About the Author

Hilary Duff is the Author of Elixir, this video was from when she had resently gotten married. They were married for three years and then decided to split up. Hilary has been in many TV shows, like Lizzie Mcquire, or Movies, for example Cheaper by the Dozen. She was born on September 28, 1887 in Houston, Texas. She started her acting career while traveling with her sister for Ballet. As she says in the video above she never really grew up thinking she'd publish a book, but at the right time in the moment she felt it was right. Hilary has been very successful in her life.

Conflict has Arrived

Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? Or you can't sleep at night because you feel like someones in your room?

Clea has recently been going through pictures with her dads old employee, named Ben. She's very caught up in taking pictures. As she flips through all of them she notices a shadow in every single photograph. Not just any random shadow, but the same shadow everytime, of a person. Talk about feeling watched. Clea goes to bed with the lights on because she feels this shadow always around her now. She has been searching and searching on why this thing is in her photos.

Eventually, Ben comes out to show Clea her dads private office. Nobody was ever to go in there without permission. Ben took her down stairs and oppened the door. They walked in and Ben knew everything about that place. There was a secret compartment that had all of his photos in. Ben opened it and let Clea know that this shadow wasn't just following her... It had also been following her dad before he disappeared.

Now I'm where Clea wants to find this person, so she goes to Rio where her dad was last heard of to see if she could trace anything down about this so called "shadow".

Why kids should attend preschool

After Krista interviewing Ashlyn Bankes, a 5-year-old that's gone to preschool for two years now, studies show that she is advanced in her education.

"Did your child benefit from preschool? Would he have done just as well at a caregiver's house? Would your daughter have made the transition to kindergarten as easily without it? Would your grandson have read as quickly had he not gone? Could your niece have developed the same social skills at home?"

This quote from the article is all rhetorical questions.  Doing this to her articale let's reader think more without giving them a direct anwser. Many people want an anwser but really the anwsers to these questions vary to each person.  I believe this is a great way to engage a reader, it makes someone really interested in what is being said.

Krista likes to put a lot of statistics in her articles. Statistics are numbers of evidence that allow the readers put things into perspective. Krista likes to get the readers very engaged by the way she writes, for example questions. Giving the reader questions makes them focus closely on what is being said.

Some questions I'd like to ask Krista:

1.) Do you think it's really the school letting this 5 year old be advanced or could it just be a gift she has?

2.) Do you think if all kids went to preschool they'd be at the same place as Ashlyn?

3.) How do you get your ideas for writing pieces?

Theme

The theme for elixir I would have to say is, Live your life with no regrets and be curious and explore.

In this book, Clea is willing to do anything to find out everything that happened to her dad whe he disappeared. People take some thing way to far, but when it come to family many do whatever they can for them. Thats exactly what Clea is doing. She's willing to take time out of her life to figure out what exactly happened to her father. Though she is willing to keep a life she manges very well. She has a heathy relationship and is very proud of it. Those around her are helping her and being positive for her. I believe this is a life lesson, to cherish those in your life and making adventures with them.

Clea Raymond- She is very open but only within her photographs. That's her life style and those pictures are how she defines herself. She is like open land because she is very free and selfless but at the same time her world gives her many opsticals. Like in this symbol that one obstical is the river, how do you get from one side to another? She questions her self in her life every day. For example, in every snap shot of her photographs there is a little shadow of a man, she feels everyday like someone is watching her. How do you over come this obstical? She has to let go and trust others and open up. This is why I believe open land is a great symbol for Clea Raymond.

 

Rayna- She is Clea's bestfriend. She is very opposite of Clea, She likes for everyone to know about her life. She doesn't care for critisism or hatred. Rayna is pretty much like the expression "an open door". She is okay with letting everyone hear the lastest news about herself. Does she have some insecurities or secrets of course thats the door standing in the way of life. Sometimes she just has to open it and let everyone in.