The story that I read was Chomp by Carl Hiaasen. The story takes place in Florida. The main characters are Mickey Cray, Wahoo Cray, Derek Badger, and Tuna Gordon. In the very beginning Mickey gets a concussion by a frozen Iguana falling out of a tree. He also gets bad headaches and double vision.

Mickey and Wahoo have a zoo in their backyard because they do commercials with their animals. Later the phone rings and Wahoo picks it up. It is a job offer for a big big TV show called Expedition Survival!.  It is about a person named “Derek Badger” and he survives in the wild without any food or water and he tries to kill animals for food. Mikey was supposed to be the animal wrangler and they would get $1000 a day. So they took the job and when Wahoo said $1000 a day it cured Mickey. “My headache’s gone!” mickey announced.

Wahoo said “No way.”

“All those pills the doctors made me swallow,they didn’t do a darn thing.Then all of the sudden I wake up and boom,it’s like a miracle.”Mickey shrugged.

But Wahoo had a theory that his father had been cured by “one thousand dollars a day”. And at the middle and end of the book a lot of crazy things happen like Derek gets bit by a bat and Derek goes missing and Tuna’s crazy drunk father comes and tries to take tuna away but he shoots a person named Link in the back, shot one of Mickey’s toe off and went to prison.

I liked  this book because of all of the surprises and the language that I haven’t heard A surprise was when when Tuna’s father came to where everyone was. Another surprise was that Derek Badger went missing for a while and actually survived because Derek can’t really survive without any food or water. A piece of language that I didn’t know was “glint”  It means sparkle like “the glint in his dad’s eyes made Wahoo uneasy. I think that a reader that doesn’t expect things will like this book.

I will rate Chomp 4 stars. ****

Magyk is a book all about magic. The world this book takes place in has wizards, wolverines(werewolfs but always in wolf form), witches, and warlocks. The author of the book is Angie Sage. The book is the first book in the Septimus Heap series, and there are seven books in the series. The main characters are Septimus, Sarah, Silas, Simon, and Nicko Heap. The other main characters are Boy 412, Jenna, Aunt Zelda, Marcia Overstrand, Domdaniel, and Alther Mella.

If I had to describe Nicko Heap I would say that he is a good fisherman and an amazing sailor. One of my favorite parts of the book is when they go to aunt Zelda’s cottage and find the tunnel. The tunnel is where boy 412 finds the dragon ring and Jenna finds the dragon boat. I think Alther Mella is a very kind and soft person, he seems like he would not be able to hurt anyone. Another one of my favorite parts is at the end when they talk about how everybody’s lives went after they were out of the story. One thing they don’t talk about is where Simon went.

     I recommend this book to people who like Harry Potter or action and adventure. This is one of my favorite books I have ever read I have read a lot of books. There are also seven books in the Harry Potter series but those books are a little bit longer. The books in this series are usually a little more than 500 pages long. I give this book five out of five stars.

This summer I read Counting by 7s, by Holly Goldberg Sloan. The main character is a 12-year-old girl named Willow Chance, who lives with her adoptive parents, Roberta and Jimmy Chance. They live in Bakersfield, California. Willow is really smart, and seems to understand a lot. She loves gardening and medical stuff. The other main characters are Jairo Hernandez, Dell Duke, Quang-ha Nguyen, Mai Nguyen, and Pattie Nguyen. Jairo is a taxi driver who thinks Willow is his guardian angel; Dell counsels Quang-ha and Willow; Mai is Quang-ha’s sister, and their mom is Pattie. Pattie’s real name is Dung, but when she found out what it meant in English, she changed it to Pattie.

One day, Willow comes back from school to find that her adoptive parents died in a car accident. Willow is taken to Jamison, which is a foster care organization. It is decided that she will stay at the Nguyen’s house until they find a permanent place for her to live. The Nguyens live in a one room garage behind Pattie’s nail salon, “Happy Polished Nails”, but when the people from Jamison want to do a home visit to make sure the house is a good place for Willow, the Nguyens have to pretend they live in Dell’s apartment, in the “Gardens of Glenwood”. After the home visit, they end up actually living at Dell’s place, while Dell lives down the hall with his new roommate, Sadhu Kumar. This change is good for the Nguyens and Willow because they get proper bedding, a living room, and a TV. The book is mainly about Willow adjusting to a new family after the tragedy of her parents death. Dell Duke says that it’s “kinda comforting knowing that the worst thing in life is already behind you”

I really enjoyed reading this book because firstly, it helped me get a better understanding of people like Willow’s life. Secondly, because I like how the author makes the narrator of the  story switch back and forth between all the characters. Thirdly, because all the characters have really sharp, quirky personalities, and I was able to see what it was like from their perspectives. I think that people who like realistic fiction will like Counting by 7s. I give it four and a half stars.

This summer I read a book called the Mostly True Adventures of Homer p. figg by Rodman Philbrick. This book took place in Pineswamp, Maine in 1863. The main characters are Homer and his older brother Harold. A tree fell on their father before homer was born so they just had their mom who died of fever years later. Their mother left them in the abysmal care of her late sister’s husband Squinton Leach. Homer and Harold thought that Squinton was the most vile, despicable, sordid person they had ever met. The main problem is that Harold protected Homer his whole life and he was only 17. One day Squinton sold harold to the army even though he was 17 and you had to be 21. Not only was Squinton selling harold but taking away Homer’s only security in life. So he he decided to get him back.

When Homer decided to go save Harold that would mean running away and that would also mean he would need transportation. Homer decides to bring an old horse with him but that causes some problems like in the worst moment possible“ It’s Bob the horse deciding to be whiny. “ And that horse changes Homer’s whole plan. After that its problem after problem. Like,” That’s the last thing I remember the pipe coming at me like a big grey bullet.” Also “ Arrest them all!” And not to mention” Only promise counts is this if you run, my knife will find your back.’’ Homer succeeds in many ways that he thought he wouldn’t and got what he deserved.

I really enjoyed this book I loved the adventure and the fact that it was unpredictable like the story could change at any moment like when homer escaped the police in a hot air balloon. Loved that they both stood up for what they believe in like Harold pushing Squinton down to protect his brother and Homer trying to save Harold because he believed that it was wrong to put an undderage boy in the army. And the fact that they were always there for each other. like homer traveling all that way to save his brother. this is a book for people who like dancers and books that keep you on the edge of your seats. I give this book 4 ⅞ stars!!

One of the books I read this summer is called under the egg. The setting is New York City, in the summer around present days. The two main characters names are Theodora A.K.A , and Bodhi. The main problem is that Theo’s house is basically falling apart and her Mom doesn’t have the money to fix it or ay the bills.

One day Theo’s Grandfather Jack died in a car accident his last words were “You’ll find the treasure under the egg.” Theo soon finds out that her grandfather meant the painting of an egg that he had painted, when the first layer of it came of in a accidental rubbing alcohol spill. The problem gets resolved at the end of the book when Theo and Bodhi find the rightful owner of the painting under the egg.

I enjoyed this book because it tells you a little bit about the World War II and how people in the war felt. In one chapter it is almost all about the war. I also liked how it was mostly about art, and real artists. The painting under the egg was based on a real painting called La Fornarina by an artist named Raphael. A reader that likes realistic fiction and art would like this book. I rate this book four stars.

Inside Out And Back Again Cover

The title of my book that I read is Inside Out And Back Again. Thanhha Lai is the author. The main character’s name is Ha. She is a 10 year old girl from South Vietnam.                                          The main problem in this book is that in Vietnam, where they live, there is a war happening. The war forces Ha’s family to make a difficult decision to leave their home country and move to the United States. This is an event that changes the story because they have to leave everything behind that they loved. For example Ha loves to eat sweet papaya, and when she arrives in the United States there is no papaya for her to eat and savor.                                                                                         Ha’s family escaped South Vietnam. At first Ha didn’t like the idea of moving because she had a beautiful life in Vietnam. By the end of the book the problem does get resolved. When Ha started school she was getting teased and bullied because she wasn’t like the other kids in her class. To the other classmates she looked different; her hair was brown and short, her skin tone wasn’t pale white, and she thought that the English language was weird and different. But by the middle of the school year she makes friends and allies to help her survive, and her pain and sadness about leaving Vietnam is relieved.                                                I enjoyed Inside Out And Back Again a lot because the way the writer wrote this book is unique. She wrote the whole book in poetry to tell a young girl’s story. I loved the book so much that when I was finished I wanted to have a sequel to read with it. The language drew me into the book! I give this book 5 stars, I would give it 100 but it said to only give it 1 to 5 stars!

-Aura Hostler-Burrows