Recently in class we got the opportunity to pick a WWII book. We had three options Code Name Verity, Unbroken and All The LIght We Cannot See. I chose all the light we cannot see because I had heard about it and was drawn to the story.
We were given the book before spring break and had until the end of spring break. I was away and found this an easy read because it interested me so much. When we got back we were told that we had to write a book review about the book we read. Our teacher gave us some great examples such as this New York Times book review on Little Brother a previous book we read.
So with this in mind here is my book review on all the light we cannot see, hope you enjoy!
All The Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doer
Book review: Isobel DeVille
If you are looking to start reading a book about fear, danger, strength, love and perseverance then you should read All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer. When you first start the book you realize that it is set during World War 2 and about two teenagers. Werner Pfenning is a German soldier who is in a cellar at the Bee Hotel after the threat of Austrians attacking. After a shell hits they are trapped and terrified. Five blocks away is Marie-Laure a blind French girl who is also trapped but in a different way. She is hiding in her attic terrified and hoping she won’t get shot by the Germans. Though this is a lot this is only within the first few chapters and it continues being intense, meaning this is a very intense book. The book continues on by showing some background to each of the characters, it does this by changing perceptive from every character every chapter. This gets confusing in the beginning simply because sometimes you don’t know who’s perspective it is.
We go on to see that Marie-Laure lived with her father who is a locksmith for the Museum of Natural history in Paris. When she is six she becomes blind and her father helps support her. He makes a miniature replica of there neighbourhood so she knows where she was going at all times. Then every year for her birthday he makes a puzzle that has something hidden in it that she has to figure out. Later on in the book you will realize this is a crucial aspect of how the story turns out. Doer is able to express Marie-Lauren’s feelings as she wakes up on her birthdays to figure out these puzzles in such a way that it makes you feel as if you are there with them. She then moved to Saint-Malo with her father as the threat of war becomes more evident. Little does she know her father could possibly be carrying the Sea of Flames, a stone that is priceless and yet has the potential to kill everyone you love according to the legend.
Then there is Werner Pfenning. He grows up in a mining town in Germany as an orphan with his sister Jutta. At one point a finds a radio and decides to fix it. He becomes so intrigued in building and fixing radios that he is soon considered for the Hitler Youth. Once a gets to the Borodin school, which is very intense and difficult mentally and physically he is then sent on his next task. He has gotten so good at fixing radios and transceivers that he is enlisted to help find the enemies. He goes in a journey with a few other Germans tracking the enemies by there broadcasts.
As you follow the two characters you see how throughout the book they start becoming more connected. It may be confusing at first but then there characters build up and you can start fitting together the pieces of this in-depth puzzle. Anthony Doer does an amazing job writing this book that always keeps you turning the page. That is why it won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Doer’s amazing book will always have you wondering what is going to happen next and keep you up all night reading.
If you have been following my blog since grade 8 you would realize that this is my third year of Destination Imagination.
(Throw back to grade 8 DI)
Destination Imagination or DI is defined as “Destination Imagination educational experiences are project-based STEAM Challenges that apply the creative process to develop the core competencies. It is an educational experience that is fun, hands-on, and empowers student teams to take their learning to the next level.” There are seven categories where each challenge is different, they are Technical, Scientific, Engineering, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Service Learning and Early Learning. I was in the Technical challenge which is figure out a way to get a prop through a randomley selected maze with a maze traveller and transforming a prop while also involving and encircling everything in a story. Here is a video that explains it:
My group was made out of six people Izzy, Kate, Spencer, Sam, Calum and myself. This post will be about our experience at the provincial tournament if you want to read about our experience at regionals read my following blog post.
After experinceing regionals at Seycove our home school we realized that we had a lot to improve. After seeing our scores we realized that we had to create a working rover, change our team choice elements as well as our improve our prop transformation. We had a few weeks over spring break to get prepared to provincials so we got right to it! First we saw what we could gain points on so we could win the next tournament. We first prioritized the rover since at regionals it was not working and that was where we could get the most points!
This is us presenting at regionals our first rover:
And this was what our provincials rover ended up looking like:
We also thought that we needed to improve our team choice elements. For regionals our two team choice elements were Kate speaking French and us playing a music recording of us playing trumpet and flute. We realized soon after that we missed out on lots of points because they weren’t strong choices. So we brainstormed to improve them. What we came up with was one basketball. All members of our team live to do sports and Spencer, Calum, Kate and Izzy are all on the school basketball team. We scored more points then our team choice element of speaking French did.
Then to improve our other team choice element we decided that instead of having a recording of us playing it would be more effective for us to actually play live. And as I play trumpet we decided that I would be the be to perform the music. I was happy with how this turned out and was proud of the playing I did on tournament day.
After we had changed everything we had wanted to it was off to Provincials! They were held at Johnston Heights a school in surrey. We felt we were ready and were happy with what we accomplished. However the morning of was a bit hectic. First someone spilt coffee all over our team sign which we had to use in our presentation. Then one of our team members forgot our forms for the tournament and there were no printers in the school so two of our team members sprinted to the nearest Staples. Thankfully we were able to get the forms on time and the sign didn’t effect us to much. Then it was time to do our instant challenge, an instant challenge is defined as “Unlike a Team Challenge where teams have months to prepare, plan and create their solution, Destination Imagination participants will have to solve an Instant Challenge in a matter of a few minutes. This is designed to help students build their quick, creative and critical thinking skills”. I can’t say anything about the challenge though since it may be repeated at globals.
After that it was finally time to perform our main challenge. Overall we were happy with how it went even if we did face a few problems along the way. Here is a video of us performing:
Though im sad to say I was not able to attend the award ceremony because of a family dinner I was very excited to hear that we had placed first in our main challenge and instant challenge! Once we saw our raw cores we were surprised to see that in certain categories we had scored lower in provincials. However these are raw scores meaning the judges even in out to the other teams.
Our provincials scores:
The trophies we got
:
Overall I was happy with how our team was able to complete and succeed our challenge!
I had always wondered though what are the benefits of Destination Imagination?
Well on DI’s website there is an article that talks about the benefits and how there has been scientific proof that it helps you.
There have been multiple studies shown that Destination Imagination helps you multiple studies shown that Destination Imagination helps you. Here are a few of the things that DI will do to you:
More engaged and imaginative when completing given tasks
More creative than non-DI participants
More self-confident and tenacious
Able to elaborate on and generate more ideas than non-DI participants
Great collaborators—86% of DI students agree that their teamwork skills improved within 1-2 years of participation
More inquisitive—92% of DI students agree that solutions to problems are often improved by considering a variety of perspectives
There have been studies conducted at the University of Georgia, University of Virginia and University of Tennessee. Seeing these facts makes me feel assured that these past three years have been affecting me and that I will be able to use these skills I learn every day. Overall there were many ups and downs of this years Destination Imagination but in the end it all worked out!
