Emma’s Letter Essay #4: [Book Title]

Letter essay: The Compound

I’m reading the book The Compound by S.A Bodeen which is a 272 page fantasy novel. I read this book because it seemed really interesting and I thought I would enjoy it. S.A Bodeen also came to our school and talked about her books and they seemed really cool and intriguing .
S.A Bodeen started off writing picture books for children, than began to write books for young adults starting with The Compound. After that she wrote The Fallout, The raft, The Detour, The Gardener, Ship Wreck Island and Lost.
So far this book is about a boy named Eli who, along with his two sisters and twin brother are all children of a rich scientist. At age nine Eli and his family are rushed into a place called the compound built by his father for safety during a nuclear bomb. When the doors to the compound are closed they realize Eddy (Eli’s twin brother) is trapped out and most likely dead. After the first chapter where we find out all about the compound and Eddy, the book moves 6 years into the future where basically everyone has changed in severe ways. No one living in the compound resembles how they were 6 years ago and no one seems to care, or doesn’t speak up about it except for Eli.
I like the way the author uses multiple “Memory “moments in her writing. I liked this because it shows what life used to be in the early years of the compound or even before they were living there. It gives a lot more information about who the characters are like when Eli is remembering Eddy and his last birthday together and how everyone showed up for Eddy. This part of the book showed that Eli was an outcast and kind of mean to his “friends”.
The Character development is story is strange because many things stay the same but some things also change a lot too. Eli begins to work out and get stronger which is not what I expected from the character. Also no one really mentions Eddy anymore even though he was a big part of their family. Some things that were expected is how mean Eli is to his little sister and how no one in the family stands up to their father even though they are mostly mad at him all the time for keeping them in here.
I was surprised that in all the years that they have been in the compound no one has stood up to their father for redirecting them into this compound, away from their friends and their relatives. I was also surprised by the fact that their mom doesn’t say anything and acts as if she’s okay or even happy about being there as well.
One passage from this book that I liked was “T.S Eliot was wrong. My world ended with a bang the minute we entered the Compound and that silver door closed behind us. The sound was Brutal. Final.An echoing, resouding boom that slashed my nine-year heart in two. My fists beat on the door. I bawled. The screaming left me hoarse and my feet hurt”
I like this passage because it shows how upset Eli was at age nine when they first arrived at the compound. It’s also very descriptive and I liked the way the author used a lot of one word sentences which made me pause for a second.
I really enjoy this book so far and would recommend to a friend. I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

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10 thoughts on “Emma’s Letter Essay #4: [Book Title]

  1. Dear Emma,
    After reading your letter essay, I was really amazed of how well written it was! I liked how you met all your criterias and all the paragraphs were very well written. After reading this letter essay, this book seems very interesting and you described it very well. Overall, good job!

    Lucy

  2. Dear Emma,
    I really enjoyed reading your letter essay! Your summary was really good and descriptive and I learned a lot more about the book from this. This book sounds really good. Overall, I thought your letter essay was really good!

    -Katharine

  3. Dear Emma,

    I really liked reading your letter essay. I liked how you included the sign post “memory moment” in your essay. I was thinking about reading this book, but now that I read this, I am definitely going to.

    -Chloe

  4. Emma,

    I think that your letter essay was great. You summerized the book in a very good way that made me want to read it. Also I liked how you chose a book that we all know who the author is. One thing you need to work on is fixing some grammer mistakes.

    -Ben

  5. Dear Emma,

    I thought that your letter essay was great. I really liked how you described what you liked about the passage in the book, but I think that you could have elaborated in your introduction. I enjoyed reading your letter essay, it was very good.

    -Isabel Llach

  6. Dear Emma,
    I really liked your essay. First thing I noticed was how you forgot to put the title of the book on the title page. I really like all the detail you included in your summary of the book. I liked how you knew so much about the author. I could tell that you put a lot of effort into this.

    From,
    Kayleigh

  7. Dear Emma,

    I really enjoyed reading you Letter-Essay! I thought you did a really great job with writing a clear and brief summary that left me wondering what else happens. I also think you did a really great job explaining your thinking about the book without giving anything away. I especially liked the paragraph where you described how the author used a lot of “Memory Moments” throughout the book. I appreciated you adding that particular paragraph because it helped me to understand the structure of the book, and it informed me that there would be some aspects of mystery where new information was periodically added to help the reader to better understand the characters and their relationships. I think that in the future, you should double check for any grammatical errors. I think that by doing that, your Letter-Essay would be much clearer and a little easier to understand. Thank you for sharing your Letter-Essay!

    From,
    Sydney Rodriguez

  8. Dear Emma,

    I really enjoyed reading your essay! Your essay really persuaded me to read the book. Your summary was really good and helped me under stand the book much better. I liked that you read one of the authors books that came into the school. Overall you did a really good job!

    -Olivia Parcells

  9. Dear Emma,

    I really enjoyed reading your essay! Your essay really persuaded me to read the book. Your summary was really good and helped me understand the book much better. I liked that you read one of the authors books that came into the school. Overall you did a really good job!

    -Olivia Parcells

  10. Dear Emma,

    I really enjoyed reading your letter essay. Your letter essay made me want to read the book since I have never read it before. Your summary was really good and gave a really good description of the book. Overall you did really good!

    Claire

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