July 2009 Archives

BOOK NAME: Honus & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure
AUTHOR: Dan Gutman

I don't collect baseball cards, but I like baseball. This story is about a baseball card that's worth much more than money. It can take you back in time.

It starts when 12-year-old baseball card collector Joe Stoshack helps his old neighbor clean out her attic. She tells him to throw everything in the garbage. While cleaning the attic, he finds an old baseball card for Honus Wagner, which is one of the rarest baseball cards in the world. Joe can't figure out if he should tell his neighbor about it or not. He takes it home and it takes him back in time to when Honus played 100 years ago in the World Series. While back in time, Joe learns that his old neighbor was actually once a girlfriend of Honus Wagner.

The book tells what life and baseball was like a long time ago. I thought it was interesting how baseball players used to pay people to come to their games instead of the other way around. I didn't know anything about Honus Wagner before reading this book, but now I know a lot more about him and the way baseball was played so long ago. If you like baseball, you'll love this book.

BOOK NAME: Dinosaur Combat
AUTHOR: Rupert Matthews

Hi, I'm Braden and I'm going to tell you about a book about dinosaurs. It's about how they protect themselves, what's inside their bodies, and stuff like that.

Some dinosaurs are really really big like Brachiosaurus and some are smaller like Ceratosuarus. But Ceratosaurus likes to eat Brachiosaurus, so they grab the baby ones so they can eat them. Their teeth are curved backwards, so when the baby Brachiosaurus tries to get away, the teeth dig deeper into their skin. Brachiosaurus has a big bump on its head which is really its nose. These two dinosaurs lived in Wyoming in North America and they lived about 150 million years ago.

The Pinacosaurus has plates on its back to protect itself and a huge like-a-bowling ball on its tale to attack dinosaurs like Tarbosaurus. The plates will protect its back in case a dinosaur tries to eat it. These dinosaurs lived in Asia about 80 million years ago.

Tyrannosaurs Rex's like to eat Triceratops. So Triceratops has really sharp horns near their nose. So when the Tyrannosaurs tried to attack, he would try to attack Triceratops' back with its teeth. But Triceratops would try to get his sharp horns in the Tyrannosaurs' neck or belly. So then if the Tyrannosaurus would start bleeding, the Triceratops would have time to get away.

I like this book because it's about dinosaurs and I'm going to be a Paleontologist when I grow up. It also has a lot of fighting and cool pictures and drawings.

BOOK NAME: A Wrinkle in Time
AUTHOR: Madeleine L'Engle

Meg, an unattractive, unintelligent, and an unpopular girl lives with her super brainiac brother, Charles Wallace, her twin brothers and her mom. Meg's dad disappeared a few years ago so life has been hard for their family. Meg wants to find her dad but doesn't think that there will be much chance left. 

One stormy night, a strange lady knocks on her door and she tells them her name is Mrs. Whatsit. She says that she can help them find their dad. Meg eventually meets these three witches who say that they can help Meg find her dad. They take Meg, her friend and her brother on an adventure. They get taken to a planet called Camazotz where Meg's dad is being held captive. One problem is that IT hypnotizes Charles Wallace while trying to save their dad so Meg has to save her brother AND her dad before IT has already taken over the world. They get help from octopus-like friends from another planet.  Meg finally believes in herself and stands up to IT. She defeats IT, save Charles Wallace and her dad and goes back home to her family.
 
This book is one of the most confusing books that I have read for the blog! This book was a one that I had to read for a Parent-Choice book project at my school. I struggled reading it at parts because it kept on carrying on about every little thing. This is definitely a book for good readers who are up for a hard challenge and who like Fantasies and Mysteries!
 
Have you ever read a book that you thought was confusing and you almost gave up on it?  Which book was it?