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 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

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.

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

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     

How History is Invented: The Salem Witch Trials by Lori Lee Wilson

This book is about a village named Salem and witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692. The witchcraft there was very convincing people always think that when your crops dried out it was witchcraft or when a somebody murdered a person it was always behind witchcraft. In one famous Greek story a witch named Medea was a young beautiful daughter of a king. According to the myth, Medea helped Jason capture the Golden Fleece. The famous golden wool of a flying ram. Jason and Medea had two son and lived happily for 10 years. Then Jason fell in love with Glauke, the daughter of another king. Jason abandoned Medea to marry Glauke. Medea took revenge by murdering her own two sons with a knife so Jason would have no heirs. This book has a lot of stories about witchcraft and shows how it could have a huge impact on human mind. This book was interesting because it shows how a average person can actually be a killer. If your smart enough you could find out the clues and know the true before it's to late. I  would recommend his book to people who like Science fiction.

Reviewed by Stefan ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 

Who Was Anne Frank? by Anne Abramson

Anne Frank, is one of the most inspiring, most bravest fifteen year old girl that I ever read about! This is a biography on “Who Was Anne Frank”, By Anne Abramson and illustrated by Nancy Harrison. Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929, in the city of Frankfurt, Germany, where her father’s family had lived for a very long time. Her father was very proud of being German. He expected his children to live in Germany, and their children after them. But that did not happen. The Franks’ lives were turned upside down in seconds. They had to flee from their country. They went into hiding for two years. They lost everything that was dear to them... all because they were Jewish, and a man named Adolf Hitler was in power. Hitler hated Jewish people. All Jewish people. Which led to the holocaust. While Anne’s mom, dad, and sister, were in hiding from Hitler’s soldiers. Anne started to write in her diary that she called “Kitty”. She told kitty everything-all about a boy she liked, books she enjoyed, how her day was. Everything. Kitty was a friend who never argued and always listened. And because of Anne’s diary, we have just a glimpse in the past. Anne Frank’s life was short though. She was only fifteen years old when she died in 1945. If you want to learn more about Anne Frank read the book. In memory of all the children who, like Anne, had their life ended in the war. I enjoyed this book because no matter what people did, Anne Frank always saw the bright side in everyone. In her diary she wrote,“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” I think the theme is to be brave and to always look on the brighter side. I recommend this book to people who like to learn about history.

Reviewed by Jasmine ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 660

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

The book i will be writing about is called A Child Called it, by Dave Pelzer. This book is about a 10 year old boy named Dave Pelzer who was brutally beaten and starved by his mother for a very long time. Ever since Dave was seven his mom made his life miserable. She makes him run to school every day so he wont get a chance to steal food from other kids lunches. Dave always stole food from the cafeteria but one day [Spoiler ALERT] he stole some sausages from the cafeteria and that same day his mother found out he was stealing food so when he came home from school his mother took him to the bathroom and made him throw up what he ate and he did as he was told but her mother went and got a plate picked up some barf and made him eat it and he did, he ate it all. If you want to know more you should read the book. 

The genre of this book is realistic fiction. I really enjoyed this book because the character dave he always gets up no matter how hard his mom hurts him or how long his mom waits to give him food he never gives up. He just picks up again and stays strong. I learned from this book that never give up always keep trying and just keep going no matter how hard things get just keep going. The main characters in this book are dave pelzer, and his mother. I would recommend this book to people who like Realistic fiction books.

Reviewed by Geyli ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 850

New Dinos: The Latest Finds! the Coolest Dinosaur Discoveries! by Shelley Tanaka

I would recommend this book to people that like the past. In this book you learn about new dinos and more about them like speed and agility.I read this book and loved it because it had info of dinos that i didn't know either they did this and that.

Reviewed by Jamie ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 1190

The Importance of John F. Kennedy by Michael V. Uschan

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29,1917 shortly after the united states entered world war I. The Kennedys moved to Bronxsville, New York when John was only ten years old when John was nine he played football. He graduated in 1935 65th out of 110 students. John F Kennedy served in the Navy where he took command of the motor torpedo boats PT- 109 and PT-59 from 1941-1945. He was the thirty-fifth president of the United States who served from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Events during his presidency were Cuban missile crisis, project Apollo and the building of the Berlin Wall. i learned about John F Kennedy and that he was a good man. I think he was brave and accomplished a lot.

Reviewed by Rian ~ 6th Grade

Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff

This book is a really good book.I like it because it has unlikely animals that became friends.This book is about a baby hippo when his pod got pushed down river and on the new lands they have never seen before. The people tried to get the hippos off there land but they couldn’t because they where so strong.Then one day the river flooded and took all the hippos away and left one behind, so the next day the people came out and saw all the hippos gone but one he was stranded at sea. [Spoiler Alert!!!] All the people tried to help him. It was hard for them to catch him with there nets, finally they did and the person that got him was named Owen so that's what they named the hippo Owen. That is when they called a place that takes care of animals and a lady came to pick up Owen, then he got mad and was running away from every body and did not want to get in the truck. Then when he was tired and they carried him in to the truck and went back to the place. When they got there and opened the back of the truck Owen ran and hid behind a turtle called Mzee he was an old turtle. When Owen hid  behind Mzee he hised because he didn't really like other people or animals. But then after a while Mzee got used to Owen and they became best friends forever. If you like a good story then you should read Owen & Mzee.

Reviewed by Nazareth ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 920