Feb
25
2015

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

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Sophie is a regular 17 or 18 year old girl when all of a sudden the Witch of the Waste turns her into a 90 year old woman. I read Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. The main characters are Sophie and Howl. Sophie is a normal girl, and Howl is a wizard. The book is about a 17 or 18 year old girl who gets turned into an 90 woman by the Witch of the Waste, so she runs away. She finds Howl’s Moving Castle and she starts living there. The setting is in a lot of places, but it mostly takes place inside the castle.

 

Sophie is very nosy, curious and brave. She is nosy because she is going around the castle and looking out of windows cleaning things and looking at other people’s stuff. She is curious because the front door has different colors that they can spin this knob and go to different places. She was looking at all the colors on the doors and was really curious what the black went to. She is brave because she had the courage to run away from her home without saying goodbye or telling her family what had happened. One thing that I thought was really interesting was the front door. You can use the door to go to 4 places that I can remember: Ingary, Kingsbury, Wales and the Moving castle. Another thing about this book is Calcifer. Calcifer is a fire demon. He keeps the castle moving and makes the hot water. Calcifer is under a curse too. Like Sophie, he is not allowed to go out of the fireplace. Only enough to see which way to move the castle. Sophie and Calcifer make a deal that if she breaks the curse on him, he will break the curse on her.

 

I really, really enjoyed this book. I think it is my favorite book now! It’s really interesting how there is magic. Diana Wynne Jones really described the magic, so you can really imagine what’s happening. I would recommend this book because it keeps you reading non stop. You have to keep reading until you get to a stopping point. It gets you really exited about what is going to happen next and the chapters end in cliff hangers. I think I want to read it again. I think people who really like magic should read this book! I think Harry Potter is like this book because there is also a lot of magic in Harry Potter. I rate this book FIVE STARS out of one to five.

 

 

Feb
25
2015

Because of Mr.Terupt By: Rob Buyea

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searchis a book about seven kids in the fifth grade. Jefferey, he hates school and lots of other things. He’s gloomy and ever since an issue has happened at his home he has not been himself. Danielle, lets bullys be mean to her, and still is nice to mean girls. Luke, gets the best grades A+ man super smart. Alexia, mean girl never trust her. Peter, prankster trouble maker loves to get a good laugh. Anna the shy observant girl. And Jessica, the new girl from california. And their new teacher Mr. Terupt. He is the teacher who knows what to do with them. He is a great teacher, everyone loves him, including some teachers. He has lots of cool activities for them. One day he changes them. He brings them to the collaborative classroom with children who think differently and have special learning needs. Soon the whole class feels bad for them. They have a great time, up until one nice snowy day when a problem changes everything, and everyone. What could possibly go wrong?Because of Mr.Terupt By: Rob Buyea

Because Of Mr. Terupt is a book about seven kids in the fifth grade. Jefferey, he hates school and lots of other things. He’s gloomy and ever since an issue has happened at his home he has not been himself. Danielle, lets bullys be mean to her, and still is nice to mean girls. Luke, gets the best grades A+ man super smart. Alexia, mean girl never trust her. Peter, prankster trouble maker loves to get a good laugh. Anna the shy observant girl. And Jessica, the new girl from california. And their new teacher Mr. Terupt. He is the teacher who knows what to do with them. He is a great teacher, everyone loves him, including some teachers. He has lots of cool activities for them. One day he changes them. He brings them to the collaborative classroom with children who think differently and have special learning needs. Soon the whole class feels bad for them. They have a great time, up until one nice snowy day when a problem changes everything, and everyone. What could possibly go wrong?

This book takes place at all the character’s houses, and their school. The time in this book is modern day.

The most interesting part of the book for me was when the “girl war” started. It made me want to read more. It was when Alexia started being mean to Anna, Danielle, and Jessica. She kept making them not be friends and she did it to make Jessica feel bad for standing up to Alexia. Another thing about this book is that it switches perspectives a lot, if you like books that change perspectives this is the book for you.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved each character. The book made more sense because the book had different characters perspectives it made me want to read more and more and more. I would recommend this book to people who love prospective changes. Also I think this book is good for age seven and up. I would recommend to people who like all sorts of books! This book falls in many different categories. If you read Wonder, Out Of My Mind, or any books by Wendy Mass, then you’ll have a fun time reading this book. I would rate this book !

 

Feb
25
2015

Aaron’s Gift by Myron Levoy

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My story is called Aaron’s Gift, from the book The Witch of 4th Street, by Myron Levoy.  This story is about Aaron Kandel and an injured pigeon he found in Tompkins Square Park.  He found the pigeon when he went to the park to go skating.  Aaron noticed that the pigeon could not fly. He decided to take the pigeon home and ask his mother if he could keep it there. His mother said yes because the pigeon was injured.  He tried to fix the pigeon.  His grandmother lived with his family and loved animals. She would feed the birds that came to their fire escape and would also talk to them. The main setting of the story is Aaron’s house in the Lower East Side.

 

Aaron is thoughtful because he wanted to save the pigeon. He is gullible because later in the story he falls for a trick the older boys play on him. Aaron was smart because he taught the pigeon how to take things back and forth using popcorn. One important part of the story is when the older boys tried to kill the pigeon by putting Pidge in a fire. Luckily, the pigeon flew away before they put him in the fire. He was planning to the give the pigeon to this grandmother for her birthday. Aaron was sad because he could not give Pidge to her because it flew on top of a tenement. But his grandmother thanked him because the pigeon was free which made her happy.

 

I enjoyed the story because it was happy in the beginning when he found the pigeon. It was scary and sad in the middle when the older boys tried to kill his pigeon and beat him up. And then it was happy again in the end when he got home safely and his grandmother was happy that the pigeon was free. I would recommend this story because it has a lot of drama and unexpected scenes. I would also recommend this if you enjoyed the other stories in this book. I would rate this story four stars.

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Feb
25
2015

The Meaning of Maggie By: Megan Jean Sovern

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The name of the book I read is The Meaning of Maggie by, Megan Jean Sovern. The book is about a girl named Maggie, Maggie is the main character. The book takes place in a modern town outside Atlanta. Maggie has two older teenage sisters their names are Layla and Tiffany. Layla is their parent’s favorite. Maggie’s mom and dad used to be hippies.  (Hippie’s are laid back people. They believe in peace. They also wear funky clothes.) Her dad has a disease called Multiple Sclerosis. It is when your legs and arms fall asleep and it is hard for you to control your limbs. Whenever something goes wrong they always says “Pull up your bootstraps”(Family motto).

 

Maggie dreams about becoming president. She is now one year closer to becoming it, going to college, being able to vote, and getting a tattoo. The book is written in Maggie’s perspective. Maggie Mayfield is writing a memoir about the time between her 11th birthday and her 12th.

 

Maggie is strong.  When stuff happens to her dad she tries to be strong. She tries not to show him that she is really worried. Maggie is also a fun person. Her dad is very sick but still she has fun. She doesn’t let that ruin her fun. Last but not least Maggie is smart. She has won Student of The Month multiple times. She is her teacher’s favorite because she is so smart. Unlike other kids she wishes that there were no vacations from school. But the thing she wishes for most is that her dad gets better. An interesting part of the book is when Maggie’s mom tells Tiffany that Maggie is her favorite and Layla is their dad’s favorite. Another part of the book I found interesting is when Phyllis and Donny come over. They are Maggie’s mom and dad’s old hippie friends. Maggie is so scared of them but after a while she ends up liking them. When Phyllis and Donny come one of them has a motorcycle and he takes the dad for a ride. It is funny because since her dad limbs are asleep they had to use a bungee cord to tie her dad to Donny so he wouldn’t fall off.

 

I really, really, really, loved this book. One thing that was cool about it was that there would sometimes be a sentence and a really small number would be at the end of it. At the end of the page the same number was there but Maggie is either explaining a little more or giving you her opinion. It was like she was just thinking. For example: “Well. some of us guessed. Some of us just10 knew the answers.”

Then at the end of the page . . . 10.  Me.

 

I would definitely recommend this book. It is sad and has some serious topics. But it is still a fun book. I think anyone can have fun reading this book. Some people might have more fun than others reading this. When you are reading this book you will not be able to put it down. You might or might not like how the author talks to from Maggie’s perspective (but I do). 5 STARS

(1 the worst- 5 the best)

Feb
25
2015

A Mango Shaped Space

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I read the book A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. The book is about a girl named Mia who was born with a disability called synesthesia. Synesthesia is when  your senses get mixed up and you can either see sounds, taste shapes, or hear colors.In this case Mia sees sounds. The setting of the book is mostly at her house.

Mia is shy, nice, and she has synesthesia. Mia is shy around people. Mia is also nice to her friends and this little boy named Billy. Mia also has synesthesia because she can see sounds. The parts that I found most interesting are when Mia found Mango her cat the day her grandpa died next to his grave and Mango has the same eyes as him. A part that I  also found interesting is that Mia kept it a secret since she was little. She did not tell her parents about her seeing colors until she was 13. Mia thinks that Mango has a piece of her grandfather’s soul in him.

I enjoyed the book because it is interesting and really descriptive. The author really describes what color Mia sees when she sees colors. I recommend this book

Feb
25
2015

The Meaning of Maggie

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I read The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern. It is about a girl named Maggie. Her dad has a disability that makes him not able to walk. Throughout the book Maggie and her sisters, Tiffany and Layla help her dad walk. This book is an easy read, but also there are some serious themes. Some of the story is sad, like when she finds out her dad can’t walk, but it is also funny and well written. Maggie’s dad  has multiple sclerosis. Maggie wishes that her dad would be fine, so she gets very scared when something relating to his disability happens. Maggie is one of the best students in her school. She was picked as student of the month, and she studies a lot. She also likes to stay after school and help out in the classroom.

 

Maggie has a dad, a mom, and two sisters named Tiffany and Layla. Tiffany and Layla ’s personalities are nothing like Maggie. Layla is the oldest sister. She is more mature than Tiffany. Tiffany fights with Maggie a lot. The whole family helps Maggie’s dad. There are some parts that are a little sad. Maggie is smart. She always wants to get to school early, she is the teacher’s favorite student, and she wants to be president some day. Maggie is cheerful. When something happens to her father, she tries to help him. She does her best to make her father happy. Maggie is brave. It is hard when someone in your family has a disease. But she supports her father the whole time.

 

One part that I  found interesting is when Maggie finds out for the first time about her dad’s disease.Another interesting part is when they are at the hospital. It is a very dramatic scene. Maggie is crying because they don’t know what will happen to her dad. I think everyone should read The Meaning of Maggie. It is an easy read for some people, and very well written. I loved this book because it is funny, sad, and well written. The type of writing in this book makes you want to keep reading. I would give this book

(four and a half stars)

Feb
11
2015

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The Red Blazer Girls

The Vanishing Violin

by, Michael D. Bell

My book is about four girls who are the red blazer girls, and the red blazer girls solve mysteries. There are two mysteries they try to solve in the starting. Those mysteries are : In the Red Blazers School there is somebody who is cleaning everything in the school he also IMPROVES everything in the school,  and their principal asked them to figure out who keeps on doing this. Another problem is that the Red Blazer Girls have an admirer and he keeps on giving the Red Blazer Girls REALLY hard clues to get to the next note.

 

All of the clues are something you’d never thought of!!! Like the first one the red blazer girls have to figure out what “read between the lines” means. But later a member of the Red Blazer Girls figures out that in between the lines is another note written in lemon juice and the only way you can see lemon juice is to use a really bright light and let it just appear.

 

It’s really cool. The Red Blazer Girls are also making a band but they don’t have another member of the band and they need one. so they’re trying to figure out 3 things really if you think about it! The four main characters are : Sophie, Rebecka, but her friends call her Becka, Margaret and Leigh-Ann. The book is told from Sophie’s prospective. The whole thing is about Sophie, Becca, Leigh-Ann and Margaret, finding mysteries and solving them and having to put them back for the person to find and give a new little sheet of paper!!!

 

I recommend this book to people who love mysteries and fast paced booksI rate this book:

_***************************

 

(My most favorite book ever!!!)

-Estelle

Feb
04
2015

Flush by Carl Hiaasen

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Flush is a novel written by Carl Hiaasen. The main characters are Paine Underwood, Noah Underwood, Abby Underwood, Donna Underwood, Lice Peeking, Dusty Muleman, and Shelly. The book is about Paine, Abby, Noah, Lice, and Shelly trying to stop Dusty and his crew from dumping the Coral Queen’s holding tank into the sea. The story takes place in the Florida Keys.

I really enjoyed the parts when Noah and Abby would sneak into the woods by the dock to spy on the Coral Queen. I liked this part because once they encountered one of Dusty’s crew members. When the guy saw Noah and Abby sneaking around he grabbed Abby and Abby took a bite into the man’s arm. The man screamed so loud that Noah said you could hear him from Miami. Another important part of the book was when Noah snuck on to the Coral Queen and busted Dusty Muleman. The main character Noah Underwood is brave because he risks his life to bust the Coral Queen. He’s intelligent because he came up with the plan to take down Dusty Muleman. He’s also very determined to succeed because he does not want to fail like his father when his father sunk the Coral Queen and got thrown in jail. Just like Noah, his father wanted to sink the Coral Queen because they cared about the sea life and didn’t want them to get sick.

I really enjoyed reading Flush by Carl Hiaasen because of the humor and the plot. The book is easy to read because of the suspense. I would recommend this book to people who like adventure and humorous stories. Carl Hiaasen’s other books and movies are similar to Flush because they all are funny and suspenseful and take place in Florida. I would give this book four stars because I really liked reading it.

 

Feb
03
2015

Fortunately, The Milk by Neil Gaiman

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81SYh4ybu1LThe book I read is called Fortunately,The Milk, by Neil Gaiman. The main character is the dad, they only call him dad and he has no other name. The book is mainly about the dad’s journey of getting milk, but it is much more interesting than it sounds. The book takes place in a bunch of different places. Two of the places are their house and a hot air balloon.

One thing that is really interesting in the  book are the pictures. One interesting picture are the wumpires they are really important they show how they look and what was happening to the dad. They are really detailed and interesting they are always very creative and they tell a lot of the story. The pictures are not something you see everyday because they are so unusual. I also thought that the wumpires were really cool and a little freaky, they eat ‘viggly vorms’! In the picture of the wumpires they are described like creepy and hairy and the little one is kinda cute. But they have buck teeth to very pointy teeth they need to go to the dentist ahh I don’t want to spoil it though. They also meet other cool creatures but you have to read about them so read the book!!! The dad is protective because he always wants to protect the milk for his kid’s cereal and his tea. He is also brave because he goes through crazy experiences and meets many wacky creatures, and he’s not so scared or terrified. He is very adventures because of all the journeys he goes with Professor Steg. He is also happy at the end of the book (I don’t want to spoil anything).

I loved the book so much. It is the best book in the whole world because everything about it is awesome. It is awesome because the pictures and how much wackiness there is and a little bit mysterious at the end. Hope you like it if you read it, I know I did! I recommend this book to everyone because it is so so amazing. Some books that are like this are the Roald Dahl books like The Witches and lots more. They are the same  because of the picture and the story. Out of a 1-5 I would give it 5!

 

Feb
02
2015

Who Is Bill Gates? by Patricia Brennan Demuth

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51KXdiA2LtL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_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.