Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Charles John Dickens wrote Oliver Twist in 1838 Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and he died quickly in 1870 at Gad’s Hill Place in Higham. He was a British author who wrote a large number of famous and classic productions.

   Dickens was considered to be one of the largest authors writing in English and already during his life his author work met large popularity all over the world.

Oliver Twist is an orphan and was born in a poorhouse where he becomes badly treated. One evening Oliver asked for more food and he was locked up in a closet. The personnel at the poorhouse decided to sell Oliver to Mr. Sowerberry who is a funeral director. Oliver gets treated badly by Mrs. Sowerberry and the private school pupil Noah. One day Oliver and Noah end up in a fight and Oliver gets locked away and began to make a plan to run away. After a time Oliver runs away and walks to London where he ends up in bad company with Mr. Fagin, who teaches poor homeless boys to be pickpockets. A housebreaking goes wrong and Oliver ends up in a ditch, alone and hurt. Good Mr. Brownlow helps Oliver and in the end all pieces fall into place and he gets to know his parentage.

The story took place in the 1800:s in England. The surroundings are described as poor, filthy, gloomy and unsafe in a realistic way Charles Dickens illustrated the big social problems with satire in the social relations in the book, and in that way society was forced to acknowledge the problem which the law created for exposed groups, for example orphan children and poor people.

   The leading character is Oliver himself, he was a little orphan boy who despite his miserable childhood had a very high morale and followed his inner voice. He is a good boy who grew stronger with time and developed courageousness the older he got.

   The minor characters were Mr. Fagin, Mr. Sowerberry, Monks (Oliver’s half-brother), Jack Dawkins, Miss Rose (she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Maylie, she was also Oliver’s aunt and guardian angel) and Mr. Brownlow.

   The persons are very well described in the book and you get to know what they look like and how they are as persons, as you also can tell in the dialog in the book.

Charles Dickens described the story in the book in a realistic, chronological parallel story. He writes in an everyday language which is easy to understand. He is also very good at giving the readers a clear picture of the persons and the episodes with his descriptive language.

   Charles Dickens’s message is to describe and illustrate the hard, tough and sometimes frightening life for orphan children in England and on the streets of London. He also wanted to criticize the times poor reliefs and show the lack of it to make changes in the law.

I believe this book absolutely is a classic that everyone should read, and not just because it’s a classic but it’s also a touching, thrilling and well done book where you as a reader feels like you are with Oliver in the filthy streets in England.

Written by Jessica

Evil by Jan Guillou

Title: Evil

Author: Jan Guillou

Year of publishing: 1981

This story is about a boy named Eric Ponti who is 15 year old and lives with his mom and his stepfather in Stockholm (Sweden). The story starts in a public school in the capital city, from where Eric gets expelled because he blackmails and fights with other students. When this happens, all his friends abandon him and his stepfather who has a habit of beating him, I guess would not be so pleased with Eric´s behavior. His mother then sends him to a private school to keep him away from his stepfather and give him a chance of a proper education. This school is located in the country side and when you study there, you live there. When he arrives at this new school he gets a friend but he soon comes to realize that it´s not going to be easy to fit in here. Erik and his friend develop a very strong friendship and they stay together most of the time. Both of them get harassed by the older students. But Erik is a strong boy both in mind and in body and tries to stand up to them. The story takes place in the 1950´s and the author Jan Guillou`s intention with this book is to criticize the school system and the behavior, purpose and intention from some of the teachers at this time. Also have in mind that most of this is a true story and that makes it even more interesting. I have read this book in two languages and it´s equally good. I think they manage not change too much of the feeling of the Swedish environment.  If I should categorize this book I would say it´s a drama filled with action, romance and thrills and I strongly recommend reading it!  

Written by Martin     

Betrayed by P.C Cast & Kristin Cast

I have read a book called Betrayed. It is the second book in a series of 9 books. The series is called House of night and this book was published 2007.
P.C Cast and her daughter Kristin Cast are the authors of the book.
I think it is a fantasy book, because vampires are not a real thing.

The book is in present time.
Tulsa is the city where the story took place. In this city there is a school, for fledgling vampires, called House of night. The fledglings live at the school and once a month their parents can come and visit their children.
At the school there is a group called the dark daughter and sons. This group has a leader, and in this book, it is Zoey. The leader in this group is going to have a ritual. I don´t understand why, but I think they try to connect with the goddess, Nyx. Nyx gave a few fledglings special powers and Zoey has been blessed with unusual powers. She has the power of spirit. After a while she noticed that she can see things, sometimes, that has not happened yet.
When Zoey was an ordinary teenager she had friends from the football team, and she was together with a boy called Heath.
After a while in school, teenagers from the football team start to disappear, and all the evidence points at the House of Night.
A time before the teenagers were missing, Zoey´s favorite teacher, Nefret, had a suspicious behaviour. So when teenagers start to disappear, Zoey started to suspect Nefret.
Zoey has tasted Heath´s blood, and they are imprinted. Now when they are imprinted, they can communicate with their thoughts and that is going to help Zoey later in the book, when Heath is in trouble.

Zoey Redbird is the main character and she is 16 years old. Zoey is a fledgling vampire and lives at the school. Zoey is a very special fledgling, she has been marked with a very big tattoo on her back, and that is unusual. She also has the power of spirit, which is also very unusual.
Nefret is a teacher on the school, and Zoey´s favorite teacher, but one day she changed her mind, when Nefret started acting weird.
Aphrodite is a student on the school, and she has visions. She can see into the future. She is going to help Zoey.
Zoey´s best friend Stevie Rye, has the power of earth. She is going to die, but it is something weird about it. Is she really dead ?

It was not hard to understand, but of course a few words were a bit difficult, but I liked the book. The language was not "old-fashioned", it is written for today´s teenagers.
I don´t know if there are any messages in this book. I think this book is for entertainment. I think this book was really good, and I want to read the whole series, in English.

Written by Carolina.