Trina’s Travel

Fantasy is a subcategory of fiction. It is the genre where most aspects of the plot are surreal. Some fantasy stories entail out of this world odds and ends, such as magic, witchcraft, vampirism, angels, and more. In the realm of literature, fantasy can be compared to surrealism — which is determined as an artistic shot of bridging reality and imagination. Thus, common fantasy novels are characterized by magical surrealism or surrealism in general. This literary genre is often wrongly identified as science fiction because both have almost identical backbones. To help book lovers and the general audience distinguish fantasy fiction from science fiction, the thing to remember is that the former is composed of extraordinary characteristics while the latter is characterized with the same aspects but with the use of technology.

Books of fantasy fiction are typically inspired by the past or current events in real life that are either good or awful. Authors of these novels extract a particular experience or situation in the real world and craft it into something magnificent. They also take inspiration from mythologies and folktales. For bibliophiles that are into fantasy, listed below are the great authors of fantasy fiction.  

• J.K Rowling

Joanne Rowling is the author of one of the most popular children’s fantasy book series called the Harry Potter. Rowling has two pseudonyms, which are J.K Rowling and Roberth Galbraith. J.K has experience the hardest falls and stumbles in life before she was hailed as the J.K Rowling today. Her story is indeed amongst the many rags to riches tales. Seven years after she finished school, she considered herself as a failure for she has been separated, unemployed, and a single mother.

Harry Potter was the silver lining of Joanne’s life. The series have won numerous awards and have sold approximately more than 500,000,000 copies. Children, especially boys, are the target readers for the series. However, as people began discovering the beauty of the books, little boys are not the only ones who are hooked with the stories but also readers of all ages. The rights for film adaptation has been purchased by Warner Bros; thus, the production of the well-known 8 Harry Potter movies.

• Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is a Texan author who gave life to the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. This #1 New York Times bestselling author have more than 20 novels suitable for young readers. Richard Russell Riordan was born in San Antonio, Texas. It is where he also grew up. Later on, his family moved from Texas to Boston. One of the inspirations of the character Percy Jackson in the series was his son, Haley. His son is battling with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia; thus, the main protagonist of the PJ series also has the same medical conditions.

The series that brought the diamonds and fame to him was the Percy Jackson. The novels revolve around the journey of Percy an offspring of the Greek god Poseidon and a human. Since the Greek myth PJ series has become a hit, another mythology collection has been produced by Riordan — which was The Kane Chronicles that was inspired by the Egyptian myth. The Heroes of Olympus was also written and published, which was the sequel for the all-time favorite Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

• Anita Fisk

Author Anita R. Fisk is a retired teacher who is currently residing in rural Nevada. From rural Nevada to suburban Las Vegas, she taught middle school through college language art classes. Aside from Teaching, Fisk has served as a school administrator in a public school and as writing consultant. The author has been managing her teaching craft excellently; hence, she was given plenty prestigious teaching awards — such as the Nevada Teacher of the Year, Christa McAuliffe Award, Milken Family Educator Award, and more.

The Healing Bowl: A Harley and Friends Adventure is a fantasy fiction novel by Fisk that are intended for young adult readers. It is all about how Harley, the seventh-grader protagonist, and his best friend TJ arrived in a world full of quests and is far away from reality. This story is also fueled by Greek mythology and Albert Einstein’s fluidity of time theory. Aside from this amazing fantasy novel, Fisk also have other beautifully written books — which are the Twist of Fate, Unintended Sacrifices, and Shadows of Secrets.

• Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer is an American author born and raised in Connecticut. She is greatly influenced by remarkable authors Austen and Shakespeare. Before becoming the Stephenie Meyer that she is right now, she almost gave up writing because she thought that the path is not for her. Meyer was willing to trade writing for law school. However, when her son came into the picture, she ceased all the career ideas that she had and decided that she just wanted to be a mother to his son.

The Twilight novels came into view when she dreamt about a human and a vampire that has fallen in love with each other but the latter crave for the girl’s blood. She began working on the draft of the novel from chapter 13 onwards and went back to fill chapter 1 to 12. She sent the manuscript 15 different literary agencies with the influence of her sister. 5 of the letters were left unanswered while 9 were rejected. The last one remaining was a positive reply from Writers House’s Jodi Reamer. Meyer has signed a three-book agreement with Little, Brown and Company worth $750,000 dollars. In 2005, Twilight was published. Three more Twilight sequel books was produced, making it a series that sold more than 100,000,000 copies worldwide.  

• Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is a pen name of a popularly known young adult fiction writer Judith Lewis. She was born in Tehran, Iran was Judith Rumelt before she got married. The Jewish author has been travelling frequently when she was little. She had been in Switzerland, England, France, Los Angeles, and New York. She was in LA when she started writing fan fictions under the name of Cassandra Clare. Those stories have been renowned online but she deleted them before the publication of her first book.

Clare has written several fantasy fiction series which includes The Infernal Devices, The Shadowhunter Chronicles, The Dark Artifices, The Magisterium Series, and the bestselling The Mortal Instruments. The TMI series has been one of the best young adult fantasy series up until the present. It is composed of six books, the first one is called The City of Bones that was published last 2007. The first of the six novels surprisingly became a bestseller of The New York Times the moment it was released, it also garnered approximately 19 book awards. This paved way for Cassandra Clare’s amazing career as an author and her reign in fantasy fiction.

The beauty of fantasy is that it gives readers the opportunity to temporarily escape reality with the use of books and imagination. Hence, authors of this genre are considered as great captains of the ships that takes the readers on different but amazing voyages towards the worlds that they are yet to discover.

Learning is essential. It is a lifelong process and it does not have an age requirement. Amongst the numerous agents that promote learning, books are the most popular and convenient option. There are different types of readers and their styles of reading depends on their study habits or personal decisions. Some can finish a book in one go while others take weeks or months to finish. For children, it is essential to teach them the value of learning and introduce them to one of the basic means of acquiring knowledge — reading. There is a great amount of books that are suitable for the kids which can help develop their young brilliant minds.

Every person is visual. Remember the famous “do not judge a book by its cover” quote? Well, pictures do matter. Most individual prefer things with photographs and illustrations than those with plain words and prints on them. It is because pictures attract and captivate people. Although the greatness of books is already found on their content, having a good cover and inside images makes the novel a total package. From the illustrations alone, the story is already being told. It can also easily draw attention, especially the attention of toddlers, so it is a perfect tool for learning.

Here are some of the best illustrated books that promotes learning and are suitable for strengthening the minds of children:

The Lorax

Authored by the well-known Dr. Seuss, this classic children’s book tackles about major problems — such as greed, destruction of natural treasures, pollution, and economic issues — of almost all countries. It was first published in the year 1971 and the uniqueness of the story, as well as the characters, are the contributing factors which makes this book a hit until the present. The Lorax is starred by the character with the same name as the title known as the one who “speaks for the trees.” Since Dr. Seuss created one of a kind characters, the artwork embedded in the book helps young readers picture them out and build images in their minds.

Enchanted Rainbows

Inspired with the colors and beauty of nature, Gabriella Eva Nagy produced this wonderfully illustrated and written books based on her childhood memories. Enchanted Rainbows is amongst numerous Gabriella Eva Nagy books that she got published. It is a heartening graphical display of greeting a love on his or her birthday. With images that are personally created and are filled with amazing spectrum of colors, children will definitely appreciate the wonders of nature and the importance of sincerely wishing a person a happy birthday.

Where The Wild Things Are

This classic children’s book is written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak published by Harper Collins in April of 1963. The story revolves around a boy named Max who was punished by being sent to his room without dinner. In his bedroom that has mysteriously became a jungle, the boy in a wolf costume ends up going to an island that is home to malevolent creatures. Max was acknowledged as the king of the beasts called the Wild Things after he had intimidated them. Life with the Wild Things was perfect until he began feeling lonely; thus, he came to a decision of going back home. The author’s depictions and drawings help successfully tell the story about Max, the Wild Things, his experience as a royalty, and his homesickness.

Winnie-the-Pooh

The famous Winnie-the-Pooh is a collection of short stories about the journey and escapades of a teddy bear, named Winnie-the-Pooh, and his friends. Author A.A Mine and illustrator E.H Shepard singlehandedly formed a story about friendship and adventure and told it in the simplest but sweetest way possible. The use of animals, a human, and a toy with different characteristics and making them work together is like baking cookies with several diverse ingredients but still manage to produce the tastiest ones. Moreover, the stories are not difficult to comprehend and visualize because of the provided artworks. Winnie-the-Pooh will absolutely teach the young minds the value of unbreakable friendship.

Hope for the Flowers

This allegorical fable was published last September 1972 by the Paulist Press. It is written and illustrated by Trina Paulus with caterpillars and butterflies as characters. The tale centers on a caterpillar named Stripe and how he thirsts to discover the “more” in life. In his quest to find answers, he met another creature of his kind named Yellow. Eventually, they found love. Stripe, however, and his discontent of living the same cycle everyday paved way for the destruction of their relationship. Leaving the love of his life to continue his dreams left Yellow in a complete wreck. As the story progresses, the protagonist still have not reached the top and achieved the growth that he has been looking for a long time. Yellow, on the other hand, turned into a beautiful butterfly and looked for Stripe somewhere on the tree. She found him and led him to the contentment and growth he longed to have. This story will surely teach children the beauty of struggles, love, and contentment.

Picture books are, indeed, good mediums for shaping up young learner’s mind and outlook on learning. The illustrations and other artwork implanted on these novels are definitely integral component on developing a child’s visual-spatial intelligence and view of life.

Have you seen the film “Up” produced by Pixar Animation Studio last 2009? If yes, then you must have heard of this phrase: “Adventure is out there!” I always have the heart for adventures, but it is not until I watched the movie and decide to begin to take risks and wander. Witnessing all the great masterpieces of the world and documenting the experience by taking pictures and blogging is what I aim. I want to share all my adventures and experiences to everyone through writing and photography.

I always believe that life is short, so make the most out of it while you can. Traveling is everything for me. It is like the fuel to my fire. It is freedom. It is healing. I cannot bear not going outside all day, I feel like I am caged. Like a bird, I want to fly and see the world. My feet always take me somewhere – to the park, to the public library, to museums, or across the world. The emotions that every adventure gives me is the reason why I began writing. I want to put these feelings into words. I want to give them life and share them to the rest of the world.

At first, it was hard going to places you’ve never been before and living life in a suitcase or a backpack. It is because you don’t know what’s waiting for you at the end of the road. Different questions will come to mind while you are going through the process, like “is this worth the risks?” or “is this an unending road or a dead end?” However, if you are already in the moment, these question will suddenly vanish and you will be left in awe of the beauty of each place. What I also like about traveling is meeting new people, experiencing other culture, and tasting different food. Journeying, in contrast to reading, allows you to create your own plot, choose the setting, and pick the characters. It is like writing without pen and paper, like storytelling with a story that is yet to be completed.

Aside from traveling, I also have other interests like books, fashion, gadgets, and photography. These are the other things that complete me. The smell of books and the company that it gives during bus rides, camping, train rides, and airplane flights is incomparable. Fashion is also important in going on trips. Your wardrobe must match the weather of the place that you are about to go to. That said, I always plan my outfits a week before the schedule. I also include in the preparation other essentials for every upcoming trips. So when the day comes, I am all set and ready to go!

So, welcome to my blog wanderers! I am Trina and this page is all about adventure, literature, history, food, gadgets, fashion, and all things that spark excitement and thrill. Do not forget to subscribe and keep posted! And always remember that adventure is out there.