UNIVERSIDAD DE STA ISABEL PILI CAMPUS

San Agustin Pili Camarines Sur

ENGISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING SUBJECT

In partial fulfillment of our Academic Requirements in the subject Academic Reading and Writing

An Analytical Critique of the Book ;

THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13 (Eva Ibbotson)

JORGIE B. INFANTE
Grade 11- San Pedro Calungsod
Student

March 10, 2017

Mr. KYLE RANDALL B. PATO

Academic Reading and Writing Subject
Subject Teacher
Introduction
 Introduction

In part of our lesson in Academis Reading and writing it all of the Grade XI student to
make a book review about a fictional book. And the book that Ive chosen is entitled THE SECRET OF
PLATFORM 13 (Eva Ibbotson) . The significance of this is It is also for us to learn a lot from a certain
book and It will enhance our reading comprehension.I make this review to give a summary of what i
had understand and what really the story want to tell me and the lesson it reaaly want to give to the
readers . It is a fictional book and a Classic Contemporary fiction because this is the kind of fiction
that stands out, gets mentioned and recommended. Usually set in the recognisable present,
contemporary fiction is realistic with contemporary characters, events and dialogue. The curious
incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon and The life of Pi by Yann Martel fall into this
category as would titles by New Zealand authors such as Kate de Goldi, Fleur Beale and Ted Dawe.
Because until now It is considered that thestory of THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13 (Eva Ibbotson) is an
inspiration of the fictional book Harry Potter .

The reader will see a lot of characters who graetly shared theirv best in a unique way of saving a lost
prince .

I did this review while understanding each part of the story by paragraph and with the use of
dictionaries for highfalutin words translation to understand each part.
 THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13

Author:Eva Ibbotson

Date Published : 1994

Characters :

The King and Queen of the Secret Island

Mr and Mrs Trottles

Ben (The ong lost prince )

Raymond (The fake son of the King and Queen )

Nanny Brown( The nanny of Trottles )

The Three Nurse of the lost prince(the one that had lost the prince )

An invisible ogre (except for his eye),

A hag (well, she will be one when she is older),

A wizard (who is a little older than he should be) and

A fey (who cannot understand why Londoners don't wear beetroots in their hats) pass through the
doorway to try and rescue the prince.

Setting : in Kings Cross Station ,Secret Island ,London , Expensive Hotel(Astor),

 Synopsis :THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13 (Eva Ibbotson)

"If you went to school nowadays and said to the children: 'what is a gump?' you would probably get
some very silly answers" this novel was published in 1994, it was supposed to have been the
inspiration for Harry Potter's journey to Hogwart's via King's Cross platform 9 .

The Story of The Secret of Platform 13 ) starts in one of London's busiest trains stations is an old,
forgotten doorway covered with peeling posters. ) in Kings Cross Station there is a hidden gump.

Little do the Londoners know that behind that door is the entrance to a magical kingdom - an island
where humans live in harmony and happiness with mermaids, ogres, hags, mistmakers, etc. The door
opens once every 9 years for 9 days and allows magical creatures to revisit old haunts in London and for
other creatures to leave London for the island .Shortly before the gump opens, the Queen gives birth to
a baby boy. The three nurses, who are non-magical but live in the Island, are filled with homesickness
and wish to visit London when the gump re-opens. They're given permission to do so but under the
condition that they bring the prince with them.

The baby princes' nannies cannot resist the opportunity to taste fish and chips once again and take just
a short visit to London. They run across a beastly woman named Mrs. Trottle who kidnaps the young
prince and runs away with him just as the doorway closes for another 9 years As the plot unravels,
disaster strikes and the Island's baby prince is stolen in the busy streets of London by a beastly woman
named Mrs. Trottle who longs for a child.

. The whole island despairs and waits in mourning for the 9 years to pass for an opportunity to rescue
the prince... in "the Island" which is a mythical paradise with a mixture of non-magical and magical
people; from the royal family to mistmakers and nymphs. Unfortunately the atmosphere isn't as
fabulous as you'd imagine. As much as the whole Island would like to be happy, they also feel that their
royalty should be an example to how they should live.

After the nine years is over, four unlikely rescuers: an invisible ogre (except for his eye), a hag (well, she
will be one when she is older), a wizard (who is a little older than he should be) and a fey (who cannot
understand why Londoners don't wear beetroots in their hats) pass through the doorway to try and
rescue the prince. In the limited time of two hundred and sixteen hours (nine days, I decided to
do the maths) the rescue party use their wits and a little information to track down the location of the
Trottle's. But time is running out and with the help of Ben, the Trottle's servant, who is loving, gentle
and believes in magic, the party discovers the new identity of their prince.
His name is Raymond Trottle and he is fat, spoilt and doesn't believe in magic! Could life with an
incredibly wealthy family in London totally change the prince? Or is something else at play family
secrets shared by Mrs Trottle and her Nanny, who cares for Ben so well? The rescue party's plans
muddled?

They quickly proceed to the Trottles' house to try and persuade Raymond Trottle to return to the island
with them. However, they quickly discover that Raymond is a terribly fat, spoiled and in every way
rotten, mean little boy. Who wants to live on island where he is the king? If only the prince could be
more like Ben, the kitchen boy...

This is a classic Cinderella type tale where every adult (and most children) will immediately realize what
the ending of the book will be. However, the fun part is trying to get to the ending. Eva Ibbotson has
packed the book with hilarious characters and little surprises to make this book a fun read for everyone
from 5 to 50 years old.

Insights

For me the reason why I really like this book is the uniqueness of the story and the wasy characters
delivering their parts that is full of emotion It shows that even the 'ugliest' of people can be the ones
with the hearts that are a million times kinder than those who are 'pretty'.

Characters gives their very great part to solved the problem in the way that they dont depend on one
because they more like;ly to work in a group . the ending has many surprises and you simply won't be
able to predict them all

All in all a big thanks to Eva Ibbotson (albeit post-humously) for saving our new generation from
becoming a "distant and daunting place" by writing this fabulous novel, The Secret of Platform 13.
Universidad de Sta. Isabel Pili Campus
San Agustin Pili Camarines Sur
A/Y 2016-2017

Full Block and Semi Block

Formal Letters

Student : Jorgie B . Infante Gr. XI -

Calungsod

Teacher : Mr. Kyle Randall Pato