Book Review March 20, 2008
Write three or four paragraphs that summarize the book. Include a brief description of the book’s characters, plot, setting and theme. If the book is non-fiction, summarize the ideas presented and give examples of what you learned.
Write your opinion of the book and give a recommendation. Examples of themes: love, war, survival, lessons learned, friendship, adventure Write your book review in Word, save it to your file, revise and edit it. Print it out and put it in the tray then copy and paste it in the comment section of my blog.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Bryce Hopkins
Core 4
3/20/08
Spiderwick Chronicles: Book one
The setting of my story is an old house in the middle of an old forest. The characters in this story are Jared Grace, Simon Grace, and Mallory Grace. Their mother moves them into her grandparent’s house and they hear scraping noises inside the walls. They find a lift thing in the wall and they send Jared Grace into it to see where it leads to. He finds a riddle and he figures out the clues and found a book of the magical creatures that live there.
My opinion on this book is very positive. If you like an adventure with magical creatures and fairies. If I had to rate it on a scale of 1-5 I would give it a 5. This was an excellent book; it has been one of the best books I have read in a while. I highly recommend this book to kids over the age of 10 because you have to know all of the words and the book is hard to understand at first but once you get it you can understand it better.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Book Review #5
My Secret Boyfriend
By: Lurlene McDaniel
My Secret Boyfriend is a romance book about a girl named Jordan Starling. She started 8th grade and she was so shocked that everyone had had summer romances. Jordan didn’t want to be left out so she decided to lie about a summer fling. She went to the Rocky Mountains over the summer, which was true, but she told her friends that she met a nice, sweet, and romantic guy there also.
Her mother had a friend who was going through some rough times, so they were writing letters to each other. Her mother’s friend sent a picture of her son to the Starlings. Jordan didn’t remember him but he was actually her childhood friend. His name was Ryan Elliot. Jordan thought he was very attractive and decided to steal the picture and tell her friends that he was her summer love. Jordan thought that since he lived all the way in Washington D.C. and she lived in Texas that they would never see each other again. But she was wrong.
Ryan’s parents were getting a divorce and Jordan’s mother told Ryan and his mother that they could stay at their house for as long as they wanted. Jordan could have died. What was she going to do she thought? How would Ryan react when he found out? You’ll have to read the rest and see.
I really like this book. I give it an 8 on a scale from 1-10. It really wants to keep you reading and I love books like that.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Nick Bell
March 20, 2008
Core2
My book review is on the book called: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. It didn’t take that long to read but it was still worth it. This book is also a very big book for all readers and writers.
This was my favorite book in the Harry Potter series, because it was so good at the end and every thing adds up at the end. If I had the chance and the time to read this book again then I would definitely would. I would recommend this book to all who have finished the first six books of the series. I would not recommend that you skip the first six books and go straight to the seventh one.
This book has a lot of love, war, struggles, a lot of friendship, and a very good ending. It has love because it explains who of the 3 main characters get married to whom else and who dies in the end. War is in this book near the end were Voldemort tries to take over Hogwarts to get to Harry because Harry is trying to kill Lord Voldemort. Harry, Hermione, and Ron have struggles through the whole story, especially Ron when he ran away from Harry and Hermione during a crises. Ron, Hermione, and Harry stick together to the end of the series, even though they went through some hard times. To find out about the ending you are going to have to read the series. I won’t tell you anything about the last few pages of the book.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Taylor Malloy
Core -2
3-20-08
The Grooming of Alice
Phyllis Naylor
Alice is a regular teenager going through the last summer of middle school. She has two best friends that she hangs out with everyday. They decided that this summer they were going to loose some weight. So they ran three miles everyday, but one of the friends goes too far with loosing weight and her friends help her with some healthy eating tips.
They were hanging with friends and swimming in the pool. They all had jobs and boyfriends, which took up time but they stilled squeezed friend time in too.
There summers were pretty full and exiting. There are deaths, friends moving away, people running away and people getting grounded. This excitement is sure to make you want to read it. This book is full of excitement that will keep you wanting to read more.
I recommend this book for girls that want to read about excitement and drama. You will defiantly want to keep reading more. Once you pick it up you won’t be able to put it down.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Dive: book two, the deep
Gordon Korman
My book was called Dive: the deep. There are four characters named Kaz, Star, Dante, and Adriana. They are doing an internship at a place a diving school, called P.U.S.H. in the Caribbean. P.U.S.H is an underwater “home” for divers. Divers stay there for just about a week before they had to the surface. What divers can do at P.U.S.H is go out into the ocean whenever they want to explore whatever they please. The kids have discovered a 16th century Spanish boat but has some English to it. The reason they know that is because one of the kids, grandfather is an archeologist. He told them that it most have had a fight between the Spanish and the English when they came to America. Some of the artifacts the kids have found are really old and really expense. But the children have some problems. There is a crew also exploring what the kids have discovered. But what the kids have done is steal anything they think is valuable on the ship to show that they discovered the ship and the other crew didn’t.
My opinion on this book is that it’s a great book. I really enjoyed reading it. My favorite author is Gordon Korman so I would probably enjoy any of his books but this was a really interesting book. It has adventure and excitement so if you like them kind of things, then I suggest you to read Dive: book two, the Deep.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:21 am
The Chicago Bears
By: Michael Goodman
The Chicago Bears were a great team who won the 1985 Super Bowl. They are members of the Northern Division of the National Football League (NFL). The Chicago Bears where formed in 1919 and started there first season in 1923. They have won 9 NFL championships and only 1 Super Bowl.
The bears have 26 members of there team that are in the Pro- Football Hall of Fame. The Chicago Bears were formed in 1919 in Decatur, Illinois and moved to Chicago in 1921. There was also another team from Chicago called the Chicago Cardinals.
One of there best players at the time when they were on there way to the Super Bowl was there halfback and defensive tackle who they called the Refrigerator cause he was so big. I enjoyed this book a lot and learned a lot about the Bears and that they are an ok team.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:24 am
It’s Not Easy Being Mean
Lisi Harrison
This book’s setting is around the summer time when you can swim and go to the beach. The book is about a clique called the Pretty Committee. And when one of the most popular girls in the 8th grade, Skye Hamilton, comes to one of the girls house they freak out. While Skye is there she drops off this envelope. When the girls get the envelope, there is a disk inside of it. There is a contest for that can get the key to the most popular Alpha spot in the school. Now the spot is a secret room in the school, the teachers forgot that the room was even made.
The Pretty Committee girls are not the only girls in the contest to get the key. There are other girls in the contest that are not popular. The girls want to get to the key first so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
The girls are worried because one of the girls in the Pretty Committee has a friend that also going to try to find the key. When Layne is coming closer to the key than the Pretty Committee, they get worried.
But after all, the Pretty Committee finally gets to find the key and the Pretty Committee again gets what they want. But Skye has a twist to the contest, you can’t get caught in this room and if you do, they will ruin a great tradition that has been going on for years.
I recommend this book if you like middle school stories, and if you like a little adventure and mystery.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Denise Pizzola
3/20/08
Core 2
Book Review
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird is an American classic. In it Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her older brother Jem Finch learn lessons about friendship. The story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama. In the town everyone is poor. Most parents are farmers, lawyers, and doctors. A lot of children don’t go to school. This is because their parents tell them they don’t need it. The children help their parents with work. If children do go to school they usually fail the grade and have to repeat.
Scout and her brother, Jem are very creative, close, and curious about life. They explore the town and their father, Atticus lets them. Jem and Scout are four years apart and they are both in school. Their mother died when Scout was two and Jem was six. Jem remembers her a little bit and Scout doesn’t remember her at all.
The town has a “family” in a house that never comes out. They are mysterious and all of the children find them scary. The family is called the Radleys. Jem and Scout are very curious of them and try to make them come out. Most of the time their father, Atticus catches them but they always find new ways. But they misjudge the scariest, Arthur “Boo” Radley. One of the biggest lessons in this book is not to judge a book by its cover.
I like this book so far. It isn’t my favorite book but I do like it very much. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading American classics.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Sarah Schachtel
Core 2
3/20/08
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
How would you feel as an 11 year old, hating life, and having a visitor come and say that you had mystical powers and he wanted to take you away to a magical place? Normally someone would call the police, but the boy knew it to be true. He trusted the strange looking man with all of his wise words telling him of a school where he could develop his powers. He even proved to the 11 year old that he had powers and that the boy had them too. And who is this boy we all know and love? None other than Harry Potter.
Harry first started off leaving his home with the man I introduced, known to be called Hagred. Harry knew he was different and for some reason he thought Hagred knew it too and he trusted Hagred to take him too the school he was describing. Hagred dropped Harry off at the train station to be shipped to Hogwarts where he would develop his skills of wizardry. On the train Harry got introduced to some eccentric characters, 2 in particular named Harmoine and Ron. As they arrived Harry knew things were going to be different and better. He would have people surrounding him that would understand him a lot better than his disgraceful aunt and uncle he was living with.
As the year went on Harry’s skills went grew and grew and was surrounded by loving and caring people. But he was very different than the rest of the crowd. When Harry was a baby, there was a diabolical man named Vauldamort that went away tragically killing people and taking lives away. Vauldamort broke in to Harry’s house and as he was about to kill Harry his mother jumped in front and got murdered herself and after she died, Vauldamort was about to kill Harry but decided not to for no reason. That is why Harry was so special, he was the boy that lived.
But the main part of the story is there’s a powerful stone called the sorcerer’s stone and Harry and his friends thought that one of the teachers were going to steal it so they went and took it before the teacher could steal it. But they had to go through an obstacle and Harry decided he is the person that needed to go on after a couple of the obstacles since it was getting very dangerous on their voyage. On the final obstacle Vauldamort was there wanting to kill Harry and wanting the sorcerer’s stone. But Harry used the stone’s magical powers to destroy Vauldamort and escape. After, the ‘principal’ destroyed the stone because it was bringing too much evil into his establishment. At the end, Harry stay’s at Hogwarts following up on his studies and just waiting for the next adventure to come along. And that is the Harry Potter we know and love.
I really enjoyed this book because it isn’t boring it has a lot of ‘color’ to it. It isn’t just a stick in the mud it really opens your mind and has you explore the possibilities of this kind of adventure. I picked a good book to read over the day’s I was sick.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Sherrika
March 20, 2008
Core 3
Book review
The times they used to be
Lucille Clifton
This book is about two little girls that are best friends. Their names are Tallahassie may Scott and Sooky. The book is about how their friendship is great now and how Tassie isn’t saved. Then Tassie says that she needs to go see her dad because she is a very bad sinner and because her dad is a sinner she said that they need to talk to each other.
It all started when these two little girls wanted their mom to tell them about the olden days and what they were like. Then the mom said all right so she got to telling them and how her best friend was Tassie and she lived right next door to her with her grandmother. Every day they would go to the bus stop and wait for the first light to come on and then they would run home. One day they went to the bus stop and Tassie wasn’t acting right so Sooky ask her what was wrong. And tassie kept saying nothings wrong because every day they went down to see the first light they would wait and sing. But Tassie that day didn’t want to do neither. Then she said she had became a sinner and said that she is an unclean sinner and that she needed to go see her dad. She wanted to because her dad was a sinner to and she thought that if the both of them were sinners than her dad could help her. Then she ran home!
This book is very good the setting takes place back in the olden days on Purdy Street and the theme is friendship. How friends can be so good to each other than have a break right out of nowhere. I would recommend you to read this book if you like what I had you read. I probably have you on the edge of your seats. I give this book a 5 and the writer of this book is very good and should keep writing good stories like this one.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Speak
The summer is almost over and to top it off one of Katie’s friends throws a party. Katie and her boyfriend go to the party. There is alcohol and Katie and her friends are only 13. Everyone is drinking and so is Katie. Her boyfriend and her were laying under a tree and he rapes her. She runs inside, to calls the cops and she can’t speak. The cops break the party up and lots of people got arrested. Now everyone hates Katie. Her best friend wont talk to her and people push her in the hallway. She wants to tell everyone what happened that night, but she’s to afraid.
Katie is a student who makes straight A’s, but when she went back to school after the incident she makes horrible grades. She try’s to draw the tree she was assigned to draw in art, but she cant for some reason. Everything is going wrong in her life, but she makes things worse when she skips school. When her parents find out they yell at her and so she starts cutting herself. Her ex best friend starts going out with her ex boyfriend. Katie wanted to warn her so what happened wouldn’t happen to her. Once she does her normal life is back again. When her ex boy friend hears the news he’s hated by everybody, because of what he did to her, he takes action by hurting Katie. Katie struggles to get out of his chokehold when suddenly the girls lacrosse team breaks down the door with the principal.
Speak is my favorite book. It’s the only book that I have read that’s eye catching.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Book Review
Because of Winn-Dixie
In Because of Winn-Dixie there is a girl named Opal. She lived in a small town. But day it turned it all around. Her father the preacher told her to go to the grocery store. When she got there she saw a big commotion and didn’t know why. So she went to see and she saw a dog. The manager was yelling who’s dog is it. She replied mine and said come here Winn-Dixie that wasn’t the dogs real name. she made up the dogs name and it wasn’t even her dog. She took the dog back to her house and asked her dad if she could keep him he said no. But she bribed him to let her keep him.
Having Winn-Dixie changed Opals life. Once she got him she felt more comfortable.
Like she started to make friends. One friend she made was Otis he worked at the pet store. She became good friends with him. She started to work for him. She also made friends with the witch lady. An the Dunlap boys. She made friends with the lady that worked in the library. Her and the witch lady and they had a party and became close friends. Her and the librarian read books together and shared stories with each other. Her and Otis just pretty much worked together.
That is the work I just recently read. It was a very good book. An I think that everybody at any age would like it. So go get it.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
HUSH
Jacqueline Woodson
My book was about a girl who started moving place to place. She would think that her father was running away from everything and she thought that he was scared of everything.
Her mother got tired of all the moving and she left them all, all three of them. She felt the upset that her mother had left them and she was upset that she didn’t say anything to them about leaving. My opinion of this book is that I think that the mother was scared and she ran out, but the father had stayed with them and worked with them because he knew that he couldn’t leave the kids by there self.
In the beginning of the book the girl and her family was living with there grandmother and when they had to go I think that the mother was very sad. IN the book it said “I never saw my grandmother cry and that was the first time I did and I would never wont to see her cry again”.
In the beginning of the story I thought that the book was a love story but it wasn’t it was a soft and melody and all about the girls struggles and I think that the main reason for the story to be written was to show that people do get scared and they do get tired of life sometime and that you shouldn’t run form everything.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
The Miserable Mill
By: Lemony Snicket
This story is about three children who lost there parents and now are trying to find a new permanent home. So now they are going to be with a man named Mr. Qui and they have to work in a lumberyard. They go through a lot of problems because there former owner who is trying to kill them for the money they are worth. So he is trying to steal them but they manage to stay alive and get away again with Mr. Poe there adoption agent.
The main characters in the story are Violet, Klaus, and Sunny which are the children and there caretaker Mr. Qui which dies in the end. Even though he has tried 2 other times to get the children back Mr. Count Olaf still didn’t get the children.
The theme of this story is about survival. It shows how the children survive without there parents. Also, how they survive being killed by Mr. Count Olaf. In this they also showed a lot of courage and how they stayed together.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
MISERY
By: Stephen King
Being Famous has its profits; but people don’t think of the terror that can happen to you. In the story there is an author by the name of Paul Sheldon, he is a very talented author, but Annie Wilkins doesn’t like the fact that he stops writing all the books that she is in love with.
It was Christmas, and very snowy; Paul was driving and he got in a terrible accident and was knocked unconscious for several hours. When Annie Wilkins saw the car, she saved him from his wrecked vehicle. He didn’t know how twisted and demented. For a little while she was okay and took care of him.
A little bit into the story, she goes crazy (finally shows it) and forces him to write another book ( the series she loves) what Paul doesn’t know is that every meal or drink she gives him; she puts some sort of sleeping pills, to drug him. Throughout the story he begs her to let him go, but Annie is to obsessed with him and his books she can’t let him leave.
In this story, Paul Sheldon experiences something he thought would never happen to him. If you like thrilling, never can put down books, this one is perfect for you; it will keep you on the edge of your seat.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
The Vile Village
By Lemony Snicket
The Vile Village takes place in an old town named, The V.F.D. The main characters are Klaus, Violet, and Sunny. They travel to this horrible town, in seek of the secret of V.F.D. which turns out to be not what they expect, until they figure out the real truth. As they arrive to the town they are met by mean, horrible, old people. They all must have been at least 65 years-old, and where wearing crow-shaped hats. They do not know where they will stay, because the brochure said “it takes a town to take care of children.” They are informed that they will be staying with a man named Hector, and will being chores all day. They are too persuaded by the thought of where they’re triplet friends are being kept by the evil Count Olaf to pay any attention to the work they had to do. All day they worked at people’s homes cleaning and wondering where their friends could be. After the first day for work, they come home and eat dinner which Hector has prepared. They go to sleep, and wake up to do another day of work, but then they alarmed at what Hector has found in the yard. It’s a poem, like the ones Isadra Quagmire used to write. It seems as if there is a secret code written in the poem, a cry for help from the Quagmires. The next few days they keep finding poems like the first one on the lawn, mysterious and full of hidden clues on the Quagmires location. Then, one day a mysterious man appeared in town, he was a stranger and one of the town’s rules was no strangers, so he was thrown in jail. That night he was murdered and a privet inspector was called. The privet inspector had planted a pair of glasses and a ribbon to try and blame the murder on Klaus and Violet because Klaus wore glasses and Violet always had a ribbon in her hair. The town believed that Klaus and Violet murdered the man, so they locked them up in jail. Now Klaus, Violet, and Sunny were locked in jail for something they didn’t do. They then had to plan an escape and try to save their friends the Quagmire Triplets.
I well not give away the ending, because I ant you to find out, will they escape? Will they find their friends and escape? Find out yourself and read The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hank the Cowdog: The Killer Tornado
By: John Erickson
This book is about a dog named Hank and he is the head of Ranch Security. In this book Hank and his side kick Drover hear loud thundering and feels the uprising wind coming to them. Although they don’t know that it’s a tornado they think it’s someone attacking them with missiles. Hank and Drover got real scared when they heard the missiles (really a tornado) coming closer. So what they did was run to there house on the ranch, and when they got there they busted the screen door down because of ho scared they were. After the screen door though their was a big thick wooden door. When they tried to bust that down they couldn’t, and then someone opened the door and it was little Alfred. After this they went inside and then got kicked out because they weren’t allowed in. Then they were stuck outside, and the tornado came. Hank and Drover got caught in the tornado and landed in another ranch. Then the man they called CRAZY took them back to there ranch.
The characters in this book were Hank, Drover, Alfred, and the man they called crazy. Each one of these characters in this book played a very important role.
My opinion on this book is that this was a real good book. This book was a great book to read the author used great details in this book to describe the setting and what the tornado looked like. Also this book is a very funny book. It also grabs your attention.
I recommend this book to people who like to read humor books. Also people who like made up characters.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Alex
March 20, 2008
Core 1
Book Review #5
Twilight
By Stephenie Meyer
He was like nothing she’d ever seen before. He was beautiful. She never knew it was impossible to be that striking. Everyone around him at the lunch table was just as gorgeous as he was. It was her first day at Forks High School and she was already being led around the school by a group of people. After lunch she headed to biology. When she walked through the door, though, there was only one seat left. The teacher told her where to sit, which was predicted, and she walked toward it. Yet did she know that the moment she sat down would change everything. The moment she meets Edward Cullen her future will be a totally different story.
Isabella Swan just moved to Forks, Washington with her dad. At first, she dreads it. She hates the constant rain and the gloomy days. Since her father’s not used to anyone being around, he’s always at work. The only reason she came to live with him was because her mom wanted to be with Phil, her boyfriend. Bella has always looked after her mom because she always had crazy ideas, like skydiving when she’s afraid of heights, for example. But now she was gone, and so far, she missed her mom terribly.
Then she met the ever charming Edward Cullen. Not only is he dazzling, but he drinks blood. Yes, Edward Cullen is a vampire. Not just any vampire, though. Him and his family are “vegetarians”. They eat animals, not humans. Edward also reads minds. This is what first attracts him to Bella (other than her scent, which is a bad and good thing). He can’t read Bella’s mind. He doesn’t understand why and how, but he can’t. It’s impossible. This book tells the most unforgettable tale of how a mere human girl fell for a vampire. But that’s not everything. She has the most irresistible blood that Edward’s ever smelled. Her scent drives him insane, it’s difficult to leave her alive, but he can’t help but love her. Needless to say, they’re both irrevocably in love with each other.
However, there are dangers. Such as, Bella is a danger magnet. First, she almost gets crushed by a van that slips on the ice. And she’s a klutz. She trips all of the time. This is what makes Bella’s relationship with Edward so complicated. Edward decided to introduce Bella to vampire baseball. Alice (Edward’s sister who can see the future) had warned them about fellow vampire visitors. The “visitors” show up during the game and catch the scent of Bella. With Bella’s bad luck, one of the vampire’s was a tracker. And now he’s after her, and he won’t stop until he gets her. What will happen to Bella? I don’t know. Maybe you should see for yourself.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It’s amazing. And I’ll admit it, I’m obsessed. It’s a remarkable four book series (three are out so far) and I completely suggest them all. The theme is love and possibly adventure, depending on how you look at it. This book tells an amazing story of how tight the bond between two people can be. This, I’m not even exaggerating, is the best book I’ve ever read in my life (in my opinion, of course).