Vile Villain Series - Count Olaf

28. Jun, 2015

“I’ll get my hands on your fortune if it’s the last thing I do,” the voice hissed. “And when I have it, I’ll kill you and your siblings with my own two hands.”

Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket is a truly horrible man. Throughout the series he plans on stealing the inheritance from three orphans and the greedy thug would do anything to have it.

In A Bad Beginning, book one of A Series of Unfortunate Events, Violet, her brother Klaus and baby Sunny Baudelaire’s parents perish in a fire. They are made to go to live with Count Olaf who commands they do chores for him, such as chopping firewood and cooking dinner for a theatre troupe. He even strikes Klaus on the face when the meal is not up to his standards. Count Olaf also attempts to marry Violet, who is only 14, so he can be in control of her inheritance. He puts Sunny in a cage, forcing Violet to marry him.

Count Olaf is tall and thin, wearing a grey suit covered in dark stains. He only has one eyebrow, which makes him look strange and unearthly. His face is unshaven and he has angry, hungry eyes. He even smells bad!

One of the first things the Baudelaire children notice about Count Olaf is a creepy eye tattoo on his ankle. In fact, eyes seem to be everywhere in his house, including on the front door. In one of the stories, Count Olaf wears eye leggings and he looks amusing! Throughout the series, Count Olaf disguises himself to lay his hands on the kids’ money, however they always recognise him because of his eye tattoo.

Count Olaf is a heartless man. The Baudelaire children have nothing left from the fire and all he gives them is a pile of rocks to share. What a Vile Villain he is!

I am excited to announce the MS Readathon 2015 video is up, featuring my friends - Stephen, Joshua, Izabella, Deborah Abela, my school mates and me, too! CLICK HERE to view it.

(Image: Illustrated by Brett Helquist from snicket.wikia.com)

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Vile Villain Series - Voldemort

21. Jun, 2015

Conjuring unforgivable curses, murdering his own parents, trying to kill a baby wizard… Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter fantasy/adventure series by J.K Rowling is by far the worst villain I can think of.

As a child, Voldemort disliked his own name, Tom Marvelo Riddle, so he mixed up the letters to form “I am Lord Voldemort”. Many witches and wizards are so scared of the Dark Lord that they do not ever dare say his name; they call him either “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” or “You-Know-Who”.

Under his black robes, Voldemort is tall and thin with frightening snake-like features. He has hardly any nose, a pale, flat face and pitiless red eyes.

Voldemort has terrible double standards. He is a half-blood (half human and half magic) but only likes pure-bloods! Voldemort uses the Avada Kadabra curse to put several half-bloods’ lives to an end. He has hundreds of criminal witches and wizards called, “Death Eaters” on his side.

For many years, Harry believes his parents died from a car crash because that is what his horrible muggle (mortal) aunt and uncle tell him. But on his eleventh birthday, he finds out he is a wizard and the truth about his parents’ death.

When Harry was a baby, his parents were destroyed by Lord Voldemort. The last thing his mother did was put a protective spell on Harry. Voldemort tries to put a curse on him, but it rebounded off his head, leaving a scar. The curse landed back on Voldemort, reducing him into hardly anything at all, though he lived on.

In the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Voldemort discovers he can inhabit muggles as well as witches and wizards. He chooses Professor Quirrell, a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His plan is to overpower student wizard Harry Potter because of a prophecy. Harry is stunned when he finds out the hard way that Voldemort is on the back of Quirrell’s head! The lunatic is obsessed with Harry for the entire Harry Potter book series.

Next week: Who puts a baby in a cage and forces her brother and sister to perform in play so he can steal their inheritance? Find out in my next blog…

(Image: Illustrated by Jonny Duddle from www.harrypotter.bloomsbury.com)

The day I met an author and got filmed for the MS Readathon

11. Jun, 2015

In my last blog, I mentioned that the 2015 MS Readathon promotional video was going to be filmed at my school. I got to meet Stephen from MS Australia, along with Joshua who was last year’s highest national fundraiser and Izabella who has raised over $2000 for Multiple Sclerosis in two years!

It was fantastic to be interviewed and I also got to meet Deborah Abela, a famous Australian author. And… I got to interview her! Deborah was really friendly, enthusiastic and determined. When she gave a talk to one of the classes, she spoke about how she thought she became an author.

Deborah talked about the time she was a “puny little seven-year-old”. She said she was standing alone in her backyard, not knowing what to do when an idea hit her – what if she climbed onto the GARAGE ROOF? So she climbed all the way up… and looked at the wonderful view. And then another idea hit her… what if she jumped as far as she could OFF the garage roof and landed in the pool? So she walked to the back of the roof and ran as fast as she could and jumped. Deborah did not spring much though and landed on the ground. An ambulance had to take her to hospital. That is why Deborah became an author, because she has always thought, ‘what if…’ and been a troublemaker.

Deborah also shared some story-writing tips, and told the class about some books she has written including the Max Remy Superspy series as well as one of my favourites, Grimsdon.

Stephen from MS Australia talked to the class about living with Multiple Sclerosis. He found out he had it as a teenager in high school. It all began when his eyes went blurry and he couldn’t concentrate on his school-work. Now, he lives with the feeling of pins and needles on his hands and feet. One morning, Stephen woke up and found he couldn’t walk. This lasted for more than two months. Stephen looks like any normal person, but lives in pain. That’s because some of the MS symptoms can be invisible.

CLICK HERE to see behind the scenes photos taken at my school during the making of the video.

NEWSFLASH!

8. Jun, 2015

This week, I have a very important announcement to make: the MS Readathon registrations have opened. How exciting!

By reading in the MS Readathon, you are helping the lives of almost 24,000 Australians suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, also known as ‘MS’. This is a disease that happens in the central nervous system. Sclerosis means ‘scar’ or ‘hardened tissue’ and Multiple is used because the damage usually happens in many places along the nerves. Scientists are researching for the unknown cause and cure. By getting sponsored by friends and family, these donations go towards research and assisting people suffering from MS.

During the MS Readathon, I like to think about other children like me who are busy enjoying stories and doing something remarkable towards a common cause. Isn’t it great that everyone can participate, no matter what their reading level is or how much money they raise? They are probably having the same amount of fun as me!

This year, the MS Readathon is going to be more fun than ever. There will be activities and competitions throughout the month of August and great prizes to keep you chugging along.

Registering is easy. All you need to do is enter some simple details on the MS Readathon website and you’re done. You can also register through your school. CLICK HERE to go to registration page for the 2015 MS Readathon.

2015 will be my fifth year participating in the MS Readathon and I am very proud to be their Ambassador. If you would like to sponsor me – CLICK HERE.

This week I am going to be interviewed in the 2015 MS Readathon video. A famous author named Deborah Abela is going to come to my school where I will be filmed. I have started reading one of her books called Grimsdon and it is about two friends, Isabella and Griffin. They survive a humongous ‘sneaker wave’ that left their city, Grimsdon in ruins. A teenage boy named Xavier introduces them to a super strange flying machine and great adventures await them…

Next week: Which Vile Villain cannot be named out of fear and battles a boy with a unique scar?

Vile Villain Series - The Trunchbull

31. May, 2015

Just imagine: The door slams shut and you hear padlocks get fixed to the door. You are trembling all over… broken glass and nails surround you… why do you have to be in so much trouble from the headmistress? It’s not fair! All you can hear is the beating of your heart and the scrabbling of mice outside. Darkness…complete darkness…you wish this was all a dream. But you cannot move your hand to pinch yourself – if you did you would get badly cut. Why does it have to be… THE CHOKEY?

This punishment is owned by a terrifying, towering tyrant: a deliciously horrible ogre named Miss Agatha Trunchbull, the second of my Vile Villain blog series. She in the wonderfully creative book Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Known as “The Trunchbull”, she is the hideous headmistress of Crunchem Hall Primary School. She does unimaginable things to the children there. In fact, student Matilda believes her motto is to be outrageous and, ‘go the whole hog’.

The Trunchbull is a former Olympic hammer thrower which explains her muscly wrists, manly shoulders, bull-neck, not to mention massive thighs. With a cruel mouth and small, arrogant eyes she appears intimidating to the children.

The first time Matilda and her friend meet The Trunchbull is in the playground when she throws a girl named Amanda Thripp over the fence like a hammer in the Olympic Games.

Once at lunchtime, Bruce Bogtrotter steals cake from the kitchen and is seen by the cook, who tells The Trunchbull. He is punished in the strangest way – he has to eat a humongous cake baked by the cook! The whole school has to go to the hall and watch him eat it in one agonizing sitting.

Another boy called Julius Rottwinkle gets caught eating Liquorice Allsorts during scripture. The Trunchbull picks him up by one arm and flings him out of the window.

“Nasty dirty things, little girls are. Glad I never was one,” says The Trunchbull. Well, I wonder if she was one, too!

Stay tuned for my next book review and an exciting announcement…

(Image: Illustrated and photographed by Quentin Blake)

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