Category Archives: 2014-2015

Feb
26
2015

George Washington’s Socks A Time Travel Adventure By Elvira Woodruff

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imgresI read a book called George Washington’s Socks, by Elvira Woodruff. I don’t know if this is in a series or not but Elvira Woodruff wrote other books. The main character’s name is Matt. There are four other main characters, Q, Tony, Hooter, and Katie. The setting is in Nebraska and  New Jersey. The time is the 20th and 18th centuries. One night on their first club camp out, they were reading a book about George Washington when he crossed the Delaware River. They didn’t really feel that cool so they wanted an adventure. There was a lake near where they were camping so Q, Tony, Hooter, Matt, and Katie all camped out by the lake. When they got to the lake they saw a boat. Now just think of this, the name of the boat is Emit Levart, if you look closely you’ll see it. Read the title.

 

One thing I think is important to know is when the kids cross the Delaware river  they are wearing 20th century clothes. Think of how strange it would be to be a soldier seeing them. Another thing that I think is important to know is that when they time travelled  they came back at sun rise so the parents didn’t know what had happened. Except when Katie the little sister told her parents what happened the past night. One adjective that I thought goes well with Matt is courage. An example was when Matt was riding Blackjack the horse through the dark woods. Another adjective is bravery. An example was when Matt pick up the muskets to tried to scare the Hessians. He, Hooter, and Tony all failed. The last adjective is confident. The example was when Tony got mad that they could not get home but Matt always said “We will get home, I promise.”

I liked this book because there is always a problem. You can or can’t guess what what the next thing is going to be. I recommend this book to people that like adventures. Also to people that like time travel. This book reminds me of a book we read last year called “The Magic Tunnel.” That book was also about time travelling. But The Magic Tunnel was when the English took over New Amsterdam. I rate this book five stars. *****

Feb
26
2015

Zombie Elementary By Howard Whitehouse

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20691402The book that I read is called Zombie Elementary. The author is Howard Whitehouse. This book is about Larry Mullet and his friends taking charge fighting zombies.  The setting takes place in Acorn Falls at the Brooks Elementary School and the mall.

The main character is Larry Mullet and he is in fifth grade. Larry is not the most popular but he has a few really good friends.  Larry is not tall and he is not short, he is average.  He is sporty. For example he rides his bike and plays baseball.  Another important thing to know about Larry is that he avoids the cafeteria food. Hint: This is an important clue why he does not turn into a zombie.  You will have to read the book to find out.

It is important to know that none of the adults know that there are zombies.  That means that Larry and his non zombie friends have to save the day in Acorn Falls.  Another interesting thing about the book is that his best friend Alex Bates tried to eat Larry.  It was scary and sad for Larry because he could not hang out with his best friend because there will be a good chance that he will get bitten and turn into a zombie.

It was funny and weird how Larry got rid of the zombies.  Larry would use his baseball bat and swing at the zombie’s head and the head would roll across the park and then another zombie would pick it up and play with it. It was a good thing that Larry was a baseball player.

I enjoyed the book because it was interesting and exciting. There was some scary parts in the story.  For example when the zombies said “bbbbbbrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnssssssss” and “nnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaa” while they were chasing Larry and his friends. I also enjoyed the book because the author got me into the story a lot of times.  I recommend this book for people that like zombies and are not afraid of some scary parts.  This is the first time I read a zombie book so I can not compare it to anything but I would like to read and find more books about unusual and scary things.  I would give this book four stars.

 

Feb
26
2015

Gabriel Finley and the Ravens Riddle by George Hagen

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The book I read was Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen. The the book takes place in Brooklyn.  The main characters are Gabriel20307079 Finley, Somes Grindle, Abby, and Pamela. A wicked torc, a stubborn writing desk, and a group of valravens (evil flesh eating ravens), are obstacles in young Gabriel’s path to his father. Soon Gabriel befriends a young raven named Paladin, and learns the greatest secrets the world has ever held. He, Paladin and a group of friends travel down to the underground city, Aviopolis, where he finds his father. Soon his friends and his father get captured by valravens . To save them he challenges Corax (his uncle and the lord of the valravens) to a duel of riddles. Does he win? You will have to read to find out.

 

Abby is unique, thoughtful, and smart. Abby is unique because she is confident in wearing one color boot and a different color on the other. Also she does not care what other people think about her. Abby is thoughtful when she snuck caramel candies to Gabriel so he won’t have to eat the terrible food. Abby is smart because she cracked really hard riddles like “The mighty lion runs from me when my legs rise up in fury, yet quietly I serve beneath a judge and all his jury.”

 

One part that I found interesting was when Gabriel and Paladin formed into one, meaning that Gabriel went into Paladin’s body like a ghost. I thought that was interesting because I never knew what it was like in a raven’s body. How neat would it be to fly? A part that I found important was when Gabriel met his dad. That is important because parents take their children under their wing, and teach them important skills .

 

I enjoyed this book because it has a lot of adventures. Also I like friendship and family stories and this is one of them. I would recommend this book to readers who like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. I say this because Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are very similar because they are both special types of humans and go on special missions. I would rate this book five stars *****.

 

 

 

 

Feb
26
2015

A Bear Called Paddington Michael Bond

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515ohf3YZjL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_The book I read is called A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. This book is part of a series. This is the first book, the series is called Paddington. This book is about Paddington and how he finds a home in London and about his new life in London. He came from Darkest Peru and his aunt Lucy sent him to London. The main character of course is Paddington and the Browns which is the family that takes Paddington. They took him because there is a tag on Paddington that says please look after this bear thank you. The setting takes place in a lot of places. Two of the sites are the Browns house and the beach. It does not say when it takes place in time but I think  maybe in the middle of the past and present.

Paddington is very polite because he always wants to help, make things right and he has good manners. He also can get people to do what he wants because he has this hard stare and he does it when people insult him or do something he does not want. Also he is very small because he is that way and adventures very adventurous all he does is go off and have many new adventures. Some things that were very interesting about the book is when he went to the theater he thought the whole play was real and some how he got on stage. Also for his birthday he got a magic set from Mrs. and Mr. Brown and he performed a Magic show and things went a little crazy but you will have to read the book to see what happens. He also comes to London with this red hat from his aunt Lucy who is back in Darkest Peru for the home for retired bears. He takes his red hat with him everywhere. He keeps marmalade sandwiches in it until he got his new green beret. Which he also wears but his red hat is very special. He also came to London with just a little suitcase with a jar of marmalade and a couple coins.

I recommend this book to people that like adventurous books with bears and lots of fun and funny stuff. I really liked this book and it is one of my new favorites.  I think everyone will like it because its so great. There is a movie of Paddington Bear but it is so different from the book and the book is better. Because it has a better story the movie is a whole nother story and it does not have as much action  From a 1-5 I would give this book 5 stars *****.

 

Feb
26
2015

The Magician’s Nephew

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The book I read was The Magician’s Nephew written by  C. S. Lewis. The book that the series is  part of is the Chronicles of Narnia. The book is about a girl named Polly. She becomes friends with Digory, a boy who moves in next door to live with his Uncle and his Aunt.He never really gets to talk to his uncle Andrew because he is always up to something. The book takes place in England, the wood between worlds, Narnia, and Charn

Polly is curious because she wants to know where her never ending attic leads to. She is also very gullible because she is persuaded by Uncle Andrew to touch the rings that teleport you to the wood between worlds. She’s also a risk taker because she convinces Digory  to jump into a portal to another world. There were a ton of interesting parts in this book. One interesting part was when Polly first meets Digory, what happens is that they just started telling each other stories about themselves. Another interesting part was when they are in Charn and all of these statues are sitting at the table. They notice that the farther down the table they go, the more stern the faces are. One more interesting part was when Digory goes to the wood between worlds for the first time to rescue Polly. Digory finds Polly and they have a hard time remembering everything. They said it’s a confusing place.

I loved the book so much because it seems like you are actually in the book. It’s also a friendship story and it makes you want to know more about the book.I would recommend the book because it is story about friends who go through a lot together. They also never leave each other behind. This book doesn’t really remind me of any other books because it’s like a lot of different books combined into one.One of them is A Wrinkle in Time because they both travel through different worlds. I would rate the book five stars.

 

Feb
26
2015

The Meaning of Maggie By Megan Jean Sovern

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The name of this book is called The Meaning Of Maggie and it is by Megan Jean Sovern. This book is not part of a series. This book is mainly about a girl named Maggie. Maggie’s Dad’s legs are slowly falling to sleep and everyone in their family is trying to figure out a cure for him. The main characters are the Mom, Dad, two sisters, (Layla,Tiffany) and imgresMaggie. The setting of this book is mostly at their house. This book takes place over two years when Maggie was 11 and 12.

Some ways to explain Maggie is  very lovely because she helped her older sister Layla with her homework. I also think Maggie is very secretive because she sneaks into the kitchen and gets some candy with no one even knowing. Maggie is very smart because she gets really really amazing grades. In the book I really liked when Maggie, her Mom, and her two sisters had to drag her dad all the way down to the beach each of the days they were on vacation. I also really liked it when Maggie tried to come home from school early but failed. She did not want to run 5 laps in gym. Lastly I really liked it when Maggie’s mom distracted her when her dad was getting a shot. It was really funny because her mom was making all of these excuses to get her away from her dad. She did this because she did not want Maggie to get scared that her dad would not be ok.

I really enjoyed this book because I loved how funny it was! I also liked how surprising the book was! I would definitely recommend this book for a friend because I think it was awesome! I would also recommend this book for people that like funny books! This book reminds me of The Little Mermaid [Ariel] because it is about one girl who has a few sisters that fight. This book also reminds me of High School Musical because one of the main characters has a crush. I would rate this book 5 stars!

    

Feb
26
2015

The Bad Apple by T.R. Burns

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I read The Bad Apple by T.R. Burns and it’s the first book in the Merits of Mischief series. The main character is Seamus Hinkle and the book takes place at the Kilter Academy for Troubled Youth. I think it’s set in the present because there’s a reference to a SUV but there is some stuff that most people did in the past. 12 year old Seamus ends up at Kilter after an accident at his old school. Kilter isn’t a normal school. It’s a school that rewards bad behavior. At Kilter, it’s good to get in trouble but it’s bad to get gold stars. The book is about Seamus trying to fit in and make friends in a weird new school with lots of strange rules.

 

I think Seamus is responsible because he calls the Hoodlum Hotline (technically, the police) about bad things that keep happening at Kilter. When you call the Hoodlum Hotline, you are given gold stars. (Remember, gold stars are bad.) This is why students at Kilter don’t call the hotline; it actually gets you in trouble. Seamus calls the hotline because he thinks it’s a way to see his parents. I think Seamus isn’t a troubled kid because the accident that put him in Kilter really was an accident. No one at Kilter believes him. I think Seamus is loyal to his new friends Abe, Lemon, Gabby and Elinor because when they tried to do something bad and it backfires, Seamus goes to help them even though he doesn’t agree with their idea. Something that was interesting to me is the demerit system at Kilter Academy. Kilter has its own store. It sells paintballs, boomerangs and fire extinguishers for people whose heads catch on fire (which happens a lot there). Kids can go shopping whenever they have enough demerits to spend. The best fire extinguisher costs 2,000 demerits. That’s a lot of demerits. If you surprise a teacher with anything like a smoke bomb, you get 100 demerits. Kids save their demerits to get the better stuff. One thing that is interesting to me is the way Annika, the founder of Kilter Academy, treats her niece, Elinor. It surprised me because when Elinor once got hurt at school Annika barely lifted a finger . I thought that she would care more about her niece. Annika says that Elinor isn’t doing anything bad and regrets letting her into the school. This means Elinor can’t earn any demerits, which is the whole point of going to Kilter.

I liked this book because it had a lot of action and friendship in it. It has action when Seamus and his friends are trying to trick the teachers. It has friendship in it when one of Seamus and his friends plan backfires and Seamus comes to save his friends when their powers get used against them. I recommend this book to people who like mystery because you never know what’s going to happen next. Also, it’s a book about friendship because no matter what Seamus’s friends do, he does the same thing. I think it’s kinda related to fighting in hockey because hockey teams want people that can fight but fighting is bad in hockey. I would give this book 5 stars because I never wanted to put the book down.

                                                           *****

 

Feb
26
2015

Half Magic by Edward Eager

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The title of the book that I read was Half Magic and it was written by Half_MagicEdward Eager. This book is about Jane is roughly fourteen, Mark is roughly twelve , Katharine is definitely nine and Martha is I think five or six. All four of them are siblings.They find a coin but no ordinary coin, it can grant wishes but only by halves. An example of this is, if you where to wish that you were in China you would only go half the way there! There are so many settings in this book but the kind of main one is the house. I think it takes place in the 19 hundreds because of their cloths. And the vehicles.

I would describe Jane as fierce, kind and scared. I think Jane is fierce because she never gives up and always protects her family. I think Jane is kind because she is always nice to people no matter what. I think Jane is scared in an emotional way not like scared of a monster or something. I think this because she is scared about what is going to happen next in her life. Some parts of the book that I found interesting were when Jane found the coin. I found this interesting  because right then you knew that the adventure would start and you fest exited. Something else that I found interesting was that the mom experienced the magic too. That was interesting because in most books the moms do not experience what the whole book is about. Like in some of the Harry Potters she just hears about what is happening and is not in the whole seen but in some books she is but that is just my opinion.

I enjoyed this book a lot because it is very exciting and you never know what the next disaster will be. I will recommend this book to people who likes fantasy. I also recommend this book to people who like history and knowing what is going to happen in the future. It’s kind of like seeing the future and maybe predicting it. Some other books and authors that write like Edward Eager is an author named Roald Dahl. I think this because he kind of writes like Edward Eager. I think this because there style and stories are alike and their pictures are a little alike. I would rate this book five stars and it is an awesome book!

 

Feb
26
2015

Prophet of Yonwood By Jeanne Duprau

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YonwoodThe book that I read was The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne Duprau. This is the third book in the Ember series. The setting is in Yonwood, North Carolina. It is in the future but before Ember. The book is about this girl named Nickie that is 11 years old. She lives in Philadelphia but her aunt Crystal is trying to sell her great great grandfather’s house in the town of Yonwood with her.

I think that Nickie is trusting because when her friend Amanda told Nickie that she has to watch Amanda’s dog Otis, Nickie did it very well. I also think that Nickie is brave because she stays home by herself for 5 hours and goes outside without anyone keeping her company. I think that Nickie is ambitious because in the beginning of the book she set up 3 goals. Her goals were:  1. keeping her great great grandfather’s house so she and her parents could live in it. 2. Doing something helpful for the world. And 3. falling in love. One of the most interesting parts of the book is in the beginning of the book when Althea Tower had a vision of a city that had nothing and it was all fiery.The second interesting part was when Brenda Beeson, who tries to help out, thought that the “prophet” (Althea Tower) was mumbling sinners when the Prophet tried to say cities and she was actually saying sinnies. When Brenda Beeson thought that the prophet was saying sinners thats when she was called the prophet and people followed what she said.  The third interesting part was when I found out that this book is actually a pre sequel Nickie’s father was the builder of Ember.  These events happened before Ember was built.

I enjoyed this book because I liked all the weird things like the humming bracelet and the no dogs part when they take all the dogs away. I would recommend this book if you want a book that gets you at the edge of your seat and that has a lot of surprising parts. I don’t think that there are any TV shows or movies related to this book. I would give this book 4 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!