Category Archives: Deborah & Joel

Jun
09
2017

Flush By Carl Hiaasen

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This book is about a boy named Noah who is trying to catch whoever is putting gallons of raw sewage into the waters of Florida Keys. In addition to this very hard task Noah’s dad is behind bars. His dad refuses to go to court and get his way out of jail.

 

Noah is a caring, adventurous and hardworking.  He likes to solve mysteries and he cares for his family. He worries about his mom a lot and so does his sister. Noah’s  little sister name is Abby. Noah likes to think of her as an older sibling mostly because Abby has a big mouth and she is not afraid to use it.  Abby and Noah are a nice team.

 

Out of one to ten I rate this book a eight. It is not a book that is a page turner but there is still a lot of things going on. I recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction. Go read this book!

 

 

 

 

Jun
09
2017

H20 by Virginia Bergin

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Image result for h20 virginia bergin

It starts up when Ruby the main character is at a party. They turned on the radio and they heard that the rain is killer if you touch it you die. But it doesn’t affect animals. Then Casper ran out into the rain, after he came in he started throwing up. Zach’s mom took Ruby and Casper to the hospital but she dropped of Ruby first at her house. Her step dad, mom, baby brother were still all ok, but then her mom hugged her and the next day she died with the baby brother. There were people rioting everywhere for supplies. Ruby was in solitary for a while because the step dad didn’t know if she had the rain disease or not so she was in the closet until her mom died.

Ruby is a spoiled 15 year old. She craves her phone while people are getting killed. And you’ll find a quarter of the book about her complaining about her makeup. She is British person and she is not an apocalypse survivor.

They were stuck in the house for a while because there were people that had guns and they would get killed immediately so they didn’t go out for a while. You would think. After time had fixed that Ruby and her step dad went to the supermarket. They couldn’t find anything but plants. Ruby took some flowers for her dead mom and dead baby brother. Then the step dad noticed something he noticed that the plants have water and he thought that they hadn’t been changed in a while so he took the muggy water and drank so much. They were stuck in there for a while. There were still people outside wanting to get in. Finally it all calmed down, they went out and looted some houses but they didn’t find anything. But other than that no one was there.

On the next errand Ruby found some animals that she took home. After that Ruby was stuck in the house for a long time. But then she ran out of water, so she went out and found a nerd from her school in a house. They had some water and a little girl who didn’t talk. The nerd’s name was Darius Spratt and she didn’t really know him but she recognized him. He said that there was people trapped into the school. She went there and found a bunch of men. There was a key and she let them go. She wanted to go to London to find her real dad. She didn’t have a licence yet but she wanted to drive the car to London. The good thing is that it’s only a two hour drive but they get sidetracked a lot so it’s a lot longer than you think, so yeah. Will she get to london and see her dad or will she die from the rain? Find out in the book H20!

I do think i’ll recommend this book because it’s young adult. So I don’t think your parents will let you read this unless your parents are like mine so yeah. I think I would rate this book from 1-5 stars 5 for me but probably not you. But yeah if you’re ready for people dying and alcohol read it!

Jun
09
2017

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

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Gregor the Overlander is about a boy and his little sister who fall through a grate in their laundry room. They land in a strange world full of giant spiders, mice, bats, cockroaches, rats and more. Gregor’s dad is missing. It turns out he’s been trapped in the Underland for the past two and a half years. There is a prophecy, the Prophecy of Gray, that includes Gregor. Gregor teams up with a group of humans, their bats,  two cockroaches, two spiders, and one other very important creature from the Underland to find his dad and rescue him. This book is the first in a series called The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins.

 

Gregor is pathetic, bored, and scared. He becomes awesome in the second book. In the first book, the best characters are Rip Red, Luxa, Ares, and Boots. Luxa is brave, annoying, and stubborn. Luxa is stubborn when she is mad at Gregor, even when he is not upset with her. Luxa is brave when she fights the rats. She is annoying all the time; she’s a queen and overuses that responsibility on Gregor and always tells him what to do. As the books go on, there are more common characters who you learn more about.

 

My favorite part was probably at the very very end (warning: spoilers) when Gregor and Ares bond. This is significant because Gregor gets his own bat. Ares has a sad back story. Also Now that I have read the whole series it’s also kind of sad because I know sad stuff is coming. (spoilers over). Another favorite part is when Boots and Temp the cockroach meet. That is very funny and throughout the series Boots and Temp serve as comic relief. It’s funny because it’s a 2-year-old and a giant cockroach having a conversation and the 2-year-old isn’t even scared.

 

As the books go on you learn just how many prophecies Gregor is in. If you love the first book, be warned the other books are gorier. If you don’t like gory stuff don’t read them. This is a very fast paced book. The first two chapters are kind of slow. Like Harry Potter, it takes a while to get into the action but once Gregor falls into the grate it’s like snap snap snap and he’s on an amazing quest. Some important things happen before that so you need to read those two chapters (some very funny stuff happens like when his Grandma calls him “Simon”). those books where there are tons of characters and also it’s kind of a mystery with the prophecies – they need to find them and unravel them. This series is sad, happy, and violent. If you know how Suzanne Collins writes, if you read the Hunger Games, you will see this is much better. I rate this book on a ten star scale 100 stars.

Jun
09
2017

Warriors

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My book is Warriors. The author of my book is Erin Hunter.

 Image result for warriors book 1

The main character of my book is Rusty. Rusty is a cat but not an ordinary one. He has yellow and orange stripes. Meaning he is a tiger cat, a tiger cat is actually just a cat that looks in a way like a tiger. He has a lot to talk about and a lot to think about.

One night Rusty was just taking his nightly nap. Rusty has been having this one dream where he goes to the forest just across his owners fence and tries to catch a mouse but every time it runs away. Rusty’s owners give him the duelist worst tasting and ugliest cat food ever. He can’t even taste it, but it is the best he has so of course he eats it.

One night Rusty just happened to go outside and when his owners called him to come sit on the bed and cuddle with them. He ignored them and stayed outside and “talked” to Smudge. Smudge is a White and Black cat with a big attitude. He says that another cat went into the woods but Rusty denied it.

If I would give this book blog a rating it would be a 4 because it was ok I would prefer more exciting books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jun
09
2017

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The title of my book is When you reach me by Rebecca Stead. It is about a girl named Miranda. The story is made of small (mostly not Image result for when you reach mealways) chapters. She had many things going on in her life you just lost her friend her mom is trying to win the 20,000 dollar pyramid and she had a homeless man outside her house that they call the laughing man and he always sleeps under a mailbox. The time period is the late 1900’s.

 

Miranda is kind of determined because she really wants her mom to win the pyramid and she practices with her and really wants her to win. She’s a little jealous of other people in the book either their house or skills. Imaginative because she reads A Wrinkle in time, she imagines about her and that book and some of the people in the book and how they relate. A lot of people develop in this book,  she learns a lot about people in the book and how they relate to other people in the book.

 

There is some magic in the book: like in some of the characters. She finds out more about some places and  gets strange things from somebody. an does not know who it is and why some people did what they did in the book. They talk about time in this book which was an interesting (even though it hurt my brain) and they also talk about the time in a Wrinkle in time.”sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean it’s like how turning on a light makes you realize how dark the room has gotten” quote from Miranda.

 

I really liked this book if you like a book with some drama a little mystery and some magic I would recommend this book or if you’re just looking for a good book to read. It’s a short book so you could read it pretty fast. This book reminded me a little bit of Wonder they might not have that much in common but it reminds me with the drama that both books have. It’s a page turner when you get further in the book and you get to learn so much about about all the characters. I would rate it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Jun
07
2017

Who Was Michael Jackson? by Meagan Stine

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Who Was Michael Jackson? by Megan Stine

Anyone remember the moon walk? Anyone remember Michael Jackson? The king of pop? Well you are going to learn all about him today. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on august 29 1958 in Gary, Indiana and died on June 25, 2009, in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, CA. His best selling album was Thriller in 1982. He mad over 27 million dollars! My favorite song from the album was “Beat It” because it is super catchy.

Michael Jackson is cool person who liked to groove on the dance floor! He was nice and always happy. The song “Bad” was actually about being cool, not being bad.

I liked the book because it has lots of facts about him. I would recommend this book to a person who likes music. I would give this book 10 out of 10 and 10 is the highest  because it is fun and cool!   

Jun
07
2017

DIARY of a Wimpy Kid by JEFF Kinney

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Image result for diary of a wimpy kidThe book I read is Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. It’s the first book of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It takes place in some town in the United States during the present day. It’s about a boy named Greg Heffley who hates middle school. Some of the main characters are Rowley, Rodrick, Manny, Greg’s mom, and his dad. Greg writes his important things in his life in a diary, which he calls a journal, because he thinks that diaries are for girls. Some of the important things are what he thinks about other people and some personal things. Greg is trying to get more popular by making funny comics for the school paper but the teacher in charge of the paper always changes the comics and makes them bad. Every time Greg tries to do something to make himself popular, it fails.

Greg is curious, clever, and he does a lot of things to get into trouble. I know he is curious because he wants to know about what his friend is talking about and about other people’s lives. The way he is clever is he creates comics. One of the ways Greg gets himself into trouble is during a school play he does not do what he is supposed to and he throws an apple at someone. He throw the apple when he was singing a song in the play. He did not sing because his brother is recording him. Advensholey the other people singing the song stopped singing too. Like 10 minutes later someone Greg did not like popped out from the curtains and Greg found an opportunity to throw an apple at her, so he did.

Some of my favorite parts of the book involve both Rowley and Greg getting in trouble with other people or with their friendship. My first event is what happens on Halloween. Greg and Rowley are trick-or-treating late and high schoolers come over to them on a truck and spray them with a hose. When they are leaving, Greg yells, “I am calling the cops,” and regrets it two seconds after. Greg and Rowley have to hide in Greg’s grandma’s house for most of the night. They get away but they run into the high schoolers again. Another favorite part of mine is when Greg and Rowley get into a small fight because Greg says a lie and gets Rowley in trouble. Rowley finds a new friend and they have a sleepover. After Greg finds out, he gets jealous and goes over to a kid across the street from Rowley to show him he has other friends too. The kid’s name is Fregley. Fregley has no friends so he does not have the best experience with other people and does some nasty things to Greg. Greg reacts to them by jumping out the bathroom window and running back to his house.

I enjoyed this book and encourage you to read it. This book is funny and I learned not to lie in certain situations like when it has to do with friendships and really important things. This book relates to Diary of an 8-bit Warrior. They are both written in the first person and the main characters are a lot alike and they both have the same problems. I would rate this book 4 stars.

Jun
07
2017

The Land of Stories, The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

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Will Alex and Conner ever return back home? I read The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer only over two days in late May. It is part of The Land of Stories series, which has five books (so far), all very long. The sixth and final book is coming out in July. The Wishing Spell is the first book in the series.

Alex and Conner Bailey are twins. Their dad died right before they turned eleven. They don’t see their mother much because she has to work to support their family. On their twelfth birthday, their Grandma comes and presents them with her big book of fairytales, The Land of Stories. Alex loves fairytales, and she wishes that all of it was real, in a world where they could visit all the characters. The first night they have the book, after Alex rests it on her bedside table, ready to drift off to sleep, she notices that the book is glowing and humming. A week later, she’s at school and the book starts glowing and she has to explain to Conner what’s happening. After school that day, she has an idea. As well as the glowing and humming, anything that she drops onto the pages sinks in and disappears. She wonders what it would feel like to sink into the book. She starts with her arm, gently swirling it into the pages. Suddenly, she falls face first into the book. She lands in The Land of Stories (Conner comes too) where one of her greatest wishes is true: fairytales are real.

Now, the reason this book is named the Wishing Spell is because if you succeed in the spell, you will granted a wish. No matter how large, if you succeed, the spell will grant you one wish. They don’t know how to get back home, so that is what they are wishing for. In order to complete the spell, they must collect eight items all over the fairytale world. They are following a journal written by a man who was also on a quest for the spell. They have experiences with Goldilocks (the fugitive on the run), Red Riding Hood (the self-obsessed queen), Sleeping Beauty (the wise, trusting queen and my favorite of the queens), and many other famous and not so famous fairytale characters. It is set mostly in The Land of Stories, which is located in… a book. It’s very interesting, and a real page turner!

I am going to describe Conner’s personality. Most people would describe Alex, as her personality is pretty easy and she shows a lot of it, but Conner’s personality is more complicated. He is popular in school, unlike his sister, and keeps falling asleep in class. As you can tell, he’s not a very good student. Maybe the total opposite of his sister, who is attentive, intelligent, and a bit of a know-it-all. Conner is a bad student, but a good brother, as he saves Alex in many sticky situations. He has good ideas. For example, he has a trick to keep himself from falling asleep in class. He wears a rubber band around his wrist, and any time he feels himself getting sleepy, he snaps the rubber band. He presents this idea to the Sleeping Kingdom (Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom), as their citizens are sleeping 24/7, and no work is getting done. The kingdom adopts this idea and it works. Conner can be very logical and smart at times. You just can’t force him to be smart and logical. For example, when they first arrive in The Land of Stories he is the smart and logical thinking about all the things that could go wrong in their world while they’re gone. There might be a huge time change! Something big politically might happen! Literally anything could could go wrong, or they could miss something super huge. Alex loves sightseeing, and while the logical voices in her head were repeating what Conner was saying, but her curiosity got the better of her. So Conner is a logical intelligent person, you just need to catch him at the right moments.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

One of the most interesting and important parts of this book is when Alex and Conner go the Sleeping Kingdom for the first time. They need to collect the original needle that Sleeping Beauty first pricked her finger on for the Wishing Spell. Sleeping Beauty is my favorite of the queens. Conner is presenting the rubber band idea and suddenly one of Cinderella’s glass slippers falls out of their bag. The slippers are one of the most prized possessions in all the land. It makes them look like thieves. They didn’t actually steal the slipper. They tell this story to Sleeping Beauty and her guards (the guards are attacking) and Sleeping Beauty has faith, trust, and wisdom, for she believes them and calls off the guards. She is very wise, and she gives them the needle gladly, with the promise that they will return it as soon as they are done with it. It is important because it teaches Alex and Conner that some people in the fairytale world are also reasonable and wise, even people that you might least expect to be. That’s also just a general lesson in all life.

I enjoyed this book SO MUCH! I honestly loved it so strongly and this series in general that it’s the best thing since Harry Potter. It is so rich and full of information and twists around every corner that you just don’t want to stop reading it. All the other books are that same. I am one of those people that like to find out the true hidden meanings of famous stories, and that is basically exactly what this book gives. If you love that kind of stuff too, you need this series in your life. There are many other books that uncover hidden secrets from famous tales and you can look at multiple perspectives. These books might not be for everyone, but I highly suggest you give them a try because I’m 99.99999999999% sure that you will love them.

My rating of this book is (drumroll please): 5 STARS! This is maybe one of the greatest books I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot of books) and as soon as I finish the rest of the books I will definitely be rereading!

 

Jun
06
2017

As Brave as You, By Jason Reynolds

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As Brave as You, by Jason Reynolds

This book is called As Brave as You. The (awesome) book is by Jason Reynolds. I chose this book because from the moment I picked it out and read the first page, I saw that it had that hilarious and sarcastic aura to it, and I really like those types of books.  This book is about Genie (age 11) and Ernie Harris (age 13 about to turn 14), who go to North Hill, Virginia, and they stay with their grandparents for a whole month.

 

North Hill is a small town in the middle of Virginia. At first, Genie and Ernie are like “Dude, what is this place? Nothing like home, man.” They hate North Hill. Ernie and Genie are from Brooklyn. They miss the shade coming from the tall buildings cooling down the streets. They miss the ice cream truck coming to the sidewalk every day. Something that they really hate in North Hill, is the sunlight. Imagine the sunlight coming from your bedroom window, except 30 times brighter. That’s how bright the sun is there. There are a lot of steep hills, woods and forests in North Hill.

 

When Ernie and Genie arrived in North Hill, they hung out with their grandparents the first few days and they thought it was boring because there were no other kids their age there. Their grandparents literally live on the ‘North Hill’ of North Hill. They live on the top of an actual hill. There are no other houses on top of the hill.

 

Over the next few days, they wandered around aimlessly not knowing what to do (except for Ernie, he mostly played with the dog, Samantha, for the majority of the first few days). One day, Genie was looking over the side of the cliff and saw a little tiny row of houses he had never seen before. In front of a red house, he saw a girl around Ernie’s age. They walked down the hill (Genie tumbled) and met the girl.

 

Her name is Tess. Tess lives down the hill from them. They became friends and Tess took them to the local tavern where they drank the North Hill “special”. It turns out to just be ginger beer. Ginger beer is kind of like ginger ale, I think. They chatted for a bit, went to her house, and after a while Ernie and Genie left. Their grandma was hollering their names from the top of the hill like a mad woman, so they ran back up. For the rest of the vacation, the three of them hung out, got into big pickles and made DIY items.

 

Finally, Ernie’s 14th  birthday comes up. Grandpa Brooke (that’s his first name. Weird, right?) decides that he wants to teach his oldest grandson how to shoot! Grandpa Brooke decides to teach him how to shoot in the forest, so no bullets would do any harm to outsiders. Grandpa Brooke was a sniper in the Vietnam War!  He taught some of the best shooters in North Hill how to shoot.

 

IF YOU DON’T WANT A KIND OF BIG SPOILER, SKIP THIS ENTIRE PIECE OF INFORMATION!!! I’M WARNING YOU!!!

 

It’s kind of surprising that Brooke is a blind man! Yep, blind, and he still knows how to shoot. Kind of crazy. Grandpa Brooke is also scared of going outside because the last time he was outside, he had just become blind (because of Glaucoma), and he was sitting on the front steps of his house. All of a sudden, a poisonous snake came out of nowhere and bit Brooke. He had to be rushed to the hospital, and ever since then, he was scared to go outside.

 

NOW YOU CAN READ YOUR HEART OUT!

 

Brooke, Ernie, Genie, and Crab (a shooter in North Hill who is a good friend of Brooke’s), all go to the woods to teach Ernie how to shoot. Genie isn’t old enough to learn how to shoot, so he just goes to watch Ernie.

Everyone Is oblivious to Ernie’s nervousness, except for Genie. That’s right, Ernie is nervous. The weird thing is, Ernie is never nervous about anything. Nothing at all. As soon as Ernie held the gun in his hands, he started to get really shaky and his hands trembled. Once he pulled the trigger the gun slipped backward from his hands, sending the bullet behind. It didn’t hit anyone, luckily. However, the gun slammed into Ernie’s mouth, knocking out two of his teeth. He had to go to the Emergency room and get braces. This is the kind of pickle they would get into.

 

About two weeks later, the brothers’ parents come back to get them, and Ernie and Genie can’t deny that they had a good time. Just as they were getting to like North Hill, they had to leave. Sad, right?

 

I would definitely recommend this book if you like sarcasm and wit. Also if you like some sort of tame adventure.

Again, this book is AWESOME! I would give it ????? out of ????? stars. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!!

 

Jun
06
2017

The Search For WondLa

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The Search For WondLa

 

Eva Nine was dying. Can you imagine death? Well, she can. Truth is she’s actually dying here . . . of boredom. Eva nine does  not  live a normal life. Unless you call living underground with a robot and no other humans normal.

 

The only way she stays alive is Muthr. Muthr is a robot that has raised Eva in their underground sanctuary for as long as Eva can remember. She has been training Eva to survive in the world above them. Eva Nine has never seen any other humans other than a picture of a girl, an adult, and a robot. The only clue to finding these humans is the word WondLa at the bottom of the picture.  The only problem is Muthr can’t detect any humans above them though she does not tell Eva.

 

One night a marauding huntsman (of species unknown) attacks their underground sanctuary and leaves Eva with the only option to flee to the surface without Muthr. Though when Eva gets up there she does not recognize anything from Muthr’s training. Infact she ends up sleeping in a walking tree.

 

After befriending Rovender Kitt an alien wanderer and Otto  a Tardigrade, Eva  Nine and her new friends set out on the search for WondLa.   

 

I recommend this book if you like adventure. If you are  a curious person this book will always keep you interested with all the twists and turns to things you’re not expecting. I give this book 5 stars!