Setting for Crispin

Crispin The Cross Of Lead, by Avi, is a book which a boy named Crispin who is accused of stealing money from his manors house, and killing the priest in his town when he never did any of those crimes. This book takes place in England, 1377 A.D in a small town. Crispin has been announced a wolf's head which means that anyone could kill him. Crispin's father died before he was born, and later his mother dies. That meant that there was no one to protect him even if he was declared as the wolf's head. If someone brought his head to John Aycliffe, the one who caused this rumor, they would be paid twenty shillings. During Crispins run-away journey, he finds a man who forces Crispin to be his servant, but later helps him with life, and that everyone has a purpose even unimportant people. Crispin later acts as the son of Bear, his master, so that he could be more safer from all the people hunting him, and later learns from Bearhow to play the pipe. Crispin plays the pipe while Bear dances and juggles in front of their audiences to obtain money and food. Crispin is a book in which a boy who was a nobody learns to follow his dreams to become a somebody.

So Far from the Bamboo Grove Blog

The book, So Far from the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, shows how Yoko, her sister, mom, and her brother survive after the Koreans are freed from the Japanese. This book took in the time period of about 5 months. The thought that came to my mind while reading the book was that how hard it would've been to move to a different place permanantly after living at a place for 12 years and not being able to move back. I got to learn how the Korean communist treated the Japanese after their freedom, and also learned how they were similar to the things that the Japanese did. I was glad to read a book about my home country and was happy to know about the events that occured throughtout the book. After reading this book, I would give it a rating of 7 out of 10. The ending was not as good as it should've been, because the author could've added what happened after Yoko and her sister reunited with their brother, and could of also talked about their dad and what happened to him. The author also should have added more info on the Russians instead of talking a little bit about them. The book was also very short and could of had more detail at the end. The good things about this book was that the reader got me thinking whats gonna happen next? Are they going to die? The author also made it hard for me to put the book down and stop reading. This book also made me think deep thoughts like did countries have to kill other innocent citizens even after the war ended? I mean because of this, so many people in the world died. For example, when Japan attacked Korea, so many men got killed, and women got raped, and the Americans dropped the bombs on Japan to make them surrender.

So Far from the Bamboo Grove Questions 2

In the book, So Far from the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, there were many events throughout chapters four to seven that made the deepest impression on me. Many of the events were when the Japanese were walking or working and suddenly communist Koreans would come out, kill them, and take their belonings. I never knew that a country could be so crewl. Instead they could just take them as prisoners, but there is no reason to kill. First when Yoko's family was going back to their homeland, I knew that there would be some havoc, but not severe ones. Instead many places were bombed and burried under the earth. When Hideyo escapes from the factory, he starts his way for the Seoul station. When he sees Korean communist soldiers, he acts like he is an animal and is very smart while knowing where he has to hide when he sleeps. Mrs. Kawashima stops at Kyoto instead of going to their hometown. This is probably because she doesn't want them to go. She might think that it is still dangerous in the Japanese lands. Although she cares for her childrens education, I think that she is saying that to make an excuse. Ko is sometimes very bossy and mean but after about an hour she pretends that she is the nicest sister in the world. If I was in a difficult situation, I would want her and also not want her with me, becuase she is very good and getting food, and has no fears of whatever, but on the other hand, she makes everyone feel bad and discouraged greatly.

So Far from the Bamboo Grove Questions

Many Koreans in the world today hate the Japanese for what they did to the Korea during World War II and how they bothered them for about fourty years. After the war, although Korea gave revenge to Japan, I think that reading this book, they should of not done it, because it brought many deaths to the people in Korea, but also a majority of the population in Japan. In the book So Far from the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, I learned how the the people of my nationality, bothered the Japanese in order for revenge. This book shows how the Japanese including Yoko's family survived during the time after the war. This also shows that when Japan invaded Korea, this was how they treated Korea. Yoko's family lives in Korea, because before Japan lost the war, they had a lot of power over Korea, and could live an easy life in Korea. Being a Japanese citizen helps them before the war ends, but after the war is lost, the Japanese are tortured like the way that they tortured Korea. Although Yoko's family is Japanese their family and many other familys did not want any more people dieing, and saw everyone else equally and as a person. Whey Yoko's family is inside the train, Korean communist soldiers come in looking for her family. Although they are looking for them, the Korean nurses help them by making them look like they were sick. The irony in this is that since Japan had bothered Korea, it would look like that they would turn them in, but since Yoko's family helped some of the sick people by providing food and giving them comfort, the Korean people did not turn them in. Although Yoko calls here sister as "Honorable Sister," they sometimes say bad things to each other. Ko is probably very bossy because they are in a difficult and a very dangerous situation. She has no time for her little sister to whine for sleep and food, when the food is limited and there is no time to waste by sleeping. On the way to the Seoul train station, Yoko's family face many hardships. There are problems because there is no true male to guard them, and the lack of food, sleep, and danger roaming in the forest gives them a lot of fear and stress.