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!

 

  

 

Frindle, By Andrew Clements

    The book Frindle is a frindle about a boy named Nick Allen who lives in a small town in a suburban area with bigger towns further away. I think Nick is unique because he has so many factors to him. He is not solely a happy type, a mean type or a funny type, he is all of the above and more. For example, in the text it says, “If you asked the kids and the teachers at Lincoln Elementary School to make three lists-all the really bad kids, all the really smart kids, and all the really good kids, Nick Allen would not be on any of them. Nick deserved a list of his own, and everyone knew it.” This shows how Nick is unique and not like anyone else. Nick wanted Lincoln Elementary to be more exciting so he thought of a great idea and involved some friends.  His Language Arts teacher, Ms. Granger, loves the dictionary. She absolutely cherishes it. When they are learning why words are words and why they are called what they are, he wanted to change the word “pen” to “frindle.”  Ms. Granger does not like this one bit, because she thinks all words should stay the same if there no point in changing it but that doesn’t stop Nick.

When Nick launches his new word, he gets the whole fifth grade to hold up a pen and say, “Frindle” on Picture Day.  The photographer that was taking the school picture didn’t have any film left over to take another since fifth grade was last. Ms. Granger decided this was taken to far and wants to put a stop to it. Another really important part in this book is the penalty for whenever a kid in Lincoln Elementary School says the word, “Frindle”. Ms. Granger will keep him or her after school and force them to write the sentence, “I am writing this punishment with pen” 100 times. The school office started having mad parents on the phone very often, and everyone was tired of it except the children. Nick was finally making his school a more exciting place, but it came with consequences.

About two weeks after the big punishment, Ms. Granger gave out and things started to get too crazy. The principal, Ms. Margaret Chatham, is sent over to Nick’s house to talk with his parents about the “Frindle” situation. When Ms. Chatham arrives in the room she is big, scary, and firm. Very firm. She talks slow but meaningful, and always sticks to her word. For example, in the text it says “Once Ms. Chatham on my first day of kindergarten promised me a gummy if I did a good job at school that day. At the end of the day, I got a gummy. A big red delicious gummy.”  This shows how she always sticks to her word. Ms. Chatham asked Nick, “…”  Oh, wait. You have to read the book to find that out…

I really enjoyed this book because I thought that the author developed the characters really well, and they all had a backstory with a distinct personality which I thought made the book that much better.  Another reason I really enjoyed the book is at the end of almost every chapter there was a cliffhanger.  I thought this was a smart idea so the reader will question the next chapter if they have stopped reading,  and will encourage them to continue to find out what happens next.

 Whenever I had to stop reading at the end of a chapter, I always wondered what was going to happen next. I would recommend this book, because you won’t ever get bored with it. There’s always something exciting or fascinating happening that you won’t want to stop reading. One connection I have to this book and my life is one time my friend started calling carrots “Pushas.” Everyone started saying it, so our teacher decided it went too far and made us stop. Some kids kept saying the word and had to talk with the teacher. I would rate this book five stars because it’s funny, interesting, and tells a good story about a boy and his bond with the 5th grade language arts teacher, Ms. Granger.

The Chocolate Touch by, Patrick Skene Catling

51q-9rbQqFL._SX334_BO1,204,203,200_The name of the book I have read is The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. The main characters are John Midas, Susan, Mrs. Midas, Mr. Midas and Miss Plimsole. One day, John Midas was walking and he saw a chocolate store. He went inside and bought a big box of chocolate. When he got home, he opened it and it was only one piece of chocolate. He ate it and he said it was the best chocolate he ever had. It was creamy, sweet, rich and very chocolatey. Now, anything that touched his mouth turned to chocolate. Even his trumpet turned to chocolate when he played it. The Chocolate Touch takes place in John Midas’s house and in his school.

 

There are a few very important things that happened in this book. Like when John brushes his teeth, his toothpaste tasted like chocolate. Also when John kissed his mom she turned to chocolate and could not move. There are quite a few things that changed what was happening in the story. Like when John ate something it immediately turned to chocolate. And when John plays the trumpet, it turns to chocolate and his whole music class saw they freaked out and were in shock .  John is very scared for example when John’s trumpet turned to chocolate he ran right out of the classroom before even telling his teacher he was leaving. John was impolite and polite at the same time for example when John ran home from school and went to his mom’s friend’s house to get the keys to get into his house his mom asked him to say hi to all of her mom’s friends and John said hello and ran home.

 

 

I really enjoyed the book because I love chocolate. I also really enjoyed the book because it was a very short easy read. But if you don’t like chocolate I would not recommend this book because you won’t be able to make as many connections, so you might not understand the book as well. I rate this book 4 and a half stars because it is one of the best books I have ever read in my life.

Schooled, by Gordon Korman

imagesThe novel Schooled is written by Gordon Korman and has lots of fascinating characters. The main character is Capricorn Anderson who has grown up on a commune his whole entire life and suddenly forced to go to a public middle school. A commune is a place where a lot of people live together. His grandmother Rain has been Cap’s teacher, friend, and most of all his mother.

When Cap arrives at his new school he faces a lot of confusing situations that he has not experienced including the most popular kid in school who happens to be a very mean bully named Zach Powers. Cap is an innocent boy who must adjust to his new life in the real world, including the new school, and his foster home with Sophie a girl who is not so happy about Cap’s appearance

When Capricorn first comes to Claverage Middle School he is treated with absolutely no respect. He is humiliated and teased every single day. Every year the kids at Claverage nominate the biggest dweeb in the grade for class president so they could make fun of him in assemblies and meetings. On the first meeting Capricorn promises to learn the name of every kid in school, which seems ridiculous at first. He surprises everybody by actually learning all their names by the time of the school dance. The bully Zach Powers is very frustrated because he wants Cap to fail at everything.  Instead, many kids start to like him.

Because Cap grew up in a commune he does things that typical kids don’t, including Tai Chi in the front lawn every morning. First everyone thinks he is crazy, but soon people join and find it really enjoyable. This shows that being different is not always a bad thing.  

A scene in the book that changes Capricorn’s life at school is on the busride home one day. The kids are bullying him by throwing lit matches at him. The driver of the bus suddenly falls off the seat and has a heart attack in the middle of driving. No one does anything until clever Cap takes the wheel of this big school bus and rushes the bus driver to the hospital. This is a very exciting chapter because there is a lot of action and the other students get to see a new side of Capricorn Anderson. When Cap gets to school the next day he is suddenly the most popular kid in school instead of the least popular.

Another big scene is when Cap does a really nice thing for his foster sister Sophie. She doesn’t like Cap because she cares too much about her image and how other people see her. If Cap is around he will embarrass her so she is mean to him. Cap is so nice that he gets the bracelet her dad gave to her engraved, because her unreliable dad never does.  After some clues, Sophie figures out that the bracelet was not engraved by her dad, but by Cap.  This really brings the two of them closer together, because Sophie realizes what kind of kid Cap really is.

Cap is confident and a little bit clueless at the same time. He is confident because he is his own individual and does not care about what anyone thinks. For example he wears shoes made out of cornhusks. He is clueless because he doesn’t understand when he is being made fun of. When he is locked in the library by Zach Powers and his friends, Cap does not care and just sits there.

I have enjoyed Schooled very much. I have because it has  a lot of action. I would rate Schooled 5 stars.      *

I TOTALLY FUNNIEST, By James Patterson

51KQihg1QYL._SX316_BO1,204,203,200_I TOTALLY FUNNIEST by James Patterson, is about the main characters and comedy contests. The main characters are Jamie Grimm, Gilda Gold, Joey Gaynor and Jimmy Pierce. Jamie is a middle school kid who is in a wheelchair and is very funny. His friend Pierce is a brainiac, Gaynor is cool and Gilda is gutsy. Jamie has been in many comedy contests before and the main problem is that he’s scared he’s going to lose the final contest.  The setting of the book, I TOTALLY FUNNIEST, takes place in Long Beach, NY. Jamie also goes to Hollywood for the final contest.  

Jamie is very nervous about the final contest because it’s on TV and it has the biggest crowd he’s ever seen.  If Jamie wins, he gets one million bucks and a TV show. His cousin, Stevie Kosgrov, is a bully but he is protecting Jamie at school because he wants half of Jamie’s one million bucks that Stevie thinks Jamie is going to win. Jamie’s friends are mad at him because he’s not hanging out with them as much as before. “I’m pretty sure we’ll all be friends again as soon as this whole comedy contest is over. I hope so. But right now, I need to focus on THE FINALS” said Jaime. 

I did not like this book as much as the other books in this series, but it was still good. The whole entire book was based on the final contest. At the beginning of the book all they really talk about is the final contest. Around the middle of the story for three or five chapters they were about Jamie going to Hollywood. At the end of the book, well I can’t tell you the end so all say the contest was too short. I would recommend this book to nine and ten year olds because they use some bathroom words but it is ok for them because it is very funny. I would give this book four stars. By the way this is the THIRD BOOK IN THE SEIRES SO READ THE FIRST TWO BOOKS FIRST they’re I FUNNY and I EVEN FUNNIER!!!!

 

Dead End In Norvelt, by Jack Gantos

imgresMy book is called Dead End In Norvelt. It is about a kid called Jack and Miss Volker. The time period that this book takes place  in is 1962. Jack is an average kid who always has a bloody nose. Whenever he gets nervous or scared his nose bleeds. It bleeds a lot. Jack will do anything for his friends. He traded a plane ride to play a game of baseball with his friends. Jack is friendly. Miss Volker is an old lady, she is one of the original people who lives in Norvelt. She made a promise to someone that she would be the last original person in Norvelt. Mr Spizz is like an old delivery man who rides around on a tricycle. Mr Spizz wants to marry miss Volker. He asked her and asked her to marry him but she said no every single time (because she didn’t like him) except for once. She said she would marry him once she was the last original person from Norvelt. Then all of sudden all of the original people from Norvelt start to die. All of a sudden Miss Volker has to write a lot of obituaries, (since her job is to write obituaries) and needs some help. She asks Jack to help her out over the summer, and since Jack got grounded he is free to help her.

Jack was playing with his dad’s rifle and didn’t realize the rifle was loaded. He was not allowed to use the rifle. He fired and and a bullet shot out of the gun.  No-one was hurt and nothing got hit but his dad found out he had used his gun and Jack got grounded. Later on Jack mows his mom’s corn-field down because his dad told him to so his dad could build a runway for a plane, and get’s grounded by his mom while he is still grounded from his dad. Jack lives in Norvelt in around the present time and is grounded for the whole entire summer.

Jack’s mom’s corn field was for food for the old ladies of Norvelt. Jack’s dad told Jack to mow down the corn-field because he was going to make a runway for the plane that he won. Jack’s dad told everyone the runway was a bomb shelter because if Jack’s dad told someone that he was building a runway they would shut it down. He could get in big trouble. “Yes. ol’ Spizz was very cooperative with me, and it didn’t take too much work to get him to confess that he did…” You will have to read the book to find out what he did!

I loved this book! I love this book because it is a mystery and those are one of my favorite types of books. Another reason that I enjoy this book is that different problems keep  coming up in the story and once they solve one problem it leads to another. The last reason I enjoyed this book is that history facts are in the story so I can learn history in a book that’s not about history! If you like mysteries I would definitely recommend this book to you because it is a mystery! It is a mystery that keeps you on a ledge waiting to read more. If I rated this book I would rate it five stars out of five stars!

 

“Eleven” Book Review, By Lauren Myracle

357936The book Eleven is about an 11 year old girl named Winnie who lives in Atlanta and loves cats. Winnie is just starting middle school and is thinking it’s going to be great, but there are bumps in the road and problems she has throughout the year. For example, Amanda, Winnie’s BFF is ditching her for Gail, a new girl who is incredibly rude. Another example of how the year is not going her way is that her sister Sandra is being so grumpy that Winnie can never do her homework, which leads to bad grades, and Winnie’s mother cannot stand bad grades. Winnie hopes she can fix the mess she’s made including the fights with both her mom and Amanda. 

Valentine’s Day is coming up in school and everyone is talking about it.  Everyone has a valentine in Winnie’s grade except her. Winnie really wants one, so one night she asks Ty her little brother if he will call Deren and find out if he likes her. The only problem she comes across is that Ty is not a good person to do the mission she asked for. He hung up five times and made Deren’s brother really angry. Winnie is the only one sitting alone on Valentine’s day.

I really enjoyed this book because it has a lot of unexpected things that will pop out at you. For example, Winnie is having a great time at the beach with her family when Sandra breaks her ankle unexpectedly.

The book has very descriptive words so it’s fun to read and listen to how the author ties it all together.  I would give this book 4 stars, because some of the parts or characters really didn’t have a meaning. For example, when it was winter time, Winnie’s mom got stuck on the road and Winnie almost had to stay overnight. I didn’t understand why the author put this in, because it was totally off from what I was reading in the sentence before. I still really recommend this book if you like drama, unexpected plot twists, and silliness.

Nicholas And The Gang, By Rene Goscinny

512g0WMD1nL._SX337_BO1,204,203,200_If you love to laugh read the book Nicholas and The Gang by Rene Goscinny! The main character in my book is a boy named Nicholas. Nicholas is a boy who lives in Paris France and the problem is that Nicholas  always gets into some kind of trouble.

Nicholas and his friends always end up getting into a fight one way or another and end up in the principal’s office. One of his friends even ended up getting expelled. During these times Nicholas decides that he wants to run away multiple times but he always stops himself. Usually because he wants dinner and ends up running back home.

One time he got suspended and then he decided that he would try to do his best every time he could. ( That does not mean he did though). “ You got detention again didn’t you Nicholas,” said Nicholas’ mom. This is what made Nicholas want to do better.

I liked this book because it is so funny. I laughed so hard when Nicholas was saying bad words in front of someone who did not know any English and started repeating those words . I also laughed when Nicholas tried doing handstands and fell flat on his face. I also liked when Nicholas said his favorite meal is the sandwich he sneaks out to the recess yard. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to laugh because the book is so funny. Students who have a hard time with school would love this book because they might be in the same position. I would give this book 4 1/2  stars because this book is so funny and humorous.

 

The Homework Machine By Dan Gutman

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One of the books I read this summer is The Homework Machine By Dan Gutman. The book takes place in a city in Arizona. The main characters are Brenton, Sam, Kelsey, and Judy. The situation is that Brenton is a genius so he built a machine that does your homework for you in your own hand writing. All of a sudden mysterious people arrive and start asking random kids in their town questions like “what computer software do you use?” Or “do you know anything about a homework machine?”

 

The 4 kids have used the homework machine for a while now when all of a sudden Sam is absent for 2 days. Then after 2 days his teacher runs into the cafeteria during lunch with a tear running down her cheek yelling that Sam’s father has died. Kelsey also lost her father when she was young and she started sobbing. When Sam came back everyone gave him a big hug. Then this guy named Marley starts showing up at Brenton’s door so Brenton decides to give the homework machine to Sam for him to keep so its safe. I can’t tell you about Marley with out giving away one of the best parts of the story. After a while they become obsessed with the machine and the 4 of them decide to throw it into the Grand Canyon. It’s a short book so I don’t want to say too much.

 

I enjoyed this book a lot because it is has a lot to do with technology and the characters are extremely friendly with each other. I am labeling this as Realistic Fiction because with the technology today it is definitely possible. I rate the book 5 stars. I am looking forward to reading the next book Return of the Homework Machine.

 

 

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

The book I read this summer is called A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. The book has many different settings. Two of the main settings are her house and her school. The main character’s name is Zoe Elias. Some other characters are Miss Person her piano teacher, her mother, her father, Wheeler Diggs her friend from school and her dad’s baking partner, and Emma Dent her “former” best friend. In the book Zoe has big dreams to become the next Vladimir Horowitz (a famous pianist). The main problem is that Zoe has been begging her parents for a baby grand piano. Instead she gets a wood-grained, vinyl-seated, wheeze-bag organ. She also wants to play at Carnegie Hall. But it’s kind of hard to play at Carnegie Hall when you don’t have a baby grand piano to practice on.

But soon a big twist changed the direction of the story. Miss Person thinks it will be good for Zoe to enter the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition. Zoe has to make a big decision between going to the Preform-O-Rama and understanding that it’s okay to make mistakes or just staying home and giving up on the big dreams she has of becoming an amazing pianist. One quote that really inspired her when she was playing was  “just keep playing”. I know this sounds just like words but to Zoe these words were very inspirational because she just has to focus on the piano and not focus on what’s going on around her and then surely she will do great! She also have to keep in mind that everybody makes mistakes and that it’s okay to make mistakes but you have to learn from those mistakes. Zoe resolves her problem by thinking “just keep playing” and she does just that. She ends up doing an amazing performance.

I really enjoyed this book. I really enjoyed it because it helped me learn that everyone makes mistakes and that it’s okay to make mistakes. An example of this is when Zoe performs at the Perform-O-Rama and she makes a few mistakes but she keeps going. I also thought that a lot of the characters were really funny and quirky especially Zoe and her family. An example of this is when Zoe’s dad decorated the hotel room to look just like their house. I also just love reading about people who have big dreams and try to make their dreams a reality. An example of this is when Zoe keeps trying hard to become amazing and she puts a lot of effort into playing the piano.  I think a pianist would read this book because it gives a lot of facts about the piano. I also think a reader who likes humor would like this book because it is a very funny, quirky book. I give this book a five star rating.