Blog #1: Witch and Wizard Pages 1-63

In the book Witch and Wizard by James Patterson a new form of government has taken control. This government calls themselves the New Order. The book starts off with a prologue that shows the main characters and their family waiting to be executed on an execution platform. During this part in the book one of the main characters, Wisty, is describing how her parents look while they are standing on the execution platform. Wisty says that her mother is crying for Wisty and her older brother, Whit, and that her father was smiling to try to keep everyone's spirits up. Wisty then goes on to say that she's getting ahead of herself because she's supposed to be writing an introduction and not describing the details of her public execution. This line sets the reader up for the rest of the book. After the prologue is a section of the book titled "Book One." During this part of the book New Order soldiers enter Wisty and Whit's house to take them into custody, claiming that Wisty is a witch and Whit is a wizard making them dangerous criminals. During this part in the book Wisty and Whit are in shock because they didn't know they had powers. This causes them to deny the fact that they have powers. During this scene the New Order guards try to take Whit and Wisty and a lot of crazy things happen. For example, the guards start to surround Wisty and she randomly catches on fire, but it doesn't hurt her. This is when Wisty and Whit start to realize that they actually do have powers. At the end of this scene Wisty and Whit are being taken away and they are each allowed to bring one item with them. During this part Wisty is given an old drumstick to take and Whit is given an old book to take. Both Wisty and Whit are left wondering why their parents gave them what they did to bring with them, but they both take the items that were given to them. After being taken from their parents Wisty and Whit are taken to a facility that holds other kids that have powers like Wisty and Whit. While there Wisty and Whit are interrogated by one of their classmates, Byron Swain, who works for the New Order. After being interrogated Wisty and Whit put on trial for being a witch and a wizard and they are found guilty. This meant Wisty and Whit were going to be executed, but neither one of them was eighteen yet, so they couldn't be executed yet. At the end of book one of the book Wisty and Whit are being taken to a different facility to wait there until they can be executed and they see wanted posters of their parents. This revealed to Wisty and Whit that their parents were alive.

This book starts off fast and it managed to hook me within the first few pages. This book also has very short chapters. I personally like this about the book because I feel that it helps the book move along. This book also has a lot of allusions to The Wizard of Oz. For example, the prologue of the book is titled, "You're Not In Kansas Anymore." There's also a character in the book who is described very similarly to the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. In the end this book is a very good book and it will keep you hooked by never slowing down.