Book Review: Edgar and Ellen- Rare Beasts- Student ID-9543

Rare Beasts is the first of a series of six books titled ‘Edgar and Ellen’. The entire series is written by Charles Ogden. This adventure-series book is targeted at males, aged ten to thirteen. It was published in 2003 by Hodder Headline Australia Pty Limited.

The book is about a set of twins, one male and one female believed to be aged around 12. The twins’ parents died long ago and they live by themselves in a large ghastly mansion in an isolated area of the town ‘Nod’s Limbs’. The book revolves around the theme of adventure. The twins steal rare animals from households around the neighbourhood and sell them for large sums of money. It is written well for the target audience, it appeals to the mischievous side of males in the target age bracket.

Ellen (female) is the eldest of the twins, by two minutes and thirteen seconds. Edgar (male) is the youngest of the two, has a very similar personality to Ellen. There is no ‘evil twin’ in their duo. They live with a small furry creature known simply as ‘Pet’ who occasionally assists in their plans. The book is written in thirty short chapters with the very occasional small picture on a page for visual assistance relating to the text. The characters are easy to relate to especially for the target ages. Every child has a small part of them that wants to go crazy like these characters do, which makes it more interesting for the reader. The occasional visual stimulus makes it easier to understand the visuals intended by the author making it more appropriate for younger readers.

I think this is a well written book that is suitable for the age that it was targeted at. It has a simple, yet affective storyline which is perfect for readers between the ages of ten and thirteen. I would recommend this book to any younger people looking for a good read.

AIDA – McDonalds Happy Meal: Ice Age III. Student ID- 9543

The commercial ‘McDonalds Happy Meal: Ice Age III’ is an ad which is targeted at children around the age of twelve. It uses various techniques to obtain the attention, interest and desire of the audience. These techniques will be further looked at in the ‘AIDA’ deconstruction of the ad below.

Attention in this ad is grabbed with the use of popular culture characters from the movie series ‘Ice Age’. The movie itself has a target audience of 5- 13. Children aged twelve will recognise the characters, epically as it is not the first movie of the series and a lot of twelve year olds would have seen the first two movies of the series. Twelve year olds would often not be paying close attention to commercials, which is why the characters come up on the very first frame before any slogans or logos; it is designed to immediately grab the attention of the audience.

Interest is maintained with the introduction of music playing behind the character voices. The adventure music creates an exciting effect and adds to the overall experience of the commercial. A twelve year old audience has a short attention span and the has to constantly be something to keep their attention on the commercial, that job is filled by the music. Twelve year olds are still at a stage where they get told what to do for almost everything, by the media, by their parents and so on. The characters in the commercial are effectively telling them to buy happy meals without actually saying anything.

Desire is created when the product first comes into the commercial. The characters fall onto a McDonalds Restaurant and leaves with four McDonalds Happy Meals. Twelve year olds are just getting to the stage where they start to be influenced more by the media. This part of the commercial is the equivalent of a celebrity endorsing an adult product; children are persuaded to buy a product that an icon for their age group has promoted the purchasing of. Symbols are also used to create desire. There is a McDonalds ‘Golden Arches’ logo in almost every frame of the commercial. Aswell as the logo, there is also the instantly recognisable box of the McDonalds ‘Happy Meal’.

Action is created when the characters from the film fall through the ice and into an underground McDonalds, they then burst out of the restaurant with ‘Happy Meals’. This action-packed scene adds adventure and excitement to the process of getting food. Twelve year olds are best motivated with the promise of action and excitement, which is what makes this a perfectly placed scene to get twelve year olds to go to McDonalds.