reading reflection

Reading Reflections 2

Book: Everest

Author: Gordon Korman

Pages read: 10-32

     To begin with, I have read two other complete series by Gordon Korman. They are called Island and Dive. I have also started the series Kidnapped but have yet to complete it. My favorite to date would have to be the series Dive. I prefer this one because of the way the story is set up and how it becomes clearer as the book goes along.

     I have also looked up the author in the past and found out that he wrote his first book for a seventh grade English assignment. He had it published several years later. The choice of publishing company came from the fact that Korman was in charge of the Scholastic Book orders at the school and could not think of any other company to send it to. Another interesting fact that I have learned is that since 1978 Gordan Korman has had over 75 books published totalling around 7 million books sold.

     Going into the second, third, and fourth chapters, a characteristic that jumps out is the level of wit in the characters including countless jokes and funny come backs. An example of these would be when a character by the name of Cameron is irritated by the expedition photographer trying to get him to say something positive. His response…” I’m positive I’m going to throw up. “Another element of wit to the plot is the Snow White dwarf nicknames. For example the Doctor is called Doc, one of the climbers noted for always being in a jovial mood was nicknamed Happy, and the expedition leader named Cicero was nick named Snow White because he was described as the Unfairest of them all.

     There are also a number of passages in the book that point out who the antagonist will be. The characters nickname is Tilt. Since the characters introduction he has been acknowledged as been quite lippy and not an easy person to deal with. Another point to note about his abilities made him arrogant and he has apparently little regard for his peers. During an incident in which the Everest hopefuls  were forced to spend a night camping in a blizzard Tilt repeatedly mocked and criticized Cicero’s plans and chewed out another climber accusing him of being skilled only because of wealth. “You should get him to buy you some talent,” the big boy taunted. “You climb like my grandmother.” A prediction I can make about Tilt is he will at one time or another try to sabotage the main character Dominic.

     I find that in the world of youth authors, nicknames seem to be a common trend. For example, in the book “ Holes” everybody has a nickname, In "Dive" the French speaking assistant in the expedition is called “English”. Don’t ask it’s a long story. And finally in the series “Island the first mate Mr. Radford was given the easy nickname of Rat face. Finally in this book most of the characters are given nicknames. “ Am I the only one that sees a trend here?"

      My final remarks on these chapters are that they conclude the introduction phase of the book and we will be getting soon into the real meat of the story.

Marc Vallee