The progressed we have done

Last Firday we only designed 2 characters---Kellyanne and Ashmol. Now we have finished designing the six characters, and we used pencil draw them on the dolls. And we have almost finished coloring the biggest doll with Ashmol and Kellyanne on it. We still needed to draw a picture of the whole family on a piece of paper and write some sentences on the back of it, in order to put it inside the doll. Besides, we need to color other 2 dolls which have Dad and Mom and Pobby and Dingan on them. 

proposal

Proposal of creative project:
Yichen and me want to make a project together which has something to do with painting. I suggested to paint the characters on blank Matryoshka dolls, each doll paints two characters. I think that will be a great idea because draw pictures on the Matryoshka dolls would be a lovely way to show our work. And Yichen suggested to put a long piece of paper inside the dolls and draw some important plots on it. I think it is a very fancy idea, too. And it will surprise people. 
So: 
1. We have already bought the blank Matryoshka dolls on Amazon, and it will be shipped to school on 12th April. ( I once thought that we can make the ceramic dolls by ourselves, but then we realized that it will waste too much time, and we won’t finish the project on time. Then I gave up.)
2. We will design the cartoon style characters by ourselves not copy from the internet, but I will search for some cartoons and learn how to draw them. There are six characters in total, Ashmol, Kellyanne, Pobby, Dingan, Dad and mom. The important thing for this part is that I need to zoom those characters characteristics, so that we can recognize who is who, but it is very hard to draw. 
3. Then we will use watercolor to color the dolls. Actually I have no idea where can we borrow the watercolor. ( Maybe I think I should at least two groups of Matryoshka dolls because we will probably make some mistakes while we are painting)
4. We will use color pencils to draw the long paper with plots. We will discuss together to choose 3~4 plots that we think are the most important and link them together on one piece of paper. The plots we are going to choose are: Kellyanne plays with Pobby and Dingan. Their fence are setting on fire; Annie sits on the bed watching old photos; Ashmol goes down to the mine and finds Pobby and Dingan by himself during the midnight; All of the people in the town come to join Pobby and Dingan's funeral. The thing is that piece of paper would be very tiny, so that it is also hard to draw.

Finally, I want sort of improve my art skills, and I have this chance to create my own cartoon characters. So that It also can improve my imagination. 

The meaning of the quote

Explain the meaning of this quote: "The secret of an opal's color lies not in its substance but in its absences." What does it mean to the characters in the novel and how does it relate to the plot? What do you think the opal symbolizes for the family and especially for Ashmol? Why is it important that it contains many colors and why are the absences important?

     This sentence is at the beginning of the book written by Australian Geographic, and it is really hard to answer because It does not show its meaning directly. The "secret"."opal's color","substance" and "absences” all have deeper meanings. In this sentence, the word secret means that the most important thing or the truly meaning. Then we can rewrite this sentence into “The most important part of an opal's color is in its absences not in its substance.” Opal is the core of the book, and it is the big background which surround the characters. Rex's dream was finding the opal. Opals are real to him. Ashmol likes those beautiful stones too. And there is even a big valuable opal on one of Kellyanne's imaginary friend Dingan's bellybutton. And this family is kind of be gathered together in Australia because of opal. Besides, at the beginning of the book, I remember that there is a plot about a teacher said to Ashmol, opals are magical and there are sprits in them. This plot creates a magical atmosphere for the opal, and let readers curious about how mystery the opals are. And in this book, opal also symbolizes dream, which is the support of people and like the guide light leads people walk straight towards their goals.

      Then I am going to talk about the substance and the absences in the sentence. I think the substance means the things that people can see and really exists, which symbolizes Ashmol's family members. They have different personalities and all of them are nice and sweet, so do the substance colors which are different and colorful. The absences means the things which we cannot see and maybe they do not exist at all, that symbolize Pobby and Dingan. They are imaginary friends of Kellyanne. They are invisible, and we cannot tell whether they are real exist or not actually. If you believe, they are exist; if you do not, they are not. But they brought huge influences to Ashmol's family, especially to Ashmol. They change Ashmol from punching air to show that he does not believe those imaginary things to a mature boy who can carry a heart with hope to find them in the deep mine during the midnight. They are Kellyanne’s imaginary friends, but they can change Ashmol and make him become more hopeful, positive and enthusiastic to face everything. They are like a gift. That is why they are really powerful and important. 

      In Pobby and Dingan, the main idea is that dream should be protected because they are valuable and important. 

      In my opinion, dreams can be separated in to two different types, one is your goals which is achievable and touchable, like opals, they are beautiful stones that Rex wants to get; one is your imagination, which is much more creative, and they are not real and even might not exist, like Pobby and Dingan, Kellyanne's imaginary friends. They are far from our real life, but they are still meaningful and important to people's certain period of lifetime. However, as I just mention, Pobby and Dingan are the absences of opal's colors. They are important and mystery and what the lies are telling. They are the other form of dreams which contains more of our hope and impossible, for it has endless possibility. No one could tell how they look like and why people have those ridiculous imaginations. But they are the truly meaning of a dream. 

     

     

list 3 ways that the ending of the film is different from the ending of the book

1. In the book, it says Kellyanne died and was burried with P&D, but in the film, she does not.

2. In the film, the director of the funeral gives Dingan's bellybutton back to Ashmol, but in the book, he does not.

3. In the book, there are thousands of people attend the P&D's funeral, but in the film, there are just about one hundred.

Quiz

2. What connection does Asmol make between the land covered with seawater and Pobby and Dingan? Why is that important to the story?

Answer:

" I felt a shiver go down my spine just thinking about how strange this was, that a sea was once here where now there is nothing but dry land. And suddenly I thought how maybe if this amazing thing was true it was just possible Pobby and Dingan were true too."

Ashmol thought if this extremely change which was the land he was step on was changed from sea could happen, so that nothing will be impossible. That means Pobby and Dingan have some chances to be real too. ( Analyze: what Ashmol saw was the land, and he did not see the sea so do everybody because no one can live thousands of years, but people still know and believe that the sea was truly exist here thousand years ago. That means the thing which you cannot see by your own eyes still possibly exist.) 

* This was Ashmol's mental activities, which clearly shows that at this moment, he converted his mind and believed that maybe Pobby and Dingan were truly exist because of the scenery he saw and what his dad told him. It shows the big change of Ashmol from strongly believe that P&D were fake to try to think about maybe they are real. This big change pushed the plot move forward. It lay the foundition of Ashmol found Dingan's big opal bellybutton and Pobby and Dingan's died bodies. 

5. In the very end of the novel, Ashmol talks about what it’s like to “believe in something which is hard to see. Or to keep looking for something that’s totally hard to find.” Discuss the importance of imagination and dreams in this novel. Why are they so important even if they cannot be seen. Consider what dreams Rex, the father, and Annie, the mother, have in the story. Consider, also, the dream that Ashmol has. How do those "unseen" dreams connect to Kellyanne's belief in Pobby and Dingan?

                  

         (Mine : Rex)

Answer:

All of Ashmol’s family members have dream.

Kellyanne's dream is "her imaginary friends Pobby and Dingan.

Rex's dream is: finding tons of valuble opals by himself and becoming to a succeful millinair, so that        everybody will admire him and no one will tease him and his family anymore.

Kellyanne is the youngest member of this family, and she is not that mature, so her dream is the most childish and objectivise which is P&D. But it is still equally with everybody else dream. It is important to her and effect her a lot. So that it is meaningful. 

*What is dream? in my opinion, dream is like something you strongly believe no matter what other people say, and it can cheer you up and has good effects on you. Dream is the shore of a person during a certain period of his\her lifetime. 

 Of course, dream is invisble and untouchble because it is on the profound level of your sprite. However, it is important for everyone. Because of dream, Rex could still stay at this tough mining area and keep finding opal when other miners set his fence on fire and called him rat. Just because he strongly believes his dream that he can find opal. That's true his dream might be ridiclous to somebody, and he might face many difficulties and troubles, but it is close and touchable and really exist to him.

 Because of P&D which is Kellyanne’s dream, she could have her own friendship and have a happy childhood. It weighed the same as Rex's dream. So dream so be protected.

Dreamis powerful. Because of it people have goals, and it can make you face your tomorrow much more positively. 

Quiz questions No.4

4. Why do you think Ashmol promises not to use the opal to get money? Do you agree with this decision? 

*Because He promised Kellyanne, and that promise worked. Kellyanne wants him to use that opal to buy a coffin and hold a funeral for P&D, he wants to make her happy.

*That bellybutton belongs to Dingan not anyone else, he does not have right to sell it for money to gain benefits for himself.

* The only important thing for him right now was to make Kellyanne feel better, and he believed that hold a funeral for P&D by using that opal will work.

Yes, He is a really nice boy. He knows how important the kinship is, he kind of weighted Kellyanne and money, and he chose Kellyanne immediately 

About Pobby and Dingan

      Pobby: He is a boy and he has a wonden leg, which makes him walk really slow like a turtle. Besides, he was short and fat so that I think the way he walks will not be graceful and agile. Maybe Pobby is a fatty and sweet boy who has short hair, round face and big ears. And he is probably gentle and cute because the person who has a slow pace would be that kind and moderate. The most important thing is that Pobby likes Lolipops, sitting on the swing and playing with Kellyanne. He might were a cap and holds a bagpack with a stick which helps him to walk hanging on it on his shoulder. I think he might wear a dark shirt and a long grey pants in order to cover his wooden leg because he does not others look down no him. He kind of feels shame about his leg. He gives me a feeling which is that he is old but I do not know why; he is just a teenager. 

       

Dingan: She is a girl, and she was the one who won the third place of a competition which means in Kellyanne's mind, she must be very pretty. Kellyanne always mentions that there is an extremely beautiful big opal on her bellybutton. The color of the opal is green, red and black. So in my opinion, Dingan might have long hair and blue big opal like eyes, and she might be a really girly person who usually wear dress. And because she wears opal in her bellybutten that means she probably likes jewelry, and she might wear a shining necklace. She is tall and thin. Moreover, she sounds like a lovely gentle girl, so in my imaginary, she might wear a hat with pink bowknot. The things she likes to do are reading books, painting pictures, sitting on the swings, singing and so on. Her favorite this is lolipops. The color of Dingan's clothes might be bright and colorful, so that I drew some sunflowers on them which are my favorite flowers.

     Pobby and Dingan “ speak English quietly. And they likes to whistle. But you have to be a certain kind of person to hear them.”