Category Archives: Fiction

Mar
09
2016

The Princess, The Scoundrel, And The Farm Boy. By: Alexandra Bracken

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urlIn a library not so far away… Alexandra Bracken’s The Princess, The Scoundrel, and The Farm boy. The novel that I am reviewing is part of a series that has three books in it, and if you love Star Wars this is definitely a good book for you to try. The main characters in this book are Luke Skywalker (the farm boy) princess Leia (the princess) and Han Solo (the scoundrel). The rebels consist of these three characters and more rebel soldiers. The rebels are trying to change the fact that the evil rule the galaxy. This book takes place in a galaxy far, far, away in the future.

Han Solo’s actions are effective but yet very subtle, he steps in at the last minute and helps the rebels get the victory. He is also very kind and aids the rebels supplies. The most important parts in the story are where. The most important part in the story is when Han Solo joins the rebel’s cause. Where Princess Leia joins the rebellion. the ending is very important. The main character makes the very big decision that was very surprising and changed the path of the story.

I did not really enjoy this book because I feel this book was not really the strong point of the series but  I definitely recommend So You Want To Be A Jedi? by Adam Gidwitz. The genre of this book is fiction. If you like mystery this is a good book for you. I rate this book three stars out of five.

          ★   ★   ★

www.alexandrabracken.com

Mar
09
2016

The House of Stairs By William Sleator

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imagesIn a house made entirely of stairs on one of the shiny pure white steps lay a book called:The House of Stairs by William Sleator. The house of stairs is about five 16 year old orphans named Oliver, Peter, Lola, Blossom, and Abigail that all get blindfolded and one by one get taken to a place that is not a prison and not a hospital. It’s just a maze of interlocking stairs.

My favorite character is Lola. I would describe her as brave, because she always stands up for herself and others, mischievous, because she would make lots of trouble at her old orphanage and tough because she would never let anything get to her. A part that I found interesting was when they first found the food machine and got it to work. How they got it to work was when Peter and Lola first met Blossom. Blossom leaned over a red screen with a hole in it. When she stuck out her tongue and a pellet would come out of the hole. An event that changed the direction of this book was when Lola and Peter decided not to eat or go along with the food machine. The food machine is significant because it keeps tricking them into being mean to each other.

I really loved this book because of the way it told the story and how different from other book it is. I would recommend this book to someone who likes science fiction because that’s what this book is. A connection to another book is that in the Isle of the Lost (not a series) all of the characters are 16. I would rate this book five stars.

Mar
09
2016

Book Review Three Fantastic MR. FOX

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Book Review Three Fantastic MR. Fox

By Alfredo

In the forest near three barns lives a fantastic Fox… Hello this is Alfredo’s third book review and the book is … Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl! The main character of this book is Mr. Fox. The main problem is that three ugly, fat, skinny, and short farmers are trying to kill Mr. Fox because he is always tricking them, an example is he always is eating their chickens or turkeys when they don’t see him. This book was made in 1970 and I think this book takes place near a forest in 1970.

Mr. Fox has at least three adjectives that describe him (I’ve been using the number three a lot). The three adjectives are… smart because he survives after three farmers try to kill him. He also is quick because he is always running from them. The last adjective is brave because he doesn’t get scared the whole time. One interesting part of the book is when Mr. Fox gets his tail shot off! One other interesting part is when he knows where Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (the three farmers) house’s are from underground. There are so many animal characters in this book like the raccoon, the mole, the rat, and their families. The final interesting part is that Mr. Fox can survive for a long time with no food, (those are not all the interesting parts, those are just some of them!) The biggest change is that the farmers almost catch Mr. Fox several times.

This book was very good in my opinion but one problem is that it was too short. I also liked that it was kind of diverse because of all the different things happening. I recommend this book to all ages. This book relates to everyone’s life because it reminds us we all have to survive. I would rate this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and one half.

Mar
09
2016

Flora And Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

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   flora-ulysses  Do you like superheroes? If you do check out Ulysses the Super Squirrel!! The title of this book is Flora and Ulysses, written by Kate Dicamillo. The main characters are Flora, a girl who has few friends and likes superhero graphic novels,  and Ulysses, a squirrel who is a superhero and likes poetry.  The problem in the book is Flora’s mom doesn’t like Ulysses near Flora, and she wants to get rid of him for good. This book takes place in a neighborhood in present day, even though the plot might seem a little crazy.

Ulysses is comforting to Flora like ! In the beginning of the book Ulysses gets swooped up with a vacuum cleaner and becomes a superhero!! when he sleeps near her bed. Flora feels safe because Ulysses is a super squirrel that means he saves the day as a Superhero. Ulysses is also very poetic. He loves to write poetry and express his feelings through poetry. For example when he wrote a poem to Flora about how he liked how he felt near her. Most importantly he is heroic like once he punched a evil cat off Flora’s dad’s head Also later on in the book a cat seems to attack Flora’s dad on the head! But then Ulysses save him by vanquishing the cat. Can’t you wait to hear the next thing that Ulysses confronts! Well I’ll tell you a little. The enemy kidnaps Ulysses! You’re going to have to read the book to see who the enemy is. Remember how there Ulysses got swooped up by a vacuum cleaner. When he did something happen to him… he became a superhero!
      I enjoyed this book because I liked how the Kate Dicamillo made the superhero the squirrel and the sidekick a human instead of the other way around! I also liked how whenever Ulysses writes a poem they show it on the page. I recommend this book 1 because it tells you in the way that you’re capable of doing great things even if you’re a different species. 2 because it’s such a nice book and it teaches you lessons maybe that you knew or didn’t know. The genre of the book is a mix of comedy (it’s actually not so funny) and adventure. I would rate this book four out of five stars because some parts I either didn’t get or thought were boring. Other than that, read the book to see who the enemy is and what she will do to Ulysses.        

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!

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.