Author Archives: Leah Maathey

Sep
14
2015

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

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This summer I read a book called the Mostly True Adventures of Homer p. figg by Rodman Philbrick. This book took place in Pineswamp, Maine in 1863. The main characters are Homer and his older brother Harold. A tree fell on their father before homer was born so they just had their mom who died of fever years later. Their mother left them in the abysmal care of her late sister’s husband Squinton Leach. Homer and Harold thought that Squinton was the most vile, despicable, sordid person they had ever met. The main problem is that Harold protected Homer his whole life and he was only 17. One day Squinton sold harold to the army even though he was 17 and you had to be 21. Not only was Squinton selling harold but taking away Homer’s only security in life. So he he decided to get him back.

When Homer decided to go save Harold that would mean running away and that would also mean he would need transportation. Homer decides to bring an old horse with him but that causes some problems like in the worst moment possible“ It’s Bob the horse deciding to be whiny. “ And that horse changes Homer’s whole plan. After that its problem after problem. Like,” That’s the last thing I remember the pipe coming at me like a big grey bullet.” Also “ Arrest them all!” And not to mention” Only promise counts is this if you run, my knife will find your back.’’ Homer succeeds in many ways that he thought he wouldn’t and got what he deserved.

I really enjoyed this book I loved the adventure and the fact that it was unpredictable like the story could change at any moment like when homer escaped the police in a hot air balloon. Loved that they both stood up for what they believe in like Harold pushing Squinton down to protect his brother and Homer trying to save Harold because he believed that it was wrong to put an undderage boy in the army. And the fact that they were always there for each other. like homer traveling all that way to save his brother. this is a book for people who like dancers and books that keep you on the edge of your seats. I give this book 4 ⅞ stars!!

 

Feb
26
2015

Boys Are dog

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I read a book called Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis. There is a seqboys-are-dogs-1uel called Girls Acting Catty, it’s really good too. Boys are Dogs is about a girl named Annabelle that has to move from Westlake, California because her mom wants to move in with her boyfriend. So she also has to move away from her girls only school to a boys and girls school called Birchwood Middle School. At first Annabelle is annoyed about the whole move and she just wants to go back to the fun hot days at summer camp. She expects a basketball hoop that her mom might have gotten her to sweeten the move but instead she gets a dog. Once she gets a little settled in she starts training her dog and she make a little progress but school is the thing thats on her mind most of the time. On the first day of school her dog chews up the clothes, and she became late. At school she was confused and turned every which way trying to get to the right room.to make things worse, in her classes she met this boy named Tobias that was mean to her called her spaz or spazabelle and she didn’t have enough courage to stand up for herself and he teased her for that too. But then she realizes that dogs are like boys and she used her dog training book to get boys to stop teasing her. But her biggest problem is her best friend, Rachel’s brother Jackson and she has to stand up to him but that takes a lot of courage but she doesn’t have all of it yet. It take place at Birchwood Middle School and Annabelle’s house.

Some parts of the book I really liked were how training her dog helped find inner courage and and a stronger personality. Also her dog was trained much faster than the boys she was trying to train. When she started speaking her mind in a stronger tone people started listening to her more and respecting her when all her friends were too scared to talk to boys the way she did. Three adjectives I would use to describe her are nice creative and brave. I would use nice because she tried to be  nice to her mom’s boyfriend even though she didn’t like him. Creative because not everyone would think of using a dog training book to deal with boys at their school. Also she was pretty creative about what costumes her and her friend should wear for Halloween. Last brave because moving and going to a new school is scary sometimes and she held together.

Also standing up to her bully is really scary but she did it in an authoritative tone.

I enjoyed this book and the reason is I agree that some boys act like dogs sometimes but Annabelle was very enthusiastic about getting boys to treat her fairly. Also I’m moving to a different school in sixth grade and this might be kind of what school might be like. Some people made a movie on disney channel called Zapped which was about a girl thats trying to train her dog with an app on her phone but she drops it in dog poo and now it could control boys. And this movie was inspired buy this book so if you liked the movie zapped than you will probably like this book. I give this book four stars!

 

Jan
29
2015

The Terrible Two’s by Mac Barnett and Jory John

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22509955I read a book called The Terrible Two’s by Mac Barnett and Jory John. The main characters’ names are Miles and Niles. Miles moves to a monotonous town called Yawnee Valley. It’s a quiet town and it’s known for one thing – cows. Miles hates it in Yawnee Valley and the worst part about moving there is he has to leave his school where he’s the class prankster and he’s good at it. At Yawnee Valley’s school he plans to be the new class prankster but they already have one. He wants to take the pranksters spot but the prankster that’s already at the school wants to make an alliance with Miles but he resists. When Miles finally  wants to work with Niles (,the school prankster.) They plan to pull of the biggest prank Yawnee Valley has ever seen. The book takes place in Yawnee valley.

Some things in the book that I really liked were the way they improvised when they were in the middle of pranks. Like when Miles was trying to distract some teachers he already thought of how to distract them. He used cupcakes but one teacher was on a diet so he quickly improvised and added something that the teacher might be able to eat. Also they were competitive but they weren’t being rude at the same time like when Miles told Niles that he wasn’t trying to prank him hard enough he said it in a respectful way. They also did a lot of planning like Miles had a notebook and Niles had a closet where they kept their prank idea. Three adjectives I would use to describe Niles and Miles are troubleshooters, a little inconsiderate and  a little mean. Troubleshooters because they are thinking their pranks through like when Niles thinks about how he’s going to make his next prank does a lot of thinking  and troubleshooting. A bit inconsiderate because I don’t think they think about the other person feelings when they get pranked. Like when Miles tried taking Niles hard work and replacing it with something that might get him in trouble. They’re also a little mean because some of the pranks were over kill and might be a little dangerous like the first prank Niles committed in the book and and the prank they did at the end. It was really cool but dangerous.

I liked this book because it had cool prank like parking the principal’s car on the steps of the school. I also liked all the stuff about cows. I would recommend it to people that like pranks and like cows or even people that  like competitive books. It was very unique and I haven’t read a book like it before. Miles kind of reminded me of Puck from the sisters grimm. I give it… four stars!

 

Jan
05
2015

Pie By Sarah Weeks

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10284324I read a book named Pie by Sarah Weeks. The characters names are  Alice  and Polly Portman also known as the pie queen of Ipswich . She is Alice’s aunt too. When Polly passed away no one knew her recipes so they tried to make other pies but none were as good as Polly’s. In her will she left her famous pie crust recipe to Lardo  and that happened to be the name of her mean disagreeable cat Lardo. Then she leaves Lardo to Alice but it doesn’t mean what most people think it means. But luckily for Alice she has a friend that helps her figure out the mystery.It takes place in a town called Ipswich .

Something that I found interesting was Alice’s mother didn’t like her own sister and she thought that Alice loved her aunt but she was still pretty mean to Alice. Alice wasn’t very true to herself when it came to other peoples opinion. That was interesting to me because she  seemed really courageous but when she tried to change who she was that altered my opinion about her. I liked how her friend was always watching her back and helping her when she needed help. I would describe Alice as nice , demanding and funny. Nice because even though she didn’t like a girl from her school named Nora she wasn’t mean and rude to her. Demanding because she wanted to  find Lardo and she was a little demanding  with her friend. Like when her friend didn’t want to ask someone that they didn’t like that much out she was like you have to. Last but not least she is funny because she likes to make funny little songs.

 I liked this book because I really liked Polly’s characteristics like she was wise and she gave good advice.  Alice’s mother went from really mean to nice and they were all happy at the end. I would recommend this book because it was bittersweet. Also the characters were very interesting. I give this book two and a half stars.

 

Dec
12
2014

The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applgate

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Book Cover - The One and Only Ivan

                The book I read was The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. The main character’s name is Ivan, he is a gorilla that is personified and he’s a really smart when it comes to logic and noticing all the little details in his life like the fingerprints of children on the glass of his terrain.He’s also good at seeing things a different way like how the sun reminds him of a ripe nectarine and how some humans are like chimps. The book is about Ivan doing the same things in his cage  or  terrain  then his life takes a big turn and it’s time for him to to step up and protect someone he said he would protect and be the mighty Silverback he’s supposed to be with the help of his friends and artistic vision. He lives in a mall called the Big Top Mall where he has many nicknames and a few neighbors none of which are gorillas. For 9855 days he was alone.

  Some things I liked in this book was the author’s use of language and how she was always making similes and really thinking about  how a gorilla might feel about his life and the things around him. Another thing I liked was how people in the story gave him many different names with different  meanings like The One And Only Ivan or Ivan, Mighty Silverback . The two last things  I really liked about this book were, one – I love the big feelings Ivan has in this book and the strong opinions he has and two – Ivan is a really great friend with a big heart that he’s always sharing with the animals and people around him. Three adjectives I would use to describe Ivan are; interesting, because he always has very strong opinions that I find interesting like the idea people talk to much and I really wanted to read on to see what he thought about the matter. I would also consider Ivan a little bit gross because of the stuff he likes to eat like banana peels and yogurt raisins . The last word I would use to describe Ivan is Patient, because he doesn’t always freak out when people our being mean to him by spitting, throwing rocks, and some other mean stuff but he always keeps his cool.

 I really enjoyed this book because it was full of big feelings like how he felt about being in a cage. It was cool to see how other people thought about what was going on inside a gorillas head. I think it would have been cool if I could hear it from someone else’s point of view maybe Ivans mom or dad or someone else he was close to . My teacher Jen recommended it to me so if you like it talk to her about more books. I have never read a book like this it was phenomenal  and a delight to read. I loved it I want to read it again so i give it 5 stars!

Leah