18-Haydn Reynolds

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1 Inside the Box HALF BROTHER Interview with Ben Tomlin on his new life in victoria January 2012

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HALF BROTHER Interview with Ben Tomlin on his new life in victoria January 2012 1 “If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee’s eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals, what must we be?” 2

Transcript of 18-Haydn Reynolds

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Inside the Box

HALF BROTHER

Interview with Ben Tomlin on his new life in victoria

January 2012

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“If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee’s eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals, what must we be?”

-Frans de Waal

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Contents4-5 .....................................................................

6-7 ....................................................................

8-9 .....................................................................

10-11 .................................................................

Interview with Ben tomlin

Finding Beauty in Negative Space

Inspire

Be Bold

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COMPLICATED LIVES BEN TOMLIN On his new life in Victoria with his

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Complicated Lives: Ben TomlinOn his new life in Victoria with his new “brother” who is a

Biography: Recently Ben Tomlin’s father got a job across the country in Victo-ria. His parents took him out of school in Toronto, sold their mid-class house, and embarked on a daunting road trip across the country to beautiful sunny Victoria, British Columbia. When he arrived he met his mother who had his new “brother” for research; his new “brother” was chimpanzee named Zan.

Confused and disorientated, Ben thought his whole life had been unappreci-ated; he just wanted the whole chimpanzee research to be over. We now meet

with him and his new “brother” to talk about his roller coaster of a life

Q: How did you and Zan first meet?A: Well my Dad Richard and I had just finished our doom trip of boredom across Canada, see I used to live in Toronto, I loved it there but dad had to move here to Victoria to do his research on Zan. Anyway we got here and there was nothing in the house because all of our stuff came the next day. I woke up the next day, on my birthday, and the mover’s truck was here and so was mom carry-ing Zan, and that’s where we first met.

Q: When you moved to Victoria because of Zan what were your thoughts and how did you feel?A: I was angry and sad. I was angry because my parents hadn’t even asked me if it was ok if we moved, and I was sad because I had to leave my friends and all the stuff I loved and couldn’t bring.

Q: Recently, you explained Zan as “Not my brother”, how do you feel about this now?A: After our first encounter with each other I didn’t think I could hate him anymore than I did right then. But after a while I decided that he’s not that bad, and he’s really cute. I am proud to be his broth-er.

Q: You explained earlier that you lived in To-ronto; do you prefer it there or here in Victo-ria?A: Um, I found it’s actually very much the same; other then living in the countryside here and liv-ing in the city in Toronto. So I don’t really prefer it anywhere.

Q: Do you and Zan do any sports or hobbies together?A: Zan and I walk together and we play soccer a lot in the back yard, but other than that no.

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COMPLICATED LIVES BEN TOMLIN new “brother” who is a chimpanzee

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Now I’m the king of the swingerstOh, the jungle VIP

I’ve reached the top and had to stopAnd that’s what botherin’ meI wanna be a man, mancubAnd stroll right into town

And be just like the other menI’m tired of monkeyin’ around!

Oh, oobee dooI wanna be like you

I wanna walk like youTalk like you, tooYou’ll see it’s trueAn ape like me

Can learn to be humen too

( Gee, cousin LouieYou’re doin’ real good

Now here’s your part of the deal, cuzLay the secret on me of man’s red fire

But I don’t know how to make fire )

Ooh-ooh ah ah

Now don’t try to kid me, mancubI made a deal with you

What I desire is man’s red fireTo make my dream come trueGive me the secret, mancub

Clue me what to doGive me the power of man’s red flower

So I can be like you

You!I wanna be like you

I wanna talk like youWalk like you, tooYou’ll see it’s true Someone like meCan learn to be

Like someone like me

Finding Beauty In

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The contrast between good and bad is a very thin line. I Wanna Be Like You showcases the theme of the forces of light versus the forc-es of darkness. In the lyrics, we see that the Orangatang wants to be a human and because of this, he tries to get the boy to tell and show him how to make fire. Robert and Richard Sherman write, “What I desire is man’s red fire.” Here, the author is showing that the monkey is different from the boy, howevwer, he has the intel-ligence to create a functioning society. By this I mean, if one spe-cies can learn what another speices knows, then they will have the

knowledge of both the species.

In the song, it states “I’m tired of monkeyin’ around.” This an ex-ample of a idiom. It makes a difference in the department of taste-ful hearing. Instead of saying messing around, the term monkeyin’

around is used; it also ties with this song because he is talking about how he doesn’t want to be a monkey. An example of a meta-phor is “ Give me the power of man’s red flower.” This is an example of a metaphor because a red flower symbolizes energy that can be transformed into strength, desire, and passionate love. “Ooh-ooh ah ah” is a example of an onomatopoeia, because “ooh-ooh ah ah”

is a sound effect made by a monkey. This song would be boring without the use of poetic devices because the poetic devices add

imaganation to the song.

This song relates to my book because my song is about a monkey wanting to be a human, and my book is all about scientists trying to teach the monkey to be a human. In the book, Ben’s dad says “I want him to be able to interact with us.” This ties to the song be-cause he can interact with humans and he wants to be a human.

Negative Space

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I am from the swarming mobs of citizens in the busy city To the open green plains of VictoriaFoggy skies like steaming kettles on the stoveI am from knowing Bill the butcher and Tony who ran the convenience storeTo having 2 neighbors 10 miles apart Laying in the large ocean of shinning emerald grass and golden dandelions

I am from the frustration of nothing going rightThe redness in my face when this happensThe persistent repeating of the same tedious signsI am from the satisfaction of successThe great feeling you get when you have done it.

I am from a family who has silent livesWe live in a house full of excitement, but it feels desertedMy dad wears the same straight face, mixed with my mom’s jubilant emotionsMy only brother walks on four legs and has a tailAll my friends are an endless journey away

I am from negligence and the depressing haze of sorrow It may well be that a shield of desolation has been pulled over my eyesBut I know that my excursion down melancholy lane is unendingI am from the serpentine freeway of life that has laid itself down in front of meAnd my mind is just starting to grasp at its daunting influence

INSPIRE

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Be Bold

A place is not a place before a person has been there. A person isn’t a person before they have a place in which to be,” – Lars Christense. The quote by Lars Christense is important because it underlines the sto-ryline. Lessons are something that need to be learned. The book Half Brother, teaches every student about the importance of family and re-spect. Many boys are very reluctant to read, such as myself, but some-times there’s that one book that you can’t put down. The astonishing book Half Brother is a book about acceptance and family. It follows the story of an average teen boy, but then a new problem is added to his life. Every eighth grader in the humanities curriculum should read this book because; it has a captivating climax that makes you not want to put it down, relatable characters, and an easy to follow plot.

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If you could picture the structure of Half Brother it would look like a rollercoaster. At the beginning the book starts out slow, but then from there it picks up. As if you were watching a movie, the book puts you into the eyes of Ben Tomlin. The captivat-ing climax is sure to always keep readers intrigued this is so important for the Grade 8 curriculum because the students should enjoy reading the book. The book should not just be an assignment; the book should be a adventure. At every turn the students will learn more and more about the lesson that is learned at the end.

The book Half Brother has the most relat-able characters that I have ever read. These relatable characters allow students to be constantly intrigued in the story. It allows students to be fascinated by how the characters will develop through out the story. Now what this does it is actually provides students with the means of obtain-ing wisdom without having to experience it. As I stated earlier, Half Brother teaches you about acceptance. Without having to actually have their own personal experi-ence students can learn about acceptance and why it is important. In the end, relat-able characters let students feel the pain and rejoice because they understand what the characters are going through.

When a book has a confusing plot it is not only hard to follow, but it makes a book uninteresting and annoying. By this I mean that the book becomes an assignment, in-stead of the amazing journey that you take with the book as it goes along. Half Brother

made me remember the storyline from the beginning on, and even now, because it had an easy to follow plot and not too many sto-rylines. Quality books usually a man prob-lem and then many sub plots, this makes the book have more color and suspense. In Half Brother, the main plot is to teach Zan, the chimpanzee, to sign words from the English language. But there are 3 side plots, how Ben raises his relationship with Zan, how Ben is trying to get with Jennifer, and how Ben has to choose between his real friend Tim or his other rich friend Andrew. And you will realize at the end of the book that these plots were ones loose, but then got tied up again.

After reading this book, it has opened my eyes to a new genre of book. I have left my reluctant attitude to reading in the past, and will definitely read books like this in the fu-ture. This book has a phenomenal display of a rollercoaster like climax, relatable charac-ters, and a storyline that is complex yet easy to follow. This is why I think the book Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, should defiantly be in the grade 8 reading curriculum.

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