Friday, October 30, 2009

Wild at Heart by Michael Morpurgo

Review by Sammie

One of the many books I read in Wild at Heart is the birds began to sing by Janet Frame. It was about twenty or so blackbirds singing on a telephone wire all day and all night. A woman asked the birds after her long journey to get to them, what the song was because she didn't recognize the song. She thought that song that they were singing was very lovely. She explained she was a human being, and that if they told her the song she could print the music after she listens and make it a song. She would even perform it with only the finest musicians in the country. After she asked one last time they stopped singing and they all flew away.

One other book I read in Wild at Heart is Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. It was one slow rainy day. It was upsetting Wilbur and his plans. He wanted to go out and dig a new hole in the yard. But with the rainy day and his lonely and friendless life he had nothing to do. Someone was spying on Wilbert--who? Charlotte the spider. She was Wilbert's new friend. She explained what she was, and what her webs were, to Wilbur. They became friends. She laid some eggs, she explained about her eggs to Wilbert with a true friendship. After he discovered all the good stuff about her that he liked she was gone.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Review by Jane

Everything on a Waffle is a story about a young girl named primrose who is on an adventure to find her parents who are lost at sea. Primrose is a determined, polite girl. She enjoys solving people’s problems. She becomes an orphan and needs more care than just a babysitter. Her babysitter gets paid three dollars an hour, from her parent’s bank account. The bank account is running out of money, but Primrose can’t go homeless she needs care. Pesky Mrs. Honeycut wants Primrose to go to an orphanage, but Primrose strongly believes that her parents are coming home. Primrose talks to a woman named Ms. Bowzer. She owns a restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing. At this restaurant everything is served on a waffle. Will Mrs. Honeycut get her way, or will Primrose get hers? I enjoyed this book because it had a little of everything! It had sad, happy and much more! My favorite part was at the ending, read it to find out! Inside of this book are many recipes that have to do with the story. So if like to cook this isn’t a bad book either! I recommend Everything on a Waffle to people who enjoy fiction stories that include drama, sadness and happy endings.

Amok by Robert Holland

Review by Carl

Amok is a very interesting story which takes place all around Martha’s Vineyard. There are actually three main plots in it. The first one is that a mobster from Boston moves to Martha’s Vineyard and claims that he has seen an amok on the island. An amok is somebody who can turn from a normal person to a mad man killing a lot of people in just a split second. The plot is that Charlie and Pete’s football team is about to play for the state championship. The last is that Charlie moved into a house with a lot documents and journals in it about these two spies. Somebody is sending people to try to kill Charlie and his family but he doesn’t know who. The main character in Amok is Charles Oliver Jones. Charlie is a very intelligent character who is very elusive. Charlie is very independent and has the courage to do just about anything. Charlie is very strong and is 6 feet tall. Personally, I think that Robert Holland write a great and interesting story. I like it because it has everything I want in a book, action and a little bit of mystery. This book is written from two characters perspectives. Make sure you read who it’s by at the top of the chapter. Also, this is sort of a hard book to follow so make sure that you do a little re-reading every time pick up the book.

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

Reviewed by:Ricky

Artemis Fowl The Arctic Incident is about a boy named Artemis Fowl. He is an evil master mind. Who took over his father’s evil empire after he was kidnapped by the Russian Mafia. So Artemis and his servant Butler and his nemesis Holly and Commander Julius Root that are fairies that work for the LEP which are similar to our police. So they join forces to find Artemis Fowl’s father and to find out who is organizing the B’ wa Kell or goblins that are attacking Haven witch is there main city. So Artemis, Butler, Holly and Commander Root go to northern Russia where the people who kidnapped Artemis’s father are. But on their way to one of the Mafia’s apartment they were attacked by goblins. Also all the guns they had brought were made by a fairy named Opal Koboi. Also Opal Koboi is the person who was organizing the goblins and was helping them so she shut down all the guns that Artemis, Butler. Holly, Commander Root and all the LEP officers had so no fairy had guns that worked. So Artemis and his team came back and found out who was in control of these goblins and had to find out how to stop Opal Koboi. So they went to talk to a criminal called Mulch and he had the blue prints to the Koboi Lab and so they broke in from under the ground unnoticed and they caught Opal Koboi and her partner. Also Foaly a centaur who is very smart recorded Opal’s partner say that he wanted full control and that he was going to take out Opal after he was done taking out the LEP. So Opal herd it because Foaly sent her the recording. So she got mad and killed her partner and the Holly knocked her unconsciousness and put her in jail. Then Foaly found out a way to get rid of the goblins by putting on a noise on the speakers in the city and they left and he saved Haven. But Artemis Fowl, Butler, Holly and Commander Julius Root still have to find Artemis’s father and get him back from the Russian Mafia.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Review by Patrick

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dogs Days is the 4th book in a series called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This book is written by Jeff Kinney. This book is about a boy named Greg Heffley who happens to be in middle school as well, but during this book it is summer for him so that means no school. He is a lazy boy and his dad is always trying to get him to play sports but he would rather be playing video games. He also goes to the beach with his best friend Rowley and they get in lots of trouble there, or should I say Greg does. My favorite part of the book was when he talked about how he was on the cover of a book and the book was called Your Child and Constipation. Like I said before, he is in a family of 5 so I think I have to dedicate a few words to them. Greg has a younger brother named Manny and he is really funny and a big jokester. Greg’s older brother is Roderick and he is a drummer in a band with his friends, and they play all over the town. Last, but not least, are his parents. His mom is kind of moody, one minute she is so enthusiastic about something, and then she’s really negative about it. His dad is always in a bad mood, he’s never happy. In all, I think this book is two thumbs up.

Bone by Jeff Smith

Review by CJ

In my opinion, Bone was a really good book. The book was about a character named Bone. He was from a town called Boneville. In this book, he visits a place called Barrelhaven and makes new friends. One of his new friends is a girl, named Thorn, took him to the spring fair and went to look for a honey- seller because Thorn loved honey. When they got to the honey-seller Bone was jealous because he thought Thorn liked the honey-seller and Bone likes Thorn. The honey-seller was making jokes about his nose so they were yelling at each other. Thorn was getting embarrassed by Bone so they left the honey-seller. Thorn yelled at Bone about how she was embarrassed about he was acting to the honey-seller. Thorn ended up walking around the Spring Fair alone and Bone was trying to find honey for Thorn to make her impressed. Bone remembered about how the honey-seller said to him about how to get honey from the bees. He had to get some grass. Then, light the grass on fire. As soon as Bone got to the hive, he was wondering why there weren’t any bees guarding the hive. He realized why there weren’t any bees guarding the hive. It only takes one bee to guard the hive because how big and strong the bee is. Bone was a great book and it just kept me interested in reading it more.

Swindle by Gordon Korman

Review by Erin

Were you ever put in the situation of fighting against a 40 year old man for a one million dollar baseball trading card? Well, Griffin Bing was. This would of never happened if Griffin hadn’t slept over in the Rockford’s house! Griffin Bing is a young boy fighting to regain his million- dollar Babe Ruth trading card. He is also called “The Man with the Plan”. Griffin is a daring kid who doesn’t let anything or anyone hold him back from getting what he wants.

It all started when Griffin planned a sleepover at an old vacated house. AKA the Rockford house. Griffin planned the sleepover with his entire grade. Griffin and his best friend were the only ones who showed up. Ben had fallen fast asleep like a light that night. So, that left Griffin awake and all alone. That’s when Griffin decided to go and explore. Most of the house was empty except for a desk that appeared to be empty. Griffin looked in the drawer and there was only a Babe Ruth baseball trading card. He knew it would be worth big money. With this, Griffin decided to go to an antic store and sell his card for 120 dollars. Later, while watching the news on television he heard the antic dealer (guy he sold the card to named Swindle) saying he was selling it for one million dollars. Griffin is on his way back to getting his card.

I loved the book Swindle and would rate it 3 out of 4 stars for the following reasons. I gave this book such a high rating because the author used such great descriptions. I really liked how he described the guard dog as a menacing, sharp toothed, guard dog! The only reason I didn’t give Swindle 4 stars was there was lots of history and unnecessary background knowledge that did not grab my attention. I suppose these details are appealing to other readers. Especially, when I heard awesome reviews from my classmates who really enjoyed really enjoyed the book Swindle as much as I did.

Review by Jackie

I read the book “Everything on a Waffle” by Polly Horath. The genre was realistic fiction. It was about a girl named Primrose, who's parents get lost at sea and she gets put into foster care until or if they ever return. Before that she gets cared for by her uncle, and he usually leaves her home alone for most of the day. As you can see Primrose has a couple things wrong with her life, but always has hope. She is a very strong girl and kind to others. Also she likes to cook and writes down recipes in her mom’s cookbook. There is a restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing and Primrose met the cook. They became friends and she goes over to learn new recipes. You should also know Primrose gets hurt a few times that lead her to the emergency room. These are most of the things you should know about Primrose and the book, Everything on a Waffle.

I think Everything on a Waffle is a good book to read. I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars. I liked how it had recipes you could make. I thought it was a little too dramatic how Primrose was always getting hurt in the book. On the other hand it gave you the feeling of what is going to happen to her next. I would read the book again and recommend people to read it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
By Jeff Kinney
Review by Charlie


This book is an autobiography that takes place in the life of a boy named Greg Heffley. This book is about Greg who is always coming up with crazy ideas that most of the time get him in trouble with his parents and others. When his dad threatens to send him to military school, Greg decides that he better listen to his dad and shape up and keep out of any trouble.

Greg is a funny kid who gets into trouble easily, embarrasses himself and his family. He is also a prankster who loves to play jokes on his friends and relatives. He has good intentions but they always seem to backfire on him!

I thought that this book was excellent. I loved it so much that I could not stop reading it. I got hooked into the storyline and characters. Kids my age sometimes think that something is a good idea and we don’t always think things through and we end up getting in trouble. I could identify with Greg and his troubles. I think it was a fabulous book that everyone should read and would enjoy.


I think that Jeff Kinney is a great author and writes a lot of fabulous books. Mr. Kinney writes in a way that young kids can relate to and really enjoy the story. I cannot wait to read his next book!


By: Charlie
Group 67

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko

Review by Eric
Book Report 10-29-09

Can you imagine living on Alcatraz Island and only being a kid? This is what happened to young Moose in Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. This fiction story was a phenomenal read because it had a great plot and easy to follow.
There was a boy named Moose and he lives on Alcatraz Island with Americas most wanted criminals. After a while, Moose didnt realize that he was among criminals, he felt it was normal. Moose is a very energetic kid, especially when it comes to baseball. Moose plays baseball on Monday with Scott. Scott is his best friend.
The book takes place on Alcatraz Island, on the boat to the Mainland, and on the Mainland. The other characters are Piper, a friend of Moose and a troublemaker, and Natalie, Mooses sister. Natalie is often mad at Moose and throws a lot of fits. Piper tries to get Moose in trouble. At one point, they were trying to get money to go to the candy store, and they got caught by the warden, Pipers dad.
Thought the title says, Al Capone Does My Shirts, nothing really happens with Al Capone. He washes Mooses shirts and leaves notes in them, like Done and Your Turn, but nothing happens with the notes.

Heat by Mike Lupica

Heat by Mike Lupica
Review by Jackson

Heat by Mike Lupica is a fantastic book. The book is fiction with a sports theme. Heat is about a boy named Michael who came from Cuba to New York. Michael’s father died and he lives with his older brother Carlos who is only seventeen. Carlos wouldn’t be able to take care of him any more if someone found out that their dad was dead. Michael is a very good baseball player and plays on the best team in the area called the Clippers. He is the star pitcher on the team and his team wants to go to the Little League World Series. Another team’s coach accuses him of being too old to play in league, but everyone knows that he is 12 which is not too old to play. Since his father died he cannot find his birth certificate which is in Cuba. Michael and Carlos don’t have any relatives in Cuba so they are unable to get the birth certificate and don’t think they will ever get it. The Clippers keep having games without Michael and they win some and they lose some. But without Michael the team isn’t the same.
I think you would like this book if you like baseball or just sports in general. I recommend this book to anyone because when I read it I liked it. All in all, I think you should read this book or another book by Mike Lupica.

By Justin

Icefire by Chris d'Lacey

Icefire by Chris d'Lacey
Review by Jackson

Icefire is an excellent fiction book by Chris d’Lacey that is the sequel to the book The Fire Within. It is about a boy named David Rain who is a tenant at the Pennykettle’s house. David is an 18 year old boy who is very smart. He is in a geography course at Scrubbley College. He can be very lazy at times but he wants everything to be alright and he cares about others. The only problem about where he lives is that Mrs. Pennykettle and her daughter Lucy sculpt clay dragons that come alive. He is starting to understand about dragons. Although, it is still a big mystery to him and he is trying to figure it out.

When David first came to the Pennykettle’s house, they made him a special writing dragon named Gadzooks. This dragon writes things on his writing pad to help David figure out mysteries or problems he has. One day Lucy made a wishing dragon for David called G’reth. G’reth can grant David any beneficial wish about his surroundings anytime he wants to. One day David wished he knew where the fire tear was. The fire tear is the auma (energy) of the last real dragon on earth (not made out of clay). When the dragon died, it dropped its tear and a girl named Guinevere caught it. She hid it and nobody ever knew where it was from that day forward. After that wish, an evil lady named Gwillanna appeared at their house. David, Lucy and Zanna (a college friend of David that he likes) figured out who she is and what her plans are. They then decide they must stop her to protect themselves and the rest of the dragon world
from a bad ending.

In my opinion, this is a great book if you like surprises and action. Although, it can be hard to read at times, I still highly suggest it to you. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year! Have fun reading it!By Jackson



The Book without Words
by Avi

Review by Claire


The Book without Words by Avi is a captivating fantasy novel. Like many other Avi books, this story has a lot of darkness in it and is very magical. Master Thorston, an evil, greedy, arrogant man, owns a book without words, or so it seems. Only people with green eyes and a great desire can read the magical book. Master Thorston has the desire to live forever, and the book without words provides an immortality spell, along with how to make false gold. To live forever, Thorston must take the lives of two others, whom he decides will be his poor meek servant, Sybil and his wicked old raven, Odo. Disguising himself as an alchemist, Thorston keeps himself, Sybil and Odo hidden in the decaying, ancient and neglected town of Fulworth. That is a terrible place to be committing a crime when Ambrose Bashcroft is in charge. When Thorston is in the middle of completing the spell to make himself immortal, he dies for the first time. Sybil, who is much more intelligent than Odo and Thorston take her for, buries Thorston and puzzles over his last words, in which he tells her about the “life stones” that will make him immortal. He also asks her to keep the stones and the book away from the mysterious “green-eyed one.” She must solve the mystery and make things right.
I think that this book is good for people who like dramatic and scary fables with magical happenings, where you can never guess what will happen next. This book was also suspenseful and good for mystery-lovers. I liked this book because Avi does a very nice job of making things exciting and describes everything so well that I can picture everything all the time. I felt like I was one of the characters sometimes. You should definitely read The Book without Words!

Brian's Winter

Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen

Review by Chris


Brian’s Winter is a realistic fiction novel by Gary Paulsen. It is the second book to Hatchet. As in the book Hatchet, it is about a young boy named Brian who got into a plane crash while traveling to see his dad. He is stranded alone in the woods. However, in this book you pretend that Brian did not get a radio to call for help in his rescue kit. Brian faces many challenges. Such as food, shelter, and being attacked by wild animals. He faces food problems in the beginning of the winter because the lake is frozen so he could not catch any more fish. Therefore, he had to hunt larger game such as deer and moose. One problem Brian struggled with was the process of making arrows to kill them. Brian also faces dilemmas when he needs to winter proof his shelter so the cold or wind does not get in. He gets frightened while being attacked by wild animals. Once a moose attacks Brian while he was hunting it. After he shot it with an arrow, the moose started to attack him. Does Brian survive? Read the book to find out. I did and really enjoyed it.

By: Chris

First Light by Rebecca Stead

Reviewed by: Samantha

First Light is a fictional book about a young boy named Peter and a young girl named Thea. Peter is currently living in New York when his father gets assigned a job of research for global warming out on the Greenland ice. Peter, a thirteen year old, and his mother ,father and a helper Jonas fly to Greenland and live their for six weeks. Peter has some ups and downs living in Greenland. He likes Greenland because he gets to miss school and he has a favorite snow dog-Sasha. He dislikes Greenland because it is cold and boring. And he has these awful headaches and not so good food. Thea was born in a world under the ice of Greenland. She is thirteen years old and lives with her Aunt Lana because her mother passed away. She has very strong beliefs and ideas. She always follows her dreams, even if it involves danger and getting into trouble.

When Peter first arrives in Greenland his parents are strict about what to do. They wouldn’t let him roam around or stay home alone or anything! After a little while Peter convinces them to let him be “home” alone. When he finally is allowed to stay “home” alone his parents and Jonas go down to the nearest town (a couple of miles a way) and Peter is left alone. Peter gets worried because they aren’t back yet and freaks out. When they do come back he plays cool but he never stays “home” alone again. Thea and her people under the ice run a small town under the ice called Gracehope. Thea has a strong personality and tells out what she believes in the Council meeting. Everyone disagrees with her and tries to find a way to show proof of her beliefs by having her cousin Mattias help her. Her dangerous risks of life doesn’t stop her. Mattias keeps telling her to turn back but Thea doesn’t listen. Then Mattias’ life almost comes to an end.

This book is interesting. The beginning is starts of slow but then the book gets intense and the ending is superb. I would definitely recommend this book for people who like intense books.

Free Baseball by Sue Corbett Felix

Reviewed by: Mark

In Free Baseball by Sue Corbett Felix has a baseball star in his family. It is his dad. Felix is a huge baseball fan and loves to watch his dad play in Cuba. His family is from Cuba and they speak Spanish. His family said he could live on a baseball field. Felix’s dad risked everything to send his family to America, because they wouldn’t let Cuban people into America.

Felix won tickets to a baseball game. The opponent was a team from Cuba. Felix followed the Cuban team to their plane. He sneaked on the plane and followed them back to Cuba. The team thinks he is the new batboy so he goes with it. He went with the team to Cuba to find out the reality of his family past, if his dad is a baseball star or not.

This book is pretty good if you like baseball. If you do not like baseball it’s not that great for you. I say that because it’s all about the Cuban baseball team and Felix’s favorite baseball team, the East Naples Egrets. It also tells how he won tickets to his favorite team’s game on the radio but had to have a babysitter go too.

James and the Giant Peach

Reviewed by: Dan

I read the book James and the Giant Peach. James is one of the main characters in the book. James once had a really fun and loving life, but one day his parents wanted to go shopping in England. So they went there in the middle of the day. It was a crowded city and they got eaten up by an angry rhinoceros on the loose from the zoo. This was really bad for James because that meant he had to live with his “evil” aunts, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. One day just after Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker had finished yelling at James, James ran away from them to the other side of the garden and started crying. A minute later an old man appeared and showed James something very special inside of a bag, they were tiny green things rustling about very quietly. The green things were 1,000 little slimy crocodile tongues boiled up in the skull of a dead witch for 20 days and nights with the eyeballs of a lizard, the fingers of a young monkey, the gizzard of a pig, the beak of a green parrot, the juice of a porcupine, 3 spoonfuls of sugar, he stewed it for another week, and then he let the moon do the rest. When all of these ingredients are combined with ten hairs from your own head and mixed with a jug of water, the potion becomes magical. You then drink the potion and wonderful thing begin to happen to you.

With the idea of having a new wonderful life, James immediately ran up the hill to drink the potion. Unfortunately, the bag spilt during his run up the hill. It was scattered all over the ground near an old peach tree. Immediately a peach began to grow and grow and grow until it was as big as a house. The aunts were very pleased with this because they came up with the idea of making people pay to see the massive peach. They thought they could become rich with this idea. One night the aunts told James to clean up after all sight seers. When he was out side, he saw a hole in the peach and decided to climb in. Upon reaching the core, he saw a door, opened it and climbed in. He saw terrifying giant insects inside. He was told not to be afraid. They were waiting all day for him to come so they could cut the stem and roll away from the aunts.
The peach rolled down the hill, over the aunts and over the cliff into the water. The peach actually floated to there surprise. When they all became hungry, James decided they should eat the peach. They didn’t want to stay in the water with hungry sharks circling them, so the silk worm and spider made string to lasso thousands of birds to help lift the peach out of the water. So they were pulled up and up and up until they reached “Cloud men”, who were practicing for winter by dropping hail stone off the clouds. The giant grass hopper was insulting them, so Cloud men began to throw hail stones at the peach and chased them. They were getting close so James and the insects cut a few birds off to allow them to drop slowly.

Eventually, the birds had carried them into New York City where they were thought to be a big bomb. They landed on top of one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. Police, fire and other citizens thought that they were aliens until James appeared over the side of the peach. He told the people that the giant insects were harmless. They were all helped down from the peach and became famous. The centipede became V.P. of a shoe company, the earthworm became employed by a company that made women’s face cream, the spider and silk worm had learned how to make nylon thread and made rope for tightrope walkers, the glow worm became the light inside the Statue of Liberty, the grasshopper became a member of the New York symphony orchestra and the lady bug married the head of the fire department. James Henry Trotter lived in the remaining peach stone. He was often visited by many friends and curious people. James, who used to be the saddest person on the planet, is now the happiest person in the world.

Brian's Hunt by Gary Paulsen

BRIAN’S HUNT is about a fourteen year old kid named Brian and he decides to go back into the Canadian wilderness. And he is there for a good amount of time maybe about 1 to 2 months. And one night there Brian comes back from hunting and he sees that his hut is all wrecked. He said to himself who did this what was it. And then Brian will go on a big hunt to try to find out who did this to his hut and camping site. As you already know the main character is Brian. Brian is about fourteen years old and he is very creative when it comes to nature or mostly anywhere. He is a very brave, intelligent, and creative person Brian is very lonely in the woods but he does keeps himself occupied everyday any time. I though that this book was fantastic. If you like books that have a lot of surprises or like to see creativity then you will love this book. I was just hanging on the edge of my seat to see what happened and I just loved it. I will highly suggest that you read this book. If you liked hatchet then you will love this book brains hunt. This is a series of books of these but to understand this book you must read hatchet first.

Reviewed by: Dan

Diary of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Review by: Luke

I read the book Diary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. This 200 page long book is about a 6th grader named Gregory Heffly who has some trouble surviving in middle school. His mom got him a diary so he could write down his feelings. Well, Greg thinks differently about it and says he is just writing in the diary so when he famous the media can read it. The book has another character named Rowley. Now Rowley is supposed to be Greg’s best friend, but he is not sure how long that is going to last. Greg also has a brother named Roderick who drives him insane with his heavy metal band. Also he has a neighbor named Fregly, but he’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the large bunch. When Gregory join’s the safety patrol he thinks he has it made. But Greg is kicked out of the safety patrol and he is officially ex-friends with Rowley. Can the two of them save their friendship before it is too late? Is Greg going to be friends with Rowley or is he going to have to be friends with Fregly? In addition, does Rowley have the heart to forgive Greg?

Flush by Carl Hiaasen

Review by: Tanmay

Flush by Carl Hiaasen is a realistic fiction book. It is about the Underwood family living in the Keys in Florida. The story starts when Paine Underwood is in jail for sinking Dusty Muleman’s gambling boat the “Coral Queen”. He claims that Dusty Muleman has been dumping the “Coral Queen’s” holding tanks in the sea contaminating the water closing beaches and threatening animals’ lives. A ship’s holding tank is a tank that holds all the human waste on board. Dusty Muleman is dumping the ship’s tank in the ocean so he can save money instead of pumping into the tank on the shore and having the coast guard taking it way, even though he earns a few thousand dollars a night. Noah Underwood and his sister Abbey are trying to help their dad nail Dusty Muleman and try to make sure their mom doesn’t divorce their dad. Noah is a young boy maybe ten to twelve years old. His sister Abbey is about 8 to 9 years old. Noah and Abbey can work together nicely. Jasper Jr. Dusty’s son and his best friend Bull always bully Noah and his sister. Noah first tries to nail Dusty by going to Lice Peeking who used to work on the “Coral Queen” who has personally witnessed the holding tanks being dumped in the ocean. Noah asks if he could sign a document stating that he has witnessed the tanks being dumped in the ocean, for his father’s boat. But on the day Lice said he would come to the Underwood’s house with the document he mysteriously disappears with the jeep. His girl friend Shelly finds the jeep a few miles away with blood stains in the jeep. They believe Dust Muleman is connected to what happened to Lice Peeking. Since Shelly also wants revenge on Dusty she joins Noah and Abbey trying to turn Dusty in. Mean while Noah and Abbey’s father is out of jail since served his time and is put in house arrest. One night Abbey tries to nail Dusty by sneaking out at night through the window with the video camera gets on the boat hides and records Dusty dumping the ships waste in the ocean. But since the video camera is a bit old the night shot picture isn’t really the best kind so it turns out to be very blurry. The next plan Shelly, Noah and Abbey put together is “Operation Royal Flush”. Noah and Abbey buy 37 bottles of purple food coloring to flush in the toilets of the “Coral Queen”. Shelly gets a job as a bar tender on the ship so Noah and Shelly divide about half of the bottles of food coloring. Noah’s father is taken out of house arrest and Noah’s parents go to the movies and dinner to celebrate. Noah and Abbey leave the house and go to Noah’s friend Rado’s house and use his boat since he lives near the shore. The boat is a bit old so they take a little while to get to the marina and Noah sneaks on the ship and after the ship leaves he hides in the lavatory and starts flushing all the food coloring in the toilet. To assure complete privacy Shelly puts an “Out Of Order sign on the door. After he dumps the food coloring he escapes the lavatory and runs up to the top deck which. On the way he was chased by the watchmen, but when they catch him on the deck he tricks them and jumps off the side of the boat and yells “GERONIMO!” as loud as he can. That is when Abbey is supposed to come and rescue him. The rest of the bottles are emptied by Shelly in her toilet breaks. It takes a long time for Abbey to come and get him so he has to swim half of the trip back to the marina until finally Abbey shows up. Noah and Abbey are chased all the way back to the marina where they are caught. This mysterious pirate guy who seems to know Abbey and Noah saves them. This is when they flee the marina in the boat. Since the boat was old and in bad condition (which was the reason Abbey was late) it broke down and Abbey and Noah were stranded in the sea over night until they are found. The next day Noah calls the coast guard and reports the dye which is traced to the “Coral Queen”. Noah’s dad is rewarded 1,000 dollars from the coast guard but he has to use it for the damages to the “Coral Queen”. A few days later the “Coral Queen” which was shut down is back in business with a deal from the government. Noah’s dad gets mad and punches a door and fractures his knuckles. A day later the “Coral Queen” is burned and Noah’s dad is accused of burning it especially since he has casts around his hands so the detective thinks it was him. Noah’s mom then shows the hospital reports that he fractured his hands. Actually Dusty’s son had stolen some his dad’s cigars and beer so they went into a shed and he started to smoke one. His friend Bull was there at the time. Jasper had burst out coughing after he smoked the cigarette and threw it. Since there was a party that night for the reopening of the “Coral Queen” there was left over fireworks in the shed which lit because of the cigar and blew in the “Coral Queen”, burning it down. When Jasper and his friend Bull were asked what happened Jasper blamed it on Bull but Bull gave an explanation of exactly what had happened. I think Flush is a very interesting book that you can't put down at all. The timing of the events makes the book exciting. If I were to grade this book I would give it an A.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Review by: Kendall
The genre of the book is fiction. Matilda by Roald Dahl is a book full of surprises. It’s about a five year old girl named Matilda who has a mean principal Ms. Trunchbull, and very strange and different parents. She is determined to get rid of Ms. Trunchbull and she also wants to try to talk some sense into her parents. Matilda, by the age of 4 was reading adults chapter books. She was one of the smartest toddlers there ever is. Her parents don’t believe in reading books. They think it’s a waste of time. On a daily basis they would rather be watching TV than reading. Instead of trying to talk so sense into her parents, Matilda has a clever mind and pulls pranks on them.Matilda is very smart, responsible, and polite. She definitely knows what’s to be done, and the right thing to do. This may be hard to believe but Matilda has some evil in her too. She will do some pretty crazy things in this action packed book. She is surely my favorite character in the book! I totally recommend reading this book! It’s full of great and exciting parts, and when I was reading Matilda I couldn’t put it down. If you like books with many different problems, and a good sense of humor, you will like this book. In summary, Matilda was a great book and I totally suggest reading it.

Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse

Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Heese is the story of a boy whose parents invent the teddy
bear. Joseph is a boy who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He knows he’s lucky and fortunate but he feels his parents spend too much time with the teddy bear. No longer does Joseph get to play stickball with his friends instead he is busy making bears. Joseph is respectful to his favorite aunt called “The Queen’’. The two relatives have a secret code used to open the door. But when “The Queen’’ dies Joseph is really sad. He discovers she saved and helped lots of people, by bringing them from Russia to America. Joseph is also adventurous because one day he experiences his dream alone. In the end of Brooklyn Bridge Joseph discovers secrets about some of his family. I liked the book Brooklyn Bridge because it tells the story of Joseph a lucky boy but also tells the story of sad children living in squalid conditions under the Brooklyn bridge. In Joseph’s family there’s Mama, Papa, Emily, Ben and him. Mama is the one who first thought of creating bears. This family’s life changes because they go from regular people to rich people. You might think people look up to them but some people are angry that they have more money, like Joseph’s friends. The story of Brooklyn Bridge is fiction and if you like reading about people in the 1900’s you might enjoy Brooklyn Bridge.
Reviewed by: Carolyn

Warriors Don't Cry

Ever wondered what it would be like to be an African American teenage girl thrust into the battlefield of the civil rights movement? You might have an idea in the deepest darkest corner of your imagination… think again. Melba Pattillo a sixteen year-old in 1957 has been in enrolled in Central High School along with 8 other African American students… the Little Rock 9. After the Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education she and her classmates become warriors, no longer care free teenagers. As she enters the school grounds a mob of bloodthirsty people greet her. Once she is inside, the terrible swear words still echoing in her head, she approaches her new classroom. The minute she steps in new swear words are distributed to her. She sits in class trying to focus on her schoolwork as everyone around curses and discriminates her. After class she rushes into the hall only to walk into another crowd of people. Through out this story you will see her clothes singed by lighted pieces of paper as she stands helpless in a bathroom stall, you will see her hold in her tears as the teachers refuse to help her. You will cry as she washes burning acid from her eyes another classmate’s “prank”. Feel her pain as she crashes to the floor after being pushed down a flight of stairs. But Melba never backs down she never cries and always keeps fighting. This book is beautifully written, an intense yet uplifting book. I loved it and I hope you do too. This book is for the warriors within us, we to have warriors who don’t cry.

First Light by Rebecca Stead

The book that I read is First Light by Rebecca Stead. The genre is fiction. When Peter is told by his dad that his family is going on a six week trip up to Greenland, he is thrilled. But a few months after his twelfth birthday, he starts to get strange headaches, just like his mom. A few weeks after he goes to Greenland, Peter finds out why he and his mom get the headaches. Thea has always wondered what lies outside of her cavernous home under the ice. When she gets into a fight with her grandmother Rowen, also the chief of the council, she is more determined than ever to find out what lays in the wider world. Pretty close to the end, Peter finds out about Thea's world and what connects him to it. I really enjoyed this book because it has a little magic in it, and because it gives different ideas about what things could be invented and where people could live. It is a very enjoyable book, and it is very easy to get through. If you are looking for a good book to read in your spare time, this would be a great one.
Reviewed by: Megan

Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume

Reviewed by: Caroline
I read the book Fudge-a-Mania by the famous author Judy Blume. Judy has written all the Fudge books which are all great, even if you don’t read them in order. Now the main character in this book and normally all the books is Peter Hatcher, but that doesn’t mean his little brother Fudge doesn’t exist! Fudge is maybe one of the biggest trouble makers ever, and he’s only 5! Fudge has orange hair, is very, very energetic and is a little crazy. Its summer break and everything for Peter is fabulous, until that is his mother said that he, Fudge, grandma, daddy, Turtle (Peter’s dog) and she are going to Maine with the Tubman’s. Peter thinks three weeks with Mr. Mrs. Shelia, Buzzy Senior (their grandpa) and Libby Tubman would be torture! Mostly because the house they are staying at is connected. At first you might think ‘that’s not so bad!’ but it is bad, bad, bad for Peter and Shelia (a.k.a the cootie queen!) because they can’t stand each other, and because Fudge wants to marry Shelia! About a week later Peter’s cool best friend Jimmy Fargo comes with his dad to Maine so Peter is happy for awhile until he hears the bad news... Later in the story Fudge meets a girl who is even crazier then he is! Her name is Mitzi, the ‘famous’ monster spray maker! Who Fudge thinks is the best girl in the world, and they soon become best friends! After that Buzzy and grandma seem to be spending a lot of time with each other, what could this mean!-do they like each other??? I liked this book because the fantastic chapters are short, it’s funny and you don’t get bored while reading – all of the things I am looking for in a book! All in all I highly recommend this book!

Saffy's Angel bv Hilary McKay

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay is a story about a girl named Saffy whos mother died in a car crash. Her grandfather drove her from Siena, Italy to her aunt Eves house where the Casson family lived in a house called "The Banana House". Eve, a fine artist, has a paint chart on her kitchen door with all of the Casson children’s names. Cadmium is the eldest, then comes Saffron, known as Saffy, Indigo the only boy, and Rose, the youngest with their father named Bill who is usually at his work station in London. When Saffron finds out that her name wasn’t on the paint color chart, and the other kids were, she figures out that her grandfather had brought her over with all of her toys she had, so that Eve could watch her. When her grandfather dies, they are given his will and each one of the kids get one of his belongings. To Caddy, was his house in Wales, Indigo got his car, and for Saffy he wrote on another piece of paper. It said: For Saffron, her angel in the garden. The stone angle. Saffron did not know what her angel meant but later in the nights she kept having dreams about when she was little and holding her grandfathers hand and walking into the garden in her old house on 16 Via S. Francesco, Siena. When she meets a girl in a wheelchair named Sarah, a rich girl who always gets what she wants, they go on a journey to go to Siena to find Saffy's angel. Sarah's family and Saffy stay at a fancy hotel in Siena for seven days and found her old house. They tried opening the garden door but it was always locked. On the last day of the trip to Siena, Saffy and Sarah find that the garden door was open and Saffy met a lady who lived upstairs in her house when she was little. She told her that her angel had been taken from her grandfather. Indigo and Rose looked everywhere in the house for Saffys angel but they could not find it. Later on, Caddy gets her license and Indigo, Rose and Caddy go out on a long trip to Wales to find Saffys angel. At their grandfathers old house, they find in the garage their grandfathers old smashed car with a nailed box under it. They wondered why it was nailed. Could it be Saffy's angel?
Reviewed by: Courtney

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney is a really funny and exciting realistic fiction book based on a normal kid, around my age, named Greg Heffley. Greg looks like an average sized and has a couple hairs at the top of his head as his hair. He also has circular ears and a long nose pointing outward. He wants to spend all of his summer vacation in his room with the shades down and the lights off while he passes the time by playing video games. This however is not what Mrs. Heffley; Greg’s mother has in store for him. She wants to spend the summer packed with outdoor activities and family togetherness. This does not make Greg happy. During his summer, he gets forced to be in a book club but the thing is that he’s the only one in it because everyone else dropped out, including Rowley, his best friend. He also has to spend time at the family pool which isn’t so bad because the girl he really likes named Holly works as a life guard there. The worst thing is that Greg is forced to go to this water park, but the thing is, the water park is for little kids and Greg and his brother are not little kids.
My favorite part of the book is when Greg and Rowley watch a scary movie that they found in Rodrick’s (Greg’s brother) room. Greg and Rowley watched this movie without their parents knowing and it was about a muddy hand that kills people but only if you’re the last person it sees. So the cliffhanger was that at the end of the movie, the bloody hand stares at you through the TV because then you would be the last one it sees so that it would make u scared. After the movie they were both scared to they ended up sleeping somewhere which got Greg’s father mad when he woke up in the morning so his parents found out anyways about them watching the scary movie because there not allowed to.
Overall, this is one of my most favorite series ever because Jeff Kinney makes it funny and once you pick the book up its hard to put down. Although this book was not he greatest one out of all four books in the series, I still enjoyed reading about the miserable and quite funny and entertaining life that Greg Heffley experiences! I encourage all of you out there to just pick up one of Jeff Heffley’s book and I bet you, you won’t be able to put it down.
Reviewed by: Kaitlyn

Brian's Hunt by Gary Paulsen

Reviewed By: Ryan
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Brian’s Hunt is one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read. It is about after Brian gets rescued from the middle of the woods and Brian decides to start a new life and go back to the woods. One night when Brian was sleeping in a canoe in the middle of a lake he hears something on the shore and carefully moves closer to shore incase it is a bear and finds out that it’s a dog. Once his eyes adjust to the darkness when he’s on shore he finds out that the dog has a huge cut on his side so Brian uses stitches from his safety kit to help close the wound, and while he is stitching he wonders what could have caused the wound and he knows that is wasn’t a human and why the dog came to Brian instead of going back to where he lives. After a couple of days Brian goes off to find where his friend named Susan Kay-gwa-daush lives. When he gets close to her house he senses danger. To find out what happens you have to read the book for yourself.

The main character, Brian, is very determined and brave in the story. He shows a lot of bravery in the story and some determination.

I like this book because it is very suspenseful and surprising. What surprising is how good he has got with a bow and arrow sense he crashed in the middle of the woods in an air plane. As the book might be shorter then Hatchet I personally think they are both very good books.

Vanishing Act by John Feinstein

Review By Elias

Vanishing Act by John Feinstein is sports fiction novel. This story is about Stevie Thompson and Susan Carol Anderson (a couple of 13 year olds) trying to find out a mystery. They are friends and are going to go to The U.S Open. Stevie also is staying with Susan Carol at her uncle’s apartment in New York City. Susan Carol is smart, pretty, and a little bit of a showoff to Stevie, at least in his point of view because he thinks she is better at him than anything. Susan Carol and Stevie Thompson are trying to unravel a mystery which is who kidnapped this famous female tennis player. Stevie throughout the story thinks that Susan Carol’s Uncle Brandon is somehow involved in this since he is an agent and he was talking with a different tennis player’s family and he was seeing very suspicious. I thought this was an excellent book this book made me keep on reading because I wanted to see what really with the kidnapping. I think people who like mysteries would really enjoy this book a lot don’t forget to read some of the other books in this series too before you read this one. SO READ THIS BOOK YOU WILL LOVE IT!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Bone Treasure Hunt Book 8 by Jeff Smith

Bone Treasure Hunt (book 8)
By Jeff Smith
Review by Tommy C.

In this fiction story, Bone, Thorn, Smile, Phoney, and Grandma Ben are in Athea to visit Grandma Ben’s teacher. Althea is a city that has been blocked off by the ghost circles, which are spiritual gates to the dream world that only worthy people can enter. Bone and his friends want the teacher to help them figure out what’s happening in their dreams and to learn what’s going on in the ghost circles. The Hooded One is trying to take over Thorn through her dreams! The main character, Bone, is adventurous, smart, very handy, and funny! He is always equipped with the tools he needs to defeat the Hooded One- who is Grandma Ben’s sister who has been taken over by the evil Lucas King.
I would recommend this book as it has everything that most people want in a story: action, adventure, and it’s really funny! This is the 8th book in a series of graphic novels but I would recommend beginning with the first one to see how the adventure develops. Reviewed by : Tommy

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Review by Andrew

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a fiction novel based on Alcatraz Island. It is about 12 year old Moose who lives on Alcatraz Island with his mom, his dad who is a guard and electrician on the island, and his sister, Natalie. She is 10 (really 16) and has autism. The reason they are at Alcatraz is so she can go to the Ester P. Marinoff School. Moose also lives with famous criminals like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. Moose meets the warden’s daughter, Piper and some of the other kids on the island and gets into some trouble when they try to sell the Alcatraz laundry service. Also, Natalie doesn’t get into the Ester P. Marinoff School and Moose tries to fix it with the help of one of the biggest criminals in Alcatraz, Al Capone. Will Al Capone help? Will Natalie get into Ester P. Marinoff? Read Al Capone Does My Shirts to find out.
I liked Al Capone Does My Shirts and I would recommend reading it. I feel that way because it is a good book with a lot of action and a good plot. Also, novels are my type of book. In conclusion, Al Capone Does My Shirts is a good book which you REALLY SHOULD READ!

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens by Meg Cabot

Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens
by Meg Cabot
Review By: Stefanie

Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls is by Meg Cabot and is a fiction novel .Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls Best Friends and Drama Queens is about a girl named Allie Finkle, who just got back from winter vacation. Allie Finkle is excited when a new girl, who comes all the way from Canada, joins her class at Pine Heights Elementary. Now Allie won't be the new girl anymore! But her excitement turns to dismay when the new girl, Cheyenne, starts telling everyone in the fourth grade what to do! Soon Cheyenne has everyone, including Allie's best friends, Caroline, Sophie, and Erica, believing that if they don't do what she says; they'll be what Cheyenne accuses them of being babies! Allie Finkle had just moved in September, so she knows what it feels like to be the new girl. Allie is very bright and has a positive feeling about making a lot of friends quickly because she moved to a new town and now is going to a new school and has made three really nice friends, Caroline, Sophie, and Erica .Allie reminds me of myself because I just moved to a new town and I am going to a new school and I already have a lot of friends. I always had though, an easy time making friends, there is just something about me that everybody loves. I really liked this book because I can relate my life to hers and we have a lot in common and Allie writes tips of if you’re stuck what to do. Sometimes these tips can be really helpful but others just make me laugh of make me compare it to my life. Even though I really don’t like to read, I really enjoy Meg Cabot’s entire book series and it makes me want to read a little bit more that before.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief by Rick Roirdan is about a boy named Percy who is a half-blood. he has been expelled from many schools and is about to get kicked out of another. but before that happens his English teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. Soon his Latin teacher comes and flips him a pen that turns into a sword that he used for his coliseum day. Soon the monster was upon him so he did the only thing that he could do. he swung the sword. soon after that he is on a quest for his father (who is the Greek god Poseidon) to get Zeus’s master bolt back and return it to Zeus before the end of the summer solstice. But before he gets the bolt back he runs into a lot of trouble soon he needs to find out where the bolt is so he can make his father proud. Soon Percy catches the thief and challenges the god of war Ares to a sword duel. Percy lands a wound on Ares and he gets Hades helm of darkness back and gets the bolt. but one question remained how will he get home before the end of the day. For once in a lifetime thing he flew in a airplane. Then everything was happy as soon as the bolt was returned to Zeus.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Have you ever read the book, Rules by Cynthia Lord? It's a great Non-Fiction story that you don't want to miss out on! I could not put the book down! The main charactor is a twelve year old girl named Catherine that is loving, forgiving, shy, helpful,and just a down right awesome girl!! She has a little brother named, David that has autism and embarrasses Catherine in public like, in the video store. She meets a girl next door that just moved in and her name is, Kristi. She also meets a boy that can not talk with words. She met the boy (Jason) from the opitic that she helps with writing words for his word cards. The plot of the whole awesome story was to help others and be forgiving and try different things! I really love the book and it was the best MCBA book I ever read so far of all the MCBA's!!! I recommend this book to anyone. Trust me...you will LOVE it. That's all for now and have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Posted by Grace

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon is a fictional story written by Stephenie Meyer. It is the second book in the Twilight series. The setting for this book takes place in a town called Forks. Forks is a small town with lots of mountains, rain and fog. The town is almost like another character. This story has three main characters. Bella Swan who is an ordinary soon to be 18 year old girl who has brown hair and brown eyes and is very clumsy. Her boyfriend is Edward Cullen who is a vampire and Jacob Black (her best friend) who has his own secret. Their story is about love and loyalty. Bella's 18th birthday is coming and she has been dreading it for quite a while now. She is upset because Edward will never be older than 17 and she does not want to be older than him. The dreaded day has come and Edward's whole family is throwing her a party. Everybody is upbeat except Bella. Edward forces her to go to the party because his sister Alice has made the best cake and party favors. Bella goes but when it's time to open presents the unexpected happens. Bella gets a paper cut and bleeds. Without any control Edward's brother Jasper pounces towards Bella and Edward has to push her away and ends up crashing her into a glass table. After getting stitched up by Edward's father, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Edward takes Bella home and is acting very uneasy. The next day Edward takes a walk with Bella and tells her he must leave before anything else terrible could happen to her. He tells her she will never see him again. The story changes completely. Bella goes into a state of shock and depression. I can actually feel her sadness. Jacob Black steps up and is her best friend. They start to ride motorcycles and do dangerous things because Bella thinks Edward will come back to save her. The book keeps you on edge waiting for Edward to show up any second. You start to wonder if Bella will really get hurt. After finding out Jacob's secret Bella knows why he and Edward would never get along. Bella goes through many challenging things in this story. The most intense is when Edward thinks Bella is dead and Bella and Alice must go on a race against time to stop him from killing himself!!! Will they get to him in time?? Their journey is breathtaking and unforgettable.
I thought New Moon was very enjoyable. If you liked Twilight I would highly recommend this book for all the action and romance it brings. This story makes the reader anticipate reading the next book in the series called Eclipse.
Review by: Lauren

Swindle by Gordon Korman

Do all you want is to have money and not move after you get friends in a town. Well in Swindle by Gordon Korman that is all that Griffin Bing wants he wants to get money so he doesn’t move. Griffin (aka the man with the plan) is a sneaky, smart kid that has got all these friends and got used to this school and then his mom and dad are running out of money so they are going to move to a cheaper neighborhood till one night he goes to a haunted house inviting his friends because he wanted it to be a skate park instead of a museum so they sleep there so they won’t demolish with them in there. But Griffins plans don’t work our right he and his friend Ben are the only to that show. But maybe it wasn’t a stupid plan after all when Griffin goes around the house and finds a Babe Ruth card. Maybe the house got destroyed but they have a million bucks in there hand till they go to S. Wendell Palomino (aka swindle) and he says it is fake and rips them off for the card and for that one million dollar card they get $125. Then swindle is going to sell it for a lot of money and griffin and his friends got to get the card back and get through swindles alarms, a heavy safe and a viscous guard dog. My rating of this book is 5 out of 5 stars because of all the suspense action and lastly just a book you cant put down there is so many surprises. Will they get the card back or will they get caught and get in trouble or jail for life. Read Swindle by Gordon Korman to find out.

Review by: Kenny

Without a Trace by Carolyn Keene

The book I read was Without a Trace by Carolyn Keene. It is a fiction book and Book One of the New York Times best-selling series Nancy Drew girl detective. The main character in the book is, of course, Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew is a young lady who is very smart and extremely confident. She is a good and loyal friend who loves helping people. An example of this is when she volunteers at her local animal shelter. When Nancy is on the trail to solve a mystery, she seems unstoppable. She believes she has a sixth sense about anything odd or mysterious. Her close friends think she is always looking for trouble but she says that trouble just has a way of finding her.

The story takes place in a typical Midwestern town called River Heights. This town reminds me of the town that I live in. Nancy and her friends often enjoy visiting the local coffee shop to catch up on things and it is the place that they usually find out what is going on in town.

The plot of the book is mainly two mysteries that are presented to Nancy at the same time. The first mystery is that someone has been smashing the neighborhood zucchini patches and the angry neighbors are beginning to point fingers at one another. Meanwhile, a new resident in Nancy’s neighborhood is frantic when she discovers that an old and precious Faberge egg, which is a family heirloom, has been stolen. Everyone is looking to Nancy to help solve these mysteries!

I really enjoyed reading this book. Even though the mysteries included were not hugely suspenseful, the characters and events were exciting enough to make me want to continue reading to discover what the end result would be!

Reviewed by: Allison

Hot Hands by Mike Lupica

42-42 tied magic’s have ball Lenny passes it to Billy, Billy is WIDE open like nobody near him he was about to shoot but Liam is coming to try and stop it he was scared so he quickly passed it to Lenny wanted Billy to shoot so Billy went back to the hoop and Lenny passed it back to Billy, Billy tries to make the layup. Everybody was scared. Hot Hands by Mike Lupica. The story takes place everywhere at the YMCA, Billy’s house, Lenny’s house and etc. The problem is that Billy wants to take his team all the way to the championship and win it and make his parents come back together but him and his dad need to sort that out.

I did this book review on Hot Hands because I love sports and when I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it. It is a really good book because it is about basketball and he is trying to get his parents back together. Billy’s dad is the coach for his team and when he fights with his dad he misses basketball games. He and his best friend Lenny are the two best players on Billy’s team. He has a brother Ben who loves to play piano and Billy really loves his brother but Ben changes in the story he starts skipping recitals and Billy finds out he wants to help. To find out more about this story read Hot Hands by Mike Lupica

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Review of To Kill a Mockingbird
By: Sam

The plot in To Kill a Mockingbird, revolves around a court case. The main characters are Scout, Jem and their father Atticus. Atticus is a lawyer and he is defending Tom Robinson who is charged with the beating of Bob Ewell’s daughter, Mayella. Tom is an African American man who worked for Mayella. Atticus believes him to be innocent but most of the evidence is against Tom.

Scout is a girl around 10 years of age. She is a tom boy. Her best friend is a boy named Dill. Dill is around 10 and lives in Canada. They met when he ran away one year and after that Dill would come and spend every summer with them. Scout’s brother, Jem is around 12 years old, is in seventh grade and plays football. Tom’s trial occurred during the summer and Scout, Dill and Jem went to the courtroom everyday to watch the trial. They too thought Tom was innocent.

I think To Kill a Mockingbird was a great book because it was a challenge for me and I like challenges. The story was very interesting. Another fact that was interesting to me was that Atticus was in the State Legislature.

My Sister the Vampire No. 1 Switched by Sienna Mercer

My Sister The Vampire No. 1 Switched is a fantasy by Sienna Mercer. Imagine you are an only child and all of a sudden you find out you have an identical twin sister. My Sister The Vampire No. 1 Switched is about two girls, Olivia Abbott is a perky cheerleader who absolutely loves PINK! Olivia soon learns after her first day of eighth grade at her new school Franklin Grove Middle School that she has an identical twin sister that she was separated at birth from named Ivy Vega. Ivy is no ordinary goth girl she is actually a vampire! Ivy’s favorite colors of course are BLACK, DARK PURPLE, NAVY BLUE, GRAY, AND BURGANDY RED. Since Olivia is a new student she has lots to learn. She has to learn that the cheerleaders are not as nice as she thinks, but worst of all she has to put up with a group of bad vampires named the Beasts!

I would give this book five stars because it is packed full of action, mysteries, romance and teen drama. If you think you would love this book I have news for you, there are three more books in this series. Over all this is really great book.

Reviewed by Jennifer

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Maximum Ride: The Angel experiment
by James Patterson
Review by Olivia

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to have wings. And fly like a bird. Well think again. Max and her "family" Nudge, Iggy, Gasman, Fang and Angle. They were all experimented on as infants and are now 2% bird so they have wings. When suddenly Max and her family need to leave there home and are on the run from the "white coats" who want them to do more experiments and tests on them. suddenly they watch as Angel is ripped out of their hands and harts taken away to who knows where or worse school now that angle is gone. Max's baby Angel is gone and who knows what horrible things could be happening to her.
Max is the leader of the group. she is willing to take on the responsibility fore five kids at the age of 14. Max always looks on the brighter side of the problem. She is always on the run and trying to fight for her life. I give this book five stars because it is action packed with secrets plots and always keeps you on your toes. All I know is that I would never want to go to the school. Read the book be where of the warning you never know one day a couple of white coats might be knocking at your door.


Other books in the Maximum Ride series
The Angel experiment
School is out forever
Saving the world and other extreme sports
The final warning
Max

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a Historical Fiction book. In Al Capone Does My Shirts the problem is that Moose Flanagan has to move to Alcatraz because his sister Natalie has a disability. The main character in Al Capone Does My Shirts is Moose Flanagan. I think he is a nice brother. I think that because he always helps his sister Natalie. Natalie has to go to a special school. Also I think he's nice because when his mom and dad are at work he watches Natalie and takes her wherever he goes. Also I think he is responsible. I think that because when the warden's daughter Piper was trying to sell clothes washed by cons from Alcatraz at school, Piper asked Moose if he would help and Moose said no. So I think that was responsible of him to say no. I think this book is very good. I think that because it is very exciting and you never know what is going to happen next. Also I liked that this book is about Alcatraz because Alcatraz is very interesting. Also I liked it because it was about cons. I think cons and prisoners are cool and fun to read about. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a really good book. You should read it to find out more.
Reviewed by Nick

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is a book about a boy named Greg Heffley who finds himself in the sea of middle grade students ranging from the small and ordinary to the ones that have muscles and are growing facial hair. Where is one to fit in?” If it was up to me, grade levels would be based on height, not age. But then gain, I guess that would mean kids like Chirag Gupta would still be in the first grade.” Greg thinks if someone sees me, they are going to get the wrong idea. Greg finds himself writing in his journal about his life as a sixth grader and how to fit in. "Just don't expect me to be all "Dear Diary" this and "Dear Diary" that. That's for girls. This is my favorite quote from the story because I think it is very funny. Greg’s best friend Rowley Jefferson begins to make strides in popularity and Greg latches on to bring himself popularity, which kicks off a domino affect that tests their friendship in hilarious fashion. This laugh out loud book is a must read not only for boys but also for anyone that has gone through the tribulations of middle school. This book is a book that you cannot put down. This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. I think Greg has a one in a kind personality because sometimes he is in a good mood with Rowley but other days he had enough with Rowley. Greg has two brothers Manny and Rodrick. Manny is five years old and he is always telling on Greg so Greg gets in trouble. Rodrick is Greg’s older brother, Rodrick is always pulling pranks on Greg. One time it was 3:00 in the morning and Rodrick came in to Greg’s room pulled down all of the shades so he wouldn’t know it was dark and he turned up the clock. So Greg didn’t think it was a prank so he got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast, a few minutes later his dad came down to see what was going on and he yelled at Greg for eating cereal so early in the morning. You should read the book to find out all of the other pranks that Rodrick did to Greg and to see what happed when Greg’s dad went downstairs to see what Rodrick was doing. I would rate this book 5 stars.
Reviewed by: Allie

Accidently Fooled by Lisa Papademetriou

“Accidently Fooled” by Lisa Papademetriou is about a seventh grade girl named Amy Flowers. She goes to a school named Arlington Acadamy with her three best friends Kewi, Mitchie, and Jenelle. When the seventh grade has to do a service project, her three best friends are paired up together at the community garden and she is stuck at the health mobile with her enemy, Fiona, and know-it-all, Presten. Although her two friends, Mitchie and Jenelle, don’t seem to like each other, they seem to be having a great time at the community garden and can’t wait to do their final project together. It also seems like they are becoming good friends and that is leaving Amy feeling jealous. To make things even worse, Amy is not the least bit excited about her final project. Her partners, Fiona and Presten can’t agree on what to do for their project, until Fiona all of a sudden is super nice and comes up with a great idea. This means that if Fiona quits they don’t have a final project. Should Amy trust the one girl in the school that no one else can? Is Fiona really turning into a nice person? Can she be trusted? Will Amy and Fiona end up being friends? Read “Accidently Fooled” by Lisa Papademetriou to find out.
Reviewed by: Julie

Revenge of the Wannabees by Lisi Harrison

Book review by Julia

In the realistic fiction story Revenge of the Wannabees by Lisi Harrison, 7th grader Alicia Rivera realizes that she is always second in command to her gorgeous, popular friend Massie Block. In result of this, Alicia decides to branch out and create her own clique. With the help of her friend Olivia and a few look-alikes of her friends Kristen and Dylan, will she succeed in creating a clique of her own?


In the story which is one of the clique series, Alicia Rivera stars as one of the prettiest, richest, most popular girls at the school she attends called Octavian Country Day School. She is Spanish girl with dark skin, hair, and eyes. She is confident in her self that she has what it takes to start her own clique.


I believe that this book was great because of how detailed everything was. I loved how you could imagine everything in your head because of how descriptive it is. Even the clothing the girls wore were described by saying “Her Marc Jacobs patterned dress with black stiletto heels scores a 9.6 in the fashion rules”. I also enjoy stories that involve girls that are my age, and this fits perfectly. I would most definitely recommend this great book to any person who is looking for a funny story about girls around my age.
Some more background information on this story is that in the clique, there are four girls; Massie is their alpha with Alicia as their beta. Kristen is an athletic star soccer player, and Dylan is an out of shape girl who is trying to stop her bad eating habits. These four girls are thinking of welcoming a new addition to the crew, a blonde haired girl named Claire Lyons. She has just moved from Florida to the carriage house of Massie’s mansion. As you can see, this book may appeal to some people more than others but to me, this book deserves five stars all the way!

Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen

Reviewed By: Ryan
Genre: Fiction
This is a story about a boy named Brian, who was lost in the cold Canadian wilderness. Throughout the story this amazing 13 year old boy fights off the cold, snow, hunger, and wild animals. He never got down even when he got attacked by a bear and a moose. At one point in the story he found a pack of wolves and he followed their footprints. At the end of the end of the footprint trail, there was a huge moose that the wolves had killed. They had left the rear and head still there. Brian used the fur to make clothing and ate the meat to live on. This is one example of how Brian uses his intelligence and strength to survive in the wilderness. Brian is determined, a survivor, and he is clever- but most of all, he is smart. He never gave up. He kept on hunting, keeping his shelter up, and never let the fire go out. He learned how to build his shelter, make knives, and spears. He was such a resourceful person. I thought Brian‘s Winter was an excellent book. It was amazing how a young boy could survive in the wild by himself with very few resources. The book was so suspense full, because it seemed like he was always in danger. I recommend that you read the book. Find out if he survives and how he tries to overcome his fears.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card Ender's Game
Review by James

Ender's Game is a futuristic science fiction book about a young Ender Wiggin. Ender is five, he is small and smart but worst of all a third. Ender Wiggin is taunted by every one except his older sister Valentine. In school he pays no attention to the teachers but gets perfect scores on everything. The day after he gets his "monitor" off the meanest kid in school won't let him leave. As Ender figures this out he gets mad, really mad. He charged at the boy punching and kicking him even though he is twice the size of him, the boy falls down but Ender won't stop he keeps on kicking him and kicking him. The next day a soldier from the international fleet comes to Ender's house says they need to talk. Peter (Ender's brother) thought that he would have to do time on the belt. As referring to time in jail on the asteroid belt.

Although Ender is a genius he has his Achilles' heel. If somebody is breaking the rules he gets mad, really mad. He would revolt if there were unfair changes to any game's rules Will Ender be separated from his family or will he be allowed to stay on Earth. I thought this book was amazing because it has an fascinating plot line and an unforeseeable twist. Will Ender have to leave his family? Read this adventure filled book to find out book to find out.

By James

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Reviewed by: Paul
The Lightning Thief was an outstanding book by Rick Riordan that still hasn't gotten old. The sequels following it weren't that big of sell-outs, but now there is a new book that might match the attraction of the first book of the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' series. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan, and the last book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians' series and The New York Times' #1 best-selling series, is a great book that is one of the best books I have ever read.

Percy Jackson, son of Greek god Poseidon, is on a mission to blow up the ship that is carrying monsters of all kind and the Greek Titan, Kronos, across the sea to the city of Manhattan, New York. He escapes the bomb fires, but his fellow partner, and camp-mate, does not survive. But more is to follow. The great monster Typhon is unleashed from underneath a volcano and the gods are all busy trying to stop its trip from the west to the east. Poseidon is busy on a war of his own, and Kronos' army steadily approaches Manhattan after regrouping. Percy and his pack of demigods are on their own and need to stop the Lord of Time.

Cornered on the island of Manhattan, Percy is responsible for protecting the sole power of the gods, their thrones. Percy and his fellow demigods are trying everything they can to save the Mount Olympus of the Empire State Building. Can Percy and his friends stop the great Titan? Can they protect Olympus? Or will the palace of Olympus crumble to ruins and the Titans rise to power? Find out everything by following the adventure of Percy Jackson in book five of the thrilling series by Rick Riordan. This book was ranked #1 best-seller on USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. The book has my extreme attention and I'm pretty sure I didn't miss a word out of the book. It is a classic that will never die and can be read over and over again without the loss of the excitement, just like The Lightning Thief.
Al Capone Shines my Shoes
Written by Gennifer Choldenko
Review by Isabella
The realistic fiction story of the book Al Capone Shines my Shoes is about 12 year old Moose that lives on Alcatraz Island with some famous criminals like Al Capone, Willy One Arm, and Buddy Boy.Al Capone Shines my Shoes is the sequel to Al Capone Does my Shirts and in Al Capone Does my Shirts, Moose talks to Al Capone to see if he could help get Moose’s sister, Natalie, who has special needs, into a school that can help her with her disabilities. The school rule says that you can only get into the school if you are at least younger than 12 years old. Nat (Natalie’s nickname) is 16 so she can’t get in. For this reason, Moose sends Al Capone a note. Moose asks Capone if he could write a letter to Natalie’s school asking them to please take Natalie even though she’s 16. Moose gets a note in his laundry (because the criminals do everybody’s laundry) saying done and then not soon after, Nat’s school finally agrees to take her and now everything is fine and dandy. Until… In Al Capone Shines my Shoes, Al sends a note to Moose through the laundry asking if he could get his wife who is coming to visit him, some yellow roses and then they’re square. Moose is kind of nervous about doing it because he doesn’t really want to help a bad guy out but then again, that bad guy did get his sister into school so doesn’t he owe him? Then his dad tells him to never do anything good for the criminals because then they have something on you. For example, if Capone shines my shoes, he can make me do anything he wants because he can threaten me by saying that he’ll tell the warden that he shines my shoes so now I do the next thing he wants and next thing you know he’s got two things on you and it keeps going on and on. He doesn’t know if he should gat the roses or not. Than, the warden’s wife is going to have a baby but then she gats sick and nobody knows if she is going to pull through. Everyone is nice t o the warden’s daughter, Piper, but she isn’t nice back. Piper also always asks Moose to help her with her troublesome schemes and Moose always does get involved, then gets in usually trouble for it.Then, there is a jailbreak and all the kids in the island are involved in it! The warden has two criminals working in his home named Willy One Arm and Buddy Boy and they take hostage of the children when everyone else on the island are at a party. What will happen? Will the kids escape? Read the awesome book of Al Capone Shines my Shoes to find out! As you can probably guess, Moose is a strong main character. He loves and stands up for Natalie when other kids make fun of her. He can handle more stress that a typical 12 year old should have and he trys to be a normal kid even though he lives an a rock and knows Al Capone. I liked this book because I liked to read about the problems Moose faces with his sister, friends, and more. I also liked to hear what a pretty normal day was like for a 12 year old in 1935 (even though Moose isn’t on some standards considered normal). In general, I liked hearing about what life was like living on Alcatraz Island with a sister that has special needs and a girl that always gets in trouble and always asks you to help her.

In summary, Al Capone Shines my Shoes is a must read book!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney

The book Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney was a very good book. It is the kind of book I could not put down. It is about a boy named Greg Heffley and what happens in his middle school life. There are many little problems in the book like failing school or not being able to get a girl. But the main problem in the story is that his dad is always on his case about doing manly things like organized sports or working out and if Greg doesn’t change his wimpy ways soon his dad will make Greg go to military school for the summer. Greg is nice but he can be a little like a bully to his friend Rowley. He has a crush on a girl named holly hills and he loves playing video games but not doing anything active really. This is a funny book that really had me laughing at some times. It will be confusing at some times if you did not read the first book and the second book before this one. I really liked this book because it was very funny, it kept me wondering, and it was tough for me to stop reading. If you are looking for a funny book that keeps you wondering, this would be your book.
Reviewed by Matt

Super Fudge by Judy Blume

Super Fudge by Judy Blume
Review by Nick

The book Super Fudge, the third book in the Fudge series, is a laugh out loud book full of adventures. This book is told by a sixth grader named Peter Hatcher who has an annoying little brother named Farley Drexel Hatcher, otherwise known as Fudge. Fudge is a six year old who consistently embarrasses his brother Peter by getting himself into some pretty funny predicaments.

In this book Peter feels like his life is being turned upside down. His mom is having a baby and she didn’t tell Peter. Peter wanted to run away. Then he decided if he liked the baby he would stay. If he didn’t like the baby he’d live with his friend. The next thing that got Peter angry was his family was going to leave New York City and live in Princeton New Jersey to see what it’s like to live away from the city. Peter was angry because he’d have to leave his friends in the city. While they’re in Princeton Fudge gets into some predicaments. On Fudge’s first day of kindergarten Fudge didn’t exactly like his teacher. He kicked her and called her rat face because she wouldn’t call him Fudge. Also one time Fudge couldn’t go on a picnic with Peter and his friend so he and his friend ran away on their bikes to a far away bakery. After a year the family decides they like the city better so they move back. By the end of the book Peter learns that change can be good.

I think this book would is good for both boys and girls. This book is definitely for you if you enjoy laughing. When I read the first book in this series I knew it was a great series. This book has adventure in it. Before I read this book I thought it would be just an ordinary book about an annoying little brother who torments his older brother, but it was more than that. I hope you will read this hilarious book soon.

By Nick

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

Have you ever wondered if Danny Walker and his basketball team won the national championships in the book Travel Team? You’re in luck. In the sequel to that book, Summer Ball, all your questions are answered.
This book takes place two years later during the summer. Danny is going up to a summer camp up in Maine, where its basketball 24/7, but does he really want to go? With his lack of height, he might not be able to face up against all the tall players there. But he goes, and has some problems.
He gets put in the dorms with the 11-12 year olds, gets put on a team with a nemesis he made from the national championships playoffs, and gets a coach that absolutley hates him on account of a event that happened when his father was in college. Danny’s father was going to go to the coach’s school for basketball, but decided to go to a different school. That got the coach mad because that same year Danny’s dad lead Syracuse to a league championship.
At one point Danny has a choice where he could choose to go home and leave all those bad things behind and just have a regular summer. But then things seem to turn around, and Danny decides to stay. How, may you ask? Well you will have to see for your self in Summer Ball, by Mike Lupica
Reviewed by Ellie

Monday, October 26, 2009

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

HARRY POTTER

AND THE SORCERER’S STONE

Harry is an 11 year old boy who lives in a closet at his cruel Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley their selfish son’s house. As the school year starts Harry starts receiving strange letters that read: Mr. H. Potter - The cupboard under the stairs - 4 Privet Drive - Little Whinging – Surrey, but his uncle always takes the letters away angrily before he can read them. A few days later there is millions of letters by the fire place all saying the same thing. After that they drove to a vacant shack on an island to stay there for the night. When they went to bed Harry got the floor. Before he fell asleep he wrote HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY in the dust next to him. That night everyone was awakened by a BOOM at the door, suddenly the door fell down and a giant walked in. “A very happy birthday to yea Harry.” The giant said as he handed Harry a cake that said – Happy birthday Harry, Written in green icing. “Who are you?” Harry replied. I am Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys at Hogwarts. Hagrd stated. “What’s Hogwarts?” Harry said.“Do you mean ter tell me,” he growled at the Dursleys, “that this boy – this boy! – knows nothin’ abou’ – about ANYTHING?” HAGRID roared. After that Harry left with Hagrid to go to Diagon Alley. There he bought his robes, wand, caldron, hat, glove, books, and Hagrid also bought Harry an owl as a birthday present. The time came for Harry to take his train to Hogwarts at platform 9 ¾, but there was one problem……there was no 9 ¾. Then he saw some kids running straight into a post between platform 9 and 10 and then disappearing, so Harry did this also, and as the hit the post he came into another world, and best of all there was a train stopped right in front of him that said Hogwarts Express. While he was on the train he met his first two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. When they arrived at Hogwarts they were sorted into their houses, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione got the Gryffindor House. At Hogwarts he also met his new arch enemy – Draco Malfoy. At Hogwarts that year Harry was a legend. He defeated an ogre, he was the seeker on Gryffindor’s quidditch[1] team, and defeated “the he who must not be named.” If you love adventure and mysteries than I highly recommend this book to you!

By: Hunter

Please Underline Book Titles!

Dear 6th graders,

Thank you for writing so many wonderful reviews. Please remember future posts that book titles should be underlined or italicized. Thank you!

Ms. Greenberg and Mrs. Black

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
Review by Leto

One day Saffron Casson realizes that her name is not on the paint chart. Her brother Indigo and her sisters Rose and Caddium are all on it. Has her mother Eve been hiding something from her all her life? Well, after the children's grandfather dies, in his will he leaves: Caddy his house, Indigo his car, Rose his money, and Saffy her angel in the garden. The family is puzzled by this. But soon after Eve tells her that she is adopted. Saffy's mother died in a car crash when Saffy was younger. Her aunt, Eve, has been raising her. Now Saffy is determined to find her angel, even if it means going back to her old house in Italy.

I thought Saffy's Angel is a great book to read. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes mysterious and adventurous stories. Once you start this book you can't stop. Find out how determined Saffy is to find her angel. Will Saffron find the angel? Does it even exist? If she finds it, what use is it to her? These questions will be answered after you read this exhilerating book.

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis Review by Simran

Have you ever wondered what life would be like for a seventh grader? Two girls from William Gladstone Middle School, Emma-Jean and Colleen, have a pretty good iea, and they can describe it in one word: complicated.

This wonderful, realistic fiction book is about 12-year-old Emma-Jean Lazrus, who is a kind, unself-conscious girl who relies on logic to solve her and her friend's problems. After the passing away of her father two years ago, Emma-Jean has followed the footsteps of her dad's hero, a legendary French mathematician, Jules Henri Poincare. Emma-Jean describes herself to be different from her other fellow seventh graders. The only friends she has are the school janitor, her language arts teacher, her loving mother, her father's parakeet Henri, and Vikram Adwani, a university student who has rented the third floor of Emma-Jean's house. Another important character in the story is Colleen Pomerantz. She's one of the nicest seventh graders, but she cares too much about what others think of her. She has many friends, and has a loyal heart.

The story takes place during the usual busy day of seventh grade when Emma-Jean discovers Colleen crying in the bathroom. She claims to be crying because her best friend, Kaitlin Vogel, invited the fierce, manipulating Laura Gilray to her annual ski trip in Vermont instead of her. When Emma-Jean realizes how mean of a person Laura Gilroy is, she puts her logic and intelligence into action to help her new friend out.

I would describe this book to be engaging, interesting, and insightful. This book teaches you that you not only have to put your mind into the problem, but also your heart which is why I find it to be a good book. Also, this book's genre is one of my favorite genres of all time. I love to read about stories that can relate to the real world. Although this book could be enjoyed by many, I think it would be more of a book that a girl would enjoy. All in all, my rating for this book is 4/5 stars.

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis is a book you would want to run to your local library and check out kind of book. For further reading, be sure to read the sequel, Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love.

Indigo's Star by Hilary McKay

Indigo’s Star by Hilary McKay
Review by Natalie

Indigo’s Star is an amazing realistic fiction book by Hilary McKay about three kids who work together to solve their family problems. Indigo Casson has been sick for a whole term of school and is returning to a place full of bullies. His sister Rose and his other family members are worried about him. Rose is angry at her father who is separated from the family because he won’t come home to visit or look at her art. Back in his school, Indigo meets Tom, a new kid visiting from America for the term because he’s angry with his family. Eventually, the three of them make friends and solve their issues. Indigo is a fourteen year old boy living with his eccentric, very artistic family. Rose is eight and an amazingly talented artist for her age. Tom is about fourteen and loves playing guitar and high places. I really loved this book. It has a good ending, both happy and sad. The characters are funny, and there are lots of background details, like the oldest sister never getting rid of her old boyfriends! This is one of the best books I have read in a long time and if you read it I am sure you will agree.

Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is a fictional romance about an 18 year old girl named Bella and a vampire boy named Edward who fall in love. The plot in this wonderful book is in a small, humid rainy town called Forks where Bella has just moved in with her dad. She gets an old, red truck to drive to school in. At school she makes many new friends. When Bella goes to lunch she sees a boy who is so beautiful that she can barely stop staring at him; he, on the other hand, looks as though he hates her. But as the story goes on, they begin to fall in love. Bella is the main character; her parents have been divorced ever since she was little and she decides she wants to live in Forks with her dad, Charlie. Twilight is my favorite book in the whole entire world; it should get ten out of five stars. I liked it so much because of how exiting and romantic the story was. Also, I enjoyed the mythical creatures that were the characters in the book. Although Twilight was a great book, I wouldn’t recommend the book for boys because the vampires are not scary but romantic.

Eleven Seconds, by Travis Roy

Review by Caroline

Eleven Seconds, by Travis Roy himself is an inspiring story. Eleven seconds was all it took to change his whole life. His dreams were to play in the Division 1 hockey league and to become a Terrier. His dream to play in the Division 1 hockey league only lasted for 11 seconds. And he was able to be a Boston terrier for a little bit more than 11 seconds, thankfully about a few months. Travis Roy is a kind of person who gets along with almost everyone. Since he has been there for all of his friends and family, they were there for him when his tragedy occurred. So whenever Travis needed to cry with someone, somebody was there for him to cry with. I absolutely loved this book because Travis really persevered. He never complained about not being able to be independent and take care of himself. But again, he never held in his emotions, he said that he felt better after he cried than when he held back his tears. This book makes you realize how lucky you are to be able to actually take care of yourself, walk around, be able to move in any way without having someone else do it to you. But Travis is lucky enough to have a sip and puff wheelchair. So when he wants to move, he would blow into the straw and he would be able to move. And he would take a couple short or long breaths to go either left or right. I don’t know about you, but that makes me appreciate a lot of my capabilities. Just imagine growing up playing a sport for your whole life and then when your dream came true playing on a Division 1 team and then 11 seconds into it, you hurt yourself and get paralyzed. If you read this book, I hope you are inspired as much as I am.

The Sisters Club by Megan McDonald

The book that I read was called The sisters club by Megan McDonald. This book is about three sisters named Alex, Stevie, and Joey! They made up a club called the sisters club. The Reel family is a family of acting or actors. Alex is the oldest, she is twelve, Stevie is the middle child, she is ten, and Joey is the youngest, she is eight. The sisters are very close friends. Alex is the leader of the club so all of the meetings are in her room! Stevie is the middle and feels like she is not important. Joey is obsessed with pioneers and she does not like how Stevie and Alex get more homework then her so she gives herself fake homework! They call Joey duck since she is the youngest in the family! I thought that this book was a non-stop reader! It was a really good book so I think that if you choose to read it, you will end up liking it! When you are reading, they will have a format that looks like it is a journal entrée by Joey since she loves homework! When Stevie is talking it is normal writing and when Alex is writing it looks like play script since she loves acting! Over all I love this book and think that it is a very good book!
Reviewed by Julia

Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen

Brian’s Winter
By Gary Paulsen
Review By: Peter
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Brian’s Winter is one of the alternative sequels to Hatchet. It is the story of Brian if he had never been rescued and was forced to stay in the Canadian Wilderness for the winter. The main character, Brain is a smart, creative, and optimistic 13 year old boy. At first Brian is ignorant to the signs of winter nature is giving him. When he realizes winter is coming it is almost too late. Brian now knows he must get ready for the quickly oncoming and brutal Canadian Winter. His shelter is far from weatherproof and his clothing is barely holding together. Many questions still remain on what he will be able to do in the winter though. Will he be able to hunt, gather firewood and do many other things necessary for survival?
As the fall steadily progresses into winter Brian readies himself for the biggest challenge of his life, surviving the winter. He does get some indirect help from the animals though, because of his observant eye he learns from them. These few tips greatly help Brian and his quest for survival. Although Brian has proved he can survive through a Canadian Wilderness summer will that be enough to survive the winter? Read Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen to find out!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

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The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
Review by Jonathan Schwartz

The City of Ember is a fiction story about two kids (Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow) trying to escape Ember before the great lights that keep that darkness that surrounds the city at bay go out. ¬¬There have been more and more blackouts lately, and eventually, a blackout will come that won’t end. On assignment day, Lina picks the dreaded job of pipeworks laborer, and Doon picks the splendid job of messenger. Messengers spend the day running around the town giving messages from one person to another, while pipeworks laborers spend the day underground fixing the pipes and taking care of the generator. Doon asks Lina to trade with him, because he wants to be in the pipeworks, because he thinks he can fix the generator.
Lina is a 12 year old girl who’s parents died from the cough sickness when she was younger, and lives with her granny and little sister Poppy. Doon is a 12 year old boy that lives with his father.
I thought that this book was great, because it has a good plot and is fast paced. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as Lina and Doon try to evacuate the city before it’s too late. Will they make it? Read The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau to find out!