Monthly Archives: February 2014

Feb
28
2014

Finally by Wendy Mass

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Finally

Finally

by Wendy Mass

 

My book is called Finally by Wendy Mass. The main character is named Rory. She is 11 years old and it is about her and all the things she does when she turns 12. Rory is shy because she does not have the nerve to talk to people. She is also very brave. She is brave because of all the things that happen to her in the story. She lives in Willow Falls.

 

Rory has some major problems. So she has wanted to do some things all of her life, like get her ears pierced, and get a pet. Well those things don’t turn out so well.. You might think, “Oh getting a pet won’t be so hard, right?” Well, not according to Rory. Like when she was getting her ears pierced the lady said the earrings were hypoallergenic, but no, since you find out that she has a lot of reactions. The reaction is that her ear puffs up like a baby elephant.

 

I liked the book because it was funny. There were a lot of funny parts, including all of the times where something bad happens to her. Like when she gets her bunny, he is evil. An example of when Rory’s bunny is bad is when the bunny tries to kill her.   I would recommend this book to someone who likes books that are funny and mysterious. I would rate this book 4 ½ stars.

Feb
28
2014

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

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by Zachary Cappadocia

 

The book that I read over the weeks was Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. The main characters in the book are Maggie and her dad. Maggy is a full fledged book reader and she is always very curious about things she is not supposed to know. For example, in the beginning of the book she tries to hear what her dad was saying to the mysterious new person even though she could tell her dad wanted her as far away from their conversation as possible. Maggie’s dad Mo is a book reader also but he is kind of awkward when ever he is lying and he really tries to keep the truth away from maggie. In the beginning of the book the setting is there their aunt’s house which is pretty big and pretty fancy and not for kids to live in because she thinks  if kids live in her house it will get dirty and her precious books will be destroyed. In the whole book Magie and Mo are moving around but that is the first place that we know they traveled. This book could happen right now in the present because the houses have electricity and the houses have a stove that runs off of gas.

Maggie and Mo’s problem is Maggie gets a little too curious and Mo reads out of an unlucky book and the the bad guy in the book magically comes straight into their living room. Maggie has to learn magic to stop this strange villain. One of the important events that happened was when the visitor Dustfinger made fire come out of his mouth because that was the first glimpse of magic. Another important event was when the thugs came to rob the book shortly after Mo read it to maggie.  Thats when the disaster happened. One little quote to prove that the evil guy is bad is “I tried to call the police but the lines are down”,said the aunt. That quote proves if the police had came they would have taken the crook away.

 

I enjoyed the book a lot. If I were to rate this book on a scale of 1 to 5, it would be a 4 because I really enjoyed how they got you interested into the book really fast. Another reason why I enjoyed the book is because I am a fan of fantasy. If you are a fan of fantasy this book is for you. I recommend this book to people who like fantasy because there are a lot of big adventures that have some really strange things but they are always believable. I also reccomend this book to people who like mystery because it has a lot of mystery. The mystery might come to your liking or they might not.

Feb
28
2014

Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins

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Toys Come Home is about a girl who has a lot of stuffed animals. In the book it does not say what the girl’s name is and it just says ‘the girl’. When the girl is not Unknowninside the room all the stuffed animals come to life and their names are stingray that is a stingray, bobby dot that is a seal, sheep that is a sheep ,rocking horse that is a rocking horse and tuck tuck which is a towel but she needs to stay in the bathroom. The stuffed animals can talk and play games and do lots of things. The stuffed animals don’t get to go outside and they just stay home all day in the girls room. There are lots of other characters that come in the book that I did not introduce yet but I will soon.

When it is the girl’s birthday that is when stingray comes to the girls house. Stingray got shipped in a little box and stingray was the girl’s birthday gift. When the girl brings stingray into the room all the stuffed animals stare at her and when the girl leaves the stuffed animals start to be mean to her. When it is night time stingray does not have anywhere to sleep so she just sleeps on the window sill. Soon the girl’s dad dries bobby dot in the dryer and bobby dot was not supposed to be dried so when he comes out of the dryer he is shredded into pieces. So the next day the girl brings Stingray to the toy shop to get a new bobby dot, but the girl does not seem to like him so much so the day after that she brings Stingray again to the toy shop and exchanges the seal with a bull. The bull is named Lumpy. Stingray and Lumpy make friends and now Stingray has a friend to play with. When the girl has her birthday party her parents think she is old enough to have a bowling party so the girl has a bowling party. One of the girls friend gives her a Plastic ball and the girl named it plastic and then Stingray, Lumpy and plastic all make friends. Stingray, Lumpy and Plastic also really like playing hungry hippos and Stingray says “More hippos are the best.” But Plastic thinks that her hippo was full of marbles nine hours ago and she doesn’t understand that you try to get the most marbles.

I really enjoyed this book because it is interesting how Lumpy Stingray and Plastic all make friends and it is exciting how all the stuffed animals can come to life. I would recommend this book because it is exciting and you want to know what is going to happen next. I would give this a five star rating out of five stars.

 

                                              review by Olivia Im Propp

 

 

Feb
28
2014

Emmy and The Incredible Shrinking Rat

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The book Emmy And The Incredible Shrinking Rat by  Lynne Jonell Illustrated by Jonathan Bean.   The main Character is a girl, Emmy. Emmy’s parents are very rich. Emmy loves them but there are a few problems. The book takes place in Emmy’s town, in her mansion, at her school/school playground and in an alleyway at a store that sells rats.  (They sell rats because every rat in the world has a secret that it can do such as Raston a big character but not the biggest character.  Also the Ender mouse, the Ender mouse has the ability to make people love each other again!)

 

Emmy has a few big problems, the first one is her nanny.  The reason her nanny is so mean is because she had 2 parents, one nice and one mean, it is obvious who she decided to be like, her mean mother.  Also Emmy has yet another problem, her parents.  Her parents go on vacation all the time at first 2 days and at the time that we are reading about, 7 weeks at a time! Wouldn’t that be nice to go on vacation for all that time well it is not nice because Emmy is not allowed to go on vacation with them.  This book is different than others, it really only follows Emmy around like a camera and does not leave her side, everything that she does is like a record of her life.  “Every minute counts” as Emmy says.  As I say about the book, every minute/page of the book is great and plentiful!

I enjoyed this book a lot because it is funny and it has very unusual parts to it.  A funny part about  the book that I liked was when Emmy goes through all of the different potions made by all of the different rodent powers.  One of the funny parts is, they pick out a potion and the potion works in a really weird way, it can sniff out lies.  That part is about the funniest part in the book and the funniest in any book I have ever read.  I would recommend this book to people who really like different themes because this book has tons of different people and themes to keep track of.  I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 the, first, I add 2 for the amount of detail in the writing, second, I add a 2 for the amazing humor and the way Lynne put it and third, I add a 1 for the characteristics of all the characters!!

Feb
28
2014

Museum of Thieves

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I read Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner a book that brings you into a adventure 9780375859786_p0_v1_s260x420of a life time. It’s about  a girl named Goldie who is annoyed that she’s chained to her mother and gets a ceremony to get her chain off but it messes up. After that she goes on a wild adventure the one I was just talking about. The setting is  a place called Museum of Thieves which brings us to the title there a lot of other places Goldie goes that you might find out if you read the book.

Did I tell you that Goldie meets a boy named Toadspit that thinks that he’s better than Goldie? He says mean things about her like “I was never that stupid,” but he didn’t know Goldie heard. But meanwhile Guardian hope is doing some strange with others you will find out more if you read the book. I DARE YOU! There are lot of interesting characters that are all different personality.

 

This is a good book for 4th grade and maybe 3rd grade. I would rate this book five stars. If you like adventure this for you. I think maybe 50% of people who like adventure would like this book. good reading!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Feb
28
2014

Adventures According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

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Adventures according to Humphrey

Adventures According to Humphrey is a book by Betty G. Birney. Humphrey ( the hamster) is the main character. Humphrey is a kind, nice, curious (and lots of other  things)hamster. Humphrey see’s to the library, classroom, Potters Pond and the bus and i think a few other places.

 

Humphrey does have problems. Like his human friends are bringing boats they did not make and that is against the rules. Humphrey does not have so many problems that include him it is just that his friends are in trouble and it is sometimes because of him so he wants to help and change that mistake he made. The class goes to potters pond  for a trip and they do a race and eat. Humphrey squeaks, “ Thats against the law”. Richie, a student, says , “ I’ll hide it in my backpack. While the race is on, I’ll sneak to the sidelines, slip the submarine in the water, then bring it up fight next to his tall horrible boat”.

 

This book is one of my favorites like when they go to Potters Pond it is really funny. There are lots of good moments and to me i just keep on wanting to read and i am so sad when i have to stop reading! This book is great for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. I think everyone would love it and is is that sort of book that makes you love reading. I would rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It is really the best of all.

 

Feb
28
2014

Mallory On The Move by Laurie Friedman

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imgres Mallory On The Move is a book about a girl named Mallory who has to move away from her lifelong BFF. When she moves she will have to make new friends with new people she is not so happy about that. She meets a boy whose name is Joey and Mallory likes that she has a friend. Mallory and Joey love the street that they live on because the street that they live on is called Wish Pond Road. Wish Pond Road has a wish pond.

Mallorys BFF Mary-Ann comes to visits Mallory and she is not expecting Joey to be friends with Mallory. “How about we all play,” Said Mary-Ann. That is a good idea to her, but most groups of three don’t work if they all play. Bad decision. Read the book to find out what happens next so I don’t spoil the ending.

This book is a really good book because there are 14 books in the series so you can read them all. The names of them are  Mallory on the Move,  Back to School Mallory, Mallory vs. Max, Happy Birthday Mallory, In Business with Mallory, Heart to Heart with Mallory, Mallory on Board, Honestly Mallory, Campfire Mallory, Step Fourth Mallory,  Red White & True Blue Mallory, Happy New Year Mallory, Mallory Goes Green and Mallory in the Spotlight. ( they are in the order to read them.) I rate this book 4⅔. If you are 8-12 This book is good for you.

Feb
28
2014

Ivy And Bean Take Care Of The Baby Sitter

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Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter

This book is by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall and is the authors of the other Ivy and Bean books. The main characters in this book are Ivy and Bean, they are girls that are 7 or 8 and are very mischievous. Ivy likes to read books but is also mysterious  and Bean is a noddy and hates her older sister Nancy who is 10. The setting of this book is in Pancake Court where Ivy and Bean live, and it also takes place in Beans house.

Bean has a big problem, her old babysitter is sick and Nancy went up for the job to be her babysitter because she was going to get paid for it. What was Bean going to do in her house when she couldn’t go outside and play in the mud at Sophie W’s house. Bean tries to get Ivy to come into her house to play even though Ivy was allowed to come over Bean thought it would be more fun. Bean wanted to go to the crawl space ( the crawl space is what Beans family calls their attic ) really badly and when her parents are there she is not allowed to so she tries to sneak up into her attic. Nancy also wanted to do something while her parents were gone too, she wanted to put on makeup since a lot of her friends at her school wear makeup but while Nancy was putting on makeup Ivy and Bean went up to the crawl space. “Ivy looked up, up the shelves of sheets and towels to a square wooden door set in the closet ceiling.

This was not my favorite book and I think it was not that interesting compared to the other books in the series. I would recommend this book to 6 – 10 years old. I think this might be a good book to read with your family. This book can also be read by yourself and if you want to read a book about two girls who have lots of fun ideas I think this book is for you. I rate this book three stars out of five *** stars. I think kids might like this book so I hope this book reveiw might tell you that you want to read this book!     

 

Feb
28
2014

Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere, by Julie T. Lamana

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(“Advanced Readers Copy”, being published April 2014)

      Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere is a amazing book by Julie T. Lamana. The main character is Armani Curtis. Armani is looking forward to one thing: her 10th birthday. Armani and her mom, dad, grandmother Memaw, Brother Gorgeie, Sister Seally, and a brother Kheelin, and sister Khayla, who are about two years old live in New Orleans, in the Lower 9’s.

      Then, the family hears about this hurricane Katrina, and says there’s gonna be no damage. But, they are wrong. Once the storm starts, Armani knows she will have to be brave, watch loved ones die, and have to help the family survive this horrible storm.

 

      Armani learns while the storm is wrecking her life, that she has to help her family survive this storm, even though bad things happen, she has to fight them away and help out, then maybe come back to it. Her idea is to somehow find lost family members, and what used to be her home. “For the first time in my whole life, I felt unsafe in a place where I’d always know, no matter what, I was going to be safe.” On the blurb (back of book). Before the storm, Armani was safe in her home with her family.  Once the storm hit, she lost some family and security.  Then she didn’t feel safe in the place that always felt safe to her. The aftermath of this storm made her brave.

 

      I enjoyed the book, because sometimes it was pretty sad, and then, it eventually got better. Also, there was one big problem, and there was another small problem, which might have got solved, and then there was another one, and maybe the big one got solved at the end… Read it to find out! I would recommend the book for 10+ because it was sort of hard to take in sometimes, and it was pretty intense sometimes. I would rate this infinity stars because it was so good. I like the authors writing style because it gave me a better sense of what was going on in the book, and it was very clear. And, the characters are really interesting. (This storm is real, and it was pretty bad. This book might be a little different when it is published, so be aware.)

Upside-Down-in-the-Middle-of-Nowhere_Front-Cover_sm

Feb
27
2014

Madison Finn By Laura Dower

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9780613750387The title of this book is Madison Finn by Laura Dower. The main character is Madison Finn and she has all different kinds of personalities because she gets into all different problems in this book. For example, after Madison gets into a fight with best friend, Ivy/Poison Ivy, they become enemies. Then, her dad comes to her house (her parents are divorced) with his new girlfriend and things get crazy with her parents. It is awkward for Madison and her divorced parents because Madison is stuck in between them. The setting of this book mostly takes place at school and at her house.

 

Madison takes a long journey through all different emotions and gets caught up so many times. She doesn’t know what to do because right after she starts to settle down, its like she gets a really loud wake up call jolts her back into action. The book begins with Madison working on the school elections. Then, somebody nominates Madison for Class President, but she doesn’t know who. Throughout the rest of the book, she tries to figure out who it was. Her email pen pal gives her advice throughout the book, especially about boys. Madison has a crush on a boy named Hart. One quote that best describes the book is from a file Madison wrote, “Rude Awakening: Crushing can be hazardous to your health. I just don’t get boys. One minute they’re so nice, the next minute they’re so not. Does crushing on someone mean my heart is going to get squashed?”

I really liked the book a lot. I liked it because I can understand how Madison was feeling. For example, sometimes, I have mixed emotions and I don’t know which one is most powerful. Madison is also overwhelmed by her emotions when Ivy always gets her way in everything. Then Madison feels mad and sad and doesn’t know which feeling is worse. I also liked the book because it had email sections that were fun to read. It made it really easy to understand her emotions. I would recommend this book to people who experience mixed emotions sometimes. The book really captured Madison’s different feelings. I would also recommend it to people who have trouble figuring out their problems. Madison’s pen pal helps Madison figure out her problems, so maybe the person reading the book could get help as well. I would rate this book four stars because it was a good book and I could relate to it, but it wasn’t my favorite book (which would be five stars). It is only four stars because it didn’t make me laugh and my favorite kinds of books are funny ones.