spooks blog # 3

"Spooks" is a chapter about fitting in. Jason and his friend, Moran, are invited to become part of a secret gang called Spooks. When they try out and Jason succeeds, but Moran doesn't, he's left to choose between being part of the "in crowd" or standing up for his friend. Then there's also this thematic debate between being a local vs. a townie. Jason and his family are not and are never going to be considered locals because they settled in Black Swan Green after the war started. No matter how hard they try they'll always be considered townies. So, there's a great lesson here on what it means to be categorized. 

Reaction and thoughts on solarium blog # 4

Beauty falls leaf by leaf” describes how the aging process causes people to lose their beauty so gradually that it’s difficult to recognize. Madame Crommelynk compares beauty to the leaves of a tree which gradually fall off, leaving the tree bare. Madame Crommelynck says, "you  miss the beginning” and then “day by day it falls” until one looks like an old witch meaning that the beginning of the loss of beauty, like the fall of the first leaf, is not noticeable, but that as time goes on and more leaves fall, beauty is gone.This is a great chapter