MARTIN LUTHER KING

MARTIN LUTHER KING by Alan C. McLean

SUBGENERE:  Fact files
SETTING: Usa
PLOT: "Young Martin did not understand. Why was his friend Warren not at the same school with him?" Martin began to dream of a better future fot black people as him, a future in which they have jobs, schools and rights like white people in the Usa. The Usa in 1950s and 60s was a troubled place because black people had not the same rights of white people and for this reason there were marches, protests, bombs and killings. But the voice of Martin Luther King was the voice of peace, he dreamed of black and white living together in peace and freedom without fightings. He changed America in his short life and in 1964 became the first black to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He dead young in Memphis on 4 April of 1968 in the hospital, he was only thirty-nine years old.

PERSONAL COMMENT: I like this book a lot because it's about the human rights and Martin Luther King can be an example for everyone because he defended black people, he was an extraordinary man that changed American people.

                                                                                                                  Chiara De Ninno


                                                                                                      

Robin Hood

Robin Hood by John Escott

SUBGENRE: graphic novel;
SETTING: Nottingham,England and Sherwood forest, medieval England (1000-1500); 
SITUATION: It is the story of Robin Hood and his men. They take money from Prince John and Friar Tuck. He saves poor people (such as a poor boy hunting in the forest) from injustice. During a schooting contest in Nottingham forty shoot their arrows but only three men hit their targets in the centre:Sir Guy Gisbourne,one of the Sheriff’s men and an old man with a beard (it is Robin hood).When they shoot again only the old man’s arrow hits the centre.When Lady Marian understands that she has to  marry Sir Guy Gisborne goes away in Sherwood Forest where she meets Robin and they get married.
CHARACTERS: Robin Hood,Lady Marian, King Richard the Lionheart, Sir Guy Gisborne, Prince John, Friar Tuck, Little John and Sheriff of Nottingham;
POINT OF VIEW:  narrator's
THEMES: love, adventure, the fight against rich people and their injustices towards poor people; 
STYLE: exciting language in atmosphere of adventure with a bit of romanticism;
PERSONAL COMMENT: In my opinion it is a beautiful book because it teaches to fight for everything that is good and right. 

                                                                      Giusi Paolicelli

"Three men in a boat" -  by Jerome K. Jerome

 

Subgenre: novel

Setting: 19th century- London

Story: this book deals with three men that are bore for every day life. They are George, Harris and Jerome with their dog Montmorency. So They decide to have a journey: they take a boat trip up the river Thames. They fall in the river and lost lots of things, they laugh, tell stories. They have a lot of fun, but tey can't go out of the bed in the morning. They want to have adventures but, for example, when it rains they stay in the same place. They can't open a tin without a tin-opener, and then they argue, but finally they laugh.

Characters: Jerome, Harris, George, Montmorency...

Narrator: 1st person

Personal comment: this is a very nice book because you laugh very very much. The characters are people that you can maat anywhere and every day. They want to have a great adventure, but the real great adventure is that of the ridden. This is the holiday that everyone would to have: with good friends and lots of laughters.

 

-Imma Lamacchia

TITLE: England 

AUTHOR: John Escott 

SUBGENRE: Narrative 

CHARACTERS: Romans,Angles and Saxons but then Vikings and later French 

STYLE : Easy and understandable 

NARRATOR: 3th person 

PLOT : This book speaks about the story of England about her culture about her foods,drinks and about their populations.In England there are,also a lot of others city and rivers and lakes. For example The Lake Distric National Park in Cumbria. There is also a green dale in Yorkshire. There are in England also a lot o boats on the Norfolk Broads. Sport is also a lot of important for England, in fact here there are a lot of sports from football to tennis to cricket. Fashion is also important, there are a lot of style from punk fashion to a lot of styles. 

PERSONAL COMMENTS: I think that this book is really interesting because with his we can have a global visual around England. This because this book speaks about a lot of themes. 

ANNAPIA MARINA ALBANESE III B. 

THE PIT AND THE PENDOLUM and other stories
SUBGENRE: Fantasy and horror stories
SETTING: A prison in Toledo, many places for the other stories
CHARACTERS: An imprisoned man, Fortunado, Amantillado, Marchesa, Mentori family
SITUATION: 1 - The prison thinks that he is in a tomb, but he discovers that he is in a cell. He explores the cell but in a moment he falls in a pit in the centre of the room and he loses consciouness. After that, he finds that he is bound to a wooden board by ropes. He looks up in horror and he sees and enormous scythe-lite pendolum. Because of this, he moves from to the pit and falls into it. At the end, the French Army takes Toledo and The Inquisition.
2 - The story begins with Montresor, the narrator, who explains the reason of the crime. According to Montresor, Fortunado, the victim, has committed injuries. They make their way into Montresor's family catacombs. The nitre lined walls make Fortunado caughs so Montresor encourages him to go on for sake. Then they go home.
3 - The book starts with the arrival of the narrator in a black castle in which there are lots of pictures on the walls. The narrator takes interest in a painting of a young beautiful girl in an oval frame. At this point the narrator tells the story of that girl.
PERSONAL COMMENT: I liked this book because I like horror stories. Personally, I liked the second story very much because it speaks about the theme of liberty and personal freedom. It also speaks about solidarity, an important theme.
Serena Mannarella

Author: Mark Twain

Title: The adventures of Tom Sawyer

Characters: Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Joe Harper

Style: Romance

Narrator: 3rd person

Plot: Tom Sawyer is a restless boy who lives with his aunt Polly. With his friends Huck and Joe Tom decides to leave the Missisipi's shore and lives without adults.They spend their days playing and having fun away from the adult world.After a big rain they decides to return to home. In that day their relatives are celebrating their funerals and when the boys return at their house arouse the wrath of their parents. The adventures of Tom continue and the book ends with the discovery of a great treasure.

Personal comment: It's famous and lovely book.In the Tom's characters there is a great sense of rebellion,he seems like a bad boy but he just wants to assert his freedom;this sense of freedom moves the reader to fall in love with the story.

                                                                                               Pasquale Iuliano

"The Thirty-Nine Steps"

AUTHOR : John Buchan
SUBGNERE : Thriller
CHARACTERS : Richard Hannay main character, Franklin P. Scudder his neighbor,Walter Bullivant secretary of the Police,Carolidis first Greek minister
STYLE : very detailed descriptions of actions and a lot of suspense.
NARRATOR : 1st Person, Richard's point of view
PLOT :  Richard Hannay is 37, a mining engineer of Scottish descent, resident in Rhodesia, a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War and recently returned from England. It's a person no longer able or courageous than others, but from his side he has fortune and a small dose of intelligence and cunning. He found himself suddenly involved in business bigger than him, aware of a terrible secret, pursued by ruthless and intelligent enemies, suspected of a murder he did not commit, will have a dizzying race against time to save himself and his country.
PERSONAL COMMENT : I liked this book very much because it mixes real history with a an exciting story full of suspense and twists,making an incredible plot with a very complete and versatile main character.
                        
                                                                Gaetano Moretti

CHEMICAL SECRET (by Tim Vicary)

SUBGENRE: Thriller;

NARRATOR: Third person narrator;

CHARACTERS: John, Christine (his daughter), Simon (her husband);

STYLE: Suspense;

PLOT: John Duncan is a biologist, who started a boat-building company. He s a widower and with his wife's death the company failed and he lost everything. After few time he got a job ina a paint factory to have a better life with is daughter. But there he discovered that chemical stuff from the factory was polluting a nearby river but stopping the pollution was very expensive, so he had to decide if tell everything to the newspapers or make nothing to not lose the job.Then everything is discovered and John had to say the truth, so he lost job.

PERSONAL COMMENT: I think it's a quite good book, I quite liked reading it but I'm not very satisfied because it's a bit simple; this is also an important book because it dials with one of the most important themes of today: the pollution and the fight that every day the Earth has to struggle against the man. 
                                                                                                 Pasquale Lo Nigro

ROBINSON CRUSOE

ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe

SUBGENRE: Adventure
SETTING: 17th century
STORY/PLOT: Robinson Crusoe was a young man that wanted to go around the oceans, against his father's idea that wanted his son to be a lawyer. So he went by ship in Guinea but he shipwrecked off at the South America. He lived alone for many years, he hated food which was on the island and built a little house with some objects in the nature. He discovered that in the island there was another man that became his friend, but after that, he returned with a ship in England and got married.
CHARACTERS: Robinson Crusoe, Friday
NARRATOR: 1st person
PERSONAL COMMENT: I like this book because it's interesting for the adventures and I admire the action that Robinson Crusoe do to survive in the island.


Chiara De Ninno

WHITE FANG by JACK LONDON

SUBGENRE: novel

PLOT: White fang is a puppy wolf so called for the colour of his hair. When he is young he learns to defend himself from the cold or from the hunger; so when he grows up he becomes strong  and brave. But one day an Indians group takes away him in their village where he is ill-treated from men and other dogs. White Fang defeats all opponents, including several wolves and a lynx, until a bulldog is brought in to fight him; the wolf nearly suffocates. When Weedon Scott sees this scene he helps and save White Fang and he goes away  to California with him. From that moment the wolf lives a good life with people who loves him. The story end with the scene of White Fang, Collie and their six puppies.

NARRATOR: third person

THEMES: growth, courage, mother love, affection

PERSONAL COMMENT:  I liked this book because with beautifully realistic details of the harsh realities of life in the Yukon, White Fang is a  grippingly original novel about morality and redemption.

The Tempest

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Subgenre: fairy tale 
Situation: This book speaks about the events that have just happened to the magic Prospero and his daughter Miranda that have been exiled on a island for about 12 years. In possession of magic powers, he is reluctantly served by a spirit, Ariel. Prospero having predicted that his brother Antony would pass near the island with a ship, causes a storm that will drown the brother’s ship.On the ship there are also King Alonso and his son Ferdinand then Prospero with his spells able to separate all survives. So Alonso and Ferdinand believe that the others is died. After all are reunited to the cave of Prospero; also a new love story born between Miranda and Ferdinand that causes the reconciliation of the brothers. Finally Prospero renounces magic with famous monologue. 
Point of view: narrator’s
Narrator: third person 
Themes: love, revenge, hate, marriage 
Personal Comment: The tempest is one of the most famous Shakespeare’s fairy tale. I liked reading this book a lot because the thing that struck me the most was the atmosphere of the magic island and especially the presence of the several themes like forgiveness. 

                                Jessica Lacetera

"Five Canterbury tales" - G. Chaucher

subgenre: tale
setting: Canterbury - 14th Century
story: some piligrims are going to Cnterbury to visit the tomb of S. Thomas Becket. On the way everyone tell stories. A nice story is narrate from a Knight;his story deals with two friends that are captured and imprision from Theseus in the Ancient Grece. They see a relative of Theseus, Emilia, and they fall in love. When they are out of the prision, they argue for her, so Theseus decides that the next year they will fight with a their army. One wins, because he is helpd from the love goddes, and he and Emilia marry. another nice story is narrate from a woman from Bath. She narrates that  the story is setting in King Arthur time,and there is a kinght that loves a woman, so he kidnaps her. But the King Arthur orders to come at the court. He wants kill him, but Guinevre stops him and gives the Knight a second chance. The king has on year to understand what women want. An year passed, but he didn't understand what women want. He meets an ugly woman that gives him an answer, but then he must marry her. So the Knight gives Guinevre an answere:"to rule their husbands". The answereis right and he is a frre man, and he and the ugly woman marry. But he is not happy, so the ugly woman asks him to kiss her, and she becomes a beautiful woman.
characters: the knight, the merchant, the woman from Bath...
narrator: 3rd person
personal comment: this book is very nice. I like it very much because it can give you a smile while you read it.
-Imma Lamacchia

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 

 
SUBGENRE: tragedy 
SETTING: indefinitely 
SITUATION: It speaks about two lovers that love each other but they can't stay together because their families are eanimies. They meet each other during a party, so they fall in love. Then Juliet's family decides to give in marriage their daughter to Paris, a gentlman of Verona. Juliet doesn't want to marry this man,so she decides to marry Romeo secretly. Then when Romeo was exaild, Juliet sends him a letter in which she explains her plane. Juliet pretends to be died and when Romeo knows that she is died, he kills him self. When Juliet wakes up, finds him died and decides to kills herself too. 
CHARACTERS: Romeo and Juliet; Romeo's family; Juliet's family; Benvolio, Mercutio, Abram (Romeo's friend), Paris, Friar Lawrence, Tybalt. 
POINT OF VIEW:  narrator's
THEMES: true love, jealousy. 
STYLE: realistic description. 
PERSONAL COMMENT: I like this book because it is the most important tragedy written by William Shakespeare. This story is know all over in the world, and it has marked the history of English literature.


                                                                        Ludovica Mega

Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings

Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

SUBGENRE:Novel.

SETTING: Around 1800 in London.

PLOT:This book speaks about the most important sports of the kings, the first is the horseracing.A lot of important people take part in this sport.For example in this book is quoted Silver Blaze he was an important figure in this game because he takes part in a lot of races and he often wins..But oneday with an other important man were disappeard and everybody asks some other people where they could be.
.

CHARACTERS: Watson,Sherlock Holmes,Silver Blaze,John Straker,Ned,Inspector Gregory,Gregory's wife.

NARRATOR: Arthur Conan Doyle.

POINT OF VIEW: Narrator's.

STYLE:Easy.

THEMES:''sports,horseracing,homicide,bet's game resolution of the problems.''

PERSONAL COMMENT: I think that  is an interesting book because I can find in this a lot of stories and themes.

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

SUBGENRE: Crime and mistery 

NARRATOR: Third person

PLOT: Adolf Verloc is a double agent, working for both the British police and a foreign country. He pretends to live a normal life, with his wife, Winnie, and has a shop in London, which, at night, becomes a meeting place for anarchists. One day Verloc is told to plant a bomb - but the plan goes terribly wrong 

Does Verloc really love Winnie, or is she just part of his cover? Can Winnie ever forgive him? Who is Verloc really working for?

PERSONAL COMMENT: I liked this book because was fascinating.

Title: The Importance of Being Earnest

Author: Oscar Wilde

Genre: Comedy

Characters: Jack Worthing,Algernon Moncrieff,Lady Bracknell,Miss Prism,Cecily,Gwendolen

Setting 1890

Plot:  Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff pretend to be Ernest to seduce as two gentlemen Lady Gwendolen,a rich heiresses,and Cecily, Jack's cousin. Gwendolen's mother instead doesn't want her daughter frequent Ernest,because he is orphan and hasn't gor noble origins.Instead Jack doesn't want his cousin frequent Algernon because of his superficiality.At the end Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen's mother, allows her daughter to marry, and Jack allows his cousin to marry Algernon,because he find that Algernon is his brother.

Personal comment: It is a fantastic and ironic comedy. In this script Wilde exposes,with a great humorism, the london social convention of the Victorian's age.

Pasquale Iuliano

SALADIN by Nina Prentice

NARRATOR-3rd person
POINT OF VIEW-Narrator's
SETTING-Middle-East countries under the rule of Arabs in 12th century
PLOT-When Yusuf went to Aleppo in Syria to learn to fight under General Shirkuh, no one knew what this young man would do with his life. But years later, Yusuf became the great and valiant general, Saladin, the man who helped to bring Muslims together to win back the holy city of Jerusalem from the Franks.
PERSONAL COMMENTS-Arabic culture is represented very well in this book that can take you in a travel straight to the heart of Saladin's Empire with very detailed and precise descriptions of time and space.

Gaetano Moretti

“IRELAND”- Tim Vicary
NARRATOR: Three person- Tim Vicary
STORY/PLOT: Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland and Nothern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. Ireland is a beautiful island with peaceful riders, green fields and very nice islands. Ireland was invaded by Celts and Vikings. The Celts liked living in the country, but the Vikings lived in towns. Many years after, Ireland had many kings and they often fought each others. Ireland was also marked by the terrible struggle between Catholics and Protestans. There was also a war between British and Irish people, from 1795 to 1798; Irish people, with the help of French ships and soldiers, fought the British. But Britain won and many Irish people were killed or they emigrated to escape. Northern Ireland was created as a division of the United Kingdom by the Government of Ireland. In Ireland the people spoke two main languages: Irish and British. St. Patrick’s day is a cultural and religious day celebrated on  17^th March. It is named after St. Patrick; the most commonly recognize him as the patron of Ireland. In Ireland, the most important cities are Dublin, Belfast. Dublin is the most important city in the Republic of Ireland and is known for the black beer “Guinness” and for the Custom House. Belfast is the biggest city in Northern Ireland, famous for the ships, aeroplanes and for the “Titanic”. 

SETTING: Nowadays
PERSONAL COMMENTS: I think Ireland is a country to discover because there are many different kinds of Ireland: the Ireland of rivers and fields, the Ireland of songs and dances and the Ireland of young people. Ireland is a special country and I think it is very beautiful. 

- Coretti Emanuela

The Teacher's Secret and Other Folk Tales

The Teacher's Secret and Other Folk Tales by Joyce Hannam

SUBGENRE: folk tales  
SETTING: indefinitely
PLOT: In this book there are different folk tales that try to explain what are the difference between sons and daughters, because sometimes women are betters than men. We can see that sometimes a poor man is cleverer than a rich man and also the students can be cleverer than their teachers. Everyone in this book want to be clever, so what can happen?  
CHARACTERS: Fanta-Ghirò, Nasreddin, a teacher of an expensive school, princess Tara, Fredderick, Fatima NARRATOR: third person  
POINT OF VIEW: narrator's  
STYLE: the language in every story is very easy 
THEMES: differences between human behaviors, folk tales, legend, love  
PERSONAL COMMENT: I liked this book because it's a very interesting story of the human behaviors and because it is very easy to understand.

 Giusi Paolicelli

The USA

The USA by Alison Baxter

NARRATOR: third person.

THEMES: The United States Of America

PLOT: "How was the USA  born? How did it grow is what kind of country is it now?

the answers to these questions are found in this book that talks about  the United States, their history and their future. The crowed America that we know 16 000 years ago was a empty land with mountains and forest, lakes, animals and fish, but no people. In fact, the coming of man was gradual.  It happened after the various discoveries of Europeans as Amerigo Vespucci or  Christopher Columbus. Now  more than 300 million people live in America. It is one of the largest and richest countries in the world, home of music, sport and films. It based its wealth on tourism and on big cities that were born on the Atlantic coast such as New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and others; but there are also some beautiful and natural places such as Niagara Falls or The Grand Canyon. America is one of the most popular destinations in the world and I really hope to go there.

PERSONAL COMMENT: I really enjoy this book because I love America and everything about it.  I liked to know and discover its history and its evolution.

                                                                   Monica Labbattaglia