Author Archives: Jade

Jun
06
2017

My Last Best Friend

Posted by

 

This character’s name is Ida May and she’s not having the best time of her life when her friend goes away. Now she has the mean girl, Jenna Drews, to deal with all by herself. She has no other good/best friends and her friend Elizabeth who moved away likes all the things Ida does. Jenna is so mean that she calls Ida, I-duh. One day Jenna invites all the girls in her grade for her birthday sleepover at her house. Jenna’s mom makes her invite Ida. Jenna has a little sister named Rachel, a dog named Biscuit and her mom is head of the PTA.  (PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION)

I think Ida is daring, daring to take on her class a.k.a. Jenna Drews and followers without her friend. (Followers are the people who like Jenna, everyone else is afraid of her, technically even followers. The people who follow Jenna are Jolene, Meeka, Brooke, and Stacy.) Stacy just wants to be friends with Jenna. I also think she is caring and selfless because she wrote to her best friend, Elizabeth, and she never wrote back besides a birthday invitation (written by her mom) and she still thinks good thoughts about Elizabeth.

Mini SPOILER ALERT in first part of book.

At Jenna’s sleepover birthday party they paint rocks. Ida gets paint on her shirt and goes upstairs to change her shirt. By the time she comes back downstairs everyone had gone out to play but Ida’d rather stay inside. Rachel is still there under the table playing an imaginary game. Ida thinks it is Biscuit but it is Rachel. Rachel is playing a game where the coats are monsters and she is a princess. Rachel is protecting her “castle” from them. Ida decides to play with Rachel and she is the queen, Rachel names her Cordelia. That is one reason how the secret notes to Stacey start.

Stacey Merriweather is the new girl in town and is “friends” with Jenna. She makes up lies to tell to Jenna so she would like her and not be mean to her. Some of Stacey’s lies are, she lives with her rich aunt, her parents are news reporters, and her real name is Anastasia. So what I meant about how the notes started is Ida used the name Cordelia because she didn’t want to tell Stacey her real name and besides that, they would tell the truth the whole time. Their hiding place for the notes was behind a cow shaped hedge named Bessie and there was a loose brick so they slipped the notes in there.

I recommend this book. It is a series called, Friends for Keeps. I would give it a four or five star rating depending on where it is in the book. The first few paragraphs totally relate to your life if you are in Fourth Grade according to me.

Apr
19
2017

Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko

Posted by

Is the plague really here?

By Jade Young

A girl was seen trying to get into Chinatown while it was being quarantined. She was trying to find Jing a really important person in her life and the book. The girl’s name was Elizabeth but everyone called her Lizzie, except when older people in her family got mad at her. Except Billy her older brother. This book takes place in Chinatown, San Francisco in 1904 to 05. The name of this book is Chasing Secrets: A deadly surprise in a city of lies. The author of this book is Gennifer Choldenko.

The characters in this book are very different but sometimes they are the same or have the same thoughts. The majority of the characters in this book are related somehow. Not always family but they know each other friend or foe sometimes. Here are some of the characters: Lizzie, she doesn’t much like her life when her dad goes away for work and she can’t go. She wants to be like her dad. A doctor. She helps her dad sometimes when he gets called away. Lizzie goes to a school called Miss Barstows and she doesn’t like it until she meets a girl named Gemma and a boy named Gus who are brother and sister. Lizzie had no friends before, so she was thankful. Lizzie also cares so much about everybody, even Maggie the maid.

Noah is Jing’s son. He is Chinese like Jing. He calls Jing “Baba.” Only Lizzie knows about Noah and is good about keeping him a secret. Noah’s Chinese name is Choy.

Papa, as Lizzie calls him, is the dad to Billy and Elizabeth. He is a doctor who goes to patients to treat them for very little money or even none sometimes.

Uncle Karl: Uncle Karl is married to Aunt Hortense and their last name is Sweeting. Uncle Karl knows more than he is telling Lizzie about the plague and what she wants to know.

I loved this book so much. The book is historical fiction and it has a very adventurous part too. I recommend this book to people who like reading a nice mix of sad, delightful, and mystery. A lot of parts make you wonder what’s going to happen next and think, “I hope no one dies.” That’s the mystery. Delightful because of turns of events, and sad because of the plague and the quarantine. I give this book a five star rating. It has a lot of sudden turn of events. It’s a really amazing book! I really recommend this book.

Feb
16
2017

When My Name Was Keoko, By Linda Sue Park

Posted by

Japan own Korea?

KOREA JAPAN- It was fine until the Japanese took over. Korea used to be its own country, but the Japanese took it over. The Japanese were losing World War 2. They needed the rations Korea had. The Japanese made a lot of new laws that made it hard for Koreans to live. The main characters are trying to help their family. The book I am reading is called When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park. The author decided to name the chapters Sun-hee and Tae-yul for each character’s perspective. The setting is in Korea and Japan starting in the 1940s to 1945.

Sun hee is the girl in the family and has to stay quiet most of the time, but if she’s lucky someone will tell her something, she’ll have a good guess or overhear something. A long time ago Korean women and girls were not supposed to listen or hear big talks. They were only for men to know. Sun-hee is an adventurous character who doesn’t like the Japanese ways. She cares a lot about the people in her family and her friends. An example is when she ran to save her Uncle when the Japanese were going to “supposedly” raid the Uncle’s store. Tae-yul never gives up, is 3 years older than Sun-hee and always wants to help some how. He’s daring, Tae-yul volunteered to be a kamikaze. A kamikaze is someone who steers a plane with a bomb on the bottom of a plane, they dive for the enemy ships and if they land the attack the whole ship explodes along with the pilot and plane.

I enjoyed this book very much because it’s a very adventurous story and it teaches you about history. It’s historical fiction and Linda Sue Park makes it fun enough you don’t realize you are also learning facts. It is adventurous because there are a lot of things going on in the time period and because both main characters are daring, smart, and courageous.

I would recommend this book for people who like historical fiction and adventure stories. I also like it because the author describes the perspective of each character very well and there are funny, sad and adventure parts.                                                                       

I give this book a five star rating. It’s REALLY amazing!!!

Jan
18
2017

Blue School Alert!!!

Posted by

Remarkable by Lizzie K. Foley

REMARKABLE- It’s a wonderful town. Until today, the Gifted school turned BLUE!!!!! By the Grimlet Twins.  All of a sudden everyone heard a big BOOM!!! It was coming from the direction of the Gifted School.

Jane, the only girl at the Public School, had seen the Grimlet Twins before buying about forty bottle of bluing rinse, ten boxes of gum balls, and a few mouse traps. Jane was suspicious, but the Grimlet Twins wouldn’t tell her why they bought everything. They said she would figure out soon enough and she did. The very next day at school the Grimlet Twins had put their plan into action. They turned the Gifted School blue. It was a big surprise for everyone in the Gifted School and out. The explosion made a big boom. Literally everything around it turned blue, even the students and teachers turned BLUE!!! The school Playground and Bus. Everything! The Public School watched as everyone in the Gifted School looked out the window confused for the moment. Everyone looked at each other and looked out. People stopped and stared. They all thought on what had happened.

The principle of the school called a meeting late at night at the gifted school. All the teachers and parents of gifted students had to attend. 

The Grimlet Twins were expelled and were happy about it. Almost like they were planning it. Which most think they were. Especially their principal the esteemed Doctor Presnalda. The Grimlet Twins wanted to be in trouble and they knew they would in the public school only Jane go’s to. So the very next day the Grimlet Twins got in trouble they did all sorts of stuff, like Chew Gum, have a spitball fight, run with scissors, and eat paper.

The esteemed Doctor Presnaldas sister thought that Doctor Presnalda was punishing her for not coming to the meeting by giving her the Grimlet Twins. Her sister worked at the public school and sent the Grimlet Twins to the public school. The day the gifted school turned Blue. A tiring day for everybody. The Blue as sky school…