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Author Archives: 24reidh
The Peddlers Road: Secrets Of The Pied Piper by Matthew Cody
The book I read was The Peddlers Road The Secrets of the Pied Piper by Matthew Cody. This book is the first of the series The Peddlers Road. The main characters in my book are Carter, Max, and their new friends, Lucas, Paul, and Emily, but the story is mostly about Max and Carter. Carter, Max, and their friends set of on an adventure, because of a map given to Lucas by the Peddler. The map had a prophecy on it. The prophecy said, “Only when the last son of Hamelin appears and the Black Tower found will The Piper’s prison open and the children return safe and sound.” Everyone believes Carter is the last son of Hamelin, the town that was mentioned in the prophecy, and that he can save Hamelin. My book takes place in 2 different dimensions – New Hamelin and the Summer Isle. It is called the Summer Isle because it is summer all year round except for one night called the Winter’s Moon. The sun never goes down and the moon never goes up on the Summer Isle, except on the Winter’s Moon. When the dark covers the Summer Isle, all of your fears will come alive. I thought it was interesting that in the dark anything that frightens you will appear on the Winter’s Moon, also called a true night.
Max is a 13 year old girl and her younger brother Carter is 10. They were stolen by a magician called The Piper who was locked away in a black tower. He brought Carter and Max to the Summer Isle so that Carter could set The Piper free like the prophecy says. When Max and Carter arrived at the Summer Isle, they found a village where all of the kids The Piper had stolen were being kept. Max and Carter met Lucas, Paul, and Emily. Lucas realized that the Black Tower appeared on that night. That is a big part in the story because that is the beginning of their big adventure. I think an important detail in this book is that the hero, Carter, is a boy who has had a brace on his leg for his whole life. Carter has disabilities in his leg that he was born with it and it doesn’t work and I think it’s really unique that he is the hero. He is different than other heroes; he can’t run or jump or climb, all things that a hero usually does. The author showed that knowledge can be just as important as strength. On their way to the Black Tower, the kids find a village built only for dreamers and ghosts called Shades Harbor, where anything you dream will come to the village. The ghosts in Shades Harbor did whatever they did when they were alive because they didn’t realize they were dead yet. For example, one ghost was a butcher, which is what he did when he was alive
One adjective I would use to describe Carter is brave. He was very brave when he was kidnapped on his way to the Black Tower by Grannie Yaga. Grannie Yaga is a cannibal and a witch. “If you are a nice young boy, I won’t eat you,” Grannie Yaga told Carter. Carter is also very smart. He fought the giant rats on the troll bridge which was an actual troll sleeping and being used as a bridge. The rats were winning the fight but then Carter won the fight, not by fighting but by thinking. Carter is an optimist, and if he has a problem, he solves it with a smile on his face. A quote that helped me understand Carter better was when he said, “Words only hurt if you let them, but sometimes things people say are sharp enough to cut, no matter how thick you think your skin is.”
I really enjoyed this book. It had so much action and adventure. It also had friendship and care. I recommend this book, but it had a big cliffhanger at the end. I have to read the second book to find out what happens next. It’s a really exciting ending and it is an amazing story. I can’t wait to read the next one. Matthew Cody was also the author of Powerless, which I haven’t read, but I hear a lot of people like it, so if you like Matthew Cody’s books you should definitely read this one. From a rating of 1 to 5 stars, I would give this book 5 stars.
From The Mixed-up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Mixed-up Files Of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, is about a girl named Claudia and her younger brother Jamie. The book begins with Claudia’s decision to run away from home in Connecticut to hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, because she didn’t feel appreciated at home. She took her younger brother with her because he had the most money. The narrator of this story is Mrs. Frankweiler telling her lawyer Saxonberg the children’s story.
In the book, once Claudia and Jamie made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Claudia told Jamie that she wanted to learn everything about everything in the museum. So that day they went to learn about the Italian Renaissance. They saw a big line so they waited to see what was at the front. That’s when they found a sculpture that changed their whole plan. They saw Angel, a 2 foot statue that might be the work of Michelangelo. That is an important part of the story because they then focused on only finding evidence to prove that Michelangelo was the sculptor who made Angel. Claudia then decided to not learn everything about everything, but to only learn everything about Angel. That was important because Angel, even though he’s a statue, becomes a very important character in the book after that.
Claudia is very adventurous, because she takes a trip from Connecticut to New York to hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with nothing but her backpack and trumpet case full of clothes. Claudia is also responsible. She took care of her younger brother without letting him or herself go hungry or get sick. Claudia is independent, because she makes sure everything is alright and nothing goes wrong with no help from an adult. Mrs. Frankweiler said to the lawyer Saxonberg, “Angel became part of Claudia’s story about finding herself, about how the greatest adventure lies not in running away but in looking inside, and the greatest discovery is not in finding out who made a statue but in finding out what makes you.”
I enjoyed this book because it was interesting and it taught me a lot about Michaelangelo such as he signed all his work with a M on it. It had some challenging words in it but the story made sense. I really liked their story and hearing about all the things they did in the museum, like taking a bath in the fountain and hiding from the night watchman. I would definitely recommend this book. It is really fun to read and super interesting. This book doesn’t remind me of any other book or movie. I think that there is no other book or movie like this book because Claudia’s not running from somewhere, she is running to somewhere. I rate this the book the highest rating of five stars.
The Penderwicks, by Jeanne birdsall
The name of the book I read was The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. It’s the story of four sisters on their summer vacation with their father and the people they meet. The story takes place at an estate called Arundel with amazing gardens and tons of tall trees. The Penderwicks stay in a little house on the big estate.
There are five important characters in my book. The five characters are Jeffrey, who I think is the main character, Sky, Jane, Rosalind, Batty and Hound, the Penderwicks, dog. Batty is the youngest of the four sisters then Jane, Sky, and Rosalind, the oldest. Jeffrey is a boy they meet at the house they have rented for their vacation. The Penderwick sisters are trying to help Jeffrey because his mother doesn’t listen to what Jeffrey wants to do. She wants him to grow up to be like his grandfather and go to a boarding school called Pencey Academy where he will become a soldier but Jeffrey has different ideas. He wants to be a musician. Sky, my favorite of the sisters, is adventurous and has a very short temper when dealing with Mrs. Tifton, Jeffrey’s mother and owner of the estate.
Mrs. Tifton doesn’t like Sky or any of the Penderwicks. She thinks they’re a bad influence on Jeffrey. Sky always gets into trouble like when Mrs.Tifton’s garden club comes over and Sky, Jane, and Jeffrey mess up her garden by accidentally ruining her rose bush with a soccer ball. In one scene, Sky was eavesdropping on Mrs. Tifton and she heard her saying bad things about her sisters and her mother who had died from cancer. Sky barges in and stands up to Mrs. Tifton.
Batty, the youngest sister, likes to visit the gardener’s bunnies. One day when Rosalind can’t take her to visit the bunnies and neither can Sky or Jane, Batty goes alone even though she’s not allowed to go by herself. When Batty leaves the bunnies, she forgets the most important rule – to latch the screen door. Mrs. Tifton is very controlling. Mrs. Tifton and her boyfriend Dexter, my least favorite character, take Jeffrey to see Pencey and when they come back Mrs.Tifton says he will begin going to Pencey Academy in two weeks. That night he runs away and stays with the Penderwicks.
Jeffrey is usually a very brave boy like when he saved Batty from a bull. He is also very kind like when Sky got mad at him and said mean things but he forgave her right away.
I really enjoyed this book and I think it was a very interesting and fun story to read and I’ve already started reading the next one in the series. My rating from one to five is a 5.