Get a taster of some interesting books and movies read and watched by our Year 1s!
Book: The Pet Sematary
The Pet Sematary is a horror book written by Stephen King. This book shows that sometimes, dead is better than alive and we should be careful of what we wish for.
The main characters are Louis Creed, his wife Rachel Creed, his two children Ellie and Gage Creed, their pet cat Church and Louis’ neighbour, Jud Crandall.
Louis is an ER doctor. He and his family were evicted from their home in Boston, Massachusetts, hence they moved to the small town of Ludlow. They meet their neighbour, Jud Crandall. Before long, they become friends and Jud decides to show them around. The family gets to know more about the area. The woods nearby were owned by the Micmac Indians. While exploring the nearby forest, Rachel and Ellie come across an old, aged sign that says, “Pet Sematary”. Louis feels upset after being unable to save a university student, Victor Pascow. That night, the spirit of Victor visits Louis and warns him against burying anything in the Pet Sematary.
The next day, they find Church’s dead body, but Louis does not want to tell Ellie about Church’s death as he knows that she will be upset. Hence, Jud and Louis decide that they will bury Church in the Pet Sematary. Church returns, but has no heartbeat, is extremely violent and smells like the burial ground. When Louis is in the bath, he starts to have visions in which Victor visits him and warns him against going to the Pet Sematary. Church tears a rat apart and throws it towards him, terrifying Louis even more.
Ever since Louis buried Church in the cemetery, dreadful things started to happen to him and his family. Miss Dandridge, Ellie’s teacher, hangs herself. Gage dies after being hit by a truck. Distraught, Louis decides to bury Gage in the cemetery while Rachel and Ellie are away. Jud thinks that Gage died because he showed Louis the burial ground. He tried to stop Louis but to no avail. That night, Rachel and Ellie sense that something is wrong. Ellie dreams that Rachel dies and both feel that Louis is going to do something wrong. Rachel rushes back to try and stop him but it is too late. The possessed Gage slashes Jud to death that night, then proceeds to stab Rachel using a scalpel and eats half of her face. Louis wakes up and receives a call from Gage, who laughs manically while telling Louis that he “played” with Jud and Rachel and had an awfully good time.
Horrified, Louis slowly starts going insane and injects Church with a heavy dosage of morphine. He then looks for Gage and after a long struggle, Gage is killed again. The last few strands of his sanity slowly snap and Louis burns down his own house in despair. Believing that Rachel would retain her personality since only a few hours passed after her death, Louis buries her in the cemetery.
Unlike what Louis believed, Rachel comes back a changed person. Covered with dirt, the resurrected Rachel places a hand on Louis’ shoulder and says, “Darling.”
This story is thrilling and yet horrifying. It shows that sometimes, it is good to let go, even if it hurts. We should not hold on to things forever. This story delivers an important moral and shows how far a family member will go just for a loved one. Louis loved his family dearly; however, he could not let go of them and that brought about his own demise. He knew that burying his family members in the cemetery would cause them to be possessed and become the undead, yet he still could not accept that fact and brought back his family members one by one. The resurrection of each family member led to the death of another, and the story ends with Louis himself getting killed. Life and death is a natural process, we should not try and reverse it.
To summarise, this book is both horrifying and gripping. It delivers an important moral and shows us how we deal with grief.
By Le En
Book review: The Black Cauldron
The book is written by Lloyd Alexander. The summary of the book: In the land of Prydain, evil is never far away. Arawn, Lord of the Land of Death, has been building an army of dark warriors to take over Prydain, and the only way to stop him is to destroy the Black Cauldron he uses to create his dreaded soldiers. Taran, Assistant Pig-keeper, and his loyal companions must journey deep into Arawn’s domain to destroy the Black Cauldron. Prince Gwydion has assigned him a task of guarding the pack animal, securing the retreat of the band that would enter Arawn’s domain, which consisted of Doli of the Fair Folk, who could turn invisible, Coll, Fflewddur Fflam and Gwydion himself. In Taran’s own band was wise Adaon and proud yet disagreeable Ellidyr.
When the attack on Arawn’s domain failed, the Taran’s band is forced to a retreat. Later, it is revealed that the Black Cauldron had been stolen and taken to the terrifying Marshes of Morva. He finds his friends Eilonwy and Gurgi following him. Taran decides to go to the Marshes to try and retrieve the Cauldron. But in a fight with the Huntsmen of Annuvin, Adaon is killed and his precious brooch is given to Taran. He is heartbroken at the loss of his friend. But with the brooch, he realized he had prophetic dreams not unlike those that Adaon had. Because of his warnings and notions, his friends admire him.
In the Marshes, they reach the house of Orwen, Orddu and Orgoch. He find out that the Cauldron was there but a price had to be paid in return for the Cauldron. As each of his friends offer their most precious belongings, Taran finally paid the price by trading the Cauldron for Adaon’s brooch. He was also told that the Cauldron could only be destroyed if a living person climbed inside it willingly.
The band of friends carried the Cauldron on their backs until it got stuck in the riverbank. Ellidyr who had disappeared before Adaon’s death, appears and offers his help to pull it out in return for Taran’s word that he would say that it was himself who had done everything. Reluctantly, Taran agreed.
When they were captured later by a traitor, Ellidyr apologises for his actions. Doli who had found them while invisible, frees them. Ellidyr fought free from those who tried to keep him away from the Cauldron and heaved himself in. The Cauldron shattered and was finally destroyed. Ellidyr’s horse, who was the only creature who loved him, seeing her master’s dead body, threw herself off a cliff and died. Taran finally forgives him and grieved.
The book is very thought provoking as it makes me think about the decision I would make in that scenario when faced with the impossible choices Taran has to make: To give up his pride for the good of the mission or to try to do it himself. Ellidyr, who was so proud and unhappy was desperate for honor. In the end, he sacrificed everything to destroy the Cauldron and finally received the honor he so craved. Ellidyr is an example of a proud person who changed for the better. This book has taught me that pride can only drag you down, you have to swallow it and ask for help in times of need.
By Zizhuo
Book: The Book Thief
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a tragically beautiful recount of World War II in Nazi Germany, in two interesting perspectives – a sarcastic rendition of ‘death’ and a young girl just discovering the power of reading and writing. When she is made fun of in school for being unable to read, and takes an old book from a cemetery, her foster father helps her learn to read and write. She experiences firsthand the empowering ability of reading and is horrified upon learning that politicians are burning books. So, when she comes across one of these “book burnings”, she steals a book from the site and brings it home. Soon after, her foster parents allow a Jewish man by the name of Max Vandenburg to live with them.
The perspective of Death and its occasionally humorous observations of humans, especially during a time of war and political instability, adds a lot to the story. It remarked that “even Death has a heart”, in contrast to some of the Nazi antagonists. The book shows how a young girl who lost her family members was exposed to the horrifying state of the world. The setting of the book is in a time where many individuals are hanging on to their lives, which makes the choice of narrator even more impactful.
Writing is the most effective way to communicate lasting ideas, and this book shows how it could be a double-edged sword. Of course, Zusak’s distinctive style makes the suspense even more powerful, starting from the beginning. This is also a story of a young girl, Liesel’s optimism that would ultimately get her through many struggles.
If you enjoy reading, you will love the refreshing perspective of Death, who has developed a sense of remorse after the millennia spent collecting human souls. You will relate with Liesel and gain insight on World War II in Germany. Otherwise, you will still be moved by the tragic story, as well as the vivid and varying description that Zusak uses. While the book is quite long, the writing kept me hooked throughout.
I will end with an apt quote from the book: “Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.”
By Kyan
Movie: Interstellar
The movie follows Cooper and his daughter, Murph, when they find an anomaly which leads them to a secret NASA facility. Cooper eventually is brought to lead a mission to find a habitable planet since Earth is dying and has only one farmable crop left. He had to choose between three planets, all with the possibility to be habitable. The first planet ends up being a water planet with no life, with time passing very quickly at a rate of 1 earth day per second, also 1 scientist dies due to drowning. The spaceship had to choose between one of two planets: one with Cooper’s friend, Mann on it, or a another planet. Cooper chooses Mann’s planet and goes there. However, Mann actually only said that it was habitable as he wanted to go back home and live, instead of dying. Mann tries to escape back to Earth but fails and dies, however he took one scientist with him. With only enough resources to facilitate one scientist to reach the last planet, Cooper sacrifices himself into the black hole, but finds himself in a five-dimensional tesseract looking into Murph’s bedroom. He was able to communicate with Murph the information she needed to solve the gravity-equation using morse code and gravity, before being ejected back to the solar system and reuniting with Murph. Using Cooper’s information, Murph solved the equation and created a planet and exodus to leave Earth, saving mankind. The movie ends in Murph dying in front of Cooper.
I enjoy this movie as it teaches the meaning of resourcefulness and the human sins of hu sloth and greed. Mann was too greedy and lazy, instead sending the signal in hopes of being saved, effectively sabotaging the future mission’s plans. The movie was also sad since a few people died in heartbreaking and tense moments. The scenes I definitely loved was the blackhole scene, which looked very realistic especially with the music playing in the background. Attention to detail was very nice, as in the water world, there was a tick every second, resembling one day on Earth. However, I felt like some of the movie, like the last part was quite rushed; a longer ending part could create more tension and heartbreak. The start of the movie could be more summarised since it kind of dragged on, and I felt quite bored watching it, causing me to almost drop the movie. However, the middle of the movie, with the epic music and intensity, hooked me and I ended up loving the movie from then on out.
To summarise, I enjoyed the graphics, tension and music, but did not like the pacing. This movie, in my opinion, is one of the modern sci-fi greats.
By Kai
nushpress 