Merry Christmas!

Hi! I just wanted to remind all the students who have visited my blog that over Christmas Break is an excellent time to READ!!! Reading is a lot more educational than playing video games, even if the book is fiction! Pick up a book you haven't read before, maybe one with some hard words you might not know, and spend at least 15 minutes a day reading!!! I hope everyone out there has a spectacular Christmas and a very happy New Year!!!

November Author of the Month!!!

All the poll results are in... Now it's the moment we've all been waiting for, November's Author of the Month is...
Rick Riordan!!! Rick has written several series, including the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Kane Chronicles. For the first book in the Kane Chronicles book reveiw, look for The Red Pyramid. Thank you to everyone who voted!!!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This wonderful book takes place during World War 2 in Nazi Germany. 9 year old Liesel Meminger is on a train with her brother and mother. Their mother cannot afford to keep the children, so she is taking them to foster care. On the train, Liesel’s brother dies and Liesel has to be left with her two new foster parents alone. She develops a strong relationship with her Papa, and he teaches her one thing that helps her through the tough times of her life. He teaches her to read. Soon, along with her best friend Rudy Steiner, she is stealing books from burnings, the cold ground, and wherever else they might be available. But during all of this, her family has tough times of their own, and Liesel is not just stealing books for her entertainment, but food for her own life. When her foster family dangerously takes in a Jewish man, they are in mortal fear of getting caught and taken away. This book excellently depicts life as a German during the World War, and the importance of friendship and love during hard times. This book is most suitable for teens and young adults. 

Author of the Month!!!

My cousin gave me the idea to have an author of the month. (Thanks Meghan) The author I will pick will be decided by popular vote. I will publish the winning author and will write a book review about one of their books. So start voting!

Stats

I have had 31 people from the US visit my page, 3 from China, and 1 from the UK.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid is a really fun adventure story that takes you through the myths and legends of Ancient Egypt in a cool story for tweens. Sadie and Carter Kane live far apart from each other, don’t look anything like siblings, and have only had one parent since they were around six years old. Sadie and Carter and their dad only have one “visitation day” on their grandparents’ orders. They went to a museum with their dad to see the Rosetta Stone. Their dad starts speaking hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone suddenly explodes!  The police come and interrogate them about what happened. It ends up that their punishment would either be deportment from England, where they were then, or arrestment. They high-tail it out of England on a reed boat with their Uncle Amos. What would take weeks on a regular ship took only minutes on a tiny raft. What was going on??? Amos reveals to them that they are part of a line of Egyptian magicians that had been doing magic since the times of the Ancient Egyptians. Their dad had released 5 Gods and one of them, the evil Set, was trying to take over the mortal world. Along with their companion, guardian, and the Goddess of Cats, Bast, they travel around the U.S. training to stop Set. This book is the first in the Kane Chronicals, and is a VERY good book that I would recommend to all tweens who like adventure and suspence.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a wonderful fiction book about a very courageous young lady who is growing up in a time when women and girls didn’t have very many rights. This great 272 page novel by Avi was published in 1990 by HarperCollins Publishers and takes place in the mid-1800.

This book really drew me in and I think that it will for others too. Charlotte is around my age so I think that that made it a little more interesting; it was cool to hear what this fictional character had to say because she was growing up in a time where girls didn’t have very many rights. I liked this book also because Charlotte is a fantastic protagonist who has a lot of cool adventures.  I think that the author really succeeded in creating an exciting book that students of all ages would enjoy reading. I would certainly recommend it to all 4-7th graders who love breath catching paragraphs and lip biting chapters.

Charlotte Doyle’s family traveled to America from England and now Charlotte was going to join them. She got aboard the Seahawk and quickly realized that the trip wouldn’t be as enjoyable as she thought. The ship was full of rough sailors, but that captain gave the impression of a true gentleman. But little does she know that the captain isn’t someone she can trust, but then again, on a cargo ship, who could she? Charlotte tries to make the best by making friends with some of the crew members, but for some, that friendship doesn’t last long when they find out that she has been working with the captain “supervising” the crew. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle takes you on a journey through a girl’s hard life on a ship filled with murder, lies, and a horrible truth.

The 13th Reality by James Dashner

This is the 1st book in a wonderful series. Tons of kids get mysterious envelopes with puzzles inside them. Each letter is signed by M. G. Nobody knows who this man is.

He sends the kids 12 letters and says if they ever want to stop the challenge, just burn the first clue. They all lead up to the magic words and the date they need to say them and the time and what they need to hit the ground with. Only three kids make it to that special day and they get winked away to M. G.’s headquarters. Master George, M.G., sends them to a different reality, and alternate version of our own world, reality prime.

There has been mutated powers in the 13th reality and they are sent there to take the makers barrier wand, the tool that allows you to wink between realities. They take it and are winked back to the headquarters.

I recommend this book to kids who like to solve mysteries and puzzles and enjoy fiction novels.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart

This is the third book in this series. Yet again the children embark on an adventure, and this time it’s against their will. They are kidnappped by the evil Mr. Curtain.

They get taken to the Third Island Prison, and by using Constance’s new-found talents, they find a way to contact Mr. Benedict. He sends back a message to Constance showing, “…Mr. Benedict and everybody. They all looked funny, dressed up in silly costumes, and all of them were grinning at me. Better yet, they were all holding pies-Moocho Brazos’s pies. …It’s true they were shaped oddly, though. They were baked in the shape of S’s.”

Reynie figures out that the s shaped pies ment-what does s+pies equal?-SPIES! The others were going to come and rescue them disguised as spies Mr. Curtain was expecting!

 

They got back to Mr. Benedict’s house and after awhile from being back, they were presented with some great news. Sticky’s family would be moving into the house across the street and Kate and Reynie’s would be moving into the house its self!

I recommend this book to kids who have read the first two and enjoy mystery, comedy, and suspense.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

In this fantastic sequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society, Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance embark on a hard and difficult journey that Mr. Benedict put together for them.

Sticky, and Constance embark on a hard and difficult journey that Mr. Benedict put together for them.

But the journey grows harder. It appears that Mr. Benedict and his assistant Number Two have been kidnapped by his evil twin brother, Mr. Curtain. Mr. Benedict had put a bunch of clues everywhere for the children to follow. They sneak away with the first and second clues and get started.

The clues lead them to a boat called the Shortcut. It takes them to a castle where the next clue is hidden. That clue takes them to a town called Thernbaagen. They go to an island where Mr. Benedict is hidden. When they get to the cave they’re hidden in, they find Mr. Curtain there, and get chained up together with Mr. Benedict. They escape and get back home to their families.

I recommend this book to kids who have read the first one and who love adventure.

The Mysterious Benidict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

This book is a really great book about four kids who are all incredibly gifted. Their names are Reynie (short for Reynard), Kate, Sticky (short for George), and Constance. They see in ad in the newspaper, which all of them read, saying, “Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?”

They all go and take a bunch of tests. A lot of kids go to take the tests, but only they make it through all the tests. After they’re done, they meet a man named Mr. Benidict who tells them about a troubling matter. He tells them about the sender, a man named Mr. Curtain. He sends messages through TV programs and radio stations. It makes people think things that aren’t very true.

Mr. Benidict sends the members of the newly formed Mysterious Benidict Society to the place where Mr. Curtain sends his messages, the Learning Institute For the Very Enlighted (LIVE). When they get there, they see Mr. Curtain for the first time, and are surprised to see that he looks just like Mr. Benidict. They use Morse Code to signal him. They say, “We see Mr. B. when we see Mr. C. How can this be?” They find that the two men are twins seperated by birth.

Reynie and Sticky do really well on the tests they take at the Institute and become messengers. Messengers are the children who send the strange messages. They know that the improvement, as Mr. Curtain calls it, is coming so they make all the messengers except themselves sick so the boys have a chance to go in the Whisperer (the sender of the messages). They get Kate and Constance to come and Constance defeats the Whisperer by using her obstinate attitude.

This is a great book and I recommend it to anyone who likes adventure, humor, and suspense. (There is two other books in the series. Read them all!)

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Love, Stargirl is the sequel to the book Stargirl. It is a journal in the form of a letter. It takes place after she has moved away to Pennsylvania, Leo’s birth place. She makes a lot of new friends, both young and old. There’s 5 year old Dootsie, Alvina who’s 11, Betty Lou who is afraid to leave her  house, Charlie who stays by his dead wife’s grave all day, Arnold who wanders the piles of stones, and Perry the thief who soon falls in love with Stargirl himself. Soon she has to make a hard decision, is it Leo or Perry?

This is a great book for kids looking for humor, excitement, and a touch of romance that’s perfect for tweens.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl is a book by Jerry Spinelli and is about a girl that had recently been homeschooled and has decided to try going to an actual school for tenth grade.

Because she has been alone and has never thought about herself as “weird”, when she goes to school, everyone thinks she’s different and no one wants to be her friend. She plays the ukulele and in the lunchroom when it’s someone’s birthday, she’ll strum it and sing happy birthday to them. She also has a pet rat named Cinnamon.

Eventually she falls in love with a boy named Leo. Suddenly, a popular kid who co-runs his own TV show is getting the silent treatment from his peers. And it’s all because he walks with the girl nobody likes in the hall and will say hi to her in between classes. As a result, he asks her to change so that people who were never actually his friends will notice him.

Now Stargirl’s only friend does not like her, and even though Leo still likes her, she is not herself and doesn’t like herself any more.

I recommend this book to all kids, but mostly to middle and high school kids who are going through these circumstances.