Hi guys. I'm Shelly. Welcome to a Top 5 Wednesday... haven't said in a while...
Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group, that was originally run by GingerReadsLaney
And is now taken over by Sam over at Thoughts on Tomes.
I will leave links to all the equivalent information down below.
But basically it's a Top 5 Wednesday, so top 5 things, in books.
This week it's your favorite teachers and/or mentors.
Now obviously, we could go down the Potterverse, but that would be. You know, predictable!
So I'm branching out, bear with me.
First up for me is, Uncle Ginger from the Queen's Nose. Which is by Dick King Smith.
Dick King Smith is a wonderful, kids author. I prefer him to Roald Dahl, because he's much more inclusive.
Uncle Ginger is adorable!
So we have Harmony, who's there. She the outcast the family, bless her.
Her mum's a pain, her dad's a pain, her sisters a right pain!
Uncle Ginger comes along for a visit. Their personalities connect, and they become great friends.
Uncle Ginger supports her, and and gives her a magical 50 pence.
That gives her all these wishes, he talks her through them, and he helps her understand them.
He's there for Harmony, as she's, "going through some stuff" shall we say.
He's a great mentor to her
Number 2 is Shepherd Book from the Serenity, Firefly TV series/movie and then comic.
It's a bunch of people on a spaceship way, way in the future.
They act a bit like cowboys, and they're trying to "save the freakin verse" which is the universe.
Book, is a preacher and he is on board this ship Serenity.
He is sort of.......he's just the knowledge.
He wasn't always a preacher, he has become a preacher.
This particular book in itself, is his backstory. Because it's a secret in the TV series, as to what his backstory is.
But he is a wonderful, wonderful mentor, to these raggedy bunch people on a boat.
Who don't always want his advice.
I gotta put this down my hand hurts.
They don't always want this advice, but somehow it helps.
These people are outlaws, they are not always gonna follow his lead.
But he is there just, just to nudge them, just to nudge them in the way of morality.
He is their, their, their, guidance in this big storm, that is happening.
Ron, the actor who played him. Sadly passed away a little while ago, and it still hurts next.
Up next, we have Haymitch Abernathy from The Hunger Games.
Okay he's flawed, let's face it he's a drunk. He's nuts, but he's there when you need him.
Katniss and Peeta and everybody else need him, he's there.
He's sarcastic, he's witty, he's a drunk, he's an idiot. Yet, you get humanity out of him that I didn't see coming.
And God do I wish he would have ended up with Effie at the end of it, anyway.....
He is highly flawed but yet, he is a highly good human........
Highly good human. Is that a sentence?
No mentor should be perfect, we have to know that they're human.
Otherwise we put them up on a pedestal, and God knows what happens.
I mean I'd date Haymitch ,because at least bloody interesting.
Anyway carrying on, I have Nian Griffiths, from The Snow Spider trilogy.
Nian Griffiths is the grandmother of the protagonist, in the first of this trilogy.
Gwyn Griffiths, who is 11 years old, and he sort of has magic powers.
He's becoming a magician...... it's supposed to be in a Welsh accent, anyway.
She is wonderful, she is loony, she marches to the beat of her own drum, and she will not hear anything about it.
She wears these bright, and beautiful clothes.
She is slightly magical herself, she doesn't have the full powers but she dabbles.
She is full of advice, some of it is not that helpful. But she tries
Like a fairy godmother, who slightly got it wrong.
But she's there for Gwen, she is there for the next character who comes along in the second book, Niah Lloyd.
She is a support, she is the elder person of wisdom and yet completely kooky. and I want to be her as I get older.
Are we sensing a theme here???
I like crazy people, who are there when they're needed.
Last but not least, I have Hector from The History Boys.
The History Boys, is originally a play and this is the script, for said play.
It's about eight guys, who are going up for Oxford and Cambridge.
They want to get into the University, so they're taking the last lot of exams, it's the last term.
Hector is their main.....teacher? I don't really know what he teaches? It's vague.
But he just teaches all the things, English, History. What somebody called gobbets....
Which is just bits of information that are just gold, and that you need in your head.
He wants to give these boys a rounded education.
Not just what they need for exams, to get into Cambridge and Oxford and so on. He wants to give them a whole education.
Again he is very flawed, unlike the others before him, that I've mentioned. He's not just a bit kooky...
Unfortunately, he has grown up in a time when.
It's not so great to be homosexual, and he is a homosexual.
I find this a difficult subject to talk about, because he is gropey towards the boys.
That is not good, again humans have flaws, and he is far from perfect.
In fact he, has a rather large flaw, where he gropes one of the kids and he gets caught for it.
Now not rape, and not..... again it's so difficult to talk about, because it is wrong!
It's, it's so, so wrong! And yet, as a human I like him. He is what history has made him.
He is what society, has made him. But that doesn't make him right.
He is far from right and yet I like him, and so in my head. It makes it confusing.
It's like separating his work, against who he is. Where is the line?
Where is the line between him being a bad person, but yet inspiring these kids to do wonderful things?
This play is written by Alan Bennett, and I want to leave you with something that Hector says.
That has made me fall in love with him. Even though he has, this terrible trait.
The best moments in reading, are when you come across something. A thought, a feeling.
A way of looking at things which you thought special, and particular to you.
Now here it is, set down by someone else. A person you have never met. Someone who is long dead.
And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.
Alan Bennett wrote that, and I love him for it. But it's Hector's character and he puzzles me.
I don't know if that's okay?
That was my Top 5 mentors / teachers/ you know, people in general.
I'd love to know what yours are. So link me down below if you have done a Top 5 Wednesday.
Or if you have any thoughts and feelings on anybody.
I hope you guys are good.
Byeeeee.
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