Reed
BOOK NAME: The Green Book
AUTHOR: Jill Paton Walsh
I really recommended this book for 8-year-olds. I had to do a book report at school on a science fiction book and this is the one I chose.
The book is about how everybody on Earth has to leave the planet because of a nuclear war. Pattie doesn’t want to but she has to. They all go on a big spaceship to go to their new world. When they get there, the youngest of the group on that spaceship got to name the planet. Pattie was the youngest and she named it Planet Shine.
The main story is about how everyone gets used to Shine. They use all the wood they find to build cabins. They burn jellyfish to make lamps. The bad thing is that their crops won’t grow properly. But then they notice that they can eat the jellyfish. They also found the Candy Tree in the forest and they discovered they could eat the sap and it was sweet.
Pattie was playing in a place called Boulder Valley and then suddenly the boulders broke and they turned into giant moths, at least that’s what the people called them. They were friendly until they all died.
My favorite part was when they had to leave Earth. It was cool. I recommend this book if you like made up things like magical creatures.
Reed recently had a chance to interview one of his favorite authors–Gary Paulsen! Gary Paulsen has written more than 175 books, three of which were Newberry Honor winners: Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. Read Gary’s answers to Reed’s questions.
REED: Hi Mr. Paulsen, I’m Reed and I work for the National Geographic Kids DogEared Blog. I’ve done reviews on two of your books: the new one Woods Runner, and Hatchet. Is it OK if I ask you some questions?
GARY: You bet!
REED: What were you like as a kid?
GARY: I’m going to try and be as honest as I can be. I was a really poor student and I had a rough childhood. I barely made it through high school. I was a poor reader until a public librarian turned me on to reading. That saved my life.
REED: Who was your favorite author when you were a kid?
GARY: I had a bunch, but ultimately Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick. It was an adventure story. It changes each time you read it. I’ve read it 12 times, maybe.
Read the whole post »
BOOK NAME: Woods Runner
AUTHOR: Gary Paulsen
This book is a good historical fiction because it has a lot of Revolutionary War facts and a lot of action combined into one book. After every chapter, Gary Paulsen picked one important fact about the Revolutionary War and it would usually be a fact on the chapter you just read. Gary Paulsen actually used all of the guns in the book to get the feeling of them for the story.
The book is about a 13-year-old boy named Samuel who loves hunting and lives in a cabin with his Mom and Dad. He was out hunting one day because he feels so calm and relaxed in the woods. But before he went out, one of his neighbors told him there was a war in Massachusetts. He turned back because he heard something behind him and he saw smoke. He thought of the British Army, and he sprinted back…
I’m not going to tell you the rest because I want you to get the book and read it, but it’s about adventure and survival.
I’ve written a review on another Gary Paulsen book: Hatchet. Woods Runner is Paulsen’s newest book. It was published in 2010. It’s different than Hatchet because it’s historical fiction and Hatchet doesn’t really have any history. In Woods Runner there are more characters than Hatchet where there’s really on Brian, the main character. Gary Paulsen also read diaries from kids in the Revolutionary War so that he could get actually know how people like Samuel actually felt and acted.
BOOK NAME: Hatchet
AUTHOR: Gary Paulsen
Brian Robeson, a 13 year old boy, is flying to visit his divorced Dad who lives in Canada. The pilot has a sharp pain in his chest and he has a heart attack. After the pilot’s heart attack, Brian ends up flying the plane for about two minutes. After finding that the radio is broken, he crashes the plane into a lake.
This story is about Brian and how he survives in the wilderness for 42 days with nothing except a hatchet and a ripped up windbreaker. At first, he had pains all over his body, so he just slept on the sand. The next day, the pain was getting better, so decided to build a lean-to shelter. That’s just the beginning of all the excitement.
He ends up fishing, hunting and picking berries for food. And there’s also dangerous times like a tornado, and standing about six feet from a black bear.
Gary Paulsen is a three-time Newberry Honor author and he’s very good. He also has a good book called Guts which is all about his real life. It is very exciting and the reason why I wanted to read Hatchet.
That’s all for now. I hope you read this book. Until next time – bye!
BOOK NAME: Tom Sawyer
AUTHOR: Mark Twain
Adapted Tim Mugg, Writer and Rad Sechrist, Artist
This is a graphic novel of the famous story Tom Sawyer. It’s about a boy named Tom Sawyer and his best friend Huckleberry Finn, who’s an orphan.
They have these crazy adventures. Once Huck found a dead cat and he said that if you put it on a just-buried persons’ grave, the devil will come and take the cat. And as a reward, the devil will take a wart away – no matter how big it is. So they put the dead cat on a grave and Tom thinks he sees the devil. But really it was grave robbers. Tom and Huck go hide behind a tree and the grave robbers end up getting into a fight and one gets killed. Tom is an eye witness and has to go to court because he saw what really happened. He frees the guy who didn’t kill him, and says who it really was – Injun Joe. Joe jumps out the window and runs away.
The rest of the book is other cool adventures like once they went to an island and they forgot to tie their raft up. They were stuck there for a day! But don’t worry…he meets Injun Joe again.
This is just one classic book that’s a graphic novel. There are others in the series like Dracula.
I’m reading The Magician’s Elephant next. It’s by Kate Dicamillo who also wrote Tales of Despereaux which I reviewed. See ya next time.
BOOK NAME: Travels with Tarra
AUTHOR: Carol Buckley
Tarra the elephant was sent from Africa to California to a man named Bob who wanted attention for his tire store. Then a college girl, the author Carol Buckley, ends up buying Tarra and teaches her all sorts of tricks, but she’s most famous for her roller skating. Tarra’s roller skates are specially made to fit her feet – they’re huge! For about twenty years, Carol and Tarra appeared at circuses, theme parks, and zoos.
This is a picture book that is for older kids. It’s very interesting because Tarra has a very cool life. She meets Carol’s dog Tasha, and they become friends. There’s a picture of Tarra holding up the dog with her trunk!
Tarra ends up living in a bunch of zoos but finally settles down in Buckley’s elephant sanctuary. A lot of other elephants live in the sanctuary with Tarra. The sanctuary is in Tennessee, is 800 acres big, but you may not go visit the elephants there.
Buckley created the sanctuary so that Tarra could settle down and not have to move to different places.
I really like this book. Until next time – seeya!
BOOK NAME: Escape from the Carnivale: A Never Land Book
AUTHOR: Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Hi, it’s Reed again. For my next book, I thought this was a really good adventure book. I hope you like my blog.
This book takes place in Never Land – an imaginary place that has mermaids and other mythological creatures. I’m pretty sure that all of you have seen Peter Pan or at least heard of it. This is the same Never Land from Peter Pan.
It all started off when this little girl, named Scallop, went down to play with the mermaids. The mermaids wanted to play “Deep Pearl Diving”. While they were playing one of the mermaids got lost. They didn’t notice until they got back to the shore. Scallop thought it was all her fault, but the other mermaids and her dad said it was not her fault.
Scallop is a princess of beautiful Mollusk Island. A pirate ship called the Carnivale is going to attack the island because they want the land to make a show with all the beasts that they’ve captured from Never Land – including mermaids.
The lost Mermaid, Surf, was caught by those pirates who were looking for weird beasts. The Captain of this ship is Captain Hook.
You’ll have to read the rest to know more about this fantastic story.
Thank you for reading my blog. Have a nice day!
BOOK NAME: Swindle
AUTHOR: Gordon Korman
Hi, it’s Reed again. I’m going to tell you about a book called Swindle.
It started when Griffin and Ben had a sleepover at the old house. Griffin found a Babe Ruth card (by the way, Babe Ruth is one of the all-time best baseball players ever!). The card was worth millions of dollars, but he didn’t know that. He knew the card would be worth some money, but didn’t realize how much! It would help his family be able to keep their house.
He goes to a card store and a cashier tells him that it’s worth $120.00. Griffin says “fine.” Griffin never knew that the cashier cheated him.
You have to read the rest to find out if he gets the card back or if he gets millions of dollars or if he doesn’t. I’ll give you a hint: there’s a lot of police, a robbery, and a dog chase.
This book is for 8 and 9 year olds. I hope you read the book because it has a lot of twists and turns. I read it so fast that my brain was full of facts. It’s a good action book. If want this book you can go to Barnes and Noble. I hope you read it!
BOOK NAME: IceFire
AUTHOR: Chris D’Lacey
Hi, it’s Reed again and I’m reviewing the sequel to The Fire Within. Hope you enjoy.
David
might be going to the Arctic to research polar bears. You have to pay
$700 to go to the Arctic, but if you have the best report in your
college class, you go for free. David does his report on dragons. A
girl named Zanaa, who’s in his class, is going to bring David a book on
dragons. Lucy thinks he loves her.
David has a meeting with a
publisher for Snigger and the Nut Beast (remember that from my review
of the first book?), and he got an offer for $1,000. He says yes.
Liz’s
aunt comes to visit so David has to stay at the neighbors’, Mr. Bacon.
Liz has a snowball that keeps all of her dragons alive and David wants
to know more about it. There is a dragon egg that the Aunt wants Liz to
hatch. The Aunt has a dragon named Gretel. David is suspicious of how
the Aunt behaves.
Zanaa wins the contest at school! She’s
going to the Arctic for free! Gadzooks writes the word Loral for David.
Loral is a bear and Gadzooks is trying to tell David that Loral is
important! You have to read the book to find out the end. I will see you
next time! Bye!
BOOK NAME: National Geographic Kids Almanac 2010
You’ll like this book if you’re really interested in a lot of stuff. It has so many random facts.. like the World’s Wildest Theme Parks. Did you know Ocean Park in Hong Kong is really close to the ocean and it’s all ocean animals?!
Some of the topics of the book are: Amazing Animals, Culture Connection, Geography Rocks, Going Green, History Happens, Wonders of Nature and Super Science.
Here’s one of the stories I liked. It’s called “5 Cool Dudes Who Changed the World” and it’s about five people who helped make the world a better place. The cool dudes are Marco Polo, Juan Ponce de Leon, Ferdinand Magellan, David Livingstone, and Robert Peary. Marco Polo was one of the first Europeans to explore China. Juan Ponce de Leon was the first to discover Florida. Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world. Livingstone was the first European to explore Africa extensively. Peary led the expedition that was the first to reach the geographic North Pole.
In Geography Rocks, there’s a story called “10 Cool Things About the White House.” The first one is that the President has his very own helicopter called the Marine One. The second is the White House has a lot of sports things like tennis and basketball courts, a swimming pool and a putting green! Number nine is that some claim the White House is haunted by John Adams wife, Abagail.
It also has more than 500 incredible photos and lots of other cool things.
BOOK NAME: Beast Quest
AUTHOR: Adam Blade
Beast Quest is a really good series that I’ve read. There are 12 books in the series. If you like good adventure with a lot of action, this is the perfect series.
The series follows, Tom, Elenna, Storm and Silver. Tom is a Blacksmith apprentice. His dad was a great Knight, who died, and now Tom lives with his uncle. Elenna has a pet wolf, Silver, and ran away to go on this risky journey with Tom. Storm is Tom’s white Stallion who’s very useful. And Aduro is the Wizard that gave Tom all of his special items, including his sword, 3D map and shield.
Their journey in the first six books is to free all of the beasts that Malvel, an evil wizard, has captured – Ferno the Fire Dragon, Sepron the Serpent, Cipher the Mountain Giant, Tagus the Night Horse, Tartok the Ice Beast and Epos the Winged Flame. In the next six books, Malvel makes six new beasts. I’m not going to tell you who they are.
I hope you enjoy the 12 books in the series. They’re reallllly good. It’s just like you’re in the movie – you’re right there in the movie. It’s like Lord of the Rings!
BOOK NAME: World’s Dumbest Crooks and Other True Tales of Bloopers, Botches & Blunders
AUTHOR: Allan Zullo
This book is about some of the world’s dumbest crooks, stupidest sports plays and other stuff like that.
Here’s one example. This robber robbed a store and was so tired afterward that he thought he’d sit down for a while and he accidentally fell asleep! In the store he just robbed! The police caught him while he was taking his nap.
Then, there was this lady who had a vending machine at her store. She brought her cat to work everyday. She was going to sell her vending machine, but her cat jumped in the machine trying to get some food. The cat ended up on a five-hour trip to the store of the new owner!
There is another one was about a quarterback on a football team during a game. His team was lined up and he took the ball to the ref and said it was a practice ball. Then he yelled “Hike!” He kept the ball and ran all the way to the touchdown. And the referees said it counted!
This book was interesting because it had so many funny stories about how stupid and funny people could be. The book has chapters about crooks, sports, animals, movie stars and a few others.
I hope you enjoy this book if you end up getting it. It’s really funny.
BOOK NAME: Robot Riot!
AUTHOR: Andy Griffiths
Hi, I’m back with a very exciting book. It’s called Robot Riot, and it’s book 4 of the Schooling Around series. Another book by this author is The Day My Butt Went Psycho!
The main characters are Jenny, Jack, Newton and Henry. They think that the new girl at their school, Roberta, is a robot. They think that because they read her diary. She’s a great drawer, nicer than anyone, a good story writer, and really brainy. In her diary, she writes about her being a robot.
The robot on the cover is not actually Roberta, it was made by Grant, a kid in their class. It was made to try and fight Roberta, but its systems didn’t work in time, so they dressed Henry up like a robot to try and fight Roberta.
And then…
You’ll have to read the book to find out the rest. I’m not giving away the ending this time! If you’ve read the book, DON’T mention what happens if you leave me a comment.
If you like a good adventure, with some funny parts, the book is great.
Goodbye now, people!
BOOK NAME: The Fire Within
AUTHOR: Chris D’Lacey
David is a tenant living with Liz and her daughter Lucy. Liz makes special dragons out of clay. She makes one for David named Gadzooks, who is a writing dragon.
Lucy asks David to tell her a story and David says maybe. Lucy tells David about two squirrels named Conker and Snigger. Conker has an injured eye so they try to trap him and bring him to the vet. It’s almost Lucy’s birthday so David writes a story called Snigger and the Nut Beast. On Lucy’s birthday David isn’t finished so he reads the first couple of chapters in the book and Lucy loves it. David starts to figure out that the clay dragons are real! He pictures Gadzooks in his mind and the dragon writes something on his notebook and it helps David on his book.
Lucy and David catch Conker and bring him to Sophie for help. David and Sophie fall in love, but Sophie tells them that Conker is going to die. Lucy and David are very sad. You have to read the rest because I don’t want to give away the whole thing! The next book in the series is IceFire.
BOOK NAME: Two-Minute Drill, A Comeback Kids novel
AUTHOR: Mike Lupica
This time I’m writing about a sports book on football. Two-Minute Drill is about a kid named Scott that meets a kid named Chris, and they both love football.
Scott showed Chris his backyard football field that even had goalposts. They practice every day. They both try out for the Eagles and make the team. Chris is the quarterback and is one of the best players. Scott sits on the bench most of the game, but likes to practice drop-kicks in his backyard. A drop-kick is like a punt except it bounces before it’s kicked, and you can get three points or an extra point after a touchdown.
Scott is the brainiest kid in his sixth-grade class. Chris is the best football player in the school. Chris isn’t a very good reader, and Scott isn’t that good at football. So they made a deal. Scott would help Chris with his schoolwork and Chris would help Scott with football.
At the championship where the Eagles play the Lions, the Lions scored a safety to make the score 2-0. And that’s how it stayed until the 4th quarter. On third down Chris was sacked and got injured and the Eagles used their last timeout. The Eagles’ coach wanted to try and get a touchdown, but Chris told the coach that Scott could make a drop-kick. There were 2 seconds left in the game and Scott made the kick to make the score 3-2 – a baseball score! The Eagles won the Championship.
I liked the book because it was all about sports and I like sports too. Look in stores, because Mike Lupica has other books like Miracle on 49th Street and Hot Hands. I’m reading Hot Hands next. It’s about basketball.
BOOK NAME: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
AUTHOR: Robert C. O’Brien
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is about a mouse named Mrs. Frisby who lives on a farm. Every year Mrs. Frisby has to move or else the plow will kill her family. She was married to Jonathan who died last summer.
Mrs. Frisby’s son Timothy was sick and wasn’t strong enough to move, so their friend, a crow named Jeremy, took her to the owl who told her to go to the rats where she met Brutus and Justin. The two rats knew Jonathan because once they lived by a farmer’s market and everyday the rats would get food there. One time, they got captured and taken to NIMH – a laboratory with rats and mice, where they got shots which gave them super-long lifespan and super-smarts…they could even read and write!. One day the rats found a way to get out – through the air conditioning – and they took the mice with them. When the strong air conditioning blew, all the mice blew back, except for two, Jonathan and Mr. Ages.
The rats helped the Frisby family move, but Mrs. Frisby got captured by the farmer, and Justin helped her escape. They eventually did move the house and that’s the end of part one.
The scientists from NIMH went to find the rats who lived under a rose bush. The scientists mowed down the rosebush and shot a poison gas into the rats’ hole. Brutus fell and two brave rats went to help Brutus who breathed in the poison. Mrs. Frisby saw Mr. Ages helping Brutus and went to help. Finally Brutus got better and they all moved to Thorn Valley. Once Timothy was better they moved to their summer home where Mrs. Frisby told all of her kids the story of the Rats and NIMH.
I liked the book because with every twist you don’t know what’s going to happen. If you liked the other book I reviewed, Despereaux, then you’ll definitely like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
BOOK NAME: The Tale of Despereaux
AUTHOR: Kate DiCamillo
My review is about a book called The Tale of Despereaux, which won the Newberry Medal. The movie of the book is coming out right before Christmas!
The story begins when a little mouse with huge ears is born. Newborn mice are born blind, but this mouse’s eyes opened for a few seconds. That mouse’s older brother saw his eyes open, and knew that there was something special about that mouse named Despereaux.
When he’s older, his family smells something weird, but Despereaux hears the drip of honey. His family tells him that he means he SMELLS the drip of honey, but Despereaux tells them that he can HEAR the drip of honey.
He was wandering around in the castle where he and his family lived, and he saw the Princess Pea and fell in love. Roscuro, a rat, and Miggery, a servant in the castle, kidnap the Princess so that Miggery can be the Princess. The King was sad, and wouldn’t let Despereaux help.
But Despereaux went to find the Princess anyway because he loved her. And then…(you’ll have to read the book to find out!)
If you keep trying, you can do anything, just like Despereaux who’s a very small mouse with extremely large ears.
BOOK NAME: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
AUTHOR: Adapted by Tracey West
I’m reviewing Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the kid’s book based on the new movie. The story takes place in between Episode 2 and Episode 3 during the Clone Wars. The clones are led by the Jedi against the droid army who are led by Count Dooku, and secretly Emperor Palpatine.
There are new faces in this book like clone trooper Commander Rex, Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta, Jedi apprentice Ahsoka, and Jabba’s uncle Ziro. There are old faces too; Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Asajj Ventress and Jabba the Hutt.
There are two main stories. One is about how Anakin and Ahsoka have to work together as a team, because Ahsoka is Anakin’s Jedi apprentice. Anakin doesn’t want to be a Master, and Ahsoka doesn’t like his commands. The other story is about how Anakin, Ahsoka and the Clone Troopers have to save Rotta from Asajj Ventress. The Jedi are trying to save Rotta so they can get around the Outer Rim easier because Jabba runs those planets.
I liked all the big battles. The biggest was at the beginning between the Clone Troopers and the Droid Army and that was my favorite. Rotta’s nickname was “stinky” because he smelled bad. You’ll be amazed how small he is compared to his dad Jabba the Hutt!
If you’re a Star Wars fan, I think you’ll like this book.
BOOK NAME: For Boys Only: The Biggest Baddset Book Ever
AUTHOR: Marc Aronson
This book is for boys only because it has stories about sports, how to be a spy, weapons and other cool guy stuff. This book is different because there are a lot of chapters and they are only one page long. I’m reviewing my favorite chapters.
My favorite chapter is Super Cars. My favorite is the Mclaren F1. There are only 64 of them in the world. They cost a million dollars or more! There’s a lot more but I can’t tell you. You have to find out. Super Cars is my favorite. I think you will love it too.
My next chapter is How To Fight A Shark. This is going to be your favorite. You can punch a shark on the gill and on the eye. Or the best place to punch a shark is the nose. I think that is really cool!
This next chapter is neat – Who Would Win the Fantasy War ? Vikings vs. Pirates. Vikings had small fast ships. But pirates had better weapons. Who do you think would win? You have to read the book to find out.
BOOK NAME: Miss Daisy is Crazy!
AUTHOR: Dan Gutman
Pictures by Jim Paillot
I read Miss Daisy is Crazy!, the first My Weird School book. Miss Daisy doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t even know how to spell READ. She spelled it this way — R-E-E-D — that’s my name! A.J. and his friends have to teach Miss Daisy Math, Science and Social Studies.
A.J., Emily, Ryan, and Andrea want to rent the school and turn it into a video arcade. I have a Wii and a DS so I think that would be fun. Mr. Klutz, the principal will dress in a gorilla suit and they can have the school for a night IF they read one million pages! A.J. taught Miss Daisy about football. Miss Daisy got a real football player to come in and his name was Boomer Wiggins! I like football too! A.J. said that he will teach Miss Daisy but it won’t be easy. A.J. hugged Miss Daisy.
They read one million pages!! They got to rent the school and Mr. Klutz dressed in a gorilla suit. If you like this book, there are a LOT more. Don’t miss Mr. Klutz is Nuts, book two in the My Weird series. I’ll be back next time!
