SCAT ,by Carl Hiaasen

       Scat is a really good book that is about a teacher that goes into a swamp when a fire is burning to get a student’s medication. The teacher does not come out of the fire, Marta and Nick are wondering why she does not come out. But there is something about the timing, the day before the teacher disappeared a boy in her class eats half of her pencil and people are saying that the boy set the fire. Will Marta and Nick see the puzzle and put it together?

       This is a good book that I did not want to put down. This is a good book that people would love if they loved mystery and leaving you with a never ending idea.

      UnknownI would give this book 1,000 stars if I could, I would give it 5 ***** stars.

The Real Boy by Anne Ursu

The Real Boy by Anne Ursu

The Real Boy - Front Jacket - 2-13I thought The Real Boy was a great book. I had a couple of favorite things about this book. Not only was it well written but it was adventurous, exciting, and a bit mysterious.

My favorite character in The Real Boy was Cat. You guessed it, Cat is a cat. She is brave like when she was fighting a mud monster she kept on fighting to protect Oscar, who is the main character. Cat was buried under piles and piles of dirt, rock, and mud in that fight. When Oscar was digging her out she told him (Oscar can understand cats) to go help Crow (another cat) who had broken her legs.

 This book takes place in Alethia, a land where you can’t use magic, except for The Barrow. The Barrow is where Oscar lives. Caleb is a magic smith, Wolf is Caleb’s apprentice, and Oscar is Caleb’s hand. Oscar lives in the basement of Caleb’s shop with his three cats. He chops herbs and puts them into medicine.

Oscar is Master Caleb’s hand, but when Master Caleb leaves his shop to his apprentice Wolf things go bad. Wolf goes into the forest for what should be only a couple hours and leaves Oscar in charge of the shop, but when Wolf has been in the forest for almost 6 hours Oscar worries that something has happened to Wolf…

to be continued…

I would recommend this book to kids 8+. I would give this book 5 stars.

P.S. I know what you’re thinking “If this book is called The Real Boy does that mean I’m a fake boy/girl” no it doesn’t mean you’re a fake boy/girl it means that in the book he is a real boy.

Behind The Bookcase By Mark Steensland

I think that behind the bookcase is a really good book. It is full of mystery and secret. And the main character [Sarah] doesn’t want to stay at her recently dead Grandmother’s house to clean it up for selling. Just as she  thinks that her summer is the worst weeks of her life ,she finds a unfinished letter from her grandmother that says strange things are happening behind the bookcase… She finds a new world and that is is where the adventure begins. I would rate  this a five star book. And recommend this book to 4th to 5th graders -Ruby Wexler

 

The 39 Clues, The Maze of Bones, By Rick Riordan

The  39 Clues The Maze Of Bones is by Rick Riordan. The book is about a brother and sister named Dan and Amy whose Grandmother dies and creates a quest for only the Cahills. The Cahill family is the type of family who will do anything to get to be the most powerful person in the world. The quest takes chosen Cahill family members all across the world for one thing… the first of the 39 clues.

In the beginning of the book, the chosen family members are given a choice to walk out the door with 1,000,000 dollars in their hands or to attempt the life risking 39 clues. Six families picked the  39 clues, the Kabras, the Holts, Alistair Oh, Jonah Wizard, the Starlings and Dan and Amy. Dan has altitude problems and Amy has trouble speaking up to people.

A really important event in the book was in the beginning when Dan and Amy chose to burn up the million dollars and take the really small clue: THE FINE PRINT TO  SEEK OUT RICHARD S—-.  Another important part was when the mansion went up in flames which is when they discovered their secret admirer aka THE MAN IN BLACK. One last important part is when Dan and Amy find out that everyone is against them, in other words, trying to kill them but they are all family members.

This book would be ranked my fourth favorite book I have ever read. My favorite part of the book is when they are in the catacombs in Paris because I went in the catacombs when I went to Paris and I know, and can relate to the feeling of being creeped out. My least favorite was when I closed it. I would give this book ***** five stars. People who like mystery books and a little bit of realistic fiction, this book is for you.

13 Gifts By Wendy Mass

13 Gifts is a wonderful book by Wendy Mass. It’s in a series of books, but you don’t have to read the first two books before you read this third book. In this book, a 12 year old girl (almost 13!) named Tara keeps moving, and it’s getting on her nerves. A girl her age should stay put and have friends; But not her. So, when she finally has a chance to prove herself popular, even if it means stealing the Principal’s lifesize stuffed goat (don’t ask) she should do it, right? Wrong. Her so called, “friends” abandon her and let’s just say the results include pepper spray in the eyes and a very angry principal. Her parents think that Tara needs to take a break from everything for a while, so they send her to Willow Falls, a mysterious little town where her Aunt and Uncle live with their 11 year old daughter that Tara’s never met before. But some pretty weird things start to happen in Willow Falls. What will happen? Read the book to find out! I would rate this book 6 out of 5 stars because it was AWESOME! You should read this book if you like mysteries, because this story is very mysterious.

 

The Three Investigators #5 an Ear For Danger

This book is about three kids Jupiter,Pete,and Bob who like to investigate things.This book is very good and exciting and may I ad a little bit scary and funny like when they meet this kid Brit  who is dyslexic (sees letters in the wrong order.) and jupe showed him a business card and he thought it said the three nivetsitagors  another exciting part was when they realized that they were on a  volcano. I give this book five stars. 

Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave by Deron R. Hicks

by Jack

What I liked about Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave was that it was a mystery. I liked that when I thought something good was going to happen it didn’t.

 

I thought this book was really well written and I enjoyed it.

 

My favorite character in Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave was Julian Letterford. I liked him because he started the whole mystery, and he would quote Shakespeare in parts of the book. He was smart, and funny, and really nice in the book.

 

I would give this book four out of five stars because it was a really good book, but the book could’ve used a couple more pictures and a little more action.

 

I am excited to read the second book because the first book was really exciting and that the first book left me at a huge cliffhanger.

 

Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave takes place in Manchester, Georgia and England and Stratford upon-Avon. This book is exciting, and mysterious! I would recommend this book to kids from ages 8+.

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a book about a girl, Meg, who doesn’t really fit in with all the other kids. One night she cannot fall asleep because of a hurricane and goes downstairs and finds her little brother Charles Wallace. Charles Wallace knows everything about everything and was expecting Meg to want hot cocoa. Meg actually did want hot cocoa. Their mother Mrs. Murry woke up, also wanting hot cocoa. The twins stayed asleep. All three of them had sandwiches and after a while, a visitor arrived, Mrs. Whatsit. Mrs. Whatsit lives in “the haunted house” in the woods.

 

Charles Wallace, Meg, and their dog, Fortinbras go into the woods to see Mrs. Whatsit the next day. Suddenly they find a boy who’s name is Calvin. Calvin is a couple of grades above Meg. He is on the high school basketball team. They all introduced themselves and headed towards the house. Charles Wallace knocked on the door. A woman named Mrs. Who was knitting on a rocking chair inside the house. Mrs. Who is a friend of Mrs. Whatsit. They live together. Mrs. Who can only speak in quotes because it is too hard for her to verbalize her thoughts. Mrs. Whatsit wasn’t there so Calvin, Meg, and Charles Wallace went home.

 

Calvin stayed over for dinner. After dinner, Calvin took Meg on a walk and in the middle of the walk, Charles Wallace appears and says, “we’re going.” Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin head to the house in the woods. (Charles Wallace thinks that they’re going to find their father). When Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin are walking to Mrs. Whatsit’s house they find Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and a little silver shimmer in the air. The little shimmer start’s to talk, “ Alll rrightt, girrllss. Thiss iss nno ttime forr bbickkerring.” Charles Wallace says to Meg and Calvin, “That’s Mrs. Witch.”

 

That’s all I’m going to tell you because after that comes the part where you don’t want to put the book down. I loved this book because during a few of the chapters I couldn’t put the book down. When I stopped reading, I felt dizzy.

 

My favorite part of the book was when Meg, Charles Wallace, Calvin, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch all travel to a woman named Medium. And as they’re approaching Medium’s house, Mrs. Witch says “WWEE ARE HERE!”. I like that part because it is a little funny. (You will understand it if you read the book.)

 

I would recommend this book to people who like books that you can really get into because when I was reading it I literally could not put the book down. I would also recommend this book to people who like to read a book and want to be surprised because trust me, there are a lot of surprises. Lastly, I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy that is kind of realistic because the characters are easy to understand but what happens to them is fantasy. I think that ages 9+ should read this book. If you have read When You Reach Me you will love this book.

 

I would rate this book five stars!

 

This Isn’t What It Look Like by Pseudonymous Bosch

I recently read a book called This Isn’t What It Looks Like by Pseudonymous Bosch. It is a very mysterious book. One thing that makes it mysterious is that the author shows you chapters sometimes that seem random when you are reading them but by the end of the book, you know exactly why he showed you that chapter at that time.

 

The book is about a girl named Cass, who by eating a piece of chocolate, hopes she can find one of the most important pieces of information in the world. Then she falls asleep and goes into a coma, but in her brain, she is on a mission. Will she find out the information, or will she not? Will she get out of her coma, or will she die? I am leaving that for you to figure out. At some times, the book is really relaxing and funny, but at some times, you are not sure if the main characters (Cass and Max-Ernest) will make it back alive.

 

I rate this book four stars because the book is mysterious, but not quite a mystery.

Alice-Miranda At School by Jacqueline Harvey

The name of this book is Alice-Miranda At School by Jacqueline Harvey. The main character is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones. She goes to a boarding school called Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for proper young ladies, when she was only seven.

While at school, Alice-Miranda finds that there are many unhappy people and that something is wrong. She finds that the Headmistress, Ophelia Grimm/Miss Grimm is nowhere to be found. There also seems to be someone hiding out on the premises. Alice-Miranda starts interrupting Miss Grimm’s study and Miss Grimm gets annoyed so Miss Grimm finds a way to get Alice-Miranda kicked out. Alice-Miranda has to do all different challenges to stay in the school.

I enjoyed this book because Alice-Miranda has her way of doing certain things that she should or shouldn’t do. My favorite part is toward the end of the book, when Alice-Miranda finally reveals a mysterious twist about Miss Grimm’s life- I have to keep it a secret though! I would recommend this book to people who like suspenseful books and mysteries. I really loved reading it because it kept me on my toes. Even though it was exciting, I would only give it 3 out of 5 stars.