The book I read is called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist is about a boy from Spain, whose name is Santiago and is a shepherd. The book tells how he gets around countries, and how he deals with his problems and how he solves them. It shows how he follows his dreams, and who helps him along the way. Santiago leaves his family to become a shepherd, before leaving his dad gives him money he has saved up, Santiago buys sheep with the money. As a shepherd, Santiago travels around Spain.
As he travels he is in search of food and water for his sheep. During his journeys, he gave his sheep names and really connects with them. When he ran out of money, Santiago sold wool from his sheep for money. He learns that being a shepherd is not hard as long as you have food and water for the sheep. Santiago is a very intelligent boy, he knows how to read and write because he went to school.
Santiago wanted to become a shepherd because he loved traveling and he never traveled while living on his farm with his parents. Another reason he didn’t like living on a farm was, that there was no change in everyday life, and he liked change. That’s why his dad understood his reasoning for wanting to become a shepherd. One day he had a dream while resting under a tree in an abandon ruined church. Santiago had dreamt that same dream before so he decided to go to a dream reader.
There was a town near by that he knew had a dream reader, so he decided to go there one day. When he got to the town he found her booth and told her his dream. The woman told him that his dream was, that he would find treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. After leaving her booth thinking she was crazy, he sat on a bench and started to read a book he got in town. Suddenly an old man sat by him and tells him that he knows where to find the treasure he is looking for, and that he will tell him in exchange of one-tenth of his sheep. The boy agreed and discovers that the man knew about the treasure the dream reader was talking about and knew a lot about the boy and where he is from.
After conversing with him for some time, he finds out that he is king, and that he helps people with their personal legends. After teaching the boy a lot about the journey he will go through, the king gave him omens to follow. Santiago sells his sheep, and travels to a town on his way to Egypt. He finds a man that could take him past the desert to Egypt. So the boy gives him the money that he got for the sheep.
When the man shows Santiago the town for a little Santiago loses him in a crowd of hundreds shopping in the markets, and loses all his money. The boy learns not to trust anyone, and is told that there are many thieves in that town. Santiago needed money and food, so he asked a man who owned a crystal shop, if he could clean all his crystal pieces for some food and money. The man liked Santiago’s work, so gave him some food, and told him he could work for him if he wanted to. Santiago took the job, and ended up working there for a year. He earned enough to buy sheep and become a shepherd again, but after talking to the shop owner the boy decided to follow his dream, and not to go back to what he used to do.
On his way to Egypt, he meets an Englishman who tells him that his personal legend was to know the language of the world. He also meets many intelligent people on his way to Egypt, who teach him a lot of stuff and help him on his journey. When Santiago gets to Egypt he talks to a man and tells him the dream he had, the man told him he would never find the.
