Author Archives: Drew

Aug
29
2015

The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer

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This summer I read a book called The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman written by Meg Wolitzer. The main characters are Duncan Dorfman (from Drilling Falls, Pennsylvania), April Blunt (from Portland, Oregon) and Nate Saviano (from New York City). They each represent teams at a national scrabble tournament (the YST a.k.a. the Youth Scrabble Tournament) in Florida. There are four main problems:

  1. Duncan is a new kid in his town at a new school trying to figure out a new life.
  1. April is the only person in her sporty family who hasn’t won anything and she’s trying to get into the spotlight.
  1. Nate is getting homeschooled by his dad who has high expectations for him as a Scrabble player.
  1. ONLY ONE TEAM CAN WIN!

One event that changed the directional point of the story is when Carl Slater, captain of the Drilling Falls middle school Scrabble club and bully, finds out about Duncan’s power. I’m not going to tell you what it is because you have to read the book first. Fine, I’ll tell you what Carl says. Carl says to Duncan, “You’re telling me you can feel the words underneath your fingers without looking? I have plans for you, Lunch Meat (Duncan’s nickname from the first day of school — this is a part of the story you will find out about when you read the book!)” Duncan has to decide whether he wants to use his special talent or not to win. Another event that changes the story is when Nate gets frustrated during a game and quits the tournament. His teammate, Maxie, ends up quitting, too. They have a conversation and Maxie offends Nate. Nate says, “I am not selfish, Maxie. I had no idea you cared so much about this tournament.” Then Maxie says, “Oh, you thought I was just doing it for you Nate? Well, think again.” Nate and Maxie become friends again and finish the tournament (they end up losing to Duncan’s team and place third).

I enjoyed the book because it was a story about friendship. An example of friendship is when Nate walked away from the Scrabble game and Maxie came and got him back in to it. Another reason why I enjoyed the book was there was a lot of action in it. An action scene was when Nate’s father, Larry, met his old Scrabble partner, Wendell Bruno. Wendell was talking, and talking, and talking about when they played Scrabble together. And THEN he started talking about how he looks for a Saviano in every single Scrabble tournament. But it was an action part and a BIG part in the story. Also one last reason I enjoyed the book was because it makes you want to play Scrabble. After I finished the book, I wanted to play a game of Scrabble and I did. I would rate this book 5 stars because Meg Wolitzer did a good job of telling the story and not having it get too complicated with lots of characters who play a big part in the plot.

THE END *****

 

Feb
26
2015

The Bad Apple by T.R. Burns

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I read The Bad Apple by T.R. Burns and it’s the first book in the Merits of Mischief series. The main character is Seamus Hinkle and the book takes place at the Kilter Academy for Troubled Youth. I think it’s set in the present because there’s a reference to a SUV but there is some stuff that most people did in the past. 12 year old Seamus ends up at Kilter after an accident at his old school. Kilter isn’t a normal school. It’s a school that rewards bad behavior. At Kilter, it’s good to get in trouble but it’s bad to get gold stars. The book is about Seamus trying to fit in and make friends in a weird new school with lots of strange rules.

 

I think Seamus is responsible because he calls the Hoodlum Hotline (technically, the police) about bad things that keep happening at Kilter. When you call the Hoodlum Hotline, you are given gold stars. (Remember, gold stars are bad.) This is why students at Kilter don’t call the hotline; it actually gets you in trouble. Seamus calls the hotline because he thinks it’s a way to see his parents. I think Seamus isn’t a troubled kid because the accident that put him in Kilter really was an accident. No one at Kilter believes him. I think Seamus is loyal to his new friends Abe, Lemon, Gabby and Elinor because when they tried to do something bad and it backfires, Seamus goes to help them even though he doesn’t agree with their idea. Something that was interesting to me is the demerit system at Kilter Academy. Kilter has its own store. It sells paintballs, boomerangs and fire extinguishers for people whose heads catch on fire (which happens a lot there). Kids can go shopping whenever they have enough demerits to spend. The best fire extinguisher costs 2,000 demerits. That’s a lot of demerits. If you surprise a teacher with anything like a smoke bomb, you get 100 demerits. Kids save their demerits to get the better stuff. One thing that is interesting to me is the way Annika, the founder of Kilter Academy, treats her niece, Elinor. It surprised me because when Elinor once got hurt at school Annika barely lifted a finger . I thought that she would care more about her niece. Annika says that Elinor isn’t doing anything bad and regrets letting her into the school. This means Elinor can’t earn any demerits, which is the whole point of going to Kilter.

I liked this book because it had a lot of action and friendship in it. It has action when Seamus and his friends are trying to trick the teachers. It has friendship in it when one of Seamus and his friends plan backfires and Seamus comes to save his friends when their powers get used against them. I recommend this book to people who like mystery because you never know what’s going to happen next. Also, it’s a book about friendship because no matter what Seamus’s friends do, he does the same thing. I think it’s kinda related to fighting in hockey because hockey teams want people that can fight but fighting is bad in hockey. I would give this book 5 stars because I never wanted to put the book down.

                                                           *****

 

Jan
29
2015

The Elf of Union Square by Jan Carr

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I read The Elf of Union Square by Jan Carr. From the title you can figure out that the main character is a elf and that the book takes place in Union Square. The elf’s name is Hiram and he has lived in Union Square Park for awhile. Hiram doesn’t like it that people are happy in the newly cleaned-up park so he has rigged Union Square with all sorts of boobytraps such as soap on the monkey bars and doo-doo in the walkways. A 10-year-old boy named Jack thinks something is going on in the park and decides to figure out what the deal is. He gets help from a reporter from The New York Times named Will. Hiram has a diabolical plan to get everyone in Union Square to fight and to yell at each other. He gets help with his plan from lots of rats who live in the park. Hiram’s main helper is a rat named Knut. Knut is especially good at soaping because he runs fast.

An important part in the book involves Hiram’s hat. It is important because the hobo named Lincoln (he’s called that because he thinks he is Abraham Lincoln) says that he’s seen Hiram before. To stop Lincoln from telling everyone more about him, Hiram puts a piece of soap in Lincoln’s pocket to frame him. A policewoman asks Lincoln to empty his pockets and when Lincoln does he finds the soap he didn’t know he had. Lincoln gets arrested. Hiram is mean spirited because he just wants people to fight and yell at each other. Hiram hides in a restaurant called Fare in the Square where all the kids hang out and he floods all the toilets with toilet paper when the kids are in the bathroom. The restaurant manager hates this and throws everyone out. Hiram is also very grumpy. He never listens to anybody. When Knut asks Hiram where he was born, Hiram cuts him off. But Hiram also develops a soft side in working with Knut. When Hiram figures out that there is rat poison in the park, he realizes that rats are dying so he runs to find Knut to make sure he is safe. Hiram is clever because he’s been putting boobytraps for years at Union Square Park and has never been caught.

I liked this book because it was funny and dumb. It was funny because who doesn’t want to read about people stepping in dog doo-doo? That part was pretty dumb , too. It’s also dumb because you don’t think of elves being friends with rats (and you don’t think of them talking, either). I would recommend this book to people who like humor and fictional characters. Also, people who like history might enjoy this book because it talks about Union Square from a long time ago. I think it’s similar to a TV show on the Disney Channel because it’s funny but not inappropriate. Otherwise, it would relate to Cartoon Network. I would rate this book 3 stars because it wasn’t my absolute favorite or even close to being one of my favorites.

     ***

 

Jan
05
2015

Toby Wheeler Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer by Thatcher Heldring

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I read Toby Wheeler Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer by Thatcher Heldring. The main character’s name is Toby Wheeler. The story takes place mostly in Pilchuck Junior High in Seattle. Toby loves basketball but has never played on an actual team. When Toby is playing at the rec center one day, his friend JJ points out that the coach for their school’s travel team is there. JJ is determined to make the roster. Toby meets the coach and the coach gives him a flyer that is his ticket onto the team if he wants to play. Toby doesn’t care so much about the team; he just wants to keep up with his friend JJ. The plot is about how Toby learns to be a good teammate even when he’s sitting on the bench.

 

 

Toby really wants to be on the court in a big moment in a game and when he finally gets to, he realizes that he should just play hard whatever the chance you get, big or small. Toby makes friends with the coach’s daughter, Megan, and he thinks that that friendship is making things worse with his coach, effecting his playing time. It’s not. Toby is just not playing up to his coach’s expectations. Toby thinks Megan wants to be more than friends so he writes her a note that makes the situation even worse. Megan then turns away from Toby. Meanwhile, JJ has a new friend in his band named Steven. Steven’s sister Valerie and JJ have a thing for each other. On Halloween, Toby wants to go trick-or-treating and JJ goes off with his new friends instead. Losing Megan and JJ, Toby feels sad and thinks he has no friends. When he first joins the team, Toby is overconfident in his basketball skills and is surprised to see that he’s not a starter or a key sub. He’s a reserve (benchwarmer). Toby is strong because at the end he’s able to bounce back and with hard work becomes a key sub. Toby is nervous when he wants to ask Megan to the school dance and his nerves get the best of him.

 

 

I liked this book because it was about a sport I play and also because the scenes with the basketball team are hilarious and funny. There’s one part where Toby does an imitation of his coach. It’s like a cold, it’s contagious, everybody on the team starts copying it. Toby’s old rec center rival Vinny Pesto plays for the league champions of the last three years and Toby is determined to beat him for his second time ever. They have lots of trash-talking battles which are crazy. For example: “That’s a nice costume, Pesto. I didn’t know they sold dog-butt masks.” I would recommend this book to sports fans because it is packed with basketball action. I would also recommend it to people who like stories about friendship because this book has friends and frenemies. This book is similar to some of Matt Christopher’s books which are about sports and friendship. I would give this book a rating of 4 stars on a 5-star scale. I can’t give it a full five stars because at some points there is too much happening and it gets a little complicated.

 

                                                              ****

Reviewed by Drew Kaufman

Dec
12
2014

Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino

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I read Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace by Nan Marino. The main character’s name is Elvis Ruby and the story takes place in Wares Grove, New Jersey (although Elvis starts the book living in New York City). Elvis is a famous singer who goes on a reality show called “Tween Star” but forgets his part. It’s so embarrassing. How would you feel if people laughed at you on national TV!? The plot is about how he then needs to hide from the paparazzi who are chasing him in a small town where he can be just a normal kid.

 

Elvis changes his name to Aaron and gets his haircut to disguise himself in his new town. He lives with distant relatives who own a pancake “palace” which apparently is the only restaurant in Wares Grove. The Pancake Palace is very popular and a lot of people go there so it’s hard for Elvis to hide. The next-door neighbor, Cecilia, figures out who he is and cannot keep a secret. Then Cecilia tells her friend R.J. about Elvis/Aaron. R.J. tells his mom and when he’s telling her, his sister Elizabeth overhears and learns the truth about the new kid. Turns out, Elizabeth is obsessed with Elvis (who she saw on TV) and she starts to flirt with Elvis. Elvis is shy because he doesn’t want anyone to know he is famous and he is really being very careful about it. He is nervous about being in a new town with new people but ends up learning who he can trust and makes new friends. Elvis is helpful — he offers to help his relatives in the restaurant and make pancakes and he helps Cecilia with an important task. (I don’t want to ruin it for you.)

 

I liked this book because it was action packed and surprising. The scenes where the paparazzi try and find Elvis are hilarious because the photographers get confused and lost. At first it doesn’t seem like Elvis is going to help Cecilia but in the end he comes through. I think this book is similar to a television reality show if a famous person moved to a small town and tried to hide his identity. (Pretend if Tom Brady or Taylor Swift did this.) I would recommend this book to people who like action because it’s filled with it! It’s laugh out loud funny when all the characters come together. I would give this book 5 stars on a scale of 5 stars because it’s a funny, hilarious and one of the best books I’ve read.

 

                                                                 *****