Author Archives: 24dylans

Jun
14
2016

Life in Motion, by Misty Copeland

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imgresThe book I am reviewing is called Life in Motion, by Misty Copeland. It is an autobiography mostly about Misty’s childhood, but some is about her life today. She was questioned as a black principal dancer at ABT (American Ballet Theatre). My book takes place New York City. Misty Wrote this book in 2015.

There are a couple of main events in my story but I do not want to spoil them so I will just say one. The one is how Misty has to move from place to place because of her mother’s love life. This is important in the book because it makes Misty have to move to different schools and she feels a little alone because once she makes a friend she has to leave him or her. There were two parts of the book I liked a lot. Misty was devoted to dance, and when she couldn’t afford to dance at her studio so she moved in with her choreographer and visited her family almost every weekend. I liked that because it means she will do whatever it takes to become a real dancer. I also really liked when she first started dance because of her drill team coach. I liked that part because it means even though she was forced to dance she found a really big interest in it and has been doing it ever since.

Misty is very determined. She was the first African American woman to become a principal dancer at ABT. Even though her mother could not afford dance Misty would not give up and worked really hard to get where she is right now. Misty is also brave. Some of the time Misty’s family had to search the couch for money because they had literally no money. Misty was very brave through those hard times. Misty is extremely focused. She won’t let anything distract her from dancing, but also when she was on the drill team she showed focus. Everyday after drill practice she would go home and practice while her family watched sports. “This is for all the little brown girls” is a very important quote from my book. It means that Misty really cares about brown girls that have had their dreams broken because of their skin color. She wants kids or adults to feel comfortable in their own skin.

I really enjoyed this book. It makes me feel confident about my dance. It also makes me feel confident in my own skin. I would recommend this book for boys and girls. It is a really amazing book. If you want to hear more of Misty’s intelligent words you should read it. I think this book is very unique because it is not like any other book and has a lot of wise words that make people feel very strong. If I could rate this book I would rate it five stars because I really like it.

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Jan
15
2016

The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies

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imgresThe book I am reviewing is titled The Lemonade War. It was written by Jacqueline Davies. The book was based on a real story because the author has two children that had lemonade wars all the time. It is about two siblings that used to get along really well but then they got into a fight, so they decided to have a lemonade selling contest because they both loved selling lemonade together. Their lemonade war meant whoever sold the most lemonade by Labor Day which is towards the end of the summer won all the money they earned. The main characters in my book are Evan and Jessie Treski. Evan and Jessie are going into 4th grade but Jessie is eight and Evan is nine. They live in a suburban neighborhood. This book takes place in the five days before Labor Day.

 

Evan is kind because whenever he is mean to his sister he tries to make-up for his mistake. There was one part in the beginning of the book where he was embarrassed because he would be in her class and he wanted to scream at her but he didn’t because he did not want to hurt her feelings. Evan is also jealous because when Jessie was selling lemonade with his crush, named Megan, Evan wanted to do the lemonade stand with Megan. Evan is also understanding. He is very careful about other people’s feelings. That is why he doesn’t like to yell at his sister.

 

One part of the book that I liked was when Jessie tells Evan that Megan likes him. She asks, “Evan, Megan really likes you. Do you know that?” I liked that part because the reader gets a lot of information about how Evan feels. I think that Evan felt very relaxed because he likes Megan too. Evan’s reaction to that was a blush. I think he was very happy to hear that Megan liked him.

 

Evan made a big decision when he said that he would do the competition because he says in the book that he was not made for competitions. The competition brought the two characters farther apart but at the end of the book they are closer than ever. Jessie asked if Evan wanted to play a game with her and Evan said “You ruin everything. You ruined my summer and now you are going to ruin school!” that shows that he is uncomfortable with her in his grade. Through the competition, Evan learned that he could trust Jessie. He realized that Megan and Jessie were honest with each other. He learned from them, that he still had things to learn, even from his younger sister.

 
I enjoyed this book because it reminds me of me and my other because we have fights sometimes, but we always make-up at the end. The book also reminds me of the summer because I sell a lot lemonade at my own stand outside of my building. There was one time I was selling lemonade and a group of tourists from India had a selfie stick and wanted to take a selfie with me. I recommend this book to kids that are interested in business. There are things in this book about business that are good to know. This book is kind of like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing because it is about siblings that fight a lot. I would rate this book three stars because it was pretty good.

Dec
11
2015

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume

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TalesFourth9Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was written by Judy Blume in 1972. From reading the book recently you would not know that is was written around 40 years ago. The book seems so futuristic. In the book the main characters are Peter Warren Hatcher and his younger brother Fudge (Farley Drexel Hatcher). Farley is called Fudge because when he first learned his name he called himself Fudge. In the book the main problem is Fudge. He always hits pots and pans together to make a very loud noise, which irritated Peter so much that he wanted Fudge out of his life. Fudge also annoys Peter because Fudge also goes into Peter’s room and played with Dribble, Peter’s turtle. The setting of the book is in Manhattan on 25 W. 68th St. with the coolest elevator ever that takes him up to his 12th floor apartment. Peter and Fudge live with their mom and dad.

 

One important part in my book is when Peter and Fudge’s mom left the oven on and left three 9 year old kids, Sheila the great, Jimmy Fargo, Peter’s best friend, and Peter in charge of a 2 year old baby. It did not end well because Fudge, the 2 year old baby, thought he was a bird, flew off a jungle gym and knocked out his 2 front teeth. The second important detail is when the dad’s clients come to stay with them and Fudge scares them out of the apartment. One event that changes the story is when Fudge and Peter’s mother goes to Boston to visit her newborn niece and Fudge gets to be in his dad’s client’s commercial. It changed the direction of the story because Fudge’s mom thought Fudge was more grown-up than usual and also he looked more mature on T.V. Because Fudge looked more grown-up the mom gave him more responsibility that he could not handle.  The second event is when Fudge swallowed Peter’s pet turtle and has to go to the emergency room to take medicine to poop the turtle out. Peter is worried because it was his turtle and the turtle might die. The turtle dies, then Peter gets a puppy and names it Turtle after his turtle. It changed the direction of the story because it made Peter is no longer willing to tolerate Fudge. One adjective to describe Fudge is silly because he thinks he is a bird. Another adjective to describe Fudge is annoying because he bangs pots and pans to make a “clunk clack’’ that annoys everyone in the house. One adjective that describes Peter is clever. Peter knows how to deal with Fudge because when Fudge didn’t like shoes Peter tried them on and Fudge liked them. I think Peter is jealous because of all the attention Fudge gets.       

 

I enjoyed this book because it reminded me of my brother, on Thanksgiving when he fell off a rock and scraped his face and eye on the ground in Central Park. This book reminds me of this event because the book takes place in Central Park and Fudge and Dennis fell off something. The book was also really funny. I would rate this book 5 stars because it was so awesome.