The Magic Finger

5A Chan Yan Ho, Thomas

The title of this book is very interesting because it gives me the impression of a fairy tale. You can’t see any moral that this book actually teaches us just by looking at the cover. If you finish reading the book you will find that it provokes you to think a lot.

Characters:

Girl: She is an eight year old girl who has a magic finger which can put spells on others. She is a naughty but also a girl full of sympathy. She will only punish people who do bad things.

Philip Gregg and William Gregg: They are eight and eleven year old boys and they are the sons of Mr and Mrs Gregg and also the friend of Girl. They like hunting with their family.

Mr and Mrs Gregg: They are the parents of Philip Gregg and William Gregg. Mr Gregg likes to take their kids hunting. They are good parents because they take care of their children well.

Plot:

This is a story about the life of the Greggs after they were turned into ducks. The Girl hated hunting very much. When she saw the Greggs hunting, she tried to stop them, but they did not listen to her and even laughed at her. A group of ducks were killed by the Greggs. The Girl felt angry about the Greggs, so she pointed her magic finger at the Greggs and they turned into ducks in sympathy to the animals. The duck parents whose children were hunted by the Greggs were turned into duck-humans.

The Greggs had to adapt to a new life as ducks. Their house was occupied by the ducks, so they needed to fly up to the top of a tree and build a nest to live in. Their lives as ducks was difficult and dangerous. It took a long time to build the nest and it was hard for them to find food to eat. One night, the wind blew strongly and the trees were blown from left to right. The rain dropped heavily and the nest nearly fell down and it got as wet as it could be. The next day, the ducks came under the nest and tried to hunt the Greggs. The Greggs had never thought that they would be hunted. They begged the ducks to let them go and realized that hunting is very wrong. After they had promised they would never ever hunt again, the ducks let them go. Somehow, after they were flying to their own house, they were turned back into humans. When they arrived home, they smashed all the guns they owned and they fed the wild animals with sympathy. They never hunted again.

Comments:

This book is meaningful and interesting. Have you ever thought that you would become a bird and live like one? This book tells you the feeling of being a bird. Worrying that the nests are not tough or firm enough to hold against the strong wind and heavy rain. Living in dangerous conditions because hunters will come and kill them. This book uses an interesting way to teach people about morality, for example, we should put ourselves into others’ shoes; think about others in their situation.

Also, this book is educational and illuminating because it tells you a meaningful moral lesson.

First, when you do things, you should put yourself in others’ shoes, it means that you should think of others’ feeling. It is not only thinking of people but also animals, the creatures in the world. Standing in other’s situations and you will think twice before you act. You may become the victim of your actions. For example, when you tease someone, you should think about what they think. Will they be sad? Will they be angry? After that, you will feel sorry if it happened to you, then you will not do it.

Secondly, we all know human beings are protected by human rights, but do you know animals should also be protected by animal rights? Hunting was a noble activity in the old days, people hunted animals for leisure or for showing their privilege, wealth and also social status. Starting from the 20th century, animal rights because a concern for society more people opposed hunting for fun or for getting fur. No matter whether animal or human, life is extremely valuable and it is much more precious than anything else in the world. Some people kill animals for fun or for luxury such as hunting and skin them for their fur. Have you ever thought about how painful it is when you are forced to eat a lot of food even though you are already full? Geese do! People feed them a lot just for their liver to cook Foie Gras. Another example, how painful is it when your hands were cut off when you were conscious? Sharks know! Their fins are cut off by fishermen and then thrown back into the sea. Just as if your hands were cut off and you were left alone without any help. As a result, you would slowly bleed to dead. Sounds terrible, right?

Being teenagers in the 21st century, we should take the responsibility to protect animals’ rights. Resisting the trend of wearing fur and hunting for leisure is essential. When we purchase fur, the demand for fur will be decreased and the clothing brands will sell less fur since wearing fur would be not a trend. So, how can we resist this luxurious activity? We can stand up for the animals through signing to support animal rights’ organizations or persuading people who are close to you to stop buying products made from fur.

I know wearing fur is status-proving and people think that wearing fur is beautiful. They have their rights to wear things that they bought legally, but can fur be replaced by faux fur? It looks, smells and feels like real fur. Not everyone can figure out the difference between a real one or a fake. If they are very similar, why should we keep buying real fur?

(This book report was the 1st prize in 2015-2016 Book Report Competition Senior Section )

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