The Name Of This Book Is Secret

The Name of This Book is Secret
By: Anya Lee The Name of This Book is Secret was written by Pseudonymous Bosch. It is the first book in a series of five books called Secret Series. The story starts with a whole chapter x'ed out. In chapter 1 and a 1/2, the author explains that he won't introduce the characters, won't tell where and when the story takes place, and that he shouldn't be telling the story at all. In fact, he says he can't tell anything that would help the reader identify the people in the story. It is a secret story about a secret and it has to be a secret to protect the author and the reader. The author tells the reader to think about the story as if it takes place in their hometown and the names he uses can be changed by the reader if they don't like the names. He also tells the reader to forget what he tells them in the story. Throughout the story, the author reminds the reader very often to forget what he said. In chapter 2, the author presents the main character Cassandra and explains the Greek myth that he used to pick her name. Cassandra, or Cass, is an eleven-year-old girl who is very
concerned with disaster and always tries to be prepared for disasters. The author then introduces Cassandra's mom and Larry and Wayne, who are close friends to Cassandra and her mom. In chapter 3, the author introduces Max-Ernest as an eleven-year-old boy who doesn't fit in at school. The author then tells the story of how Max-Ernest got his name and a little about his parents. In chapter 7, the author introduces Ms. Mauvais. She becomes the antagonist of the story later, but when she is introduced, the author doesn't give any information or clues about who she is, where she came from, or why she is evil. Ms. Mauvais is described as "dazzling"(pg. 55) and "like a Barbie doll brought to life"(pg. 55). She doesn't seem real. Cass and Max-Ernest comment about the gloves she wears even though it is very hot. Ms. Mauvais is very interested in a magician who owned the house she wants to buy, but the author doesn't say why. Later in the story, the reader learns a few things about Ms. Mauvais, most important is that she has not aged in a very long time. But, her background, family, and history stay secret. Pseudonymous Bosch keeps many secrets in this story. At the beginning, he tells the reader he is going to keep secrets. The background of Ms. Mauvais is a big secret that he keeps. She is important to this story, but she is mysterious, so she is a perfect character to write a legend about to explain why she doesn't age and how this all began.
The Legend of Ms. Mauvais- When Ms.
Mauvais was just a baby, she was left on the doorstep of Madame Mauvais. She had a note and a name tag attached to her basket that said "Our baby was cursed by a wicked witch to always be ugly. Please take care of her. Her name is 'Alex'". Madame Mauvais, who was a good witch, couldn't break the spell, but took in baby Alex and decided to raise her as her own child. When Madame took Alex out, people made mean comments about the baby. She didn't look like other babies. She had a large mole on her cheek, pointy ears, and big, bushy eyebrows. By the time Alex was 1 year old, Madame stopped taking her outside so people would not make fun of her. Madame had many powers that she used to create a beautiful world in the house for her child. Madame loved beauty and wanted her baby to always see beautiful things, even if she would always be ugly in the
mirror. As Alex got older, she began to understand how ugly she was and she hid in her mother's house away from the world. One day, the child of a neighbor came to the house and saw Alex in the garden. When the child went up to Alex, he saw her face change. Suddenly, she was a beautiful. Her hair was shiny, her eyes sparkled, and her face was bright and clear. Madame saw this and ran out to the garden. She had known about the neighbor's child for a while. He had a special condition that caused him to mix up senses. Madame quickly realized that his condition reacted with Alex's appearance to break the curse and cause her to be beautiful. After the child went home, Alex's face returned to normal and she cried. Madame hated seeing her unhappy, so she asked the child to come back the next day. Every day she asked the child to come back, but every night, Alex cried when she looked in the mirror. After a while, Madame came up with a plan to take Alex and the other child far away so that Alex could stay beautiful. This plan worked for a few years. During that time, Madame noticed that even though she and the child aged, Alex did not age at all. Madame got very worried about this. She was getting older and didn't want to leave behind a young child. So, she sent the boy away. Alex was very angry and sad that she was no longer beautiful. She stayed angry for a long time. To protect her, Madame Mauvais kept her away from people for many years, until she was an adult. Then, Madame explained the strange magic to Alex and the problem of not aging. She hoped Alex would understand that living forever was also a curse and would accept her face as it was. But because of her anger that she had felt for so long, Alex decided instead to use the magic to grow powerful by stealing a child and then using the magic to make herself stay young and beautiful forever. Alex ran away from her mother in order to put her plan into action. As the years passed, Alex stole a child every few years and kept them with her. She noticed though, that the magic keeping her young didn't work on her hands. They grew old and ugly, so she began to wear gloves all the time. By the time Cassandra and Max-Ernest meet Ms. Mauvais (Alex), she is over 100 years old. Over the years, she used the magic of the mixed-up senses children to change the faces of many people like her who were cursed as babies to be ugly. She has many followers who admire her. They need her magic to stay young and beautiful. If she dies, they all die too. Ms Mauvais and her followers will hurt anyone who discovers their secret or the children she has stolen. When Cass and Max-Ernest meet Ms. Mauvais, they don't know about her secret or her powers. The author, Pseudonymous Bosch, leaves the history and reasons behind Ms. Mauvais a mystery.Cass's "Super-Chip" Trail Mix
Ingredients-
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips*
1 cup of banana chips
1 cup of potato chips
Why?
Cass has this recipe/snack in her emergency backpack. She eats this in emergencies or when you don't like what's being served for dinner.

*Cass used peanut-butter chips, but because of allergies I can't use food with peanut butter/peanuts