Popular Clone By M.E. Castle

Popular Clone is about a boy named Fisher Bas. He is very unpopular. He is bullied by three kids called “the Vikings.”  When he makes a clone (which he calls “Two”) to live is horrible life for him, Two becomes popular. He starts causing trouble. Fisher is afraid that someone will find out that Two is a clone.

To make the clone,  Fisher used his mother’s very dangerous AGH (Accelerated Growth Hormone). The evil Doctor X is trying to find it. If he finds out that “Fisher” is a clone, he will take over the world. When Doctor X captures Two, Fisher must go on a dangerous adventure with his loyal pet flying pig to save him. Can Fisher keep  the secret away from Two, that he is not a clone, but his brother on a mission to find his mother. AND save Two?

I liked this book because it was really funny and the characters were interesting. My favorite part was when Fisher tried to find out what Two was doing at school. I liked that part because we learn how Two becomes popular, because Fisher didn’t know what was happening with Two at school.

This book is in a series called “The Cloneward Chronicles.”

I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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13 Gifts By Wendy Mass

13 Gifts is a wonderful book by Wendy Mass. It’s in a series of books, but you don’t have to read the first two books before you read this third book. In this book, a 12 year old girl (almost 13!) named Tara keeps moving, and it’s getting on her nerves. A girl her age should stay put and have friends; But not her. So, when she finally has a chance to prove herself popular, even if it means stealing the Principal’s lifesize stuffed goat (don’t ask) she should do it, right? Wrong. Her so called, “friends” abandon her and let’s just say the results include pepper spray in the eyes and a very angry principal. Her parents think that Tara needs to take a break from everything for a while, so they send her to Willow Falls, a mysterious little town where her Aunt and Uncle live with their 11 year old daughter that Tara’s never met before. But some pretty weird things start to happen in Willow Falls. What will happen? Read the book to find out! I would rate this book 6 out of 5 stars because it was AWESOME! You should read this book if you like mysteries, because this story is very mysterious.

 

Jake and Lilly, by Jerry Spinelli

Jake and Lilly are twins, they’re in middle school [fifth grade]. Every year on their birthdays they sleepwalk to the train station, that’s were they were born. That is something they always did together. But now they have to handle some problems, like Bump Stubbins, the arch enemie of Lilly. But other then Bump Stubbins Jake thinks Lilly and him are different, Lilly on the other hand does not think that, she thinks that they’re the same or she wants to think that. Jake is the perfect one who hates getting in trouble, Lilly loves it or just does not mind getting in trouble. “Jake and Lilly” is a really good book so I recommend it to people who like to read about two different perspectives.

The Three Investigators #5 an Ear For Danger

This book is about three kids Jupiter,Pete,and Bob who like to investigate things.This book is very good and exciting and may I ad a little bit scary and funny like when they meet this kid Brit  who is dyslexic (sees letters in the wrong order.) and jupe showed him a business card and he thought it said the three nivetsitagors  another exciting part was when they realized that they were on a  volcano. I give this book five stars. 

Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins

Toys come home is a book about a stuffed animal stingray that is a birthday present to a girl that loves toys. This girl owns a stuffed animal seal that’s name is Bobby Dot, and acts like a know-it-all. something strange happens to Bobby Dot and he disappears so the girl gets a toy buffalo to replace Bobby Dot. The girl goes to a birthday party and gets a plastic bouncy ball. Plastic the bouncy ball the stuffed animal stingray and the toy buffalo all become friends. the three friends go on daring adventures together rate this book 3½ stars. This book is good for ages 6-12.

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a book about a girl, Meg, who doesn’t really fit in with all the other kids. One night she cannot fall asleep because of a hurricane and goes downstairs and finds her little brother Charles Wallace. Charles Wallace knows everything about everything and was expecting Meg to want hot cocoa. Meg actually did want hot cocoa. Their mother Mrs. Murry woke up, also wanting hot cocoa. The twins stayed asleep. All three of them had sandwiches and after a while, a visitor arrived, Mrs. Whatsit. Mrs. Whatsit lives in “the haunted house” in the woods.

 

Charles Wallace, Meg, and their dog, Fortinbras go into the woods to see Mrs. Whatsit the next day. Suddenly they find a boy who’s name is Calvin. Calvin is a couple of grades above Meg. He is on the high school basketball team. They all introduced themselves and headed towards the house. Charles Wallace knocked on the door. A woman named Mrs. Who was knitting on a rocking chair inside the house. Mrs. Who is a friend of Mrs. Whatsit. They live together. Mrs. Who can only speak in quotes because it is too hard for her to verbalize her thoughts. Mrs. Whatsit wasn’t there so Calvin, Meg, and Charles Wallace went home.

 

Calvin stayed over for dinner. After dinner, Calvin took Meg on a walk and in the middle of the walk, Charles Wallace appears and says, “we’re going.” Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin head to the house in the woods. (Charles Wallace thinks that they’re going to find their father). When Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin are walking to Mrs. Whatsit’s house they find Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and a little silver shimmer in the air. The little shimmer start’s to talk, “ Alll rrightt, girrllss. Thiss iss nno ttime forr bbickkerring.” Charles Wallace says to Meg and Calvin, “That’s Mrs. Witch.”

 

That’s all I’m going to tell you because after that comes the part where you don’t want to put the book down. I loved this book because during a few of the chapters I couldn’t put the book down. When I stopped reading, I felt dizzy.

 

My favorite part of the book was when Meg, Charles Wallace, Calvin, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch all travel to a woman named Medium. And as they’re approaching Medium’s house, Mrs. Witch says “WWEE ARE HERE!”. I like that part because it is a little funny. (You will understand it if you read the book.)

 

I would recommend this book to people who like books that you can really get into because when I was reading it I literally could not put the book down. I would also recommend this book to people who like to read a book and want to be surprised because trust me, there are a lot of surprises. Lastly, I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy that is kind of realistic because the characters are easy to understand but what happens to them is fantasy. I think that ages 9+ should read this book. If you have read When You Reach Me you will love this book.

 

I would rate this book five stars!

 

The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies

A book review by Meadow Magee.

This book is great! I relate to it because I have a brother just like Jessie does. I got to learn a lot about how court works because the setting is just like a real court but in the playground, outside of school using recess equipment. Every start of a chapter has a definition of the title which is all about court. For example, “Trial by Jury: a legal proceeding in which the guilt or innocence of a person accused of a crime is decided by a group of his or her peers, rather than by a judge or panel of judges.” This book picks up after the first book which is The Lemonade War. There is one more book after The Lemonade Crime called The Bell Bandit that I have not read yet!

 

Jessie and Evan are the main characters of this story. They are siblings, Jessie is 8 and Evan is 10. I am 9 and my brother, River is 11 which is why I feel so connected. Jessie is very smart but she has some trouble connecting to other kids. Evan, on the other hand, is very good at connecting to kids but has a little trouble with his math. Jessie is now in Evan’s class because she skipped a grade on account of how clever she is. They live in Manhattan with their mom because their mom and dad are divorced and their dad lives somewhere else.

 

In the first book there was a war to collect $100 by the end of summer break by selling lemonade. At the end of the first book money was stolen and this second book is all about finding out who really stole the money and Jessie makes a court scene about this and makes it very official. Scott is also a main character and he is the one accused of the stealing the money. Megan is a main character too as she is Jessie’s best friend. It’s Jessie’s first best friend ever so it means a lot to her. (Just like Oni means a lot to me) Megan helps out Jessie with the lemonade stand. Megan doesn’t know there is a war going on. Megan is involved in the court proceedings as a member of the audience. The crime occurred at Jack’s house with a couple of friends including Evan and Scott.

I don’t want to give you all the details as it will give away a lot of the book. You just have to read the book yourself! It’s a great book and I would rate this book five stars. This book is ideal for 8-11 year old boys and girls because the court stuff makes it a little hard to understand for anyone younger. I think that you should read The Lemonade War first because you won’t understand this otherwise. I would also give The Lemonade War five stars. I hope you enjoy the “Lemonade” series!

 

Athlete vs. Mathlete by W.C. Mack

Athlete vs. Mathlete by  W.C. Mack

Review by Elijah Meltzer

Athlete vs. Mathlete is by W.C. Mack and is about two boys named Owen Evans, (“Basketball superstar, lights up the scoreboards”) and Russell Evans (“Brainiac powerhouse, lights up the school boards.”). This book takes place in Portland Oregon in about 2008. About

midway through the book Russell is forced by the new coach to play for the pioneers the school basketball team, because he is tall. He becomes a superstar and takes Owen’s place! Owen gets really mad and does some mean things. I enjoyed this book a lot because I could really sense what the characters were feeling.

My favorite part of the book was when Owen gives a play by play of his basketball games because I like basketball so I really get to know what is going on and how he is feeling.  For example, “When the ball was tossed, I went for it.  My fingers touched it first, and I pushed the ball toward Nicky Chu.  He caught it and pivoted fast before passing it to Nate James. Nate was the fastest guy on the pioneers, and made a breakaway, dribbling toward the basket. Right when he got to the hoop, he looked left then passed to me. As soon as I got the ball I lined up and took the shot. Swish!” (W.C. Mack, pg. 22-23).

 

I would recommend this book to people that like basketball, problem solving or friendship problems. Because all of those things come up a lot in this book.

 

I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Summer Vacation By Tommy Greenwald

The main character of this book (if you don’t know from the title) is Charlie Joe Jackson.  He decides to make his parents happy and go to a summer camp called Camp Rituhbukkee (pronounced Camp Read-a-bookie).  In his bunk every kid has a weird habit. One kid sneezes about 20-70 times a minute.  Another kid thinks that garlic will make him live forever.  They all think he’s weird because of his ‘non reading’ ways except Jack and George.  Jack’s dad has a master plan to get Jack into Harvard and George is like the smartest kid in America.

 

Charlie Joe Jackson is trying to de-nerd these super smart kids to save them from a world of dorkdom.  He gets hired for the Bukkee Bugle (the camp newspaper).  He has to write an article about a book about Lech Walesa, if you don’t know who Lech Walesa was, you can look his wikapedia.

I would give this book 5 stars (*****) because it is super super super super funny (it really deserves 3 supers).  I would recommend this book to Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans.

The Mother Daughter Book Club By Heather Vogel Frederick

Mother Daughter Book Club Review

By Elijah Meltzer

The Mother Daughter Book Club is by Heather Vogel Frederick, and has four main characters, Emma Hawthorne, Megan Wong, Cassidy Sloane, and Jess Delaney. It takes place in Concord Massachusetts. The book is in a series of four, in each book one of the characters has a big problem, other characters get problems too, but one has the boss problem and in this it’s Jess. I enjoyed this book very much.

My favorite part is when Emma stands up to Becca Chadwick the bully because Emma never stands up for herself. My other favorite part is when Megan stops being friends with Becca and becomes a friend with Cassidy, Emma, and Jess. I like them because that was exactly the opposite of the characters personality.

I would recommend this book for people who appreciate good writing because the writing is fantastic!

The book switches point of view every chapter and the point of view can only be Cassidy, Megan, Jess, or Emma.

I would rate this book five out of five stars!