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In the book, The Lion of the North, that I just finished reading, it tells the story of Malcolm Graeme, and how he gained a high position in the king’s court. The book is set in Scotland in the year 1630. It started out as Malcolm waiting in the forest for a group of horsemen, to guide them through the forest. Malcolm was 16 years old and lived with his uncle, Nigel, because his parents have died.

Captain Hume was with the horsemen and met Malcolm in the forest. Malcolm took Captain Hume and the horsemen to his uncle’s house for the night. The next morning, Captain Hume invited Nigel and Malcolm to collect a band of men from the city of Nithsdale, to help build an army. Nigel and Malcolm agreed with this plan and proceeded to find men who were willing to fight for their country.

A few days later, Malcolm, Nigel, and the men who volunteered to be in the army were shipwrecked. They were resourceful and built a raft out of the wreckage. They eventually got to the King’s castle, the place they had been trying to get to before they were shipwrecked.

At the King Gustavus’ castle, there was a feast going on, and Malcolm met Sir John Hepburn. Sir John Hepburn had been welcomed into the counsel of King Gustavus because he had proven his worth by fighting at a young age. In the book, we are told that Sir John Hepburn led his army at the battle of Schiefelburne. Sir John and his army of men were victorious!

Later on in the book, a village is attacked by freebooters or in other words, pirates or bandits. Malcolm was told the news and rode with an army to the village. Malcolm and his army drove the attackers out of Wolfsburg. Because of his wondrous and brave deed, Malcolm is introduced to King Gustavus! The King was impressed with Malcolm’s prudence and modesty and promoted him to the rank of Colonel. He was also given a suit of armor.

Malcolm was eventually promoted to Captain. This is how it happened. The town of Oppenheim in Scotland was captured by pirates. The King told Malcolm of this tragedy and promoted him to Captain so that he could go and free Oppenheim. Malcolm succeeded in this task and the pirates surrendered! After this victory, during Christmas, Malcolm was introduced to the Count and Countess of Mansfield and their daughter, Thelka. They all became great friends.

Sometime later, Malcolm was sent to investigate a peasant town and wound up getting captured. The men he brought with them also got captured while looking for him. Malcolm escaped the place he was in and rescued his men. Together, the got away from the peasants. They found a church tower to hide in, but the peasants found them and tried to draw them out. Malcolm and the men held off the peasants until Captain Burgh came to save them.

The war between the Scots and the Swedes and Germany continued. Sadly, in one of these battles, King Gustavus died from two musket shots. Malcolm mourned greatly for the loss of his king, but at least they won the battle. Even though Malcolm is greatly saddened by the death of his king, he still went out and fought. In one of these battles, Malcolm himself was wounded. Thankfully he recovered a few days later.

It was December when Malcolm got a letter from the Countess. It said that she, her husband, and her daughter had been captured along with their town and the Castel of Mansfeld. She asked for help from Malcolm, he decided to help free her, her family, and her people. He disguised himself as a peasant boy, entered the city walls, and was allowed to go into the Count’s apartment. The Count and Countess needed Malcolm’s help. The German Emperor was going to force the Count’s daughter, Thelka, into Becoming a Catholic nun Nobody wanted this to happen, so Malcolm offered to help Thelka escape. The Count and Countess trusted Malcolm because he was a Scottish gentleman and a Protestant soldier. Malcolm found a place for Thelka to stay at while Malcolm followed the instructions he received from Colonel Munro

Later there was a Coronation for the new king, Ferdinand, and in the middle of the Coronation, three traitors started attacking the people who were there. They killed four officers and Wallenstine. They even captured Malcolm! He was taken prisoner and put in a dungeon in a castle in Germany. An old man who was a prisoner in the dungeon, helped Malcolm escape the German castle.

When Malcolm returned, the officers were planning for another war. The war came extremely soon. The battle was called “The Battle of Nordlingen”. This battle was a large one. The Scotts and Swedes beat the Germans in a glorious victory! The Scotts and Swedens even freed the entire city from the Germans. When Malcolm came home he married Thelka, and once again, the country was at peace.

Robinson Crusoe was my favorite book I read this year so far. It was written by Daniel Defoe, who was born in England around 1660. He died in 1731. Robinson Crusoe is about a man who gets shipwrecked on an island and has to survive and try to get home.

Robinson Crusoe is a Historical Fiction type of genre book. That means that some of it is true, but the rest is fiction. Robinson Crusoe is my favorite school book I have read. You should read it sometime.

Sherlock Holmes was written by Arthur Conan Doyal. It is my second favorite school book I have read this year. It is about a detective named Sherlock Holmes who solves mysteries in London.

Sherlock Holmes is a Horror type of genre book. Horror includes crime, mystery, theives, and more! I like Horror.

Robin Hood is the last of my favorite school books I have read. It was written by Howard Pyle. It is when an outlaw named Robin Hood steals from the rich but gives to the poor when the evil Prince John of England and the Sherrif of Nottingham are trying to get him.

The book is also a Science Fiction type of book. These three books are my favorite school books I have read this year.

A novel is typically a long sequential story that often describes characters and events. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is an example of a novel.

Short Stories are a very short part of prose fiction. The Sherlock Holmes stories are examples of Short Stories.

Novellas are texts of narrative, written, and fictional prose. Novellas are usually longer than short stories but shorter than novels. One example is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Genres are “A kind of type of works of literature art or popular fiction” according to Webster’s New Dictionary. Genres include Science Fiction, Horror, Allegory, Fantasy, Mythology, Fables, and more. All these genres are very important in writing. I have many Horror books.

The five points of a plot are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The exposition is normally at the beginning of the book and introduces the main character(s). The rising action leads to the climax while building tension in the story. The climax is the highest point of action in a book or movie. The falling action solves the tension that was built earlier in the book or movie. The resolution is the end of the story.

According to Webster’s New Dictionary, a theme is the main topic of a book. There are many themes in books and movies. Maybe even thousands in some!

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with the world-famous detective, Sherlock Holmes and discuss his recent mystery he called, “The Musgrave Ritual”, and this is what he said.

“Well, it wasn’t easy. By far it was the toughest mystery I have ever encountered, but as always, I solved the mystery. It started out as me on vacation. My assistant, Dr. Watson, insisted that I take a vacation to get soe rest and fresh air, and take some time off my cases for a while.”

Wow, I didn’t know you took a vacation, but how, even on vacation, did a mystery come to you?”

“Like always, someone comes to me, explains to me the case, and asks me to solve it. In that case, it was Sir Musgrave. He said that his butler, Buton, disappeared after sneaking into Mr. Musgrave’s library several times. He was looking over a family poem called The Musgrave Ritual.”

“But why, why would he sneak into a library just to read a family poem?”

“Not read, to decode. Sir Musgrave told me that The Musgrave Ritual was a riddle and if you decoded it, it would lead you to treasure that had been lost over the years by the family and had been forgotten.”

“But what about the butler? What happened to him?”

“Oh, he decoded the message and went to find the treasure, but I also decoded the message and went after him. I found him in the basement, suffocated and dead.”

“What happened after that?”

“Well, as always, I explain how I solved the mystery to Watson, and boy, was he amazed!”

“Well, there you have it folks, the story of The Musgrave Ritual.”

According to Webster’s New Dictionary, a genre is “A king or type of works of literature, art, or popular fiction”. The genres I learned about were Science Fiction, Horror, Allegory, Fantasy, Mythology, and Fables.

The first genres are Science Fiction and Horror. Science fiction drives into technology, sometimes space, of course, science, inventing new hears and gadgets, and sometimes time traveling. horror deals with crime, violence, mystery-solving, death threatening, and a lot of scary stuff.

The second genre is Allegory. An Allegory is a story that has a deeper meaning to it. Jesus’ parables in the Bible were allegories.

The last genres are fantasy, Mythology, and Fables. Fantasy is made up and is sometimes fairy tale stories. Some fantasy stories have farries, dragons, kings, and queens. Mythology is more likely to be a Roman or Greek myth and is sometimes legend. Fables are short stories that teach a life long lesson.

Star Wars, Star Trek and Journey to the Center of the Earth are all examples of Science Fiction. Some examples of Horror are Sherlock Holmes and The Hardy Boys. An example of an Allegory is Pilgrim’s Progress. Some Fantasy genre books are the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Some more examples of Mythology is The Illiad and The Oddessy. The last examples of Fables are Aesop’s Fables and The Three Little Pigs.

First, I would want to have an ax to chop down trees and cut vines. I could use the logs to build myself a shelter and the vines could be used to hold the logs in place if they aren’t stable. I could also use the ax for hunting and protecting myself. I could make traps for catching animals and to chop firewood to build fires with to cook and to keep me warm.

The other tool I would want is a hammock. It could help you sleep above the ground where the critters and snakes can’t get you that are on the ground. I could also use it as a fishing net to catch fish with and a water filterer to filter out bugs and mud and large debris to make it safe for me to drink. I could even use if for a blanket if I’m cold and do not have a fire and to use it as a raincoat to protect me from rain. I could use it to turn into a sack to carry fruit in and it can be used to transport logs from one side of the island to the other by putting the logs on the hammock and using the rope to pull it. I could also make a log carrying backpack.

Robin Hood and his merry men did not have anything to eat that morning. After several minutes of hunger, Robin Hood said, “I will go fishing and catch some juicy trout for breakfast.”

“But Robin, you’ll die! You know the Sheriff’s ships are patrolling the harbor,” said Little John.

“I realize that,” said Robin, “but look at all these hungry men. I can’t just let them die of starvation. Besides, I’ll have a fisherman disguise on. They won’t recognize me.”

“If you say so, but I’ coming with you,” said Little John.

“All right,” said Robin. So they put on their disguises, grabbed their fishing poles, and left.

“Halt! Who are you?” asked one of the guards.

“We’re just going to fish, cause we are so hungry and we have nothing to eat,” said Robin. Eventually, the guard let them pass. Robin and Little John together caught seven trout for his band of sixteen merry men.

When he got back to his hideout, the cook cooked the trout in less than an hour for one trout. When he was done, the merry men were so hungry, there were no leftovers.

“But what will we have for tomorrow?” asked one of the merry men.

Robin said, “Little John and I will just fish for more trout but for more than today, so we will have leftovers for the next day.”

And so they did just that the next day.

   A novel is “a long prose narrative that describes fictional characters and events”. A short story is “a piece of prose fiction shorter than a novel”. A novella is “a text of written, fictional narrative prose normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel”.

   Some similarities between these forms of writing are that novels and short stories are written in prose which is “written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure”. Another is that all three are fictional stories. One difference is that they are all different lengths.

   I like novellas best because it’s not too long like a novel, and it’s not too short like a short story. One example of these forms of writing is “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. This book is a novel and so is “Robin Hood” by Howard Pyle. Some novellas are “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and “The Time Machine” by H. G. Wells. Two examples of short stories are “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, a common nursery rhyme, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories about Sherlock Homes.

   In the book “A Knight of the White Cross”, the main character is Gervaise. Gervaise is a page who is a young male servant who sometimes carried messages for a nobleman. He was assigned to serve on a gally. Even though he was to serve on a galley, he had a plan to keep them from being captured by 4 pirate vessels, and because of this plan, the galley was able to capture the 4 pirate vessels. A galley is a ship which has rowers instead of sails.

   Gervaise eventually got back to the castle at Rhodes and was knighted because of his brave deed. He also decided to learn how to speak Turkish for 9 months. He was put in charge of a ship to take back the Pasha of Syria (which is in Syria because he knows how to speak Turkish. After he succeeds in taking over the Pasha of Syria, he goes to a party in which he sees a mysterious Greek talking to the slave, so he asks to be put on a galley as a slave to figure out a plot. He eventually figures out the plot and stops thousands of slaves from escaping from Rhodes since he could speak and understand Turkish.

   As a reward, he is put in charge of a galley, and all the people working on the galley were younger than Gervaise! He captures two or three of the Corsair fleet. They also burned or captured the entire fleet. when he returned to Rhodes, the Countess’ daughter, Claudia, gave Gervaise a gage at a party. When Gervaise was out at sea again, he gets captured by pirates and they stole the gage Claudia gave to him. He is sold to a kind master, but he escapes and gets his gage back. He returns in a small fishing boat, but almost gets captured by the Turks there waiting to attack the city. When some Turks tried to cross the moat, Gervaise sent fire ships and they destroyed most of the boats trying to cross the moat and the rest retreated. The Grand Master died, but the Knights of the White Cross win. After the battle, Gervaise asks if he can stop being a knight. After his request is granted, he marries Claudia.