Category Archives: 2015-2016

Mar
04
2016

Rules by Cynthia Lord

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cover-rulesThe novel Rules by Cynthia Lord shows the struggles of a middle school girl trying to control her unpredictable brother with autism. Catherine is very worried about her image, which is why she keeps a set of rules for eight year old David to follow so that she can try to make him fit in. Meanwhile, Catherine is trying to find ways to make her new next door neighbor Kristi become her best friend. Catherine likes to tag along with her mom and David when they go to the autism clinic, where Catherine becomes friends with a teenage boy named Jason, who is unable to speak or walk. Along the way the author of Rules makes sure to get the message across that “you’ve got work with what you’ve got.”

One of the most important moments in Rules is when Catherine actually breaks the rules. Catherine never really lets loose, or others do their own thing. It all started at the clinic when Jason described his feelings of being trapped in a wheelchair to Catherine. Catherine decides she wants Jason to experience the feeling of freedom. She does that by taking Jason out into the parking lot. There, Catherine wheels Jason around really fast; everybody starts to stare. For once in her life, Catherine does not care what other people think of her. Jason feels like a new person. This is a unique scene because Catherine usually does not call attention to herself. In another scene, Catherine speaks out when her school mate Ryan is mean to her brother. Even though Ryan knows that David is autistic, he still teases him by offering David a piece of gum that turns out to be an empty wrapper. Catherine reacts by yelling at Ryan for confusing her brother and storming off. This is a very important moment because Catherine shows a new side of herself by standing up for her brother in public. Another fascinating scene is when we meet Catherine’s father for the first time, while he is tending his beloved tomatoes. Catherine walks outside to ask her dad if they could do something fun together, her dad’s responded, “Maybe later. I am busy with the tomatoes.” “That made me wonder if the dad love his tomatoes more than he loves his own kids.” I think that is wrong because Catherine helps David out so much; you would think her dad would have a little respect for Catherine.

Three adjectives to describe Catherine are controlling, protective, and an imagineer. She is controlling because Catherine keeps a set of rules for David on how to live his life. Also if David does not follow them she gets really angry and frustrated. Catherine is protective because when Ryan the bully tried to trick David, Catherine got really mad at Ryan and started saying mean thing to him. The last thing is that Catherine likes to imagen because she thinks Kristi “her next door neighbor” is different than she really is, like Catherine makes up these adventures that the two of them are going to have, but they never have them. One important quote that Catherine said was “my one wish is that my brother would be normal.” That quote makes me think Catherine does not really accept David, with the disabilities that he has.

I have enjoyed Rules very much because the author has a lot of detail in the book, and you can really understand each and every character. Also I love learning about autism as I read the book. One interesting thing I learned about autism is that kids always like to do something with their hands. I really recommend Rules to fourth graders and fifth graders, because it is a two hundred page book, and it is a very quick read. Also it teaches you “readers” a lot about autism, and autism is really interesting. I think Rules is really unique, because I have never seen or read a book about how a boy with autism communicates with his older sister Catherine. Overall, I rate Rules five stars.   

Mar
04
2016

The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin

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imgresThis review is about The Westing Game. The author is Ellen Raskin. The main character in The Westing Game is a 12 year old girl named Turtle Wexler who invests in the stock market. Following her stocks is Turtle’s favorite hobby. Turtle even uses her transistor radio in class to listen to her stocks when she is not supposed to. We see Turtle do lots of things, but the big point of this book is to win a game. This game is The Westing Game. The Westing Game is set up by the Estate of Mr. Westing to find out who has murdered him and to decide who will inherit all of his wealth. This book takes place in Westingtown a fictional town in Wisconsin  U.S.A. (named after Samuel W. Westing).

One big part of this book is when the people living in Sunset Towers see smoke coming from the Westing house. This is so important because the Westing house is thought to be haunted and abandoned. One part of this book that I found interesting is that Grace Wexler, Angela and Turtle Wexler’s mom, favors Angela over Turtle and shows it. This is interesting because parents are not supposed to have favorites. This is important because Turtle feels unloved. Another interesting part of this book is Samuel Westing’s will. This will is so interesting because it is like a riddle and the winner inherits all of Samuel’s wealth.

One adjective that I would use for Turtle is business-savvy. I say this because she likes to deal with money. For example, she invests in the stock market and sells her candles that she made at summer camp. Turtle is also very smart. One example that I have of this is how she chooses the right stocks to sell and to buy. A third way I would describe Turtle is risky. One place in the book where she takes a risk is when she goes into the abandoned and haunted Westinghouse. She does this just on a dare. One quote that really helps you understand Turtle better is when she asks Flora Bombeck (who will also play the Westing Game) a question and her mom jumps in and says, “Can’t you see that she is busy with Angela’s wedding dress? And why must you wear a silly costume like that? Really Turtle, I don’t know why you insist on making yourself ugly.” This helps you understand how rude Turtle’s mom is to her, which influences her choices.

This book could have be the best book I have ever read! The ending is so amazing and it is written so well. If you need a new book you should pick up this one. It is a fast read but absolutely outstanding!!! One TV show like this book is Scooby-Doo. They are the same kind of mystery. On a scale of one to five, I would rate this book a ten!

Mar
01
2016

George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

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51ctcmuIfFL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_I am reading George’s Marvelous Medicine written by Roald Dahl. It is a story about an eight-year-old boy named George who is an only child who lives on a farm far far away from other kids. One afternoon after his mom and dad left, George and his Grandma were left alone. George has one major problem; his Grandma is evil (really really mean). She punishes George for growing so much he tries to shake her up a bit by making her a new medicine.

George dumps out Grandma’s medicine and makes her a new one out of all types of stuff.  He puts in shaving cream, soap, hair removal cream, nail polish, nail polish remover,  toothpaste  and deodorant from the bathroom. Next, he goes to the kitchen he puts in three bottles of gin (a type of alcohol which makes Grandma go crazy), chili peppers and a bottle of dish detergent. This is one of the funniest parts of the story because I can not imagine eating any of these things. The effect of this medicine is that it makes Grandma grow and grow and grow. This is very shocking to George and makes him have the idea to feed it to the animals.

Even though George was not too kind to his Grandma, he is really a kind person. He said  “I would not dare touch the medicine, mom said It could kill a man.” Even Though he wanted to shake Grandma up a bit, He did not want a dead body on my hands.” This is kind because he does want to kill Grandma. He is a bit of a scaredy cat for example he is scared of his own Grandma. George is creative. He is creative because he made his own medicine.

I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book. I enjoyed this book because it is really, really funny.  I would recommend this book as a book review book because it is the perfect length. This book is similar to most Roald Dahl books because it have a evil grandma. I would rate this book 4.9 stars.

By JAck BARKER

Mar
01
2016

The Miracle on 49th Street by Mike Lupica

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904597The book I’m reviewing is the Miracle on 49th Street by Mike Lupica. The main character is a girl named Molly. What Molly is trying to achieve is to convince Josh, a great basketball player, that he is her dad. Why Molly thinks Josh is her dad is because Molly’s mom who died dated Josh. The setting of the book is in Boston in about 2006.

One big event that happened was that Molly snuck into Josh’s car to have a face to face conversation with him. Why this is important is because if she got the face to face conversation with him, he might tell her the truth. Josh doesn’t believe that Molly is his daughter is because he thinks Molly’s mom would have told him. I found this interesting because now I know how hard it is to have a parent who died because they can’t back you up when you have a problem. Another interesting part was when Josh gave her court-side seats to one of his Celtics games. The Celtics are a basketball team. This was interesting to me because I thought Josh wouldn’t do anything for Molly.

One adjective to describe Molly is brave. She is brave because she goes on trains by herself from Boston to New York without her fake mom’s, Barbara’s, permission. Another adjective to describe Molly is thoughtful. I think this because she tries to see from everybody’s point of view. Another adjective to describe Molly is smart. I think this because she thinks up really good plans. One adjective to describe Josh is thoughtful. Why I think this is because he gave Molly court-side seats to a Celtics game. One quote that helped me understand Molly is: “Josh Cameron right here on this bench!” said Molly. This helped me understand Molly, because she was drawing attention to Josh when he wanted to have a calm day. So she was trying to embarrass him, like kids sometimes try to do to their parents.

I really liked this book because the way it’s written was amazing. Another thing I really liked was how Mike Lupica could describe a scene, like when he made me feel as if I was in Rockefeller Center. I would recommend this book to people who like sports because the book is based around sports. This book reminds me of Mike Lupica’s other books because they are about life connected to sports. I would rate this book four stars.  

Feb
24
2016

The Sorcerer’s Secret by Scott Mebus

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The series my book is in is called, The Gods Of Manhattan and it’s called Sorcerer’s Secret. It is by Scott Mebus and it is the 3rd book in the series. The main characters are Bridget and Rory Hennessy. But there are many other secondary characters. Rory and Bridget are trying to save Mannahatta from an evil god named William Kieft and his spirits that want to kill all the gods in Mannahatta. Rory and Bridget try to kill him by exposing his deep dark secret that no one knows but him. This book takes place in Inwood, Manhattan and the time period goes from the 1600s – 2008.

One big event that happens is when Rory decides between killing Kieft or saving his mom from death. This was important because his mom means the world to him but if he doesn’t kill Kieft, all good gods and good spirits will die. If the good gods and good spirits die, then the normal people will have no protection from evil. One part I found most important in The Sorcerer’s Secret is when Bridget sees her dad for the first time. This is important because it is amazing that since she was born, her dad ran away, then when she was 9 years old she saw her dad for the first time and later on in the book something very important happened around her dad. One part I also found the most interesting was when Rory finds out his dad’s name. This was interesting because his dad is/was so famous but you would never think that that was his dad. It surprised me that his dad’s name was _______because out of every person in the world, I would NEVER guess that that was his name.

Rory is brave, happy, and angry. Rory is brave because he almost died for his sister to protect her. Rory is also brave because he does not let people push him around. Rory is happy because his family reunited with each other. Rory is also happy because he is a optimist. Rory is angry because someone tries to kill his mother and he loves his mother with all his life. Rory is also angry at his father but also filled with love for his father because he didn’t know his father for a long time and was just getting to know him when he died. “I forgive you, too,” he whispered down his father’s ear “I love you,” and then his father died in Rory’s hands.

I really enjoyed this book because it is a action book. I also enjoyed it because it is about a boy in fourth grade and you can relate to him. I would definitely recommend this book because it makes you want to jump right into the next page. I also would definitely recommend this book because it is a trilogy and it will consume time (if you read quickly) A few books and movies like this are the Percy Jackson series/movie, the Harry Potter series/movie, and The City Of Ember series/movie. It is like these books/movies because they are all action adventures and friendship stories. I would give this book 5 stars ★★★★★ because it is SO good I would actually consider reading it 100 times!  

Feb
24
2016

Ratburger

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995468606The book I read for this book reivew is called Ratburger, by David Walliams. The main characters in this book are Zoe (a twelve year old girl), Armitage (a rat), and Burt (a burger vender). What Zoe is trying to change is Burt is taking all the rats in the city that he can find to a beat up old building and torturing the rats. Now Armitage is one of them. The setting of the book is the rusty, dusty, apartment in a tall tall building in the middle of the city, that Zoe is living in, along with her dad, and evil stepmother, Sheila, who just wants a roof over her head and cocktail crackers and nothing else to do with the family.

One big event that happened in the story is when Burt is trying to kill all of the rats and Zoe’s dad was about to fall into the machine that Burt was using to kill all of the rats. This event is so important because Zoe, her dad and everyone who was there had to go through the memory, and that is really suspenseful, someone could have died! Another part of the book that was super important is when Zoe was caught for bringing Armitage into school twice and she got a three month suspension. One other important part of the book was when Zoe and her dad made an ice cream truck (from Burt’s van,) and gave out ice cream. This is so important because, you see, Zoe’s dad always dreamed of giving out ice cream — he didn’t care how, he just wanted to.

One adjective to describe Zoe is fearless, because she was scared, but happy about doing it in some parts of the book. An example is when Zoe was rescuing her rat, she was smiling in the picture. Another adjective to describe Zoe is sad, because Sheila locked her in her room and she was sad that she wasn’t going to get out. Another adjective to describe Zoe is smart, because again, when her stepmother locked her in her room, she decided to take off the braces on her teeth and use them to dig a hole in the wall. A quote that helped me understand Zoe better is: “All I care about is Armitage. I have to save him.” Why that helped me understand Zoe better is because it shows that she loves Armitage, and she would do anything for him.

I LOVED the book. I loved every part of Ratburger, but my favorite is when Zoe found her rat’s name. It is a particularly funny story. I also loved the big fight with Zoe’s dad, Zoe, Burt, and Sheila. It was a funny sight in my head because Sheila is chubby, and makes big effort noises to move. I would recommend this book. David Walliams is a really disgusting, but really funny writer, and his books are so touching. I know for a fact that none of David Walliams’ books are like anything else. It is so unique because it is a book of heart, meaning it is — indescribable! And he is such a good writer, I’ve never liked an author so much in my life! He is just so amazing. I would give this book five stars — millions if I could. I hope if you read this book, you will have the same exact reaction as I did.

Feb
24
2016

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Old School by Jeff Kinney

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imgresThe book that I read is called Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Old School. The author is Jeff Kinney. This book is part of a series called Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.  I have read some of other books in this series. The main character in this book is named Greg and a lot of unlucky stuff happens to him. He is in middle school and has two brothers, a mom and a dad, and a lot of friends. This book takes place on a farm and in the town’s park it’s in the school year. The story is about a normal kid just living his life.

The main problem for the main character in this book is that he’s stuck at a farm that he hates. Greg keeps trying to escape but he keeps failing. One really interesting part in the book was when Greg brought baby wipes to the farm. I think this is funny because baby wipes are for babies not for middle schoolers. Another thing that was interesting was when Greg’s dad made up the story of Silas Scratch because he wanted a shed with a workable toilet all to himself. Silas Scratch is a made up story about a farmer that lost his farm land so he grew really long nails and that is why his last name is Scratch. This was interesting because Greg was really scared of Silas Scratch.

Greg is determined because Greg kept on trying to get out of the farm but never could until it was over. Greg is also brave because he went in the woods at night to get firewood. Greg is also unlucky because everything he tries not to do, he does. “Don’t break the car,” Greg says to himself and then ten minutes later, “Dad’s going to kill me, I broke his car!”

I enjoyed this book because it was really funny and I really like funny books. It had a mystery and I love mysteries. I recommend this book because it’s a book that both girls and boys would enjoy because it’s really funny. This book reminds me of Diary of a Wimpy Kid the movie because it’s basically the same thing. I would rate this book 5 STARS!

Feb
24
2016

Who was Muhammad Ali? By James Buckley Jr

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I am reading the book “Who Is Muhammad Ali” by James Buckley Jr. which is part of the “Who Was” series. The book is about Muhammad Ali, the world’s greatest heavyweight boxer. He is famous for his great boxing skills. He was born January 17, 1942 and is now 74.

One big event was when he changed his religion from Christianity to Muslim. His original name was Cassius Clay but when he switched religions, he changed it to Muhammad Ali. It was a big event because the christian fans were angry with him. More importantly, he refused to be drafted because he didn’t believe in the Vietnam war. Muhammad Ali was convicted for refusing to go to the war and had to give up his championship belt and boxing until the court dismissed the case. One of his biggest fights was against George Foreman in Zaire, Africa. He wanted to earn his belt back to regain the heavyweight title which meant he had to beat George Foreman. Ali knocked him out in the 8th round and took back his championship. In 1984, he was 42 years old and diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease which affects the central nervous system. He had trouble speaking and walking and over time his face became frozen. Doctors felt that being hit in the head so many times caused the Parkinson’s disease. This was his new fight.

Muhammad Ali was a super talented boxer. He had 61 professional fights. He won 56 fights and won 37 of them by KO. KO means Knock Out. He was also a bragging poet to all his competitors. Here are  2 of his famous poems. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” The second one is “I have wrestled an alligator, I have tussled with a whale. I have handcuffed lightning, and put thunder in jail… Only last week, I hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean I made medicine sick.” Muhammad Ali was an activist and a peacemaker. He was on a mission to help the poor and the hungry. Also, after traveling through Africa, he realized that black people were not treated like second class citizens, like many black Americans. Many black Africans held very important jobs. Ali fought for equality in America.

I really enjoyed this book because I like boxing and because Muhammad Ali is a great boxer and funny with his poems. In boxing history, only a few men had ever won back a championship title they had lost. On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali did. Muhammad Ali always predicted how many rounds the fights would last and he was usually right. He said this in 1963 against Doug Jones: “Jones likes to mix, So I’ll let it go to six. If he talks jive, I’ll cut it to five. And if he talks some more, I’ll cut it to four!” I would recommend this book because Muhammad Ali was confident, talented, loved the sport and he was passionate about his career. The book teaches you about his life as a boxing champion, a family man and his life as an activist. Muhammad Ali reminds me of Rocky Balboa. Muhammad Ali and Rocky Balboa were both great boxing champions. In 1986, doctors found out that Rocky had suffered significant brain damage from all the blows to the head and in 1984 Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. His brain was not making the right connections to some of his muscles anymore. I really enjoyed the book so I give it a rating of four stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Feb
24
2016

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

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9780553751758The title of my book is called Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. The main character’s name is Won-a-pa-lie which means The Girl with Long Black Hair. Her secret name is Karana (she is a Native American). The setting of the book is on an island in the middle of the sea and the time of the book is in the mid-1800s. The main problem in the book is that Karana is living on an island all by herself with no people, just animals. She has to survive all alone, just by the things she remembers.  One big event in the book is when a boat came and took all of her people, including Karana, away from an island (the people from the boat were nice people) and Karana’s tribe brought all of their stuff with them. But her little six year old brother went to get his fishing spear at the last second and the boat left without him. One minute later when the boat had not moved that far away from the island Karana noticed that her brother was not with her. She looked back to the island and there her brother was running on the island to the boat. Karana had to decide if she wanted to stay on the boat with her people and leave her brother behind or jump off of the boat and leave her people to be with her brother. She decided to jump off of the boat and be with her brother. That is important because it changes the whole story and it means that she cares more about her brother then everything else. One part of the book I thought was really interesting was how she made stuff, like her fence and her house. I think that is interesting because she was so creative about what she made it out of because she did not have that much stuff to build with. For example, she made her fence out of whale bones.

One adjective that describes Karana is brave. She is brave because she survived on an island all by herself. Another adjective that describes the main character is skillful. Karana is skillful because she can make a bow and arrow, house, a lamp made out of a fish and a fence made out of whale bones.The last adjective that describes the main character is loving. She is loving because she jumped off of the boat and left everything and everyone she knew and had, to be with her brother.  After Karana jumped off of the boat and swam back to the island to be with her brother. She thought “I felt the sand under my feet and saw him standing at the edge of the waves, holding his fishing spear and looking so forlorn, I forgot all those things I had planned to to do. Instead I fell to my knees and put my arms around him.” This quote/thought makes me understand the main character because it tells me that Karana cares more about her brother than creating a new life at the new island and all of her belongings.

I liked this book because it was very interesting. The parts I found interesting were how she made the things she used to survive, for example, it was interesting how she made a fence, a lamp and weapons.  (It also won a Newbery award so it has to be good). I would recommend this book because I thought it was very interesting. It also grabbed my attention and made me want to read it a lot. This book reminds me of a book called Swiss Family Robinson. The thing that is sort of in common is that the family was shipwrecked and they had to survive on an island by themselves. I would give this book a five star rating!                                                                                                                                                    

Jan
23
2016

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

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UnknownOne book I read over winter break is called Nimona.  Nimona is by Noelle Stevenson. Nimona and Blackheart are the main characters. The main problem is that Nimona splits herself into two parts, the fear self and the strong self. The strong self turns Nimona into a dragon; the fear self makes her small, like a child. Nimona is a book about power, because Nimona is a villain with Blackheart, who is an evil scientist. Nimona is a shapeshifter, which means she can turn into anything. The book takes place in a lab, where Nimona and Blackheart work.

One part of Nimona that I thought was interesting is how evil Blackheart and Nimona are. That is very interesting because in most stories the main characters are good. One big event that happened in Nimona was when she split herself into two parts. The dragon part can talk, but also talks back a lot, which is really Nimona (she talks back a lot). Then it was up to Blackheart to either leave her in the fire that she was making as a dragon, or get her out of there. This event is so important because everything was fine but then Nimona burnt it all down. 

Nimona is different because she is a shapeshifter. One time she turned into a old lady, to steal an apple. Another word to describe Nimona is powerful. Because she is a shapeshifter, she can turn into anything, like a dragon or a girl with a monster’s arms, and have that person’s or thing’s power. “I have NEVER lost my powers,” Nimona said. One more word to describe her is unexpected, because she can creep up on you at any time. An example is when she robs a bank, because you don’t see her coming.

I LOVED Nimona because it was so suspenseful. One example is when Nimona turns into a cat and gets stuck in the middle of a carnival. Another example is when Nimona punches down every single door in the lab because she is mad. In both cases, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how it would turn out. I would recommend this book because it is really kid-appropriate. It is also a book about changing the way you think about someone when you get to know them and go through something scary together. This is an extraordinary book – there is nothing else like it. It is unique because it is a book about passion and working together, and happiness. I would give this book five stars — maybe even one hundred stars, if I could! This is a one-of-a-kind book, so I bet you will love it if you read it.