Realistic+Fiction

 The Lovely Bones By: Alice Sebold  The setting of my book takes place in a, what seems like, nice and safe environment in Pennsylvania.  The plot of the book ‘The Lovely Bones’ is basically the beginning when the main character, Susie Salmon gets brutally raped and killed by her strange neighbor, George Harvey.  Susie Salmon is a normal middle school girl with the same problems that every kid her age runs into every now and then. She is one of those people who think they can completely start a new life in High School and really looks forward to it. Susie seems to be the most active one in her family, always looks at things the positive way and always throws out her best effort in life when it comes to taking opportunities.  George Harvey is a man that lives alone and doesn’t like to interact with people around him. His neighbors really never get the chance to get to know him because he doesn’t usually have people in his house, so all of his neighbors find him a very strange man. <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I think that the theme of this book is basically a lesson that the author is trying to get through the readers head, to never talk to strangers, and don’t let <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">them mess with your mind. <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The reason that I read this book was because I am really into mystery/realistic fiction type books like this one that switch from points of view to what different characters are thinking. Something that really caught my interest when I just got the book a<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">nd read the back of it was this quote that was written on the very first page of the book: ** <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6m 1973.” **<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When I read this quote on the back on the book, I<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> suddenly just had the tension to read it from beginning to end. <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A connection that I found in the book, relating my life to one the characters, Lindsey Salmon (Susie’s sister) was at the beginning of the book, Lindsey was sent to the Principal’s office on<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">e day at school after Susie’s death and the principal tried to apologize for Lindsey’s loss of her sister, but Lindsey kept on denying it. I can relate this to my own life because when I know something that seems too good to be true to me, I deny it aroun<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">d other people and pretend like it never happened. <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Finally, I would definitely recommend this book to other middle school students because it has something that every student can relate too on every single page of the book that really makes you want to ke<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ep reading on. Another thing that middle school students can relate to in this book are the characters because most of the characters in this book are in middle school and we all go through the same kinds of disastrous things in middle school. <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> By: Ellen <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sypolt <span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Ms. Ulster

Murder at Midnight Avi This book takes place in Italy, Pergamontio. This is about the devil and magic. Fabrizo: A very curious servant who believes everything he is told. Mangus: a very ignorant magician who does not believe in magic. The theme of this book is magic. I chose this book because I like violent books and I am a really big fan of Avi. “A sword stuck out of the ground, Fabrizo moved some sand. It’s Delabina, he was dead!” In one part of the book where Mangus the magician preformed his magic in front of a lot of people I was reminded of mi first guitar recital. I would recommend this book to everyone. It is fun and you also learn I tiny bit about the history of Pergamontio.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The Homework machine

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Dan Gutman

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> In the school, Brenton’s house

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> This genius 5th grade kid creates a homework machine and starts this “suspicious” case.

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕;"> Brenton Damagachi= A really smart kid that creates the home work machine. <span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕;"> Miss Rasmussen= A teacher of Brenton that already noticed that Brenton was already very high knowledged.

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> Friendship, trustworthiness, relations, grief, technology

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> This book piqued my interest by having the title of __The Homework machine.__ Also at the beginning of the book, the format (tells you how each character sees the view in a different way) how the book was written got me more into the book.

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> In my own imagination I also think about if making a homework machine was possible, especially when I read about a kid that made something really unbelievable. (I get all jealous and think about what I can do)

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> Yes, I would recommend this to all middle school students because even thought the level might be low, the story is very interesting and the fact that you can see the stories from a lot of different views make you actually feel the situation.

<span style="font-family: 맑은 고딕; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> Juhyun Lee <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Title: Dark Blue <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Author: Melody Carlson <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Setting: Jackson High School, USA <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Plot: When Kara’s best friend, Jordan, dumps Kara for friendship within the “cool” crowd, Kara feels totally betrayed. How will she learn how to trust anyone ever again? <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Characters: Kara- A shy, quiet sophomore who feels alone and abandoned after her best friend dumps her. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Jordan- A stereotypical “cool” girl (cheerleader, perky, outspoken) who dumps her best friend because she’s a popularity liability. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Themes- Friendship, Christianity, and self- esteem <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 39.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">1. I chose this book because I had previously read other books in the same series (True Colours) and since all the rest were very, very good, I decided to give this one a go. Another reason I chose this book was because I’m a Christian, and it’s not easy finding good, interesting Christian books sometimes. This one looked appealing and possible to relate to. The beginning intrigues you right away: <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">“Jordan Ferguson used to be my best friend. Now she makes me sick. Just hearing her name called out in first period English or seeing her flitting down the hall with her lame new friends makes me want to hurl. Really!”

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 39.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">2. I can make a connection from this book to a personal experience of mine. When I was in Grade 5, my best friend started hanging around with a new girl more than me. I was pretty hurt and for a while, I hated my former best friend. Yet I still missed her friendship. However, I managed to move on with my life and forgive and forget, but will Kara manage to do the same? The way she feels at the beginning of the book is quite similar to the way I felt when I was upset with my friend. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">“As furious as I am with Jordan, and as much as I can’t stand the very sight of her, I still miss her friendship. And I feel more alone than ever. Not to mention scared.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 39.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">3. I absolutely recommend this book to other middle school students, as it deals with friendships and other real issues that take place in both middle school AND high school. Although some people might dismiss it as ‘just another Christian book’, its message isn’t preachy and you can still read and enjoy it even if you’re not a believer. However, I think this book is pretty much for girls because the characters and storyline are obviously meant for and targeted at girls. Overall, I liked this book and thought it was a good read.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 39.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">By Jasmine Burr

A Dog's Life By Ann. M Martin
Juliana C.

Teacher: Mrs.Ulster

Setting: A mixture of forest along with city. Characters: Bone/Squirrels sister, Mother (Squirrels mother/mom), and Moon Squirrels best friend... Themes: Trust, and life Plot:

The book A dog's life is a wonderful book, yet heart breaking book about how life changes...sometimes how things can really change in a wink of an eye! This book starts of with a peculiar dog named squirrel. She and her brother are all living in such a wonderful life being loved by there mother in an old garden shed...in an old wheelbarrow. But the thing is, there all stray dogs. Taught the way of strays, and fear humans. And of course squirrel and her brother Bone follow the rule of there mother, until one day there mother leaves the wheelbarrow. And never comes back. Forever. But in just a short spin, Squirrels life is changed. Forever. She has to deal with loosing her mother, without any goodbyes or any trace. And now looses her dearest brother she loved. All gone. Her family separated. And now she is a dog, treated with hateful and harmful hands, or by the sweetest gentlest touch of another. But on her way, she learns about how friendship can really help her through life, and how tragic it is to loose friends who have been atyour side. And how she really had a short small locket in her heart for a human.

But I have couple of connections to share

I have been treated with mean attitudes (bullies) And I have been shown kindness from others. A bit like Squirrels experience. But what really caught me was the thought of being in a dogs paws, and going through there life experiences and even loosing your mother at a very young age! Just imagine the feeling of loosing your own mother, or your own mother! Just everything that meant so much to you...gone and taken away, in a dog's life.

But I really recommend this book for everyone to read, this book is a wonderful, yet heartbreaking book for everyone to read, But yet again it is a wonderful book for everyone to delve into.

Title: POSEUR By: Rachel Maude Setting: Winston Prep, LA Plot: Four high school girls who love fashion (but hate each other) are forced together to create a designer label for their exclusive LA private school. Characters: Charlotte Beverwil= Cool Coquette, Janie Farrish= Shy Punk Themes: I would say Friend ship and Fashion.

1. The book caught my attention because I’m interested in the fashion industry and inside the book the author has also designed something’s and the author is also the illustrator. “When four sophomores are forced into a class to create their own fashion label.”

2. A connection I can make to one of the characters is Janie Farrish. Janie loves to draw and design clothes and jewelry, like me. But unlike Janie, I’m not good at drawing. “You would always find drawings of high heels in Janie’s note books. She draws them when she can’t think.”

3. I would really recommend this book to 7th graders and up because this book has some inappropriate words in it. But the book is really good for anyway who likes realistic fiction.

By: Ink Duangsri 1 / 2 Hum Ms. Ulster

Title: Walk Two Moons Author: Sharon Creech Setting: Traveling through Kentucky to Idaho Plot: A girl who tries to bring her mother back on her birthday Characters: Salamanca (Sal) Tree Hiddle is a thirteen year old country girl who travels to Idaho with her grandparents to find her mother. Phoebe Winterbottom is Sal’s friend who has a very vivid imagination and has a similar problem like Sal. Themes: Symbols and hope I chose to read __Walk Two Moons__ because of the writing on the front cover: Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins. I thought it was interesting and unique so I briefly read the back of the book to understand what the book was about. I gave it a try and it turned out to be a good decision. __Walk Two Moons__ is one of my favorite books! __Out of the Dust__ by Karen Hesse has similar characters as __Walk Two Moons__ because Billie Jo, the main character, and Sal’s parents love the nature and outdoors. In addition, both of the characters learn to live without their mom. For example, in __Walk Two Moons__, Sal says, “Gram suggested I tell a story about my mother. That I could not do. I had just reached the point where I could stop thinking about her every minute of every day.” I understand that it is hard to live without people who are important to your life, but the characters have to learn to live without them because they have no choice. People can’t live in the past and sometimes it’s better to get over the sadness and face the truth. I would recommend this book to other middle school students because it is well written and meaningful. I like this book very much and I hope that other students will learn that happiness can make the sorrows more bearable.

Helen Chang __Talking To Strangers__

By: Anne Cassidy

This novel is set in England.

Plot: Ten-year-old Caroline has disappeared, last seen climbing into a black car with a strange man.

Characters:

Long John Silver: Mysterious, old, gloomy, and thin looking.

Amy Cullen: Big mouthed, talkative, showoff, and annoying.

I chose to read this novel because I had read another book by this same author and really enjoyed it. The first book I read by this author is called __Looking for JJ__, which I read very quickly. I love the intensity in her books, and how much mystery there is. Her books are hard to put down. When I read the blurb on the back of __Talking To Strangers__ I was so grabbed by the sound of it.

“Caroline Mitchell was spotted climbing into a car with a man no one knew. She hasn’t been seen since.”

This book reminded me of a story on the news a couple of years ago about two girls who had been abducted. It had made me worried that that would happen to me. Reading this novel has made me more aware that it’s possible anything could happen to you, and to be very careful. Since I was really young I have always had an interest in these types of real life incidents. I would read about these kinds of incidents all the time on the news. This is a quote from the novel that brought back that remembrance of the news story a couple years ago; “ We searched everywhere. If that girl was within a mile of these streets we’d have found her.”

This novel is a great read and I would really recommend for you to read it. It was so grabbing and kept me hooked into the book throughout the whole novel. I hope this review has made you want to read this book.

Becky Bradley

<span style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 11pt;">1. Lizzie Bright and The Buckminster Boy <span style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 11pt;">2. Gary D. Schmidt <span style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 11pt;">3. It takes place in <span style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 11pt;">4. Turner Buckminster is the son of the minister at Maine town and he can’t get along with the people living there until he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, the daughter of the former slaves. <span style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 11pt;">5. Turner Buckminster is the son of the minister and Lizzie Bright Griffin is the daughter of former slaves. <span style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 11pt;">6. Themes: About segregation between white and black but white has more freedom when compared to the blacks.

There’s a reason that this book caught my attention. When I read the back of the book it said, “this segregation will last forever”. It totally caught my attention. My mind was filled with anxious thought.

When I was in 5th grade, we learned about segregation between, black and white. For example, white has more freedom than the blacks. I also read this book called Long Walk to the FREEDOM. It was about a black man who protested a long time for their freedom so as Lizzie. She always said “I’ll make everybody a freedom”.

Yes, I would recommend this book to other middle school students because it shows what it was like in time of the segregation. Nowadays, we don’t really know about the segregation that happened in old times. But if you read this book, you can at least tell, what it was like in the old times and you'll understand more that every person deserves freedom. Karin

Crazy weekend written by Gary Soto summary by olivia it's about these 2 7th grade boys hector and his friend Mando and they visit Uncle Julio. During the photo shoot they saw a armed car and uncle Julio took some pictures of the robbers. The robbers decide to teach a lesson. The ending is really funny iI recommend this book and it a quick read.

__ Title : A Summer To Die __ __ Author : Lois Lowry __ In this book, the main character Meg’s sister, Molly is diagnosed with leukemia. Meg believed that bad things don’t happen to good people, and tried to be postivie. But when Molly dies of the disease, she accepts that bad things happen to good people also. The main character is Meg. She is a very postivie person, and is jealous of her sister ‘s ‘curly blond hair and long eyelashes’. Just like other giddy girls, she quarrels with her sister (Molly) over something small and silly. But when Molly is diagnosed with a fatal disease, Meg has to go over the pain of losing her sister. I chose this book because I like the writing style of Lois Lowry. It was so descriptive and detailed. I felt like that I moved into that scene and watched everything happen with my own two eyes. - Jungmeen Holes By Louis Sachar

The main characters in this book are: Stanley Yelnats Grandfather Yelnats Zig Zag Arm pit Zero Squid Magnet Twitch The warden Kissin’ Kate Barlow Mr Pendanski Sam The onion man Trout Walker Madame Zeroni

The story begins when the young teenager Stanley Yelnats is sentenced to a hard labor camp called Camp Green Lake, for a crime he never committed. All the boys who are there, are forced to dig deep holes every day, not knowing that there is treasure lying beneath the ground. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake any more it has long since dried up and the camp has become a desert. The work is hard and it is very hot.

This is the main plot but there are many sub plots weaving in and out of the story which makes it quite confusing and interesting at the same time.

First there is the matter of the family curse caused by his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather” who did not fulfill a promise he made to Madame Zeroni the fortune teller.

Then there is the tale of Kate Barlow, the school teacher, who fell in love with an African American man, a terrible crime in those days. Sam the man she fell in love with was murdered by the townspeople and Kate driven mad with grief became an outlaw, stealing from travelers.

Their stories become intertwined by a series of strange coincidences. For example Kate robs Stanley’s grandfather who is also called Stanley Yelnats. These events happen many years earlier. Another coincidence is that Stanley’s friend, Zero, is responsible for the crime that Stanley was accused of, and he is also the great grandson of madame Zeroni and eventually their chance meeting, and the events that followed resulted in the curse being lifted. By Tim

Author: Meg Cabot Setting: New York City Plot: 16 year old Emerson Watts gets herself in an accident and ends up having a brain transplant. Emerson ends up as switching brains with a famous celebrity named Niki Howard and ends up in her body. Emerson is then forced to take Niki' s place as a supermodel. I enjoyed reading this book over the summer because it's a good story and it's very interesting. I couldn't really connect to this book I know nothing about brain transplants and supermodels. I feel bad for the main character Emerson because she was never noticed until she had that brain transplant and then everybody started to pay attention to her just because she was a famous celebrity. Which is a lesson I learned from this book, nobody cares what's on the inside, they care about what's on the outside. Erin **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Title: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> __Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Rodrick Rules)__

**<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Author: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> Jeff Kinney

**<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Setting: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> The setting takes place at the school, at home, and in the community where Greg the main character lives.

**<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Plot: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> The plot of the story is about Greg and his summer vacation. Greg tries to not get himself into trouble and tries to clears the problems that happen last year.

**<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Describe the 2 characters briefly: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> How I would describe Greg is that, Greg is a person who thinks he is perfect at everything. When he makes a problem he is too scared to fix it. Then it gets very bad so then he blames it on other people. How I would describe Rodrick is he is mean, and he always tries to tease and make other people uncomfortable. How I would describe Rowley is he is innocent and when other people say things that make Rowley mad or uncomfortable he stops being friends with you and then he doesn’t look, glance, or even talk to you anymore, unless you say your apology to him. Otherwise, you have to make him not mad at you anymore.

**<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Themes: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> I think that the author is trying to tell how to write a diary, and to go with other people tell so you don’t have to fight with people.

**<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Explain: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> I chose this book because I think that this book would be funny and I think that I am going to like it. I think that what interested me was that Greg is so mean to blame almost everything on Rowley. Rowley is Greg’s friend. Another thing that interested me is that in this book Rodrick is being so mean to Greg; sometimes Greg does this bad habit to his little brother many too. My favorite quote of this story is: “I actually tried to convince Dad to let me do Water Jazz instead of the swim team, but he wouldn’t go for it. COME ON LADIES! GET THOESE ARMS UP”! Another quote I really love is: “This is a journal, not a diary.” This part of the book which is the first sentence was pretty funny: I guess Mom was pretty proud of herself for making me write in that journal last year, because she went and bought me another one. Gathering Blue By. Lois Lowry
 * <span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Make a connection: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';"> I can make a connection to this one book that the boy gets teased all the time since he wears a swimming suit that is not like the others. I eventually forgot the name of the book. I don’t have a connection to a movie though. A real life connection is that I bought my brother to a swim team and he was wearing the wrong swimming suit. After that experience my little brother never wore the wrong swimming suit again. That was because every one of his friends were teasing him so bad I had to take him home early. The quote is: “This was the first summer the coach let us boys wear swim trunks instead of those skimpy racing trunks. But mom said Rodrick’s hand-me-down bathing suit was “perfectly fine.” “You’re friend will be jealous because you’ll be so fast!”
 * <span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Would you recommend: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">I would recommend this book to other middle school students who like to read humor, bulling, wimpy kid, survival in school, realistic fiction, and friendship. I love the series of this book because I like to read humor, bulling, and wimpy kid, survival in school, realistic fiction, and friendship. This series is the only I read so far that made me laugh so much.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">By: **<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif';">Mintra (Myra) Techakraisri

This story happens in Utopia. This book is about a girl named Kira, who overcomes her weakness and lives her life, toughly. The vital characters in this book are Kira and Thomas. Kira is the main character in this book and Thomas becomes one of her best friends, by helping her adapt to her new dormitory. The theme of this book is a friendship and perspiration.

When I was in 6th grade, I read a book called, “The Giver” by Lois Lowry and I liked the way this author writes, so I chose this book to read another book of Lois Lowry. I heard that this book is a series of the book, “The Giver” but the two stories don’t have any connection. Both books’ settings are Utopia but their Utopias are totally different and there’re any same characters. This book piqued my interest by making me think deeper and deeper. There’re many questions and mysteries in this book and it made me interesting. For example, there’re so many mysterious deaths and the mysterious deaths only happens to the kids who have given talents.

When I was little I had a secret, personal weakness and I didn’t know how to overcome that weakness. In my case, I had parents to talk to unlike Kira but I didn’t talk to them because I was to shy to ask them and I wanted to overcome by myself. So I found a way of overcome my weakness and the method was similar to Kira because I overcame by using my talent. I worked on my advantage more and even though I couldn’t cure my weakness, I could cover my demerit by improving my merit. For Kira, even though she had born with a twisted leg, she had a great given gift so she could cover her weakness with her talent.

I would recommend this book to other middle school students because the book is not that long but very deep and there’re many things to learn. Even though the beginning of this book is awful boring, from the middle part of the book, there’re so many things to learn. When I first started to read this book, I didn’t like the way of telling the story to the readers so I quit but on the summer vacation, I didn’t have a book to read, so I started this book again. I read only for 10 minutes a day and it took me about 4 days to read a first part of this book because it was uninteresting, insipid and mediocre. But when I got to the middle part of this book, I started to taste the flavor of this book. I loved the way Kira overcomes her weakness and she taught me how to overcome my weakness. So I think it will be good to recommend this book for people who didn’t try this book, yet.

I think this book gave me a huge impact and this book helped me a lot, to get over things. I wish many people don’t quit this book by reading the first part of this book like me; I want people to finish this book and learn new things that are helpful and useful in their lives.

By. Soohyun Bae
**Summer reading review**

__Author__: Robert Kimmel Smith

__Setting:__ Peter’s house

__Plot:__ Since Peter’s grandma had died, grandpa became very lonely to live alone by himself so he decided to come to live with Peter’s family. Peter’s parents had made Peter move out of his room to the 3rd floor for his grandpa. He tried telling his parents that he didn't like it but all he got was no, so Peter started bugging his grandpa declaring a war.

__Characters:__ Peter- Peter acts real aggressive and is a great thinker to come up with awesome pranks to his grandpa. He has two good friends that also came up with the pranks. Grandpa- Grandpa looks very calm but smart enough to be ready for Peter’s prank. He has a bad leg so he can’t walk very fast in the house.

__Themes:__ Do not have war with your family.

__Why I chose this book:__ I chose this book because I never had the idea of declaring a war with my family, so I wanted to know how the story would be. When I read the back cover of this book this quote had caught my eye. //“Peter loves his grandpa but wants his room back. He has no choice but to declare war!”//

__My connection:__ In this book grandpa and Peter were doing tricks to each other and it reminded me of the book called the Sister Grimm because in that story, there was a boy named Puck who also liked to do evil tricks on people. The following is one of the quotes from The War with grandpa; “//I was thinking pretty hard about how I was going to get back at grandpa. It wasn't easy. There were a lot of thing I could do and a lot I’d never do. Like burning his underwear, for instance. I didn't want to do something I’d be sorry for later.”//

__Recommendation:__ I learned that when you have a family problem, instead of going one way, you can find other ways to solve a problem. So I would recommend this book to everyone because by reading this book, it might come in handy.

By, Anna I Laura C. Mrs. Bradley Aug. 15 2010 By:Wendy Mass
 * Every Soul A Star**

This books settting is in Moon shadow Camp Ground. People from everywhere have come to see the eclipse. There are all eclipse hunters, so they have traveld to many other places to see an eclipse. This book is about 3 kid coming together. Ally and Bree switch lives and along the way they meet Jack. Two Characters from the book are Ally and Bree, which are compoletely oppsites. Bree a gorgeous and a drama queen who is stuck in Moon Shadow Campground when her modeling dream was about to take off. Ally a simple girl with simple dreams about the stars she can not remeber the last time being and the real world and is clinging on to her home. The theme of this book is friendship,stars and loss.

The reason this book intrested me was the theme Loss,friendship and stars. Loss because Bree loses friends home everthing she worked for. Friendship because a friendship builds over the course of time with Bree Ally and Jack and the friendship theme makes me think of me and my friend together which makes me happy. The stars makes me think of Astoromy and how they never cease to amaze me.

The connction I have is that I once had to write a book report on stars and learned alot about them and the sky.Also this summer at Camp Agape we went star gazing. The Nature lady (Mer) showed us as mamy stars as possible and there names. It was a magnificant experince,

I would recommend this book to people that like this particular theme. Because if not they wont enjoy it as much. Also if they enjoy this genre. I would say 4rth graders and up should read this book because little kids would not understand it as much. This was a phenomenal book.

- Laura Chacon 8-)

Chloe G. Mrs. Bradley aug. 13 2010 Wintergirls Laurie Halse Anderson

6. Theme: Friendship, death, guilt, and eating disorders.
One of the books I read over the summer was Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was such a great book and some of the reasons why I chose to read this was because my friend recommended it to me, I was very curious about the author because I heard she wrote a book Speak, that became a movie, and because while I was flipping through the book I found a paragraph that really intrigued m e. This is the quote.

I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.
==== When I get close, they step back. The cameras in their eyeholes record the zit on my chin, the rain in my eyes, the blue water under my skin. They pick up every sound on their collar microphones. They want to pull me inside of them, but they’re afraid. ====

=
I loved the way she wrote that. It was so creative and different; you could really tell she was trying hard to make that paragraph stand out. Also other quotes in the book were so descriptive it just pulled me into the story and I couldn’t stop reading. =====

I can’t think of any connection with this book in other books, movies, and no connection with my experiences either. It’s a brand new novel and story to me.
==== When it comes to recommendations about this book, it depends. It is definitely not one of those books a Mom would hand to her daughter and say, “ Here sweetie, it’s such a great book you should read it.” No, it depends on the maturity level of the reader. If you are mature enough then read it. It teaches you lessons and it is such a facinating story! It’s a think hard, deep book. You probably wouldn’t like it if your choice of book would be, simple, happy, common stories. ====

Chloe G. <3
Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: the Last Straw 2. Jeff Kinney 3. American suburbs, about at this time. 4. Greg is a wimpy kid and his dad is getting sick of it, one day his dad tells him that if he doesn’t man up he will be shipped of to military school. 5. Greg: a persistent kid who is in 6th grade middle school. He sets out to be rich and famous one day but is unpopular at school and doesn’t get how middle school works. Rowley: Rowley is childish for a 6th grader, his parents are very protective over him and that caused him to act like a five year old. In Greg’s opinion Rowley is rich. He always goes on vacation and he likes this European singer called joshie. 6.

1. I chose Dairy of a Wimpy Kid because it is really popular and some friends recommended it to me. I liked it because it is about a kid who is about my age and he lives a normal like, nothing fancy or anything like that. An example from the book is that Greg lives in the suburbs in America. He isn’t that rich, and he goes to regular public school. His family is pretty normal. At school he isn’t popular and his friend is too babyish.

= The book is alot like the movie, but ofcourse it is a little different and a bit better. An other connection is that when i went to a hotel my brother locked me out but not on pourpose. In the book greg's brother locks him out in his boxers, but on porpose. =  Use at least one quote from the book to help your reader understand the connection. 3. I would recommend this book because you can relate to it someway and it is refreshing to see the pictures, they show what he is talking about or what’s going on. I give it 4.5/5 The title of one of this book is __The Gold Threaded Dress__. The author of this book is Carolyn Marsden. The setting of this book is mostly at her new school in America. The plot of this story is, Oy (the main character) and her family move from their home country, Thailand, to America, where they discover racism and due to cultural differences it was very hard for them to fit in. The main Character, Oy, is a young fourth grade girl that is very sweet, kind, and giving. Oy is from Thailand. She doesn’t get treated well or fit in because of her cultural differences and her skin color. Her family moved from their country Thailand due to her parents’ jobs. She has no friends and desperately wants to move back to Thailand. Another main character in this book is Frankie. Frankie is American and has many friends and fits in perfectly. Frankie is in Oy’s class and is the class clown; he teases her about where she is from, her skin color, and her culture. Frankie makes Oy’s school days very hard. One of the main themes is struggling to fit in. Oy wants to fit in so badly that she breaks some rules that her mom gave her, and ends up being in trouble. One of the other themes is not judging someone before you know them just because of their skin color. Oy gets judged a lot because she is different, because she has a different color of skin, and no one even knew her. I choose this book because it is about Thailand, and about cultural racism. In the summer time I always think it is cool to see something that says “Made in Thailand” or a book about Thailand. I saw this book and it caught my eyes because it was about Thailand, and moving, and being an international kid. The book really related to me. The back of the boom also caught me eye and got me very interested. A part of the back says this: “In Thailand, Oy was called by her own name, but in her first school in America, the teacher renames her Olivia. Everything else is different too. The other girls leave her out of their games, and a boy named Frankie teases her a lot.” I could connect with Oy in the way that she is an International girl, she has been to Thailand, and she moves to America when she is young. I moved to Thailand when I was in first grade! I was only six. This book connects with many other books because it is a lot about racism, culture, and differences! I would recommend this book to another middle school student if they wanted a short, easy, fun, interesting, book. By: Lexie Krocker <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; text-align: right;">Erika Shibagaki <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Title: Gathering Blue <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Author: Lois Lowry <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Setting: sometime in the past <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Plot: Kira has a twisted leg, so she was afraid how her future would be, but using her <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">skill of weaving, she was able to stay there. Then she realizes of something mysteries. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Characters: Kira is a main character in this book. She has a great skill of weaving. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Matt is Kira’s good friend, and he always help her when she is struggling with something. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Themes: Surviving in a difficult environment

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I chose this book to read over the summer, because I like this author. We read the book called “The Giver” in sixth grade, and I really enjoyed it. That is why I thought I wanted to read this book, “Gathering Blue”. Also, when I read the back side of a book, it really caught my attention. “No one must know of her plans to uncover the truth about her world-and to find out what exists beyond it.” That was the last part of what it said on the back of a book. I really wanted to know how the story is going to go, and what happens at the end. The author of this book, Lois Lowry explains really deep in one specific thing, so I was never confused on what was going on. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I can make a connection with a book called “Number the Stars” which is also written by Lois Lowry. I haven’t finish reading it yet, but I know that this book is also about surviving in difficult environment. “Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, lives in a world where the weak are cast aside.” This sentence is from “Gathering Blue”. This sentence an show that Kira have to survive in a difficult environment. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I would recommend this book to other middle school students because you can actually learn a listen from reading a book. I actually thought that I should become like Kira, because she is really brave. Even though she has some worries, she takes an action of what she thought she should do.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Reem <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">11/8 /10 <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Mr. Healy

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Big Caslon'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">__Midnight__

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Title: __Midnight__ <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Author: Jacqueline Wilson <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Setting: England, 2003-ish <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Plot (one sentence only – NO SPOILERS): <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Midnight is a lonely girl (with her brother as her best friend) interested in Casper Dream, a fairy tale author, and finds a great friend… but things don't go as planned. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Describe two characters briefly: <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Violet: A quiet, shy, and smart girl without friends. She loves fairies. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Jasmin: A spunky and unusual girl who's parents are celebrities. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 36px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Themes: fairies, friendship, family, realistic fiction <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">I chose this book because it was by one of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Wilson. The blurb also caught my attention because it was so brief, making me want to read more, and the blurb talks secrets, and i love reading diary book, or book where a character tells the story. The book also seemed girly, and I love girly books.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Quote: "I heard a clock chime faraway. It was striking midnight. I looked outside into the night and made my wish."

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">It reminded me somewhat of __Dustbin Baby__ by Jacqueline Wilson. Not because both books have the same author, but because each were filled with wishes and dreams and loneliness. Sometimes, I wanted to cry because I was so sad for them. I wished I could go into the book and fix everything. The quote that reminded me most of __Midnight__ was the quote "Now that she's fourteen, April is determined to find out where she came from." This quote came from the blurb, but it really reminded me of __Midnight__ because they and both determined to do something, and they wish for something to happen.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">I always wish for things. Even though it's very unlikely for my wish to come true, I still keep holding on and following my dreams… just like both April in __Dustbin Baby__ and Violet in __Midnight.__ From __Midnight__ the quote that really related to me was "Violet has plenty to wish for: ….." This quote is also on the blurb.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I would defiantly recommend this book for girls because its soppy and sad and very interesting. I say this because boys wouldn't really understand the purpose of the book and will get confused, since this book was written by a woman, for girls. Also, this book is great for preteens, and not so much teens (it's good for 6th and 7th graders but not the best choice for 8th graders. Not that 8th graders shouldn't read it, but because it mostly relates to preteens, not teenagers.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">**Reem :)**

Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Last Straw By, Jeff Kinney

The settings in this book are in Greg’s house and his school. Greg is an average teenager trying to survive middle school with his best friend Rowley. He has a crush on a girl named Holly Hills. Every chance he gets to meet this girl gets messed up and he ends up making a fool of himself. Greg is also known for getting in a lot of trouble and his dad wants to ship him off to military school after seeing what military school has done for his arch enemy named Lenwood Heath. Greg plans to join boy scouts so he doesn’t get shipped off to military school. A lot of mischief happens later on in the story. Greg is a teenager who gets picked on and nobody looks up to him. His family is not everybody’s cup of sunshine. Rowley is Greg’s best friend and his only friend. Rowley is like Greg’s sidekick because Rowley is always by Greg’s side no matter what. The themes are friendship and school problems. I chose this book because I read the first book and it interested me in reading the second book of the series. Here is a quote that caught my attention: “ And dad said he gonna go on a strict diet, but after dinner I caught him out in the garage, stuffing his face with brownies”. When Greg gets woken up by his dad he falls right back asleep and I always do that which makes me almost late for school. Here is the quote: “ part of the problem is that dad always wakes me up before mom’s out of the shower, so I know that I still have like ten more minutes before I need to get out of bed for real”. I recommend this book for people who like to books about comedy or about people life. I liked this book a lot and I’m sure I will read it again. By Allen Hinson 

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T <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">anatat Thangkasemvathana

Girls In Tears

Jacqueline Wilson

The setting of this story was set in Ellie’s house.

Ellie has fallen in love on Russell, Magda lost her pet hamster, and Nadine is meeting someone on the Internet.

Ellie

is a girl who has a talent in art; besides, she is really sensitive in feelings.

favorite is to be dressed in her gothic style. She has only two friends, which are Ellie and Magda.
 * Nadine**’s

The themes of this novel by Jacqueline Wilson are //friendship, love, and the problems most teenagers face in their daily life.//

1.) I chose this book, because I love Jacqueline Wilson’s (the author) novels and how it was written into different styles, different plots, different characters and their characterizations, and how she sets up a problem for each character. In this book, the main character “Ellie” face many typical problems, such as

boyfriend trouble, friendships, jealousy and family problems. The blurb of, “Girls in Tears” a novel by Jacqueline Wilson draws my attention by asking a question: //“Buckets of tears are wept and hundreds of tissues sniffled into**. Can the girls survive theses testing times?**”// (Example from the book – the blurb): “//Ellie’s glorious romance with Russell is teetering on the rocks. Magda’s lost her pet and is desperately upset. And Nadine is fed up with the other two lecturing her about the dangers of meeting someone on the Internet – her e-mail boyfriend sounds wonderful.”//

2.) The connection between the genre of the book “Girls in Tears” and “Princess of Gossip” by Sabrina Bryan and Julia DeVillers are the alike. The genre of both novels is //realistic fiction//. Another connection I could connect to is the character, both main characters from two both novels has almost the same problems; as well they were in the age of being teenagers. This is the quote from the book, page 20: //“Help me! My cruel mother has locked me up and thrown away the key!”//

3.) I recommend this book to the middle school students – especially to eight graders, because some parts of the book are for kids that are thirteen and up.

Angie

1/2

Mrs. Bradley

<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal snogging 2 <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Lousie Rennison. By Nicole Lousie Grumley <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Georgia Nicolson is a 14 year old girl still trying to work out her life, Georgia lives in England, East Bourne with her family her mum, dad, her little sister and her half English half Scottish cat. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">The plot is centered on a 14 year old girl still trying to work out her love life. <span style="display: block; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">The lesson I got from this book was always stick with your friends first and be yourself than try and be someone else.

<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">I chose this book because I enjoy Realistic-ficton books. I believe it gives me a taster of what comes ahead in my life. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">The main charter is Georgia Nicolson and her best friend Jas, there completely different but they’re the best friends in the world. I choose this book because I enjoy reading non-fiction books. Most of the time it gives me a taster of what is coming up ahead in my life. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Angus thongs and full-frontal snogging is one of the first books out of the full series which is about 10 books. The layout of this series is a lot different than the movie, the books are more like a dairy of her everyday life. Georgia falls in love with this new guy named Tommy, but the catch is Tommy falls in love with Lindsay the most popular girl in school. Georgia is heartbroken and basically the story is about how Georgia gets Tommy to ask her out. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">A connection I made with a experiences in my life is with my best friends we have a sleepover, eat pizza and try and figure out guys, just like Georgia and Jas. I would definitely recommend this book to girls in our, mostly ageing from 11-14 years old. Thank you for reading.

<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> Riddh Bedi Grade 7 Mrs Bradley One of the books I had read this summer holidays (just over 2 months) was named “//Secret Seven Win Through//” The Author of this book was **Enid Blyton**. The setting of this book is mainly in “the new secret seven hiding campout”, where they get together for meetings and games. In this book, there was a sequel of events, the book started of in “their old secret seven-campout place”, which was being used for some professional purpose ordered by Peter’s (the main character) Dad. Later they found a new campout spot and they started using that for their meetings. As days went by they realized that there items went missing. To find out the rest you have to read the book. The main characters are Peter and Albert. Peter is a teenager who is a friendly and adventurous person. He lives with his parents and being the only child he always likes a lot of attention and he always wants everybody to listen to his ideas. As for Albert, he is a 6 feet grown up male adult. He has not been married, he is basically a “villain” in this book because he is the one that starts stealing all the items from the secret hideout and he is the one that severely injures some of the members of secret seven. The life lesson it teaches everybody that, “Everybody gets what they deserve” and that if you try hard enough you always accomplish what you want.

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">I actually chose this book because I heard a lot about the author Enid Blyton and also that her books really have a life lesson. It is really a good read and it is very thrilling. One quote that I remember from this book is, “ “Oh no what should we do NOW?” Said Peter. “We can’t just call the police or something what if he runs away and we don’t find him they think we are just playing!” Then we all heard the sound of some footsteps, somebody was entering our hideout! We also heard the sounds of a chainsaw starting!” So as you can see the author really creates suspense and tension in his writing.

<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> As far as connections go while I was reading this novel. It was a pretty unique and thrilling book. The three main words to describe this novel would be Mystery, Adventure and Teamwork. I must say that I can connect to the beginning when the school was just over and the Easter holidays started. As Janet said in the book, “ “There is no feeling in this world better than the first 10 minutes of vacations! Just the joy is very delightful!”” This is exactly how I felt at the last day of school (I believe it was June 4th) The great feeling of the beginning of vacations! As for this book being about mystery and adventure I can’t remember a great memory, but, a key part in this book is ” teamwork “ which always reminds me of the ISB field trip where we had travelled to Kanchanaburi for 2 nights. Over there at Kanchanaburi we had done great, exciting and fun teambuilding activities and also educational activities. As for how this connects in this book they used teamwork to catch the thief in the end. Without each member of the group working coordinately this feat might not have been possible.

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">I wouldn’t recommend it for the whole 7th grade but I would recommend it to the beginner readers and to the Enid Blyton fans. This book is a classic Enid Blyton novel and it is recommended for people that like adventurous and mystery books. I make this decision because this book is not a difficult read and it’s also has a very basic story so if you have read harder longer and more complicated books than you wouldn’t like this book. A good but not a great read for everybody. This is just my opinion, everybody may not agree with my opinion.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 28pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">Flush <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: right;">By: Carl Hiaasen Setting: Monroe County in the Florida Keys Plot: Noah’s father sinks a casino boat called the Coral Queen because he thinks the owner (Dusty Muleman) is dumping the Coral Queen’s sewage into the ocean. Noah: Noah is a smart confident boy who although is quite embarrassed still manages to be by his dad’s side and he’s very caring because he tries to help his dad do what’s right to make sure the family doesn’t fall apart. Paine Underwood: Paine is Noah’s dad and he is determined to fight for what he believes in no matter what he has to do such as sinking a casino boat. Theme: The theme of the book is to take care of the environment in whatever way you can because there are some people out there who have to do crazy things to show other people what they’re being ignorant about. I chose to read this book because it stood out, I thought to myself why would anyone ever name a book Flush and then I read the back and when I read a character Shelly saying “This idea of yours is whacked,” I got instantly drawn in. I was drawn in because I wanted to know what idea it was and what it had to do with the book’s title. I can connect to this book from a movie I watched of a kid who was taking care of a gorilla and then one day someone decided to take it away from him because it wasn’t safe for the environment but the kid in the movie did whatever it took to make sure the gorilla stayed with him because had it not it would have stayed in a zoo being tortured so it would cooperate if it wasn’t. In the book Noah’s dad said: “No I need to stay here and show I’m totally committed to the cause. You know how many jails around this world are full of people who spoke up for what they believed in and lost their freedom? Lost everything they had? Look at Nelson Mandela,” my father said. “He spent twenty-three years in South African prison. Twenty-seven years, Noah! A couple of weeks won’t hurt me.” This quote helped me connect to the movie I watched. I would recommend this book to other middle school students or even anyone else because it’s a great book that tells you to fight for what you believe in but do it in the best ways. I’d also recommend it because it sends out a good message. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: right;">DumileThis summer I read a very interesting book called the Pigman, by Paul Zindel. It had many messages that made me pause and think about what the characters were really saying. It takes place in a mixed up American town(dirt poor people, and the rich) in the late 1900s. The two main characters are both high schoolers; Lorraine, a self consientious girl with troubled family, and John, and headstrong and quirky boy who drinks and smokes often. His father had alchohol issues, and his mother wasn't such a great mom either. The parents really don't have much to do with this story though. John and Lorraine are best friends, and the plot follows them through their encounter with the Pigman, a friendly old man who they befriend.All the trouble begins when Lorraine and John are at a friends house and Lorraine calls up the pigmans number in a prank call game. They end up going to his house to meet him, and mr. Pignati(pigman's real name) was very thoughtful and nice. He was quite strange. He was always excessively happy and cheerful, and happened to have an enormous collection of pigs in a room in his house, hence his nickname. The collection was his most prized possesion. Before they really realize what is really happening, John and Lorraine are going to the zoo with their new friend and skipping school. This makes Mr. Pignati's life much more fullfilling, seeing as before he met john and lorraine, mr. pignati was just an old lonely widower, with only a horrid looking baboon for a friend. He buys the two companions candy, rollerskates, clothes and more! It's almost like they were his kids. There is a major plot twist when Mr. Pignati falls down the stairs while playing tag. All three of them were on rollerskates, and the Pigman has to be hospitalized.This leaves the house open to John and Lorraine for a few days. They eat dinner together and have their first kiss, an unplanned romance beginning. John decides to throw a party against Lorraines will, quoting Mr. Pignati:"make yourselfs at home. You can have anything." Their small group of friends over for a drink invite many more than expected, and the party turns into an animal house, with drunk girls on rollerskates, a blasting band, and a mob of dancing teens. It doesn't take long until things start being broken and the last straw is pulled. One of the invites' lunatic friends wreaks havoc on the collection of ivory pigs, setting john off in a fury. The two of them are soon beating the snot out of one another, until the cops show up. The next morning, all the faults are all sorted out, mr. Pignati reluctantly forgives John and Lorraine, and the three of them go to the zoo, where the story is concluded. Mr. Pignati dies after a falling down on the concrete, leaving John and Lorraine not knowing what to say.It was a big surprise for me also. I would read this book again for sure, and i think a lot of people i know would enjoy it also. It was a fast read, and kept the reader engaged.-Christian Cannon

Title: Best Friends Author: Jacqueline Wilson Setting: Gemma and Alice’s house and School Plot: Gemma and Alice has always been best friends but they run into a huge problem that might ruin their friendship and they won’t be best friends forever. Gemma: She’s a tomboy and is a messy, kind of girl who likes to play in mud and get dirty. Alice: She’s a girly girl who loves to make little bracelets, put makeup on and write in diaries everyday. Themes: The theme of the book is friendship and love. The reason I chose this book was because I was having problems with my friendship with my best friend and the tile of the book was Best Friends. So I knew I could relate to the book straight away. When I opened the book, the first three lines on the first page immediately caught my attention. ‘Alice and I are best friends. I’ve known her all my life. That is absolutely true.’ From the first page I was interested in the book because I could connect my thinking and feeling. As I read through I got more and more connected. All Gemma was feeling was exactly the way I felt. I can relate/connect this book to my best friend moving at the end of 5th grade. It has been a while since she moved but we still keep in touch with each other. But I’ve noticed that it’s hard to do that since she has her life in Switzerland and I have mine in Thailand. On page 33, “I’m moving to Scotland.” Alice said. Right when I read that I knew Gemma and I had the same problem. Alice and Gemma begged but nothing could change her parent’s decision. And all you can do it hope that something goes wrong and that they don’t move. Also later in the book Alice finds a new friend and Gemma thinks that Alice has had replaced her. That is what I am worried about every day. If my best friend would replace me with someone else or just forget about me and move on. I would recommend this to other 7th grade girls and boys because everyone moves away from an International School like ISB. People go and come all the time. And I know it’s hard for everyone! Having their best friends leave to another country or you moving somewhere else. Other 7th graders could really relate to this book like I had and know that everyone feels this way. Not only them. I think that they would enjoy this book as much as I have. This book is a great book for making connections and looking for advice in friend problems because I’m sure everyone has had problems with friends.

Sarah Lim

Title: The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas Author: John Boyne Setting: At Bruno’s house, which is near Concentration camp in the time of the Holocaust. Plot: Bruno moves because of his dad’s job as a high respected solider. One day Bruno sees a fence with millions of people wearing stripped pajamas. And he becomes friends with one of them named Shmuel. Bruno: A rich, smart, lonely, adventurous and talkative boy with a big mind of curiosity. Shmuel: A lonely, depressed skinny boy who lives in the Concentration Camp. Themes: The theme of this book is friendship and war. I chose this book because I am really interested in reading about the lives of the people that lived when the Holocaust was going on. I like this kind of genre and many people have recommended this book for me. Also on page three, ‘But where?” he asked. “Where are we going exactly? Why can’t we just stay here?’ After that sentence I knew that they had to move because of the Holocaust. And I was hooked to the book afterwards. I knew that the book would be intense and adventurous at the same time. I’ve read another book that is close to this book called Number The Stars by Louis Lowry. Number The Stars was also about the Holocaust. Annemarie was hiding her best friend Ellen who is Jewish from the Nazi soldiers. In The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas Bruno also had to hide his friendship with Shmuel because his dad didn’t want him to go over to the Concentration Camp and his dad thought that they were no good dirty people. But Shmuel and Bruno become best friends like Annemarie and Ellen. And they remain best friends for forever, even with Bruno and Shmuel gets killed. I would like to recommend this book to 7th graders who are interested in the Holocaust or just 7th graders who likes to read historic fictions. This book really touched me and I learned how unfair that war was to just kill millions of innocent kids and people. We should know about the history well and know what the kids that are younger than us have been through to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

Sarah Lim I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid for summer reading

The Clique by Lissi Harrison When Claire Lyons and her family moves to Westchester, New York from Orlando, Florida, the young girl cannot imagine the lifestyle she is about to embark on. Due to an old friendship between her father, Jay, and a wealthy old college friend, Mr. Block, the Lyons family moves into the Blocks' guest house until they can afford to buy a house of their own. Upon seeing the luxurious home of the Blocks,Claire realizes that she is in a whole new league. When Claire meets Massie Block she is so happy to make a new friend. After all, she and Massie are the same age and will both be attending the prestigious Octavian Day School. Unfortunately, Massie makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with Claire and that she has her own circle of friends. Massie is all about her girlfriends - Alicia, Kristen and Dylan. Together, the four girls rule Octavian Day School and are considered the most glamorous, popular and envied seventh graders. Decked out in designer clothes, these girls consider shopping an art form and are quick to gossip and place their peers on the out list. Although Claire is desperate to fit in and become a part of Massie's group, she is brutally shunned by the girls. As the ringleader, Massie makes it clear to her clique that Claire is not in her group. They did mean things such as smearing red paint on the butt of Claire's jeans, ignoring her presence and throwing food at her. As Claire struggles to find a place for herself in her elite new surroundings she finds a way to turn the tables on Massie and create some friction in Massie's social whirl.

Marie Carr Barretto Mrs. Williams <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid (first series) by Juff Kinney this book is about one parson who call Greg and he is middle school student. He likes to play game and he is writing this journal. He writes about what happened and what he does every day. The first book starts from September to June. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There is many other characters and Greg having 2 brothers but they are not friendly to Greg. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I tell one story that’s call cheese touch. One day Greg went to basket ball court to see cheese still there that cheese and there was a cheese. That cheese is came from someone’s sandwich and it is already rot and __smell__ bad one day one boy who call Darren touch cheese and start cheese touch, cheese touch is kind of tag. On April Abe got cheese touch and no one came near to him so it is kind of bulling so he felt sad that’s reason for move to other place. Then cheese touch finished and everyone don’t want start cheese touch again. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">There is 4 series and fifth book come soon. And there is movie too. This book is not hard so everyone can read it so I recommend this book. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">By Kai Nagase <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Mrs. Williams <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">This summer, I read a book called __Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time__. It is by Lisa Yee, and is a very good book. This book is about a boy named Stanford, and is written from his perspective. He has amazing basketball skills, but flunks his English class. now he isn't allowed to go to basketball camp! Stanfords parents hire a super smart tutor, and peer, Millicent Min. Even though he hates her at first, by the end of the story, they are friends. Millicent also has a best friend, Emily Ebers. Niether Stanford and Millicent want to be considered freaks, so they lie. Even though Millicent is a genious, and Stanford got flunked, Emily is unaware of both. Stanford's basketball team also has memorable charachters, such as Gus, Digger, Stretch, and Tico. Stanford has other problems too. Once Emily found out that Stanford had lied, they were no longer friends. Stanfords free spirited grandmother, Yin Yin, has to move to a new place. He also has to lie to the team, instead of telling them about the English F. Then he gets black-mailed. But in the end, it all works out. Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time is a easy read, and VERY well written. It flows, and is also very funny and humorous. I definitly recommend this book to everyone! <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">BY MILLS CANNON <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">humanities, mrs williams <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">My summer reading is DIARY of Wimpy Kid (season 4) This book is about one child (Greg is the important characters because he writes this journal about how he lives an uneventful life) I already read like this (season 1, 2, 3) and I know it is good book so I tell you one story in the book. When it was the summer ( His ) he went on vacation staying at his friend’s house (His name is Rowley ,the best friend of Greg ) then they are doing some fun, but there is problem it is Rowley parents are in the house too ( His parents are not nice to Greg so Greg hate them.)so he send e-mail to Greg friend it is about Rowley parents and it not nice to his parents( He use Rowley’s father internet. Next morning parents are see that e-mail because he send it different person it is Rowley’s mother so she send back to he ( his father )then he angry about this so Greg much more to get boring.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0mm;">This is one story in this book and I read this in summer. If new book is make I want read it too(My friend said will new one come out)

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">By Yuto Nomura to Mrs. Williams

Stormbreaker! Title: Stormbreaker Author: Anthony Horowitz Setting: London Plot: in the beginning of the book Alex’s uncle dies in a car accident, in the middle he tries to find out who did it and why, at the end he finds out who did it. Describe 2 characters briefly: Alex Rider is the main character; Ian Rider is Alex’s uncle, who dies in a car accident. Themes: realistic fiction.

Alex rider is a fantastic book for kids in middle school. It’s not too hard and not too easy. All Alex Rider adventures make kids think about the book deeper, most kids usually think what I would do if I was in Alex’s shoes. I chose this book to read because one of my friends, Aaron recommended it to me because it was a great book in his opinion read this book.

One connection I could make to this book is how it feels to lose a family member. Just like Alex I also lost my grandfather, it was extremely hard for me because had a connection to him. I loved him so much it was hard for me to say good bye.

As I said before I would extremely recommend it to all middle school students because it makes you think about the book and if you are a middle school student you would definitely like it because it suits all 10-13 year olds.

Newes From the Dead Mary Hooper

This book is a non-fiction book filled with lots of surprises.Some of your questions will be answered and some will not.If your looking for a book that will knock you of your feet with excitement. This book is for everyone who enjoys non-fiction books. And hopefully this summary will make u want to read it.

Newes from the dead is a book about a girl named Ann and she works as a maid for multiple people. And this one man came to the house she fell in love with him and he said that he had loved her. So she ended up getting pregnant with his child but when she told him that she was pregnant he refused to admit that the child was his.

Now that i have read this book i would highly recommend it to people who love non-fiction books but truly anyone could read this book it might not be there favorite but i hope you do! Happy reading!!!!