Mr.Lau Pak Keung  1 2 3 4

What is ‘life’? Throughout human history, nobody has ever known the exact nature of it. The author of this book, Chérie Carter-Scott, compares life to a game. She wrote this little but deeply spiritual book, trying to help people to live more positively and to learn the lessons we can’t avoid as we live our life every day.

This book teaches the following 10 rules, which are supposed to help us face life's challenges and manage its unpredictable ups and downs.

There are some points of this book that are worth appreciating. For example, the language used (e.g. sentence structures and vocabulary) is quite simple and easy to understand. I think students at F4 level or above should not find it too difficult to read.  Moreover, it is good for the writer to use real-life examples she encountered to illustrate her points. This can make her points more persuasive. Another technique she used is to quote the sayings of famous people, ranging from respectable people like Helen Keller, Winston Churchill and Isaac Newton to a pop singer Bruce Springsteen. I think the latter is used to make the book more down-to earth and resonate with the working class. The quote, for instance, ‘I cried because I have no shoes until I saw a man with no feet’ (Author unknown) is quite inspiring to those people who are always complaining about minor problems.

            However, there may still be some room for improvement. I have a feeling that some “real-life stories:” are a bit unreal. Perhaps they were created to enrich the context. Anyway, the author seems very good at understanding people as what she writes can really touch readers’ heart. 

To play the game of life well, we all need some knowledge of its rules. If not, we are bound to be losers. Read this book and you will get some inspiration.

If you think that all animals are only living for food and do not have any goals in their lives, you will probably change your mind after reading this short novel, which is about an unusual bird – a seagull named Jonathan Livingston.  

The author, Richard Bach, successfully created the main character, Jonathan the seagull, who was very different from his relatives and friends. Bach wrote, “Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight (flying)--how to get from shore to food and back again." But for Jonathan, it was not eating that mattered most, but trying to fly as well as he could. When he was trying to master the art of flying, many other seagulls laughed at him and told him many times what all seagulls should do was to get food. Because of the social pressure around, he gave up his dream once and tried to be a “good gull”, but still, he could not resist his burning desire to fly better. With his perseverance, he succeeded at last and learned the true meaning of love and kindness.

In the book, Jonathan shows us how to follow our dreams and reach our goals, no matter what other people around us may think. He actively searched for his own answers and for the beliefs that most fitted with his vision of life.

 After reading this short novel, readers may get some inspiration about how we should make our life a meaningful one, even if our friends and beloved ones may find our ambition silly or threatening.

The Little Prince is not a new story book, but it surely has stood the test of time as it is still a best seller around the world.

At first sight, this might just be another children's book. However, after reading it, you will find that it can be inspiring to adults too. Although the story is a quite short and simple, it may take you some time to understand the real messages behind. Would you take the challenge?

The book's main character, the Little Prince, rules over his tiny planet. Because of his love for a little flower, he comes to our Earth to learn more about love, friendship, identity and relationship. Here on Earth, he meets another main character (the book’s author), a pilot trapped in a desert. With him, the Little Prince shares stories of his wonderful travels to different little planets and meetings with interesting people.

Through the story, we can indulge ourselves in a world of imagination; appreciate the beauty of our mind; learn to treasure our innocent childhood and know more about the materialistic adult world.

The book is truly touching, with little drops of sadness and some bursts of laughter as well. When I reached the ending, my eyes were teary. Some lines, such as "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." really got me and remind me of how we should live our life.

It is one of the greatest books I have ever read. If you appreciate the simple things in life, want to know more about the world we live in or discover the differences between children and adults, read The Little Prince.

We all have 10 fingers and this is not special at all. But what if one of yours has magical power? Will you use it (your ‘magic finger’) to play trick on those teachers who always give you tons of homework and endless quizzes? Perhaps you won’t, but the girl in this book does use her magic finger to turn her teacher, Mrs. Winter, into something funny. (What is so funny? Find it out yourself!)

After this hoax, she feels sorry and swears she will never use the magic again. However, she breaks her promise later because she is angry with her naughty neighbors, who like hunting ducks and other animals for fun. With the amazing power of her magical finger, she turns her ‘cruel’ neighbors into birds to let them know how terrible and painful the animals feel when hunters are trying to kill them. Her plan works well and they become animal lovers in the end.

This story is a wonderful blend of fantasy and the idea that people who are cruel might actually get their ‘just rewards’ at the end. It is easy to read and is very suitable for children and even adults who are polluted by this materialistic world. Don’t wait! Borrow this book from the library today and you will learn that we should be generous with our love, which should not be reserved for your beloved ones only, but animals as well.

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