PHS Library News

Raven’s Gate

Matt, 14, lives in Ipswich, England with his aunt and her boyfriend. His parents died in a car crash while heading to a funeral when he was only a few years old. The weird thing is that Matt feels that he is responsible for their death. The night before they died, Matt dreamt he saw his parents driving and then they suddenly lose control of their car and fall off a bridge. The next morning, Matt says he’s sick so he doesn’t have to go to the funeral. His parents leave him at home with their neighbor.

A few hours later, the police come to Matt’s house and tell him that his parents lost control of their car and drove off a bridge and died. Now Matt, whenever he thinks about them, feels that it’s his fault he didn’t prevent them from going to the funeral.

Ever since they died, Matt has started shoplifting and robbing with a kid who lives down the block from him. Once, when they were robbing a warehouse, they got arrested. Matt has a choice: either go to jail or stay with a woman named Ms. Deverill in a farm town of about fifty people. He chooses the stay with Ms. Deverill. That was the wrong choice.

I thought this book was excellent. It is one of my favorites and I can’t wait for the second book of the Gatekeepers to come out. This is a very exciting book written by Anthony Horowitz, author of the award winning Alex Rider Series. Matt has a slightly supernatural power and some parts of the book are a tad bit unrealistic, creepy and gory. I loved this book. I highly recommend it.

By Andy, 6th grade

The Well of Eternity by Richard A. Knaak.
Ian M. 6B

This is the first book in the War of The Ancients’ Trilogy. In it, two mages and an ork are transported to a time where monsters are rampaging the world. The mages and the ork are tying to get home to their own era but are worried about messing up the time line. Like most science fiction novels, this one includes time travel. It is a cool book with lots of magic and monsters. There are some gory scenes, but besides that the story is good. The Well of Eternity is 370 pages long. If you like fantasy novels, you will love this book.

My book comment is about Sasquatch. I liked the book becuase its plot is really interesting. Dylan's dad has many hobbies but when he finds out about a sasquatch roaming around he is instantly addicted to finding it.
Strange things start happening and new secrets begin to unfold but Mount Saint Helens holds its own mysteries like when it will blow up next. This book was truly a fun book that I couldn't stop reading. Thank you for letting me check this book out because it has really been good.

Barefoot Gen is a graphic novel about the bombing of
Hiroshima. Gen is probably the main character though
the book tells about the whole family. Gen is an
eight-year-old boy who lives with his family in
Hiroshima. His father and mother both make hand-madesandals. The father is against the war. All of the men in the village have to go through with training so that if the Americans attack then they will be ready.
The father refuses to go to the training. Because of this
though, the family has to go through hard times
because everybody else believes so strongly about the
war. Barefoot Gen is an easy read because it’s mainly
illustrations. I recommend this book to people who
want to learn WWII in Japan.

Sean in sixth grade recommends the book Millions.

Millions is a fiction book written by Frank Cottrell Boyce about a boy named Damian Cunningham, his brother Anthony, and his dad. Millions is set in the United Kingdom. Anyway, one day Damian finds millions of pounds in a bag. The only problem is that they have fourteen days to spend it all before all the pounds are converted into Euros. You will be genuinely amused by what they spend the money for.
Sadly, I do have four complaints for this book. The first complaint is that the story slowly picks up speed. You have to read until chapter 7 before Damian even finds the money. The second complaint is that Damian has an annoying obsession with saints. There is nothing wrong with saints; it’s just that it gets annoying to read about one of them on every single page. The third complaint is that this book is only about 240 pages. That is really short. The fourth complaint is that I would have liked to see Damian and Anthony do more crazy stuff with the money.
Overall, though, Millions is a great read. I give it a 4/5.

Sean in sixth grade really recommends The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Before I say anything about The Sea of Monsters, I’m going to warn you that if you didn’t read the first book in the series, The Lightning Thief, you should definitely read it before reading The Sea of Monsters. If you don’t, it will be confusing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!
The Sea of Monsters is a fantasy book about a boy named Percy Jackson. Percy is the son of Poseidon, the Greek sea god. Percy is a half-blood, meaning that he is half god. Percy trains in a half-blood training camp where instructors train half-bloods to fight evil. That is all I’m going to say about The Sea of Monsters so I don’t spoil it for the rest of you.
One of the best things about The Sea of Monsters is the modern setting. What that means is basically Percy and his friends Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson have a love for Coke and other carbonated soft drinks. Also, The Sea of Monsters is a very humorous book. There are also some historical references and “explanations” to unsolved mysteries (I’ll give you a hint: it has something to do with the Bermuda Triangle).
Amazingly, I only have one complaint: it is way to short. At only about 280 pages, I finished it in one day. Despite that, The Sea of Monsters is an awesome book. I give it a 4/5. Pick it up, and you won’t be disappointed.

Sean in sixth grade really really recommends The Cartoon History of the Universe Volume 1-7

The Cartoon History of the Universe is a graphic comic book by Larry Gonick. As the title not so subtly implies, this book is a giant comic strip explaining the history of the universe from the Big Bang to Alexander the Great. The Cartoon History of the Universe is very detailed and descriptive, has great illustrations, is very funny, and very long. Basically, it is close to perfect.
If you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll probably think that I am about to unleash a hail of complaints. Well, this book is so well written, I’m going to devote this paragraph to compliments of this book. For starters: this book is very long at about 350 pages, which is totally and completely awesome. Also, the drawings are very good and are very humorous. The Cartoon History of the Universe definitely beats the heck out of reading a 736 page textbook based on the same subject.
So, because this book is near perfect, I give it a 5/5. Now rush to the library and check it out soon. Very soon.

The Hound of the Baskervilles
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Review by Ayani 6B

The Hound of the Baskervilles is an old Sherlock Holmes book. Being a mystery I can't really tell you much, but it involves "Hellish Dogs", a murder, a hell hound, (fits into the first catagory above) a secrecy, and the word Haola. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a great classic mystery and will keep you reading it until you're finished. Most books should, but..... there are a few exceptions out in the world.

The Outcasts of 19 Shuyler Place By E.L. Konigsburg Review by Ayani 6B

12 year-old Margeret Rose Kane is a girl who is rescued by her great Uncle Alex from a summer camp. She is brought to her uncle's house to live in for the summer. She loves it there because it's a nice house, the weather is usually nice, her Uncles Alex and Morris love her very much, she has her own room there, but mostly becuase of the three towers. They had been built by the uncles over the last 45 years. They were made of junk and had unworking clock faces on them. However, the city wants to take them down.

This book is about Margaret trying to stop the demolition of the towers. It is a very good book and is very much worth reading.

The book I've been reading lately is called "The Seven Dials Mystery" by Agatha Christie. Basically what the book’s about is these kids staying at a place called Chimneys and playing a practical joke on one of their friends, but the joke goes horribly wrong and turns into the beginning of a murder mystery. Bundle (the owner of chimneys) takes the mystery into her hands and finds out what really happened. I think this book is great for 8 + up because at a younger age you might lose interest or not fully understand the plot, or both.

Brenda
6th grade
The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Author: Liz Kessler

I really liked this book because it was a good story and it was well written. It's about a girl who found she was a mermaid and she goes on an adventure to find her merman dad. This book has well described characters that you could picture in your head.

This book has lots of suspense and captivates you. I recommend this book to people that like mysterious fantasy books.

Well, right now the book I am reading is The Annotated Brothers Grimm. The book is pretty interesting, and I really don't want to put it down, and I read it in the car even though I might get car sick. This book is very fascinating and I recommend it to kids who like fairy tales, BUT they might have some violence but ooher than that, its really interesting.

The book I am reviewing right now is called "Nasty Stinky Sneakers." It is a cool book. I would recomend this book to anybody.T his book is a really nice book , I would read it again if i could post another reveiw. This book is mainly about a boy named Colin trying to win a stinky shoe competition .But then he found out that his sneakers were missing. But if you want to find out what happened to his sneakers try to read the book, it's really interesting.

Sean in 6th Grade DOES NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, recommend The Wright 3

The Wright 3 is a non fiction book by Blue Balliet. It is the sequel to the “award winning” Chasing Vermeer (yeah—it won the award for most disappointing book of the year). The Wright 3 is about three kids named Tommy Segovia, Calder Pilay, and Petra Andalee. The Wright 3 is set in Hyde Park, where one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpieces, the Robie House, is about to be torn down. Calder, Petra, and Tommy must discover the house’s secrets as they try to prevent it from being torn down.
Because it is the sequel to a relatively bad book, Chasing Vermeer, people might not want to read it. Well, they’re right: The Wright 3 is definitely not an improvement over Chasing Vermeer. If you like action books, this book is not for you. There is virtually no action, and any action there is is short lived. If you like mystery books, this book isn’t worth reading. The “mystery” is just a bunch of random occurrences that are all loosely related, which means you can’t figure out the “mystery” until you finish the book. Basically, The Wright 3 is a book that virtually no one can enjoy.
Some other complaints are that Calder’s toys, pentiminoes, get really annoying after a while. Seriously, after the 500th time Calder mentioned pentiminoes, I wanted to rip the book up. You know that when the first page starts explaining pentiminoes, The Wright 3 is not going to be an enjoyable experience. At times, The Wright 3 tries to set a sinister mood. Does it succeed? Heck no. However, one of the only good things about the book are Brett Helquist’s illustrations. Because of all this, I give The Wright 3 a 2/5.

Shelter Dogs
By Pegg Kehret

Shelter Dogs is a book full of heart-warming stories. There is one about an unwanted dog that becomes a sports superstar. A Mutt from a shelter that becomes a T.V./ movie superstar. A great seizure alert dog with a wonderful home, and much, much more.

It will make you want to go straight to your local animal shelter and adopt all the dogs. Because sometimes just one word like “walk” can change a dogs life.

The book I read was Kira-Kira. Kira-Kira is a Japanese word that means beautiful. The book is about two Japanese sisters who are also best friends. Their names are Katie and Lynn and their favorite word is kira-kira. One day they find $1,100 under the refrigerator. Lynn tells Katie that it's going to be for their new house. They got really excited but didn't say a word.

A couple of days later their Uncle Katsuhisa tells their dad, his brother, to move from Iowa to Geogia. He tells them that he will get them a job there. Nine months later their mom has baby. In about one year Lynn starts to get really sick. Scince Lynn is sick their parents buy a new house and they let Lynn chose her room and Katie has to watch her. On New Years Katie goes out early in the morning to see the sun, just like they do in Japan. When she came back Lynn was dead. After the funeral was over they went on a vacation to get over their grief. Sincce Lynn always wanted to go to San Franscisco that's where they went.

Marykatherine – 6th grade

The Wright 3

Blue Balliett

The Wright 3 is the sequel to Chasing Vemeer. It was about Calder, Petra and Tommy trying to save the house called the Robie House, made by Frank Lloyd Wright. They also formed a group called the Wright 3. In the end they do save the Robie house . It is a good book. You should read this book if you like mystery books and stories that have a lot of suspense and a lot of true facts. I do think it goes on for too long – too many of the parts are dragged out. But it is a good book with a good story that is interesting.

The book "Haunted' was a very, very bad book. I don't recommend this book. You will fall asleep reading the first chapter. It's basically about a girl named Emily and her 2 older sisters are over-acheivers, but Emily is just average. But for Emily's parents average isn't good enough. So they send her to a special ed camp. She meets obnoxious kids and one whos like her. but inbetween chapters they italicize the font and it's like the point of view from a stalker. Emily witnesses something and someone wants to make sure she takes what happened to the grave. So someones is just trying to kill her. It's not exciting, it's not interesting, it's just a waste of paper, trees, ink, and time.

The History of Rock and Roll by Stuart A. Kallen
Review by Ayani

The Histroy of Rock and Roll is a brief book about the history of rock and roll. In case you couldn't tell. It goes from blues to rap, wiith a lot of mini biographies and a good amount of information. It covers things in thorough detail without making it like: "And The Beetles went to America on flight 3.1415 blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
If you already know a lot about Rock and Roll then you don't need to read this book. However, if you have just gotten into the music style, then this will give you the basics and some good sounds to listen to. All in all it's not a bad book.
Rating: 4/5

I read the book called "All American Girl". I really liked the book because it was very funny. Some of the parts were kind of sad, too, but not that sad. Some of the parts made me feel happy or not so happy of what happened. I did not like some parts in it but overall it was a really, really good book.
The book was about a teenage girl who was not popular at all in her school. Then she saved the president's life and everyone liked her. She had been taking art lessons and she had found out that the president's son went to her art class. Everyone thought that she and the president''s son (David) were going out, but David liked her instead of her liking David. She soon found out that she did like David and they started going out and being boyfriend and girlfriend.

I read a book called Bindy Babes. It’s about three Indian sisters who’s mum died a year ago. Instead of remembering her, they try to forget about her, and never talk about her. Instead they pretend like every thing is ok, and act perfect. The teachers love them because of their grades, they are extremely popular at school, (every one calls them the Bindy Babes!) and they get whatever they want. If they ask for something from their dad, he gives it to them, because he has no wife to back him up when he says 'no'. They are perfect, rich, gorgeous, and flirt as much as they breathe. But the whole time they are trying to get over there mum.
One day their dad told them that there aunt, who lives in India, was coming to live with them and help around the house. Their Auntie started to interfere and get in their way. Their dad is actually saying no to their requests! How in the world will they get rid of their nosy Aunt?

Sean in sixth grade DEFINITELY DOES NOT RECOMMEND Chasing Vermeer!!!

Chasing Vermeer is the prequel to the fiction book The Wright 3. Both books are written by Blue Balliet, both are fiction books, and both books are definitely clones of each other. Chasing Vermeer is about a boy named Calder Pilay and a girl named Petra Andalee. No, they don’t get married. Anyway, when a famous painting is stolen, Petra and Calder must get deep into a conspiracy that not even the FBI can solve.
Fact: on the back cover, it says Chasing Vermeer won many awards. Fact: Blue Balliet probably slipped the reviewers a fifty to get all the awards. To say Chasing Vermeer is a boring book wouldn’t be giving it its due. Reading the nutrition facts on a box of Oreos has more action than this book. Also, this book is pretty long, meaning you have to endure a lot of suffering before you finish it. Even the beginning is lame because it tries to be all sinister and mysterious, at which Chasing Vermeer fails horribly.
However, this book is still useful to keep around; my personal favorite reason is that when you get stuck on a deserted island, you can burn it for firewood. And nobody will care. You could also use Chasing Vermeer as a food source if things get ugly, but I’m pretty sure it’s poisonous. Well, at least the story is. In the end, Chasing Vermeer is just another one of those books that is utterly forgettable. And that’s why I give it a 2/5. Only Brett Helquist’s illustrations save it from a one out of five.

Inkspell is a book about a girl named Meggie and Meggie’s dad. This book takes place in our world with Meggie and her dad (Mortimer) in their little cottage. Meggie and her father are bookworms and Mortermer is a book binder. A mysterious man shows up at their house late one rainy night, and as soon as Meggie saw him she knew something was different. Her father started acting all strange. He took her away to her aunt's where her story unravels. Her father gets kidnapped!! She must save him, but how!?
This book is one of my favorite books because of its action and magic. From the beginning of her story you're "Trying to grasp something an inch away." Immediately you can’t stop reading; you feel the character’s feelings and you see the scenes in front of you. If you like a good fantasy books, you should read Inkheart.

This is my first review and I am doing it on the book Disasters in Space Exploration by Gregory L. Vogt. I think that this book gives very interesting stories about disasters both with NASA and the Soviet space program. I recommend it for those who are interested in space exploration and those who want to know more about space exploration.

Sean in 6th grade recommends Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler’s Shadow.

Hitler Youth is a non fiction book by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. It is about the young boys and girls that served in Hitler Youth. Hitler Youth was basically the Nazi version of boy scouts and girl scouts. Except this time, these boy scouts learned how to fire bazookas. Hitler Youth is set in the 1920s-‘40s, a time when world war was looming.
Hitler Youth can be very creepy at times. The holocaust sections are very depressing, and the combat parts can be almost scary. I mean, when there are 13 year old boys shooting rockets at tanks, you know something is wrong. Hitler Youth also provides some gripping stories about people who distributed anti Nazi leaflets, a crime punishable by death. My only complaint is that Hitler Youth is very short at only about 150 pages. However, the book is still great while it lasts, and that is good enough. I give it a 4/5.

Ayani Hayashi highly recomends "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. (No connection to the "Lighting Thief")
This is a pretty good book. Changing my review style to more like Seans this will have complaints. You have been warned.
This story is a depressing one. Narrated by Death,(As in the concept) the story is about a young girl in the time of WWII. I won't say her name becuase I forgot how to spell it. She loves books even though at the start of the book she can't read. She loves them so much she steals them. Hence the title. She become friends with the locals and then her life go down hill from there. I won't tell you anymore about the story becuase you should read the book. Boasting a whomping 540-something pages it's acutally a pretty short read.
Now for the complaints. Well, I learned a lot of Germen words from this book then I ever thought I would. Most of them however. were words like, Swine, idiot, and a couple other assorted swear words. Death says that he picks up the soul of a person and carries it in his arms. He rambles on and on during almost every chapter. If you are accustomed to happy ending, (examples: Chasing Vermeer, Wright 3, and almost every other book in a childrens library) this could be one of two things: 1. A new intoduction to sad stories. Or 2. An bad book becuase its not having ponies running around in fields with llamas beside them and flowers around every molocule. I'm speaking figurativly but, you get the idea. It's a very sad book as are most about WWII. The rating is 4/5.

Ayani
Chasing Vermeer
Blue Balliet
My name and these titles are enough to tell you what I'm going to say. Oy Vey Ismir, or god help us.
Chasing Vermeer is about two kids named Calder Pilay and Petra Andalee. They themselves try to figure out a mystery that left the FBI baffled. This is a rather dissapointing book. I would much rather read the script of The Demented Cartoon Movie or Anthony and Cleopatra than this.
This book should not be read. The Characters are boring, the plot is rip off from other books and is boring, the place in which it takes place is boring, the entire book is boring, and most of all PENTIMINOES ARE REALLY REALLY BORING. This will not have you in very much suspense. It's also ripped off from "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Westing Game". This author has almost no imagination. I would give this book a 1/5. I'm slightly harsher then Sean on this book. Brett Helquist's other illustartions are much more interesting and simply look better.

The Independent Reading Novel that I read is a non-fiction novel, written by Meg Rosoff called How I Live Now. It is a realistic-fiction book about a girl named Daisy who moves in with her cousins in England. Her cousin’s names are Edmond, Piper, and Oswald. They live in the countryside in England in an old house. Soon they found out that a massive bomb exploded in London, starting a world war. Rumors started to spread out in the countryside, but Daisy and her cousins were removed from the war zone, because they were out in the country
After a while of living with her cousins, Daisy started to become good friends with them, especially Edmond. One day, Daisy was sitting with Edmond, trying to go to sleep and she ended up falling madly in love with him (which she feels is weird since its her cousin). Soon, weird things started happening. Soldiers came and set up a base at their house, rumors spread about their being a small pox epidemic, and doctors come to their house and ask for medicine.
At this point in the book, Daisy and Piper are split apart from the rest of the group, and go through various refugee camps in an attempt to find their way back to the rest of he family. How I Live Now in chilling and sometimes heartwarming account of the horrors of war and the difficulties of adolescence in a strange place. Overall I would recommend this book to people who enjoy exiting thrillers.

Star Wars: Labarnyh of Evil
This book is basicly about clone wars and how the 3rd Star Wars movie came to be. The main chacters are Anikin Skywalkwer and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It tells about many mission revoling around the clone wars. It also tells about how the sepratists and the sith started working togeter (for more information about this wacth Star Wars I: A Phantom Menace).Also there is alot about how Count Duco transfer to the sith and wheater or not he was Darth Maul(refered to in the book as the tatooed sith)master(he wasn't but the jedi don't know that).

Kell in 6th Grade recommends the first part of Sabriel by Garth Nix
Sabriel is about a young woman who grows up in Ancelstierre,a kingdom next to a kingdom where magic reigns supreme. She is the daughter of Abhorsen, a Necromancer who fights to banish the invading Dead. Sabriel has inherited her father's aptitude for necromancy, and she returns to the Old Kingdom when she realizes that her father is trapped in death. She insists that he is not dead, and she journeys across the wall separating the Old Kingdom from Ancelstierre.
The first part is exciting, when Sabriel flees a Mordicant (a powerful Dead creature) and comes to the house of Abhorsen, where she learns the truth about her father's profession. The story drifts off when Sabriel flies a plane and crashes it. Then she finds this guy called Touchstone and the story is lame and dull from there. Read the first part of Sabriel for a lot of fun, avoid the second part of Sabriel at all costs.

THE KING OF THE WIND (fiction)***** 5 stars
This book is a wonderful book for horse lovers. It's about an arabian named Sham and his friend, Agba. They have to go to France, because the rule of Persia "want to be alises with Egland ".Well sham gets in troudel with the king of Egland, and you will find out the rest when you read it !

This is a book review on THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND by Jonathan Stroud. It is a story of a young, gifted and completely (in my opinion) idiotic magician who lives in a modern day London with magicians in all the top roles. They summon demons to do their bidding and perform magic. So back to the boy. The boy's name is Nathanial, and as I said he's a very young, and very gifted dude. He summons a djinni named Bartameaus who has more lip than fifty elephants, to steal an amulet of INCREDIBLE power from a magician named Simon Lovelace. BIG MISTAKE. Simon lovelace physically assaulted Nathanial many years back and wanted revenge.

So here we have it. A djinni that is forced to do a task that is pretty much suicidal , a crazed magician kid who is obsessed with magic, and a magician who is making evil plans to destroy the English government. Not all of them will come out alive. I say it's a good book, others may not, so while reading this, sit back on a pillow, relax, and get a good drink for THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND!

Summary of City of the Beasts
By Isabel Allende

This book is about a 15-year-old boy named Alex Cold. His mom is very ill and needs to go to a hospital out of California with his father, so they drop him off at his grandmother’s house. Alex’s grandmother is a reporter and she has just been offered a job to go to the Amazon to write a report on a huge creature with a horrible scent that knocks people out as soon as they get within 100 feet of this creature. Alex’s Grandma takes him with her to the Amazon… I have read this book and encourage you to read it! It has a great plot and never gets boring. Alex is always faced with danger as he and his grandma make their way through the Amazon looking for the “beast.”

By Zach 6B

"The Monsters of Morley Manor" is an exciting book about two siblings, Anthony and Sarah, who try to save the world from evil ailians with the help of five monsters. Along the way, a ghost, the children's grandma, and their grandpa try to help them. In order to save the world, they need to save the monsters home, Morley Manor, which is being knocked down for a guy who bought it. During their journey, the monsters find out a secret about their brother that changed their lives.

I think this is a wonderful book with many exciting adventures and it taught me to look outside the box and explore knew things.

Sean in 6th grade recommends THE BOOK THIEF

THE BOOK THIEF is a historical fiction book written by Markus Zusak. It is about a girl named Liesel Meminger. In the beginning, Liesel is transported to her new foster parents in Nazi Germany. Liesel's little brother dies before he even gets there. Once with her new foster parents, Hans Huberman and Rosa Huberman, she develops an appetite for reading and is soon stealing books with the help of her best friend, Rudy Steiner.

One of the most interesting things about THE BOOK THEIF is that it is narrarated by Death, which makes it an interesting--and chilling novel. Although THE BOOK THIEF is about 550 pages long, it is actually not a very long book. I finished it in three days. Interestingly, there is a high amount of profanity, which may turn off younger readers. It also is a very sad story, though I don't mind that.
In the end, THE BOOK THIEF provides a chilling but rather eccentric story. It is one of the best books I have ever read, which is why I give it a 4/5.

The book I recommend is KIRA-KIRA. It's an interesting book. It's about a kid named Lynn and her little sister Katie.They love each other.They hang a lot, they look at the stars at night.T hey even make wishes.O ne day they moved.

Everything changed, then they went to a new school.They wanted to move back.Then one day Katie and Lynn found a lot of money under the stove or somewhere. Their parents were saving that money for a new house. Then later on in the book something horrible happens. Lynn dies!!! That is when the story gets interesting. You should read that book, it's interesting.

The Subtle Knife
By Philip Pullman

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE GOLDEN COMPASS!

The Subtle Knife is the sequel to The Golden Compass and the prequel to The Amber Spyglass and, again, you shouldn’t read this book or review without having read the first book. The Subtle Knife is about a girl named Lyra who is looking for her father, Lord Asriel, who is the first person in his world to find a way to another world. After seeing her father kill her best friend, Roger, Lyra wants to kill Lord Asriel (even though he’s her father). She finds a way to get into the world that her father is in and starts searching for him. On her journey she joins a boy named Will who is also looking for his father. She asks her alethiometer about the boy. The alethiometer, which was given to her in her own world, is a device that tells you whatever you want to know. It says that he is a murderer. Along the way, Will and Lyra become friends (because Lyra thinks that having a murderer for a friend is good protection) and meet many other interesting characters. Throughout the book, Lyra and Will have to survive with and against witches, zombies, creatures that eat the souls out of adults and kids who are so vicious that when they see a cat they try to kill it with guns, rocks and sticks.

I extremely recommend this book. It had me wanting to read page after page. When I finished it, the first thing I thought was, “I wonder when I can go to the library and borrow The Amber Spyglass.” I think this book deserves ten out of ten stars.

Review by Andy Thompson, 6th Grade

Ayani
Blue Baliett
The Wright 3
This book as you know is the sequal to the "Wonderfull" (Yeah, right) Chasing Vermeer. So you three kids, Calder, Petra, and Tommy. Their all friend, and they try to save a house called the Robie House, built by Frank Lloyd Wright, that. The house is to be demolished. So then they go through a pretty repetetive seqence of events. most of which, happen by chance. So then then they end saving the house and catch some criminals and everyones happy and blah blah blah blah blah. By mid-book, you already know the outcome of the book. Basically the children save the house by forming a group called the "Wright3". Hence the title.
Now Personally trying to make a mystery of the first chapter of a book isn't a very good idea. Second, for some reason Tommy can't spell "does" right. It's also very predictable and steals more from the "Da Vinci Code". Also this gold fish named goldman. I don't understand this charecter and I think Blue put it in there as an extra, not knowing he was the saneist charecter in the entire book. Also almost all the kids in this book are sexist and have no sense of spirituality.
Also there is to much focus on the supernatural and in the begenning of the book, some on jumps from the top of a train, into the window below him in less than a second. Not at all probable of possible. Also Petiminoes really get on my nerves and there also boriing. I even have a question: How do you ruffle a crew cut? eh? It's impossible. There are also many useless details that don't make any sense and the use of multiples of 3 in two books is boring. Ms. Sharpe could have done the whole book herself in 5 chapters. You also think Ms. Hussey has a better career in mind then the one she has. She could be helping causes around the world those brains of hers and look where she is. Terrible, just terrible.
I don't think that the press will just go "Okay will go to your demonstration yeah see ya then." Also the name of the club is pretty dull. Tommy has a strange habit of kicking things, sorta like Turtle Wexler in the "Westing Game." Aside from the other stuff, their ninja attempt into the Robie House is poorly done. Why didn't they close the window? It makes more sense to take a second and be aware of how your getting in some where. Sheesh.

This book gets a lovly 1/5. It's unimaginative, its a repeat of Chasing Vermeer, its unrealistic to a horrible extent. If you want a mystery, read "The Hound of the Baskervilles" not this.

For my second book reveiw I read The Ghost inthe TokaidoInn. It was a very interesting book I liked the plot about finding a ruby. As I read I under stood more and more. It was like I had to keep reading to know more even though it as kind of obviuse as to what was going to happen.Over all I thought it was a really interesting book.

Sean recommends "Three of Diamonds".

"Three of Diamonds" is a mystery book written by Anthony Horowitz. "Three of Diamonds" is about a boy named Nick Diamond and his...er, eccentric brohter Tim Diamond. "Three of Diamonds" is a collection of three mystery stories involving Nick and Tim. Nick and Tim are both private detectives, and that always gets them in trouble.
The three stories in "The Three Diamonds" are all pretty much the same in their plot. However, the different locations and hcaracters make each story slightly unique. Sadly, the book is only about 200 pages. Each story has a bit of humor, which is good because all three stories are very dark. Unfortunately, the endings to all of the stores are very lame. Honestly, because this book was written by Anthony Horowitz, I had higher expectations.
However, despite it's flaws, "Three of Diamonds" is still a good read. I give it a 3.5/5.

My book is called The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. I have to admit it is a little bit mature. It has some swear words and sexual stuff in it. But if you are mature and wont be grossed out by the REAL life of a teenager then you should be fine. This book is about a girl named Virginia. She is a little plus sized and she looks nothing like her family. She is blonde, her sister is brunette, she is pudgy her mom is a lettus fan. She is not so good in school, her brother is a legond. But when smthing goes wrong like... Her best friend and only friend spends the school year in Walla Walla Washington, her brother gets banned from school for sexual assualt, her mom and dad are fighting and the only sort of good thing she can't even tell her parents, she is having an "affair" with this guy named Froggy Welsh the 4th. But, she tells him to get lost and now he has a girl with a "ski slope nose"! Will things ever get better?

The Sea of Trolls was the best books I've ever read. It had a plot that made me not want to stop reading. It was like a Goose Bumps book exept that it wasn't scary. I wan't to read more books like that because I just like what evers in it. Theres something that I just can't explain that I like about those types of books. I liked the book so much that once I read it for two hours.
I thingk I liked part of it because it had trolls and they things called berserkers. The fiction mixed with the non fiction made a really good combonation. If there was another book like that I would love to read it.

Sean really recommends "The Cartoon History of the Universe 2"

"The Cartoon History of the Universe 2" is a non fiction book written by Larry Gonick. It is about...well, the history of the universe in cartoon form. "The Cartoon History of the Universe 2" is the sequel to the original "Cartoon History of the Universe". Like its' previous installment, "The Cartoon History of the Universe 2" is way better than reading one of those boring 50000000 page textboooks. Readers will appreciate the detailed drawings and constant jokes.

"The Cartoon History of the Universe 2" is a very long read, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. I also liked the extreme detail. In the end, "The Cartoon History of the Universe 2" provides all that "The Cartoon History of the Universe does, which means it gets a 5/5. Just remember: would you be rather be reading this or a boring textbook? It's your decision.

The Book Thief
Ayani Hayashi 6B
Markus Zusak
Before you think anything wrong I read this book before Sean did. However I pressed preview not post and then turned off the computer and went to bed. It was 23:00 at the time.
This book takes place in WWII and is narrated by Death. Death talks about Liesel Meminger, a German girl who is sent to a foster home with her brother. Her brother dies on the way to the foster home. Basically Death talks about Liesels life during the time she lived with her foster mother and father. It is a pretty short read for a 550 page book.
So this is a really good book. However it does have several flaws. Death constantly talks about his job and after a while hearing the same thing over and over again can get on your nerves. Also this book has some bad language in German and in English. This pat isn't a bad party but, a warning. If you a accustomed to happy happy joy joy endings then this book is not for you.
Overall this book gets a 4/5. Its not a bad book. People should read it.

TOP SECRET is a book that lets you learn about codes and ciphers. You can also decode and decipher codes too. This is a great book for if you want to be a spy or just playing games with your friend. There are tons of codes you can learn plus this book tells you way you can create yoour own. Even if you don't plan to use the codes and ciphers it is still a very interesting book.

SCORPIA is a world wide organazation that causes world wide panic. S stands for silant CORP stands for coruption I stands for intelligents and A stands for assasanation. Alex Rider's dad was sead to work for SCORPIA which was not true. throughout the weeks Alex finds out the whole trueth without lies. SCORPIA plans to kill hundreds of thousends of kids. luckily Alex and M16 which are the good guys ruene SCORPIA's plans. But SCORPIA never forgave and SCORPIA never forgot. Alex found his parents but he never spoke to them thanks to SCORPIA.

The book Doe Sia is about a grupe of saints who come frome Europe and take a boat to New Yoark and then a train to Iowa.Then walk from Iowa to Salt lake citty. When a little girl named Emma gets lost off trail an indian girl named Doe Sia saves her life. Doi Sia is a good book if you like stories with adventure and true facts.It is also a story of servival and is a very good book.

The book The Forbidden Schoolhouse is a book I give a five out of five. It demonstates an aility to enrage the reader and make them want to go and do something about racial prejudice.
The book begins with prosperous schoolteacher Prudence Crandall running a School for girls in the times of slavery. Prudence one day found her black servant readin abolitionist nagazine "The Liberator". Prudence borrowed the magazine, and found herself enraged at the slave owners. She started a school for black girls. A lot of prejudice was then directed at her, including an arson attempt. I highly recommend this book.

The book that I have read is called Shelter Dogs, and as you know, way before me is Chloe who also read Shelter Dogs. I recommend this book to kids and people who love heart-warming stories about dogs. These dogs have fascinating things that they have gone through and what happens to them after all this chaos that they have suffered. After reading this book, it made me happy because they are going to a place that they know will take care of them in the highest degree. Even though I know that they will go to a good place, but it still makes me wonder what happens next. As I said before, I really recommend this book for dog lovers too!

Make Lemonade Summary

Make Lemonade is about a girl named LaVaughn. This girl happens to be poor; she is looking for a job. Then she sees a sign on a bulletin board that says, “Babysitter needed badly”.
LaVaughn goes to the woman’s house. It is messy, sloppy, and full of trash. The woman’s name is Jolly. She has a baby daughter named Jilly and a toddler son named Jeremy. After her mom’s approval, LaVaughn started to work there. She was paid normally even though it felt like not enough because those kids where a handful.
Jilly was a throw uppy, screaming little baby. Jeremy was a running, little happy toddler. One day, LaVaughn decides to plant a lemon tree for Jeremy. The whole story, Jeremy watches the plant grow.
Then, one day LaVaughn is babysitting and Jolly comes back home and says that she got fired. The story is mostly about LaVaughn helping Jolly get herself together and the relationship that they build.

Princess in Pink
I liked the book but it wasn't a real good book. I liked this book because it was really funny. It is kind of like a girl book to read. I like the very end when Mia Thermolis goes to the prom because that s what she always wanted to do. Her grandma causes a strike becaues she brought her dog into a resturant and got somebody fired. Then Mia was really mad because there wasn't any prom. Then her grandmother arranged for there to be a prom somewhere and she was so happy because she got to go. This book was not the best book I ever read but I did like it.

The book i read is called house of thirty cats and its about a girl named sarah she loves cats theyres a woman down the streeet with thirty cats so the other neighbors dont like the cat so when the cats get reported to city hall the woman has to give the cats up and sarah helps the woman find the homes for the thirty cats.
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Esperanza Rising
This is one of those storys that you know you should read because it really well written, or it's gotten lots of rewardes, and you know you should read it but you'd rather read a funny, short book.
But once you really get to sit down and read for a wile, you will get lost in it's pages. It's about a girl named Esperanza. she lives in mexico and is turning thirteen. the day befor her berthday her papa dies. then there house burnes down. Esperanza is forced to move to USA and work in the fields. she used to have lots of servants waiting her every move, but now she has lost all her money and is a pesant working for a living! How will she servive!

Summary of Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
By Isabel Allende

This story is the second book of a trilogy. The first book is called City of the Beasts. This takes place in the Himalayas. The second richest man in the world wants the fabled Golden Dragon. It is said that it can predict the future. Alex and Nadia get sucked into a world of adventure. What started out, as a nice vacation becomes a struggle for the possession of the Golden Dragon. I recommend this book. It has been well written and one of the best books I have ever read! Enjoy!

By Zach 6B

Well, the book I have read is a book called Ancient Greeks. The book is about all the cities in Greece, and they talk about the civilization, goverment, and wars. I recommend this book for the 6th graders and the new ones when Mike gives you an assignment for Ancient Greece and for the quiz.

Do you remember the color blue?” is a book about a women who became blind when she was in her late teens to her early 20’s. In this non-fiction book it shows that blind people still have the capability to to do most things that we can do. Also it explains that if your blind you usually learn to like it and adapt to it. You also get an inside look at what its like to be blind. The athore of this book is blind and she tells us her story. This story changed my mind on what it would be like to be blind. “Do you remember the color blue?” is truly a book to remember.

Jacob recommends 20,000 leuges under the sea.
20,000 leuges under the sea is about the adventures of the people; Mr. Aronnox, his servant, Counsel, and Ned Land, the worlds best harpooner. All three set out to rid the seas of a monster that has been sinking bouts. the monster sinks their bout and they take refuge on it. It turns out to be a submarine with a ram on the front. It is commanded by Captain Nemo, who manages to get out of many sticky situations throughout the book. I was a very interesteing book for me and if you like science fiction read 20,000 Leuges under the Sea by Jules Verne.

I just recently finished a book named "Drums, Girls, and dangeroud Pie". This is a bit of a depresing book because it's about a thirteen year old boy named Steven, who's little brother (Jeffey) gets a permanent and deadly illnes. The whole book is about Steven haveing to cope with his brothers illness and finnaly except. I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS BOOK!

The book Hatchet is about a boy named Brian and he was going to his dad and he was in this little plane.The driver said that the plane was going to crash.Then he crashes and the only thing he has with him is some money and a hatcht.And he has to try to survive inn the wild and while he does he runs into some bad stuff and he has to eat drink and survivein the wild.

Ayani
Invisible Enemies
Jeanette Farrel
This book is about seven different diseases. Small Pox, The Plague, Cholera, Leprosy, AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. It is a little creepy at points. this book is defently not for the squemish. For example small pox boils swell to a rrange of 5-7 centimeters and eventually pop.
The main problem with the book is that it gets a little borig sometimes with all the long names like Microbacciliusslapreamus, or M. Leprae. Also the details about some peoples personel life is boring.
over all this book gets 4.5/5. you will be very informed.

War of the Ancients book three, The Sundering. By Richard A. Knaak.

This book is the last of the Ear of the Ancients sears. In the novel the heroes must convenes the races of the world to join forces agents the monsters. This is harder then is sounds. The races have a strong dislike for one other. The heroes must hurry because all reality is clasping do to the motors magic.

This is by far the best book in the seers. It is about 371 pages long. In this novel is, betray, love, and combat. This book, like the ones before it, is vary adding, I was sad every time I hade to stop reading and come for diner. This is an exiting novel with much death.

"Esperanza Rising" is an intriguing story about a girl named Esperanza. Esperanza and her family were very wealthy. Her father owned a ranch called El Rancho de las Rosas in Aguascalientes, and Esperanza loved to play all day through the rows and rows of fruit. The day before her thirteenth birthday fiesta, a tragedy struck, forcing her to flee to California. Throughout the book, Esperanza faced good times and hardships. As she worked in the fields of Los Angeles, she learned to face the challenges of hard work and acceptance by her own people.
I loved "Eseranza Rising" because it taught me about Mexican culture. It also helped me to empathize with the difficult life of a laboror.

Sean recommends Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen

Lies My Teacher Told Me is a non fiction book by James Loewen about how inaccurate American history textbooks are. Basically, Loewen is criticizing 12 textbooks in practically every single way. After reading this book, it is shocking how the 12 textbooks Loewen examines are so inadequate for their purpose. Topics that are included in Lies My Teacher Told Me include slavery, heroification, racism, and more. Luckily, Lies My Teacher Told Me is about 320 pages, which is plenty long.

Ironically, Lies My Teacher Told Me says that most history textbooks are boring. Well, that leaves me wondering why he should be talking. I mean, it isn’t like this book is boring, but it… okay, it is boring in some parts. Like, really boring in those parts. Sometimes you just want to finish the part you’re reading and just get over it. Despite those flaws, Lies My Teacher Told Me is still a good read, which is why I give it a 4/5.

Sean recommends A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End by Lemony Snicket

The End is a fiction book by Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) about the unfortunate events of Sunny, Klaus, and Violet Baudelaire. Before reading The End, you should read all 12 books in the series before you read this one. As the title implies, The End is well, the end of the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. In the course of the story, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny uncover answers that solve many of their mysteries as they are pursued by the evil Count Olaf.

Like practically any book, The End has its flaws. Like the fact that it follows a typical Series of Unfortunate Events plotline: Baudelaires find a safe place, Count Olaf shows up and causes misery, something unfortunate happens. Sadly, that means that the whole series in general feels repetitive.
However, The End’s flaws don’t seriously hurt it, and that is why it gets a 4/5.

My book is called "Growing Up On The Maasai river. It is about a boy from Kenya who lies on the Country side. One day he goes camping and runs away from a bear and got called a coward. The book tels the life of an average Kenyan boy. Until He goes to school with a bunch of totally different kids. One day he gets a scholarship to a school in Broklyn. When he comes back he is a well educated man with fluent english.Then he gets a job at the Bank of Kenya. The book is about a typical Kenyan who gets a good education It is a really good book. I highly recomend it. If you read it I hope you enjoy it.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Ah, Animal Farm, how can someone not like this book? It is about communism in Russia, but instead of using names and places the characters are replaced by animals in a farm. A wonderful tale of political corruption, betrayal and the pigs who make it all happen. Symbolism galore and very well written, absolute genius I could not put it down.
5/5 Highly recommended to prospective freshmen. Good for impressing others.

The Amber Spyglass, written by Philip Pullman, review by Andy Thompson (in 6th Grade).

The Amber Spyglass is the third (and final) book in the trilogy, His Dark Materials. It is about a girl, Lyra, and her friend, Will, who are on a journey to find their fathers who can help both of them. Lyra and Will find two angels, Baruch and Balthamos. The angels are sent by Lyra’s father to help them find him, Lord Asriel. One day (actually one night), Will is wandering around alone and finds his father (a shaman) and just after they meet something, I can’t say what, happens to Will’s father. When he walks back to the camp area he and Lyra set up, he finds that Lyra is missing. The rest of the book is about how Will finds Lyra, rescues her and they run away to save the world.
I thought this book was better than the first two in the series, even though it’s almost 500 pages (and takes forever to read). Out of 10 stars I would rate this book a 6.5. I thought it was pretty long but some parts were pretty interesting while some other parts dragged on forever.

Soldier Boy, written by Brian Burks, review by Andy Thompson (in 6th Grade)

Soldier Boy is about an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old (he doesn’t know how old he is) named Johnny who is a boxer in Chicago in the late eighteen hundreds (the year is about 1885 or so). He is one of the best young boxers in the whole city and is fighting some old 40 year old. Just before the bout, a man offered Johnny’s fight manager (who controls all of the finances for Johnny and gets Johnny fights all around town) a deal that would make Johnny more money if he loses than if he wins. Johnny’s manager, Dean, told Johnny this but Johnny doesn’t want to break his unbeaten record so he beats the old guy. Dean, the fight manager, runs after Johnny trying to kill him because he just lost Dean a ton of money. Johnny jumps on the nearest train to get away from Dean.
Johnny ends up in Chicago with no money, no anything except his clothes. He tries to find a job but the only thing he can get a job in is in the army. He enrolls in the army thinking it will be a better life than anything else, but he’s wrong.
I thought that this book was very good but the end is very sad and leaves you wondering about whether he lives or dies. Out of 10 stars I’d give this book 7. It was a really quick read because the type size is pretty big.

The Witch of Black Bird Pond is a very good book. It is about a girl, named Kit, who lives with her grandfather who is very wealthy. Then when her grandfather dies she finds herself facing debts in every direction. Kit is forced to flee to America where she goes to her Aunts house near Hartford, Conn. to live. There she meets an old lady named Hannah.

The townspeople believe Hannah is a witch but Kit knows she is not. She helps Hannah to escape but, will the townspeople find out Kit helped? Will the townspeople put her to the witch test?

Review of:
Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious disease

This books is very interesting!!!! It tells lots of stories and anecdotes about 7 major infectious diseases (Small Pox, Leprosy, Plague, tuberculosis, Malaria, cholera, and Aids). A good feature about this book is that it tells about how certain scientists and doctors did to cure patients and annihilate the diseases. It shows ways to stay healthy and disease free from these diseases as well. This book is a MUST READ!!!!!!!!!!!

I read a book called "The Matrydoom of Cassie Bernall" this book is about the columbine high school shooting in colorado in 1999 I highly reccomend this book this book was written by her mother and it was about that day that she was shot this book is very strong and sad and if you are mature and not one of those people who screams aboout bad things and just falls apart because one little thing had happend then you should read this book if you are one of those people dont read this book you would die! But this book is a great one it talks with the survivers from the accident and the events like the shooting and the bomb in the school this book had an impact on me and I want to hear more about it because this is so interesting so its so powerful now that I lent it to Ann Meisner!

Brenda
6B
Bindi Babes
Narinder Dhami

This book is about three sisters who's mother had died.The sisters are popular,rich,and good students. Since the mother's death, the father has spoiled his daughters. The girls' Aunt comes to visit and disciplines them. They definitely don't like it. In the end they all come together as a family.The "bindi babes" learn that their is just looking after them as their mother had asked.

This book is all about basketball but also has a very good stoory.The characters are really good and you can get into them.While reading this I never once thought it was boring.The ending of this book was also spectacular.I would reccomend this to anyone who likes a good book. The books main character is Lonnie Jackson who lives in Harlem.He is a good ball player and soon gets involved in a tournament.He meets a man named Cal who is coaching the team and they soon become freinds.You learn more and more about Cal as the story goes on and Lonnie learns from it. As the book nears the end it spills out of control and has a crazy ending.

By:Natan Sebhatleab

I read a book called Cinderella Dogs. Cinderella Dogs is about dog adoptions from the SFSPCA. This book is filled with all sorts of stories about dogs whose lives completely turn around. They go from down under to on top. Some stories are about dogs that are sick, dogs who have been neglected and became depressed, lost dogs, older dogs for whom it's more difficult to find a home, etc. Every single one of those dogs' lives turn around whether they are cured, they've found an owner with a perfect home where they are loved, or they are found.
I liked this book very much but I think they advertised for the SPCA too much. Overall, the stories were engaging and VERY cute!

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

I found this book to be sad but also a story that pulls you in and you do not want to put the book down. It is about the journey of a young girl named Esperanza who's life changes from wealth to hard work in order to survive. The story also has a lot about history and is very interesting. This is a book about a girl who just about has anything and everything she wants until a day before her 13th birthday when an unexpected tragedy happens. Esperanza, her mother and two of their servants and the servants son flee to California. In California Esperanza learns what it is like to live without having everything. But she learns about how much the poor have because they have love which is worth more than all the gold in the world.

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. It’s another “chosen one” book. But don’t get me wrong; it’s a great and read for anyone. Young will Stanton discovers that he is an Old One, a small band of immortals protecting this world from The Dark, an evilness that has plagued the world since the beginning. For the twelve days of Christmas, Will will have to fight for his life, in a race to find 6 legendary signs to save the world. I rate this 5/5, Susan cooper is pure genius in her work.

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is about a little girl named Mary who lives in India. She has a nice life, except for the fact that she is sick most of her life. She is a very unsocial person. She has temper tantrums and scream at the top of her lungs.
One day everyone, including her mom, dies of a serious disease. So a woman named Mrs. Medlock takes her away to Mary’s uncle’s mansion. Mary starts living there, and every day she goes out to the garden. She makes a gardener friend and asks him about the garden that is behind a wall there inn the garden. He tells her that no one has been in there for ten yeas strait. Because they buried the key to the garden ten years ago.
This story is about Mary and her adventures in the Garden with her two friends, Dickon and Collin. She makes friends with them later in the book.

The book is called The Warsons go to Birmingham. They are just a normal family until the oldest of the kids were the big brother Byron.He was always getting in trouble and one day the mom couldn't take it anymore, she told the family they were going to Flint.That was where the grandma lives and up in Flint a church blew up.They went up there to discipine Byron.Then up in Flint they run into some trouble and they have to deal with it.

At the moment I am reading a great 5 part book called "White Fang by Jack London". Basicly it's just a story about this once domesticated she wolf and her life story, I'm still in the second part but it picks up pretty quickly. In the biggening it's about these to men Henry and Bill, but once Bill is killed and Henry saved from his sure death instead of talking more about these men the second part begins right after Henry is saved. the story keeps going on like this and the she wolf meets more people and other wolfes. This isn't a very good description, but it's hard to explain. But I can assure it will be one the best books you'll ever read

Brenda
Sisterhood of the traveling pants
Ann Brashares

This book is about a group of friends who separate during the summer. One goes to Greece, one goes to camp, one goes to her dad and another stays in home. Lena goes to Greece to spend time with her grandparents. Bridget goes to soccer camp and she finds this coach who she likes. Carmen finds out that her dad is getting married to another women with children. Tibby meets this girl who is sick and dies. The pants that they share are "magical" and comforting to the girls on their separate journeys.

I think this book is a good book because it’s very dramatic story. It’s funny at times and sad at others. They came back together and I wonder what will happen next summer!

Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Ayani

This book is about a person named Guy Montag. In this book he is a fireman with a pretty simple job. Burning down houses. Only certain ones, the ones with books. He takes a car, gets is house that pumps out kerosene or a flamethrower, arrests the person in the building, and goes back to the staion and plays poker. Nobody really questioned their work. He didn't. Then he met a girl that told him about strange things like the fact that since the cars go 80 per hour on slow, the companies stretched the signs. But mostly a past with great people. Then one day she dies.
Guy then is partonized by the mechaical Hound. The hound is a robot that has instead of a mouth, a syringe filled morphine or some other chemical with dangerous potential. It then chases it's prey and injects it with the chemical, an throws it into a wall incinerator which each building has. This is basically the police.
Then Guy meets a proffesor who tells him about a future where people can think and have books. Then he starts to see a light.
This book is preety good. There are a few details you don't really need to hear. Also it is a little bit creepy. For example this lady gets her bllod poisoned by to many sleeping pills and these people cut open her body, suck all the bllod out and rush a ton of blood back in. Every one should read the book. It's not perfect but what is? to good 5/5 book.

Wrgiht 3

This book is about three children or kids close to teenagers who try to save this house called the Robie house. The house is going to be torn down and they basically try to save it from being torn down. They live their daily lives and as they do things they find little clues here and there that lead to saving the Robie house. In the end, they do save the house after all. This book is also the second book of "Chasing Vermeer".
I think this book jumps from place to place and puts random things in it that can start a new chapter. This book is a mystery book which makes you think of what is going to happen next as you read a long. But it is put in a way that you can't figure out anything until the book is finished. I did not really like this book so i wouldn't really recommend it-only to people who LOVE mystery books.

Troy Mock 4th grade, January 29,2007

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

JK Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a fiction book about a wizard who has to hunt down a killer named Voldemort who murdered his parents. In the end, Dumbledore dies sadly. I really recomend this book but advise you to read the Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. This book is thrilling, suspensful, and one of the best books I ever read. I'd give all the books a 5/5 but especilly this one. JK Rowling is the best writer in the world!

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts is a great book for finding information about corpses,coffens and crypts. it tell all about different types of burial, geting rid of corpses, and different cultural burial rituals. this is mainly good for information but you could still read it for fun.

Sean recommends World War Z by Max Brooks (yes, he’s the son of Mel Brooks, okay?!?!?)

World War Z is a fiction book by Max Brooks about war. A war against zombies, specifically. The premise of World War Z is that in the near future, the world is suddenly at war with millions and millions of zombies. The whole story is told by many supposed interviews with the people who were involved in the “Zombie War”. I must say that while the premise of World War Z may sound too science-fictionish, World War Z is an extremely compelling read.

World War Z’s narration is very creepy and very realistic. I might add that there is extremely high use of profanity and other inappropriate language, but it definitely adds to the atmosphere of the story. At times World War Z can also be extremely sick and twisted. Reading accounts of people describing the corpses of dead people they saw was definitely sick and twisted.

But for me, one of the best things about World War Z was how realistic it managed to make itself feel. There was one moment, near the middle of the book, which struck me as very surprising. It was an excerpt from a general, who said: “The Alpha Teams were ordered to eliminate zombies…with extreme prejudice.” Now most of my friends know that I’m sort of a history buff, and that statement stood out. Then I remembered: in the Vietnam War, American commandos were ordered to take out Viet Cong…with extreme prejudice. The fact that Max Brooks took the time to add a lot of little references to past history and future technology makes World War Z one of the best books I’ve ever read.

In the end, World War Z produces a chilling, twisted, evil…yet great read. The writing is top notch, the descriptions chilling, the narrations great…this book deserves a five out of five. And that’s what it gets: a 5/5.

The True Confessions of Chorlotte Doyle by AVI

The TCCD (The True Confessions of Chorlotte Doyle) is one of the best books I have ever read! It is a book about a girl who is going to America by boat. Her mother and father are already in America waiting for her so they send to other familys to act as her guardians. But when things go amiss and both of the familys dont show up Chorlotte is forced to go on the boat alone! I give this book a two thumbs up and a 5/5

i read a book called The Clique. it was really good. it was about a new girl that moves into a new town were every one is rich and gorgus! its like Beverly Hills, exept its in Massacusits. any way a girl moves to the twon and her parents are friends with some people who live there. the family lets Clare's (the new girl) family move into there guest house untill they can find a home of there own. it just happens that the the family that they move in with has a dauter that is the leader of the most exclusive clique in the city! she is Massy the girl every one want to be. she is rich, popular, and mean. Clare is shy, young for her age, and honest. the minite theese girls meet you can tell there will be trouble. read this book and help Clare through the hardest time of her Middle School carrer!