Castle in the Attic: The Wizard's Castle!

In this week's reading, William finally arrives at the castle of the wizard, Alastor, which is guarded by the dragon that was mentioned in the last chapter. The author did such a wonderful job of letting us know how terrified William was to confront the dragon! The part where he was approaching the dragon while playing his recorder was so scary and the images he saw were awful! But after William defeated the dragon, I was relieved and surprised at the way the beast changed so quickly. So far, this has been my favorite part in the book because, in my mind, I could vividly see and hear what was happening in the story, thanks to the great word choice and sentence style of the author.

Sometimes when I read, I find new words - and I must find out what they mean! This week, I had to look in the dictionary to find out what a windlass is. Chapter 14 starts, "William heard the crank of the windlass as the portcullis was raised." The portcullis is that iron gate at the castle door. In your mind, can you see the windlass being turned over and over to wind up the rope that makes the gate go up? Where else would you see a windlass? Leave me an answer in the comment section.

The wizard's castle sounds really creepy with all those lead statues standing around. What do you think of Alastor? I hope William figures out a way to defeat him so he can get out of there and go home!