"Shrek the Third"

"A Good King Is Hard to Find" is a short adaptation of the third installment in the Shrek cartoon trilogy. The king of Far Far Away Land has fallen ill and is trying to find a successor to his thrown. Shrek, his son-in-law, is the next in line, but he does not want to do it. Shrek and his friends Donkey and Puss In Boots set out to find Fiona's cousin, Arthur Pendragon, to take over the throne. While away on the journey, the evil Prince Charming plots to take over the throne himself. When Shrek first encounters Artie, the boy is not ready to be a king. He is cowardly and not mature enough for the position. Once they return to Far Far Away Land, Artie ends up saving the captured Shrek, defeating Prince Charming, and successfully takes over the throne. By the end of the book, Artie is mentally and emotionally prepared to become king.

First off, I just want to note that the title of this book is taken from Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The two stories have almost nothing in common except for the similar titles. The one thing that I really like about the Shrek universe is that there are fairy tale characters present. It makes the characters more familiar because the children already know a lot about them from watching Disney movies. Some of the familiar fairy tale characters are Puss In Boots, Pinnochio, Prince Charming, Arthur Pendragon (King Arthur), and the typical characters of an ogre, a princess, and a dragon. The characters are a little different than the usual fairy tale characters though. For example, the princess is also an ogress, the usually evil ogre is the hero, and the usually heroic Prince Charming is evil.

The character development of the future king of Far Far Away Land, Artie, is a common element in some of the fairy tales that we read and discussed in class. At first, Artie is reluctant to take over as king because he is scared of being poisoned or disliked. The only reason he even makes it to Far Far Away is because Shrek makes him. Once Artie gets there and sees how bad the city has become and how evil Prince Charming is, then he realizes he needs to become a hero and save the kingdom. By the end of the novel, he has gone from being a reluctant coward to a heroic, mature king.

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My Fantasy Story (Part 2)

Emily was a human. Her elf guardians told her the story of how she came to the village the day she realized that she was different. About 13 years ago, a mysterious portal opened between the human world and the elf world. While the elves had been examining the portal and trying to figure out why it had appeared, a small girl around the age of 3 had walked through it. The portal had closed behind her and had never appeared again since that fateful day. The elf tribe was unsure what to do with little Emily. The tribal leader and his mate decided to take the girl in as their own. They raised her as if she truly was an elf. Sometimes, Emily wondered what her life would have been like if she had never the left the human world. Then she thinks how wonderful her life has been in the elf world and she is happy that this miracle happened to her.

A week after her hunting trip, Emily was getting ready for her first scouting trip. She and 5 other scouts were to take a 2 day trip to the far east side of the land to see if there were any dragons roaming wild there. Emily finished packing her bag and went to tell her parents goodbye. She met the rest of the scouts right outside the village. They loaded their horses with their gear and checked one last time to make sure they had everything. Emily and one other elf her age were the only newcomers to the scouting party. The other 4 elves were highly experienced and well trained. They were the scouts that usually took the new recruits on their first trips. Emily and the others mounted their horses and set off towards their destination.

"Pony Party"

"Pony Party" is tells the story of a group of ponies who are going to a costume party at the the castle by Ponyville. Pinkie Pie is the main character who is trying to decide what she wants to dress as. All of her friends have already chosen costumes such as a hula dancer, a chef, a movie star, a pony from outerspace, and an angel. Pinkie Pie decides to go as a unicorn. When they get to the party, everything is going well until Pinkie Pie rips her outfit and dances into a punch bowl. Her costume is ruined and she is sad. Her friends put pieces of their costumes together to make her a new costume. The alien pony donates her antennae, the movie star gives her sunglasses, the angel offers her wings, and with a boquet of flowers, Pinkie Pie's costume becomes that of a beautiful butterfly.

This story is the typical children's tale of friendship and fun. It is aimed more towards young girls because the characters are pretty female ponies. They have very femanine names such as Wysteria, Cotton Candy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Sparkleworks, Sunny Daze, Kimono, and Minty. They are all shades of pink and purple and have heart tatoos on their legs. The characters of this book are from My Little Pony, an animated cartoon that has advanced to dolls, videos, coloring books, and other such toys for children. These familiar characters make this book a good read for children who watch the cartoon or play with the dolls.

The plot is very simple and common in children's literature. An exciting event is coming up, the main character has trouble deciding what to do, the event starts out great, something bad happens, and the main character overcomes the hardship with the help of friends. I really the last line of the book, "And with friends like these, she could fly anywhere." Pinkie Pie's new costume that her friends put together was that of a butterfly. The last line has a double meaning. The moral of the story is that you can overcome anything with the help of your friends. The other meaning is that you can succeed and fly high in life (like a butterfly) if you do not give up.

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"Amelia Bedelia"

My Fantasy Story (Part 1)

The beautiful meadow was as quiet as a graveyard. Well, almost. The trees surrounding the meadow let out faint rustling sounds as the wind gently swept through them. The low babbling of the creek that ran straight through the middle was a very relaxing noise to the girl that crouched in the nook of two branches in a tree. Suddenly, the snapping of twigs in the bushes to the left of her tree drew the girl’s undivided attention. A deer stepped out into the meadow. This is it. This is what the girl was waiting for. She drew her bow and notched an arrow into the string. She pulled the string back taut and waited until the deer dipped its head to take a drink from the creek. The girl let loose the string and the arrow went straight to its target. The deer fell to the ground and remained still.

An hour later, the girl was headed back towards her village with the meat and hide of the deer stored away in her pack. This had been her first solo hunt since she turned old enough to become a scout for her elf tribe. Once an elf turns 16, they are termed an adult and allowed to join the older elves in their daily activities. Female adult elves become scouts and male adult elves become warriors. Elves are taught how to be scouts and warriors from a young age so that they are prepared when they come of age. Emily was no different than any other elf in her tribe. She had been taught the ways of scouting for as long as she could remember. The solo hunting trip was the final test of her skills before she was allowed to go out with a scouting party. The only difference between Emily and the other elves in her village was one minor detail. She was not an elf.

Whatev, man