Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Random Reads

Paperboy
Vince Vacter
4/5 Stars
            This book is about a boy who has to help his friend out with his paper route. On his paper route he meets nice people, mean people, and both mean and nice. One man on his route is really nice and helps him to talk better.
            I thought that this was a great book because of how the boys starts up for himself and doesn’t let anyone make him feel bad.


The Dark Unwinding
Sharon Cameron
2/5 Stars
            I really didn’t like the main character, Katherine. I could tell when I wanted her to die! What happens is she goes to her uncle to get him into an asylum. I really didn’t like the book. I just wanted it to end. I wanted everyone to die but one little boy. I really don’t recommend this book. The beginning was slow and bad. Same with the rest.


Jabberwocky and Other Poems
Lewis Carroll
3.5/5 Stars
            This is a book of different poems by Lewis Carroll. It is book of poems with many different categories. My favorite poem is Brother and Sister. It is about how siblings sometimes act. I liked almost all the poems but a few were hard to read. I would recommend it to people who like to read a book of poems.


Rule of Thoughts
James Dashner
3/5 Stars
            The book I read is The Rule of Thoughts. The main characters are Michael, Bryson, and Sarah. They have a good friendship made after what they have been through. What happens is Michael and his friends must stop Kaine before he destroys humanity.
            I liked the book. The only thing was the ending closed up so quickly I didn’t know what was happening. I was left wondering what had just happened. But I really liked the beginning and how it seemed like it couldn’t end. I would recommend this book to a friend, if they have first read The Eye of Minds. If not, you would have been very confused and missing important details.


Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
3/5 Stars
            The book I read is Of Mice and Men. The main characters are Lennie and George. Lennie and George have a complicated relationship. What happens is they get a new job and go to work, something happened and when it seemed nothing can stop them, something does.
I liked the book but the ending is just, wow! I really wasn’t expecting it to happen. It really changed what I thought about the book. I would recommend this book to people who like twist endings.


The One and Only Ivan
Katherine Applegate
5/5 Stars
            Ivan is a silver back gorilla who lives in a mall with a stray dog, Bob, and an elderly elephant, Stella. Ivan has lived 27 years in the mall. When baby elephant Ruby arrives she doesn’t know that she will be abused. She and Ivan have a remarkable bond with each other and Ivan draws pictures to show her.
            I liked the book a lot! It is very funny and touching. It was funny when Bob, a stray dog, lands in Ivan’s pool. It was scary when Ruby was abused though. She shouldn’t be abused! I recommend this book because it is funny, touching, and perfect for animal lovers.
            Be nice to elephants!


Stravaganza: City of Masks
Mary Hoffman
4/5 Stars
            The book I read is Stravaganza: City of Masks. The main character is Lucien. I liked him but I really didn’t like what happened to “him” at the end. What happens is Lucien finds himself in Bellezza. I like the book. What I liked is how it kept switching places. At some points it got very confusing. I would recommend this book to people because of how good it is and how you can’t put it down.


The Fixer
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
4.5/5 Stars
            The main characters are Tess, Ivy and Vivvie. Vivvie is my favorite. Tess goes to live with her older sister in D.C. and a lot of strange things happen.
            I love this book, it’s an amazing, fun book to read. I love the plot and how they get it going. I really recommend this book. It’s amazing.


The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones
Rick Riordan
5/5 Stars
            Amy and Dan Cahill find out that their family is one of the most powerful families in human history! They have to decide receiving one million dollars or going after the 39 clues. What should they choose?

            I recommend this book because it is an adventurous book and it has a lot of action. I liked it.
Paranormal Preferences

City of Bones
Cassandra Clare
4/5 Stars
            This book is about a girl named Clary who finds out that she is a Shadowhunter.
            I thought that this was a really good book with lots of action and adventure. The only thing I didn’t like was the end. I would recommend this book because it had a lot of detail and was a really good book.




City of Ashes
Cassandra Clare
3.5/5 Stars
            This book is about Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and Alex trying to destroy Valentine. Except the beginning of the books is kind of boring while they’re figuring things out.
            In the beginning you sometimes want to punch Jace because he makes some stupid decisions. I thought it was a good book, but it also made me mad. It wasn’t as good as the first one because there was not as much happening. I would recommend this book but it was not as good as the first one.




The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
Paige McKenzie
4/5 Stars
            The main characters are Sunshine and her ghost. What happens is Sunshine and her mom move from Texas to Washington and her new house is a little creepy.
            I really like this book. It is really suspenseful and kind of scary. I couldn’t stop reading. I really recommend this book if you like scary, suspenseful things.





Fallen
Lauren Kate
5/5 Stars
            Luce moves to a school for kids who do bad things. Luce had to go there for a reason you will find out if you read this. She meets some friends, like Cam and Daniel, and finds out that everyone isn’t who they seem to be.
            I loved this first book. My favorite part would be all the parts except the boring parts, and there were no boring parts so I liked the whole book. It was fun to read. I did learn to choose your friends wisely.

            I would recommend this book because it is fun, exciting, and there are fun parts you don’t expect.
Historical Fiction in Middle School



 Titanic: The Long Night
Diane Hoh
3.5/5 Stars
            The book I read is Titanic: The Long Night. The main characters are Elizabeth, Brian, Patrick, and Kathleen. What happens is they all venture onto the Titanic.
            I liked the book. It wasn’t as sad as I thought it was going to be, but it was still sad. I would recommend this book if you are curious about what happened the night the Titanic went down.


My Brother’s Secret
Dan Smith
3.5/5 Stars
            The book I read is My Brother’s Secret. The main character is Karl. He is only twelve but he is working plans to go to war. What happens is Karl starts to rethink whose side he is on. I liked the book because of how you didn’t know what was going to happen or how the other characters were going to act. I would recommend this book because of how fun it is to read.


My Friend the Enemy
Dan Smith
3.5/5 Stars

            The book I read is My Friend the Enemy. The main characters are Peter, Kim, and the Enemy. What happens is Peter and Kim befriend the Enemy. I liked the book. I really liked how it burned out but the ending came to a conclusion really quickly. I thought there would have been another book. I would recommend this book to come one because of all the action and suspense.


Prisoner of Night and Fog
Anne Blankman
4.5/5 Stars
            The book I read is Prisoner of Night and Fog. The main character is Gretchen. I really liked her determination to find the truth. What happens is Gretchen meets a Jewish reporter. He tells her that her father was killed by a comrade. I really like the book. There was violence and some killing. It made the book really good. I couldn’t stop reading it. I didn’t want it to end. I would recommend it to people who like to learn about World War II.
Etiquette and Espionage
Gail Carriger

3/5 Stars
            The main characters are Sophronia, Mademoiselle Geraldine, Lady Linette, Dimity, and Pillover. What happens is Sophronia is sent to a Finishing School, but at the school robbers called flyway men are trying to find something called the prototype that the school is hiding.
            This book is pretty good. It had a lot of stuff going on, but a good concept. I recommend this book because it is an interesting read.

4/5 Stars
            The book I read is Etiquette and Espionage. The main character is Sophronia. She meets a couple of friends along the way that help her. What happens is Sophronia has to go to finishing school but everything there isn’t what it seems.

            I really liked the book. I really liked how she was so daring and does things that others won’t. I would recommend this book to a friend because of how you fall in love with the book.
The Hunger Pains
Harvard Lampoon
4.5/5 Stars

Review 1
            The characters in this book are Kantkiss Neverclean, Pitz, and all the other tributes. In this parody of The Hunger Games, Kantkiss and Pitz go to the Arena and have to fight to the death when some things go a little more romantic. This book is absolutely hilarious. I love it. It puts a different twist on The Hunger Games and I recommend this book.

Review 2
            The book I read is The Hunger Pains. The main character is Kantkiss. What happens is Kantkiss does whatever Katniss pretty much didn’t do in The Hunger Games.

            I liked the book. It really made fun of The Hunger Games. It was really fun to read, even if you had an idea of what was going to happen. I would recommend this book to people who have already read The Hunger Games.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016


Spotlight on Ingrid Law


Savvy
5/5 Stars
This book was a really good book. Some parts surprise me, some parts scared me. The girl in the book doesn’t give up. She sticks to what she is doing and keeps going until she’s done. On her thirteenth birthday she gets a power called a savvy. You get these when you turn 13. Her dad was in the hospital when it was her birthday. She went on an adventure to go find her dad. She faces hard decisions, causes trouble, and she makes big mistakes, but you never know in a book like this what she is going to do next.

3/5 Stars
            The book I read is Savvy. The main character is Milo. Her birthday is coming up. What happens is Milo’s father gets injured just before her birthday.
I liked the book. The only thing was it was just too slow. It took too long for everything to happen. I recommend this book to a friend who is prepared for a slow, good book.


Switch
3/5 Stars
            The book was about gypsy who was going to get her grandma. She got to her grandma’s house and her mom got groceries when her grandma ran away.

            I thought that it was an okay book, but you could predict what was going to happen. Sometimes you didn’t know what was going to happen but not a lot. It did keep you on the edge of your seat sometimes. I would recommends this book even though you could predict what was going to happen.
Reviews from our Harry Potter Challenge!

Students challenged each other to read Harry Potter for the first time. So many participated that I ran out of copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Below our several of the reviews that have come back for the first Harry Potter book. Some were noticeably more excited than others.





3.5/5 Stars
            This book is about a boy named Harry Potter who finds out he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts (wizard school) and learns how to be a wizard.
I thought this was an okay book and I might recommend this book, but it would not be a book I would recommend to everyone. My opinion is that it is a pretty good book, but some of the parts are kind of boring and not a lot happens.


4/5 Stars
            Let me start by saying I never thought I would write this review.
            Harry goes to Hogwarts and figures out about a thing called the Sorcerer’s Stone. He does his best to protect the stone.
            The book was much better than I expected it to be. The beginning was slow but it sped up after that. I do recommend this book because it was not terrible.


6/5 Stars
            Harry survives a curse that killed his parents. He lives a miserable life with the Dursleys for ten years. Later, a giant named Hagrid tells Harry that he has been accepted at Hogwarts, a school of magic and witchcraft. On the train to Hogwarts he meets Ron and Hermione, and during the sorting ceremony Harry is placed in Gryffindor. Harry soon figures out that someone is after the Sorcerer’s Stone and works with Ron and Hermione to protect it.

            I loved the book! It was so good, I gave it six stars. There is a funny part where Malfoy runs away like a coward. I recommend this book because Harry Potter is full of surprises and unexpected magic. The plot is full of action.