◦●▫▪•˚°ѕмаѕн яоx°˚•▪▫●◦

Novel:
 

This book has been around for a long time and ever since it was first written, has been loved by many people. This book is a great read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves books which have a quiet, mature character, that travels a long journey to find wisdom and another side to him which he never thought imaginable. There have been other things made to tell the story of the hobbit, eg. Board game, computer game, movie, etc and in this review I’ll refer back to all of them. I think that the author of this book, J.R.R Tolkien, directed the book to a younger audience, rather than an older audience, although I’m sure it could be enjoyed by almost anyone. This book is quite an easy read, but the only problem anyone would have with it would be trying to keep track of where the group - (Bilbo and the Dwarves) are up to. Sometimes it was a little hard to understand what Tolkien had just written, for example, throughout the scene where the Dwarves and Bilbo find themselves going off the track and trying to find where the elves sitting at the feast in the forest had gotten to. The book has been published many different times, but the story has never been altered. Some of the main characters in this book, eg. Gandalf, have been continued into other stories. As I mentioned earlier, this is a great rad, and if you think you’ve read the best book ever, just wait till you get through this one! 
 

The Computer game:
 

Before I say anything else, I’d just like to admit that I am not really one to love playing computer games. Before I started playing the game, I was kind of hoping that the class would go really quickly, but by the end of it, I couldn’t get enough of it! This really was one of the best kinds of game that I have played, and for many reasons. - First of all, I am going to say that it was much easier to play after reading the novel. I can’t imagine how hard it would be if you hadn’t previously been familiar with another form of the story. The ‘levels’ in the computer game are almost identical to the chapters in the book, with a few minute differences. It’s hard to say whether or not the graphics on the game were realistic or not because the game was definitely aimed at younger audiences. I think that they were generally pretty good though considering that theory. The levels of violence in the game were reasonably low because of the point of the game - you didn’t need to kill people in order to win. There were a few obstacles you needed to use force with in order to pass, but there definitely weren’t any blood or guts. I think that the age ranges for this game could be from 8-14 years old. As I have mentioned earlier, the graphics were just a tad ‘babyish’ for older teenagers. The skills required to play this game successfully were pretty basic, coordination, guidance, etc, which made it a lot easier for those of us who aren’t completely used to doing two things at any one time - (I’m guilty!) This game has rally been created very well and I would suggest to anyone to simply ‘give it a go’!         
 

The Movie:
 

The movie which was made for this story is very similar to the computer game, except of course, that there is no interactivity. The movie was exactly how I would have imagined it to be, but maybe that was just because I had already read the book. Like I said in the review about the computer game, the graphics in the movie are just a tad babyish, but then again, they tell the story just the same. The movie was almost identical to the book, but there were a couple of little differences - (a few deleted scenes.) The music in the film were very relevant to what was happening in the particular scenes, for instance, when the film-makers were trying to hold some suspense, the music would hold off and get either louder or quieter, or faster or slower. I must cut this movie some slack, considering that it was made in the 1970’s. It is a fantastic version of the story and if you hadn’t read the book and watched the movie, you would completely get the story, because it is almost identical.
 

The Board game:
Out of all of the versions of the story ‘The Hobbit,’ I would have to say that the board game was my least favourite. I think this is because of all of the modern technology that we have these days. I am the type of person who would much rather read the book or watch the movie rather than playing a board game. Funnily enough, I get a bit ‘bored’ at around the middle of the game. (Ha ha.) This form of The Hobbit doesn’t really tell the story as much as the other types of the story, and I think that the game would be so hard to play without reading the book first because you really do need guidance. If you hadn’t read the book, you would no nothing of the point of the book/game, you wouldn’t know who Smaug is and these really are points that you need to know. Maybe I should move onto some positive things about the board game. The presentation of the game is absolutely fantastic and all of the pieces/counters make sense and are relevant.       

‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet, hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry bare sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort’ 

This hobbit’s name was Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo was a very nice hobbit. He was much like the rest of his community, but there was something special about him. Bilbo was much like a perfectionist. Everything was always in order, and there was always a specific position for his items to go. For Bilbo, a disaster would be for something to tumble over, or to have the slightist flicker of dust on the mantlepiece, but little did he know that what he was about to face would be the biggest disaster of them all. Then came the knock on the door. “Oh bother,” said Bilbo sounding quite frustrated, “I just sat down to drink my tea!” Bilbo walked to the door, to find his old friend Gandalf standing there, looking quite in need of someone ot talk to…… 

I love my Aussie country,
We all know it’s great,
Although it is demanding,
We never show signs of hate,
Tourists come from across the world,
To see what there is here,
Some prefer to live the good life,
To live it strong and loud and clear.
 

My home, my pride, Australia,
Faces challenges each day,
From droughts to crazy weather,
And the normal Aussie way,
We have unexpected weather,
As most people here will see,
It goes from hot to cold quite quickly,
But used to it, are we.
 

I love my Aussie country,
We are great in our specialties,
Athletics, swimming and football,
How good we are at these
Green and gold, they are our colours,
Our chants and songs there too,
Our encouraging is compulsory,
To take our athletes through.  
 

My home, my pride Australia,
It has many ups and downs,
Although we do have problems,
That’s what makes a community or town,
If we all stick together,
Through good times and through bad,

This lifetime is not forever,

And if we fix it we’ll be glad.

By ash

To me, a hero is someone who never gives up. It is someone who puts in all that they have for other people’s satisfaction. Heroes always put others before themselves, unless they are in certain situations. My mum is an example of a great hero in my opinion. She manages to take care of all of her five children, and very well, I might add. Mum always puts us kids first, before herself. A hero doesn’t necessarily have to have super powers; all they need is an understanding of other people’s beliefs, needs and wants. Doctors are often referred to as heroes; after all, they do save peoples lives.  I think that if everyone had a strong goal in life, they could all become heroes; after all, you don’t need to be anything special to become a hero to someone.

I thought that the book, Juggling with Mandarins, was ok, but it wasn’t the best one I’ve read. Some of the issues that the book deals with are:
 

•  Standing up for what you really think and believe, no matter how hard it may seem.
• Shows problems, and good things within their family
• How things happen with and around Pip’s friends.

What parts did or did you not enjoy?
 

• One of the parts I really enjoyed while reading the novel was when Phil’s father went and watched him at the climbing competition. It was a great relief, even for us to finally see Phil’s dad proud of him after winning the competition, but in a nice way, not in an ‘in your face’ way.
• In the book, I don’t think that there was a part that I really disliked. It was all good and it was never boring.

Are there any parts that you didn’t understand?
 

• I don’t think that there were any confusing parts throughout the whole book. The author, V.M Jones explains it very well I think.

Who was you favourite character?
 

• My favourite character was the main character, Phillip, a.k.a Pip, a.k.a Phil. I think he is a really interesting character and the story was based around him, therefore you heard the most about him.

Why is the book called Juggling with mandarins?
 

• I think that it is called this because Pip has been faced with the challenge of life and juggling is a challenge also. It is also called this because Pip practises juggling throughout the book.

I admit that I haven’t read a huge amount of books in my time, but this would have to be the best out of all the ones I have read. Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets is the second book in a series of 6 different novels, all written by J.K Rowling, an English Author. The book is about a boy called Harry. In the previous book (Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone,) he finds out that he isn’t the ordinary boy that he thought he was. He is in fact, a wizard. Harry learns that both his mother and his father were both killed when he was a young boy, and he is left with his Aunt and Uncle who are really cruel to Harry.  They have a son called Dudley, who is a spoiled brat, but he isn’t really in the story much so I won’t go into detail about him. Harry is getting ready to return to his favourite place in the world – Hogwarts, School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you have read any other of the books in this series, you will know what kinds of adventures Harry and his friends have at Hogwarts, so if you are into books with a bit of fantasy, mystery and of course excitement, I’m sure that you will enjoy this book. I think that the age range for this novel would be from 10 years and up, because it may be a little bit hard for younger children to understand. I also believe that it would be enjoyed by Adults too!

нεγ εvεяγσиε! мγ иамε iѕ аѕн  аиd ίм ίи γεая 8 ат υρwεγ нίgн. мγ fаνσυяίтε тнίиg аβσυт sнσσl wσυld наνε тσ βε sεείиg мγ fяίεиds. sσмε σf тнεм аяε jσяdίε, sтερн, маddί, маяls, cнаυβs, тίββz, аиd jεss. plεаsε fεεl fяεε тσ lεаνε а cσммεит ί’d lσνε тσ нεая fяσм γσυ! Lσνε аsн xox

ρs ……

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