Tuesday, March 31, 2015

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Carley was left on the steps of a foster care home after what happen with her mom & her boyfriend. She didn’t know how it feels like to have a real mom take care of her, but her mother wants her back, Will she stay with the family or leave? 

[Spoiler ALERT]
When I saw that her mothers boyfriend was beating her and her mother didn't stop him I felt mad and upset for Carley because her mom didn't even help her. If you like drama, sad stories, funny, loving books you will definitely like this book because in this book there will be lots of tears and smiles and sometimes a frown.

Reviewed by Kimberly ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 520

Daniel's Story by Carol Matas


The book I read was full of ups and downs. This book is about how Daniel's family suffered through the holocaust (Nazis), what they eat, sleep, feel while they are in the camp. Daniel said that the pillows and blankets were full of lice and the rooms were very little for 5 people. This took place in the 1930. My reaction to the book was sad, happy and disgusted. I would give this book 9.5 out of 10 stars. I recommend this book to people that like to learn about what the Nazi's did to people in the camp. WARNING: it is disgusting.

Reviewed by Raul ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 720

Diary Of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney


Diary Of a Wimpy Kid is a wonderful book. The main character is Greg; he’s entering middle school but he finds himself going through a lot of rough situations. Greg is having a rough time trying to fit in with all the other kids. He also has a hard time trying to meet girls. On the other hand, his friend Rowley is not really trying to bond with other kids nor get to know any girls, but it seems like he is doing a better job than Greg is and that’s him not even trying! I recommend you read this book because it’s really hilarious, but it also might tick you off because of the way Greg acts with his friend and other people. He can be kind of selfish!

Reviewed by David ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 950

Swindle by Gordon Korman


The book I read is called Swindle written by Gordon Korman. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes robbery or adventure books. The book Swindle is about a boy named griffin who challenged all boys to go to an old house where he found a valuable card that could change his life he went to go sell the card to a guy named palomino who tricked them and said it was worthless when it actually was worth one million dollars griffin thought he should teach palomino a lesson and steal the card back but when they were about to steal the card they found out it wasn't there. If u want to know where it is or if they get the card check out the book and see what happened trust me its a good book.

Reviewed by Ricardo ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 710

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher


Its about a girl who suicides herself but she sends tapes to the people who made her life miserable they are thirteen people she sends it to if the person already heard it they pass it on to the next. Their is one main character in this story his name is Clay he listens to every recording. In each side of the tape it has a side A and B they represent another person because she only has seven tapes and as I said each tape has a side A and B. I do want you to know that in the 6 tape side B I think is the most upsetting one of all.

Reviewed by Natalie ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 550

* This book is available at your local public library.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Coraline by Neil Gaiman


Coraline moves to an old house, she's bored and she feels abandoned by her parents. She finds a hidden door that's made of bricks and passage way are bricks. at night, she crosses the brick passage and finds a world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, and In that world everyone is the opposite.

Reviewed by Kaylyn ~ 8th Grade

Lexile  740

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


I really liked The Hunger Games because even do its not my time I liked the main idea. It makes you realize things about the feature you hadn't before. I also liked it because the author uses great writing. I would recommend this book to others because The Hunger Games is more than what's seen in the cover. The Hunger Games is a story of mystery, suspense, and action. After the destruction of a place once known as North America, lies the Nation of Panem. Panem is made up of 12 districts -once 13- and a capitol, who are cruel rich people. The capitol creates/held and annual event called the Hunger Games. They force kids to participate in the Hunger Games, and in order to live they have to fight to death while they are been watched live on TV. There is a legend that explains the Hunger Games. At the reaping-the ceremony and election before the Hunger Games- 1 boy and 1 girl from each district gets picked to participate in the Hunger Game at the reaping. Katniss a sixteen year old steps up in place of her sister.  I wonder why did she do it? Will she survive? Especially with those mean people from the capitol you have to do everything they say. But before Katniss discovers her future she has to go to training. As she enters the Hunger Games she realizes its not as easy as it seems. She will meet Peeta, a boy who could be good or bad? But worst of all will Katniss survive and get to see her family, or even worst, will she be brave enough to kill?

Reviewed by Jessica ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 810

Crank by Ellen Hopkins


In this book you will learn that Kristina is forced to meet a “monster” when she is peer pressured into using drugs. Before she met “the monster” she was always an “A” student; she always did her homework and turned it in on time. Ever since her friend forces her to meet the monster her whole life went downhill. Kristina was never doing her homework, and she failed all of her classes. When Kristina was on drugs she found a guy that she liked and he also like doing drugs. Whenever she thinks about doing drugs the “monster” comes in her head. She starts hallucinating without doing anything like out of the blue. Therefore Kristina had a terrible life after she did drugs. Do you think she will tell her mother about this mess?? Find out what obstacles Kristina goes through in her next books… P.S. This is why you don’t do drugs. Your whole life will go downhill and will not be fun. 

Reviewed by Megan ~ 8th Grade

* This book is available at your local public library.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Empty by Suzanne Weyn


The book Empty make you think about society today and gives you some thought provoking questions in which makes you think what you're doing in life is worth it or not. I am personal fan of post-apocalyptic books. So this book was practically made for me. The story begins with a little bit of romance, as a schoolgirl crush develops. Soon enough the madness begins. When oil and gas runs out, you’d think we would go electrical or solar powered or something. But ironically all these different types of power supplies need oil to start up! Anyway it’s up to a group of teenagers to save the human race, or DIE trying.

Reviewed by Yinka ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 790

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

The Emancipation Proclamation by G. S. Prentzas

The Emancipation Proclamation is about the process of which the Emancipation Proclamation was made. Some things I learned from reading the story was that I would not be a free citizen without it. Also that I would not be in this country without it. I also learned that slaves were one of the reasons why the Civil War was started. I think I could give this book a 7 out of 10 because the book didn’t keep me as interested as it could have, also the book was poorly separated with different segments and non-essential information. Overall the book was pretty good if you want to learn a few things on the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation.

Reviewed by Yinka ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 980

The Cay by Theodore Taylor

The book The Cay is a captivating book about a situation that just seems crazy in it’s own time. The Cay is about a boy who is lost at sea with a black man who has to teach him how to survive, because soon enough the old man dies. There are many things to be learned from this book. Such as not to judge a person by their appearance, or maybe what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Anyway throughout the book there has been many quotes. Many of the quotes were deemed rude or just unfit for people to read back in the 70’s. But about 10 years later the standards changed for that book and it was put back on the shelves.

Reviewed by Yinka ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 860

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This book is about a girl named Hazel Grace who is diagnosed with lung cancer. Her mom is making her go to this kind of support group that other cancer kids go to. she thinks it is the stupidest thing known to mankind. But when she meets dreamy eyed Augustus Waters she regrets saying she doesn’t want to go to support group. At first she thought he was some freaky creep stocker who was extremely charming staring at her. But then she starts to talk to him after support group and finds out he is a survivor and that he had foot cancer. 

[SPOILER ALERT]
But slowly starts to fall in love with him he tells her that his whole body is getting infected with cancer and that he is dying. Then three weeks later he asks her for a eulogy because he wants to know what she is going to say about him in his funeral. Then he invites her for a  practice funeral for her and his friend Isaac. 

This is what Isaac said in the clean version  “Augustus Waters was a self-aggrandizing buddy. But we forgive him. We forgive him not because he had a heart as figuratively good as his literal one sucked, or because he knew more about how to hold a cigarette than any nonsmoker in history, or because he got eighteen years when he should've gotten more. I'm telling you, Augustus Waters talked so much that he'd interrupt you at his own funeral. And he was pretentious: Sweet Jesus Christ, that kid never took a sip of water without pondering the abundant metaphorical resonances of human waste production. And he was vain: I do not believe I have ever met a more physically attractive person who was more acutely aware of his own physical attractiveness. But I will say this: When the scientists of the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell the scientists to go away because I do not want to see a world without him."

The Fault in Our Stars also this is Hazels “My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won't be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because like all real love stories, it will die with us. As it should. I'd hoped that he'd be eulogizing me, because there is no one I'd rather have. I can't talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this. There is an infinite between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many days of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You have me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful."

- John green the fault in our stars. I recommend this book to everybody even animals yes its that good. The genre of this book is That no matter how a person acts or whatever everybody deserves a little infinity in their life.

Reviewed by Hadeel ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 850

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney


The Heffleys are going on a road trip. Its suppose to be fun right?. Well your wrong. The Heffleys had several wrong turns. A runaway pig, a lost key, sea gale, and no money. Will Greg ever survive the road trip? Or will he be lost in the outdoors?

Reviewed by Benicio ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 1000

The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West by Gary Paulsen


The book titled The Legend Of Bass Reeves is about this young boy down south as a slave in the western frontier where we start the story as him as a little boy about 6 years old and he learns how to be polite to his master.  Then we time travel (not literally or in the book) to when he is about 10 years old.  He learns how to ride a horse but he has to sneak out or his master will beat him. 

[SPOILER ALERT
Then when Bass is 13 his master teaches him how to hunt.  Then when he is about 17 when he runs away.  Then he has a rifle, pistol and a horse with him and he hides in the west and becomes a marshal.  A great marshal.  Hunting bad guys and putting them in jail.  

Reviewed by Zach ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 950

Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask by R. L. Stine


Do you like scary or mystery books? If you do, then this is a good book for you. I think these books are very interesting or great books if you want a break from the world. These books bring you into all the scary and mysterious things that happen in them. This book is about a girl who wants to have the best Halloween mask to scare her friend who always scares her. She goes around to every store and then she finally finds the perfect mask. But! The guy who is working the store warns her, telling her that the mask will turn her into a mean person, but she still buys it. She puts on the mask and she starts to act differently, just like the man warned her. She talks back to her mom and says some really mean things to her--but she doesn't even mean it! But... she can’t help it! It’s the mask! She tries to take it off... but she can’t! WIll Carly act mean for the rest of her life? Will she be able to EVER get the mask off?! Read this book and find out what happens to her... if you dare!

Reviewed by Dina ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 580

Wonder by R. J. Palacios


This story is about a kid who was born with a facial deformity that prevented him to go to a mainstream school-until one summer his parents decided for him to actually go to school as many things await for him will he make it with his facial deformity or make it with total humiliation and scared from his looks. But just remember looks don't matter. really great book 5 stars really suggest this book to anybody. 

Reviewed by Emmanuel ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 790

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles


Sunny Reynolds, is the most bravest and most curious girl I have read about. This is a fiction book on Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters by Gail Giles. This is about a girl named Sunny, with things getting a little better until she got a letter from her dead sister. That more or less ruined her day. Let me tell you how this whole thing begins. When Sunny’s older sister, Jazz, ran away to New York, Sunny was secretly relived. Everyone loved Jazz,  talked about Jazz, wished they could be Jazz’s friend. Jazz was perfect and Sunny was... well not Jazz. Then Jazz’s apartment burn down tragically, and Jazz was presumed dead. Sunny’s family, already broken by divorce. While the dad’s drinking is sky high, and mom’s depression hits rock bottom. And Sunny’s left to cope with it all. Then Sunny found a letter in the mail from Jazz saying she is fine and coming home. But how? Jazz is dead, isn't she? Read the book to find out!  I enjoyed this book because I liked the suspense and how mysterious it was. I think the theme was that, you don’t need to be someone else to be noticed. Be who you are, not who the world wants you to be; don’t try to be someone else. Be yourself  because everyone else is already taken. I recommend this book to people who feel self conscious about themselves.

Reviewed by Jasmine ~ 6th Grade 

Lexile 550

Frozen Man by Peter McCarty


On September 19, 1991 two German tourists Erika and Helmut climbed the "Final Peak" in the Ötztal Alps. They spotted a body at a altitude of about 10,500 feet. The body was found naked. His bones showed and he was frozen. This ice man was rumored that he was more than 500 years old.  I liked this book because it talked about how the ice man was found and how he died. I recommend this book because it's good to learn about how people used to live many years ago.

Reviewed by Anahi ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 860

*This book is available at your local public library.

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide To Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald


Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald grabs your attention from the very first page. This book is about a teenager in middle school who does not like to read and he is Charlie Joe Jackson. Whenever it’s lunch time Charlie sits with his best friend Timmy and makes him read all his books. When he is finish with one Timmy needs to tell him the whole summary about it. They have something called an arrangement- Charlie will buy him an ice cream sandwich and Timmy will tell him all about the book. When Charlie's birthday comes by he always receives books as presents from his parents and he does not like it, except for one time he got a book about his favorite baseball player Billy’s Bargain. Will Charlie ever like reading?

Reviewed by Adolfo ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 830

Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson


Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the most dramatic books I’ve ever read! If you’re a person who’s interested in high school drama this is hands down a book to read. It all goes down-hill when someone steals ALL the money they received from the prom tickets, will they find out who it is and get the money back? Will there be no prom their senior year? What are the things they can do to get it back? 

Reviewed by Kelly ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 690

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not So Glam TV Star by Rachel Renee Russell


Dork Diaries is a realistic fiction and a graphic novel book. Niki Maxwell is a girl who has a crush on Brandon and she always thinks about Brandon.  Then she has her own reality show by someone famous. Nikki has an enemy named Makenzie- they both hate each other and they both have the same crush. But Brandon kisses one of them who do you think it is? Is it Makenzie or Nikki?  Find out who when you read Dork Diaries.  

Reviewed by Leslie ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 710

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Delirium by Lauren Oliver


Delirium by Lauren Oliver this book is a journey with government rules, and romance, and adventures. Lena is forced to be cured so love will never exist in her. Lena has anger and compassion and emotions throughout this whole book. She believes in the rules but something changed something that made her want to run away and never come back , and she doesn't care if the disease is growing inside of her she wants to be free. If you like the Divergent series then you will love Delirium

Reviewed by Nicole ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 920

Half brother by Kenneth Oppel


Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel is a good book. It is about  Ben, a boy that was an only child for 13 years until Zan shows up. It takes time for Ben to get use to Zan. This book has everything, comedy, action. Ben and his family are trying to teach Zan, who is a chimp, to act like a human by learning sign language. It is so much fun to read. If you like realistic fiction you will love Half Brother.

Reviewed by Jorge ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 680

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake


Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake is the first of the series. This book is paranormal/horror, mystery, fiction, and romance. Cas is a boy who falls in love with a ghost who murdered many people. Her name is Anna. Known as Anna Dressed in Blood. I recommend this book to people who like ghost stories and are hopeless romantics, unlike myself. I also recommend this book to people who like mysteries and horror books. 

Reviewed by Hailey ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 690

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer


Artemis Fouls is a 12 years old human that is a genius and he figures out things that he should know. I like this book because it is so interesting. I would recommend this book if you like magic, dangerous cool things.

Reviewed by Shinya ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 600

Dog Tags: Prisoners of War by C. Alexander London


The book is about the main character Miguel.  He is a medic in the U.S Army.  He goes to war and fights the Nazis.  In the war he finds a Nazi dog and becomes friends with him.  Read the book to find out what happens in the war.  The genre of the book is historical fiction.  I enjoyed the book because I like to read books when there is adventures in it.  I would recommend this book to 6th graders who like books about adventure.

Reviewed by David ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 770

Monday, March 16, 2015

I Funny: A Middle School Story by James Patterson

I Funny: A Middle School Story is a book about a disabled kid named Jamie who is really funny but shy at the same time. He eventually goes to a long island funniest kid competition but doesn't tell anyone. After the competition he tries to make his family laugh but they its very hard to make them laugh but he still tries but they don't laugh so he gets depressed and doesn't think he is funny. Later on he goes to another competition and invites his friends and family but instead of using actual jokes he makes up jokes about his family and friends and hurts their feelings but later when they are going home they understand the jokes and think that its actually funny.

Reviewed by Jeovanni ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 610

The Barrio Kings by William Kowalski

Rosario Gomez, an ex gangster tried to become a better person by getting out of his gang, called the "Barrio Kings." Rosario tried to have a better job and get promoted while finishing school. However, an old friend named Juan from his old gang tries to convince him to come back to his gang. Rosario is having a hard time if he should go back or not because he is going to become a father soon. Rosario wants to be a good father to take care of his baby with his girlfriend named Connie so he promises her to stay out of trouble and to not go back in the gang, but he is having a difficult time to choose whether to have a good or go back with his gangster friends.

Reviewed by Eduardo ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 310

* This book is available at your local public library.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney

This book is about a kid named Greg Heffley that change his life from bad to worse. His best friend Rowley has dumped him for some girl. Every time Greg tries to make things better, it gets even worse. One day Greg had found a magic A ball and he thinks it might make his life better. Will a magic A ball turn Greg's life around? Or will he stay into a hard luck life? What I think about this book is its funny and interesting. I would recommend this book to people that likes bad luck books.

Reviewed by Benicio ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 1020

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney

The book I read is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel is fiction. I liked this book because it was funny and had some adventure with it. The theme of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel is that its better to be alone than to be with people you don't want to be with. The issue in Diary Of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel is that Greg doesn't have a date to the Valentine's dance and doesn't know what to do. I recommend this book to girls and boys grades 4-6 who like adventure and laughter.

Reviewed by Hugo ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 1060

Bone: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith

Bone: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith is a full-fledged war as Briar, the rat creatures, and the Pawan army storm the city of Atheia where the Bones, Thorn, and Gran’ma Ben are up in arms to defend the royal city. When Thorn hears a voice urging her to seek the crown of Horns, Thorn and Fone Bone embark on other dangerous journeys as they race to find the one thing that may save them all. So read Bone and find out what happens next.

Reviewed by Antonio ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 340

Masked by Norah McClintock

Masked by Norah McClintock is a great realistic fiction book. In the middle of the book it gets very interesting. Daniel is hired to do a secret mission and he goes to take a look inside the store. When it comes to him to do the mission he encounters a robbery. The guy wants money and to take a girl. What will Daniel do? Read to find out!

Reviewed by Alejandro ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 650

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han is a story about a girl who writes a letter to all the boys she loved. When she is done writing the letters she puts them in a special box. One day she was going to donate some of her stuff and her dad accidentally took the box where she puts her letters in. The letters got sent to all of the boys she wrote to. She has an older sister and she is going to college. Now she needs to help out in her house because her mom died and she lives with her younger sister and her dad. She likes the boy her sister is going out with and then he got a letter from her too.  He didn’t know that she liked him. She is pretending that she is going out with this guy named Peter so the boys she sent letters to stop telling her about the letters. Read to find out what happens with her and Peter!

Reviewed by Leslie ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 630

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

If you like stories about action and fights plus dogs this is your book. The Call of the Wild (graphic novel) is a book that is very interesting. It is about a dog that travels by trades from their owners until one day he found his best friend, a dog named Buck. He is one of the bravest dogs I have ever seen. Buck has a pack, he earned that pack of dogs to carry a sled. He destroys his enemy to be the leader. He knows what his owners are doing is a mistake. His best friend knows he is the best dog. But then Native Americans come and destroys their camp. After that, Buck isn’t too friendly, he is an angry dog. Buck gets revenge and becomes a… Read to find out? What will happen to Buck will he survive?

Reviewed by Giovanni ~ 7th Grade

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass is a fantasy filled with tension, suspense, mystery, sword-fighting, and mysterious evil killings, which will keep readers wanting to know more. Celaena Sardothien is a trained assassin who has spent the last year as an imprisoned slave in one of the tyrant king's salt mines. One day a cloaked man comes to offer her a chance to win her freedom. However, that freedom will not come easy. Celaena must defeat twenty-three assassins, thieves, and violent criminals in a deadly competition to become the king's champion. When her competitors are slowly murdered one-by-one, Celaena must not only try to stop the vicious violent and bloody murders but must remain one step ahead to stay alive.

The novel is a bit slow in the beginning as Maas develops the storyline but quickly picks up once the Champions start dying. Also, 
I could have done without Celaena's girlie comments at times as they did not seem fitting of a trained assassin. Overall, I could not put this book down and I longed to read the sequel before even finishing the first book. I highly recommend it for fantasy fans of Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), Sabriel (Nix), His Dark Materials (Pullman), Graceling (Cashore).

Reviewed by Mrs. Lopez ~ LRC Librarian

Lexile 790

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

This book is about a girl named Anya who was walking home one day and took the short cut to her house which was a small woods. She was walking when she fell in a hole that was on the ground. When she fell she saw a dead body and the ghost of the body got attached to Anya. She has been different since this had happened. 

[SPOILER ALERT]
The ghost turns out to be pretty friendly, and the two eventually become good friends as well as partners in crime. Anya uses her invisible buddy to cheat on another person’s test. THE GHOST IS NOT ANYA'S FRIEND! Read to find out what happens to Anya and the Ghost. 

Reviewed by Heidi ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 300

Take Me to the River by Will Hobbs

I read the book Take Me to the River written by Will Hobbs. The book its about this kid going to see his uncle and cousin but when he gets there he meets up with his cousin before he met a guy who took him to his cousin when he met his cousin they boy asked for his uncle but his uncle went on a trip to Alaska him and his cousin left on on a adventure to the river this book thought me that family is the most important thing and I would recommend this book to anyone that doesn't like to read much.

Reviewed by Ricardo ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 760

In the Land of the Lawn Weenies by David Lubar

In the Land of the Lawn Weenies by David Lubar Is a book about creepy and weird tales. All these characters are going on adventures we dream and don’t want to dream about! This book has stories to tell in sleep overs and other events. Don’t get too scared if you read them because the book has ghost stories from going to the future to telling about how cruel and cool stuff can be! I think this book is astonishing in so many ways. For a fact if you were to listening to a couple telling the future would you do it? It’s a fun book to read and scare people I really recommend to people to read this book! This book is a small but good chapter book. Read to see the stuff that happens!

Reviewed by Sebastian ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 570 

Someone to Love Me by Anne Schraff

Someone to Love Me by Anne Schraff is a realistic, interesting book. Cindy, is a girl who has a really difficult life, always has things going on. Lorraine, is Cindy’s mother and she’s never home, not really there for her when Lorraine needs her. Lorraine had a boyfriend named Bobby, Cindy thought that he was a bad boyfriend for her. In my opinion he is really mean to Cindy, he calls her names and of course she doesn’t say anything. When Cindy tries to talk to her mom about it they always end up in an argument. Cindy talks to Mrs. Davis, she is Cindy’s next door neighbor. Cindy calls her “Grandma Rose. Read to find out what happens between Cindy and Bobby!  

Reviewed by Joseline ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 700

Bad Island by Doug TenNaple

A family of 5 take a boat trip on the Blue Sea and a storm approaches. Then the boat sinks and they appear in a new world. They are there for days. One night the family went to sleep and a creature was watching them, the boy was awake and saw the creature, it ran away. The boy only got a glimpse of the creature. Then the family goes looking for living people and come up on weird looking creatures that try to capture the family...  read to find out what happens in the book. 

Reviewed by Eric ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 340

El Deafo by Cece Bell

The title of this book is El Deafo.  From the opening pages of this book, it is a real life story that will grab your attention. The main characters are Cece and her friend which both are rabbis. Both characters change from beginning to end by them both being friends again. The conflict in the book is that Cece is having a nice day and then all of a sudden she can’t hear, she can’t see.  She has to go to a special school so people like her can understand her. If you like realistic fiction and fantasy, you will definitely like this book because. . .  it includes fantasy and adventure.

Reviewed by Luna ~ 7th Grade


Bollywood Babes by Narinder Dhami

Bollywood Babes is about three sisters; Amber, Geena, and Jazz Dhillon. These three girls live with their father and Auntie (their aunt), after their mother passed away. One day, the trio were reading an article from Masala Express. The article they were reading was about a “One-hit Wonder” actress name Molly Mahal who apparently now lives in an old shack with nothing. The girls found out where she lived and decided to take her in. They soon found out that their father loved this Bollywood actress. Word soon spread around town about Molly staying with them. Meanwhile, their school was run down and didn’t have enough money to renovate. The school was going to host a Bollywood themed party, and Amber had the best idea to have Molly be the special guest. Molly soon was the talk around town and everybody love her, except Amber, Geena, Jazz, & Auntie. Soon, they found out that she decided to attend the party, which got even more people to go. Molly made ads for it everywhere, and even shirts! 

[SPOILER ALERT
Ambers friend Kim had the latest issue of Masala Express and it claimed that Molly was joining a “Touch a Car Contest”. At the contest, Amber found out that Molly was going to cheat, and then she convinced her to do the right thing. On the day of the party, Dad was not answering his cell phone and they had discovered that Molly had left! It turns out that Molly was invited to star in a new movie and she couldn’t make it to the party. The guests of the party  were mad, but they decided that it still would be good to help raise money for the school, so they decided to still attend. Also, Their father came explaining how he was at a meeting, so he turned his phone off.

I recommend this book to anybody who likes Indian and Bollywood culture. This book is fun to read and is not long, which would be great to use for a book project. Also, they add very specific detail and it has a good message. This book is also at the Grove Junior High Library.

Reviewed by Camille ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 670

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

The book I read is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules the author is Jeff Kinney and the genre is graphic novels. I enjoyed this book because its sort of like a comic, but with stick men figures with speech bubbles. This is a very funny and interesting book that people would like to read. The funniest part of the book is when Rowley tried to speak Spanish and it sounded like gibberish! I laughed out loud at that part.  I would recommend this book to people that like books with stick men and at the same time graphic novels.

Reviewed by Gabriel ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 910

Friday, March 13, 2015

The Spiderwick Chronicles:The Field Guide by Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi (Book 1)

The book I read is The Spiderwick Chronicles book 1 the field guide. The main characters are Molly Grace, Jared Grace and his twin brother Simon Grace + his mom. The genre is fantasy and the author is Tony Diterlizzi.  So the Grace family move into their aunt lucinda’s house. When Jared steps inside the house its very empty and he hears a scuttle in the wall and his mom said it was a squirrel. Later on in the book they heard it at night in the kitchen it stopped in a certain spot Mallory grabbed a broom and hit the wall where it stopped dust flew everywhere.  

[SPOILER ALERT
Once it cleared they saw stuff like a fencing medal and a antique lunch box. When they clear everything out and it turns out that everything was in a dumbwaiter no one except Jared could fit in there so they sent him up and when it stopped it took him to a secret library. He found a note that was a riddle and then his mom showed back up in the house she found them in the kitchen wondering where Jared was Mallory and Simon said he was sleeping. Later on in the book Jared found a book called The Spiderwick Chronicles The Field Guide he starts to read about and learns about the creatures in the book and finds out there real!  

Reviewed by Conner ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 600

Beyond by Graham Mcnamee

Beyond is a book that is about a girl named Jane that is going through a tough situation. Her friend is helping her go through this so she isn’t alone. Jane’s mom thinks Jane is trying to have a death wish and her dad thinks something is wrong with her. This thing is making her do bad things to herself that she doesn’t want to do. It is really hurting her because she doesn’t know what to do about it. Until something really bad happens and it all stops. If you want to know what happens read to find out.

Reviewed by Kayla ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 600

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

This book is about two teenagers named Wisty and Whit who are a little different from others. However they thought that they were normal. On a normal day at their house suddenly they just see tons and tons of soldiers outside their door. They break into their house and accuse them of being a witch and a wizard. They were taken away to court where they were convicted of being a witch and a wizard again and taken to jail. However if you want to find out more about this book go to your library and get it because its a five star book and there is a series which is Witch and Wizard, The Fire, The Gift, and The Kiss.

Reviewed by Alex ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 710

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Death Cure by James Dasher is the best book you will ever love if you liked The Maze Runner. This is a sequel to the book The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials. This book is action-packed, full of suspense and once you read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials you will definitely want to read The Death Cure. In the story one of the main characters named Thomas runs away from W.I.C.K.E.D and has to go to Alaska to get something off his body because W.I.C.K.E.D can control Thomas. Then they find a group called “The Right Arm” and once they meet them they find a Glader that wanted revenge since the The Maze.  Also they figure that they are all immune to the flare (A contagious sickness that kills your brain and you become a Crank) but one of them is not immune to the flare….. Furthermore W.I.C.K.E.D is looking for them to find the final variable for the cure. Will Thomas surrender himself to wicked to save his friend??? Or will he let him die from the flare??? If you would like to find out then Read The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure.

Reviewed by Carlos ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 770

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a mysterious book with weird things that happen to people. It’s really interesting when you first started reading it. In this book there was a man that went into a castle that he didn’t know anything about. A vampire told him if you ever feel like sleeping go sleep in your room, because if you sleep in another room something bad might happen. When the man fell asleep in another room and then woke up, 3 ghosts with really red lips were going to bite him. The vampire came in the room and took the 3 ghosts out. That’s what happens if you don’t pay attention to what the vampires are telling you. It’s really interesting what happens to people when they don’t obey the rules of the castle. If you don’t obey the rules, you might be dead if you don’t pay attention around you. In this book there is a lot of mystery and ghosts and vampires!

Reviewed by Samantha ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 580

How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg

How They Croaked is a funny and creepy book from the beginning. This is a book about how famous people died in their own horrible ways. It goes into detail on how they died and what they did and where they buried them. It also tells you little facts about them and their culture. Some of these people where young and some were old when they died. Some of the stories tell you what they did when they were younger. Cleopatra, George Washington, and Beethoven are just some of the famous people in this book. If you are brave enough to read this book then you should check it out!  

Reviewed by Adrian ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 950     

Big Nate In The Zone by Lincoln Peirce

My book blog is about this book called Big Nate In The Zone this book is a series. Big Nate In Zone is about this kid who’s name is Nate Wright and goes to this school called P.S 38. Nate has friends that follow him like Teddy, Francis, Chad, Arthur and Dee Dee. Nate has a worst enemy called Gina and she shows off a lot because she gets A’s on her test.
Then Nate was having horrible luck in school he broke opened a bean bag then he got detention. Then the principal told Nate if he and his band if they could play in the assembly. 

[SPOILER ALERT]
Then Arthur went to find something in Nate’s backpack and found a note that said a lot of bad things about himself that Nate wrote. Then Arthur left the band and Arthur was the singer so they had no singer in there band. Then it was time for them to play in the assembly and Nate blacked out and couldn’t sing and Francis had to sing and he has a horrible singing voice and they made a complete fool of themselves.

Then Nate’s friend chad gave Nate a toy foot that Chad calls it a lucky foot. Then this cool kid who everybody follows and were jerseys like him is trying to be like him And Nate started being cool because of the lucky foot. Then the cool kid was getting mad and started losing some his coolness. Them this tournament went on 6 graders vs 7 graders and the 7 graders won all of them except for one and the 6 graders won one and Nate Won the deal he had with The cool kid that the cool kid was going to let chad hit him in the head with a plastic bottle and if Nate would have lost Nate would had have to been on of the cool kid follower.        

Reviewed by Anthony ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 470