Monthly Archives: February 2017

Feb
16
2017

A Grimm Warning, By Chris Colfer

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Do you like fairy tales? If so, have you ever wondered what happened to your favorite characters after their story finished? Well, if you keep reading, you’ll find out. This book is the third in the series called, “The Land Of Stories,” by Chris Colfer. Chris Colfer acted in the TV series called Glee.

In this story, the two main characters are Alex and Conner, the Bailey twins. Their father died on their 11th birthday. Freak car accident can happen. Alex and Conner are the grandchildren of the great and powerful Fairy Godmother, the ruler of the fairy-tale world. They have more power than any other magic fairytale character to ever live.

They have many problems to face, with their first being Alex living in the fairy tale world and Conner living in the Otherworld (Earth). Their Grandmother closed the portal between the fairy-tale world and the Otherworld for good, along with the help of the Fairy Council (basically the United Nations except made up of ten people and they are all fairies).

Apparently, the French Grande Armeé is here from the 1800’s, and they didn’t die. They were led into a portal along with all their artillery, and were stuck in there for 200 years. When they finally got to the Land Of Stories, they raised a dragon, which has not been seen for centuries in the fairy-tale world, and the Fairy Godmother is the only one who knows how to slay them. But, due to some unfortunate events, she is veeery sick, and old, and frail, and in a sort of a coma.

When the Grand Armee attacks the Fairy Palace, (The HQ for the Fairy-Tale world) they capture all the monarchs from all the kingdoms. They capture Queen Snow White and King Chandler Charming from the Northern Kingdom, Queen Cinderella, King Chance Charming and Princess Hope from the Charming Kingdom, Queen Sleeping Beauty, King Chase Charming and Princess Ash from the Eastern Kingdom, Red Riding Hood from the Red Riding Hood Kingdom, and Little Bo Peep, who got elected Queen during this same time period, and re-named the kingdom, the Bo Peep Republic, and Prince Charlie Charming from the Charming Kingdom (he’s one of the 4 charming brothers, and dating Red. He turned into a man sized frog, but still acts and talks like a human).

The Grand Armeé threatens to kill all the monarchs if the Fairy Council does not surrender. The Fairy Council does not surrender, but they get all the monarchs to safety by cutting the ropes around them and letting the monarchs fight (the monarchs trained while they were on the secret path, with Jack and Goldilocks as their trainers. Jack and Goldilocks are both outcasts, but they are friends of Alex and Conner’s, which is why the monarchs let Jack and Goldilocks stay). Alex performs some pretty awesome magic, but gets betrayed by the boy she was dating, who told the Armeé about the secret path.

But a few minutes later, the dragon comes, and is controlled by the Masked Man. The Masked Man is a master criminal, but is very evil, which is why General Jacques Marquis took him into the army. At first the General thinks that the dragon is his, but is wrong when he gets a scorching demise caused by the Masked Man. The Masked man takes control of the Armee and orders them to attack. But all of a sudden, with her last energy, the Fairy Godmother comes out of her chamber and kills the dragon. The Masked Man orders his forces to retreat. The battle is over, and the Fairy-Tale world is at peace once again. Alex becomes the new Fairy Godmother, and Conner stays there to become her assistant.

None of them know what the Masked Man is plotting next…      

Feb
16
2017

The Tale of Desperaux, By Kate DiCAMILLO

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Lately I have been reading books by Kate DiCamillo and I like her books a lot. The book I am reading by her now is called The Tales Of Desperaux. It is about a tiny mouse that is so different than other mice that it gets thrown in the dungeon with the rats. But Desperaux is not scared because he promised himself he would stay brave for Princess Pea the human princess he is in love with. The setting takes place in the palace where royal family leaders of the Kingdom of Dor live.

 

There are three parts ,“books.” The 1st one is about Desperaux the 2nd is about Chiaroscuro one of the rats that lives in the dungeon. Chiaroscuro wanted to see light he had never seen light before he was a very curious rat. So one day when a new prisoner came in the dungeon Chiaroscuro snuck out the door and  he went up the stairs into the dining room where the royal family was eating. So he wouldn’t get seen, he climb up to a chandelier and dangled from there listening to wonderful music and looking at light  “wonderful light.” But princess pea spotted him and he was frightened so he fell landed in the queen’s soup and killed her. After that Chiaroscuros heart was broken and he wanted revenge on light.

 

Part three is about a girl named Miggery Sow she’s very boring and falls for things really easily . Her mother died when she was six. Her dad sold her for a chicken a table cloth and a pack of cigars also when she was six. Also the man she was traded to “Uncle” would give her clouts to the ear. She was treated like a slave for 6 years and on her 7th b-day when she went to tend to the sheep. The royal family came by and from then on she decided she wanted to be a princess. 5 years later, the same year  when  Chiaroscuro  fell into the soup, a man working for the king came by to tell them soup is banished and while he was there he found out Mig was a slave. So Mig was let free and worked as a servant in the castle but this time a PAID servant.

 

In the last “book” Chiaroscuro tells Mig that if she threatens to kill the princess and leads her down to the dungeon then she will for sure get her dream and become a princess. So since Mig did not know this rat was tricking her she did as she was told but then was trapped down in the dungeon with princess pea.  A few hours before this chaos Gregory ,a prisoner in the dungeon, helped Desperaux get out. This plan seems tricky but it was quite simple actually. All Gregory had to do was when Mig came down to give him his dinner he put Desperaux in the napkin and when Miggery went back upstairs with the tray Desperaux was still in that napkin being carried upstairs. After he got out of the napkin Desperaux found himself thread to to wrap a needle around his waist (Of course since Desperaux is so small a needle resembles a sword for him ) and then very bravely went down the dungeon stairs to rescue the princess … but did he ever come back out? Read the book and see.

 

I do recommend this book. Because it it very exciting when I started reading this book I could not stop. I  recommend other books by Kate DiCamillo like Because Of Winn-Dixie and The Mysterious Journey Of Edward Tulane which we already read in 3rd Grade. I liked it so much I would read it again.
 

Feb
16
2017

The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden.

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George Selden is the author of the award winning THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE. The main character is Chester, a cricket, and there are five sub-characters named: Tucker the mouse, Harry the cat, Mario the human and Mario’s parents. The book is placed in New York in the past time, in other words, in the 1960s. Chester gets homesick and needs to go home from his fame but has to leave his friend he made in New York City behind because they didn’t want to come with him.

 

A skill that Chester has, is that he’s a musician of chirping since he is a cricket. On page 118 it says, “His first selection was something he had heard the night before called ‘A Little Night Music.’” A trait I would give Chester is that he is a country cricket. That means that Chester is used to the quiet of the Connecticut countryside. Another interesting trait I would give Chester is that he loves to eat food, in fact if he eats too much he will fall asleep and that’s how he got his first journey to New York.  When he ate too much liverwurst he could not keep his eyes open and ended up falling asleep in a picnic basket heading to New York city and this is how Chester became a musician in New York. Chester doesn’t like attention that much and when people hear of the cricket that can chirp the song they come to hear Chester which makes him uncomfortable. He starts getting home sick so he might go home and at the end of the story he has made five friends which means he is loveable. An interesting part of the story is when Sai fong told a chinese legend. This is the legend, “A man named His Shui was trying to be killed by some wicked men but the High gods changed him into a cricket in return for the beautiful songs of the cricket.” A big event that happens in the story is that Mario’s parents Newsstand catches on fire Which makes Mario’s mom lose trust in Chester but then Chester starts playing mamas favorite song and Mario’s mom likes Chester once again.

 

I thought the book was great because I enjoyed how a country cricket becomes New York’s most popular chirper in the world and then disappears back to the country. I can relate to this book because I have a country house and I live in the city. I would recommend this book because it is an entertaining story. The genre of this book is a fiction book for third graders and up. I would give this book four stars and I agree that it deserves a medal.                     

Feb
16
2017

Spy Ski School, by Stuart Gibbs

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Benjamin Ripley attends to the CIA Academy of Espionage. Benjamin has been activated for a mission with Erica Hale. Alexander Hale, Cyrus Hale, Jawaharlal O’Shea, Chip Schacter, Zoe Zibbell and Warren Reeves. The mission is to get close to Leo Shang’s daughter (Jessica) to befriend her and to learn what Leo is planning. Benjamin and his friends are going to go skiing with her to be friends with her in Vail. Jessica and her dad is staying in a really fancy hotel while Ben, Chip, Jawa, and warren are staying in a motel, a really cheap and horrible motel.

 

Jawa, Chip, Warren, Erica Hale, and Zoe are going to act as random students so Jessica and Benjamin are going to be together to know each other and learn what Operation Golden Fist is, Unfortunately Mike Brzezinski, who is  Benjamin’s  best friend at his regular school the bad part is that Mike doesn’t know that Benjamin is a spy, and that Mike likes Jessica the target for the mission and Mike is very handsome so Mike might comprimise the whole mission. Luckily Mike is not in the same class as Jessica but he and Jessica are friends already.

 

Erica is the type of person that knows how to do everything, but skiing. The first time she skied she was really good but she didn’t know how to stop (you know where this is going). She went down the mountain, crashed into Warren, went through the forest, crashed into a lot of people, went into a ramp and crashed. When all the other students came Erica was really embarrassed, because everyone knows that Erica is an amazing person and knows how to do everything, so that was proving she is not a robot.  

 

Jessica is really adapting to them and liking them more. The next day after ski school Mike invited Jessica to go out but when Benjamin told this too Erica She needed to win over Mike because he was going to win over Jessica which will compromise the whole mission which is crucial. When Erica and Ben tagged along Jessica was very upset and then Mike totally fell for Erica which got Jessica very mad. After that Erica dumped Mike because it was only Part of the mission. The next day Ben had to get advice from Mike. The advice is how to get Jessica to like him more. He said, “You have to get Sasha (A.K.A Erica) to like you.” Ben told Erica that and it worked he and Erica got Jessica to talk to him. The next day Jessica invited him over to her Hotel. They rented the whole hotel! Not just a room. Erica gave him some nanobots to put around the suite to plan out what he’s doing. Read the book to find out more!

 

I loved the book because it was very descriptive. Also it was very exciting and action-packed which I loved. I wouldn’t recommend this book because I know mostly nobody liked the series in my class neither did my mom. I really don’t know any movies, TV shows or other books about spies. Only some people would like this book because it’s a genre most people don’t like. The book on a scale of five stars to 1 I would give it a 5.

Feb
16
2017

The News Crew, By Walter Dean-Myers

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  One book that I read this month and enjoyed was the News Crew. The News Crew is a series and the first book is called The News Crew. The book is written by Walter Dean Myers. The main character in the News Crew is Zander. Xander goes to school at DaVinci Academy in Harlem, New York. The issue that the main character goes through is that the assistant principal wants him expelled. The book takes place in modern day.

Zander is brave, smart and curious. He is brave because he stands up to Mr. Culpeper, the vice principal when he wants to throw Zander out of the school. The tension between the two of them started when he was misbehaving in the cafeteria. The vice principal wants to expel Zander because he is not gifted enough to go to a school for the gifted.  He is smart because he writes in his free time. He is curious because he always wants to know about a topic when he hears it. He writes about the topics that he is curious about for the Cruisers, the school newspaper.

 

One part of the book that I enjoyed was when the school newspaper kids met in the media room to talk about what they would write about. This was one of my favorite parts because it educated me on world history. It taught me that the civil rights movement is still a huge issue now. Another part I enjoyed was when Zander saw Mr. Culpeper in the hallway and ran away. It was one of my favorite parts because it was really funny in the illustration. It is also one of my favorite parts because the author used some interesting words like   to describe the moment. One big decision that my main character made was to stand mischievous. to Mr. Culpeper because that would have expelled him from the school. Don’t get me wrong Zander is smart but he makes some bad decisions. One time he went into the girls’ bathroom when he should have gone to the boys.
I enjoyed the book a lot because it fit my reading style, a fast moving pace. Another reason why I enjoyed the book was because I felt I could relate to the adjectives that I would describe him as, curious, smart and brave. I think many people can relate to the book and that is why I think other people would enjoy it. I would recommend this book because everyone can relate to the book in different ways, which will allow lots of people to enjoy the book. The News Crew can relate to any book that highlights a character who goes to school. Some examples of books are: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Year of the Griffin and Percy Jackson and the lightning thief. (The beginning of the book). The book can connect to everyone in our fourth grade because everyone is a news reporter and Zander, the main character is a News reporter. I would give the book five stars.

Feb
16
2017

When My Name Was Keoko, By Linda Sue Park

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Japan own Korea?

KOREA JAPAN- It was fine until the Japanese took over. Korea used to be its own country, but the Japanese took it over. The Japanese were losing World War 2. They needed the rations Korea had. The Japanese made a lot of new laws that made it hard for Koreans to live. The main characters are trying to help their family. The book I am reading is called When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park. The author decided to name the chapters Sun-hee and Tae-yul for each character’s perspective. The setting is in Korea and Japan starting in the 1940s to 1945.

Sun hee is the girl in the family and has to stay quiet most of the time, but if she’s lucky someone will tell her something, she’ll have a good guess or overhear something. A long time ago Korean women and girls were not supposed to listen or hear big talks. They were only for men to know. Sun-hee is an adventurous character who doesn’t like the Japanese ways. She cares a lot about the people in her family and her friends. An example is when she ran to save her Uncle when the Japanese were going to “supposedly” raid the Uncle’s store. Tae-yul never gives up, is 3 years older than Sun-hee and always wants to help some how. He’s daring, Tae-yul volunteered to be a kamikaze. A kamikaze is someone who steers a plane with a bomb on the bottom of a plane, they dive for the enemy ships and if they land the attack the whole ship explodes along with the pilot and plane.

I enjoyed this book very much because it’s a very adventurous story and it teaches you about history. It’s historical fiction and Linda Sue Park makes it fun enough you don’t realize you are also learning facts. It is adventurous because there are a lot of things going on in the time period and because both main characters are daring, smart, and courageous.

I would recommend this book for people who like historical fiction and adventure stories. I also like it because the author describes the perspective of each character very well and there are funny, sad and adventure parts.                                                                       

I give this book a five star rating. It’s REALLY amazing!!!

Feb
16
2017

Squish: Fear The Amoeba, By Jennifer And Mathew Holm

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Squish: Fear the Amoeba No.6 is about a boy named Squish who goes on lots of adventures.

It all started when Squish was reading a Super Amoeba comic at school. Pod (Squish’s best friend) asked Squish if he wanted to go to the movies next Saturday. Squish said “Sure.”   

Next Saturday, Squish got to the movies. The movie is called The Water Bear2. After the movie Squish got terrified. He thought the movie was  very scary. Pod asked if he wanted to see the first movie. Squish couldn’t say no to his best friend.

So Squish said, “Sure,” and  went to Pod’s house. He was terrified of the movie he could barely eat his popcorn. Squish went home. He was watching tv when all the sudden a commercial came on for a Water Bear 3!!! It was very scary!

This book was very good for people who like comics and lots of action. I would give this book series a five (which is the highest) because every book has different adventure. This book has about 90-93 pages. If you like this book you will like the series Lunch Lady!

 

Feb
16
2017

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty Macdonald

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Mrs. Piggle Wiggle helps little girl love to wash dishes. This book is called Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. It is a chapter book that I really like because it’s about kids with problems in life. Kind of. This book is also a series. The series are called Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty Macdonald. This book doesn’t really tell you the setting all I know is that it is in the country because later in the book this doofus guy runs around on a donkey or a horse.  There are lots of main characters but we’ll focus on these two: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and the little girl.  

  

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is a old lady who has one cat and one dog and she loves children very much. If a child is acting strange she knows just what to do. For example one little girl hates washing dishes. Once she visited Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Then she went home and loved doing dishes for the rest of her life. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is funny and caring. I know she cares about others because she gives cures for kids.          

 

One day, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle was sitting by the living room and wishing she had company. A little girl walked by. She had a suitcase. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle asked her to please come in so she did. “ Why do you look so sad?” Mrs. Piggle Wiggle asked the girl. “Because my mom makes me wash the dishes everyday! So I’m running away from home!” said the girl being overly dramatic. That is one of my favorite parts because she is sobbing over DISHES! So Mrs. Piggle Wiggle said, “I will teach you how to love washing dishes!” Mrs. Piggle Wiggle clapped her hands and led the girl into the kitchen. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle explained this fun game to love washing dishes. “Now, you work for a evil witch who makes you do the dishes every day!” says Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

 

The girl gave a disgusted face. “If she finds one single crumb on the floor than you will be thrown into the dungeon!” says Mrs. Piggle Wiggle making scary faces. “So get to work or else the witch will not be happy.” So the girl got to work scrubbing the dishes clean, and by the time she was done, the kitchen was spotless! Than down came Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, dressed up like a witch. The “witch” looked under every table and as she searched for messes, she could not find a single one. The “witch” left and down came the real Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. The girl hugged Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  And dashed out the door and loved washing dishes for the rest of her life! “Thank you Mrs. Piggle Wiggle,” she said.  “Thank you.”  Later in the book, more kids come back with their problems.
I would give this book 4/four stars. I really enjoyed this book. I recommend this book because It’s funny. Nanny Mcphee is a movie that is related to Mrs. Piggle Wiggle because it is again, a movie about a sitter that saves the day. (Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is way better.)

Feb
16
2017

Out Of My Mind, By Sharon M. Draper

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This book review is about Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper.  It takes place in no named state.  All we know is that it is in the USA.  The time is the present.  Melody is the main character and she is mute and disabled.  She has cerebral palsy.  The only thing in her body she can control is her thumbs.  Rose is Melody’s only friend.  Melody lives her life misunderstood.  A doctor asked her questions to figure out how smart she is.  She knew the answers but could not speak.  She had to be put in the “disabled kid” room.  In the book she says,“Doctors. Where do I start? Doctors really don’t get me.  Mom’s a nurse, so I guess she speaks their language, but they sure don’t know how to speak to me.”

Melody is smart, emotional, friendly, and probably fun to be around.  She is smarter than everyone in H-5, her class.  And she can’t tell anybody, but her mom knows, “Melody laughs at my jokes, right at the punchline!” and “Melody is able to figure out things, communicate, and manage in a world where nothing works right for her.  She’s the one with the true intelligence!”  Melody can get emotional, like when everyone thought she was dumb just because she has cerebral palsy.  She felt bad.  She was crying.  “I stuck out my lip and stared at the wall.  ‘Leave me alone!’ I said.” Melody is friendly and almost never gets mad at people.  She took Rose on a trip, even though Rose can be mean to Melody sometimes.  But Melody took her anyways.  Being put in the “disabled kid” room, when she gets the Medi-Talker, is a HUGE breakthrough.  The Medi-Talker is a computer that will talk for her.  Then she can go to inclusion classes with regular kids.  This is important because she wants to be normal and now she is with normal kids.  But then her sister, Penny, gets hit by a car.  I am going to leave a cliffhanger so you can find out what happens to her.  Another important part of the book is the Wiz Kid Quiz Team Competition.  Melody wants to join her school’s team (her school is Spalding Street Elementary School). This is hard because she is disabled.  She is underestimated, but she aces her try-outs and makes the team!  This is a turning point in the book because she now proves she is smart.  Their team beats the first two teams and on to Washington D.C for the finals they go.  The “team”  goes to breakfast without her, because somebody needs to spoon feed her.  When Melody and her family get to the airport they see that the plane is cancelled.  But the rest of the team got on the early plane because they went to breakfast without Melody.  I’m not going to tell you the end…you will see for yourself.

I really liked this book.  On a scale of 1–10 it is an 8.  I liked that the whole book was written as an assignment that the teacher, Miss Gordon, gives her. The assignment is to write a autobiography.  If you like “Wonder” you will probably like this book, and if you like “Out Of My Mind” you will probably like “Wonder.” The characters are alike, and the book content is similar.