Heir Apparent Book Review

Heir Apparent, by Vivian Vande Velde, is a futuristic story about a fourteen year-old girl named Giannine Bellisario who gets stuck in a simulated video game. Giannine got a gift card to Rasmussem Enterprises from her distant father for her birthday. When she arrives at the game center she picks the game Heir Apparent, due to the attractiveness level of the characters in the preview. Giannine awakes in the simulation as Janine de St. Jehan a poor farm girl, and is instantly filled with all the memories and other things she needs to know for her character. When Sir Demming, one of the king's advisers, visits her house, she learns that King Cynric has died and he wanted Janine, his daughter, to take the position of the new king. Janine was brought  back to the castle and was immediately dis-liked by Queen Andreana and her three sons; Wulfgar, Abas, and Kenric. As Janine was getting acquainted with her new family there is a small storm, only seen by Janine, which is follwed by a round man in a white lab coat descending from the clouds. The man, who ends up being Mr. Rassmussem, tells Janine that some people from S.P.C.C. (Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children) had broken in and damaged some of the gaming equipment ironically putting her in danger. Mr. Ramussem also tells her that she has to finish the game so they can safely get her out before her brain overloads, that Kenric and Sister Mary Ursala don't work well together, and she shouldn't forget the ring next time. Janine eventually dies from being stabbed by one of the guards, and then goes on to die five more times before coming to her last life. Over these five lives Janine learns that the ring Mr. Rassmussem mentioned can give you the power to control whoever you give it to and that she can get it by making up poetry for Bruce, a set of armor. She also learns how to talk to the guards, the wizards, and the barbarians to get them on her side, how to save the kingdom's riches from Rawdon, a stealing counselor, and over all how to finish the game. In Janine's last life she obtained magic boots that can take her anywhere in seven in paces, from a wizard, so she can get to a dragon that she must steal a crown from, which was originally cheated off the barbarians by Janine's father, and given to the dragon as a treaty. Janine must return the crown to make peace with the barbarians. After she gets the crown and makes it back to the castle Janine realizes that the dragon followed her there. She turns the dragon to gold, a perk of owning that crown and why the barbarians wanted it back so badly. Just when everything was settling down Janine got word that the peasants from the east are going to storm the castle. Everyone begins preparing for battle, but when they go to close the draw bridge it won't close because of all the ghosts that followed them back from retrieving the gold, are standing on it. Janine uses them to her advantage though, after convincing them to fight for the castle they go all out and defeat the peasants. After the fight, on Kenric's word, Janine gives the ring to Queen Andreana and commands her to name her as the king and have her sons respect her. Giannine wakes up in Rassmussem Enterprises just in time for her brain to still be safe. She rests after she finally gets out and waits patiently for her dad who had finally come to her aid. 

After reading this book and then going back through it I have come to the conclusion that one of the main themes in this book is that things you learn from your past experiences can help you in the future. The first example of this theme is when Janine reasons with the guards and helps with the money cut back to prove she is on their side because they had killed her in the past. "The two guards told how counselor Rawdon who was giving them their pay, had shorted them" (127). and "I will look into that, I promised" (127). The second example is when Janine found out about Rawdon stealing the gold she made sure to catch him before he takes it all. "You've seen my mercy with the boy accused of poaching. I will spare your life, too, if you show us where you've hidden the treasury" (227). And the third and last example is when Janine promises to get the crown back for the barbarians because she knows that they have caused lots over trouble over the crown in the past. "Grimbold said he would send word to his people that I was working on reclaiming the crown." (236). This is why I think the theme of this book is that things you learn from your past experiences can help you in the future.

I would definatly recommend this book to other seventh graders. Heir Apparent is an action packed story filled with a little mystery, and the beginning of a tiny romance which has you thinking. This book puts you in a state of mind that leaves you wondering what you would do if you were in Gianninne's position, if you would make it out or not. The ending of this book is very vague and does not tell much about what happens after she gets out of the game and goes back to her normal, which I think is an amazing way to end a book like this, to leave it to the reader to decide what happens next. Vivian Vande Velde is a very talented writer and she did a very good job writing Heir Apparent. I think other seventh graders would defiantly enjoy this book.

Practice Book Review: The Veldt

The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury, is a short story about Mr. and Mrs. Hadley who live in a house with their two children, Wendy and Peter, and have grown to depend completely on the technology and artificial intelligence that their house possesses.

They have things like air closets that suck you up and bring you to your sleeping room, a shoe lacer, voice clocks, shoe shiners, a body scrubber, massagers, and even a virtual realty nursery. The children have an addiction to the technology in the house, especially to the nursery. It all started when Lydia Hadley, the wife, noticed something different about the nursery. When George Hadley, the husband, went to check it out he noticed the children had set it to the African veldt, but it didn't seem like the normal nursery, the hot African air and the blood thirsty lions roaming felt almost... real. Familiar screams echoed throughout the veldt and Mrs. Hadley couldn't put her finger on it but it scared her to tears. Mr. Hadley attempted to change it to Aladdin and his lamp, something less gruesome, but the nursery didn't change, it stayed on the African veldt. Coming to the conclusion that Peter had tampered with it, George Hadley asked his kids, when they arrived home from the plastic carnival, why they had the nursery set to the African veldt but it was quickly denied by Peter and then changed by Wendy. Feeling confused and frustrated at the nursery George and Lydia called David McClean, a local psychologist, and he gave them the gist of it, something was off, it didn't feel good he said. While observing the room they found objects of George and Lydia's, bloody and ragged, and, boy, should they have taken that as a red flag. Deciding it would be best for the family, Mr. and Mrs. Hadley decided to unplug and go to Iowa on a well needed vacation. The children definitely did not agree, they cried and screamed and wished death upon their parents for doing such a treacherous thing to them. But Lydia, feeling sympathetic, convinced George to let the children have just one more minute in the nursery before they left for the airport. The parents went upstairs to dress, leaving the children in the nursery, only a few moments in and they heard the children screaming for them. They rushed down the stairs and straight into the nursery, but it was empty. The door behind them slammed shut leaving them locked in Africa with the lions. They pleaded for Wendy and Peter to let them out as the lions crowed around, a lion on all three sides, but Wendy and Peter were upset, upset that they were going to have to unplug, upset that they would be deprived of the nursery for who knows how long, upset that their father wouldn't let them go to New York, upset that their father was slowly taking machines away from them, holding a grudge is a fatal flaw, a fatal flaw that Wendy and Peter both possessed. The lions moved closer to Mr. and Mrs. Hadley, they screamed, and realized why those screams they heard before were so familiar. 

I think that one of the main themes in this story is that spoiling your children can have more consequences than you would presume. Mr. McClean, the psychologist sensed that the kids were spoiled, spoiled more than your average spoiled child. "I sensed that you were spoiling your children more than most." (22). Mr. Hadley even said that Peter threw tantrums when he didn't get his own way, it was just leading up to something bigger than a tantrum. "When I punished him a few months ago by locking the nursery for even a few hours--the tantrum he threw!" (12). The third example of this theme is the parents realize that spoiling their children didn't do much good for anyone. "We've given the children everything they ever wanted. Is this our reward--secrecy, disobedience?" (18). The children were spoiled in a way that everything was handed to them, no matter what, and when it suddenly stopped and they were going to have to do things for themselves that was a big problem. These examples show that spoiling your children in this way won't necessarily result in anything good.

I would definitely recommend this story to other seventh graders. The technology that's talked about and used in this story is strictly amazing, things that were not even invented when this book was written but are now, things that one could only imagine using, and everything in between. This story is very well written, and has some major plot twits, and is filled with small mysteries that leave you thinking all throughout the story. Although, it is a bit gruesome, and not everyone is attracted to stories like that so if you don't like reading anything gruesome let alone the thought of it then I would have caution. But as for the others, it's a very interesting story, in my opinion, and is defiantly worth your time.