immigrant has already taken it. Say you find the perfect job in the newspaper and go to ask about it just to find that an immigrant has taken it because they said it originated from their country. I for sure would be feeling quite depressed. Also on the other hand think about all of our jobs, I have seen a list of New Zealand’s skill shortages and since then I have definitely wondered why we would even think of not letting any more immigrants intoNew Zealand. As that list will just keep on growing and growing and we will still have all those skill shortages. Imagine being suddenly very ill and having to travel all round the country to find a hospital that may have enough well trained doctors/surgeons to be able to help you get better.

Secondly you may say that New Zealand is a lovely clean, green environment and that’s why so many people from other countries come here. But surely if we keep getting more immigrants our lovely New Zealand will turn into a very polluted waste land which I find very disturbing thinking about. We want everyone to carry on thinking of New Zealand as clean and green not a disgustingly dirty place to keep away from. However we all know that New Zealand is the little place down at the bottom of the world that no one knows about and surely if we don’t let any immigrants into the country we definitely will get heard less of. Furthermore with people travelling out of the country and our government not letting any others into New Zealand then we may just start losing our population. 

Another reason is that New Zealand may lose our cultures as along with foreigners also come their cultures and their traditions so instead of just celebrating New Zealand and Maori traditions we may have to start celebrating things like the Chinese New Year, May Day and Hina Matsuri. Nevertheless with new people from lots of different countries visiting and staying in New Zealand then our country will broaden and everyone will have many different places to visit. As well as lots of different styles/flavours of food to try that New Zealand would not have without foreign people as how I said before they do bring their own culture, food and hobbies. 

In conclusion, I am sitting on the fence about the question of New Zealand needing any more immigrants as they may help us broaden and keep our population up. But if we keep on accepting them into our country we could start to become over populated and also have a big impact on the environment/global warming. I have pros and cons for both sides of immigrants in New Zealand and I am still wondering about what I would say if I had to have answer to New Zealand needing anymore immigrants. 

 There is no such thing as Equality

Now imagine this, you’re in a world where every single house you see is just the same, each person is identical all wearing the same clothes and accessories, everybody is exactly the same height and weight, every person works at the same job, everyone’s hair is the same no other colours or styles, each person feels the same as well as eats the same, there is only one name for everyone. No one at all is different. 

Personally I believe that everyone should be treated equal but definitely not to the extent where everything is exactly the same. Do you think there is such a thing as equality? Because I for sure don’t. 

 There has definitely been sometimes where we’re not all equal for example– Adolph Hitler who put all the Jews in concentration camps. When Adolph Hitler was in charge he didn’t treat his people equal, Hitler decided that the blue eyed Blondie’s were better than the Jewish race and so he arrested and also killed millions of Jews. Look at what happened to him, did Germany end up winning the war?

People want and like different things, if we were all equal then we would all like the same things but in this world we don’t, some people may want to be sport stars, doctors, singers or actors while others may want to be models, directors or even teachers.

We all have different opinions, what some may see as pleasure others may see as chores. Chefs love cooking and when others cook meals they may feel it as a chore. If we all get the same opportunities then some will take them happily while others won’t be interested.

For instance if I had an opportunity to choose between fixing a car or going shopping then I would definitely choose to go shopping where as many other people may straight away just say I’ll go fix the car. 

Humans have never been equal on this planet for any amount of time. You would think that, after about ten thousand years of trying to become equal we would get the picture that equality isn’t a natural thing. Like I was saying earlier the only way to make everybody equal is to make them exactly the same. Same clothes. Same house. Same interests. Same everything 

Everything is unique in its own way and the closest example is your own hand your left and right hands are not the same size and even your nails are different shape so if not even our hands are equal how would we be able to make everyone in New Zealand equal let alone each person in the whole entire world. 

I have gone over a few of the points from my view of Equality and also how some people aren’t equal. I hope that you have gained something from this speech because we don’t all want to be exactly the same we want to be individuals and we should all just be ourselves.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Author: John Boyne

No. Pages: 216

ISBN: 0-385-60940-X

Publisher: David Fickling Books

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is about Bruno, a nine year old boy; he lives in a five storey house with his mother, his father, his 12-year-old sister Gretel and also many servants. Bruno doesn’t know anything about his father’s job except that he wears a fancy uniform and that the Fury has big things in mind for him. One day the very important Fury visits them and from this Bruno’s father gets a new uniform, his title changes to Commander and Bruno finds himself, his family and all of his servants moving to a new home at a place called Out-With. When Bruno gets there he feels very sad as he has left his school, Karl, Daniel and Martin, his three best friends for life, his house, his grandparents and the street life of Berlin, with its cafes, fruit and vegetable stalls. His new house at Out-With is much smaller, full of soldiers and there is no one to play with. From his bedroom window Bruno occasionally notices a town of people dressed in striped pyjamas separated from him by a wire fence. When he asks his father who those people are, he responds that they aren’t really people, they are the Jews. One day, Bruno follows the wire fence separating off the area where these people live from his house. He spots a dot in the distance on the other side of the fence that when he gets closer, he sees it’s a boy. Excited by what could be a friend, Bruno introduces himself. The Jewish boy’s name is Shmuel. Almost every day, they meet at the same place and talk. Eventually, for many reasons, Bruno decides to climb under the fence and explore Shmuel’s world and the way he lives.

I didn’t really enjoy this book because I found it very hard in some parts to understand and follow to begin with. I found it quite annoying how it would say something like ‘I used to live in a room with eleven other people before I came here and one boy Luka, who kept on hitting me even when I did nothing at all wrong’ and then later on in the story if it came back to it, it would describe it all over again and keep repeating it each time.

I liked this book because it had lots of really good description in it and also the story line is really good as it shows how some people really do live or used to live. It is a story about a very different friendship as most people think of playing with a friend and not just talking through a wire fence to them which is really cool. 

I gave this book a rating of two and a half because I kind of disliked this read but I also kind of loved that sort of book. I would recommend this book to anybody around the age of about 10–13 or 14. Overall I think that this book was okay and it may be a very good read for anyone who likes the sound of it.

Once upon a time there was a queen. She lived with her young handsome king in a far away country with woods surrounding their palace. All they ever wished for was to have a child of their own. After a while their wish was fulfilled and all of the newspapers announced a new born prince. The prices skin was white as snow, his cheeks were red as blood and his hair was black as night.The king and queen were very happy together with their new son Wind White until one dreadful day the king died and after a while whilst Wind White was still a baby the queen remarried.  The new king was also very handsome but also very arrogant.

He owned a magic mirror which he often stood in front of and asked “Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the most handsome one of them all’ and instantly the mirror would answer “why you are most handsome, so stylish and striking”.

Many years passed and Wind White kept on growing more and more handsome. The new king never paid any attention to Wind White so he never realised how attractive the young prince was getting.

One morning the king asked his usual question to his mirror ‘Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the most handsome one of them all’ and the mirror reluctantly answered “you are stylish, you are striking, but Wind White is the most handsome one of them all’.

At this the king became tremendously irritated and angry. He immediately began to think up a plan to get rid of Wind White. The king was very annoyed that he couldn’t think of a plan but after a while it came to him so he sent for the royal hunter to take Wind White into the woods and kill him. The hunter was much too afraid to say no to the king so he went off to find Wind White.

Shortly he found him and asked if he would like to go for a walk with him into the woods, Wind White could not refuse this because he has always absolutely admired the woods.

When they had walked deep into the forest the hunter told Wind White the reason of their walk, Wind White was very worried about this but the hunter told him not to worry as the hunter had decided not to kill him if he promised to run away and never return to the palace ever again. Wind White promised and ran away even deeper into the woods.

Wind White was getting very hungry and tired when he stumbled across this enormous house he slowly went up to a door that had been left open. He knocked on the door but no one answered so he went inside to look for some food, he found a few berries and ate them. He then decided to go out side so no one knew he had been there. He was so tired that he just sat outside and fell straight asleep. He woke with a startle when he realised that he was being carried into the humongous house by a massive giant, he instantly became dreadfully concerned. He started wriggling around and trying to break free and get away from it. The Giant told him not to worry “don’t worry I’m just going to take you inside as you look ever so chilly and tired”. The giant took her inside and sat him down on the edge of a massive bed “Just wait here while I go and grab you some food and a hot drink” the giant said kindly and with that Wind White lay down and peacefully whispered “yes please that would be lovely”. Soon after the giant came back into the room where Wind White was fast asleep with some yummy hot chicken soup with a couple of pieces of crispy, crunchy toast and a hot chocolate with two fluffy pale pink and white marshmallows. When the giant found he was asleep he crept in quietly and sat the hot chicken soup and the hot chocolate on the bedside table, the giant then sat quietly on a couch at the end of his bed.

A little while later Wind White woke up with a fright when he saw seven giants sitting at the end of his bed, the giant he first met was named Bruno. The other giant’s names were Dexter, Terry, Ned, Freddie, Gregory and Arthur. Bruno slowly said “look what I prepared, just for you on your bedside table. Go ahead and have a nibble away at it”. Wind White Saw it and immediately got stuck in and gobbled it all up. “Jeepers you must have been starving” announced Ned. “Yes to have gobbled it all up like that” said Arthur. “Yes I certainly was” exclaimed Wind White. This started up a long deep conversation between everyone, when this finally ended Bruno piped up and asked if Wind White would like to stay with them for a while and be their housekeeper since all of the giants were out all day and everyone was enjoying each others company so much. Of course Wind White agreed as he had nowhere to go and these giants were always so kind to him.

Wind White had many happy days together with the giants, but unfortunately one day the king discovered where he was and dressed up in a disguise as a baker selling fresh baked chocolate chip cookies went into the woods and found the house of the giants and saw Wind White outside in the garden. The king went up to him and asked if he would like to try one. Wind White decided that it wasn’t going to hurt him if he tried a little bit of one, so the king gave him one and Wind White took a bite. At that exact moment he fell to the ground as the king had poisoned that one cookie.

Later on that night when the giants got home they saw Wind White lying in the garden in front of the house. They were all very sad indeed as all the giants were very fond of Wind White. The giants made a glass casket for Wind White and lifted him into it.

One day a beautiful princess was galloping along on her horse when she saw Wind White in the casket fell in love with him when she first got a glimpse of him and asked the giants if she may take Wind White to her castle. The giants agreed and helped the princess carry him.

Whilst they were lifting the casket one of the giants slipped and the casket was jerked down and the bit of cookie fell out of Wind White’s throat. Wind White opened his eyes wearily and everyone cheered happily. Dexter helped him out of the casket and then the princess asked to marry him and to live together in her castle. When Wind White found out that the princess’s castle was close enough for him to visit the giants each day he agreed to marry the princess. Everyone lived happily ever after except for the evil king who died in a fit of rage after he found out that Wind White was still alive happy and well.