Tag Archives: Mystery

Jun
14
2016

The Little Prince, By Antoine de Saint Exupéry

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The book I am reviewing is The Little Prince By Antoine de Saint Exupéry. The main characters are the Little Prince and the man. The Little Prince is telling the man about his planet in the sky. It takes place in a desert in around 1943 I think but I’m not sure. The book was written in 1943. I would give this book 5 stars ☆☆☆☆☆ because it was a super good book and I would recommend it to 3rd/4th graders through any adult. This is my script:

Narrator–  Hi. This is a part of the little prince. I really liked this book and I would give it 5 out of 5 stars. It is about a child who draws a snake and shows it to his parents and they said don’t draw, just learn math and spelling. So when he got older he became a pilot. One day his plane crashed and he met an extraordinary boy. That boy was the little prince. I hope you enjoy the performance!

Man– Tell me the story of the fourth planet you visited,

The Little Prince–  The fourth planet I visited, belonged to a businessman. This man was so busy in all his work with numbers, he didn’t even raise his head when I arrived. ‘Hello’ I said ‘Your cigar has gone out.’

Businessman–  ‘3 and 2 make 5. 5 and 7 make 12. 12 and 3 make 15. Hello.15 and 7 make 22. 22 and 6 make 28. No time to light it again. 26 and 5 make 31. Whew! That amounts to 501,622,731,’

The Little Prince–   ‘Five million what?’

Businessman–  ‘Hmm? You’re still there? 501,0000… I don’t remember… I have so much work to do! I’m a serious man. I can’t be bothered with children! 2 and 5 make 7…’’

The Little Prince–  ‘Five million what?’

Businessman–  ‘For the 60 years I’ve lived on this planet, I’ve been interrupted only 4 times. The first was 37 years ago, when a roach fell on my desk from god knows where. It had made a terrible noise, and I made 4 mistakes in my calculations. The second time was 19 years ago, when I was interrupted by a fit of rage. I haven’t time to get angry. I’m a serious person. The third time was 10 years ago when, I started thinking about how many stars there are that I can’t see and, I lost my place and had to start over. The fourth time…well… is right now! Where was I? 501,000,000…’

The Little Prince–   ‘Five million what?’

Businessman–  ‘Oh, the little things you see in night.’

The Little Prince–  ‘bugs?’

Businessman-  ‘No ,those shiny things.’’

The Little Prince–  ‘Fireflies?’

Businessman–   ‘No, those little golden things that make lazy people daydream. Now, I’m a serious person. I have no time for daydreaming.’

The Little Prince–  ‘Ohh. You mean stars.’

Businessman-‘Yes, stars.’

Narrator: To me, the point of this book was to tell the reader, ‘You don’t always have the perspective of a child, but, try to see things the way they do because children are the next generation, so, if you crush their dreams, they will never happen.’This was one of my favorite scenes because it makes you think about the stars and stars are beautiful. I hope you enjoyed watching! Bye!

Jun
14
2016

The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies

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I’m reading the Lemonade Crime. It’s the second book in the Lemonade War series. I’m doing a diorama for my book review. I hope you guys like my diorama. The Lemonade Crime is about 3 kids, Scott, Evan, and Jessie. Scott stole $208, well that is what Evan and Jessie think.

In the book, Jessie accuses Scott of stealing $208 from Evan. She decided Scott should have a trial by jury. She assigned each person in the class a job for the trial. The jobs are judge, jury, plaintiff, defendant, lawyer, and witness. The trial is going to take place after school on Friday on the school playground. If Scott is found guilty of stealing the money, he will have to give his Xbox 20/20 to Evan forever. If Scott is found not guilty, Evan and Jessie will have to apologize to him in front of the whole class during Monday Morning Meeting.

The scene I chose for my diorama is when Jessie is setting up the ‘courtroom’. She is setting it up on the playground. She had a whole plan before she set it up. This scene is important because the courtroom on the playground is where the trial will happen. The outcome of the book all depends on the trial and all the characters are involved in that scene.

The materials that I used for my diorama are: a shoe box, mini sports balls, colored paper, plastic trees, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, a small cardboard box, markers, glue and scissors. I tried to set up the playground ‘courtroom’ just like Jessie did in the book.

I enjoyed making my diorama. It was really hard to make. I am very proud of it. This book was really good. I would recommend this series of books to fourth graders. It’s important to know that you have to read this series in order to understand everything that’s going on. I would give this book a five star rating for two reasons: (1) the action started really quickly and (2) a fourth grade was going to have a trial by jury themselves, and that’s really unusual.

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Jun
09
2016

The War That Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradly

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For our last book review we had a choice out of many options to choose what we wanted to do. I chose to make a movie. First I made a script and then I did each characters part. I read this book because it helps you understand the struggle of kids with problems, living in World War 2. It tells you about history with a twist. Some things were hard for me to understand because I couldn’t ever imagine that somebody would do something so cruel.  In my video, I played all the characters, which was pretty hard. I think one of my least favorite parts was when I had to be a character named Miss Smith, and when I had to fall on the street about six times. Not to forget I was on the STREET! I would rate this book FIVE STARS AND A SMILEY FACE :D!

Jun
07
2016

George, By: Alex Gino

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For our last book review we were aloud to show an important part of our book, we could make a diorama, or even a newspaper! I made a newspaper of some important parts in my book. I looked at newspaper templates on Google and used my favorite. I decided on a question and answer interview with the play director and the actor (George). I also threw some ads in there along with an editorial.

 

The Daily Journal
Breaking News! April 2016
Boy Wants to Play Girl In Play But Teacher Will Not Let Him

By: Elijah Floyd

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Interview with teacher, Mrs. Hernandez:

Reporter: So, why can’t he play charlotte?

Teacher: Because he is a boy and charlotte is a girl. It would not sound the same if he played her in the play.
Reporter: But it really sounds like he wants to play her.
Teacher: I do not care I will not let this happen.
Reporter: Thank you for your time.
“I want this play to be the best it can be!” – Mrs. Hernandez
Bob’s Gas only 6.99 per gallon!
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The book George takes place in a small school. In the school they are having a play. In the play they have a character named Charlotte who is a girl but George wants to play Charlotte but he is a boy! Then George’s friend Kelly steps up and changes everything.

I really think that this is unfair. I am on George’s side because I also stand up for the transgender community. I am on George’s side because I live by the words BE WHO YOU ARE.
Boy Wants to Play Girl In Play But Teacher Will Not Let Him
By: Elijah Floyd

Interview with boy, George:

Reporter: So why do you want to play a girls part?
George: Because on the outside I might appear a boy but on the inside i am true to who I am.
Reporter: You don’t think people will laugh at you?
George: I know they will but I have to be strong and support the transgender community.
Reporter: Thank you for your time.
“Be who you are”- George
Williams Beans only 2.99!
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Mar
09
2016

Northwood, By Brian Falker

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Imagine you get stuck in a forest that is in the deepest of the town where no one steps in by choice. You get grabbed by the dark trees that you can barely see in the night sky, 13_jpg_4e42af4ed8and of course don’t forget the giant black lions that will kill you in one bite. The main character in my story is Cecilia Undergarment. She is really optimistic. This book takes place in a town called Brookfield. I think it’s a small town because everyone knows everyone. This story probably takes place (time period) in 2010 or 2011. I think this because they had helicopters, phones (but like not high tech like nowadays), and tvs.

The main character Cecilia Undergarment is interesting, courageous.  She gets stuck in Northwood because her house falls apart (the house is made of balloons) and she is stuck in Northwood until something happens….  An example from the text to back up this information is “Cecilia didn’t panic, because she once read that usually if you panic you end up in a much worse situation than the first place.” Another example from the text is “I think she’s the only person that has come into this forest and tried to help everyone to get out” said a person that had also been stuck in North Wood. This shows how Cecilia wasn’t afraid and used her knowledge even though she is in a dangerous forest with no one expect a dog, and man eating black lions roaming around.

One thing Cecilia comes across on her journey are to twins named Avery and Evan.  Cecilia and them become really great friends throughout the book. Avery and Evan lead Cecilia all around the castle where Cecilia stays along with the many others that had been stuck in the forest. Throughout the book Cecilia always tries to come up with plans to escape but….WAIT.. I can’t spoil the book!

I really enjoyed this book because the characters all had a really well and thought out personalities so that made it easier to understand what was happening and why. One example of this was how Avery in the beginning of the story mentioned how Evan was the smarter one and later in the book he was the one who came up with a gameplan that was the most effective.  I would recommend this book for readers that can keep up with a lot of things at once since this book had many characters and different things going on at the same time.

One connection to my life in this book is that before Cecila got stuck in Northwood she had a neighbor that was super nice and a little chubby with a big beard but then he lost a lot of weight and cut his beard and became really rude. I had the almost same thing happen to my neighbor! I would give this book 5 stars because the end made sense to me and I realized how it all tied in and how creative the author was when creating characters. I really wish I could read this book over and over again!

Mar
09
2016

Demon Dentist, By David Walliams

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91BL+Jvc8yLAlfred(Alfie) hasn’t been to the dentist in six years! The book I read was called Demon Dentist. It was written by David Walliams. The book is about a kid named Alfie and his problems with dentists. He hasn’t been to the dentist in so long because when he was younger he went to the dentist complaining about a toothache, so the dentist took a look at it. The dentist tried and tried with all his might to pull the tooth out but failed. So he called some people in the waiting room to come in to pull with him, that didn’t work. Then he got the people that worked there to help him, that didn’t work. He got more and more people. It had been weeks maybe even months. FINALLY the tooth came out! Except, that was the wrong one. Poor old Alfie came home with a toothache. He hadn’t gone ever since. Imagine years of not going to the dentist. What would your teeth look like? THEY’ED BE YELLOW! OR BROWN! OR YOU WOULD LOSE ALL YOUR TEETH! Luckily Alfie didn’t lose all his teeth from this, but he did lose some. AND HE HAD brown and yellow teeth too. Yikes! He looked like a hamster that had lost two teeth. Think about that for awhile. If you don’t know what hamster’s teeth look like, then look it up!

 

Alfie is very poor. He has one friend named Gabriela(Gabz), who thinks he’s a wimp. I will not be talking about her because if I talked about her I’d spoil lots of things. Well back to Alfie, his dinner is three crumbs of bread! He lives with his father who is dying because he has bad breathing from working in the mine for many years. Alfie takes care of his father all the time. He buys food, makes sure his father is warm, sees if his breathing is getting better and much more. Alfie is a very nice kid, but he can be very protective. And when he gets protective he can sometimes be a troublemaker. For example, on page 176 and 177 when he is trying to protect himself from a new dentist named Ms. Root. “As Alfie accelerated down the stairs he quickly realised he was on a collision course with the headmaster. Nothing could stop the inevitable happening. THWACK!  The tray whacked into Mr Grey’s ankles.”

 

Everything that Ms. Root has is white, even her CAT! She is VERY VERY VERY  dangerous.For example, she gave Alfie a new toothbrush and toothpaste, but these weren’t the ordinary toothbrush and toothpaste, the toothpaste was like acid! It went right through the ground. And Alfie asked for a soft toothbrush, guess what he got? A TOOTHBRUSH WITH SPIKES STICKING OUT OF IT! How is that a soft toothbrush?! After Alfie figures out what Ms. Root gave him, he knew something was going on.

 

The main problem in this story is that somebody has been taking kids teeth when they put it under their pillow and instead of putting a coin they are putting a bat, spider or a moving eyeball! Alfie is trying to catch the person who is behind this. Alfie puts his friends and family first a lot in the book. At first Alfie didn’t want to solve the mystery but when something happened to him, he started to solve the mystery.

 

A connection I have to this book is that I like to solve mysteries. Even if Alfie didn’t want to solve it in the first place and he just did it because then the town would be safe.

 

I definitely recommend this book! NO doubt about it! The book’s genre was mystery, and funny horror. Well sort of horror.

 

Something that I like about this book is that it is funny, touching and descriptive! I love this book and I think that everyone should read it if they like books that have the things that I just listed. I rate the book five stars out of five stars☆☆☆☆☆!

 

Mar
01
2016

George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

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51ctcmuIfFL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_I am reading George’s Marvelous Medicine written by Roald Dahl. It is a story about an eight-year-old boy named George who is an only child who lives on a farm far far away from other kids. One afternoon after his mom and dad left, George and his Grandma were left alone. George has one major problem; his Grandma is evil (really really mean). She punishes George for growing so much he tries to shake her up a bit by making her a new medicine.

George dumps out Grandma’s medicine and makes her a new one out of all types of stuff.  He puts in shaving cream, soap, hair removal cream, nail polish, nail polish remover,  toothpaste  and deodorant from the bathroom. Next, he goes to the kitchen he puts in three bottles of gin (a type of alcohol which makes Grandma go crazy), chili peppers and a bottle of dish detergent. This is one of the funniest parts of the story because I can not imagine eating any of these things. The effect of this medicine is that it makes Grandma grow and grow and grow. This is very shocking to George and makes him have the idea to feed it to the animals.

Even though George was not too kind to his Grandma, he is really a kind person. He said  “I would not dare touch the medicine, mom said It could kill a man.” Even Though he wanted to shake Grandma up a bit, He did not want a dead body on my hands.” This is kind because he does want to kill Grandma. He is a bit of a scaredy cat for example he is scared of his own Grandma. George is creative. He is creative because he made his own medicine.

I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book. I enjoyed this book because it is really, really funny.  I would recommend this book as a book review book because it is the perfect length. This book is similar to most Roald Dahl books because it have a evil grandma. I would rate this book 4.9 stars.

By JAck BARKER

Jan
15
2016

The Candy Smash by Jacqueline Davies

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imgresThe Candy Smash, by Jacqueline Davies, is a book about siblings named Jessie and Evan Treski and their friend Megan. They are in fourth grade in room 4-0. Their teacher is named Mrs. Overton. One day at morning recess, Jessie is working on her newspaper, The 4-0 Forum, when she accidentally knocks over her Valentine’s day box and something falls to the floor. Candy! Then Jessie won’t rest until she knows who put the candy in the box.

One day when Evan comes home, he discovers a new way to write poems. He goes into his room and locks the door and looks around the room. Then he picks up some Post-it notes and a #2 pencil and sits down at the desk. He starts to think about his Grandma and then writes words on the Post-its. Then he creates a poem about his Grandma from the notes. This is important because Evan finds something he’s good at, but he doesn’t want anyone to know about his new ability because he thinks that people will make fun of him. One big thing that changed the story is when Valentine’s day comes and The 4-0 Forum is published. This is important because Jessie is under a lot of pressure to get everything right. This changed the story because if Jessie doesn’t get the The 4-0 Forum ready, she will have an angry class of fourth graders to deal with.  

Three adjectives that describe Jessie are smart, kind, and persistent. Jessie is smart because she skipped third grade to be in fourth grade. Jessie is also smart because even though she is younger than everyone, everyone asks her questions if the teacher isn’t there. Jessie is kind, because she watches out for her friends. She does this by helping them and others.  Jessie is a very persistent person, because she does not quit until she gets her story. For example, she kept on asking questions to Megan about her crush in public to get a good cover story. When her brother calls her a pest, Jessie tells him, “I’m not always a pest, only when I really need something.”

I really enjoyed this book because it is about the friendship between two fourth graders. I also like this book because I can relate to this book a lot. I relate to this book because I am in fourth grade too. I think people should read this book because  it makes you think about what could happen if you were in Jessie’s shoes. It also makes you think about what would happen if you were a reporter. A few books like this are: Seaglass Summer by Anjali Banerjee, The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming, Calli Be Gold by Michele Weber Hurwitz, and Bobby vs. Girls by Lisa Yee. I would give this book four out of five stars.

 

 

 

Jan
14
2016

Who Could That Be At This Hour, By: Daniel Handler

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Daniel Handler is the name of the author of the book I read. The main characters that appear in this book are Lemony Snicket and S. Theodora Markson. The problem in this book is that a treacherous villain by the name of Hangfire is terrorizing a community named Stained By The Sea. The main problem that the characters are trying to stop is that Hangfire is a skilled arsonist and they are trying to stop him from burning down the community around them.

Some ideas that helped me understand the book better were …

that S. Theodora Markson is the lead investigator for the problem in Stained by the Sea. This idea helped me understand the book better by giving me more background information. Two is that Lemony Snicket is the apprentice to S. Theodora Markson. This information was very helpful because Lemony Snicket ?  is a very mysterious person. Did you know that Lemony Snicket is a very caring person for people he knows and does not know. The only BIG decision that the main character makes is to investigate the case that Theodora is involved in. Hangfire is a arsonist, killer, and kidnapper and he is very proud of what he does.

Hangfire is a lethal killing machine that has haunted Stained By The Sea for many years. 

I really enjoyed this book because Lemony Snicket is a very creative and caring person. I also like this book because of the characters. The last reason I like this book is because it is for all ages. 1 to 5 stars it is a 5 star rated book.

 

www.danielhandler.com

 

Jan
14
2016

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, By Judy Blume

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imgresI read the book Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. The author is Judy Blume. The book takes place in the year 1947 in Miami, Florida. It is about a girl named Sally and her life after World War 2. Sally is in 5th grade. She is nine years old. Sally has many ups and downs in her new life in Miami. A down is that her father cannot stay in Miami with them, because of his job he has to stay in New Jersey. An up is that Sally has many new friends in Miami.

Her father visits every once in awhile, so Sally’s only communication in between visits, is to write to him. Sally tells her father all about Miami, and recent activities, and things that have happened. I love Sally’s letters to her father. They are very descriptive and interesting. I especially like how her letters to him start with, Dear Doey-Bird. That is Sally’s nickname for her father. I think that nickname is pretty funny!

Sally and her family moved to Miami because her brother Douglas got a kidney infection. I will not tell you why Douglas got a kidney infection because I don’t want to spoil an important part in the book. I can relate to this part of the story because my brother has many food allergies and eczema. Eczema is when your skin starts to bleed and gets very itchy and uncomfortable. Every year my family goes to Hawaii for the summer. The weather helps my brother’s eczema. This is similar to how Douglas feels better in Miami because it is not cold. Another connection is that I live in New York and they live in New Jersey. New York and New Jersey are right next to each other.  

Sally is a very interesting character. She is cautious, smart and sometimes brave. For example, on page 102 and 103 it says “After years and years of her mother’s warnings it was finally happening. A strange man was offering her candy!”… “He shook the bag of candy at Sally. “Go … on … take …” “No!” Sally said and rode off, almost knocking the man over.” She likes and thinks some things that you might think are odd for a nine year old girl. Sally likes to call herself a detective because that is her favorite game to play. On page 27 Sally says, “I’ve got this really great detective story ready. We’re after this murderer who cuts people up and stuffs the pieces into brown lunch bags…he leaves the bags all over town and the people are really scared…this is no ordinary murderer…this guy is dangerous.” This gave me the idea that Sally enjoyed different types of games than other kids.

A case that Sally worked on was the case of old scary Mr. Zavodsky, the man who offered her candy. Sally thinks that Mr. Zavodsky is Adolf Hitler(A.H.). She thinks he looks like A.H. because he has slick, dark hair and a small black moustache. There are no pictures in the book but you know what the characters look like because Sally is very good at explaining them.

If I were Sally I would write another note to Mr. Zavodsky. I would say to him, I know who you are, and you can’t hide forever! So admit who you are now or I will tell everyone your real identity. I will not ever call you Mr. Zavodsky again because that is your fake identity. Don’t try to trick people that you’re good by trying to give them candy that probably has poison in it! You can trick my friend Andrea but you can’t trick me! From Detective Sally, your worst nightmare.

I enjoyed this book so much! I liked it because it is funny, exciting, sad, well written and the characters are like a never ending maze! When I read this book I couldn’t stop! I personally think that it is an amazing book. Out of all the Judy Blume books I have read, I think that this one is my favorite. Judy Blume really captures the moments and describes the scenes. It is such an amazing book I didn’t want to stop reading it! I want you to have that feeling too, so that is why you should read this book!

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is a great book for 4th graders and higher. If you like mysterious, funny, interesting, breathtaking books, then you should definitely read Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself.

I rate this book FIVE STARS!