Daniel X Book Post 2

Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.

The book Daniel X: Watch the Skies,  is a fantasy novel by James Patterson and Ned Rust. It is the second book in the Daniel X series. The book follows an alien that takes the form of a fourteen year old human and his job is to hunt down all of the evil aliens inhabiting earth on “the list”. The list is a compilation of all the the aliens on earth. He uses his powerful imagination to produce some sidekicks. He also uses his imagination to produce his family, killed by the List Alien Number One when he was only a small toddler.

Daniel is a very interesting character because he represents himself in many ways. His best friends are purely figments of his imagination. He expresses different parts of him imagination through his different friends. His friends are physically present and not completely imaginary. They can think for themselves and discover new things even though they are not 100% real. Daniel also creates a family to replace the one that was murdered and to interact with and get advice from. It seems weird to me that he can get advice from them even though he created them from his mind. Therefore he should know everything that they know.

“‘This is great, Dad,’ I said. ‘So how’s everything work?’

‘Its all very user-friendly,’ said Dad. ‘I don’t think any of you will have any trouble getting the hang of it.’”

I think that if all of the stuff that the author says is true in the story, then Daniel should have already known how to work the van and he should not have required any explanation. This is weird because if they come from his imagination, then they should not be intellectually superior to him. The relationship between Daniel and his imaginary companions is very interesting and makes the book better even though the system has a few flaws.

Daniel X: Book Post One

For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?
    The book Daniel X: Watch the Skies,  is a fantasy novel by James Patterson and Ned Rust. It is the second book in the Daniel X series. The book follows an alien that takes the form of a fourteen year old human and his job is to hunt down all of the evil aliens inhabiting earth on “the list”. The list is a compilation of all the the aliens on earth. He uses his powerful imagination to produce some sidekicks. He also uses his imagination to produce his family, killed by the List Alien Number One when he was only a small toddler.

    I think that this book is intended for teenage boys around fourteen, the main character’s age. This is because the book uses slang and has a storyline that would be appealing to that age because it is full of action that people of that age would enjoy. The main character, Daniel seems to “talk” to the reader as they are his peers. That is good evidence for the hypothesis that this book is meant for teenage boys. I think that if a book is written in the perspective of a certain age, then the readers should be that age in order for them to sympathize with them and understand their thoughts and views.

    The main character uses slang from the modern era to relate to the reader and add some comedic interest.

“He moved some wires to different jacks and threw a couple of switches. And then we saw what might have been the most sickening thing I’d ever seen. And yes I’ve been on the Internet before.”

In this quote, Daniel is describing the scene that he saw after hacking into the Alien’s computer. He called it the most sickening thing he had ever seen, even though he has been on the Internet. This is poking fun at some of the Internet pranks that circulate around. This may be funny to the reader because it may connect to their life.

Vignette Project Review

In the vignette project our class recently finished, there were many personal stories. I found a similarity that ran through several vignette. It was that people talk about their names and the origins of them. I think that this is because peoples’ name can define who they are. I think it is interesting to here about the names of my peers because it gives me insight about their background.

I found a quote on Victor Liangs vignette that described what his name meant to the person who gave it to him and what it means in languages.

“My first name, Victor, was given to be by my father. It means “winner”, something my father wants me to be. My middle name, Tao, means large waves. It is also my Chinese name, and is pronounced tou in Cantonese. There isn't much behind my father giving it to me for he gave it to me just as randomly as he gave my first name to me.”

It is interesting to see what Victor’s name means in English as well as in Chinese. I think that the definition, large waves, can partially describe Victor’s personality.
    Yen has a different story to tell about his name.
“My parents picked this because they thought that it would be easier to fit in to the  community, but I have always found it more difficult because I always want to correct people, but they think that they have already pronounced it correctly.  You see, when someone has a really Asian name, the teacher or anyone new would ask if they pronounced it correctly, but with yen, they pronounce it like the Japanese currency and move on.”
Yen also has some background about his name. The troubles that he has had with the pronunciation and integrating into the community. He indirectly brings up the point that when parents are choosing a name for their kids they should consider the repercussions that the kid might have to face later in life regarding the name.
    I enjoyed looking at my peers’ blog posts and it was interesting to make connections between them.