Credit: TheDigitalArtist

This book is about the ninth book of the series, Wings of Fire: Talons of Power. The protagonist in this specific book is a dragon called Turtle. Turtle has a very special power called animus magic, which is like unlimited power at your fingertips. This magic can do pretty much anything. You can enchant anything to do literally anything. Turtle doesn’t want the other dragons to know that he has this magic, and he doesn’t want to use to much of it, because if you do, then your soul can become corrupt and evil. He also has to deal with his main fear, Darkstalker. Darkstalker was a dragon that turned evil about 2,000 years ago, and now has risen from under the ground, which he was trapped in and finally managed to escape. Now Turtle has to deal with not using his power to much and becoming evil, but also facing his worst fear of all time.

The book Wings of Fire: Talons of Power is not about facing your fears, it’s actually about controlling yourself and the power you have.

In the book, it shows how power can either make your life amazing, or completely ruin it. In the book it shows constant examples of power being used for the greater good, and of course, for the bad.

In the book, page 133, it says, “The first trickle of curious Nightwings became a waterfall once word spread that Darkstalker was handing out superpowers.” This right here shows that dragons are being given powers that can be great. For instance, one dragon got the ability to be the fastest dragon, which he gladly accepted with hesitation. This can be a great thing, but what if this dragon becomes unstoppable? What if no one can catch up to this dragon? What if he becomes the most notorious villain that no one can catch? It even shows in the book that Darkstalker is creating super soldiers, which certainly isn’t good.

In the book it also shows that other animus dragons have used to much of their power, making them insane. This shows that even though you may be doing things for the greater good, maybe even making your life better, it’s always slowly chipping away at your sanity and your soul.

Power is what controls the world and the people around it, and Turtle sees that that is true. He has the power, but doesn’t want to use it himself. Turtle is afraid that if he uses his power to much, then he will become evil.

Throughout history in the series it mentions animus power and the dragons that have it, go insane. Turtle is mainly afraid of his own power because of all the awful things he has heard since he was very young. Later in the book we find out that Turtle is actually related to the great animus, Albatross, which went insane 2,000 years ago and killed many dragons, and hr almost completely wiped out the line of royal family, since Albatross was also royal himself, so he was killing his own family. He would use his power carelessly, which lead to his insanity, so Turtle doesn’t want to make that same mistake, if he has to stop himself from becoming like that, then he will do anything possible, even completely get rid of his powers.

This is shown through the book plenty of times, he constantly has these flashbacks of when he hurt a dragon, and he can imagine himself doing it again. Even in times of need, he is still hesitant to use his power against any foe.

On page 100 it says, “Maybe that’s it, Turtle thought anxiously. Maybe using my magic has made me selfish and a terrible friend.” He always doubts himself and doesn’t think he’s the right person to have this power, even though he is. On page 92 it also says, “The flashes again; the enchanted scroll case smashing into Chameleon’s face, the blood flying. The power tingling in Turtles claws. The power to punish those who deserved punishing. The power to cause violence with a twitch of one talon. No. No, no, no, that’s not me.” He’s afraid of his own power, afraid that he won’t be able to control himself, afraid that he will become like Albatross.

Controlling power is the thing that holds our world together. If the wrong people get power, the world could collapse, as Turtle actually notices constantly throughout the book. In the book it shows Darkstalker coming back with all of his power. It is shown that Darkstalker is the most powerful dragon to ever exist, and he becomes the leader of the Nightwings. He can do anything he wants, and he does things that are evil. It’s a huge problem because he cannot be stopped easily. He is someone that is taking over the world through “fake” words and through force.

On page 276 it says, “All the way across the continent. He just summoned us like a tray of shrimp.” This shows that Darkstalker’s powers are ridiculously powerful. Since he is pretty much evil, and he has all that power, the world could end if he wanted to with just a snap. No one needs all that power, especially not someone evil like him.

These points clearly show how this book could be recognized as a book that could represent facing your fears, but it’s actually about controlling yourself and the power you own. There are actually quite a bit of themes in here but I think the “power theme” stands out the most and is one of the most important themes. Power is mentioned throughout the book, in fact throughout the series, and it is shown the most through this book. Even though you might think this book is about facing your fears, or even about trying to fit in, or even maybe about trying to hide, but it’s actually about controlling yourself and the power you have, or else it won’t end up good for anyone.

Dear Parents,

In study skills we learn our strengths and weaknesses and work on them. It is also a great place to do homework. We learn and use skills that we learn to help us take notes and use different ways for plenty of things. We also do reading writing goals.

I try to be very respectful, stay on task, and be persistent. One of the things I like to work on is reading. I love to read and my reading goal is to finish my books quickly and understand and recognize patterns that I may come across in the books.

I feel really good about my reading, since I love to do it and I do it a lot. I am reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I am on the Silver Chair, which is the sixth book of the series. I move through these books quickly so I will be done with the series soon.

My goal overall is to stay on task and complete things on time. This class is extremely helpful and helps me get my work done. I am very glad I have my class.

Thank you,

Ethan Powell

So for the final project we got to deicide what we were going to build. I wanted to build a chair but a couple people already had that idea so for some strange reason I came up with the idea to build a shovel. I first started out by measuring out the measurements, after that I drew out my spade shape on a block of wood. After this they took me down to the people that cut the wood and thus cut out the shape. I then had to cut out the full curved shape of the spade with a machine called a jigsaw. This is pretty much something that looks like a drill but has a mini saw attached to it. I cut out the shape but then I realized that the shape was not perfect. I spent a good amount of time sanding out the curve in the spade. It was not perfect but it would do. After that I wanted to make something called a horseshoe, which is basically three pieces of wood cut out to make a small block of wood that would fit onto the spade, so I would have some room to drill in the dowel. After I managed to create that I hammered nails into it and glued it onto the spade. After that I sanded it down. I finally managed to get a dowel that was the right size, but it was completely covered in hot glue. With extreme difficulty Mr. Wood and I managed to clean off the glue. I sanded the dowel down to get ride of the remaining hot glue. Soon after that I drilled a hole into the horseshoe and spade, then glued the dowel into it. The next day I decided that I should make a handle. I simply made it out of a small thin piece of wood. I glued it onto the dowel and screwed it on. But the next day there was a fairly big problem. The handle was spinning like a propeller because I only used one screw, I could not fix this, so the handle was unsuccessful, yet I leaved it on anyway. I also did not manage to get a blade on the spade so, I called it a sand shovel. Since it did not have a blade it could not dig into the dirt, but it could scoop up sand.

So my shovel was kind of a success, but it definitely had its disappointments.

Today in Design and Tech in the Makerspace we made a fidget spinner with the materials provided.

We had to make sure to balance out the weight on the spinner so it would make it faster.

I actually started out with a bad bearing, and we could only get one bearing, so I was stuck with that one. My first idea was to make a regular fidget spinner except the base would be cardboard and the other three bearings would be nuts.

But the cardboard failed because it was to breakable so I decided to come up with a new idea.

To hold the main bearing, I hot glued to nuts to the top and bottom of the bearing. Then I added three nuts on the outside to balance out the weight, which would make it quicker,

Then I decided to add bolts on the end of the nuts to add more weight. I also thought it would look neat to screw three little nuts onto each of the bolts, so I did.

I finally came up with the main product, which was a neat looking nuts and bolts fidget spinner.

I think the nuts and bolts idea worked pretty well, and the cardboard? Well I think that would never work. It’s just to flexible and light. Now the nuts and bolts are solid metal, which gives them a lot more sturdiness and weight.

I managed to turn a bad bearing into a decent fidget spinner.

The Nail Keyboard is a Makey Makey programmed tool. You can hit a hammer on the nails and it will type the word it’s hooked up to. This video should describe it:https://youtu.be/rML7vWllAVU

Vignette 1

One Day

Working in the factory is…..how do I put it? Awful? Miserable? Terrible? Well I guess it’s all those things. I crank the machines to spin cotton. It’s always foul in the rooms, making everyone bone-dry. I can barely breathe and I always have a cough like most boys. The work is hard and I work at least twelve hours a day. The Weaving Mill is horrible. Yeah….it’s not fun at all. Imagine working your tail off…using so much energy that you literally don’t even have the strength to lift a cup. And then you have to get up early and do it all over again. Plus the pay is as low as ever. The things we make, barely any people want them. If you get sick, you’re done for. Someone will just take your place and you will be cut loose. Yeah it’s so wonderful here. I’ve never got sick, which is a good thing, of course. Yet. I work with this girl in the weaving mill, she’s really quiet. Yet there is something about her that makes me warm. She has a certain feeling to her, as if there is a scorching fire going on in her head. I wonder what it is that makes her so furious. I wonder if she has a life like me. Probably a better one. We don’t talk much. One day I will get out of this place. I will be done with it and I will never come back. Once I have enough money I can leave here and start a new life with my mum. One day I will return to my home. One day….

Vignette 2

Interesting

My job is very….interesting. I don’t really know what to think of it. It’s definitely better than any job that involves having to actually work in a factory, yet it’s sad, having to watch the children work while I just watch and make sure they don’t mess up. My pay is good, yet I don’t want to watch this. If only these were men and woman instead of poor helpless children. I like two of the children specifically, I set a boy and a girl to work together on a spinning weaver to see how it will do. It seems to be going fine, yet they don’t really talk to each other. Maybe that’s just because of how damn loud it is in the factories. Never tried to put a girl and boy work together, they seem to have different personalities. It hurts to see the children crank the machines with all their might, like if they were pushing down on a lever that would power everything. If only it wasn’t so ear wrenching and filthy, and I did not have to watch these kids work, my job may be an ok job. But I doubt that’s going to happen any time soon. The poor children….I can’t stop thinking about them. If only I could do something. I suppose something will happen one day. Good luck children.

Vignette 3

The Only Good Thing

Why do I have to work here? Why did daddy send me here? It’s awful, it’s so foul, and so dirty! The Owner is a beast and he does nothing to help. I work all day and what do I get? BARELY ANY MONEY!!! The Owner put me with a boy that is boring and doesn’t talk at all to me. He seems so hopeful! Ha, as if he will get out of here any time soon! It’s so loud in there even if he did talk I could not hear him! Why do factories have to be so boring, idiotic, ugly, loud, and energy-sucking. I have no hope at all that I will ever get out of here. If I ever do get out of here I will return with so many people to blow this building to the ground! I hate it so much there! I have no friends, and the place makes me want to retch! My house is hundred percent better than this building will ever be! I hate everyone here! Everyone is so lousy! I bet I’m the only good thing this place has ever gotten!

      Dear Mom and Dad,
   I am glad that you could meet my Study Skills teacher! Study Skills is a class that is about using and improving reading, writings, and time skills. But there is many more things that we do in study skills. For example, one of the things I do in Study Skills is working on my homework. This helps me not to have homework at home. If I did not have this class I would have extra hours of homework, which would not be good. I also set goals for myself, such as reading goals or just goals in general. I also can meet with Mr. Creighton to discuss these skills. In this letter I will tell you my goals, what goals I need to work on, and more.

    Organization is a very important skill to have. I keep track of my school work by using Google Classroom. I also remember things in my head. If it’s a long piece of homework I might not remember, so I record it Notes, I think the app name explains itself. I think I am doing well in my reading skills. I love to read so my reading skills and goals are increasing. I have also been doing well in using my time in Study Skills. I could use some work on procrastinating. I have been doing better but it still needs work. Maybe if I tried to focus on finishing the most difficult first that may help. I actually did that this weekend and I had a ton of homework. A big goal that I am setting for myself is to work on procrastinating. I do believe that if I work on this it will help me greatly in the future.

     Reading is a very important thing to do in life. Reading is also knowledge, so in the future you will have to study and read and having a good reading skill will help you focus better. Also reading helps you stay calm. I keep track of my reading by usually finishing on a chapter. But I have started a new book that has longer chapters so if I can’t finish the chapter I stop at a five multiple. I recently finished Magnus Chase Hammer of Thor, but now I have started a series I have not finished because I did not have the books. I am now reading the 6th book of Wings of Fire, Moon Rising. My goal is by the end of the semester I will have finished the 6th and 7th Wings of Fire books.

     In class we think of what motivates us to read and write. What motivates me is completion, knowledge, and excitement. I really like to read, and learning is the best thing ever if I like it, such as forging. Now there are five learning habits, Perseverant, Responsible, Respectful, and Collaborative. I think my top one if Respectful. I try to be respectful to all teachers and classmates. Sure I might fool around sometimes with my friends but I always try to respect them. Probably the hardest for me is collaborative. This is because if I’m working with people I don’t normally work with I get kind of nervous. Working with people I know really well is fun, but not with people I feel nervous around. I will try to be more Responsible, this is because this has to do with procrastinating.

     Thanks again for listening to this letter! I hope you had a good time listening to what I wrote! If you have any questions or need to know anything just ask once we get home or while we’re walking!
                    Love,

                    Ethan

We created a wooden box in the Makerspace, which was our lastest project. This was fun and challenging because we used tools and saws which was fun. Also it included strength, patience, and was time taking. We started off with cutting a block of wood as a practice test. I messed up just a bit but I did fine. After that we actually started to saw the wood. We had to cut ten inches and then 12 and a half inches. After we got all that done we started to sand the bottom of the wood. Then we glued two pieces of wall together and waited for it to dry. Then after the glue was dry we cut the wood into a triangle pattern on the top of the two pieces of wood. Then we sanded that. We made another and repeated. Then we drilled holes into the triangler pieces of wood for the dowel. After that we placed the two triangler pieces of wood and glued them to a bottom board. After that dried we added glue around the sides and hammered the two other pieces of 12 inch wood to the board and the other triangler pieces with nails. Then we added a dowel into the holes and then glued that. Finally we sanded the whole thing.

This was a very fun and interesting project. I would do it again if I could.

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