Tag archives for Friendship
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Sylvia Mendez never imagined that she would be forbidden to attend Westminster Elementary School because of her Mexican ancestry. Aki Munemitsu never imagined that she would be forced to go to an internment camp because of her Japanese ancestry. And most of all, both girls never imagined that their worlds would one day collide.
In this book, which is based on a true story, Sylvia and Aki both face different challenges during World War II. Sylvia’s family moves to an asparagus farm that they are renting. Sylvia’s father, Mr. Mendez, wants her and her brothers to attend the closest school to where they live, Westminster Elementary School. Yet he is told that because his children are of Mexican descent, they must enroll at Hoover Mexican School, quite a distance from where they live. Aki Munemitsu lives on an asparagus farm and attends Westminster Elementary school. But when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Aki and her family are forced to go to an internment camp and abandon their farm. That’s when the Mendez family rents the farm.
One day, when Sylvia accompanies her father to the internment camp to deliver the rent payment to the Munemitsu family, she meets Aki and sees how terrible life is for the Japanese-American people. The girls become friends, and send letters to each other. At the same time, Mr. Mendez goes to court against Westminster Elementary School for its segregation against Mexican-American children. Will he convince the court that segregation in schools is wrong?
This is a great book! Many kids look at a book and say, “If it’s history, then I’m not reading it.” Yet although this book is based on history, it is amazing. I would recommend it to anyone ages nine and up. Sylvia and Aki taught me so much about the history of our country and of the injustices that went on during World War II.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Toys Come Home
AUTHOR: Emily Jenkins
Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins is a story all about the adventures of a few soft toy animals. The soft toys teach you important morals about friendship and taking responsibility.
Stingray is a blue friendly soft toy who arrives at a little girl’s house as her birthday gift. Stingray is learning all about the house and trying to make friends with the other toys, Sheep and Bobby Dot, the walrus. However, Stingray does not like their personalities as Sheep is lazy and sleepy and Bobby Dot is mean and brags. But, Stingray is a true hero for she rescues Sheep from a thorny bush he gets stuck on. When Bobby Dot dies in the dryer, the girl buys Lumphy, the buffalo to take his place. Stingray and Lumphy become good friends and enjoy playing games together. They are soon joined by a playful intelligent ball named Plastic. The three of them realize that they along with the girl are a true family.
This book is a perfect read when you want to enjoy some simple adventure. It’s amazing how each toy has an individual personality that is reflected by their acts. For example, Plastic is intelligent as she reads lots of books and Lumphy is brave for he saves a mouse from a cat. Also, I could picture the toys so easily because of the detailed descriptions. This book reminds me about little children interacting with each other. I cannot wait to read more about the toy’s adventures in the sequels, Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party.
BOOK NAME: Bridge to Terabithia
AUTHOR:
Katherine Paterson
The book Bridge to Terabithia is like a roller coaster of emotions which rides you through feelings of sweetness, happiness, sadness, and comfort. The author, Katherine Paterson, brings out all these sentiments in this Newbery Medal award-winning book. It is a realistic fiction book with a touch of tragedy. The theme of this book is that best friends can have lasting changes on one another’s lives.
Ten year old Jess Aarons lives in countryside Virginia. He becomes best friends with Leslie Burke, a ten year old girl who has recently moved into the neighboring house. With Leslie’s imagination, the two of them create the secret, magical land of Terabithia where they reign as king and queen. In Terabithia, they build a castle for themselves, fight off imaginary enemies invading Terabithia, and pray to spirits in the pine grove. However, a tragedy strikes, leaving Jess sorrowful and heartbroken. It is painful for Jess to go through this challenge, but slowly he gathers the courage to cope with it.
I would recommend others to read this outstanding book. The author’s writing style makes it easy to follow and simple to comprehend. One doesn’t need to run away from this book because there is a sad part. There are many moments of adventure, happiness, and friendship, too. I like how the woods are transformed into a magical land, sparking imagination–turning the ordinary into extraordinary. Bridge to Terabithia is an exceptional book to grab off the shelf and start reading.
Want another opinion? Check out Sheila’s review!
Posted by BOOK NAME: Bridge to Terabithia
AUTHOR:
Katherine Paterson
This book was a great read and I went through it very quickly. I found many parts very powerful in that they threw you into the scenes and made you feel the same emotions as the characters. This is a very sad story, but please give it a chance even if you don’t like sob stories. I can’t say too much without revealing key points, so I’ll try not to make this review a spoiler!
The story has a different setting than most books. It takes place in the countryside and of course, the magical Terabithia. I can promise that you will be enchanted when you get there! You start out finding a boy, Jess, who is 11 years old and wants to be the fastest kid in the 5th grade. He has been running every morning through the summer to finally be the fastest and the best. One morning while running, Jess saw a girl sitting on a fence. Her name is Leslie and she is longing for a friend and a place that she can create in her own way. Jess and Leslie share that desire and soon they find Terabithia and crown themselves rulers.
Throughout the book, whenever they have a bad day or are just looking for something to do, they just wander to Terabithia by swinging on a rope. This is surely a book not to miss and even though a devastating event befalls them, there are still many happy endings. And one more thing to consider, it is up to you to decide if Terabithia is real or just fiction I’m not revealing what I think, but excuse me while I go now and find a rope to swing on!
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BOOK NAME: The Get Rich Quick Club
AUTHOR: Dan Gutman
This book is about three 12-year-old friends named Gina, Rob and Quimby, who want to become millionaires by the time they’re teenagers. They start their own club to come up with different ideas on easy ways to get rich, but they couldn’t come up with anything. That is until Gina said they might as well just sit in her yard to wait for a UFO to land and Rob yelled “That’s it! We could make a UFO!” They then made a photo of what appears to be a UFO by throwing plates and other things in the air and taking blurry pictures of them. They took their best photo to the boss of a newspaper company who paid them for it and then they became famous and were on TV. It ended when Rob feels guilty and tells everyone that the picture is fake.
My favorite part of this book is the very end, when there’s a huge surprise. I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say that they don’t end up with a lot of money, but they do get to see something very amazing that I think most everyone would want to see.
I liked the whole story because I thought it was funny how these kids made everyone think there had been a UFO.
Posted by BOOK NAME: The Mysterious Benedict Society
AUTHOR: Trenton Lee Stewart
In this book, four kids about 12 years old and one extremely smart 2 -year-old go on an amazing adventure. But what they all don’t know is they all came from the same types of family which makes them come together even more. After taking maybe the most life-changing test EVER, they meet the writer of it all, Mr. Benedict.
Mr. Benedict sends Kate Weatherall, Reynie Muldoon, Sticky (George) Washington, and Constance Contraire to his twin brother’s school for the gifted where they stop future drama and meet new friends on the way. While their summer isn’t going quite how they planned,
Kate and her dad Milligan save their friends Reynie and Sticky from the whisperer while Constance uses her well-known way of rejecting things to try and shut down the whisperer. I was up reading for hours every night hope you enjoy this book as much as I did
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BOOK NAME: Eleven
AUTHOR: Lauren Myracle
Winnie is turning eleven and realizes that things are changing in the world and in herself. First of all, her best friend Amanda is dumping Winnie for another girl who is just a snob. Then, her older sister is moody all the time. Next a dork in the class wants to hang out all the time with Winnie and that does not help Winnie’s coolness factor. Lastly all of the girls in her class have a boyfriend except for her. Winnie will find a way to make things better but that might mean giving up something.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friends had been telling me that it was such a good read and I needed to buy it. It has many sequels which I will surely get and blog on. It is very interesting because there’s love, competition, friendship and fighting. It’s neat because the story is told in each month of the year so that means that there are twelve chapters. It never EVER got boring and it was a learning adventure.
I would definitely not miss reading this book especially if your are a girl who likes some fun fiction. Post a comment if you have ever been dumped by a friend like Winnie.
BOOK NAME: Julian’s Glorious Summer
AUTHOR: Ann Cameron
This book is about two friends, Julian and Gloria. I think they are both 7 years old. It takes place in the summer, which is a really good time to read about when it’s cold outside.
In the book, Gloria gets a new bike and learns how to do tricks. Julian wants to show off and do cool stuff too, but he doesn’t have a bike and he doesn’t know how to ride one. So he looks for jobs and other things to do during the summer while telling everyone he doesn’t like bikes. He is almost mad when his dad finally gets him a bike and Julian then tells his mom that he doesn’t like bikes because he’s afraid of falling down. But Gloria helped teach him how to ride his bike and to do tricks so they both have fun in the end. Julian just had to try to learn.
I liked this book because it’s about riding bikes, which is something I like to do. It can be hard to learn how to ride a bike for the first time without training wheels. This book also is about having fun in the summer, which is also something I like.
