Blog Prompt 1: Reflection of "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke

All young men in Singapore, including me, will have to do National Service. I think that National Service is compulsory in Singapore because Singapore is a small country and must have a strong defence force to defend herself as she can be fully destroyed at any time. National Service was actually already made compulsory in the 1960s because Singapore had a small population at that time other than being small. Furthermore, more manpower was needed in industries too. This means that there will be lesser people defending the country which make Singapore have more need to make National Service compulsory. Now that Singapore's population is bigger, Singapore aims to build up a defence even better than countries and to do that Singapore needs to have a huge defence force so National Service is still made compulsory till now. In the poem "The Soldier" the speaker expresses his love for his country, England. But I do not find such spirit of patriotism in Singapore. Most of the males in Singapore, especially the boys under 18, even before they go to National Service, they are already afraid and do not wish to go for National Service. They often groan about going to National Service and some even go to the extent of wanting to skip National Service, which is of course impossible unless they have special reasons. This shows that they are not willing to fight for Singapore, their country. They only go to war just because the government tells them to do so. But for me, I definitely have the spirit of patriotism for Singapore. Singapore is my homeland, this is where I belong. I was born and brought up in Singapore so I have the right to defend it. Most importantly, I am loyal to my country. I am what I am today because of what the country had taught me.

Book Review 2

Title: The Secret Garden

Story outline: There was a girl named Mary Lennox whose parents died from a deadly disease when she was young. Thus, she became an orphan and was taken care by her uncle, Mr Craven. He was rich and owned a mansion. When Mary found out about the key Mr Craven buried for a garden, she immediately went to find it but to no avail. Then, a bird helped her find the key and brought her to the secret garden. There she found that the garden was a beautiful one, but with many dead trees and flowers. She began to help grow more trees and flowers by planting seeds. She only let her friend, Dickson to know about the secret garden. It was a secret kept between Mary and him. Every night, Mary could hear someone crying. But Martha, her servant, keeps saying that it was the kitchen maid who had a toothache. Thus, she decided to take a chance to find out what was going on. She went into the room where the crying came from and discovered an ill boy named Colin. He was crying because of a headache. She later told Colin about the secret garden. She kept talking to Colin everyday and he was getting better each day too. But he had always thought he had a lump on his back and would die one day. Mary and the nurse looked at his back and saw no lumps. Colin was relieved after hearing this. Colin was brought to the secret garden. When Mr Craven saw that his son, Colin had his illness recovered, he was very happy.

Unique Selling Point: The book contains many mysterious adventures and lessons that teaches you to be optimistic about the future. You will also go through many exciting parts whereby Mary gets into the secret garden without getting spotted by others. Through the power of hope, friendship and the magic of nature, you will also experience how Mary brings the house and a long-lost garden back to life. The uniqueness of this book is that you get to experience mystery and learn lessons from it.

About the author: Frances Hodgson Burnett is an author who began publishing stories in magazines while still in her teens. She wrote many plays and more than 40 novels for adults. Her most famous and beloved books, however, were three that she wrote for children-'Little Lord Fauntleroy', 'A Little Princess' and this book, 'The Secret Garden'.

Book Review 1

Title: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Story outline: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are friends and they decided to dig for treasure one day. They went to many places to dig but to no avail. They decided to hide their spades and go to the haunted house at the end of the hill the next day to look for more treasure. The next day, they went to the haunted house and heard footsteps coming. They quickly hid in a corner and waited. They saw Injun Joe and another man. They had kept their treasure somewhere in the haunted house and discovered the spades that Tom and Huck had used. They suspected that there must be people around that area and decided to put their treasure in No.2. Tom and Huck had no idea what No.2 is. They thought it was a room number and went to the only room No.2 in the town but found nothing. Once, Tom went to explore a cave and met Injun Joe. Injun Joe quickly ran away. Tom discovered that the No.2 that Injun Joe and the other man was talking about was actually Den No.2 that he was in! He found a cross on a rock and began to ask Huck to help him dig for the treasure. They found the treasure under the rock in the end and became rich.