Category Archives: Non-Fiction
Number The Stars By Lois Lowery
The book I read is called Number The Stars by Lois Lowry. The book is mainly about a girl named Annemarie Johansen who is living during World War II in 1943. It is about how she lives through this and how she helps her best friend Ellen who is Jewish not get found and captured. The main setting of the book is Copenhagen and some other settings are Sweden and Denmark.
Three adjectives to describe Annemarie are fearless, polite, and honest. She’s fearless because when she first meets one of the Nazi guards she does not get scared and she just tries to stay calm. She’s polite because whenever she gets frustrated she does not get very worked up about it like when her little sister Kristi was about to tell the Nazis that they were helping Jews go to Sweden. She gave Kristi a serious look indicating that she should not say anything. Annemarie is honest because when she talks about her sister Lise who died, she did not try to sugarcoat it, she just said the cold hard truth.
There were many important things I learned when I read this book. One of them is about this thing called the Resistance which is like a secret organization to stop the Nazis. The second thing that I learned was that the Nazis would somehow know if you are helping Jews stay safe and go to Sweden. I think they know Annemarie’s family is helping Jews because her sister was part of the Resistance. A third thing that I found important was that the Nazi guards had guard dogs and people would carry little handkerchiefs of a scent and if the dogs smelled it then it would numb their sense of smell and then they would be unable to smell. Another thing that I found interesting was that during the war no one could eat butter and if they were lucky some people would have butter but very little. The people did not have butter because the Nazis had better privileges then the people living in the war. The Nazis had taken most of the butter and they would never even eat it. They did not eat it because they just wanted the people living in the war to suffer.
I enjoyed this book very much because I got to learn a little bit more of people living during the times of dictators and why they might have left their homes. This book is not related to any movies I’ve seen, but this book is similar to Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. It is also an immigration story around the same time period but in a diffrent place in the world.
I give this book a rating of 5 stars because I really liked it. I would be happy to read it again.
Who was Galileo? by Patricia Brennan Demuth
The book I read was called Who was Galileo. Patricia Brennan Demuth wrote the book. The book is mainly about Galileo’s life and how he was persecuted for knowing a scientific truth. He was born during the renaissance which was a time for rebirth of art and learning. Galileo loved learning and questioning how things worked in the world. Although Galileo created important inventions his life was at times difficult.
His father was a musician and he taught Galileo how to play instruments. A really cool instrument his dad played was called the Lute. When Galileo was just 8 his family move to Florence, Italy which is much different than when he used to live in Pisa. A part in the book that was really interesting was that eyeglasses had been around since the 1200’s but until 1608 no one used glass lenses to magnify far away objects. So Galileo set to work trying to build something that did and built the telescope. Three adjectives to describe Galileo are smart, curious, and energetic. Was smart because he was the first person to realize that the Earth moves around the sun not the sun moves around the earth. Curious because he always wanted to learn more and more. Last but not least Energetic because he had so much energy when he was a kid.
This book was fun to read because it had some really cool information that I thought was cool. One is I didn’t know that he invented the telescope. I recommend this book to kids who like reading about non- fiction.I give this book 3 stars out of 5.
One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale
My book is called One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale (The name of the spy). It is in a series called Hazardous Tales. The book is about a real spy named Nathan Hale telling his story to the Hangman, who is about to hang him, and an English soldier. The setting is the tree where the Hangman is going to hang Nathan Hale because he was spying on the English, and the time is 1776.
I would describe Nathan as loyal because even though he was sick he still wanted to spy on the English to help his country. I would describe the Hangman as funny because when Nathan was telling him his story he would always interrupt and make jokes. I would describe the English soldier as mean because whenever Nathan was talking about wars between England and America and England won he would always tease Nathan about America losing the war. One thing that I think is interesting is that there is a bonus story at the end about Crispus Attucks who was an escaped slave but got killed in a fight with English soldiers. I think this is interesting because I thought that the story would only be about Nathan Hale. Another thing I thought was interesting was when Nathan’s friend Ben escaped from the British army but he left his horse there so he went all the way back to the British army to save his horse. I think it is interesting because he could have died but he still saved the horse.
I enjoyed this book because it has a lot of wars and battles and I like to learn about that kind of stuff. I also enjoyed this book because it has very, very detailed pictures of battles and other stuff. I would recommend this book to people who like history because it has big historical events in it. I would also recommend this book to people who like action because it has a lot of wars and battles. I don’t think this book relates to any books or TV shows that I know of. I would rate this book 4 stars because it was a very good book.
Who Is Bill Gates? by Patricia Brennan Demuth
The book I read is called Who is Bill Gates? by Patricia Brennan Demuth. The name of the series is called who is or who was or what is.The main character of the book is William Henry Gates III but everyone called him Bill. The book is mainly about a man named Bill Gates who was born on October 28th, 1955 in Seattle. Also it is about a genius who went to Harvard and dropped out to make his own company. He was the co-founder of Microsoft and his other co partner is named Paul Allen and they were best friends.
The most interesting parts of the book for me were that he wrote with his right hand in school when he was bored even though he was a righty. Also I liked when gave 28 billion dollars to charity. Another thing I thought about is that was cool was he would stay at his computer and go to sleep at midnight then wake up in the morning blink once and start working again. Three adjectives that I would talk about Bill are nice smart , and happy. Nice because he gives a lot of money to charity. smart because when he knew all the answers to every question. For example When the teacher said a really hard math question he knew it right away. Last but not least happy because he almost always had a smile on his face. Almost every time the author put a smile on Bill’s face because bill was a really happy guy a lot of the time.
I enjoyed the book because I thought the author did a good job telling us about Bill’s life. I also liked this book because I thought Bill was a cool person to read about because he did so many things to change the world in computers and without him a computer would be the same as a broken piece of plastic. Also the author made me want to read more about Bill. This book reminds me of the movie Imitation Game because it’s also about a really smart guy who was smart at computers.I would give this book 3 and a half stars.
Before We Were free By Julia Alvarez
The book I read is called Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. The book is about a girl named Anita. What happens to her is she is in the Dominican Republic and she has a photo of their “president” who she soon finds out is her country’s dictator. Later she finds out about all the horrible things that he has done and also about the crimes that her father has committed. To top it all off she has to deal with being a teenage girl. Its very difficult because she has to deal with her classmates being mean and telling her that her only friends are her cousins. The main setting of the book is the Dominican Republic, Anita’s house and other peoples homes.
Something that surprised me was the story is about a real event that happened in the Dominican Republic. It is known as the Trujillo Times. They call it his because it was such a bad time in the Dominican Republic. Another thing that surprised me was that my great grandmother lived in the Dominican Republic and she had to try to escape because it was so dangerous but she made it out alive without being harmed or stopped. The last thing that surprised me was that my mother’s uncle used to be best friends with Trujillo Jr. who is Trujillo’s son who used to go to school with him when they were kids. I would describe Anita as adventurous. I say that because she tries to discover what is going on in her life and why its happening. The second adjective would be very quiet because in school she does not have any friends only her cousins and she barely talks to them. She does not like to have much social interaction with friends. The last adjective would be indescribable because you will never know what she is going to do next.
I can relate to this book very much because a lot of my family is from the Dominican Republic. I’ve heard stories about this time period in the Dominican Republic so I already knew a lot of things about the Trujillo Times. Even if you are not from the Dominican Republic the book is basically an immigration story. I loved this book. I give it five stars.
The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riorden
The book I read is called The Blood of Olympus, it’s by Rick Riordan. There are 7 main characters and their names are: Percy, Frank, Jason, Leo, Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel and they are all demigods. Piper is daughter of Aphrodite, Frank is son of Ares, Annabeth daughter of Athena, Hazel is daughter of Hades, Leo is son of Hephaestus, Percy is son of Poseidon, and Jason is son of Zeus.
A demigod is someone who has one godly parent and one mortal parent. However there is a problem, Gaea, the earth goddess is rising and she wants revenge on the gods by destroying the world! All this action happens in Athens the ancient land of Athena.
The plot of the story is the 7 demigods have to go on a quest to stop the war with Gaea. In the books before this one the demigods killed the titans. The titans are Gaea’s sons so Gaea went mad and she tried to kill everyone especially the gods. Gaea also leads all the monsters so she sends monsters to stall the demigods so she can have time to rise and awake. Once she sent a whole army of Cyclops to slow them down only for about a minute or so. The demigods received a prophecy that one demigod would die so they had to use up some of their time getting a potion so they can bring him or her back to life! I love this book so much because it’s by my favorite author Rick Riordan, also it’s about mythology and mythical stuff is really cool. Last but not least it’s a long read and it’s not a small book that you can read in like a few minutes. It feels like you accomplished something when you finish it. I recommend this book to anyone who likes books about mythology or adventure or both.
I rate this book:*****
By Andrei Stewart-Chapman
States And Capitals by Dan Green
I am reading a book called States And Capitals by Dan Green. It is about the States in America. The characters are the States and they are trying to inform the reader about themselves. They are cute and funny. Whenever the book is talking about the State, it uses “I” instead of “it”. My favorite example is when Massachusetts said, “I made the first chocolate chip cookies.” I like that because it makes learning fun. Thinking about the States as characters is fun, but it can also be annoying.
This book is good for kids who love to learn and figure out things. While there is no big plot, it has a lot of information, and a lot of good stories so there are a lot of little plots. It made me laugh when Texas said, “In April we celebrate Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh’s birthday.” I was surprised to find out that California had 37,254,000 people. I did not know a lot about all of the States, but I want to learn even more about them while reading this book.
I enjoyed this book for various reasons. First, it is good for me because it is a Basher Book and I have read Basher Books before and they help me learn. Also, this book can help me, and other kids, with other subjects like history (because it tells you the history behind that State), geography and even a little science. Finally, it has funny jokes so it’s not boring, which I think is the most important thing about a book for kids. But the best part is that for me, it’s a book that I don’t read too fast or too slow, and I really like it. I really recommend this five-star book.
*****
Poached by Stuart Gibbs
This book is a great book because: I love the characters and plot. This book is good for people who like realistic fiction and a mysterious plot. I love Stuart Gibbs so that is basically why I read this book.
The main character is Teddy Fitzroy but there are a lot of side characters that are really important. He is in middle school. His parents work at funjungle where most of the book happens. They live in Texas. Teddy is an outsider and of course outsiders lead to bullys and bullys lead to no good! Teddy is also not a very popular kid at his school. His best friend is always there for him, There friendship is very tight.
Teddy has always been pulling pranks on funjungle but this time he is forced to by Vance the bully. Large Marge is the zoo security, the general, and of course Teddy is her nemisis, because of all the pranks he has pulled.
But when a koala from australia goes missing and all the proof leads to Teddy… It is his job to proove to Marge and everybody else that it was not Teddy… or was it?
I rate this book 5***** stars because the plot is a great plot and as I mentioned I love Staurt Gibbs!
I reccomend this book to people who like Staurt Gibbs and some what like a mystery.
Poached by Stuart Gibbs
This book is a great book because: I love the characters and plot. This book is good for people who like realistic fiction and a mysterious plot. I love Stuart Gibbs so that is basically why I read this book.
The main character is Teddy Fitzroy but there are a lot of side characters that are really important. He is in middle school. His parents work at funjungle where most of the book happens. They live in Texas. Teddy is an outsider and of course outsiders lead to bullys and bullys lead to no good! Teddy is also not a very popular kid at his school. His best friend is always there for him, There friendship is very tight.
Teddy has always been pulling pranks on funjungle but this time he is forced to by Vance the bully. Large Marge is the zoo security, the general, and of course Teddy is her nemisis, because of all the pranks he has pulled.
But when a koala from australia goes missing and all the proof leads to Teddy… It is his job to proove to Marge and everybody else that it was not Teddy… or was it?
I rate this book 5***** stars because the plot is a great plot and as I mentioned I love Staurt Gibbs!
I reccomend this book to people who like Staurt Gibbs and some what like a mystery.