Monthly Archives: March 2016

Mar
10
2016

The Secret Of the Old Clock, Carolyn Keene

Posted by

maxresdefault

Even though it was a book, The Secret Of The Old Clock, painted a clear picture in my head. The book I read was The Secret Of The Old Clock by, Carolyn Keene. It is part of the Nancy Drew series. The central character in my book is Nancy Drew and Carson Drew. The major problem in this book is that Nancy needs to find a will to help some people get more money. She looks for the will by looking for relatives of the man that died to give hints to help her solve the mystery. This book takes place in River Heights and around 1980-1990.

 

Nancy Drew is kind because she tried to help some people get more money. Something else that makes Nancy kind is that in the beginning she saves a little girl’s life. Nancy is also curious because she wanted to get involved with a mystery. She is adventures too because she went on an adventure to figure out the mystery. A part of the book I found very interesting is when Nancy sees some robbers robbing a house. It was interesting because Nancy had to stop the robbers from stealing furniture. Also she saw the robbers twice and had to stop them two times.

 

Another part I found interesting is when Nancy goes to someone’s house and hears a big scream. It was interesting because I never knew what was going to happen next. A big decision Nancy makes is when she decides to go do something dangerous and if she gets caught she might get hurt or even be killed! One other part I found interesting is when Nancy gets so close to the answer of the mystery. It was interesting because it made me have a lot of thoughts while reading it.

 

I enjoyed the book because it had some surprising parts that I would not expect. Also at first I thought the book was going to be boring because I do not like mystery but I liked this book. Another thing that made it interesting was that Nancy would do anything to solve the mystery. I would recommend this book to kids who like mystery books and surprising things, also to kids in third or fourth grade. The genre of my book is mystery. This book connects to my life because I am curious just like Nancy. I give this book three and a half stars.        

 

 

Mar
09
2016

Frindle By Andrew Clements

Posted by

imgres

Sorry, I need to borrow your Frindle

By Madiba Johnson

Nick Allen (the main character) lives in Westfield and goes to Lincoln Elementary School in New Hampshire.

I think the two main characters are interesting. Nick (the student) is extremely and greatly consumed by his own creativity and his teacher, Mrs. Granger is strict and super powerful and that is all because of her eye’s. She can give looks that are very strong. Nick is the central character.

 I think that Nick  is a very adventurous, daring and exceptionally creative. In the story Nick creates his own word using something that already has a name. He calls a pen a Frindle. He makes his friends use the word and over a little bit of  time the town and even the country starts to use the word Frindle. Mrs. Granger wants Nick to stop this word from spreading but there is nothing they can do to stop it because the word is not his anymore. The word has spread around the state and then the the country and then then the whole world. I like this book because this story can actually happen in real life. I think I can see myself doing something like this in real life. In the first chapter the title is “Is Nick Allen a Troublemaker?” That makes me think because later in the story it seems like he is a troublemaker but he’s also at the same time not a troublemaker. He is a troublemaker because he creates a word that some people want to stop from spreading but he is not a troublemaker because he did not know it would become a world wide known word! In the first chapter Nick makes his first grade classroom into a replica of a beach while the teacher says “It’s so creative!” And “It’s so colorful!” I think that the author took his time to really think about this book. I would give this book ✮✮✮✮✮ because it makes me realize how things that happen in books can really happen in real life!  

 

Mar
09
2016

The Boy Who Harnessed Wind

Posted by

images

Can you build a windmill? William Kamkwamba can. The name of my book is The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. The main character is a boy called William Kamkwamba. One big problem for William and his family is a famine that causes many deaths in where he lives. It takes place in Malawi, Africa around 2013. That’s where William lives. William made a windmill when he was only 14!

 

In Malawi Africa they use a different type of money. It is called Kwacha. Three kwacha is less than one American dollar.

 

I think William is an interesting character with an inspiring story. One word I would use to describe William is creative. For example, William and his family don’t have enough money for a real soccer ball. William makes one out of plastic bags that have been used already. He calls them jumbos. William also doesn’t buy toy cars or trucks. Instead, he makes them himself. He makes them out of things that some people would call garbage, but the things he uses can be used to build anything. He uses empty milk cartons, bottle caps, and the insides of tree branches to build his toy cars and trucks. It’s very interesting to learn how he uses these materials to make things that you wouldn’t typically think would and could be made out of those materials.

 

William is many things. But he is definitely not negative! William is a very optimistic person. William thinks about ways to make bad things good, and then he tries to make it reality. For example, one big problem for William and his family is that a drought hits Malawi and it gets very hard to survive because after the drought there was a famine. Luckily, they still have some maize from the year before the drought. William’s mother goes to the mill with corn to get flour.  She then uses the flour to make a type of cake that she sells to all of the hungry people for three kwacha each. Half of her profit goes to William’s father’s friend who is a trader. This trader gives them a pail of maize for the money she gives him. This maize gets ground into flour and baked into more of the cakes for the next day. The other half of the profit goes to William’s family to buy food for themselves so they can survive the drought as well.

 

I have one more thing that I think is an extremely important character trait for William. William learned how to successfully build a windmill in very hard times. You would have to be incredibly smart to do that. He learned from books in the public library. He read, collected and built in his free time, (which he had much of since he had to drop out of school because he could not afford it). He read about how to make one certain part of a windmill, looked around for that thing or replaced it with something that would work just as well as the real thing, and then he would build it. He got so many items to help him build the windmill from looking in places like the back of a bar or a scrap yard, and he stored them all in his room. Sometimes he would get told off for a dirty and messy room, but it was worth it because in the end he actually built a windmill and helped his family.

 

There were two events that happened in the book that I found most interesting. The first thing that I found really interesting was that even though people thought William was losing his mind from the hunger while he was building his windmill, William never gave up. William kept on going through it, through all of it and never even thought about giving up. In the beginning of the book everyone thought William was just like them. Then they thought he was crazy, but they were wrong. He built a windmill. He never gave up. He stayed strong the whole way through. It shows that there can be more to a person than you think there is. Another very interesting thing that I read in the book was that he learned all he knew about windmills from books. He sat down day after day after day after day and he read and he read and he read and he read. I think it is very inspiring and makes me want to read more to see what I can learn from books.

 

I really enjoyed this book. One reason I enjoyed this book was it was a fun read and kept me on edge about what would happen next and if William would survive and if he would make a windmill or not. I would recommend this book to someone who likes autobiographies, nonfiction books, a little bit of sad concepts and someone who likes to read about other places in the world and what they are like. This book reminds me of the book I am Malala. She struggled and wanted to help other people in her home country and so did William. Overall, I would rate this book five stars out of five stars, (one meaning I didn’t like it all and five meaning I loved it and I want to read it again.)

Mar
09
2016

The Mouse And The Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

Posted by

Zach

 

 

MotorcycleI read The Mouse and The Motorcycle and that title made me think those two things don’t go well together, so I wondered what it could possibly be about. This book was by Beverly Cleary who used to be a bad reader until third grade when she caught up with everyone else. So what I don’t get is why she chose to be an author if she wasn’t such a good reader until third grade. This book is part of a series called Ralph and the Motorcycle. There is a mouse named Ralph and a boy named Keith in the story. The Mouse and The Motorcycle took place in a rundown hotel in California, but it does not say what the time period is but it is probably modern times.

This story was about a little mouse named Ralph who lived in a knothole in one of the rooms of the hotel. Ralph is a very big risk taker because once Ralph went out on a dangerous mission to help Keith that involved the lower floor. He’s also very adventurous because when he grows up he wants to explore the whole hotel. Ralph never worries because he wants to go down on a lower floor even though he knows it’s dangerous. Then a boy named Keith stayed at the hotel with his parents and brought along a little toy motorcycle. Ralph noticed it and tried to ride it but ended riding it into the trashcan. Keith noticed them both in the trashcan and took them both out. Keith said hello to the mouse and Ralph said hello right back, which for some reason did not surprise Keith even though mice usually can’t talk. Ralph said that his motorcycle did not work but Keith showed him it did and he let Ralph ride it, which started a good friendship. In the story Ralph does learn that being greedy can sometimes wind you up in a laundry basket and end up almost losing a friend. One time Ralph had to help Keith get an aspirin since he was sick so Ralph went down to the bottom floor to find one. He went into a room with some college kids sleeping and found one and used an ambulance that Keith had as a toy, Ralph got it in the ambulance and drove it back up. Ralph decided to be greedy. He was greedy because he wanted the motorcycle all to himself. His greediness almost ended

up with him losing the motorcycle and a friendship which almost changed the book completely.

 

I liked this book because I was wondering how they could of possibly put a mouse and a motorcycle together but they put it together so that it made perfect sense to me. One other thing that I liked was that Keith and Ralph became really good friends. I recommend this book if you like adventures and fiction. A connection I have is that me and Ralph both like adventures.

 

I rate this book four stars.

Mar
09
2016

EllRay Jakes Walks the Plank! By Sally Warner.

Posted by

imgres-2In an empty fishbowl far far away there once was a dead fish. Was this Ellray’s fault? Read Ellray Jakes walks the plank to find out. The author’s name is Sally Warner. This book is a good series. The main characters are EllRay, a nine year old boy, and Cynthia, a nine year old girl. The main problem is that EllRay is irresponsible and Cynthia is mean. EllRay, the main character, is trying not to mess up as much because he messes up most of the time he is in school. Cynthia, the other character, is trying to be nicer to EllRay and everyone else in their class. This story takes place at Ellray Jakes’ house on Saturday morning.  This book also takes place at his school on Monday morning. The story takes place in the present.

Ellray Jakes is interesting because he is funny and he is also mindful about other people.  Ellray is funny because he makes up jokes with his friends and makes them laugh. He is also mindful because at one point in the book, he was responsible for bringing a book back from his house. He forgot the book at his house and he felt bad because the rest of his class was reading the book too and they couldn’t because he forgot it.  

Cynthia is also interesting because she is not so nice.  She blames stuff on EllRay, and that’s why he keeps getting in trouble.  One time the class was playing a tag game, and EllRay had to stand still because he got tagged.  When he tried to tag her, he accidentally grabbed her skirt and made her fall backwards because she yanked it out of EllRay’s hand. Cynthia got EllRay in trouble with the teacher.

EllRay has one big problem and that is how his class fish died, when he was supposed to take care of it for spring break. The reason why it died was because Ellray let his little sister put fish food in the fish tank. Then she put too much food in the tank, and the fish ate the food until it died from eating too much. When the fish ate the food, Ellray was sleeping because it was time for him to go to bed. The problem was that because EllRay messed up so much, he knew that no one would believe that it wasn’t him that killed the fish.

One event that changed the direction of the story was when Cynthia started to become nice.  The reason why she was starting to be nice was because she noticed that EllRay was getting in trouble so much because of her.  So, she stopped trying to get him in trouble.

I enjoyed the book because I thought it had a good setting. I liked that it took place mostly at school because it made the story seem more realistic. It was like it could happen in real life.  I also enjoyed this book because it was interesting how Cynthia kept getting EllRay in trouble, and it seemed like EllRay had trouble defending himself. I would recommend this book to 4th graders and 3th graders. I think that this book is funny because it has good jokes. If I had to rate this book from one star to five stars I would say would say five stars. *****

 

 

 

 

Mar
09
2016

Northwood, By Brian Falker

Posted by

Imagine you get stuck in a forest that is in the deepest of the town where no one steps in by choice. You get grabbed by the dark trees that you can barely see in the night sky, 13_jpg_4e42af4ed8and of course don’t forget the giant black lions that will kill you in one bite. The main character in my story is Cecilia Undergarment. She is really optimistic. This book takes place in a town called Brookfield. I think it’s a small town because everyone knows everyone. This story probably takes place (time period) in 2010 or 2011. I think this because they had helicopters, phones (but like not high tech like nowadays), and tvs.

The main character Cecilia Undergarment is interesting, courageous.  She gets stuck in Northwood because her house falls apart (the house is made of balloons) and she is stuck in Northwood until something happens….  An example from the text to back up this information is “Cecilia didn’t panic, because she once read that usually if you panic you end up in a much worse situation than the first place.” Another example from the text is “I think she’s the only person that has come into this forest and tried to help everyone to get out” said a person that had also been stuck in North Wood. This shows how Cecilia wasn’t afraid and used her knowledge even though she is in a dangerous forest with no one expect a dog, and man eating black lions roaming around.

One thing Cecilia comes across on her journey are to twins named Avery and Evan.  Cecilia and them become really great friends throughout the book. Avery and Evan lead Cecilia all around the castle where Cecilia stays along with the many others that had been stuck in the forest. Throughout the book Cecilia always tries to come up with plans to escape but….WAIT.. I can’t spoil the book!

I really enjoyed this book because the characters all had a really well and thought out personalities so that made it easier to understand what was happening and why. One example of this was how Avery in the beginning of the story mentioned how Evan was the smarter one and later in the book he was the one who came up with a gameplan that was the most effective.  I would recommend this book for readers that can keep up with a lot of things at once since this book had many characters and different things going on at the same time.

One connection to my life in this book is that before Cecila got stuck in Northwood she had a neighbor that was super nice and a little chubby with a big beard but then he lost a lot of weight and cut his beard and became really rude. I had the almost same thing happen to my neighbor! I would give this book 5 stars because the end made sense to me and I realized how it all tied in and how creative the author was when creating characters. I really wish I could read this book over and over again!

Mar
09
2016

Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret

Posted by

417aglZcY4L                                                      〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

Margaret Anne Simon, the narrator of Judy Blume’s engaging Tween 1970s novel, moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey and learns more about being twelve than she bargained for.

Margaret is in 6th grade and she is an only child. This is Margaret’s first year in Farbrook, New Jersey and in the school she is going to.

Margaret’s best new friends are Nancy, Janie and Gretchen. They have a club called the Four PTS’s, which stands for Pre-Teen Sensations, which I think means they think they are fabulous. I don’t really agree with that because they’re not the most sensational girls on earth, they’re pretty normal. The club meets every Monday after school, and mostly they discuss a “topic” which I don’t feel comfortable talking about much less writing about, especially in front of boys. So from here on in, I will refer to this “topic” as “Dot.” What does “Dot” stand for you ask? All I can say is it’s something that starts happening to girls every month when they reach a certain age that is different for every girl but it usually happens between ages eleven and 15. Fine, I’ll say it once… menstruation.

Okay, now that I’ve admitted I’m uncomfortable writing about “Dots,” I realize I’m also kind of embarrassed talking about all of the physical changes that go along with “Dots.” Like the things that happen that make the PTS’s decide they will “All feel each other’s backs to make sure we’re wearing our…” I’m talking about a piece of clothing people! An undergarment! A Tiny Tank-top! You get the picture.

Anyway, about the TT’s Margaret says, “We all were.” (Wearing them.)

There is this girl in Margaret’s class named Laura Danker. Everybody is jealous of her including Margaret because Laura is pretty, tall and popular. Not only that, she looks like she actually needs to wear a TT unlike Margaret and her friends.

One day in the library when they are studying together after hours, Laura tells Margaret she’s not supposed to copy “word for word” out of the encyclopedia and Margaret gets so angry, she says a bunch of really mean things to Laura, like “I know all about you anyways…About how you and Evan and Moose go behind the A&P.” The A&P is a grocery store.

Again, I’m not very comfortable telling you what Margaret thinks they do behind there, but it’s kind of gross. Like too gross to ever imagine.

Laura gets really upset and tells Margaret it’s not true and Margaret believes her because she happens to know her friend Nancy, the one who told her that, is a liar because she lied about having her “Dot.” When Laura asks Margaret how she would like being the biggest girl in class, Margaret realizes that even though she thought Laura didn’t have any problems, she actually does, and it makes her feel really, really bad for being mean.

Margaret’s mom is Christian and her dad is Jewish. Margaret says, “I’m not any religion.” This is an interesting thing for her to say because she struggles with the idea of religion throughout the book and talks to God every night about the important things that happen to her during the day. Margaret’s friends, like her parents, are either Jewish or Christian. The Jews go to the Jewish Community Center and the Christians go to the Y. Margaret tries out different religions: she goes to Church and Temple and once, after being really mean to Laura Danker, she tries to go to confession, but she doesn’t feel God in any of those places. Margaret finally asks, “Why do I only feel you God when I’m alone?”

Margaret has only met her dad’s mom, Sylvia Simon, whom she loves because she’s fun and nice. Sylvia takes her to concerts at Lincoln Center and hand knits sweaters with tags that say, “Made Expressly For You…By Grandma.” When her mom sends a card to her parents, they send a letter back saying they are coming to visit. They have never met Margaret before and Margaret has never even seen pictures of them. It’s kind of like Margaret’s mom doesn’t have parents. Margaret gets really sad because they are coming the day she was going to fly on a plane, by herself, to see Sylvia Simon in Florida. Something she had been looking forward to for weeks, and now her trip had been canceled.

Margaret is really happy when Sylvia and her boyfriend come for a surprise visit after her mom’s parents leave. By the way, no one likes her mom’s parents because they are the exact opposite of Sylvia. They’re not nice or fun.

I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book to ages 10 and up. This book has some girl stuff in it so I wouldn’t recommend this book to boys. If boys liked this book review, there is a book by Judy Blume which is technically the same but for boys, called Then Again, Maybe I Won’t. The genre of this book is Realistic fiction. I would rate this book Five stars out of Five stars.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

Mar
09
2016

Secrets Of Bearhaven by K.E. Rocha Rubie Goldner

Posted by

Secrets-of-bearhaven

This is a book that will take you on the biggest adventure of your life. In this book the main characters are Spencer Plain the hero of the book and Kate Weaver the trainer.  In this book Spencer Plain’s parents are beare activists. They stop bear abuse. One day while at school, Spencer’s Uncle, Mark picks him up and drops him off in the forest telling him that his dad and mom have disappeared and he is in danger. Uncle Mark tells him that a bear is going to get him where he needs to be. Spencer freaks out about the bear ooo What am I supposed to do wait for a friendly bear to show up Spencer thinks. But fortunately,  Spencer finds the bear the bear’s name is B.D.  and the B.D. takes Spencer to Bearhaven here he meets a bear cub named Kate and they quickly become friends.

 

Spencer is excited to hear about rescue missions. Spencer is nervous for his parents. Spencer is brave when he goes on the rescue mission. Spencer hears of a rescue mission to rescue a bear named Ro Ro and her cubs from Bear baying, bear baying is when a bear gets chained to the ground and a bunch of hunt dogs go to hurt the bear really badly. Uncle Mark and the rest of the bears that are planning the rescue mission don’t want Spencer to go. They also say you need to have special training. Kate and Spencer train in secret by spying on the other young bears in training. But Spencer and Kate decideto take matters into their hands. The special things you  have to do is…  you have to climb a tree, do Bolder Rolling (make a bolder role), speak Rescue Ragayo (the language of the  bears) , do silent walking, and do Bear Stealth. Spencer manages to learn all of that, even bolder rolling. Spencer sneaks on the train taking Uncle Mark and B.D to the spot where near to where they will rescue Ro Ro and her cubs. By the time Uncle Mark and B.D. find out he’s there, it’s too late to turn back.

 

I really enjoyed the book because it had animals in it and I love animals. I love animals so much that when I grow up I am gonna be a vet.  I also enjoyed it because it has a lot of friendship in it and I think friendship is important.

 

I would definitely recommend this book to people who like books with a little mystery, and a lot of  technology and some brave bears. The genre of the book is,  Adventure,  Realistic Fiction and Mystery.  

 

If I were to rate this book one-to-five, five being the best I would rate it a five

1  2  3  4 5!!!!

Mar
09
2016

The Princess, The Scoundrel, And The Farm Boy. By: Alexandra Bracken

Posted by

urlIn a library not so far away… Alexandra Bracken’s The Princess, The Scoundrel, and The Farm boy. The novel that I am reviewing is part of a series that has three books in it, and if you love Star Wars this is definitely a good book for you to try. The main characters in this book are Luke Skywalker (the farm boy) princess Leia (the princess) and Han Solo (the scoundrel). The rebels consist of these three characters and more rebel soldiers. The rebels are trying to change the fact that the evil rule the galaxy. This book takes place in a galaxy far, far, away in the future.

Han Solo’s actions are effective but yet very subtle, he steps in at the last minute and helps the rebels get the victory. He is also very kind and aids the rebels supplies. The most important parts in the story are where. The most important part in the story is when Han Solo joins the rebel’s cause. Where Princess Leia joins the rebellion. the ending is very important. The main character makes the very big decision that was very surprising and changed the path of the story.

I did not really enjoy this book because I feel this book was not really the strong point of the series but  I definitely recommend So You Want To Be A Jedi? by Adam Gidwitz. The genre of this book is fiction. If you like mystery this is a good book for you. I rate this book three stars out of five.

          ★   ★   ★

www.alexandrabracken.com

Mar
09
2016

The House of Stairs By William Sleator

Posted by

imagesIn a house made entirely of stairs on one of the shiny pure white steps lay a book called:The House of Stairs by William Sleator. The house of stairs is about five 16 year old orphans named Oliver, Peter, Lola, Blossom, and Abigail that all get blindfolded and one by one get taken to a place that is not a prison and not a hospital. It’s just a maze of interlocking stairs.

My favorite character is Lola. I would describe her as brave, because she always stands up for herself and others, mischievous, because she would make lots of trouble at her old orphanage and tough because she would never let anything get to her. A part that I found interesting was when they first found the food machine and got it to work. How they got it to work was when Peter and Lola first met Blossom. Blossom leaned over a red screen with a hole in it. When she stuck out her tongue and a pellet would come out of the hole. An event that changed the direction of this book was when Lola and Peter decided not to eat or go along with the food machine. The food machine is significant because it keeps tricking them into being mean to each other.

I really loved this book because of the way it told the story and how different from other book it is. I would recommend this book to someone who likes science fiction because that’s what this book is. A connection to another book is that in the Isle of the Lost (not a series) all of the characters are 16. I would rate this book five stars.