Frogged

Frogged

By Colette Leong

The book I read over the weekend is called Frogged, and the author of Frogged is named Vivian Vande Velde. The main character, Igmone, Princess Igmone. Igmone lives in a castle with her mother, father and her younger brother. Her mother told Igmone to read a book called “The Art Of Being A Princess,” before her thirteenth birthday, so she can be a real polite princess.

Igmone goes to one of her favorite places of the courtyard. Igmone meets a frog prince by the pond. The frog prince is really a poor boy who lives on the streets, The boy Igmone left food for, who she felt bad for. But he is just not very nice person. Igmone thought she was just helping him but Igmone, herself got turned into a frog in the boys place. Later on, Igmone met some teenagers in a barn. They’re names are Lulla and Bertie. Lulla, an farmer.Bertie, an actor. Lulla and Bertie capture Igmone and She goes on an adventure with Lulla and Bertie.

If you read this book you will find out what happens out later in this book.I rate Frogged  **** four stars. Frogged is funny and surprising and I hope you think so too!

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins


The Hunger games is an amazing book by an amazing author.  The Hunger Games is about the 12 districts in Panem (the ruins of North America) surrounding the harsh Capitol that thinks they always need to remind everyone of how much power they have. They do that by having a yearly hunger games.


                                                                    Important facts, skip paragraph (not recommended) for rest of review.

 

A boy and a girl get reaped by their names getting drawn from glass ball filled with paper slips with names (when you get picked to fight in the hunger games on live tv.) If you are poor (like many of the people in district 12 are) you can get free food (grains and oil) by signing up for tesserae but you need to enter your name 1 extra time. The reaping day parade is when they pick the people for the years hunger games. To be eligible to be reaped, you need to be between the ages 12-18. Every year towards 18 you get your name put into the glass ball one more time. Sometimes people can volunteer to be a tribute if the person warts or needs to. This is often done by career tributes (kids that train their whole life for the games and are the best players in the games, really good with weapons. Then they volunteer) The districts that tend to have careers are the more wealthy districts 1,2 and 4. Even though it is illegal to train for the games before they are reaped, the capitol allows it because their districts are more wealthy and trade better goods to the Capitol. Sometimes they let other people in even if they are not careers for certain reasons. Last few things before we start about the book: Effie Trinket is the escort for district 12, and Haymitch Abernathy is the mentor for district 12. A mentor is a previous hunger games victor and
gives the tribunes tips on how to win. Escorts are people from the Capitol to do parties and escort you. If you win, you get fame and fortune, losing means certain death.

 

Now for the good stuff! 16 year-old Katniss Everdeen wakes up reaping day and goes hunting (strictly illegal and punishable by death) with her best friend Gale. They talk in the Capitol accent and say “may the odds ever be in your favor.” They’re pretending it’s all fun and games until the parade arrives; her 12 year-old sister Primrose ‘Prim’ Everdeen is reaped, her name was only put in the ball once. Katniss’s father is died in a mine explosion (the districts industry is coal mining), it’s also the same one that killed Gale’s father. Ever since Katniss’s father died, she took over the family. Katniss volunteers and is the district’s first ever volunteer, very big deal. Now for the boys, Peeta Mellark is reaped. The peace keepers take them to there room where they will say their final goodbyes to their families and friends.

When they arrive at the Capitol via hi-speed train they go the penthouse (very luxurious) they get amazing food and really cool showers. They meet their stylist (to help with the interviews and opening day parade,) and Katniss Gets a new stylist, Cinna, who chose district 12 (they hardly ever/maybe only twice won the games) and, he’s great. Past stylists have made the tributes from district 12 look ridiculous and haven’t gotten very many sponsors (if they like what they see they get the mentor and during the games give them supplies to help them survive and/or fight.) The new tributes from district 12, Katniss and Peeta Mellark are… on fire. They look amazing and win the crowd and sponsors. Katniss earns the name ‘The Girl On Fire’.

Training and, ‘‘The 74th annual Hunger Games!.” In the training center there are many stations: archery, camo, hand-to-hand combat, sword fighting, knife throwing climbing, ect, ect. Haymitch said don’t show the others what your really good at.
 Katniss avoids archery and Peeta avoids weight lifting (his family owns a bakery and he throws 100 pound bags of flour over his head.) Katniss visits the plats station to find what plants are edible and which are not. See already knows very well from her family’s book, hunting and her father. See does little fighting stations and sees the careers showing of. They train for 3 days then have their private sessions. Now Katniss does her Archery magic. since Katniss is last person to go the and game makers (what they name is, they do) are drunk and and eating, katniss gives them a surprise… The interviews are on and Katniss again steals the spotlight. She talks about her 11 in training out of a possible 12, best of all the other tributes. “…let the games begin!” Haymitch advises Katniss to stay away from the cornucopia, the giant horn where all the good stuff is. Katniss sees only one bow and arrow but is late to react to the gong so she manages to get a back pack food and stuff. She runs of into the woods.

 

Thats my reveiw,  there is much more of the games in the, but too many spoilers in the rest! The whole series is from Katniss’s point of view. I time period is future.

I love it partly because of the twist of a bad future, not a good future. There is also some really cool teach in the book.

 

I would rate this book 6 out of 5 (yes, 6) stars because you will go to sleep thinking about it. It’s a great book, READ IT!!!!!!! 🙂 Highly addictive. BEWARE!!! 🙂

Catching Fire By Suzanne Collins

(:WARNING DON’T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST BOOK:)

Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games and is by Suzanne Collins. It is about a place called Panem with a place called the Capitol and 12 (or maybe 13) districts. The hunger games is when a male and a female gets reaped from their district to fight each other to the death and the people who got reaped from the other districts. The reaped people are called tributes. Being reaped means you get picked to be in the hunger games. The tributes from district 12 in the 74th hunger games is Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. They’re mentor for the games is Haymitch Abernathy. Katniss’s best friend who despises the Capitol is named Gale Hawthorne. Peeta and Katniss win the hunger games and become victors. they are also about to become mentors when the Quarter Quell happens. The Quarter Quell is a special hunger games that happens every 25 years. For the 75th hunger games the victors are to be reaped from their district and fight. Now Katniss’s chances of surviving are even slimmer. When you are reading the book you will uncover all different secret/surprise characters. When Peeta and Katniss are reaped again they hear hints of rebellion spreading around Panem. I enjoyed the book dearly because I simply just could not put it down.

I would rate it 1 stars for people who cannot handle gruesome scenes. And 5 stars for people who can handle gruesome scenes and understand every single thing that is happening on the page. My favorite part of the book is when Katniss makes a jaw-dropping performance in the training area with her bow and arrows.  My least favorite part is probably when a poisonous fog starts chasing the tributes. Again, as mentioned, I would really like to recommend this book to people with a tough stomach.

                                                                                                                           

Fun Facts

Haymitch won his games on a Quarter Quell when they put twice the amount of tributes into the arena.

Peeta had a crush on Katniss since he was five.

 

The Tiger Rising, By Kate DiCamillo

 

This is a very good book for someone who likes a mix a nature and non-fiction. The book is about a boy named Robert ‘Rob’ Horton who is around 11 years old. His mother is dead (died from cancer) and finds a tiger in the woods behind the ‘The Kentucky star Motel’ In Florida. The tiger really cheers him up along the way. He meets two ‘bus bullies’ named Norton Threemonger and Billy Threemonger. On one of the bus rides to school he sees  and meets a very independent girl named Sistine Bailey.  She hates Florida and wants to leave. She stands out with her clothing and attitude. She fights first in fights, gets hurt and doesn’t care.

Rob’s dream came true and then his real journey begins.

 Two big events are that he finds the tiger and he finds Sistine’s missing pieces to the puzzle.

I would give this book 3 *** because it doesn’t have a lot of suspense. There are parts where you want to just put the book down.  

Hatchet, By Gary Paulsen

 The main characters are Brian, his mom, his dad, and the pilot. The book takes place in a plane and in the Canadian wilderness. Some important events were his first fire, a death, and him almost trying to kill himself. I enjoyed this book because of its interesting plot in surviving in the wilderness with nothing but a hatchet.

My favorite part was when he found a way to make food and fire near the middle of the book. My least favorite part was when a tornado came near the end of the book. I would recommend this book to people who can handle intense scenery and very very severe sadness. A death occurs and some of the parts may be a bit gruesome. If I were to rate this book I would give it **** (four stars) because of its complex threading of the words and it really makes you feel like you’re in the book.

 

My Book Review Of  Gone-Away-Lake! ! ! ! !

Benjamin’s  Book Review Of  Gone Away LakeBy

Benjamin Winokur-Applebaum

 The book that I just read is called Gone Away Lake! I finished it a little while ago but now I can finally write about it!!   It is By Elizabeth Enright

The reason I liked this book is because it has  one picture per chapter. So I know what the scenes from the book look like when I need a picture in my head !    I also like this book because they describe it from the perspective of a child named Portia who is exposed to be looked at as the narrator/main character !  I also like the book because it is in the perspective of two time periods now(35 years ago)and 5,555 years ago!  Also another reason I like this book is because about five people are the feelings in the book and that one person is telling all of the people about it!  I also like that it has a bit of make believe in it!!

The plot is that there are two kid’s Portia and Julian (main characters).  The two kids find a lake in the forest and they then start to explore and have adventures in the swamp.  But they also  might meet some people or things that you would  not normally see in real life or in a swamp !!

There  are tons of interesting flashbacks and stories of that some people tell that they meet in the story !!There are lots of people you will meet in this adventure and lots of names of animals.  So if you like animals this is your book and if you are a story or surprises lover this is also your book !!

I recommend this book to you because it has laughs and screams and tells you stories that are fake but seem real.  It gives you tips about nature!!  That is why I recommend it to you to read !!!!

This is why I liked this book. It is called Gone Away Lake for you who do not remember !!  So if you like anything that I said in this book review you should check this book out because it is in the public library’s.  There are two books in the series Gone Away Lake and Return To Gone Away!!  My name is ben and this is my book review for you !!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENJOY

Published By New York Times!!!!

YOU CAN’T TAKE MY PLANET, BUT TAKE MY BROTHER PLEASE, By James Mihaley

My 1st book review :

I loved the book YOU CAN’T TAKE MY PLANET, BUT TAKE MY BROTHER PLEASE by James Mihaley because I connected to it because I have a brother too. It will make you think a lot about nature. There is a boy named Giles and he gets a letter that changed everything. he meets aliens and some of them are good,but some of them are evil. He has an older brother and a younger sister. He lives in Manhattan and he loves Central Park. He loves animals so much. I think anyone would like this book because it is very funny. It is a little hard to understand at the beginning, but it comes together at the end. It is very touching throughout the story because Giles will do anything for his family. I rate this book five stars!!