Author Archives: 25lucs

Jun
09
2017

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The book I read is called Stella By Starlight by Sharon M. Draper. The main characters in this book are Stella, Mom, Dad, her little brother, her neighbors (I would say the neighbors names but that would take up too much space) and her teacher. This book is about an African American girl named Stella who lives in a segregated town called Bumblebee in North Carolina. One night her little brother wakes her up and takes her outside. The Ku Klux Klan is burning a cross very close to her house. Throughout the book they must face the KKK and other segregation. Stella also figures out who one of the Klan members is. Stella’s father and neighbors register to vote and in the end are able to vote. This book takes place in the early 1900’s.

 

WARNING – SPOILER ALERT THESE PARAGRAPHS GIVE AWAY IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN THE BOOK

 

Stella is brave, quick to act, and smart. She is brave because she has to deal with all kinds of awful stuff but she gets through it. She is quick to act because when her mom is bitten by a venomous snake Stella acts fast and makes her a bandage. She is smart because she recited a long important quote easily and she is a good writer even though she thinks she is not. Every night she practices writing.

 

At one point in the book Stella gets a typewriter. She uses it to write newsletters to herself about stuff that has happened. One time her friend who really likes track gets beat up by these really mean and racist people. Then Stella writes a newsletter about that. She also writes a newsletter about when her neighbors, the Spencers get their house burned down by the KKK. A really important part of the book is when the KKK is burning a cross near Stella’s house because that starts the story off with a bang and Stella sees one of their horses and recognizes it. Another important event is when Stella’s mom is bitten by a rattlesnake and the white doctor will not help. That is important because it proves the guy is super cruel and cannot be changed. I think the last really important part is when Stella saves the white doctor/ KKK members daughter from drowning. Then Stella finds out that the girl’s father really is part of the KKK and Stella finds out that he is abusive. A quote that describes Stella is “The roosters don’t go far from the pen. I wonder if they ever think about flying. I do.”  This describes Stella because she is wondering about stuff bigger than Bumblebee and if there was no segregation.

 

I really like this book. I like it because it is a mystery when Stella is trying to figure out who is in the KKK. It is really suspenseful because you never know when the KKK is going to strike next.

I would recommend this book because it is a good length. Also it is educational and teaches about segregation and that kind of stuff. It is a good book and it makes you want to keep reading. This book reminds me of Turning Fifteen On the Road to Freedom. It reminds me of that because they are both about segregation and take place in the South. I would rate this book four stars.

May
04
2017

The Mysterious Benedict Society By Trenton Lee Stewart

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This book is the first in a series called The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. This book is about four really smart orphans named Sticky, Kate, Reynie and Constance who are gathered by Mr. Benedict, the founder of the society, to go on a secret mission. Of all the orphans who take tests to see who will be part of the society, these four are the only ones who pass. They must stop someone named Ledroptha Curtain from broadcasting brainwashing messages on TV. They must pretend to be students at his school, The Institute, and find out his secrets to stop him from boosting the messages to full power and brainwashing people to think Mr. Curtain is their ruler. They use morse code to send messages to Mr. Benedict. This book takes place in modern times but not with phones and iPads and things like that. The story mostly takes place in Mr. Benedict’s house and The Institute.

Reynie, the main character because the book follows him most is brave, smart, and sneaky. He is brave because he goes on the mission even though it is dangerous. He is smart because he passed all the hard tests. Also he comes up with a lot of good plans and ideas for the mission. He is sneaky because he keeps his mission a secret from Mr. Curtain.

 

WARNING- this paragraph has major spoilers do not read if you don’t want the book to be spoiled

 

Reynie and Sticky have to become messengers to find out Mr. Curtains secrets because messengers are the ones who broadcast the messages on TV. Once they are chosen to become messengers, they find out that he uses a machine called the whisperer to send the messages. The whisperer is a weird machine that manipulates your thoughts and makes whoever is sitting in it think the messages. The whisperer then sends that thought out to the world and makes everyone think it as well. Reynie and Sticky sit in the whisperer and it uses their thoughts for the messages. They also find out that Mr. Curtain used the whisperer to take away people’s memories and make them think they are his servants. I thought the part when they found out Mr. Curtain was taking away people’s memories was important because the kids were sad that Mr. Curtain was doing that to people and were more motivated to stop him and save the people. I also thought the part when Reynie and Sticky became messengers was important because that had been their goal and they finally completed it. Reynie said “I just can’t believe he did that to those innocent people.” It was important because  it made everyone try harder to stop Mr.Curtain. In the end Reynie and Sticky destroy the whisperer by teaching themselves to resist the thoughts so strongly that it no longer works. I think this teaches people that our minds are very strong. For example the orphans learned how much strength they had. Constance who seemed liked the weakest, in the end was the one who resisted longer than anyone and really broke the whisperer.
I enjoyed this book a lot because it was a mystery and it was suspenseful. Also it had a lot of action and taught me a lot because the kids are really smart and they said a lot of things they knew in the book. I would recommend this book because the reader always wants to find out what will happen next because it is so suspenseful. Also there are are a lot of cliffhangers and people will want to keep reading because of that. This book reminds me of Evil Spy School because in that book the main character has to sneak into a school and be a secret agent and find out information just like in the Mysterious Benedict Society. I would rate this book 5 stars.

Mar
17
2017

THE WILD ROBOT by Peter Brown

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This book is about a robot named Roz. In the beginning of the book, she is being shipped somewhere on a boat. The boat gets wiped out in a storm and Roz is stranded on an island inhabited by wild animals. Roz has to learn how to get along with the animals. Roz has a few problems she has to face on the island. One problem is that other dangerous robots come searching for Roz. The main characters are Roz, Brightbill, Roz’s adopted son who is a goose, and the island animals. This book is set in the wilderness in the future, in a time when tons of robots are trained to do jobs like fight, build, and play with their human creators / owners.

Roz is smart, brave and strong. Roz is smart because her robot computer brain can tell her almost anything. She uses it sometimes to find out stuff, for example she searched up how do birds fly to help Brightbill learn to fly. She is brave because when the robots come for her, and endanger her friends, Roz leaves her friends even though she is sad to leave them, to make sure that will not happen again. Roz is strong because her robot body is made of metal and she can knock down trees for building houses. She uses that skill to build her own house.

At one point, Roz gets attacked by two bears named Nettle and Thorn, and then she falls down a mudslide in a thunderstorm with lightning, wind, rain and thunder. She starts thinking about how to survive. Since she does not know what her purpose is, she tries to be like an animal. She learns animal language. She learns about playing dead, camouflage, and other survival strategies. The other animals teach her that and she observes them. The animals are mean to her and call her a monster because they had never seen a robot before. Once they get to know her they stop. She is climbing rocks one day but the rock couldn’t take the weight of a heavy metal robot. It causes an avalanche and ends up killing a family of geese below the rocks. The only survivor is an egg. Roz adopts it and names the baby that hatches from it Brightbill.

My three favorite parts were: When the Rico robots came looking for her because it had a lot of action and fighting. When a fish tries to eat Brightbill because there is suspense and it makes the reader think Brightbill will die but he doesn’t. Also, when the storm with the mudslide happens because it has a lot of detail and it makes a movie in the reader’s mind.
I enjoyed The Wild Robot   because it had a lot of action, humor and sadness. The part when the Ricos came looking for Roz and the animals fought the Ricos and won had a lot of action. A sad part was when Roz had to leave because she could not enda
nger her friends. It had humor because it is kind of funny to see a robot become an animal and try to learn camouflage. I would recommend this book to people who like animals, science fiction and action because it has robot battles. I think this book is unique because there are animal books and robot books but no animal and robot books. I would rate this book five stars.

Feb
16
2017

PAX By Sara Pennypacker and Jon Klassen

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The book I read was Pax by Sara Pennypacker and it is illustrated by Jon Klassen. It is realistic fiction and there are some nice illustrations. This book is about a boy named Peter who has a pet fox named Pax. They are inseparable, but when Peter’s father goes off to war, he forces Peter to abandon Pax in in the forest. The story starts as Peter drives to the forest and leaves Pax. Then Peter has to live with his grandfather while his father is fighting in the war. Peter realizes it was wrong to leave Pax and decides to go on a journey to find him. The main characters are Peter, Pax, some foxes that Pax meets, and a later, a character that Peter meets: Vola. Pax is set in modern times. It is set in a very big forest, Vola’s farm, and the road to the forest where Pax is while Peter is trying to find him.

In this book Peter is the main character. Peter is brave, determined, and strong. He is brave because he went on the journey alone. The journey is dangerous and he does not think he will have help. He is determined because he knows he will find Pax no matter what. He even wants to keep looking for him when he breaks his leg. He is strong because he gets hurt a lot, for example, breaking his leg and he never cries.

After Peter breaks his leg Vola finds him and takes Peter to her farm to help him. Peter is there for a lot of the book. Breaking his leg causes him to live at the farm for a while and that is why it is an important event. Another interesting part of this book is when Pax first meets the other foxes. It makes the reader want to learn more about the foxes, but the reader can’t learn more about the foxes right at that time because the chapter is over. This is because in this book each chapter switches from Pax’s perspective to Peter’s perspective. For example, in the chapter Pax meets the foxes the reader will be reading about Pax and the foxes but the next chapter will be about Peter.

I enjoyed the book because it was suspenseful. I also liked this book because it was hard to know what was going to happen next. For example, I never knew Peter would break his leg and someone would find him and take him to live at a farm. I would recommend this book because it is an adventure, but it does have some violence. Sometimes the violence can be a little intense. Also the pictures are really pretty. Pax has 276 pages so it probably won’t take too long to finish. Pax reminds me of The Good Dinosaur, because in that movie, Arlo, the main character, is far from home on a journey to to get back home. Arlo has a pet Spot, who he loves. Spot reminds me of Pax because he is the main character’s best friend. Arlo the dinosaur reminds me of Peter because they are both main characters on a long journey. Then Arlo meets some T-rex’s who help Arlo get home and they let Arlo and Spot stay with them. The T-rex’s remind me of  Vola because Vola helps Peter and they help Arlo. The T-rex’s help Arlo get home and they let Arlo and Spot stay with them. The T-rex’s remind me of Vola because Vola helps Peter and the T-rex’s help Arlo. I would rate this book 4 stars.

Jan
26
2017

Treasure Hunters Secret of the Forbidden City by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

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Parents Kidnapped, Kids Save the Day

The kidds are riding away from the kidnappers and they have the treasure.

In the book Treasure Hunters Secret of the Forbidden City, the bad guy in the book (A German criminal) has kidnapped the Kidd families’ mom, and their dad might be dead. The Kidd family are treasure hunters and the mom and dad are CIA agents. The kidnappers are trying to get the treasure map to find the treasure, which is valuable artwork, and that is why they kidnap the mom. They hold the mom for ransom, the treasure. The Kidd’s dad said the Kidd kids need to find his treasure map to save their mom. The kids, 2 girls and 2 boys, spend the whole book trying to find the map and that is basically what the book is about. They will get their mom back if they find the map.

An important part in this book is at the end when the Kidd kids defeat the kidnappers and are reunited with their mom and dad on their boat in Germany. The kids have a different plan. Instead of finding the map for the kidnappers, they use their dad’s clues to find the actual treasure so the kidnappers can’t have it, which is what they really want. The kidnappers chase them to a river in Germany where they the kids see their parents boat. Then the kids see the kidnappers heading towards their parents. It is a suspenseful scene where the kids go into the water and push one of the kidnappers off the edge of a waterfall. The reader doesn’t know if they bad guys will win and take their parents again or if the kids will get their parents back. It is important because the book is about them finding their parents and finally they found their parents.