The War That Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradly

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!

Demon Dentist, By David Walliams

 

 

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☆☆☆☆☆!

 

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, By Judy Blume

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 bagshe leaves the bags all over town and the people are really scaredthis is no ordinary murdererthis 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!

 

  

 

The School for Good and Evil, By Soman Chainani

 

 16248113  The book I read was called The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. Agatha and Sophie the main characters, are from a town called Gavaldon. One day they are taken away at night by the school master. The school master runs the “School for Good and Evil.” Everyone at Gavaldon thought Sophie would go to Good and Agatha would go to Evil.  There was one “mistake” though, Agatha ended up going to the school for Good being clueless of what to say and do, “She did the first thing she thought of and delivered a swift, loud fart.” And Sophie ended up at the school for Evil looking like a pretty princess.  

Agatha wants to get home but Sophie wants to stay thinking that the girls will switch schools. Sophie always tried to be good. She would use Agatha as one of her deeds for being good. She used Agatha by tricking her that she was her friend. She did that by going to Agatha’s house everyday and give Agatha her favorite cookies. She used Agatha because Agatha’s father left when she was young and she lived in a graveyard with her mother who was a doctor that had no patients.  Agatha was shy and had no friends except for maybe Sophie. She had a cat named Reaper that kept her company, but she had a very weary life. She never left the graveyard because people made fun of her and called her Evil when she walked by.

Sophie had lost her mother when she was young and had a very selfish father who was never proud of Sophie because she was a girl. Sophie’s father always wanted a boy so he could be worshiped and have more similarities with him. Sophie dreamt often about going to the School for Good and getting a handsome prince. She wanted to have her own fairy tale. Sophie is also obsessed with beauty. Every day she would put makeup and lipstick on. Boys didn’t care that she was selfish and rude they just thought she was pretty.

I really enjoyed this book, it was funny, exciting and sad. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who likes fairy tales, chapter books, and illustrations.

 

I rate this book five stars!

 

If you would like to take the test to see if you’re an Ever(Ever After) or a Never(Never After) go on to www.schoolforgoodandevil.com. Also if you really like the book you can read the other books in the series. And you should also check the date to see when the movie comes out on the website.