Author Archives: Olivia P

Sep
03
2014

The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

Posted by

 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

 

 

May
28
2014

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Posted by

This book is called Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. The book is about a girl named Minli hearing all different stories about long ago by her dad which is normally called Ba and one story, Minli hears a story she believes so much Minli goes out of fruitless mountain which is where she lives and goes to try to find it. The thing Minli tries to find is the man of the moon. The man of the moon grants wishes for people every ninety nine years, but the thing Minli doesn’t know is he only grants one wish. After Ma which is Minlis mom and Ba are still working Minli goes back to her house and leaves a note that she will not be back for a few days. When Minli finds the man of the moon she was going to ask how fruitless mountain can be fruitful again.

imgresThe night Minli goes out she goes out of fruitless mountain and goes up another mountain. Since Minli was really tired she took a nap near a forest and next to a lake. When Minli woke up she found a Dragon in the lake stuck with vines so she helped the dragon. The dragons name was Dragon. Dragon was made from a painting but the ink from the painting is actually where Dragon was born and if you read this book you will find out how the dragon was in the ink stone. Dragon said “I remember when a bird flew from the sky and dropped a peach pit onto the ground. I watched that pit grow into a tree and the peaches fell from the tree and more trees grew from the pits of those peaches until it became the grove of peach trees that the monkeys have now taken over.”Minli thought the dragon was very old. Soon Minli returns with a good answer from the man of the moon for Dragon and something really magical and amazing happens that night…

I really enjoyed this book it was one of the best books I have ever read. For an example when Minli meets a dragon and the dragon is nice that is really interesting because most dragons would try to eat you in stories. I  also really enjoyed the little stories that are in the stories because they are stories from long ago. I would recommend this book to people who kind of believe in magic or who like magic and who like hearing ancient stories and who like hearing things that are a bit make believe but sound so interesting and amazing. I would recommend the book to the people who I just mentioned because if you like those kind of books the examples all go into this book. I would give this book 10 stars even though we are only supposed to do 5 stars!

 

Apr
08
2014

Dumpling Days by Grace Lin

Posted by

9780316125901Dumpling days is about a family who lives in New Hartford, which is in upstate New York and they visit Taiwan for 26 days. Pacy, who is not so excited to go to Taiwan starts to like Taiwan so do Lissy and Kiki, those are Pacy’s sisters. Lissy is the oldest Pacy is the middle child and Kiki is the youngest. Pacy’s parents are from Taiwan so they are really excited to go. When Pacy’s family arrives at the Taiwan airport Pacy, Lissy and Kikis aunt and uncle picks up the whole family up and brings them to their home, their names are uncle flower and auntie Jin.

 Pacy’s mom and dad signs lissy Kiki and Pacy up for painting, calligraphy and paper cutting. Lissy does calligraphy, Pacy does painting and Kiki does paper cutting. Pacy does not want to do painting at all. When Pacy meets a girl named Audrey Chang she is not so happy because in Pacy’s mind she thinks that she is mean but she is actually not. Soon it is Pacy’s grandma’s birthday so Pacy, Kiki, Lissy and their mom go shopping to buy pastries and food for the party. “When it is your 60th birthday for chinese people there is a big celebration” says Pacy’s mom so that is why everyone is having a big celebration. Before they have grandma’s party Pacy’s family visits Taipei to see their other aunt and uncle and they visit all different places. There is a contest when they come back for the art class of who has the best painting. A girl named Eva wang wins but then Pacy and Eva make friends. After grandma’s party it is time to go home. Everyone says goodbye and then they get on the plane. Pacy’s dad had to leave Taiwan early because he had work. So Pacy, Lissy, Kiki and their mom go on the plane and now they are on their way home.

I really liked this book it was one of the best books I have read. I would say this book is an adventurous book and a little bit non fiction. The book is a little non fiction because the places that their family visits are actually real places in Taiwan. I would give this book a five star rating out of five stars.

 

Feb
28
2014

Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins

Posted by


Toys Come Home is about a girl who has a lot of stuffed animals. In the book it does not say what the girl’s name is and it just says ‘the girl’. When the girl is not Unknowninside the room all the stuffed animals come to life and their names are stingray that is a stingray, bobby dot that is a seal, sheep that is a sheep ,rocking horse that is a rocking horse and tuck tuck which is a towel but she needs to stay in the bathroom. The stuffed animals can talk and play games and do lots of things. The stuffed animals don’t get to go outside and they just stay home all day in the girls room. There are lots of other characters that come in the book that I did not introduce yet but I will soon.

When it is the girl’s birthday that is when stingray comes to the girls house. Stingray got shipped in a little box and stingray was the girl’s birthday gift. When the girl brings stingray into the room all the stuffed animals stare at her and when the girl leaves the stuffed animals start to be mean to her. When it is night time stingray does not have anywhere to sleep so she just sleeps on the window sill. Soon the girl’s dad dries bobby dot in the dryer and bobby dot was not supposed to be dried so when he comes out of the dryer he is shredded into pieces. So the next day the girl brings Stingray to the toy shop to get a new bobby dot, but the girl does not seem to like him so much so the day after that she brings Stingray again to the toy shop and exchanges the seal with a bull. The bull is named Lumpy. Stingray and Lumpy make friends and now Stingray has a friend to play with. When the girl has her birthday party her parents think she is old enough to have a bowling party so the girl has a bowling party. One of the girls friend gives her a Plastic ball and the girl named it plastic and then Stingray, Lumpy and plastic all make friends. Stingray, Lumpy and Plastic also really like playing hungry hippos and Stingray says “More hippos are the best.” But Plastic thinks that her hippo was full of marbles nine hours ago and she doesn’t understand that you try to get the most marbles.

I really enjoyed this book because it is interesting how Lumpy Stingray and Plastic all make friends and it is exciting how all the stuffed animals can come to life. I would recommend this book because it is exciting and you want to know what is going to happen next. I would give this a five star rating out of five stars.

 

                                              review by Olivia Im Propp

 

 

Jan
29
2014

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix by J.K Rowling

Posted by

On Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts lots of things change. I have watched the movie a few times but I am only at page 125 and it goes to page 854 or something around that. I know that you should always read the book before watching the movie but did it a different way. So since i did not read the whole book but I watched the whole movie I am going to explain all of the part I read in the book and then I will maybe explain what happens a little bit in the movie.

imagesWhen harry leaves the Dursleys house he is so happy because the Dursleys are always so mean to Harry. The place harry goes to is Sirius Black’s house and Harry gets to see Hermione, Ron,Fred and George. Whenever Harry sees all his friends and he has not seen them in a while he is always so happy to see them. But when Harry returns to Hogwarts a new defense against the dark art professor comes and that is when things change a lot. The new professor’s name is Dolores Umbridge she is about the most strict teacher at Hogwarts so far. Dolores Umbridge loves pink and everything in her little office is pink, she does not exactly like Harry so much and she acts nice to him but she actually tricks Harry into doing bad things…

This book so far is a really good book and if you like stories that kind of make you feel like the place is real you would like this book. The book is also adventurous and the book makes you want to read more and sometimes you just want to keep on reading until you finish the book. I would definitely recommend this book and I would give this book a four star rating out of five stars.

Review by Olivia

 

 

Jan
08
2014

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Posted by

   

  There is a place called The School for Good and Evil. Every four years two kids get kidnapped and one kid get placed into a school for good and the other kid gets placed into the school for evil.  A girl named Sophie thinks that when she gets kidnapped she will be placed into the school for good and Sophie’s best friend Agatha thinks that she will be placed into the school for evil because Agatha never wants to be around so many people and she lives in a very old grave yard. Sophie is always happy and lives in a little town called Gavaldon.

       The night Sophie and Agatha get kidnapped Sophie gets placed into the school for evil and Agatha gets placed into the school for good. Now all Agatha wants to do is go home while Sophie is trying to find the school manager so they can be in the schools they think that they were meant to be in. After a few days Agatha gets a sheet of paper that says on it, Agatha School for Good first year. Sophie soon gets a sheet of paper that says, Sophie School for Evil first year. Now Sophie and Agatha might not be able to switch schools anymore because they are now officially placed into their schools and now everyone knows that they are good or evil. Sophie thinks that it is a mistake that Sophie got placed into the school for evil and Agatha is a little confused if she was meant to be put in good or if she was not.

      If you want to find out more read this book. This book is a mysterious, adventurous and magical book. So if you like those kind of books you might want to read this book.  I would give this book a four star rating out of five stars.

 

Review by Olivia

Dec
12
2013

Fantastic Mr.Fox By Roald Dahl

Posted by

There lives a fox in a hole underground. His name is Fantastic Mr. Fox. Fantastic Mr.Fox has a wife, she is called Mrs. Fox and she also has three children that are also foxes.

Every night Fantastic Mr.Fox takes a chicken, duck or turkey from one of the farmers. Then one day the three farmers named Bunce, Boggis and Bean get really angry that the Foxes are stealing their food. So one day they decide to dig the foxes out. In the middle of the night Mr.Fox heard the tractors so he woke everyone up and they all started to dig a hole into the ground very, very deep…

If you read this book you can find out more. I would recommend this book because it is a very adventurous and exciting book. I would give this a five star rating out of five stars.