Category Archives: 2013-2014

Feb
27
2014

Ranger’s Apprentice Kings Of Clonmel By John Flanagan

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John Flanagan Ranger’s Apprentice series is a good book. Since I am on Kings Of Clonmel. I will tell you a blurb of that. In Kings Of Clonmel, Horace Halt And Will travel to Clonmel in Hibernia where the failing king, Lord Ferris, is having a weak hold on his country.

 

For instance, raiding parties have been pillaging villages while the king does nothing. The people of Clonmel are furious. So, a group called the Outsiders, protect any village who pays for their service. But maybe there is a dark side to this mysterious group…

 

Horace is the former apprentice to Sir Rodney the knight and Horace is now an official knight, too. Horace is also Will’s best friend as shown in the past books two – seven.

 

Halt is Will’s former mentor and friend. He is an old, greybeard ranger who has a very sad life. Who, surprisingly, brings joy to Will and his friends. Halt is usually sad because he has never found a spouse until now…..

 

Will, is the biggest character in the series because he is in every single book. He also has a close friendship with Horace and Halt. He is an orphan whose dad died in a battle against fearsome creatures. Will is very kind and pleasant. People seem to be happy when Will is around. Will is also very funny. He even made a parody of a song called Old Man Joe and turned it into Old Greybeard Halt, His mentor!

 

The whole thing is set in a fantasy world but Of all the places in it, there is Hibernia, Araluen, Skandia, Genovia, Arrida, Celtica, Picta, Eastern Steppes, Nih-Hon-Ja, Gallica, Toscana, Iberian, Sonderland, Aslavia. Those are all the places.

 

Horace, Halt, and Will, travel to Clonmel and try to sort out Ferris’s problem with bandits and the Outsiders. They scavenge around the countryside for information. Will stalks the bandits and follows the Outsiders. Halt gets a prisoner bandit to pretend to be him. And so on.

 

I enjoyed this book very much. Because it has a lot of information that is exceptionally interesting because of all the mystery and medieval fantasy involved. I would recommend this book for people who surprisingly, don’t like fantasy because I assure you that once you read this series, you will love fantasy like never before.

I would rate this book and the whole series 5 out of 5 stars.

 

This series is amazing, period.

•Also, if you don’t know what an apprentice is, it’s a student learning to enhance a specific craft or skill.

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Feb
27
2014

Better Nate Than Ever By Tim Federle

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    This book is called Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle. The main character is Nate (Nathan), who is short and small with a horrible home where he’d be fine being anywhere but his home with his family. The setting of this book is in modern times so about 2013, in Pennsylvania and New York.

 

    Nate wants to run away from home to go on Broadway because his parents are horrible and the don’t care about him at all. His best friend Libby Marshall helps him with training for Broadway. When he gets to New York, he realizes that he is homeless, but out of the blue comes Aunt Heidi, his mother’s long lost sister, who had had a big fight with his mother and had run off to New York. When Nate needs someone to vouch for him she comes and vouches for him.

 

    I enjoyed this book because I liked the characters. I liked the characters because they were funny and complicated. I would recommend this book to people who like acting and to see personal problems resolved because that happens a lot in this book. I would rate this book 3 out of 5 stars because it wasn’t has hooking as some other books I have read.


Feb
26
2014

The Kicks Saving The Team, By Alex Morgan Olympic Gold Medalist

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The Kicks Saving The TUnknowneam by Alex Morgan, is about A girl named Devin who just moved from Pennsylvania and is really good at soccer and is worried about not making the soccer team. But then she meets Jessi who tells her the coach is very inclusive so everyone makes the team but she also hears the team is very bad! Then she becomes a co captain but the other co captain is the meanie and they lose a lot of games! Will devin save the team?

 

Devin is a really good student. At a point during the season Jessi is falling behind and she is not aloud to play on the team. But devin tutors her and she gets back on the team. But then they have their rivalry game and mirebel does something that makes things worse so with some new friends devin just might make a good start in a totally new place. Emma whose clumsy and zoe with stage fright and frida the actor devin might turn the team around!

two important parts about the book is when Devin Find solutions for all the players that is important because it helps their team win! And when devin gets voted team captain on her first day of school in a whole new state across the country from where she is from. That is important because  if she become team captin she would not have been able to help the team how she helped. something she said on the first day was: f Yeah, x is in how many friends i’ve made so far. X = none.”

I enjoyed the book because it had a lot of sports, and friendship problems I also liked how she stood up for herself but still really flexible and strong! I would recommend this book to people like freindship and sorts related and moveing schools and makeing things better by acomplishing things. I would rate this book five out of five stars!

Feb
26
2014

The Magic Trap (Book 4 of the Lemonade Wars Series By Jaquline Davies

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The Magic Trap by Jaquline Davies is the 4th book in the Lemonade War series. The Main characters in this book are Evan and Jessie Treski. Jessie is really smart and skipped third grade. Evan is mad at her because he doesn’t  want his sister to be in his class (My guess is that if you have a sibling you wouldn’t want them in your class). I totally agree with you. Evan is a really sporty kid because he plays basketball a lot (Which is why I would recommend this book to Marlowe and all the other basketball fans). This book is in a modern time and it’s mostly in Evan and Jessie’s house. I think that it gives it a certain thing that makes an impact. (If you read it you’ll understand more).

 

Evan has been learning magic in his free time. One day Evan’s dad comes home and because his parents are divorced he’s mad at his dad for putting work in front of him and Jessie but he’s happy that he’s home. His mom has to go on a trip for work so his dad has to take care of him and Jessie. Evan’s dad suggests that Evan should put on a magic show and Jessie’s all over the idea and she asks if she can be the assistant. Evan isn’t sure. What will his dad do to help him with the show. But it might be upsetting to his mom.

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How will this book turn out? You’ll have to find out. I loved this book because it suits my personality because Evan is a kid who’s like me. I would recommend this book to any kid in this grade because you’ll find a way to connect to it. It’s as of now a 4 book series and I recommend reading the first book and then after that you can read any of the later books. I would give this book 5 *****’s because I could connect to it.

 

 

 

Feb
26
2014

13 Curses, By Michelle Harrison

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Red is a girl with special powers. She can see fairies. She is a regular thirteen year old until her parents die, in a car crash. Terrible things start to happen to Red. While her two friends are in England with a fat strange house keeper and the rest of the staff is very strange too. Her friends Rowan and Fabian are very strange. Rowan has the same powers as Red. Fabian has eye drops that let him have the special power. Red is more than athletic. She has a huge brain and has an eye for strange things. The setting of the book is in the fairy realm and human realm.

 

In this book they state the obvious You must go on an adventure. “Fabian we are going on an adventure.”(page 73) The characters younger brother gets taken by the fairies, in this book fairies are evil creatures. He is that last part of his family left. The book has a lot of flashbacks. The come out all of the sudden sometimes. Red gets stuck in the fairy realm and Fabian and Rowan have to save her. But Fabian needs the eye drops to get in. One problem that Red has is that she gets captured by a witch who wants to use her for evil. Will Red get her brother back will Fabian and Rowan come in time, find out and Read this book but please consider the following.

 

I give this book a four and a half. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read it should have ended different. It has great description and should have been longer. There is a series. I will probably not read the others. Though I kept reading the book. At the beginning it is kind of boring. You have to read through it.

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Feb
26
2014

Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep, by Liz Kessler

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The book I just finished is called Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep written by Liz Kessler. The main character in this book is, of course, Emily Windsnap because the book is based on her. Emily is the type of person who is brave one moment and chickens out the next, she is a girl when given a request is determined to get the thing done , she is a kind and supporting character, but the story wouldn’t be as good as it is without the help of these supporting characters; Shona, who I introduced in the first review, Mary, Emilys mom, and Jake, her dad.

In case you have not read the first book in the series and want to avoid any spoilers, do not read from #1 to #2. (#1) In the first book, Emily finds out that she is a “semi-mer,’ a partial mermaid. Once she finds out that she is a semi-mer she starts to get curious about what lies ahead for the other half of herself, the water half, or, will she end up in a scientist’s lab being studied. One of the things Emily gets curious about is if she will ever see her dad after she finds out that he was a full merman who was in jail for marrying Emily’s mom who is a human. So Emily and Shona plan to go on a journey to find her dad. Once Emily finds him in the jail and they are reunited she must find a way out without being discovered, but she doesn’t succeed. Both Emily and her mom are captured and brought to court. Emily Is brought to mermaid jail and makes a speech about how people or merfolk should be free to love who they want. Neptune, the judge, understood her point and agreed so Emily and her parents were all reunited and moved to Allpoints Island, where the series continues. (#2)

When all seems perfect and the family is settled back in, Emily goes for a swim and feels a strange, strong current pulling her to the darkest, deepest part of the sea. She escapes and returns home to tell her mother about it. On the day before the first day of school, Shona comes to Emily’s house with another mermaid who is going to give them a tour of the Island and the school. The mermaid dares Emily to enter a forbidden zone and wakes Kraken, the seamonster. Kraken was also the source of the strong current that had attempted to pull Emily in.

images The dare that Emily had pulled Shona into had awoken Kraken. Emily ultimately finds out that she and Shona are the only ones who can calm the Kraken be

The second book gets even more exciting and you want to keep reading to find out what is going to happen next. I rate this book five out of five stars and if you are someone who likes books about friendship, adventure, or a hint of fantasy, this book is definitely for you.

cause they are the ones who woke it.

Feb
26
2014

The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket

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    The Bad Beginning is about three kids, one named Violet, one named Klaus, and one named Sunny. These kids are very rich, but when their parents die their lives aren’t so easy anymore. The kids end up living in a house with a man named Count Olaf. Count Olaf wants the kids money and so he doesn’t really treat the kids nicely, or if you want to say he treats the kids badly, that works too. At one point Count Olaf wants to marry Violet so he can steal the family’s money. I don’t want to give any spoilers so I will not go on.

     I liked the book a lot because it was interesting to see how the kids tried to solve their problems. The narrator of the story is the author. Klaus really likes to read books and is kind of a nerd. He doesn’t change much throughout the story. Violet is nice and a good sister to both Klaus and Sunny. She isn’t really like Klaus, (nerdy) but she follows along with his smart ways. She changes into a more smart and nerdy person throughout the book. The reader doesn’t know a lot about Sunny. The only thing I really learned about Sunny is that she likes to chew on anything she can find and she uses chewing to show her feelings. Sunny doesn’t really change throughout the book.

My favorite part of the book is when the kids first move in to Count Olafs house because it is funny to read how confused and scared they were. My least favorite part of the book is when Sunny gets hung from the top of the forbidden tower because it was scary to think of a little kid being hung from a tower.

BadBeginningI would recommend this book to people who like books where the story is possible, but also not really realistic. I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Feb
26
2014

Vordak the Incomprehensible by cooper

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imgresIn the book Vordak the Incomprehensible by Scott Seegert the main character is Vordak the Incomprehensible. Vordak the Incomprehensible is a sore loser. I know this because he goes to a hot dog eating contest, loses and gets very mad.

Vordak the Incomprehensible is also greedy, selfish, and misunderstood. Vordak the Incomprehensible is greedy and selfish because he wants everything to himself. “well,well. It appears our new neighbors are installing a satellite dish, Armageddon. I must remember to tap into their signal when its complete”. Theres nothing quite like the thrill of watching cartoon network for free! MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

I liked the book because it was funny to read about his dog. I would recommend this book for people who like comics because it had a lot of comic strip jokes. I give the book a ***** star rating because it was really really funny.

 

Feb
26
2014

Once Upon A Toad by Heather Vogel Frederick

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imgres       Once Upon A Toad  by Heather Vogel Frederick is about two stepsisters named Cat & Olivia and they both really hate each other. The book takes place in Portland, Oregon. The two girls are so different from each other. Cat lives with her mom in Houston, Texas and came to Oregon for three months because her mom is on a mission in space and Cat loves classical music and is a tomboy. Olivia, on the other hand loves arts and crafts and is a total girly girl.

 

       At school Olivia and all her friends make fun of Cat and call her mean names like Catbox and hold their noses whenever they walk by Cat. Cat thinks everything is as bad as it gets so she calls Great-Aunt Abyssinia (A.K.A. Aby) to come. She tells Aby everything and Aby tells Cat that she will find a really good way to fix this. The next morning Cat wakes up and things had just gone from bad to way worse. Everytime words came out of her mouth toads came out too. But whenever Olivia talked, diamonds and flowers came out of her mouth. Soon everyone all over knew about the diamonds, flowers and toads. After that everyone wanted Olivia so some people kidnapped their little brother Geoffrey to get Olivia. Olivia and Cat have to run away to find him and to stop all this crazy fairytale stuff from happening. One of my favorite quotes from the book that Cat said is, “I drew a shaky breath. It still made absolutely no sense. Middle-schoolers didn’t start spontaneously spewing toads. How could this be happening? How could that creature have come from me? My mouth still tasted like breakfast cereal, not toad. Not that I knew what toad tasted like.”

      I really, really liked Once Upon A Toad. I would recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction with a hint of fantasy because it’s about people not monsters and it’s in a realistic place not somewhere made up but the fantasy part is you can not just start spitting out toads and flowers and diamonds and there is no such thing as casting spells. I would rate this book four stars ****! The book is written in a fun way. I really like Once Upon A Toad and I think you should read it too.

Feb
26
2014

Eleven by Lauren Myracle

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imgres-13Eleven is a book by one of my very favorite authors, Lauren Myracle! She also wrote Ten and he Flower Powers Series.

 

Eleven is about a girl Winnie who lives in Wisconsin and turns eleven and is super excited for her party!  She planned it and everything. But when she gets home, her “friend” Louise completely takes over her entire party. Her best friend Amanda knows that she planned the party and worked really hard on it but follows Louise anyway. But there’s Diana Devine. Winnie doesn’t like her a lot but they are friends. Dianah is very nice to Winnie.

 

In the summer, Sandra (Winnie’s older sister) has a job at Baskin & Robbins with her boyfriend Bo. Winnie has an incident, and it isn’t so pretty…

 

A month later, Winnie visits Amanda at her beach house! There is a pond filled with jellyfish that can easily swim to the ocean.

 

To find out what happens through Winnie’s year of being Eleven are filled with, read the book!

 

My favorite part of the book is when Winnie and Diana go to the mall after school and see the kittens in the window. Diana blinks three times to a white kitten and says, “That’s how you say I love you to a cat.” I like that part because it’s so sweet and the way that they describe the kitten in the book, almost made me cry because it’s so cute!

I would recommend this book to people who like funny books because Winnie is very funny. Secondly, I would like to recommend this book to people who like friendship books because Winnie has a best friend Amanda who might dump her for someone else… also Winnie and Dianah become friends. Lastly, I would recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction because you can probably relate to this book a lot. The only thing that I don’t recommend is reading the rest of the series: Twelve, Thirteen, and Thirteen Plus One. Lauren Myracle is a great author though. I rate this book !!!!!