Reader's Journal-     Fiction

#5                                                     Reader’s Journal                                             9/26/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            For this past week, I’ve been reading the book CLOAKED by Alex Finn. Since this book has a total of three hundred and forty one pages, I haven’t finished reading it yet. The author wrote this book as a genre of fairy tale. Fairy tale is a type of subgenre, which falls in the category of folktale and is written including many magical elements such as a princess, a prince, and a bad guy/girl. This book was written as a mixture of older fairy tales, similar to the fairy tale: Princess and the Frog.

            Since I am not yet finished reading this book, the characters I have encountered so far are Victoriana, Bryan, Meg, Philip, Bruno, the witch, and Johnny. Victoriana and Johnny are both protagonists and viewed as round characters. Johnny is the main character who is seventeen years old and is poor, working in a shoe repair shop that his parents own. Bryan and Meg are his best friends, being foil characters. Philip is Victoriana’s brother and is turned into a frog by the witch, being a protagonist and a foil character. Victoriana is a princess with a French-like accent and is one of the main characters. The witch, on the other hand is a foil character and an antagonist because of her cruel behavior. Lastly, Bruno is a foil character and he is Victoriana’s bodyguard.

            There were many passages that were in my interest. Out of the many, I have chosen the passage on page 52. “How dare you touch ze princess? Says Bruno as he rips me away from Victoriana and shoves me into the balcony. Victoriana lets out and indignant cry, then recovers with a laugh. Oh Bruno, you must allow me my fun. I am a princess, am I not? He says something in French, and an angry conversation ensues. Bruno turns toward me and gestures the door. Shoo, shoe boy! Not until I say, Victoriana says. She pulls me toward her for what I figure will be another passionate kiss, a dangerous kiss, with Bruno watching. But instead of my lips, she finds my ear. She whispers, “I know you will help me find my bruzzer. Later, when I reached the lobby, I duck into the men’s room stall to count the money she gave me to find her brother. I almost hurt myself when I total it up. Ten thousand dollars.”

I chose this passage because by reading how much money the princess gave him, I can see that she’s almost willing to give anything in order for him to find her brother that has turned into a frog. Also, it showed me that the princess is very giving and actually likes the boy even though she is a princess and he is poor. This passages significance to the book is that is brought out the fact that if Johnny approves to finding her brother, the money will solve all of his family’s problems and they would end up marrying eachother!

            The setting of the book is in Florida and mostly takes place in South Beach and Key West. Also, for a few parts/chapters in the book, a fictional place called Zalkenbourg was mentioned. The social conditions are that magic is real even though no one believes in it and the weather conditions is hot and sunny climate because of the book taking place in Florida. The tone is to be concerned or worried and the mood is mysterious and suspenseful. I have not yet discovered the theme, moral, or surprisingly any figurative language! Although, I did find that the point of view is written in first person, in Johnny’s perspective. Also, I think the pattern of organization was chronological order because all the events took place in order of time. The author’s purpose was to entertain and the author’s perspective was subjective and biased on fairy tales (states on about the author page).

            The plot structure in this book was very interesting even though I have only encountered the exposition because it was about seventy pages. The exposition at the beginning of the book started off with Johnny working at the shoe shop. He later bumps into princess Victoriana at a hotel and plans on meeting her again. Victoriana plays a drunken act and broke her shoe strap so that she would be obligated to go and fix it at the shop, where Johnny works. She did this on purpose so that there would be an excuse for them to meet again so she can ask him to save her brother that has been turned into a frog by a witch. The conflict of the book so far is man vs. man because Johnny is against the witch who turned Victoriana’s brother (Philip) into a frog.

            There were many strategies I used before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I skim and scanned, looking and thinking about the title, and illustrations on the front covers of the book. I noticed a Hawaiian-like flower. Also, I made predictions on what the book might be about. I predicted the book would be about something involving hiding or disguised people or thing because of the meaning of the word cloaked. While reading, I wrote all the important facts on a sticky note so that I can track down all the literary elements when its time to write my readers journal. Also, I raised questions and evaluated my predictions. After reading I thought about all the story’s literary elements. Also, I critiqued the book to write my readers journal.

            All in all, this book is great so far! I’m really looking forward to finishing it and telling you all about the end of the book on my next readers journal! I rate this book a 7-10 because it kept me interested and turning the page! Also, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in fairy tales!

Love,

Joelle Ben-Nissan