Flipped

Flipped

by Myles Cruz

I read the book Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen. I read this book in sixth grade and again in seventh grade. When I was first told about this book by my sixth grade English teacher, I thought this would be a very good book. That day I was also told about other books that seemed very interesting to. I read all the books I was interested in and I read their backs. This book was interesting because each chapter is wrote by a different point of view by the two main characters. I usually pick books by how the book's back because it explains a lot.
The two main characters in this book are Bryce and Julianna who are great characters. The story starts out in second grade and ends in eight grade. In the beginning of the story Bryce is a young kid who is moving in next to Julianna. Julianna sees Bryce and immediantly has a crush on him. She tries to help Bryce and his family move in but does in a rude way by pushing boxes out of the moving truck with her muddy feet. Immediantly Bryce hates Julianna and this is how it goes on for most of the book. Julianna still has a crush on Bryce for most of the book. The rest of the book is great but you would have to read it to find out.
There is actually two quotes in the story that really deal with the whole books subject. Julianna's quote was "What did a kiss feel like anyway?" Throughout the whole book Julianna really wants to kiss Bryce or at least have him kiss her. She waits years and years, but still didn't get her kiss. Bryce's quote is "I still had enough sense at age seven and a half to know that Julianna Baker was dangerous." This is how the book goes. Bryce really tries to ignore Julianna throughout his whole life with her. He never wants to be with her and in one part of the book she sees him in third grade and tackles him with a big hug. Bryce really didnt want to see her ever again.
This book would have a good rate. In my rating system I use a heart as an icon because Julianna loves Bryce throughout the whole book. Everything Julianna did was mostly about liking Bryce. One out of ten I give this book an eight:
This book is great. I think that this book will be great for all ages. This book is great because you see the different view points about how both Bryce and Julianna feel about each other. I think that this book will also relate to you whether you are a Bryce or a Julianna. I also believe that this book is great because everyone will love the story and from when it starts and ends.

The Graveyard Book

Cidnee
September 14, 2009

The book I read was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I chose to read this book because the school library recommended it. I decided to read it because I heard it was an amazing book. Later, I heard that he was the author of Coraline (one of my favorite
books) and I was sure I was going to read it. Soon after, I simply went to my local book store and purchased it.

The book is about a boy who wandered into a graveyard when he was just an infant, the night his parents where killed, by a mysterious
man named Jack. The "residents" of the graveyard (the ghosts) decided to raise him as their own. The ghosts named him Nobody Owens. As
he gets older he meets many creatures, ghouls, and ghost at the graveyard. His teacher is Miss Lupescu a werewolf and one of his friends
Liza Hempstock is the ghost of a witch. Nobody has only been taught what the ghosts know such as the ability to fade, haunt, and dream walk. As
he gets older he must face the dangers of both the living and the dead.

"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone and a blade finer and sharper than any razor...
if it sliced you, you might not even know that you had been cut - not immediately.The knife had done almost everything it was brought to the house
to do and both the blade and the handle were wet... " I think this quote has a huge significance because they don't exactly say that Nobody's parent
died but it lets you know they were killed.

I rated this book using 1-4 tombstones. I used tombstones because of the books name. The amount of headstones I used shows how much I liked it,
the more the better. I gave the book 4 out of 4 tombstones because I thought the book was absolutely amazing.
I recommend that children of any age read this book. If you love adventure and fantasy books, if you love books that involve
ghost and ghouls, and if you love surprises, you must read this book!!!

Daniel X

                                                                          BOOK REVIEW BLOG
                                                                            by Jackson



    The book that I am going to be writing about is called "Daniel X", and the author is James Patterson.  The prominent reason that I selected this book was that I had just finished reading it at the end of summer, so I still have a strong memory of the story and the characters, along with it also being a great book.  The only reason that I came across this book was due to of an advertisement that  my mom saw in the L.A. Times.  She thought it would be a good summer book, and she was right.


    The main theme of this book is pretty basic, but the way the author entices the reader with colorful grammar, which makes it a much faster, more enjoyable read.  The book is about a boy, Daniel, who in the beginning is an ordinary three-year-old, except for the fact that he can read people's minds, rearrange molecules at will, and transform into different things, animals, insects or any other object nameable.  At age three, a life-altering event happens to his family, that will change Daniel's life story tremendously.  His parents are ruthlessly murdered by an over-grown Rastafarian praying mantis, who throughout the whole scene is searching for, and screaming, "give me the list", which when you read the book, you will find the significance of the quote.  It then becomes Daniel's life journey to rid all of the alien outlaws, along with the praying mantis, on earths face, with help from his best friends, and his parents, whom Daniel can manifest at any given time.


    "I was a three-year-old boy again. Transformed.  No longer a tick. I stood and turned back, and stared in disbelief and terror that could find no voice at that awful moment.".  The quote listed above has great significance to the foundation of the story. This is when the Rastafarian praying mantis burns down his house, kills his parents, and takes everything away from Daniel that he has.  This is when he makes the commitment to seek out every alien outlaw on earth and destroy them as revenge, and this is also when he becomes Daniel "X".


    I am going to give this book 5 happy faces out of 5 happy faces, because this book was enticing and a blast to read.       

                                                                                                      
   

    I would recommend this book to someone who LOVES crazy science-fiction books.  Its dense in material, but also a fun and easy/light read, its DEFINITELY a page-turner, and it doesn't have too much questionable material in it, all though there is light violence, and some gore, but thats it and its not too bad.  Other than that, I would definitely recommend it to science-fiction lovers out there.

Beautiful Disaster

Emily

English, Period 2

September 12, 2009

Beautiful disaster

Over the summer, I read a book called Beautiful Disaster by Kate Brian. I chose this book because it's the sequel to a book called Privileged by the same author. I also read her entire series called Private, so it wasn't very hard to chose this book since I've been reading her books for almost two years now. I didn't really like the first book in the spinoff series, so I wasn't sure if I would like this one. I decided to pick it up and read the back, and it seemed so interesting! I also wanted to find out some things that were left up in the air in the first book.

Beautiful Disaster  is about a girl named Ariana who has gone through a lot just to get into and ivy leagued school, including sneaking out of a mental facility, and befriending a high society girl just to kill her and take over her life. Ariana  takes over a new identity as Briana Leigh, a very high society girl with a very wealthy grandmother. She steps into the halls of Atherton Pryce boarding school as Briana Leigh Covinngton, not Ariana. She makes friends with the most popular girls in school, just like her life before she murdered her boyfriend and was then sent to a mental facility. As if it wasn't hard enough keeping her real identity a secret, speaking with a southern accent, and acting like she remembers people she doesn't know, more trouble enters her life. Her old room mate from Brenda T. Correction Facility named Kaitlyn escaped from the correction facility  as well,and  follows her asking her for a very large sum of money. Ariana had 4 days to get the money and give it to Kaitlyn before Kaitlyn threatened to tell the world that Ariana killed Briana Leigh and took over her identity. The stakes are very high, and Ariana also has to deal with more troubles along the way, and the book ends with a very unexpected twist!

"Why had she trusted Kaitlyn?Why had she let her out of prison?Why couldn't she have just seen the girl she really was- a lying, manipulative, murderous psychopath?" This quote appears right in the middle of the book, in the midst of Ariana's troubles. This quote is also so important to the story because it's when Ariana starts realizing that she can't always get her way, unlike she has her whole life. It's definitely a turning point in the book because her whole outlook changes and so does the plot of the story. There's a huge change and Ariana takes action by trying to get rid of Kaitlyn once and for all. 

My rating system for this book is shown by a school crest. I chose the crest because the main setting of the book is the Atherton Pryce boarding school, and in the very beginning of the book, Ariana steps on the floor crest, which is rumored to be bad luck if you step on it. The myth was, in my opinion, very true because throughout the entire story, Ariana faces lots of bad luck. I would definitely rate this book twenty crests (stars) because it was real page turner at some points in the story, but some of it was a little boring, and confusing. Overall though, it was an amazing book!( Each crest is worth five stars).

I would recommend Beautiful Disaster to anyone who likes the Private series by Kate Brian. This is the sequel book in the spinoff series, so any fans of the first series would easily love this book. I think the target audience of this book is girls ages 13 to 16. It's just a little inappropriate because it has to do with murder, and some of the chapters are a little too detailed for younger readers. I don't really recommend this book to boys, because there aren't a lot of male characters. Adults wouldn't enjoy this book because it's based around teenagers, and it involves so much gossip. Girls 13 to 16 would like it because of the scandal, the gossip, and all of the normal teenage drama times ten! Readers of the first book or series would love it because the first book leaves everything hanging! A girl 13 to 16 would also like this book because the characters are so complex yet enjoyable, and by the end of the book, it's almost like you're friends with them! The very last reason the target audience would love reading this book is because it answers so many questions from both of the series, but things are still left up in the air! I loved reading this book!

Evermore

Evermore

 

            The book I read was Evermore by Alyson Noel. I selected this book when looking for a book to read while waiting for the next House of Night book to come out. It was recommended to me by one of the employees of Barnes and Noble. The cover was unusual and the synopsis on the back of the book really pulled me in, so I decided to buy it.

           

            The main character is named Ever. Her family died in a car accident and somehow she lived. The repercussion of this travesty was that she could see auras, read minds, and with the simple touch she can read the persons entire history. When she goes to school one day she meets a boy. His name is Damen. The reason she realized him is because of his perfect beauty and the fact that he had no aura. Whenever she touches him, her body tingles and he is the only one she can focus on, everything else just stops and goes away. This book refers to common themes in a teenagers' life, as in crushes and first love. Whether you realize it or not, this book entices you and changes your entire idea about how you felt or will feel when that day comes where you meet someone special.

 

            The quote I chose from Evermore is, "'I don't want to talk about it,' I say, blinking at the water globes that are now red and forming into a tulip.
     'What do you want to talk about?' he whispers, gazing at me with those eyes, two infinite pools luring me in.

      'I don't want to talk,' I whisper, holding my breath as his lips met mine." This quote says a lot about the book. The reason I chose this quote was because of their love in the story. Ever and Damen are truly in love. The second reason is because of the tulip they mentioned. Damen periodically gives Ever red tulips. They appear out of thin air, on paper, and now an image of glowing light bulbs floating in water. Later in the book Ever finds out that red tulips symbolize ever-dieing love or affection. It is interesting how Damen shows his love for her in so many ways. It is truly sweet.

 

            I would rate this book in red tulips to show how much I love this book and also to symbolize the love in the book. I would give this book 4 out of 5 red tulips. It was an amazing book. It was well written and painted an interesting picture. The meaning was clear and the ending, enticing. I loved this book.

           

 

 

            I would recommend this book to all teenagers. It shows how we see love at this age, specifically our first crushes. It goes through emotional rollercoaster during the duration of the book that any teen would find interesting. It also shows others that when something bad happens, you can always push through. I would not recommend this to children younger than 11. This book has references to underage drinking. It truly is an amazing book. 

Avalon Web of Magic

Avalon Web of Magic consist of three books. The first
one, Circles in the Stream is about Emily, a twelve year old girl. She
just moved in to town and her mom is a vet. Her whole life changes
when Adriane brings in an enormous wounded cat to her mom's animal
hospital. The cat was found in the Ravenswood Preserve. Strangely, the
odd cat heals itself in a few days. Emily soon afterwards takes her
dogs to the park. They run off in to the preserve. Emily runs after
them and finds, deep in the forest, a large sacred Indian rock and
next to it, a grey wolf named Stormbringer and a pretty rock giving
her magic powers. Later, Emily and Adriane and meet a kind purple
bear named Phel who heals people and animals. Through a series of
events they save their beloved Phel and the rest of the Ravenswood.
I chose this book because it's fun and hard to put down. I would
recommend this book to other kids who would like something adventurous
and positive to read.

Elizabeth
6th Grade

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Douglas

I recently read an incredible book called Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire written by J.K. Rowling. This book is an enchanting fantasy about a 14 year old boy called Harry Potter and his many adventures in a school that teaches magic.