Sep
06
2014

The cats of Roxville station by Jean Craighead George.

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The name of the book I read this summer is The Cats of Roxville Station by Jean Craighead George. The main character is a cat named Ratchet who was mistreated by her owner. She was kicked, locked in the closet, and even went days without food and water. One night Ratchet’s owner went to the river and threw her over the bridge, thinking that it would kill her. But luckily Ratchet survived, got out of the water and wandered into Roxville Station. There she stumbled upon a life full of danger and unexpected kindness.

At Roxville station there is a order of ranking
1. Queennella ( black and white cat)
2. Ice bucket ( white but dirty cat)
3. Flea market ( brown coat matted from fleas)
4. Tatters and Tachometer (black and white sisters)
5. Elizabeth ( a small calico)
6. Rachet ( tiger striped cat)

As she settles into this new life, Rachet begins to work her way up the food chain. She gains new respect from the other cats by challenging Queennella, the head cat. One afternoon, Ratchet crawls through a cracked window and into the basement of a haunted house, owned by a women who hates cats. Little does she know, Mike, a young boy who has tried to befriend Ratchet before, is living there as well.

Suddenly, Ratchet is whirled into a world full of humans, pest control, and fierce predators. If you like action, adventures, drama, and talking animals, then this a book for you.
I rate this book 5 stars.

Sep
04
2014

ARTEMIS FOWL, THE LAST GUARDIAN EOIN COLFER

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This book takes place in two different worlds. The human world, and the underground fairy world. The main characters are Artemis Fowl, his bodyguard Butler, and a LEP (Lower Elements Police) officer the elf Holly Short from the underground fairy world. The main problem is the super villain, the pixie Opal Koboi.

Opal has reanimated buried fairy warriors called the Berserkers. She has bonded them to do her bidding. Opal’s master plan is to destroy the humans. But to do that, she must unleash the power of Danu. The main character Artemis Fowl decides he must sacrifice to stop Opal. Of course, no one expected this. Artemis has always been very self preserving, and sort of greedy. Here is a quote announcing that. “Artemis Fowl planned to attack with the one weapon Opal Koboi would never suspect him of possessing: his humanity.”

I found this book funny, intense, and full of suspense. I really enjoyed it. If you like that sort of thing to, you should totally read it. There are also some really surprising moments, of course, but that is to be expected. It’s Artemis Fowl. He always was surprising. I would rate this book ten out of five stars.

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Sep
03
2014

The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

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 The book that I read was The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin. The three main characters in the book are a girl named Pacy who is the middle child, Kiki who is the youngest and Lissy who is the oldest. The whole family lives in New Hartford which is in Upstate New York. Pacy is really sad because her best friend Melody is moving to California, Melody did not want to but her parents had a reason why they were going to move.

 images-1Pacy’s parents said “ The year of the rat is all about making changes”, but Pacy did not really understand why. Pacy wanted to know why did Melody have to move and why did such a big change have to happen. So far Pacy did not like how the year of the rat was going. When Melody started to pack Pacy, Pacy’s mom and Kiki came over to help. Since Melody had so many books to pack her mom said to give some to Pacy. So Melody and Pacy decided to split half of the books and when they were done with half of the books they would send the books in the mail so Pacy and Melody could both read all of the books. Once Melody left and Pacy was back at school she felt sad and lonely. While Melody was gone Pacy’s uncle Clifford was having a wedding so Pacy’s family got to stay in a hotel. After the wedding was over the whole family had a celebration. Then at night Clifford asked Lissy, Pacy and Kiki to jump on their bed because that means good luck and it means Clifford and her wife could have lots of children too! Then a few months before Chinese New Year, Pacy got a Call from Melody saying she was coming to visit on Chinese New Year!

I really enjoyed the book because I really like the Grace Lin books and because the book is fun to read with the adventures and surprises! I also liked the part when the parents tell stories inside the book about when they were a kid and the stories are so interesting. I also liked the book because its fun hearing about when Melody sends back the books to Pacy and Pacy gets a little note of how Melody liked the books and some of the books are actually real books. I would say a person who likes to read adventure and friendship would like this book because the book is basically all about adventure and friendship. I would rate this 5 stars out of 5 stars!

book review written by Olivia P

 

 

Sep
03
2014

The Blood Guard By Carter Roy

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This summer I read the book, The Blood Guard by Carter Roy. It takes place in Brooklyn, and an anonymous urban/suburban area. The main characters are Evelyn (Ronan) Truelove, Greta, Ronan’s redheaded old classmate and Jack Dawkins, a member of the blood guard and teenaged pickpocket. In the beginning of the book there was a prologue.  Ronan stayed home sick for school. And the house mysteriously got set on fire… He evacuated safely after leaping of the roof of his house. The main problem begins when Ronan gets picked up from his new school (because he moved after his house blew up) by his mom and she told him that his dad got kidnapped and they got chased by the “police”. They actually are not police.

 

 

That was a lot of information. Let me get down to the basics. There are 36 Pure human beings who always, every single time do the right thing. If one of them dies, something really bad happens to the world. WWII happened because one of the Pure died. They are the glue that keeps together the world.

 

By the way, the people who kidnapped Ronan’s nerdy dad were the people who were chasing Ronan’s mom, Bree, and Ronan. Yeah, those people I called “police” are actually agents of a bad guy group called the Bend Sinister. They believe that the world is horrible and they want a new start where they are the only people in the world left and then they can start anew. They are basically terrorists. “HOW IN THE WORLD CAN YOU GET RID OF BILLIONS OF PEOPLE BUT YOU!!!??,” You might be asking yourself. The answer is simple. Assassinate the 36 Pure.

 

The good guys in this book are, of course, the Blood Guard. They are people who dedicate their lives to protect the Pure. Bree is one of the Blood Guard. And much more characters you discover are too! Throughout the book the Bend Sinister chase Ronan for an unknown reason. There is a lot more, I just don’t want to spoil it. Come on, do yourself a favor and read this fantabulous book. The problem does get resolved,  and I’m talking about almost everything I mentioned. Almost…

 

(PS, I couldn’t find a quote to say that the problem was resolved.)

 

 

Here are my ratings of this awesome book. I enjoyed reading it over a weekend not in 2 hours like I do with some books. I also enjoyed the book because it was medium paced. It does not have many cliffhangers, and you can put it down whenever you want which is not always the case with some books. I would recommend this book to an action adventure and humor reader that has a fair amount of time on his/her hands. I say this because it is not a skinny book but it is not as fat as War and Peace or Moby Dick so you will probably finish it in a few days if you keep at it. I would rate this book four out of five stars.

 

Sep
02
2014

The Homework Machine By Dan Gutman

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I chose to write my book review on a book called The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman. There are four main characters in this book. Brenton and Judy are the smart ones in the class and they are both really shy and unique people. Then Sam and Kelsey are the type of kids who have a lot of friends and don’t get really good grades, though Kelsey at least tries. This story changes settings throughout the book between Brenton’s house and their  5th grade class.

One really important thing is when the author reveals that Sam had a dad in the army who died. The biggest probleimagesm happens in the middle of the book when people start to find out about the homework machine. The reason the homework machine got started is because of Brenton. Brenton invented the homework machine for himself but not to do all his work just a little. Then things got complicated. Judy, Sam and Kelsey started getting suspicious when the teacher gave out homework and Brenton didn’t seem worried. Brenton eventually told them about the homework machine and then they started to use it too. Someone in the group tells the school newspaper about the machine and that pretty much puts an end to a good thing.

 

I wouldn’t say I loved this book but I didn’t think it was horrible.   I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a book to read when they have nothing to do because it isn’t exactly the book that would have you down on your knees asking for more. I would rate this book 3 out of five stars.

 

Sep
02
2014

Knightly and Son by Rohan Gavin

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imgresMy mom bought me this book when she was in London. It is a mystery novel about a 13 year old boy named Darkus who has a strange fondness for tweed coats. Alan Knightly, his father, is London’s top private detective. He went into a coma four years ago in the middle of a case about a secret criminal organization called The Combination. The Code is a best selling book that may be linked to The Combination that’s making regular people commit crimes. One day a stranger from the Department of the Unexplained arrives with news of his father, and that’s just the beginning…

Darkus’s mother, Jackie, divorced Alan and married Clive Palmer. A very lazy, ugly, and rude man. Clive’s daughter, Matilda (Tilly) is the same age as Darkus and is very good at science. You will find more characters as you read the book.

My favorite part of the book is when Tilly looks from her window and light is shining in a weird way and she finds out it’s Morse Code.  Tilly goes on her computer and translates the light flashes to find out they mean, “S.O.S. Come asap. Darkus. S.O.S. Come asap. Darkus.” I like that part because I thought it was really cool that she figured it out so quickly and that Darkus knew Morse Code. The only thing I didn’t like about the book is that the author would explain one thing for a long time.

I would recommend this book to people who like mysteries because it is about a detective and his son. Secondly, you can read it in a week or two because it’s 330 pages long. Lastly, I would like to say that the whole book is typed in british slang.

I would rate this book out of .

Sep
02
2014

The Name Of This Book Is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch

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This book is called The Name Of This Book Is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch. In this book there are two main characters, one named Cass and one named Max-Ernest. Cass is very different than Max-Ernest. Cass is something called a survivalist. She never leaves home without her backpack. Her backpack has lot of survival stuff in it such as a first aid kit, rope, matches, and things like that. Max-Ernest on the other hand is a kid who never stops talking. Together they are uncovering a mystery of a magician who died in  a fire/maybe “fire”.

The main characters go through many challenges throughout the book, but one of them is two creepy characters. Their names are Mrs. Mauvis and Dr. L. They are a married couple and again they are really creepy. They do lot of things to make Cass and Max-Ernest’s lives a lot harder. A better summery of the plot is in the beginning Cass and Max-Ernest go into the magician’s house and find things out. After that things get complicated. Basically, I don’t want to give any spoilers, but people go missing, characters read things, and finally things get solved. A quote from the book is “I am looking for Toxic Waste.” I like this quote because It pimagesroves that Cass is brave.

I really enjoyed the book because it had the perfect amount of everything. Description, a good use of words and things like that. For example there was a part of the book where the principal got really mad at Cass so the narrator said that was the maddest Cass had ever seen a principal. He/She didn’t go on and on explain how exactly how the principal looked. I also enjoyed the book because it is a really good story in general. It had lots of twists and turns in the plot, but it wasn’t confusing at all. There were also lots of parts where I felt like I was in the story. The author did a really good job of drawing me in. I would recommend this book to someone who likes a good mystery because this book is just a really good mystery. You know? I would give this book a five out of five star rating.

Sep
02
2014

Fablehaven By Brandon mull

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imgresThe title of the book that I  read this summer is called Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. Kendra Sorenson  is not that happy to go on a “fake” vacation to her grandparent’s place, While her parents are on a 17 day cruise. Kendra feels this way because the summer before she over heard her parents saying “we have no other choice but to send them” .While on the other hand, Seth Sorenson is Kendra’s younger brother and he is very enthusiastic and always wants to do something. The setting is in the present because they have cars and cellphones. It takes place in Fablehaven where monsters of all shape and sizes can live in peace without the humans knowing where to hunt them down. But everybody on the farm knows what Fablehaven is.

 

One of the things that I notice about the characters is that if Kendra and Seth were not brother and sister and they happened to go to the same school they would hate each other. So they are not very compatible together and that makes teamwork hard. The book is about two kids ( Kendra and Seth) have to go to their grandparents house while their parents  are on a 17 day cruise because their aunt died. While they are there, there grandparents have these crazy rules like don’t go in the forest or don’t go in the barn but Seth goes into the forest and discovers Fablehaven. Soon after that they drink a magic milk that there grandfather was hiding and when they did they saw all the monsters in fablehaven but still are not allowed to go. I know Kendra is upset because she said “we went through all the trouble to figure this place out, but now if we go were stuck in our room for the rest of the trip”.

 

I did not enjoy the book because I thought it was poorly written and it was too predictable. I would not recommend this book to anybody, the read was way too long. I think the author just ran out of ideas because this book could make sense in 3 pages. I rate this book 0 out of five.

Sep
02
2014

Mysteries According to Humphrey

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Mysteries according to Humphrey is by Betty G. Birney. It is located in Long Fellow school. Humphrey is the main character. Humphrey the hamster is trying to find out were Mrs.Brisbane [the class teacher] is. Humphrey has a friend named Og. Og is a frog. He also has a girl that is his friend and her name is Phoebe.

 

When Mrs.Brisbane leaves Mr.E [the substitute teacher] comes and everything goes wrong. A letter comes from the mail that is from Mrs.Brisbane. This is what it says,”Dear class, I miss you all and I miss Longfellow school. I miss being home too. But the good news is that they say I’ll be up on my feet and dancing before long. It’s funny to think that  this all came about because of Humphrey. Please listen to Mr.E and make me proud. Your teacher Mrs.Brisbane!” Humphrey thinks, How did I do this? Humphrey has a lock that doesn’t lock, and it is a big deal because he could get caught. He helps the whole class, so when Phoebe loses her daisy watch, he squeezes through doors and finally finds her daisy watch. Mrs.Brisbane comes back and everything is normal again.

 

I loved this book. It was funny, a perfect reading level for me, and it was about animals and I love animals. 3rd and 4th graders would like this because it is a perfect reading level for them. I would rate this book five stars out of five*****.

Sep
02
2014

The Outcast by John Flanagan

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Hal is a very interesting teenager, his dad died fighting. Hal is an Outcast in Skandia. He has one friend named Stig whose father ran away.

It is about to be brotherband training where the 15-year-old boys train to be real warriors. So on the day the choose there brother bands Hal gets the group with all the outcast and he is there leader.

Hal is a very smart kid and is a day ahead of the other two brother bands already. But when it comes to training it gets harder for them and it gets more and more athletic every day.

Soon comes the part on a boat, Hal made his own boat named the Heron. She is different from other Skandia’s boats. And during one race one boat gets stuck and can’t compete brotherband training.

Any mistake they make they could lose. It difficulties is hard to match but eventually the win. And win brotherband training they are rewarded to protect a special artifact for a night. And the one night they’re there it gets stolen. They leave to get it back. Will the get it back or will the die! Read this awesome series to find out.

I really liked this book it was 5 out of 5 stars and is and is awesome because it grips on you like a claw and makes you want to read more. Read this book if you like adventure books and books by John Flanagan.