The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The boy in the striped pajamas is about how a boy and his family move to a different town because his father was one of the soldiers for the Nazis. One day the boy named bruno was on a walk and he found a fence with a boy behind it. They talked to each other everyday but then a conflict happens and bruno wants to help him. Will bruno help the boy in striped pajamas.

Reviewed by Emily ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 1080

Graveyard Plot by Jason Strange

The book I read was the Graveyard Plot. In the first part of the book they have to go to their grandfather's house to clean it out because he went to a nursing home. When they were cleaning the house they found a picture of the grandpa with his friend before he disappeared. When they brought it up to the grandpa he freaked out because he went on a treasure hunt and the kids had the map where he lost his friend. 

[SPOILER ALERT]

The grandpa was freaking out because he went on in and he luckily got away but he lost his best friend. The grandpa’s grandson’s friend took him on the hunt. When the got in the graveyard an old lady caught them and realized that he was the grandson. But they didn’t listen and the friend ended up disappearing with the other friend that also disappeared.

Reviewed by James ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 410

Vanishing Act by John Feinstein

In the book Vanishing Act by John Feinstein, the main characters Stevie Thompson and Susan Carol Anderson are back together to solve another mystery, this time at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. Susan Carol is attending the U.S. Open to report for her local newspaper in North Carolina. Susan Carol invites Stevie to stay at her uncle’s apartment and attend the U.S. Open with her. They are having a lot of fun watching the tennis tournament until a famous tennis player named Nadia Symanova disappears while walking to her first match. Everywhere there is panicking and confusion within the tournament and media. Stevie and Susan Carol, with the help of some adult reporters, try to find out what is happening. They look at the tournament brackets to see who would benefit most from Symanova being out of the tournament. After a couple days, Symanova returns healthy and fine and claims she was kidnapped. Stevie and Susan Carol find this a bit strange. With time running out before a big match, Stevie and Susan Carol are trying to find out what is going on and what Symanova and her parents aren't telling everyone.

The reason I am sharing this book with you is I really enjoyed it and it had a great plot and it was very interesting. This book kept my attention and made me want to read more every time I picked it up. The genre of this book is mystery. I think if you like mysteries and fast-paced books with lots of action, you will love this book. I would also recommend reading Last Shot also by John Feinstein because this is the book where you first meet Stevie and Susan Carol.

Reviewed by Gavin ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 760

Sisters by Raina Telgemeir

Sisters by Raina Telgemeir is about a girl called Raina, her sister Amara, and their little brother. They are going to a family meeting at their cousins’ house. There are three of them, Josh, Jeremy, and Lindsay. They thought very differently from Raina since they were already adults at age 20 to 30, while Raina is still 14. 

[SPOILER ALERT]

They stayed there for a week. Later on during the trip, the car broke down. Raina’s mom went with their little brother to get a tow truck while Raina and Amara stayed inside the truck. Then, all of a sudden, they found a snake! Amara grabbed it. Later, their mom came back to them and they went home.

Reviewed by Gabriel ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 290

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, 79 A. D. by Lauren Tarshis

The genre of this book is adventure and historical fiction. This book I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, 79 A. D. is about a boy who has difficulty in escaping Mt. Vesuvius. His name is Marcus. Marcus used to be the slave of Linus Selius, a scientist, and his father, Tata, helped the man out with his studies. When the scientist died, Tata was sold, and Marcus' life at Festus' house in Pompeii became very difficult. Pompeii is seeing a lot of natural disturbances, and when there is great trembling in the marketplace it knocks an old lady down, Marcus helps her up. She warns him that disastrous times are coming and advises that he should "Follow the Hand of Mercury.” When Marcus sees gladiators coming into town and recognizes his father, he is determined to rescue his father from certain death. The disturbances, as well as the appearance of a horse the two are able to ride, make this escape possible, but Tata feels forced to go back to the town and let everyone know that the disaster is coming and that everyone should get away. The guards don't take the slaves seriously and their freedom is again in peril. Can the two survive not only the volcano but also the evil Festus? I would recommend this book to people who enjoy adventure and historical fiction.

Reviewed by Adriana ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 700

The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for Love of a Family by Dave Pelzer

The book The Lost Boy is about a boy named Dave Pelzer. He got taken away from his mom who abused him violently. He goes to foster homes in search for the perfect family that will take him into their home. But every time Dave went to a foster home the same story would just repeat over and over again. He would stay in a foster home for six months and then he would have to leave to another home. He spent years to find the perfect home, but every time he found one bad things would start to happen to him. Kids always teased him for how he looked and dressed, there also was this one time where a gang boy came and lit the class on fire. Dave was passing by the classroom and the boy asked him to help him and Dave did help, but then he did and the boy got up and ran. A little girl saw him and told a teacher and Dave didn't come home for two days. From the embarrassment and sadness, Dave later went to court to see what they were going to do to him. Years passed and he still hadn't found the correct foster home. When Dave turned 15, he found his perfect home. Dave worked and worked and worked... he would never stop. When Dave turned 18, he knew he would have to find his own home, pay his own bills, and work hard. When he turned 18 Dave left to figure out who he was and what he is going to do. This book made me realize that I should appreciate what I have because others don’t have what I have.

Reviewed by Geyli ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 720

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Recently I read a book called The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by: Suzanne Collins. The genre of this book is science fiction and action adventure. The main characters in this book are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. The book is the sequel to the Hunger Games. The book is mainly about Katniss going back into the arena with Peeta and some new allies that join them. Katniss and Peeta are worried because this isn’t just a regular arena with regular teenagers fighting to the death, every 20 years President Snow (who is the president of Panem) hosts a special Hunger Games. This year, two previous victors from each district will fight to the death. What worries them is that they all are experienced fighters, and they’ve known each other for years, but since Katniss and Peeta are the newest victors, they don’t know anyone, and they are the first on everyone's hit list. I really enjoyed this book because I’m a huge Hunger Games fan, because their books are so easy to get wrapped up in. I recommend this book to everyone who likes action and adventure books, but also being one of those books that are so descriptive, that you feel like you’re watching a movie.

Reviewed by Cory ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 820

Black Anchor by Carl Bowen

This is a story about a team called Shadow Squadron that attacks a Chinese oil rig in the gulf of Mexico that's called Black Anchor. Strangely the oil rig was full of American mercenaries. On the oil rig there were also hostages being held at gunpoint. Shadow Squadron's objective was to neutralize all enemy hostiles and save all of the hostages. The Shadow Squadron team came in stealthy with suppressed machine guns and stealth suits. 

[SPOILER ALERT]

When they got in the oil rig they were caught a few minutes after entering in by mercenaries. After all of the gunfight they save most of the hostages and flew home in a sea hawk helicopter back to the nearest American military base. This story reminds me of a MW2 campaign mission. I'd recommend this book to people who like modern warfare. Not the video game but war now. I'd rate this book a 9 out of 10. The main characters were Cross, Yamashita, and Walken.

Reviewed by Alec ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 920

Unbroken: An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand

The main character Louis Zamperini gets into a lot of trouble as a child and is also very good at running. He was so good at running he qualified to be in the Olympics. The Olympics got canceled because it was World War II. He joined the army and his plane crashed. He was stranded at sea on a lifeboat for 47 days. He was on the lifeboat with two other people, and one of them died. After that, he was picked up by the Japanese. He was taken to a prison camp. He was forced to work very hard. Also, he was tortured. Read the book to find out if he escapes the prison camp. I liked this book because it was very adventurous. The genre of this book is nonfiction. I learned a lot about Louie Zamperini's life in this biography. I would recommend this book to people in middle school who like adventures.

Reviewed by David ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 850

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The book I read was The Witches by Roald Dahl. This book is fiction. The problem of this story is the witches are getting rid of kids and they hate kids. I recommend this book to people who like fictional books and like the author Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl also had great books like The Twits, Matilda, The BFG and more he makes books so good once you read you will get attached to the book and you won't want to stop reading.

Reviewed by Megan ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 740

Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac

The book I'm presenting is called Skeleton Man. The author is Joseph Bruchac. The genre is horror. This book is about a mysterious disappearance of this girls parents named Molly, and she is forced to live with her so-called “uncle”. Her “uncle” has a very strange house and she always gets locked in her room at night. She starts to have these dreams about the skeleton man story that her dad use to tell her. She gets help from her teacher when she starts to get paranoid. But she doesn't tell the school about getting help from a rabbit that she saved in her dreams.

Every morning Molly is forced to eat breakfast that her “uncle” makes her. But every day that she eats she feels weird and falls asleep quickly. Most mornings she takes the food in a Tupperware and while she’s waiting for the school bus she dumps the food down the sewers. One day she got home from school and her uncle wasn't home and she went to her room but she saw her uncle's office room door open. He usually doesn't leave the door open but this time he did, so Molly went in and saw cameras that were hooked up on the front door, back door and her room door. That night she saw her uncle in his “tool shed” and she was going to run away but she went inside the tool shed.

You'll have to read the book to find out what's in the tool shed.

Reviewed by Chase ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 730

I Survived The Japanese Tsunami, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis

I Survived The Japanese Tsunami, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis is about the Japanese Tsunami that happened in 2011. Ben is the main character of this book and his unique quality is being brave during the book Ben brought out on how he was brave. I learned that tsunami’s are very dangerous and are very dangerous in a country that is used to a lot of tsunami’s. This book changed the way I see Japan, when I think about Japan I think of business. Also my dad’s company that he works at has an office in Japan so I think Japan is awesome and I never thought that such an important country can be destroyed now I know that country’s like Japan can get destroyed. The genre of this book is Historical Fiction. I enjoyed this book because it was about Japan and how a wave can destroy so much things. I recommend this book to people that like Japan, History, water, or disasters that happened on the world.

Reviewed by Kosta ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 650

10 Days: Anne Frank by David Colbert

Anne's story is how millions of people have come to understand the Holocaust. And other events that are too scary to think about. Anne Frank lives in the Netherlands when the Nazis were taking over Poland and Hungary. But a few months later the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Anne has to fight her way through harsh laws for the Jews made by the German government. Then the Nazis gave the Franks a chilling letter that said "All who live in this house should pack there bags in be put on a train to work. "Then Anne and her family move in to a secret annex. Then for Anne's thirteenth b-day her family gave her a diary (that now is on display in the Smithsonian) where she writes about her chilling nights and her scary life. An ominous event threatens to expose the secret lives of Anne Frank and her family. Then Anne's worst fear comes true she and her family were betrayed to the Germans. The franks arrive at a Nazi slave labor camp, and they are given harsh punishments. When Anne gets separated Anne has no more protection by her father and by her self she enters the scary dark world of the Nazi camps. (The only one that survived in the Frank family was Edith Frank Anne frank's father because he fought for the Germans in world war 1.)

Reviewed by Daniel ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 980

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

This book is about a girl named Janie Johnson. She has been missing since she was 3. She disappeared in New Jersey this is how she found out that she was kidnapped. One day she was at lunch and she just stole her friend's milk and drank it. Then she just looks at the missing child picture and sees herself there but that was when she was 3 and she is 15 now. She tells her friends but nobody believes her but then she tells her neighbor/friend Reeve and he does. Reeve and Janie don’t want this to be true. 

[SPOILER ALERT]

But then Janie and Reeve start figuring out clue after clue after clue and their world starts crashing around them until finally they find out it is true she was kidnapped but not by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson but by their daughter Hannah a cruel vicious criminal. The main characters in this book are the Janie Reeve and Janie's “parents”. The theme of this book is you should be happy with what you have and don’t take advantage of anything. I recommend this book to everybody except for parents.

Reviewed by Hadeel ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 660

Who Is Muhammad Ali? by James Buckley

This book is a non-fiction book about Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali was born on January 17, 1942 but since he was Christian his name was actually Cassius Clay. As a young boy He was a very fast runner. Back then he even raced the school bus! One day someone stole his bike and he went to the police to report that his bike was stolen. Ali said that he wanted to hurt who ever stole his bike. The police said that he had a gym where He could train to box. Ali was very good at boxing, he very fast on his feet. He won 28 amateur fights. When he joined pro boxing he beat heavyweight champion Sonny Liston to win the championship. Read the book to find out more about this amazing boxer!

Reviewed by Alfred ~ 6th Grade

Sea Demon by Carl Bowen

Sea Demon starts with Shadow Squadron going on a mission to save people. They have to be brave and daring to save people form the sea demon (a group of bad people). I recommend this to people who like suspense and adventure. You will be on the edge of your seat reading this book.

Review Jovanni ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 830