When George Hagen introduces you to anyone in his book Gabriel Finley And The Ravens Riddle, within a two sentence paragraph, you will know who they are.  The two main characters are Paladin (Raven) and Gabriel(Boy).  Then there are some second main characters who accompany Gabriel on his trip under/Aviopolis, those people are Abby, Pamelia, Somes and Septimus.  But then there are people who introduce you to all of the big characters, which are in ⅓ of the book, Endora (Raven Mother), Aunt Jazz and Trudy.  You can’t forget Corax or his Valravens.  The setting takes place in two places, Brooklyn, and the underground palace of Aviopolis.  The main problem is that he needs to rescue his father and stop corax from getting the tork who will let corax and his Valravens take over the world.  With some help from friends and “bullies”. You will see just how far he gets.

There are many things that changed this story from a regular story about a boy and a Raven.  For example Gabriel and Paladin can talk in each others heads and they can merge and fly together.  Then Gabriel has to capture a writing desk that runs and has  a mind of its own.  When they capture the desk it has nothing.  If you read on you’ll see it has a kind of magic to open it.  I will give you a hint (quote) “where is my father.”  Well Gabriel makes a very big decision and that is to go rescue his father from Aviopolis and kill Corax, or at least stop him the problem gabriel runs into is like a 3 month process and if it gets resolved thats for you to find out.I loved this book it was one of the best I have read.  Here’s why.  It is a long book and that means that you can enjoy it for longer and you won’t have to write as many book reviews.  It is also a very descriptive book because you feel like you are sitting around a fire listening to Gabriel tell it.  Also it makes you dream about it.  A person who would like this book is someone who likes any theme mystery,fiction, nonfiction, animals or scary things, this book surprisingly, has it.  I would rate this book 5*****(stars) out of five stars.

The Day My Butt Went Psycho, is a book about a boy named Zack.  The book, The Day My Butt Went Psycho is Written by Bestselling Author Andy Griffiths.  The Other main characters in the book are Eleanor and the B-team.  The problem is that butts are trying to take over the world and put butts on top of peoples neck and heads instead of butts.  The setting takes place in about 6-8 places.

After Zack finds out that butts are trying to take over he goes to fight them and their powers bare handed.  He finds some help and he and his friends go to take control over the situation.  One person is trying to foil their plans but they do not know who it is.  There are two moments in the story when Zack has changes, The changes that he has push the story around.  A problem about Zack is that he is cowardly and he is always being called an IDIOT.  Like a part from the book is when Zack falls into nettles and picks a fight by coming up to him yelling “You idiot, you absolute idiot!  you idiotic stupid moronic stupid idiotic idiot”.  butt

I enjoyed this book because it is full of butts and to me butts that talk and butts can think are very amusing to read about and a very likely topic my mom and dad would hate.  It is very funny because it is full of butts that explode butts that sing and butt piranhas, poopoises siren buttts that smell and sing like heaven and last “butt” not least there are butt hunters butt catchers, butt fighters and the butt teams. I would recommend this book to people who really like something funny and something I would recommend to you if you know this is not on your parents favorite topic to talk about.  I would recommend this book to you for that reason because it is full of butts and all that other stuff I do not want to go over again.  I would rate this book 1,000 out of 10 stars!

A great book for you and your butt to snuggle up and read!!!!

Over spring Break I read a book called The Key To The Indian written by LYNNE REID BANKS.  This book is the fifth and last book of the series there are three main characters in this book. The first one is Omri.  Omri is 12 years old, loves school and lives a few miles away from the English Channel.  His family inherited the house and barn that they now live in from their mom’s Great Aunt.  Omri’s ca Charlotte made a cupboard with a magic key.  Anything that you put into the cupboard, let’s say a plastic fish, will become real.  Another main character is Little Bear, an Iroquois chief, who is very wise though he is young, from the time right around the French and Indian Wars, who was brought to life by Jessica Charlotte’s cupboard and key.  When they first meet each other (first book) they become blood brothers and visit each other every 5 months (time that the books take place) in the other person’s time.  The third main character in this book is Omri’s dad.  He learns the secret about the cupboard and it’s magic and they go off on a trip to help Little Bear that is disguised as a camping trip.  They ask an old friend who knows the secret to help them leap back in time.

Omri brings back Jessica Charlotte to re-design the cupboard key so that it fits into the car so that they can bring more supplies back to Little Bear’s time, but they have some problems with the size and time.  One thing that you have to know is everyone and everything that/who comes through the cupboard is about as big as your thumb (6½ inches) .  This book will leave you “Tearing your hair out” by the end (not literally)

If you like surprises and adventure this book belongs to you then because that is what happens in the series and mostly in this book, The key to the indian I would rate this book a 7 out of 5 stars.

7*******___out of___ *****5

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!!

The Talent Show

by Dan  Gutman

(Benjamin Winokur-Applebaum)

This winter break I read a book called  The Talent Show  by Dan Gutman.  I think he writes the best books ever because he knows the best topics such as a kid who becomes president and a boy solving a war with video games!  So the book that I am going to tell you about-The Talent Show- is written by that great author, Dan Gutman!

The book The Talent Show takes place in Cape Bluff, Kansas out on  the  prairie  where  there  are  many  different  hazards  such  as tornados. A big tornado hits the town and the book lists every character and what they are doing when the tornado hits in the very beginning of the book. (first chapter)  After the tornado was finished doing its stuff the library was flooded and houses were lifted clean off their foundations and cars were found up to 24 miles away!  But in a town meeting the new principal had the idea for a  talent show to raise money  for the library and if extra, for the town!  But they overcame many problems such as printing advertisements, youtube videos for people to watch, lighting, tools in case another tornado hit, a prize, the judges, the people to run the show and the place to have the talent show.  Something amazing is that Cape Bluff has one very important celebrity but can he get here from Los Angeles? Somehow they figure it all out, but one thing that and one problem remain and that is what the book is all about.

The Talent Show