Category Archives: Friendship

Jan
14
2016

The Isle of The Lost, By Melissa De La Cruz

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51u643G2a9L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_My book is called The Isle of the Lost. It’s by a woman named Melissa De La Cruz. The main characters in my book are four children of evil people in fairy tales: first Jay, son of Jafar who is always stealing things, second Evie, daughter of Evil Queen who is obsessed with being pretty, third Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil, and lastly Mal, daughter of Maleficent who is obsessed with being the most evil. I would describe Mal as cruel, mean, and cool. The time is once upon a time like in a fairy tale and the place is The Isle of the Lost, Auroudon and the Isle of the Doomed. It’s about the children of evil people from fairy tales and how they have to go on a mission together to get their parents and themselves off The Isle of the Lost.

An important thing that happened in the book is that when Mal forces Carlos to throw a party that Carlos’s mother knows nothing about so Mal can get revenge on Evie for not inviting her to a party when they were three. They are not friends at the beginning of the book. The way Mal gets revenge on Evie is that she locks her in a closet with lots of traps to keep people out of Cruella’s (Carlos’s mother) fur closet. Another important thing that happened is when the four kids go to the Isle of the Doomed to succeed in doing their mission. If I say anymore it will ruin the book.

I enjoyed this book a lot because it gives you a chance to see how the bad guys feel in fairy tales and it gives you a chance to root for the bad guys. I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy and fairy tales because it has a lot of both. I would rate this book five stars (being the best).  

Jan
14
2016

From The Notebooks Of A Middle School Princess, By Meg Cabot

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5600cad5539b4.image-1I’m reading a book called From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot. The main character is a girl named Olivia. Olivia lives with her aunt in New Jersey. She lives with her aunt  because her mom died when she was very young. She doesn’t live with Her dad because he lives in New York City, and her aunt doesn’t want her to meet him because Olivia is unaware that he is royalty. Olivia’s family wants her to have a normal life without knowing she’s a royal. A mean girl named Annabelle, who also attends Olivia’s middle school, doesn’t like her. Olivia tries to figure out why, and also how to fix it and become Annabelle’s friend.

She draws in her free time, loves animals and is a very positive person. She is also very kind. For example, she was not mean to Annabelle when Annabelle was being mean to her, and she is a very good friend. Olivia is also smart. For example, she gets very good grades in school. This quote helped me understand Olivia’s personality more, “Middle school has not been going great, but of course my expectations were very high.” It helped me because she was thinking about how great middle school could be and not how bad it could turn out to be. This means that she always hopes for the best, even if it doesn’t turn out that way.

Olivia had a surprise visit from her royal sister Mia, who she hadn’t known about. Olivia’s sister said she could pick one place she wanted to go and her sister would take her there. Olivia chose to meet her dad for the first time ever in New York City. When Olivia finally met her dad, he asked her to move in with him. They would need to live in a different country, and that means leaving Olivia’s best friend Nishi. Olivia’s aunt does not want her to move in with her dad. You will have to read the book to find out if Olivia moves in with her dad or not!

I love this book because Olivia has to make a life changing decision, like meeting her dad, moving in with her dad, and living in a whole new country with people she had only met a few days ago. I would recommend this book for people who like books about adventures . I would also recommend this book for people who like books with life changing decisions in them. I would give this book five stars out of five stars.  

Jan
14
2016

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani

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The book I’m reading is called The School for Good and Evil written by Soman Chainani. There are three books in the series. There are two main characters in the book. One is named Sophie and she’s the witch. The other main character is named Agatha, she’s the princess. Sophie has always wanted to be a princess in the school for good. Then Agatha got in the School for Good and Sophie was stuck in the School for Evil. Sophie got really jealous and confused that Agatha is a princess and she’s not. This book takes place in two schools, The School for Good and the School for Evil.

Agatha is nice in the inside but pretends to not be nice in the outside. Sophie is the opposite of Agatha. She is cruel in the inside and pretends to be nice in the outside. Together they’re unique in a bad way. When you first start the book, Sophie and Agatha are normal girls in Gavaldon the town where they’re from. Everybody in Gavaldon thinks Sophie is good because she pretends to be. They think Agatha is evil because she wears black and lives in a graveyard in the woods. But it’s the opposite of what you think.

Sophie wants to be good so badly she believes she’s a princess, but she doesn’t know she is being selfish and cruel. One example of this is when Sophie was not grateful that her friend got something she didn’t.  Agatha thinks Sophie is good, and Agatha has been a true friend to Sophie. Sophie does good deeds to impress the schoolmaster so he thinks she is a princess. Tedros who is a prince, thinks Sophie is supposed to be in the School for Good because she’s pretty. He thinks they confused her with Agatha and that Agatha is supposed to be evil because she is ugly, has a negative attitude and wears black. You never know what’s coming next with Sophie and Agatha.

I really enjoyed this book because it has a twist in it that might surprise you. I also liked how much the author described the magic within the book. For example, how one of the teachers can talk to animals. I recommend this book because it’s a sweet story with a lot of magic and I like magic a lot. You really get pulled into the book and it’s really fun to read so I would definitely recommend it. I have a connection to one of the main characters in the book, Sophie. I’ve always wanted to be in a fairy tale and be on the good side. I rate this book five out of five stars.            

     

Jan
14
2016

The School for Good and Evil: The Last Ever After By Soman Chainani

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My book is called The School For Good And Evil: The Last Ever After. It is the third book in the series The School For Good And Evil. It was written by Soman Chainani. Sophie and Agatha are the main characters. The main problem is that all of the fairy tales that everyone knows are getting changed and rewritten by the evil Schoolmaster. Instead of good winning, evil is winning. Evil is killing all of the good characters because it has love on its side. Evil got love because Sophie married the evil Schoolmaster. As long as she wears his ring, evil will win all of the fairy tales ever to come and good winning will just be forgotten.

My book is set in two places. One of them is the Blue Forest. The Blue Forest is a forest that students from the school for good and the school for evil used to train in to prepare for the real forest, which is where they would go and live their real fairy tales. The second place that my book is set in is the school for new evil, which includes the school masters tower. The School For New Evil is the School For Evil but in a different and bigger building. The Schoolmaster’s tower is like the Schoolmaster’s house, but it doesn’t have any stairs to go down, you have to fly up and through a window to get in.

Sophie and Agatha were best friends. That was until a boy, Tedros came between them. Tedros is the prince of Camelot. Sophie and Agatha both loved Tedros. Tedros picked Agatha to be his princess. So, Sophie went seeking love. She came upon the evil Schoolmaster and found out that she loved him but he was evil. She married the Schoolmaster and became evil. The Schoolmaster wanted to change all of the fairy tales so that evil would always win and it seemed like evil was right and good was wrong.

Evil characters that have been killed by their good nemeses rise from their grave and find their enemies to kill them. Everything starts dying including the sun. If the sun dies, everyone in the world will die as well. The only way to stop everything dying is if Sophie destroys the Schoolmaster’s ring with Excalibur, Tedros’ father’s sword. Sophie must decide who she wants more. Her best friend, Agatha or her true love, the Schoolmaster.

Sophie is a confused person. She doesn’t know what is right and what is wrong because she always tries to be good, but no one appreciates it so she turns evil. Sophie doesn’t want to be evil, she wants to be happy. The only way for Sophie to be happy is if she finds true love. Sophie found true love but it is evil. For example, on page 2 it says “Sophie reddened, remembering she was all alone in this world. Everyone else had abandoned her. Every desperate effort to be good had been punished with betrayal. She had no family, no friends, no future.  And now, this ravishing boy in front of her was her last hope for love. Panic burnt through her muscles and dried out her throat.  There was no choice anymore. Sophie swallowed and slowly stepped towards him.”

Sophie is also desperate for love. She has always wanted to be good but when she fell in love and it was evil she wasn’t willing to sacrifice love for good. She was too desperate. For example, Sophie once had a choice. Her choice was love or friendship. She could have gone to Camelot with Agatha and been good just by destroying the Schoolmaster’s ring but she couldn’t. She knew she wouldn’t get a second chance at love and by destroying the Schoolmaster’s ring it would mean giving her happy ending to Agatha and losing hers.

Agatha has a very strong personality. She doesn’t let other people take her over or do things for her. For example, on page 147 it says, “If anyone can make Sophie see what love really is…it’s her best friend, isn’t it?” said Agatha. “The league’s old faces melted to childlike stares, as if finally seeing the young girl with hope instead of disdain. Tedros stepped next to his princess, chest proud. “Exactly. Leave Sophie to me.” Agatha’s smile vanished.”

Agatha is also very independent. For example, before she went to the school for good she lived in a small house in a graveyard with her mother and her cat. She did most things by herself and didn’t have any friends. But, Agatha stayed strong and was good even though everyone including herself thought she was evil and a witch.

One of the reasons that I really enjoyed this book was it was very descriptive and it makes you feel like you are experiencing everything that the characters are experiencing. For example, on page 542 it says, “Slowly their eyes drifted upwards, pinned to the trees, and as they adjusted to the darkness, they began to make them out… bony, vulturous shadows, eerily still on the elm branches, not making a sound.” Another reason I really liked this book is that every time they solve one problem it leads to another. It keeps it filled with excitement and action and makes the book very interesting. The last reason is that it doesn’t start with just Agatha or just Sophie, it alternates every chapter and when both of the girls are in the same place, the book says both of their thoughts so that you can actually understand what is going on and why.

I would recommend this book to someone who loves reading fantasy and fractured fairy tales. It is filled with both of those things and makes the book what it is. This book is about good against evil and which one is right and if you like changing concepts you would probably like this book. I would definitely rate this book five stars out of five stars (five being the best and one being the worst.)  

Jan
14
2016

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone By J.K. Rowling

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In Harry Potter the main characters are… Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. One night a powerful dark wizard comes into the house of James and Lily Potter and their one year old son Harry Potter. This is Lord Voldemort. James tries to hold him off while Lily runs away with Harry. Voldemort killed James and went to kill Harry, but Harry’s mother begged Voldemort to kill her instead of Harry. Voldemort killed Lily Potter and went after Harry. But something special about him made Voldemort lose his powers and Voldemort  just made it out alive. That is how Harry got his lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Harry went to live with his muggle (non magical) aunt and uncle. Harry did not know he was a wizard until ten years later, and that is where it all begins, when Harry goes into the wizard world. In this book the main problem is that a giant three headed dog named fluffy is guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone, the Sorcerer’s Stone is a ruby red stone and as long as you’re holding it you can never die. Fluffy is guarding the stone for Dumbledore, because Voldemort is trying to get it to come back to power. The dark arts are people who murder other people with a spell.  Harry’s defence against the dark arts teacher meanwhile is keeping a dark secret that Harry will never forget, once he finds out what it is.

Harry is happy when he is playing quidditch. When Snape takes points off Gryffindor for no reason Harry gets mad. When one of Harry’s friends are hurt he is sad. Professor Snape, a greasy hair, crooked nose git, hates Harry. Professor Snape hates Harry because when he and Harry’s father were in school together they were enemies. Snape is the potions master (he teaches potions.) But Snape has always wanted the Defence Against The Dark Arts job. At his first quidditch match, Harry got his broom jinxed either by Professor Snape, which is likely, or Professor Quirrell, his defence against the dark art teacher.  On Halloween a troll was set loose and got locked in a bathroom with Hermione, and thanks to Harry and Ron, Hermione was safe and they all ended up all alive. Harry, Hermione and Ron decide go to get the Sorcerer’s Stone they know they have to go through a bunch of obstacles before they can get the stone. Some of the obstacles are…  devil snare, troles, wizard chess, and potions.

I REALLY enjoyed this book because it has fantasy and fiction in it. I also liked it because it has a lot of beautiful language in it. I recommend this book because it has a good and an evil, and a good evil, and a too good! This is my favorite type of FICTION!! If I were to rate this book I would give it 5 stars being the best 1 being the worst I would give it a 5,                        

1 2 3 4 5!!

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Dec
18
2015

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, By J.K. Rowling

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imgresThe name of the book that I am reviewing is Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K Rowling. The main characters are Harry Potter, Ron, and Hermione. Harry Potter lived with his mean uncle, and aunt, with their kid Dudley, before he went to school in England. The main problem is an evil sorcerer, Voldemort, who killed Harry’s parents and he was trying to find a powerful stone. Harry Potter is a boy who d0esn’t get bothered by a lot of thing because he is used to it because of his aunts and uncles.

He thinks the powerful stone is hidden in a mirror but he doesn’t know that the particular mirror only shows your biggest desires in your life. So Harry and his friends tried to defeat Voldemort and they succeeded. The book takes place in their school called Hogwarts.

One interesting part is when Harry, Hermione and Harry found an ogre that was trying to kill them so they made it faint by casting some spells and banging it in the head. There was a teacher named Hagrid and he had a three headed dog. While Harry and his friends were sneaking around the school they found Hagrid’s dog.

The dog woke up which woke up the whole school, Hagrid told Harry and his friends to cast  a spell to sing the 3 headed dog to sleep, and they did. It was really sad when for Halloween and Christmas, Harry’s “family” didn’t want Harry to come home.

I enjoyed the the book because there are so many adventures. I will give it five stars.

Dec
17
2015

The Penderwicks, by Jeanne birdsall

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Cover-Penderwicks-1-450wThe name of the book I read was The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. It’s the story of four sisters on their summer vacation with their father and the people they meet. The story takes place at an estate called Arundel with amazing gardens and tons of tall trees. The Penderwicks stay in a little house on the big estate.

There are five important characters in my book. The five characters are Jeffrey, who I think is the main character, Sky, Jane, Rosalind, Batty and Hound, the Penderwicks, dog. Batty is the youngest of the four sisters then Jane, Sky, and Rosalind, the oldest. Jeffrey is a boy they meet at the house they have rented for their vacation. The Penderwick sisters are trying to help Jeffrey because his mother doesn’t listen to what Jeffrey wants to do. She wants him to grow up to be like his grandfather and go to a boarding school called Pencey Academy where he will become a soldier but Jeffrey has different ideas. He wants to be a musician. Sky, my favorite of the sisters, is adventurous and has a very short temper when dealing with Mrs. Tifton, Jeffrey’s mother and owner of the estate.

Mrs. Tifton doesn’t like Sky or any of the Penderwicks. She thinks they’re a bad influence on Jeffrey. Sky always gets into trouble like when Mrs.Tifton’s garden club comes over and Sky, Jane, and Jeffrey mess up her garden by accidentally ruining her rose bush with a soccer ball. In one scene, Sky was eavesdropping on Mrs. Tifton and she heard her saying bad things about her sisters and her mother who had died from cancer.  Sky barges in and stands up to Mrs. Tifton.

Batty, the youngest sister, likes to visit the gardener’s bunnies. One day when Rosalind can’t take her to visit the bunnies and neither can Sky or Jane, Batty goes alone even though she’s not allowed to go by herself. When Batty leaves the bunnies, she forgets the most important rule – to latch the screen door. Mrs. Tifton is very controlling. Mrs. Tifton and her boyfriend Dexter, my least favorite character, take Jeffrey to see Pencey and when they come back Mrs.Tifton says he will begin going to Pencey Academy in two weeks. That night he runs away and stays with the Penderwicks.

Jeffrey is usually a very brave boy like when he saved Batty from a bull. He is also very kind like when Sky got mad at him and said mean things but he forgave her right away.

I really enjoyed this book and I think it was a very interesting and fun story to read and I’ve already started reading the next one in the series. My rating from one to five is a 5.  

 

Dec
11
2015

The Chocolate Touch by, Patrick Skene Catling

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51q-9rbQqFL._SX334_BO1,204,203,200_The name of the book I have read is The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. The main characters are John Midas, Susan, Mrs. Midas, Mr. Midas and Miss Plimsole. One day, John Midas was walking and he saw a chocolate store. He went inside and bought a big box of chocolate. When he got home, he opened it and it was only one piece of chocolate. He ate it and he said it was the best chocolate he ever had. It was creamy, sweet, rich and very chocolatey. Now, anything that touched his mouth turned to chocolate. Even his trumpet turned to chocolate when he played it. The Chocolate Touch takes place in John Midas’s house and in his school.

 

There are a few very important things that happened in this book. Like when John brushes his teeth, his toothpaste tasted like chocolate. Also when John kissed his mom she turned to chocolate and could not move. There are quite a few things that changed what was happening in the story. Like when John ate something it immediately turned to chocolate. And when John plays the trumpet, it turns to chocolate and his whole music class saw they freaked out and were in shock .  John is very scared for example when John’s trumpet turned to chocolate he ran right out of the classroom before even telling his teacher he was leaving. John was impolite and polite at the same time for example when John ran home from school and went to his mom’s friend’s house to get the keys to get into his house his mom asked him to say hi to all of her mom’s friends and John said hello and ran home.

 

 

I really enjoyed the book because I love chocolate. I also really enjoyed the book because it was a very short easy read. But if you don’t like chocolate I would not recommend this book because you won’t be able to make as many connections, so you might not understand the book as well. I rate this book 4 and a half stars because it is one of the best books I have ever read in my life.

Dec
11
2015

Hamster Princess, by Ursula Vernon

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imgres-1The book that I read is called Hamster Princess, by Ursula Vernon. The main characters are called Princess Harriet and Ratshade. Harriet is not an average princess. When Harriet was only a tiny baby, a witch who is named Ratshade. cursed her so that when she was at the age of twelve, she would prick her finger but it also meant she would sleep for a very long time.  The curse made her invincible, but it also meant what I told you before, she would sleep for a very long time. The settings of the book are Harriet’s parents’ castle, her parents’ village, in which the name of her village is Hamster Vill, and other Kings’ villages in which are friend’s parents villages

One important part of the book is when Harriet gets cursed. It meant nothing could hurt her until she was twelve years old. Another important part of the book is what she does with the power. The power is invicibility.  Everyone started calling her Crazy Princess Hamster Bone because of some of the things she did like: jump off the highest tower in their village and attacking trolls and ogres. 

One event that changed the story is when Harriet swung Ratshade into the spinning wheel  and Ratshade got cursed instead of Harriet. Also when Harriet found a prince because that is what made the story find an ending because she got a friend too. An adjective to describe Harriet is that she is brave. She is brave because she is a risk taker. She jumps off towers in the kingdom and in the Hamster village, people don’t do that. Harriet is strong because she fights ogres and swings Ratshade into the spinning wheel. 

I liked Hamster Princess because the author threw out amazing ideas. One reason I did not like the book is the author would throw out  too many amazing ideas, which made it hard to follow. It was like too many facts just like this: there was a cow, and then a pig and then a chicken and then a cat and then the cow pooped. I  give this book four stars because sometimes the book was confusing, and it was like the pages were in the wrong order. I liked Hamster Princess because it was really heart warming.

Dec
11
2015

Schooled, by Gordon Korman

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imagesThe novel Schooled is written by Gordon Korman and has lots of fascinating characters. The main character is Capricorn Anderson who has grown up on a commune his whole entire life and suddenly forced to go to a public middle school. A commune is a place where a lot of people live together. His grandmother Rain has been Cap’s teacher, friend, and most of all his mother.

When Cap arrives at his new school he faces a lot of confusing situations that he has not experienced including the most popular kid in school who happens to be a very mean bully named Zach Powers. Cap is an innocent boy who must adjust to his new life in the real world, including the new school, and his foster home with Sophie a girl who is not so happy about Cap’s appearance

When Capricorn first comes to Claverage Middle School he is treated with absolutely no respect. He is humiliated and teased every single day. Every year the kids at Claverage nominate the biggest dweeb in the grade for class president so they could make fun of him in assemblies and meetings. On the first meeting Capricorn promises to learn the name of every kid in school, which seems ridiculous at first. He surprises everybody by actually learning all their names by the time of the school dance. The bully Zach Powers is very frustrated because he wants Cap to fail at everything.  Instead, many kids start to like him.

Because Cap grew up in a commune he does things that typical kids don’t, including Tai Chi in the front lawn every morning. First everyone thinks he is crazy, but soon people join and find it really enjoyable. This shows that being different is not always a bad thing.  

A scene in the book that changes Capricorn’s life at school is on the busride home one day. The kids are bullying him by throwing lit matches at him. The driver of the bus suddenly falls off the seat and has a heart attack in the middle of driving. No one does anything until clever Cap takes the wheel of this big school bus and rushes the bus driver to the hospital. This is a very exciting chapter because there is a lot of action and the other students get to see a new side of Capricorn Anderson. When Cap gets to school the next day he is suddenly the most popular kid in school instead of the least popular.

Another big scene is when Cap does a really nice thing for his foster sister Sophie. She doesn’t like Cap because she cares too much about her image and how other people see her. If Cap is around he will embarrass her so she is mean to him. Cap is so nice that he gets the bracelet her dad gave to her engraved, because her unreliable dad never does.  After some clues, Sophie figures out that the bracelet was not engraved by her dad, but by Cap.  This really brings the two of them closer together, because Sophie realizes what kind of kid Cap really is.

Cap is confident and a little bit clueless at the same time. He is confident because he is his own individual and does not care about what anyone thinks. For example he wears shoes made out of cornhusks. He is clueless because he doesn’t understand when he is being made fun of. When he is locked in the library by Zach Powers and his friends, Cap does not care and just sits there.

I have enjoyed Schooled very much. I have because it has  a lot of action. I would rate Schooled 5 stars.      *